Lesson III

In Acts 21, Paul meets a prophet named Agabus. He prophesies that the man who owns a particular belt will be delivered to the gentiles and killed. Paul is unafraid and goes to Jerusalem knowing full well what will happen if he goes. Paul's friends are afraid for him and beg him to stay despite the Spirit. Paul goes to Jerusalem and is beaten by the Jews for supposedly bringing a gentile into the temple and preaching contrary to what the Jews believe. He is saved from being beaten by the Roman guards after claiming his Roman birth rights.

Forgiveness

In 2 Corinthians, Paul teaches that rather than isolate and torment those that 'trespass' against us, we should forgive them and take care of them. He warns that they may fall into worse transgression or fall away if we do punish them. Interestingly enough, Christ gives us a little more incentive to forgive in the book of Mathew chapter 6.

 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Its a pretty great blessing to know that, when we forgive others, God will forgive us of our failings as well. To me this is great because, when we consider that God is willing to move past our faults, we have the opportunity to return to him, learn from him, and be more like him. However, it is also a dangerous warning. If we don't forgive others, God will not forgive us and we get hosed so to speak.

Lesson II

So, the biggest reason that I am doing this is because I have an assignment for my BYU-I class to do so. There were other options, however I feel that this allows me the most flexibility and record-ability and as such I will be keeping track of a few things on here.

Acts 12 Herod vs. Peter


What motivated them?
Herod sought attention from the Jews. The liked to persecute because it got the people riled up, but it also made them pay attention to him. Peter on the other hand, was motivated by his testimony and willingness to serve god. He knew what he stood for and no amount of persecution was going to stop him.
How did they deal with others?
After Peter was released from prison by an angel, Herod killed the guards that had been charged with guarding him. However, Peter declared that it was the Lord who had freed him from the prison.
How did God deal with them?
God smote Herod by the hand of an angel for not giving glory to God. Peter however, was freed from prison because of his righteousness. We also know that, because of his righteousness, Peter has now been resurrected and will, if he hasn’t already, become a King.