CHOSEN PEOPLE NOTES

 THE RIOT IN JERUSALEM

“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” 2When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: 3“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. 6“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ 8“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. 10“ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ 11My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. 12“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him. 14“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’ 17“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20And when the blood of your martyr ^a Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 21“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”22The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!” Acts 22:1-22 NIV

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:7-10 NIV

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and ALL peoples on earth will be blessed through you. ” Genesis 12:1–3, NIV.

 Isaac 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, Genesis 26:4 NIV

 Jacob All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.  15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:14–15 NIV.

 God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Acts 3:26, KJV

 Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Psalm 32:1 NIV. 

 You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ Exodus 19:6 NIV

The word of the Lord came to Jonah: 2“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3But Jonah ran away from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. Jonah 1:1-4 NIV

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5The Ninevites believed God.  Jonah 3:3 NIV

These people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.

They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’ Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good. Jeremiah 5: 23–25. NIV

 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out. Jeremiah 51: 34 BSB

 I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. Jeremiah 51:44 BSB.

 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. Acts 13:36 NIV

 David understood God’s plan, of how all nations of the earthwould be blessed through Abraham’s seed.

 God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us,  2That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 4Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth.  5Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 6Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. 7God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. Psalm 67:1-7 NKJV

 Not us and them but all of us, together. For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son

 Salvation is from the Jews. John 4:22 NIV

 Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.” Isaiah, 56:3 NIV

 “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7 NIV.

 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 2:28-29 NIV

 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” Galatians 3:7-9 NIV

 Solomon understood God’s plan, of how all nations of the earthwould be blessed through Abraham’s seed.

 I Chronicle 6

May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

22“When anyone wrongs their neighbor, hear and forgive.

24. “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinnedagainst you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, 25then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people .

26“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 27then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants,

28“When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 29and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel. Hear and forgive

 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 33then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, II Chronicles 6:32-33 NIV

 The Queen of Sheba, “But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard. 7How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 8Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the Lord your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.” II Chronicles 9:6-8 NIV

Rahab said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea ^a for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. ^b 11When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Joshua 2:9-11 NIV

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. II Timothy 1:7 KJV

The Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” 7So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives. II Kings 7:6-7 ESV

 Happy are the people whose God is the LORD! Psalm 144:15 NKJ 

 The joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 NIV

 III. Jesus tries to explain God’s plan to the religious leaders, of how all nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s seed.

 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. Its branches reached as far as the Sea, Psalm 80:8-11 NIV

 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.  Isaiah 5 NIV.

 There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.  35And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  36Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  37Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  38But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’  39So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.40“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” Matthew 21:33-41 NKJV

43“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  44Andwhoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 45Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they [h]perceived that He was speaking of them.  46But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet. Matthew 21:43-46 NKJV

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. I Peter 2:9 NIV

 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Matthew 21:43 NIV

 Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:7-10 NIV

 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. John 15:5 ESV

 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control;  Galatians 5:22-23 ESV