<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Acts 9;28-31<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>28. &nbsp;So he </b>(Saul) <b>went in and out among them at Jerusalem,</b></div><div><b></b><b>29. &nbsp;preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. &nbsp;And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists; but they were seeking to kill him.</b></div><div><b>30. &nbsp;And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus.</b></div><div><b>31. &nbsp;So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>The phrases “going out and coming in” or “coming out and going in” refer to shepherding and warfare.</div><div>A shepherd leads his sheep out of the sheepfold and he bring them back in again. (see John 10;9)</div><div>And a king or a commander leads out his troops to warfare and victoriously leads them back again.</div><div>(see 1 Samuel 18;13&amp;16)</div><div><span>T</span><span>his phrase</span><span>&nbsp;applied to Saul in today’s reading, is of the ‘spiritual warfare’ sort.&nbsp;</span></div><div><br></div><div>The term <i>“Hellenists”</i>&nbsp;refers to Jews who spoke Greek and who had accepted or consented to&nbsp;the unbiblical kingship of Herod (who was a descendant of Esau and a Jewish mother, not<span>&nbsp;of the Messianic line of king&nbsp;</span><span>David). &nbsp;‘Hellenists’ also refers to Jews who had to one degree or another adopted different aspects of Greek culture. &nbsp;Most&nbsp;Sadducees were Hellenists, they were clean shaven, no beard.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>The most fascinating phrase in today’s reading is, <i>“So the Church…..<u>walking in the fear of the Lord,</u></i></span></div><div><span><i><u>and the comfort of the Holy Spirit</u>&nbsp;was multiplied.”</i></span></div><div><span><i><br></i></span></div><div><span>Unbelievers have their ‘worldview’ their frame of reference for how they choose to live.. &nbsp;For them,&nbsp;their reality&nbsp;is material, scientific,&nbsp;mechanical, carnal,&nbsp;and temporal. &nbsp;The eternal&nbsp;spiritual world is unrecognized. &nbsp;Everything is valued in terms of&nbsp;how it seen by others and how it is felt by them&nbsp;subjectively. &nbsp;Unbelievers do recognize the intangibles of love, peace, pleasure, suffering,&nbsp;and beauty, but they fail to connect these things to God,&nbsp;for them, they exist independently as aspects of humanity only.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Believers live with a different worldview. &nbsp;They acknowledge this temporal world, but they live for a different eternal, spiritual reality. &nbsp;God himself is true reality. &nbsp;As he says to Moses when Moses asked God what shall I tell the people of Israel your name is?&nbsp;<i>God answered, “I AM WHO I AM”…”Say to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me.” &nbsp;</i>(Exodus 3;13&amp;14)</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>This is the manifest&nbsp;true reality&nbsp;Believers pray for&nbsp;in the Lord’s Prayer, <i>“Thy kingdom come”. &nbsp; </i>By these words<i>, &nbsp;</i>Jesus &nbsp;is&nbsp;teaching us of&nbsp;this different worldview. &nbsp;Rightly understanding true reality is acknowledging the eternal and&nbsp;spiritual, the Lordship of God. &nbsp;We live with a view for what is unseen by carnal eyes. &nbsp;As Jesus said to Thomas, &nbsp;</span><i>“Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” </i><span>(John 20;29)</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Walking in the ‘fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit’ is walking with spiritual vision. &nbsp;We by faith&nbsp;see the coming kingdom of God and we live for that kingdom not any earthly one. &nbsp;We live reverently and humbly seeking to serve and glorify God, proclaiming to this blind world, the Light of Life, revealed in Christ Jesus. &nbsp;We live recognizing we are in a war zone. &nbsp;We are the Church militant. &nbsp;By faith, we with Saul are going out and coming in. &nbsp;We go out IN&nbsp;Jesus’ name to make disciples, we come IN&nbsp;comforted by the forgiveness of sin, the mercy of God to us by the Spirit and the Word.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Do not think that only Saul was&nbsp;boldly proclaiming Jesus. &nbsp;All God’s people did and continue to do this.</span></div><div><span>The <i>“peace” </i>the Church had was from God, not this world.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father bless us to live daily in true reality, in holy fear,&nbsp;and in the peace of Jesus.</span></div><div><span>In Jesus we pray, Amen.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Love,</span></div><div><span>Dad/Baba/Eric</span></div><div><span>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</span></div><div><span>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.”</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Acts 9;28-31

28.  So he (Saul) went in and out among them at Jerusalem,29.  preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.  And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists; but they were seeking to kill him.30.  And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus.31.  So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied.
The phrases “going out and coming in” or “coming out and going in” refer to shepherding and warfare.A shepherd leads his sheep out of the sheepfold and he bring them back in again. (see John 10;9)And a king or a commander leads out his troops to warfare and victoriously leads them back again.(see 1 Samuel 18;13&16)This phrase applied to Saul in today’s reading, is of the ‘spiritual warfare’ sort. 
The term “Hellenists” refers to Jews who spoke Greek and who had accepted or consented to the unbiblical kingship of Herod (who was a descendant of Esau and a Jewish mother, not of the Messianic line of king David).  ‘Hellenists’ also refers to Jews who had to one degree or another adopted different aspects of Greek culture.  Most Sadducees were Hellenists, they were clean shaven, no beard.
The most fascinating phrase in today’s reading is, “So the Church…..walking in the fear of the Lord,and the comfort of the Holy Spirit was multiplied.”
Unbelievers have their ‘worldview’ their frame of reference for how they choose to live..  For them, their reality is material, scientific, mechanical, carnal, and temporal.  The eternal spiritual world is unrecognized.  Everything is valued in terms of how it seen by others and how it is felt by them subjectively.  Unbelievers do recognize the intangibles of love, peace, pleasure, suffering, and beauty, but they fail to connect these things to God, for them, they exist independently as aspects of humanity only.
Believers live with a different worldview.  They acknowledge this temporal world, but they live for a different eternal, spiritual reality.  God himself is true reality.  As he says to Moses when Moses asked God what shall I tell the people of Israel your name is? God answered, “I AM WHO I AM”…”Say to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me.”  (Exodus 3;13&14)
This is the manifest true reality Believers pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come”.   By these words,  Jesus  is teaching us of this different worldview.  Rightly understanding true reality is acknowledging the eternal and spiritual, the Lordship of God.  We live with a view for what is unseen by carnal eyes.  As Jesus said to Thomas,  “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” (John 20;29)
Walking in the ‘fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit’ is walking with spiritual vision.  We by faith see the coming kingdom of God and we live for that kingdom not any earthly one.  We live reverently and humbly seeking to serve and glorify God, proclaiming to this blind world, the Light of Life, revealed in Christ Jesus.  We live recognizing we are in a war zone.  We are the Church militant.  By faith, we with Saul are going out and coming in.  We go out IN Jesus’ name to make disciples, we come IN comforted by the forgiveness of sin, the mercy of God to us by the Spirit and the Word.
Do not think that only Saul was boldly proclaiming Jesus.  All God’s people did and continue to do this.The “peace” the Church had was from God, not this world.
Prayer:  Merciful Father bless us to live daily in true reality, in holy fear, and in the peace of Jesus.In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.”




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