Prayers Early church

…THE Prayers Part 2

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This week we are finishing up the last of the 4 devotions or “pillars” of the early church.

Last week we covered the daily prayers which were prayed by both Jewish and Gentile believers throughout the 1st century and onward.

This week we examined the monthly, seasonal and Feast prayers.

We ended with an example of spontaneous prayer of the early church which they prayed from their home church, for Peter who was in prison scheduled to be executed.

We know and affirmed that the praying of these prayers was a matter of practicality for the early church in that they did not possess bibles, the New Covenant transition from the Old was still new and needed short, easily remembered prayers, creeds, liturgies and hymns to instill and remind everyone of the teachings of Jesus the Messiah. As such, I don’t know that they are necessary for much of the modern church, though we do practice similar techniques with our education of children in the faith.

Even though Paul encouraged the participation in the Feasts and prayers, even among the Gentile churches, they were never recorded as an apostolic command and so we do not teach it as such today. It IS however, a very helpful and instructional thing to participate in even now!

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Joy cautionary action

Cast your bread upon the Water

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This chapter begins with a very famous statement to “cast your bread upon the water”. I personally never understood this, since on the statement itself seems nonsensical. Upon a very simple word study, the passage reveals that this is actually a practical statement regarding commerce.

This introductory statement is used by Solomon to progressively move the reader towards advice encouraging bold decisiveness in matters of work and life, only tempered with wise caution.

This chapter seemlessly leads into Solomon’s conclusion to the entire book. It is where God’s INTENSIONS in inspiring the book and Solomon’s personal REASONS merge perfectly.

Verse 9 is literally the pivot point of the entire book. It is here that Solomon begins to bring in considerations of eternity, stewardship and accountability before God.

Chapter 11 through the beginning of 12 turns its attention towards the young since it is during this phase of life that many of these concepts are initially developed and lead to a lifestyle we live in.

Everyone, but especially the young, are encouraged the enjoy life but to temper their enthusiasm with reverence for the God – Who does and will bring them into account for those choices.

This chapter takes the entire book and turns it on its ear, making the ending of this writing a very interesting development which brings all of Solomon’s former thoughts – especially those which appear more scripturally rogue – back in line with the movement and point of all of scripture. Namely, reconciliation with and enjoyment of our relationship with our Creator!

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Devotion THE Prayers

…THE Prayers

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We have finally reached the 4th DEVOTION of the early church which was “and they devoted themselves to …THE prayers”!

Now this wording does not appear in the majority of English translations, but it should because it does in all of the earliest copies of Acts 2! The phrasing, (Greek: ταῖς προσευχαῖς, tais proseuchais) [Pronounced – tays pro-soo-chays] found in manuscripts like Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, includes the definite article.

This points to two conclusions:
Specific, established, or routine times of prayer rather than an unspecified, general spirit of prayerfulness.
That the prayers prayed were themselves liturgical and known, rather than spontaneous, informal and highly personalized communications with God.

This syntax of “the prayers” (ταῖς προσευχαῖς) provides a direct window into a life lived by the earliest of Christians which was a structured life of devotion.

When translations exclude things like this from a desire to make the text flow more naturally in English they do a huge disservice! It is a deletion of a very important clue in the text which invites investigation. I dare say most people, even Pastors and Teachers do not know this, since there is nothing in the typical English text to illicit further investigation.

If I were to say that I every day I listen to songs, it would not encourage questions. But if I were to say that everyday I listen THE songs, it begs the question, “What songs”? The same is true with this text.

The early church, unaided by church programs and denominational traditions, FOUND themselves inexorably drawn by the Holy Spirit to DEVOTE themselves to 4 things 0 the last of which were these prayers.

What were these prayers? The daily prayers were prayed 3 times a day and included the Lord’s Prayer, the Shema, the 18-19 blessings and a Psalm corresponding to each day of the week. In addition to this were seasonal prayers which corresponded to the Jewish calendar, the Feasts and the Festivals.

This happened throughout the 1st century. However due to difficulties in understanding, a concession was eventually made which unified the Jew and Gentiles so that their daily prayers were in unity. The Apostles who walked with Christ, condensed the 18-19 blessings down to the Lord’s Prayer which I address in the message. Everything else remained the same.

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King ruler fool

Of Fools & Rulers

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This chapter focuses upon foolish people, rulers and then rulers who are also foolish people.

The progression of the thoughts go from how very little foolishness it takes to completely undo veritable tons of wise actions.

It then goes on the rulers and our proper response to the authority God has invested in them as a stewardship.

Then, Solomon marries the two together and still concludes that it is wisdom for those under unjust and foolish rulers to never curse them – even in your thoughts.

The reasoning is that they may discover your view of them, but the greater New Covenant truth is that we bless and NEVER curse. We pray the goodness of God upon those who afflict us, because the goodness of God leads to repentance. Furthermore, we dare not harbor unchaste thoughts in our minds, but God dwells there.

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Bread Fellowship

Breaking the Bread of Fellowship Part 3

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In this message we wrapped up the 3rd of the 4 primary expressions of devotion throughout the initial church which was the daily Breaking of Bread from house to house.

As we have already covered in previous messages, this included both the Communion meal or Last Supper, and the Agape Feasts mentioned in scripture.

The early church understood in deep and penetrating ways the meaning behind their participation in the body and blood of the Lord in Communion. The modern church’s understanding of the same is infantile at best. So we went to Romans and spent some time with the basics of these truths.

In closing, we examined what little we know about the Agape Feasts of the early church. Scripture does not elaborate much and so we dare not turn something into mandated doctrine which was not recorded in inspired scripture. Nevertheless, we wanted to at least get a simple grasp of what these feasts were for and what occurred in them. So this is how we ended out time together today!

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