Hello and welcome to the Women’s Weekly Bible Challenge! I’m Lisa Ann Spencer.
Today we will dive into our new study titled, When the
Holy Spirit Speaks to Women. As I
carefully explained in last week’s introduction, I am referring to God’s holy
word, preserved in our holy Bible, written for us to read so that we may hear
what the LORD has to say to us and learn from it.
We will begin in the
book of Acts and look at every reference where a woman is being addressed directly
by the Holy Spirit, through the written and preserved word of God, spoken by
the Apostles and Prophets.
FOUNDATION
It is important for us to lay down a contextual foundation for the book of
Acts. The book of Acts is one of the
most misused and misunderstood books in the Bible.
Acts is an historical account of Israel’s fall.
Consider the Four Gospels, which covered Jesus’s earthly
ministry to the nation of Israel. They
end with Christ’s ascension to heaven and Jesus’s instructions for the 12
Apostles to go into all the world, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and
healing all manner of sickness. They are
told to remain in Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Ghost which would give them the
power they needed to obey this commission.
If you skip the book of Acts and go directly to the book of
Romans, you will be shocked, surprised and utterly confused. The book of Romans begins with the word "Paul", and it is a letter written predominantly to Gentiles (Romans 11:13). That should cause you to pause and consider…
WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?
Who is Paul? Where
are Peter, James, John and the rest of the Twelve?
KNOWING THE TIMES
Consider the
timeline given in the book of Daniel.
Read Daniel 9:24-26
After Messiah was cut off, there only remained 7 years in
the prophecy to bring in everlasting righteousness. When we get to the book of Romans, 20
or more years have already passed since Messiah was cut off. Again, WHAT HAPPENED?
Also consider Romans 11:11-12, 15
Paul writes to Gentiles about Israel’s stumble, their fall, their diminishing, and their casting away. When did that happen? Not at the end of the Four Gospels because we were seeing thousands of Jews being saved!
WHAT HAPPENED?!
Something changed. Israel’s everlasting kingdom was not set up on earth. It is the book of Acts that teaches us what happened. The book of Acts informs us of the historical record of the nation of Israel’s fall. If you fail to understand this, the Bible will be a confusing jumble of random stories and events.
EARLY ACTS
We will begin this study of the Holy Spirit Speaking to Women in the early Acts period, but as we move forward in this study, we have to deal with the context or we will not understand WHY these
accounts are recorded for us.
Read Acts 1:13-14
The first women mentioned in the book of Acts are the women
from Galilee and Mary the mother of Jesus (see Luke 23:49 and 55; Mark15:40-41; Matthew 27:55-56).
Read Acts 2:1-4
The Holy Ghost was poured out upon ALL those who were
together, men and women. We know this
because Peter tells us that this is what the prophet Joel wrote about.
Read Acts 2:16-18
“Your daughters shall prophecy.” “On my handmaidens I will pour out my Spirit.” Women were included in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Speaking in tongues in this
passage is equal to prophesying. (Paul deals with women prophesying in the
letter to the Corinthians, which we will get to later on in this study.)
📔 NOTE: Speaking in
tongues, or unknown tongues, according to the Bible, is speaking in a known
language without having to take the time to learn it. When the disciples were
told to go into all the world, they would need this gift to be in operation
because Jesus would be returning SOON (Matthew 10:23). It sure would be handy if this gift still
operated today, then missionaries would not have to spend so much time learning
the languages of the cultures where they minister. This is one reason we know the gift is no
longer operating. However, we know that
this gift is no longer in operation because of the changes that took place during
the book of Acts, and because later Paul teaches that the gift will cease. It has ceased because we now have a
complete Bible.
I want to point out again that the early Acts period pertains only to the nation of Israel. Peter addresses Israel.:
- Acts 2:14 Men of Judea
- Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel
- Acts 2:36 All the house of Israel
By the way, the book of Joel that was quoted by Peter is written to and about the nation of Israel. So when he says that His Spirit will be poured out on all flesh, the flesh he is referring to is Israel’s, the audience to whom He is speaking. I would encourage you to read the little book of Joel. It is only 3 chapters long.
THE TEMPLE
The temple is the center of Jewish life and religion. The
location of early Acts ministry of the Twelve Apostles is in Jerusalem at the
Temple.
Read Acts 2:46. See also:
- Acts 3:1-11
- Acts 4:1
- Acts 5:20-25
There are no Gentiles
in view in the early Acts period! We
know this because Peter is forced by God to go into a Gentile’s house against his will in Acts
chapter 10. No one was preaching to Gentiles
in the early Acts period. And even after the Jews were scattered by the persecution,
we can read that they preached only Jews (See Acts 11:19).
THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE ADDRESSED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
Read Acts 5:1 And notice that important little word "But".
Before we dig into the account, let’s read Acts 4:32-37 to get
the context.
Believers of early Acts were:
- Of one heart and of one soul
- Possessing all things in common
- Selling their land and houses
- Distributing their goods to those in need
“BUT” is a huge word in Scripture. It indicates a contrast, as is very evident here. Up to this point things are going according to plan, even though the believers are experiencing persecution. The believers, who are water baptized and Holy Ghost filled, have perfect unity.
BUT…
This is the first sign of trouble WITHIN the Kingdom
program.
Read Acts 5:1-2
Q: WHY? Why did Ananias and Sapphira keep back part of the money?
A: Because they did not have faith that God would keep his word to Israel.
Peter had told them plainly in Acts 3:19-21 that if Israel repents that the
Lord would send Jesus Christ back, and He would restore all things according to
the Old Testament prophesies.
But Ananias and Sapphira wanted to keep some money to live on just in case God
didn’t keep His word.
We read what the
Holy Spirit says through Peter to Ananias in Acts 5:3-4.
The Holy Spirit gave Peter a word of knowledge; something that he could not have known otherwise. Ananias fell down dead, and his wife comes in later, not knowing that her husband is dead.
The Holy Spirit speaks
to Sapphira through the Apostle Peter in Acts 5:7-9
7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
This is severe, swift and unusual punishment.
STUDY THE DEATH PENALTY – “put to death”
If you study the death penalty in the Law of Moses you will find these two cases for the death penalty that may apply in this case:
Leviticus 24:16 - death penalty for blasphemy
Deuteronomy 13:5 - Death penalty for a prophet who speaks to turn people away from the LORD
Also consider Deuteronomy 17:7 - In this case, two witnesses were not needed because the God the Father, through the Holy Spirit knew the truth, and God put them to death, not men.
SUMMARY
Early Acts began with Jewish women of Galilee, who believed in the risen savior, Jesus, as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. They were of one heart with all believers, they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they prophesied in unknown languages.
Sapphira is one woman whose heart is filled with Satan and who very likely is a false prophet.
2 Peter 2:1
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Also consider I John 4:1 regarding there being many false prophets.
We'll conclude this week's study here, picking up Part 2 next week with Acts 6:1 and more trouble within the church. I hope you'll join me as we will also spend time studying one of the pivotal chapters in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 7 and the stoning of Stephen marks the beginning of the big transition that takes us from Peter's ministry to the Circumcision to Paul's ministry to the Uncircumcision.
This material is covered on my YouTube channel:
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