- Covered In His Dust
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- Acts Chapter 13 (part 4)
"When disciples followed a rabbi, they followed him closely so they would never be out of his sight, never be someplace where they couldn’t hear him speak. They followed him so closely that his sandals often kicked up dust."
May you be covered in His dust.
If this is your first time getting Covered in His Dust, WELCOME!
👉🏽 Read Chapter 13 HERE before reading my notes. If you don’t, my notes won’t make sense.
You can access previous notes on Acts and Luke HERE.
Good morning Saints! ☀️
Ten years after Paul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus, Paul is preaching his very first recorded sermon.
I don’t want to rush this, so we’re backing up just a bit and going through his entire sermon.
Let’s go.
So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:
“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.
Men of Israel (Jews) and you who fear God (Gentile converts to Judaism).
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
Paul explains that the gospel was first shared with the Jewish people because of God’s covenant with them, but now it is offered to everyone, including the Gentiles.
To us, the message Paul preaches probably feels familiar. We’ve read it, heard it, and reflected on it many times.
But we have to remember his audience—Jews and Gentiles who had no understanding of who Jesus was.
At that time, this message wasn’t just new…
it
was
radical.
Paul begins by anchoring the gospel message to the Old Testament Scriptures.
The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.
And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.
And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.
All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
Pay attention to this next verse. It’s significant.
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
The lineage of the Messiah through David was incredibly important to the Jews,
both in the time of Paul and even today, for those still waiting for the Messiah.
God’s covenant with David, known as the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:12-16), promised that one of David’s descendants would reign forever. This established the expectation that the Messiah would come through the line of David and would be a king who would restore Israel.
God’s promise to David through Nathan, the Prophet.
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
“When he commits iniquity,” 2 Samuel 7:14
He took on the punishment for our sins. He bore the "iniquity" of others so we could be made right with God.
It took Paul seven verses to get to the eighth, where he ties all the history of the Old Testament, including King David… to Jesus.
Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.
God delivered them all the way from Egypt to Jesus.
A decade of silent transformation.
During Paul's time in Tarsus, he was most likely teaching, drawing closer to God, studying the Scriptures, and uncovering Jesus in every book of the Law and the Prophets.
This period, often called “Paul’s Silent Years,” would have been a time of preparation and growth as God shaped him for the monumental mission of spreading the gospel to the Gentiles.
John the Baptist
Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
Some thought John was crazy.
We know John because of the Bible, but imagine what the people of his day must have thought of him!
John lived in the wilderness, wore camel’s hair, and ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6, Matthew 3:4). His bizarre lifestyle and passionate calls for repentance must have seemed strange and extreme.
Many saw him as a prophet.
Despite his eccentric behavior, many Jews recognized John as a prophet because of his powerful preaching and his call for repentance (Matthew 3:5-6). Even the religious leaders came to investigate him (John 1:19-28). Jesus himself declared John as the greatest prophet (Matthew 11:11).
Paul’s message about John.
Paul ties John’s ministry to Jesus by explaining that John wasn’t just a random preacher but someone preparing the way for the promised King. John himself denied being the Messiah, pointing to the one who would come after him (John 1:20-27). By referencing John, Paul connects their hopes for a Messiah with the fulfillment in Jesus.
Notice what Paul is doing in his sermon.
He’s quoting A LOT of scripture. And you’ll see he quotes or references Scripture in every book he wrote.
How often have you prayed, "God, use me for Your purpose"? Or said, “I want my life to bring glory to God”?
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am! Send me.'"
If that’s you,
stop making excuses. Open your Bible. Read it, study it, and let it transform you. Don’t just pray to be used—prepare to be used.
"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching."
“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
Calling it a tree instead of a cross was intentional and rich with meaning. For Paul’s Jewish audience, the word “tree” would immediately connect to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, where being hanged on a tree meant being cursed by God.
If Paul had said "cross," the audience might have focused on the Roman method of execution. Saying "tree" points them back to Jewish Scriptures and the idea of being cursed under God's Law.
Paul's Jewish listeners would have been super familiar with Deuteronomy 21:23 and would immediately understand the significance of calling it a tree. For them, it reinforced the gravity of Jesus' sacrifice—that He bore the curse of sin on behalf of all people.
And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’
Paul is referencing Psalm 2:7
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
When Paul says, “I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David,” quoting from Isaiah 55:3, he’s showing that God’s promises to David—an eternal kingdom and lasting blessings—are fulfilled in Jesus.
By raising Jesus from the dead, God proved that these promises weren’t just about David’s earthly kingdom but about something bigger: eternal life and salvation through Jesus.
What does “see corruption” mean?
"Corruption" refers to the natural process where a body breaks down after death. For most people, this happens as the body decays in the grave.
Therefore he says also in another psalm,
“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.
David, who wrote the psalm, experienced “corruption” because his body decayed after his death.
Paul is explaining that this prophecy wasn’t about David but about Jesus, whose body didn’t decay because Jesus rose from the dead before His body could decompose.
Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
This
is
huge
Paul is declaring that through Jesus, forgiveness of sins is finally possible—something the law of Moses could never fully offer. The law showed people their sin and their inability to meet God’s perfect standards, but it couldn’t free them from guilt or the power of sin.
Salvation isn’t about what we do, but about what Jesus has already done for us.
The Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus.
As Paul concludes his sermon, he delivers a final and serious warning, quoting the prophet Habakkuk to emphasize the gravity of rejecting God's incredible work.
Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
“‘Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”
In Acts:
Paul uses this verse to warn the crowd. The people in Habakkuk’s time failed to grasp God’s work, and now Paul warns them not to make the same mistake by rejecting what God is doing through Jesus.
"Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told."
In Habakkuk:
This prophecy originally refers to God using the Babylonians to bring judgment on Judah.
It was so unexpected and shocking that people found it hard to believe. It shows that God works in ways we don’t always understand.
We’ll wrap up Chapter 13 next week. There are ten verses left.
Jealousy, rejoicing, rejection, opposition, persecution, and salvation.
It’s all there.
See you next week!
One Minute Inspiration - I LOOOOOVE this one.
I love you,
George
Uncovering Scripture
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George Sisneros is a full-time missionary in Guatemala and the founder of Ordinary Missionaries and the El Rosario Christian Academy for Boys.
He’s been married to his wife, Vonda, for 26 years. He’s a father to nine children, five adopted.
In 2024, George and his wife expanded to Cuba, joining forces with nine pastors committed to transforming lives through the gospel.