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Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.
Keep in mind your testimony when sharing your faith.
For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.
This is the apostles creed, which has been dated to as early as a few years, or even months of the Resurrection.
You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.
But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.
“Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Encouragement for those honestly seeking God.
Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
one will come from you
to be ruler over Israel for me.
His origin is from antiquity,
from ancient times.
Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
The scepter will not depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet
until he whose right it is comes
and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.
Jesus was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Luke 2:4-7) from Judah (Gen 49:10), which lost its tribal identity in 70 AD with the destruction of the temple.
For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.
During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!” After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days. On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.” She did this for many days.
Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.
When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”
The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully. Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”
The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.
When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.”
The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”
But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”
The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town. After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.
After they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.
But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king—Jesus.” The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.
As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and upsetting the crowds. Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to go to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed on there. Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.
And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.
In Romans 15:18-19, Paul mentions taking the ministry of the gospel of Christ “all the way around to Illyricum”. Illyricum was a province to the northwest of Macedonia, part of which is near modern day Albania.
When did this happen? It very likely was not during Paul’s second missionary journey, part of which is detailed in Acts 16:9-17:15, including his escape from Berea which took him to the coast (Acts 17:10-15). This doesn’t leave room for around to Illyricum. In Acts 20:2-3, which covers part of Paul’s third missionary journey, it does leave room for him to go to the southern region of Illyricum, and this is around when Romans was thought to have been written.
After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.
When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus all that they had done. He took them along and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.
On the surface, it’s curious that in John 6:1-6, Jesus asks Philip “where will we buy food so that these people can eat” at the feeding of the 5,000, because Philip isn’t mentioned very often, and there’s no clear reason to ask him. Judas might have made sense because he had the money, and Peter might have made sense as the leader of the disciples. So why Philip?
If we look at the parallel account in Luke 9:10, we see that this event takes place outside of Bethsaida - a detail that John doesn’t include.
However, if we recall from the beginning of John’s gospel, at John 1:43-44, we see that Philip was actually from Bethsaida; so the event is taking place just outside his home town. It therefore makes sense that Jesus is asking the hometown guy where food could be purchased to feed them.
They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews.
Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself.
So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen,
After he bought some linen cloth, Joseph took him down and wrapped him in the linen. Then he laid him in a tomb cut out of the rock and rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.
Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed.
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went away, amazed at what had happened.
These are passages on the cloths in which Jesus was buried. The mention of “linens”, plural, or “strips”, does not mean there could not have been a shroud. The strips may have been used to wrap the hands or jaw, and / or to secure the shroud.
Further, the greek may more accurately translate to shroud in some places. https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/n62part7.pdf
Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
http://apologeticsguy.com/2019/05/1-peter-3-15/