The End of an Era: Prison and Trials

How Did We Get Here?

Review Each Era - Highlight the key moments and the fulfillment of prophecy throughout.

Creation The Old Testament begins when God created Adam and Eve in a perfect paradise. They later sinned and were driven out of the Garden of Eden, forced to live “by the sweat of [their] face” in an imperfect world (Gen 3:19). As their offspring multiplied, sin also multiplied. Eventually, humanity became so sinful that, as judgment, God destroyed the earth with a worldwide flood, preserving only Noah and his immediate family on the ark to repopulate the earth.

Sin kept its hold over humanity, however, and once again people forgot God. Patriarchs - As the years passed, God revealed Himself to Abraham (two thousand years before Christ), promising him a nation, many descendants, and a blessing that would ultimately extend to everyone on the earth. Abraham believed God and became the father of the Hebrew people. Abraham had a son, Isaac, and Isaac had a son, Jacob. The promises God made to Abraham were passed down through Isaac and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, and the promises were passed to all twelve sons, who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob and his family of about seventy people were living in the land of Canaan when a famine hit. They were forced to migrate to Egypt to get food. In time, they became so numerous that they were perceived as a threat by the Egyptian people, and the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrew people. Exodus After nearly four hundred years in Egypt, God raised up Moses to lead them out of captivity. With many astounding miracles, including the crossing of the Red Sea, they escaped Egypt and went to Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments. Shortly after. they rebelled against God again, refusing to enter the Promised Land because they feared giants living in the land, and as a judgment, wandered in the wilderness for the next forty years. Conquest Then Moses died, and under the leadership of Joshua, they entered the Promised Land and conquered it.

Judges Israel lived in the Promised Land in a loose governmental system ruled by judges for the next four hundred years. Samson and Samuel are among the most well-known judges. Kingdom Then Israel insisted on establishing a monarchy (approximately one thousand years before Christ), and the Hebrews were ruled by kings for the next four hundred years. Saul, David, and Solomon were the first three kings, who ruled over a united monarchy for 120 years (forty years each). When Solomon died, the nation divided over the issue of taxation. There was now a Northern Kingdom, which kept the name Israel because a majority (ten) of the tribes were loyal to the north, and a Southern Kingdom, which was called Judah, because Judah was the larger of the two southern tribes.

Exile Because of the accumulating sin of Israel, Assyria, a nation to the northeast, came and conquered Israel and scattered many of the people throughout that part of the world. About one hundred fifty years later, because of the accumulating sin of Judah, Babylonia came and conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, and took many of the people into captivity in Babylonia.

Return About seventy years later, Persia defeated Babylonia, who had previously defeated Assyria. Thus Persia now ruled from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the borders of India. The king of Persia allowed the Israelites living in captivity in Babylonia to return to Jerusalem to rebuild it. Fifty thousand people returned (approximately 500 years before Christ), rebuilt the city, rebuilt the temple, and restored ceremonial worship of God. Silence They continued to live that way for the next four hundred years. During that time, Persia fell to Greece, which in turn fell to Rome. Rome was ruling that part of the world when Jesus was born.

Gospel The ministry of Jesus was preceded by the ministry of His cousin, John the Baptist, who warned the Jews to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Then Jesus and His parents, Mary and Joseph, moved back to their hometown in Nazareth, in the northern part of the country, just west of the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus lived an apparently normal childhood until the age of thirty, when teachers, by Jewish custom, began their ministry. Jesus began His ministry in Judea; it was marked by both authoritative teaching and remarkable miracles.

Because of mounting opposition to His ministry on the part of the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus went north to the area around the Sea of Galilee, making Capernaum on the north shore His home base. Much of His three-year ministry was conducted in the area around Capernaum, though many events did not actually take place in Capernaum. Eventually, He went to Jerusalem and, because of the jealousy of the religious leaders, was soon crucified. Three days later He rose from the dead, and He showed Himself to His disciples several times over the next forty days. Then, with His disciples gathered around Him on the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem, He visibly ascended into heaven.

Church He had commissioned His disciples to take the new message of salvation through Christ to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (the surrounding regions), and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. The church was established in Jerusalem, and the first Christians were Jews. The church there was overseen by Jesus’ apostles. Missions The spread of the gospel to the surrounding area and uttermost parts of the earth was largely undertaken by the apostle Paul, who conducted missionary journeys into areas of Asia Minor and Greece. Finally, Paul was arrested and taken to Rome, where he was eventually executed for his faith. There were enough disciples, however, not only in Jerusalem, but also in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome that the message not only lived on, but it grew until it became the dominant world religion.

The faith spread to the rest of the world, which at that time meant cities around and outside the Roman Empire. After the fall of Jerusalem the Gospel went North and was established in Antioch and then West. Presumably Thomas spread the faith east and south to India. The main movement of faith, however, was west.

Overall by the 3rd century the gospel had been shared in every area within the Roman Empire

Who took over the spread and care of the ministries Paul poured his life into?

Specifically look at Church History, try to grasp the world spread and the local spread that occured directly following Pauls Death.

Why is This Significant for The Church

We become “doers not hearers” James 1:21-27

James 1:21–27 ESV

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

We quickly learn the importance of modeling those discipling us. (what happens if they cannot continue in the work of the ministry) 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2

1 Thessalonians 3:1–2 ESV

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,

Titus 1:4–5 ESV

To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

When does it become your turn?

As you are discipled, you will be given opportunities to exercise what you have learned in this faith and how it applies to your situation. You will be asked to take on significant responsibilities that the individual discipling you believes you can do even if you have never done it. You learn a deep dependency on God as you begin to step into ministry that you have not yet done. This dependency should continue as you become experienced in that service.

Where Do We Go Now?

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.