2 Chronicles 33
Key Passages
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.11 So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.12 In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
13 And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
Another great story of a completely wicked and twisted man, made broken by God, who turns his life around and is completely changed by the grace of God.
Hosea 1
Key Passages
2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.”
3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Gomer symbolizes the people of Israel in that day because they had forgotten their first love and become completely adulterous. What an amazing symbol God gives of His love for His bride, despite her adultery.
Acts 14
Key Passages
8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed
10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
Another amazing healing story that actually leads the people of Lystra to believe that Paul and Barnabas are gods... Paul tries to tell them that they are not gods, and he tries to point them to the one true God, but the crowd still is trying to sacrifice to them, and then all the sudden...
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Ouch! Fickle crowd I guess. One minute they were calling them gods and trying to sacrifice to them, the next verse they are suddenly trying to kill Paul by throwing large rocks at his head. Paul wakes up from his beat down and what does he immediately do... he goes back into the city. The city full of the people who just stoned him. Ballsy for sure... The next day they leave for Derbe. So was Paul doing ok at this point or did he have some broken bones? Maybe a few huge knots on his head...
21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
Derbe seems to go much better... then you'll notice they go back to the towns that they were just in where they got treated like crap, and stoned. They went to encourage the believers there, and how do they encourage the brothers in those towns, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God”... That message probably delivered while Paul was still healing up from a severe stoning he received in their town.
We get another reference to fasting... fasting combined with prayer.
Acts 15
Key Passages
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question.7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
An encouraging word from the apostle Peter... we are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, just as we are, not because we have done anything... stop trying to earn what you already have...
36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them,38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
Maybe the first recorded story of a “church split”... sort of. However you see that they did not make this into a big deal. They disagreed, they parted company, they left commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. It doesn't talk about how their split destroyed anything because it didn't. They split and their disagreement actually served to further the spread of the gospel because it was going to more places now. They didn't trash each other.
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