NT Framework - Half-Breeds and Dogs

Pentecost, that is the falling of the Holy Spirit on Jewish believers, started the church. But there are three other Pentecosts that complete the church. 

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.

Samaritans Gentiles And “Unclean” Labels

SPEAKER_01 0:10

It's not till chapter eight that you get to this group called the Samaritans, those who had unverifiable lineage back in the days of Ezra and so forth after the Assyrian captivity. And so this is they're very you know reticent to accept Samaritans, right? Uh Jews and Samaritans didn't they didn't exactly rub shoulders well. They didn't hang out together. And then in chapter 10, it's even worse, right? Because these are Gentiles. I mean they're just dogs, right? I mean they're meaning they're unclean. That was an unclean animal. And Jews didn't have puppy dogs running around their house like we do. That would be considered unclean. So um they gave that moniker to Gentiles. They were dogs, unclean. Why? Why were they unclean? Well, because they ate unclean things. Um they ate outside of the Jewish kosher menu. And so um they were considered by Jews to be unclean. But as we'll see, Jesus kind of prepared the way for this beginning Jewish majority to ultimately shift in this thing called the body or the church to being a Gentile majority. And that has some tremendous implications for early church history, but we're not studying that yet.

Four Pentecosts And Why Tongues Matter

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Um let's look at chapter these four Pentecosts. Two we've already looked at, right? This is the day, actual day of Pentecost, Feast of Pentecost was being celebrated, and on that day, Jews who had believed were baptized by the Holy Spirit, and this indicated that Jews are brought into the church. In your second row, in Acts 8, we'll study the Samaritans. They, in that chapter, are those who believe, are baptized by the Holy Spirit, and by so they were brought into the church. And then in Acts 10, you have Gentiles baptized by the Holy Spirit, and by that they were brought into the church. And then in Acts 19, you have disciples of John that are baptized by the Holy Spirit, and those disciples of John are thereby brought into the church. So what you'll see is by this chart is that whenever a group is baptized by the Holy Spirit, it means that that group is brought into the church. Interestingly, these are the four sections or four groups that experience tongues in the book of Acts. Okay, so the tongues was an indicator that a new group was being baptized into the church. Now we may not see why this is so important. Like, who cares? Big deal, yeah, we know. Um, but it was a really big deal for Jews because Jews did not mingle with Samaritans, Jews did not mingle with Gentiles, so forth. And you also in the Gospels had an interesting group that never splintered away from John the Baptist and turned their allegiance to Christ. So you still have disciples of John the Baptist running around in the ancient world all the way into Acts 19. So, what about these, let's just say these four groups? How are you going to get these four groups together? That's that's the issue. Well, if they all experience the same phenomena, meaning baptism of the Spirit, as evidenced by tongues, then it will evidence that these are not going to be four different churches, but they're all going to be one church. And that is, in fact, the definition of the body of Christ. It's Jew and Gentile in one body.

Stephen’s Death Sparks The Scattering

SPEAKER_01 4:09

So let's look at a little bit more in Acts 2 through 7. We've already seen the day of Pentecost, Peter. And um the church is going to grow in this period, but it's not going to grow geographically. They're stuck in Jerusalem. But it is growing spiritually, it is growing numerically, as we saw. And you've got Stephen, he's the first martyr, and his introduction is in chapter 6, verse 8. This guy was a diaspora Jew, meaning he was not a native of the land. He was from outside the land. And it seems like the diaspora Jews who believed in the early pages of Acts are more interested in going out. Okay? They're seeing the greater repercussions of Christ and the cross, that it's more than just for Israel. They see it, it seems, more than the natives, like Peter and so forth. So he, of course, has to give his great uh historical recital in chapter 7, where he's defending himself before the Sanhedrin. And by the end of that, of course, you have him being stoned, and you have Saul standing there, right? So you have this in chapter 8, verse 1, as Stephen is stoned, and he, of course, uh falls asleep and his yields up his spirit and falls asleep. You see in chapter 8, verse 1, the introduction of Saul, we later know as Paul, Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And it was says it was on that day that a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. You know, remember that from Acts 1.8, right? They were in Jerusalem, but now it's going to go to Judea and Samaria. And it's not really by their will, uh, the church's will. I mean, you'll see that they were scattered. See, they were forced out into the regions of Judea and Samaria. It says, Except the apostles. They were snug as a bug in Jerusalem. They didn't want to do this Gentile or Samaritan thing. Okay. And then you have the burial of Stephen. In verse 3, Saul begins ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. So verse 4,

Philip In Samaria And Simon’s Claim

SPEAKER_01 6:40

those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. And here you have a guy named Philip, and he's the first, he breaks ground here because he goes to the city of Samaria, and he began proclaiming the Messiah to them. And the crowds were giving attention to what was being said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. These authenticated that he had the true message of God. For in the case who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them, shouting out with a loud voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed, so there was much rejoicing in the city. But now we have his counter, okay, his opponent. It says, verse 9, there was a man named Simon, and he formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great, and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to Simon, saying, This man is what is called the great power of God. And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip, preaching the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus the Messiah, they were being baptized, men and women alike. So here you have the first believers at Samaria, and they're responding to the gospel. They're, first of all, by faith, right? And then they're being baptized, and I'm going to show you the sequence later on. I've got a chart that shows you the sequence in Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19. Actually, and also Acts 9, because that's where Paul is converted. But so we'll even throw him in the mix to see the order of events. When did they believe? When were they baptized by the Spirit? Did they speak in tongues or not? Did they have hands laid on them or not? There's a point to all this that we want to make. But here you have Samaritans believing, they're being baptized, water baptized. Verse 13, even Simon himself believed. Yeah, most commentators will tell you that he didn't really believe. Most good commentators will tell you he didn't really believe. But Luke said by means of the Holy Spirit that even Simon himself believed. Those who believed that he believed, or those who believed that he didn't believe. See, the word of God is is the truth, whether people believe it or not.

Where To Find Visuals And Rate

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.