Acts 11:1
Outline:
I. \\#Acts 1:1-8:4\\ God’s Work in Jerusalem
A. \\#1:1-3\\ The Introduction
B. \\#1:4-26\\ Jesus’ Departure
1. \\#1:4-8\\ The Command
2. \\#1:9-11\\ The Ascension and Promised Return
3. \\#1:12-26\\ The Wait for the Holy Ghost
C. \\#2:1-8:4\\ The Holy Ghost’s Coming
1. \\#Acts 1:1-4\\ The Holy Spirit Comes
2. \\#Acts 2:5-8:4\\ The Power of the Holy Spirit
a. \\#Acts 2:5-13\\ The Power of Languages
b. \\#Acts 2:1-36\\ The Power of Preaching
c. \\#Acts 2:37-41, 47\\ The Power of Salvation
d. \\#Acts 2:42-47\\ The Power of Fellowship
e. \\#Acts 2:44-45\\ The Power of Giving
f. \\#Acts 3:1-11\\ The Power of Healing (miracles) and
more preaching \\#Acts 3:12-26\\
g. \\#Acts 4:1-31\\ The Power of Suffering
h. \\#Acts 4:32-5:42\\ The Power of Chastening
i. \\#Acts 6:1-7:50\\ The Power of Leadership (salvation,
preaching, persecution)
j. \\#Acts 8:1-4\\ The Persecutions Intensify
II. \\#Acts 8:5-12:24\\ God’s Work in Judea and Samaria
A. \\#8:4-40\\ The Ministry of Philip
1. \\#5-25\\ Philip Called to Samaria
2. \\#26-39\\ Philip’s Called to the Desert
3. \\#39-40\\ God Moved Him Toward Caesarea
B. \\#9:1-31\\ The Salvation of Saul
1. \\#9:1-9\\ The Power at Saul’s Conversion
2. \\#9:10-22\\ The Power after Saul’s Calling
3. \\#9:23-31\\ The Consequences of His Conversion
C. \\#9:32-11:18\\ The Ministry of Peter
1. \\#9:32-35\\ At Lydda
2. \\#9:36-43\\ At Joppa
3. \\#10:1-48\\ At Caesarea
4. \\#11:1-18\\ At Jerusalem
5. \\#11:19-30\\ (An update on the church and Paul)
III. \\#Acts 13:1-28:31\\ God’s Work in Uttermost Parts of the World
I. \\#11:1-18\\ The Ministry of Peter (at Jerusalem)
A. Lesson from this chapter - Even the Apostles bore some
accountability—if not to the church then to each other.
B. \\#1-3\\ The Issue
1. "the apostles and brethren" - The church at Jerusalem was
the mother church at this time.
a. Word quickly came to them that Gentiles were
professing to worship Jehovah. To their minds, this
would be a contradiction to the command Jesus had
left them.
b. From a practical standpoint, the news would cause them
concern.
(1) Time continues to move along but it is likely 9
to 10 years from the cross.
(2) They had endured perhaps three to four years of
that time being persecuted by the Jews.
(3) At that time, most saw the Christians as a part
of the Jewish religion.
(a) The Jews were not going to like their
religion being associated with Gentiles.
(b) The church, made up entirely of Jews who saw
themselves as Jewish worshippers of God,
were still keeping the law as good Jews.
Many inside the church were not going to
like being associated with the Gentiles.
(c) The Romans had granted the Jews some
tolerance of worship, but it was to the
Jews only. The Romans would not like
Gentiles accepting what the Romans thought
was a Jewish religion.
(4) From every perspective, this looked like a "bad"
occurrence for the church.
2. \\#2\\ "they that were of the circumcision contended with
him" - The Jewish Christians, which was the whole church.
Even though the salvation of the Gentiles did cause many
many potential dangers to the church, there is no reason
to believe these believers who interested in anything
other than obeying the commands of Christ.
3. \\#3\\ The charges:
a. "Thou wentest to men uncircumcised"
b. "and didst eat with them"
c. While I do not know of any Old Testament command that
forbade these, these rules would be the obvious
implications of God’s commands.
C. \\#4-17\\ Peter’s Account
1. \\#14\\ - I pointed this out in the last chapter but
Peter’s account is a little different here.
a. By Peter, the angel told Cornelius that he would
reveal what they needed to know "to be saved."
b. \\#Acts 10:6\\ The angel actually said that Peter
would tell them "what thou oughtest to do."
2. By this time, Peter clearly understood that God’s
intention was for Peter to preach Jesus to these
Gentiles.
3. \\#16\\ Peter tells us what he was thinking as the Holy
Ghost descended upon the Gentiles.
a. He was remembering what John spake:
Mark 1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water:
but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
b. John was filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the
word of the Lord.
D. \\#18\\ The Church’s Acceptance
1. Considering both the risks and the magnitude of the
change, the church’s acceptance of the Gentiles was very
quick and smooth.
2. Of course it was because of the Holy Ghost! His visible
presence by the gift of tongues made it obvious that God
had lead in the matter.
3. Yet the Holy Ghost’s manifestation could have been through
healing, audible speaking, or any other form He chose.
been by any other manifestation.
II. \\#11:19-30\\ An Update On the Church and Paul)
A. \\#19\\ Past
1. Map to Antioch
2. "Stephen" - These verses go back to the death of and
detail how far the persecutions had drive the Christians.
a. "Phenice" - A city near Syria to the north.
b. Cyprus - There is a city by this name that is near
Jerusalem, but there is also an island off the coast
by that name as well.
c. Antioch of Syria - Some 312 miles north of Israel.
3. "preaching the word to none but the Jews only" - This
cities were reached before God opened to the door to the
Gentiles.
B. \\#20-26\\ Present
1. \\#20\\ "when they were come to Antioch" - About the time
the gospel reached Antioch….
a. After Alexander the Great’s death, one of his
generals, Selucus Nicator, ruler of Syria, built and
named 16 cities after his father, Antioch.
b. Antioch of Syria was founded in 301 BC. It as the
capital of Syria in Paul’s day.
c. It was the third largest city in the empire, only
Rome and Alexandria being larger.
d. It boasted a poplulation between 300,000 to 500,000
people.
e. The city was as lavish as it was large.
http://www.biblecharts.org/apostlepaulcharts/5%20-%20Pauls%20First%
20Missionary%20Journey.pdf
2. They "spake unto the Grecians" - They started preaching
to the Gentiles.
3. \\#21\\ "the hand of the Lord was with them" - Many
believed.
4. \\#22\\ When the church in Jerusalem heard of this, they
sent Barnabas to investigate. (We last saw Barnabas
opening the door for Saul to join with the believers in
Jerusalem \\#Acts 9:27\\.
a. \\#23-24\\ Barnabas was a godly man, filled with the
Holy Ghost.
b. One might wonder why God did not use him to
accomplish the task of evangelizing to the Gentiles.
c. Only God knows why God does what He does. He is the
sovereign!
5. \\#25\\ "Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek
Saul": - But God put it into Barnabas’ heart to get Saul,
perhaps remembering Saul’s testimony:
Ac 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way:
for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my
name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the
children of Israel:
6. \\#26\\ "unto Antioch …a whole year they …taught much
people"
a. Saul and Barnabas work together wining and teaching
the Gentiles in Antioch.
b. Another year passes since the cross but we have
nothing specific to tell us how much time has
passed.
c. "the disciples were called Christians first in
Antioch" - It was during this year that the disciples
were first recognized as being something different
from the Jews.
d. Christians means Christ like or followers of Christ.
C. \\#27-30\\ Future
1. \\#27\\ "prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch" - It is
interesting just how mobile the people were in those
days. At best they would have donkeys or carts but most
probably just walked. The journey was over 300 miles!
2. \\#28\\ "Agabus" - One of these prophets prophesied that
a famine would come during the days of Claudius Caesar.
a. This may be the same Agabus who will tell Paul of his
future in Jerusalem \\#Acts 21:10\\.
b. Claudius was Roman emperor from 41 to 54 AD.
c. There were several famines during his reign, 41-42 AD,
45 AD, and 50 AD. Most feel that the famine being
warned of was the one in 45 AD.
http://www.wordsfitlyspoken.org/gospel_guardian/v7/v7n30p2-3a.html
d. The prophecy is of a future famine, but since most
believe the cross took place in 30 AD, the famine
would occur around 15 years after the death of Jesus.
3. \\#29-30\\ The church at Antioch determine to collect
money for Jerusalem and they select Saul and Barnabas to
deliver it.
a. It appears that Paul and Barnabas deliver some funds
for the famine in \\#Acts 12:25\\. Because they had
been warned before the famine, it is possible that
they brought the gift in the year 44, that coincides
with the next chapter which recorded the death of
King Agrippa I at that time. He died in 44 AD.
b. As the prophecy is being given, it is probably 43 or
44 AD, 13 to 14 years after the death of Jesus.
c. Paul would have been saved for maybe 10 years and very
actively preaching for perhaps 7.
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