The Puzzle (8 of 10)
Series: Upon This Rock
Jeff Strite
Acts 8:3-25
OPEN: People have created puzzles for centuries. There've been crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, Rubik's cube, and scads of others in all shapes and sizes. The better the puzzle, the more difficult it is to solve, and by that standard, one of the Holy Grails of such puzzles is this one: (https://goo.gl/images/2cMYwY). It's called ''Solomon's Seal'', or more appropriately - ''The IMPOSSIBLE Japanese puzzle'' because unless you know the secret ... it will impossible for you to solve it. I found a YouTube video that explained the puzzle and its solution - and it started out telling the story about a Japanese man who spent 10 years trying to solve this specific puzzle (apparently he didn't know how to do a google search):
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmnzcsi-WK8. Play from time marker: 0:48 to 3:35)
Did you notice: that unless you know the answer to the puzzle it's ALMOST impossible to do. There's only ONE way to solve the puzzle and you need to know the secret in order to solve it,
In our Scripture this morning, we're faced with a set of 3 ''puzzles''. They are riddles in the text that are almost impossible to figure out unless you understand what lies behind them. Unless you understand the ''secret''... the story makes no sense.
BUT (before we get to that) let's take a look at the story itself. The early church has been in existence for about a year or so now, and it has grown so dramatically that it now numbers in the 1000s. Everything seems to be going extremely well... but then the church meets with serious opposition.
A Godly Christian named Stephen has preached before the Sanhedrin and his message was so powerful and ''in your face'' that the Sanhedrin became furious and they dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death. This stoning of Stephen began the great persecution of the church.
One of the catalysts of that persecution was a young Pharisee named Saul (we k ...
Series: Upon This Rock
Jeff Strite
Acts 8:3-25
OPEN: People have created puzzles for centuries. There've been crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, Rubik's cube, and scads of others in all shapes and sizes. The better the puzzle, the more difficult it is to solve, and by that standard, one of the Holy Grails of such puzzles is this one: (https://goo.gl/images/2cMYwY). It's called ''Solomon's Seal'', or more appropriately - ''The IMPOSSIBLE Japanese puzzle'' because unless you know the secret ... it will impossible for you to solve it. I found a YouTube video that explained the puzzle and its solution - and it started out telling the story about a Japanese man who spent 10 years trying to solve this specific puzzle (apparently he didn't know how to do a google search):
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmnzcsi-WK8. Play from time marker: 0:48 to 3:35)
Did you notice: that unless you know the answer to the puzzle it's ALMOST impossible to do. There's only ONE way to solve the puzzle and you need to know the secret in order to solve it,
In our Scripture this morning, we're faced with a set of 3 ''puzzles''. They are riddles in the text that are almost impossible to figure out unless you understand what lies behind them. Unless you understand the ''secret''... the story makes no sense.
BUT (before we get to that) let's take a look at the story itself. The early church has been in existence for about a year or so now, and it has grown so dramatically that it now numbers in the 1000s. Everything seems to be going extremely well... but then the church meets with serious opposition.
A Godly Christian named Stephen has preached before the Sanhedrin and his message was so powerful and ''in your face'' that the Sanhedrin became furious and they dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death. This stoning of Stephen began the great persecution of the church.
One of the catalysts of that persecution was a young Pharisee named Saul (we k ...
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