*** SHOW NOTES (not a transcript) ***

Lead:

What was preached before the New Testament was written down?

Intro:

Think about this: what we know of as the New Testament wasn’t written down right away, and then some bits were written earlier than others. And as we heard yesterday, reports of Jesus post-crucifixion appearance were really early — unlike what happens when myths develop over time. So what were people preaching between Jesus’ ascension into heaven and when letters, biographies, and accounts like the Book of Acts were written down (the stuff preachers today use when preaching). Stay tuned, that’s in our All Our Minds segment today.

IF you’re already connecting the dots, however, you will recall that yesterday we read that Peter preached a sermon and 3000 people converted. Today we’ll see the beginnings of what we’ll see throughout Acts — what it means to live a life, in community, that follows after Jesus.

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Bible Segment:

Passage: Acts 3-4
Translation: HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 63
Words: ~1468

All Our Minds Segment:

What was preached before there was a New Testament? Today will be a hopelessly short treatment of a big topic, so I trust you’ll give me some grace as I just pick off a few bullet points.

The earliest “creed” or confession: Jesus is Lord.
Paul said he received it (1 Cor 15); wrote to the Galatians that he corroborated his message with Peter and James. Gary Habermas believes that by this we can trace the creed back to within a few years of Jesus’ resurrection.
What is embedded in “Jesus is Lord?”
- Caesar is not. Nor am I.
- Jesus was resurrected.
- With a whole body, fully human before and after, alive, then dead, then alive.
- Requires confession and belief (trust).
- Results in salvation and transformation.

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Ro 10:9–13, NASB)

The bottom line

What was preached then is what should be preached now. The Bible isn’t a manual for how to live a better life, per se. As I heard Ravi Zacharias once say, “Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people live.” The whole Bible tells a united story that points to Jesus. Truth isn’t first a set of propositions, it’s a person. And as my pastor Josh White likes to say, “You’re not more broken than Jesus already knows you are.” And, “It’s the narrowness of the message that leads to infinite glory of God.”

Wisdom Segment:

Passage: Psalm 95-96
Translation: HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 24
Words: ~394

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

Thank you for supporting this ministry should you choose to use the Amazon affiliate link behind the citation.

No citations today, but here’s what we used yesterday: Gary R. Habermas, “Can Naturalistic Theories Account for the Resurrection?,” in The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith, ed. Ted Cabal et al. (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007), 1622. (link)

#905: Acts 3-4 | What was preached before the NT? | Psalm 95-96