Defending Their Turf – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 4

April 19, 2021 By admin

WEBCAST –

Dear RCF Sisters and Brothers,

People defend their turf. You can only encroach upon what they believe is rightfully theirs for so long. Then they will use whatever means they have at their disposal to push you off. They will begin by asking you to back away, but if you don’t oblige the counter pressure against you will increase quickly. Like Popeye the Sailorman, they will declare, “That’s alls I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!” Then you’ve got serious trouble.

That was certainly true concerning the first century Jewish religious leaders who had believed that they had rid themselves of the Nazarene Miracle Worker Who had come within the thickness of a matza from being crowned King of Israel. It took a very high-stakes move to convince the Roman governor to execute the popular usurper. Yet even after that, most people were convinced by first or second-hand evidence that He had come back to life, which proved to many of them that He was indeed the rightful ruler of Israel!

Then, fifty-three days after His crucifixion the Nazarene’s many disciples were back in Jerusalem working miracles and publicly proclaiming that the Jewish leaders had executed their long-promised Messiah. What made it worse was that there were now many of these miracle-working prophets of Jesus. They were healing and teaching crowds inside Jerusalem’s Temple – right on the Jewish leadership’s turf. These uneducated, provincial laymen were also spouting off proof from the Old Testament to prove their theological points about Jesus, His crucifixion, and His supposed resurrection. Their influence among the people was growing daily, as was their numbers. Killing Jesus the Nazarene did not eliminate the threat to the nation’s leaders, it seemed to have made it worse.

If the Jewish leaders did not act soon, they would have no turf left to defend. It was time for them to push back.

Join us this Sunday morning as we continue in the theme To The Remotest Part of the Earth, and our Discussion Bible Study in the History of the Early Church. Please prepare by reading the entirety of Acts 4. This week’s title is “The First Official Pushback Is Pushed Back – Part 2”.

Attached is an outline of the text we will be focusing upon this Sunday morning. Please print it ahead of time, as it will help you take part in the discussion.

Here is the Table Discussion Question for Sunday:

From the New Testament, it is evident that Jesus and the apostles doing “legitimate miracles” was key to the early believability and expansion of the Gospel message. However, the doing of such miracles seems to have ended during the apostles’ ministries. Why? Wouldn’t it have been and continue to be beneficial if the doing of miracles continued indefinitely?

In this series we have already discussed the following texts and topics:

The New Era Begins: Acts 1:12-2:21
Who is to Blame for Good Friday?: Acts 2:22-23
The New Community Begins: Acts 2:24-47
The First Official Pushback Is Pushed Back: Acts 3

We hope that you will join us online this Sunday morning!

We love you all!

Jim and Jenny

Acts of the Apostles, Part 4 – Outline (PDF)

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Do You Have to Be Bad to Be Good? – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 56

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Power & Preaching / Magic & Mythology – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 41

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The Gospel and Urban Renewal – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 40

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Go West, Young Men – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 39

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How Do You Know? – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 36

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The Question of Inner Faith Without Outer Works – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 35

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Faith Without Works Is… – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 34

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The Historic Danger of Disparate Faiths – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 33

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Protecting The People Whom Christ Has Purchased – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 32

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When the Future Appears Dire – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 31

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“…in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 30

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What People Today Need To Hear, From Us – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 29

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Living in the Garden of Good and Evil – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 28

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Calling All Women! – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 27

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Getting in Trouble for Talking – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 26

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Everyday People – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 24

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Perhaps We Are Too Hard on the Judaisers – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 23

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Are We Children of God, or Servants? – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 22

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Solving the Second Major Issue – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 21

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The First Internal Controversy – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 20

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Why Don’t You Keep God’s Laws? – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 19

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According To His Will – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 18

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Small Decisions Change the World – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 17

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How the West Was Won – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 16

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Uncivil Rest -Acts of the Apostles Pt. 15

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Learning How Difficult It Can Be – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 14

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Tear Down That Wall! – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 13

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Going Global – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 10

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You Meant It for Evil – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 9

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They All Lived Happily Ever After? – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 8

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It Only Takes a Spark… – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 7

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A Lot On Their Shoulders – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 6

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What Could Possibly Go Worng? – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 5

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Defending Their Turf – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 4

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The First Pushback is Pushed Back – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 3

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The New Community Begins – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 2

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A New Era Begins – Acts of the Apostles Pt. 1

WEBCAST – Dear RCF Sisters and Brothers, Although we ended our series through Jesus’ life and ministry two weeks ago, the story continues on. What He did for fallen humanity did not end with the cross or in the grave. Nor did it end when He “led captivity captive”, taking Paradise and its inhabitants […]

“He Descended Into Hell” Conclusion – March 14, 2021

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“He Descended Into Hell” Part 4 – March 7, 2021

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“He Descended into Hell” Part 3 – February 28, 2021

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“He Descended into Hell” Part 2 – February, 21, 2021

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“He Descended into Hell” Part 1 – February 14, 2021

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The End of the Beginning – February 7, 2021

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You Say You Want a Revolution? – January 31, 2021

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You Could Cut Their Fear With a Knife – January 24, 2021

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Dear Sisters and Brothers, This coming Sunday, January 3, 2021, we will begin the new year by focussing on Our Lord’s final trial, condemnation, suffering, and death in our discussion Bible study. We will end our time together by reflecting upon these events in the manner He instructed His disciples to, by having “The Lord’s Table”. Therefore, please […]

The Battle Ahead – December 20, 2020

Dear Friends, Two Sundays ago we saw how people, without even knowing it, can try to derail God’s plans. Since before the world was created God had planned that His Son would die as the Passover Lamb Who would rescue people from their bondage to sin and its penalty. God’s timeline was in jeopardy until […]

Final Instructions – December 6, 2020

Dear Friends, If you knew that you only had only hours to live, it is likely that you would want to tell the most important people in your life the most important information they needed to know. That is true regarding Jesus’ final evening with His chosen apostles. During that final Passover evening Jesus communicated […]

The Die Is Cast – November 29, 2020

Dear Friends, Sometimes you just have to just move on. Differences and tensions that you have experienced with others for a long time have not improved despite your best efforts to explain your perspective and position. In fact, despite your best efforts and explanations over time the more entrenched others have become and the die is […]

There is No Convincing Some People! – November 22, 2020

Dear Friends, The current political division in the United States demonstrates that it is nearly impossible to convince people that their views may be wrong. Because their minds are so entrenched that they are right they could never even consider that they might be wrong. That was certainly the case with the religious leaders of […]

The Breach Becomes a Breaking Point – November 8, 2020

Dear Friends, In our discussion Bible study last Sunday we saw Jesus send three more “miracle-bombs” into Jerusalem just prior to His final entry into Jerusalem to get those in the capitol city to believe in Him as their long-promised Messiah. “Miracle-bombs” are notable public miracles which Jesus did outside of Jerusalem which had an enormous impact within the city of […]

The Lord’s Supper and “Harmony” – November 1, 2020

Dear Friends, There are three important happenings at RCF which you need to know about for this Sunday, November 1st. 1. Daylight Savings Time – Remember to move your clocks back. If you don’t stay up later than normal on Saturday you get an extra hour sleep! 2. The Lord’s Supper – We will be beginning our time together commemorating Our Lord’s sacrifice […]

Dropping “Miracle Bombs” in Jerusalem – October 25, 2020

Dear Friends, If you wanted to change a major policy in our nation today, there are two ways you could go about it. One way would be to travel widely and speak throughout the fifty states to get a majority of people to agree with your ideas. A second way would be to travel only […]

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9:30 am – 10:50 am Every Sunday

9:30 am – 10:50 am
Every Sunday