Gary Gleans

                                                                                       Acts 16:1-5 Paul   came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.   He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.   We meet Timothy for the first time in this passage.  It is interesting to see Paul’s selection process for ministry and then how he goes about doing ministry with him.  The purpose of the trip is to check on the churches that had been planted in that region of t

                                                                                       Acts 15:36-41 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”   Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.   But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.   And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,   but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.   And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.   Not all conflict or difference of opinion must be solved.  The conflict studied in the previous posts had to do with central doctrinal issues and needed to be resolved.  However, the conflict cited in this passage is of a more personal and str

                                                                        Acts 15:22-35 Then it seemed good to   the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called   Barsabbas, and   Silas, leading men among   the brothers,   with the following letter:   “The brothers, both   the apostles and the elders, to the brothers   who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia,   greetings.   Since we have heard that   some persons have gone out from us and   troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,   it has seemed good to us, having come   to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our   beloved Barnabas and Paul,   men who have   risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.   We have therefore sent   Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.   For it has seemed good   to the H

                                                                                       Acts 15:1-21 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching   the brothers, “Unless you are  circumcised   according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.  And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and   debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and   some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to   the apostles and the elders about this question.   So,   being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria,   describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and   brought great joy to all   the brothers.   When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and   the apostles and the elders, and   they declared all that God had done with them.   But some believers who belonged to   the party of the Pharisees rose up and said,   “It is necessary   to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” T he   apostles a

                                                                             Acts 14:20-28 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.    And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.  Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God h