Exodus 34:23 Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.

These three pilgrimage festivals are Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. It was a Jewish tradition held at the time of Christ. These traditions were handed down from father to son and may well have been the only time these men presented themselves before God.

This sounds vaguely familiar to a common practice among Christians in my youth. There were many that only went to church on the holidays, Christmas and Easter. What happened with these men in the 1^st century and with my modern counterparts is a mystery. I know nothing about the lives of either.

That is problematic from our call to make disciples. God used the Pilgrimage Festival Pentecost to change the lives of the men that came to honor tradition and found the power of God alive before their eyes.

I don’t get to judge the lives of the two timers, for they did not invite me into their homes to observe their daily lives. I cannot imagine the thought process that said “Twice a year is enough for me.”

For that matter, is once a week enough? How about twice a week? Fellowship is about gathering together with fellow believers and encouraging and exhorting one another. Or is it? My views about what ought to happen are my observances not unlike the 1^st century Jewish observances. They are my personal reasons.

Romans 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

I have to live with myself. My relationship with my Lord is personal and I cannot expect anyone else to hold my traditions and festivals. Living a life of faith means allowing that faith to direct my actions, daily if not hourly.

What does your faith mean to you?

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

Perceptions can be deceiving. Peter and John were given utterances by the power of the Holy Spirit at this time. It was not as if they were speaking from any education of that day. They were common men.

This passage gave rise to my questioning the education status of the Jews of that day. If Peter and John were common among the men of that day, then education in the scriptures would have been minimal if not dismal.

They were uncommon in that they had been with Jesus for three years. They learned much in that time and there was a fringe group who followed Jesus and heard much of what He had to teach. If John 6:66 is to be believed many of those in the outer layer of followers stopped following Jesus.

The majority of 1^st century Christians fell into that group of common uneducated believers. In this they could relate to Peter and John, but how is it these uneducated men and women, some who did not read or speak Hebrew came to know the scriptures?

Some speak of oral traditions and this may have some validity, but Paul encouraged believers to read the scriptures. Even in that, what existed within the reading realm of the 1^st century Christians?

My imperfect understand of the times and scriptures available to the 1^st century Christian adds nothing to my present studies except for one thing. The Holy Spirit was moving in great power in the 1^st century church. Nothing significant was said about how Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos in righteousness, only that they did.

How they knew the Word of truth is exactly the same way you and I have access to the truth. The Holy Spirit is our source of truth.