Acts 16
Paul’s Second Missionary Journey
1 Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 Timothy was well thought of by the believers[a] in Lystra and Iconium, 3 so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek. 4 Then they went from town to town, instructing the believers to follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day.
A Call from Macedonia
6 Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. 7 Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia,[b] but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. 8 So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.
9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we[c] decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.
Lydia of Philippi Believes in Jesus
11 We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. 12 From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. 14 One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. 15 She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.
Paul and Silas in Prison
16 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.
19 Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. 20 “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. 21 “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.”
22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.
25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” 32 And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. 33 Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. 34 He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
35 The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” 36 So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison—and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!”
38 When the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. 40 When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town.
Footnotes:
Acts 16:2 Greek brothers; also in 16:40.
Acts 16:7 Phrygia, Galatia, Asia, Mysia, and Bithynia were all districts in what is now Turkey.
Acts 16:10 Luke, the writer of this book, here joined Paul and accompanied him on his journey.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin to Today to Acts 15
What is the point of circumcision? Sometimes when we look at the law, we miss the point. Sometimes when we follow the law, as a written set of rules, we also miss the point.
A major point of circumcision is that there’s a mark on one’s body, and mark from a request made by God, followed by obedient action in a human, right where it really counts and in the place where more of the same person is made again or reproduced. Circumcision here is more about what it represents than what is done physically. This is the difference between religion and relationship. One goes through a motion not knowing its meaning or symbolism, the other knows why and does it, even if it’s hard, anyway.
It represents the cutting away of flesh natured actions right in the place God meant everything to happen through the multiplication of human beings. God wants His will in the earth accomplished through human beings and every human being they make after their own kind. He wants His will, and the desire to do His will, to be spread by modeled action throughout all humanity (as in “Here watch me” and in that the desires in others are stirred to do what was done to be there). That takes a sacrifice a cutting away of my own flesh natured thoughts and actions.
A human who does the will of God, can’t do his own will. He can’t just do whatever he wants at any given time, because he gave his life up to God for the kingdom of God’s sake.
He decided to love others better than he loves himself. He decided to be markedly different in his behaviors and the way he lives and raises his kids. It is markedly different. There is a visible difference made on purpose in answer to the call of God. It was done in a very sensitive and intimate place and in a male’s body. That means men are asked to lead in this different kind of living. They are to reproduce God life in others rather than set an example of dog eat dog, selfish life, in others. They initiate self sacrifice, by a living example.
They were willing to cut their own flesh for it and the flesh of their seed that would come after them, rather than slaying others with their dictatorial selfishness they lay down their own for the good of others, especially of their own family.
God asked it of them and whether they know it or not they are accountable to it before God. The scars show the enemy that they answered God’s request.
They are covenant scars. Covenant says, “Your good at my expense!”
They bear on their own bodies, in a place only intimate people see the marks of, the Lordship of Christ. They did not scar themselves on their faces for all to see, they scarred themselves where only God and possibly members of their family would see. The changes God required of them would first be seen in their own households. That’s what God desired it for, home and the most intimate relationships first. A visible sign to those he covenants with, that he is a man after God’s will and he loves God’s will enough to have bled for it!
It says, “I don’t own myself, I’ve chosen to give up my life as a willing slave to God’s will, plans and purposes. I choose love no matter what. Your good at my expense.”
Can someone live that way without being cut in their flesh? Yes they can. That’s what the disciples were saying.
Can someone be cut that way and still live for themselves? Yes they can. That is also what the disciples were saying.
The proof of being “cut” and bearing scars will be shown in your family and intimate relationships. People close to you will know if you are dead or alive unto yourself. Their happiness with you will show others if your covenant was validated by the death of self, or not.
You could be cut, but if you did not willingly die in attitude, submitting your self life to others, the world will know it. They can look at your family, your co-workers, your friends, your neighbors and tell. It is shown in the fruit of your life.
God is looking for those who lay down their lives for others and the others know it personally, they feel the security of God’s unconditional love through you. You are a circumcised covenant “man”. It is done in the intimate place, but everyone sees the fruit. (like a child conceived – everyone sees the pregnant belly and then the living child)
We must be oh so careful to not use God’s righteous royal covenant laws to slay people to show how much we know more than they do, or how much more we are following God closer than they are. His laws are to govern our own hearts and minds, to keep us within the bounds of our own covenant with God, they protect and guide us into truth, the truth that makes us love people who need Him and do not understand His ways yet.
With the law of God, whom we are impassionate for, we slay our own selves and show the world how to live. His laws become attractive in living form as we show forth the produce or products of the law at work in us personally. Things such as love and joy, and peace and patience, and kindness and endurance, etc.; These are evidences of my revelation of the sacrifice of love at work in me. They are characteristics of his kingdom rule at work in me. It’s not my insistence on things my way that is in full bloom in me, it is that I step out of the way daily, allowing His work to be done in a through me, instead of my own work at the forefront. I submit to the ways of His kingdom, because I am made to be a kingdom ambassador through my own obedience to the King’s will.
It does not matter my race, color, or language or my original culture. If I have come under the Kingship and Lordship of Christ willingly, I live in a new way. I struggle when I try to bring the old ways of my own culture into His. It is not allowed and it is illegal alien-ship and I become an enemy of His kingdom when I say things in haste like, “ I’m all in”, but I’m not and it is clearly known by my actions and words spoken.
Anyone from anywhere can find asylum in this kingdom. They just have to come in and be made new, everyday. Jew or Gentile alike, we are both the same if we find ourselves inside of and made one with the covenant practices of his love. I am known by my actions and behaviors, whether I’m of the circumcision or not. It is known in my reproduction and in the work I do with others.
Why would I be troubled by a decision to no longer have others wear marks on their skin as an outward sign? Maybe because I’m not ready to be branded on the heart? Maybe it isn’t on my own heart yet and I want to be at liberty to look like and call myself a Christian, but not really be one on the inside.
Religion exalts man through good outward works, but Jesus described it as whitewashed tombs. That’s a pretty vivid picture there. You look good on the outside, but inside you are as good as dead unto the true desires of God. Religious people do not like change unless they initiate it. If they initiate it, it is ok, but when God or someone else who God subtly uses does, they get upset and offended. They want to sit on the seat of God and do not readily accept anyone telling them what to do.
Jesus upset a few religious man-centered ideas and overturned the tables of earning their own way to god-ship. Religion says look at me, and all that I’ve done in making my way to God. It tries to tell people what they don’t yet know, rather than who they can know.
It points fingers and blames. Blaming is a sure sign of religious thinking and response. Religion looks more outwardly than inwardly.
Your good, at my expense.
That’s relationship, with God exemplified everyday to those around me, if I truly bear the marks of the Lordship of Christ in my body. They may be invisible marks, but they have been cut very deeply into the covenant soul and their fruits are never invisible, in fact they heal nations and peoples. They are for people who pass by to eat off of my tree, for my tree is not my tree at all. It belongs to Him; it is his I gave my own life up for it. It cost a lot, but is worth every penny! Amen.
A major point of circumcision is that there’s a mark on one’s body, and mark from a request made by God, followed by obedient action in a human, right where it really counts and in the place where more of the same person is made again or reproduced. Circumcision here is more about what it represents than what is done physically. This is the difference between religion and relationship. One goes through a motion not knowing its meaning or symbolism, the other knows why and does it, even if it’s hard, anyway.
It represents the cutting away of flesh natured actions right in the place God meant everything to happen through the multiplication of human beings. God wants His will in the earth accomplished through human beings and every human being they make after their own kind. He wants His will, and the desire to do His will, to be spread by modeled action throughout all humanity (as in “Here watch me” and in that the desires in others are stirred to do what was done to be there). That takes a sacrifice a cutting away of my own flesh natured thoughts and actions.
A human who does the will of God, can’t do his own will. He can’t just do whatever he wants at any given time, because he gave his life up to God for the kingdom of God’s sake.
He decided to love others better than he loves himself. He decided to be markedly different in his behaviors and the way he lives and raises his kids. It is markedly different. There is a visible difference made on purpose in answer to the call of God. It was done in a very sensitive and intimate place and in a male’s body. That means men are asked to lead in this different kind of living. They are to reproduce God life in others rather than set an example of dog eat dog, selfish life, in others. They initiate self sacrifice, by a living example.
They were willing to cut their own flesh for it and the flesh of their seed that would come after them, rather than slaying others with their dictatorial selfishness they lay down their own for the good of others, especially of their own family.
God asked it of them and whether they know it or not they are accountable to it before God. The scars show the enemy that they answered God’s request.
They are covenant scars. Covenant says, “Your good at my expense!”
They bear on their own bodies, in a place only intimate people see the marks of, the Lordship of Christ. They did not scar themselves on their faces for all to see, they scarred themselves where only God and possibly members of their family would see. The changes God required of them would first be seen in their own households. That’s what God desired it for, home and the most intimate relationships first. A visible sign to those he covenants with, that he is a man after God’s will and he loves God’s will enough to have bled for it!
It says, “I don’t own myself, I’ve chosen to give up my life as a willing slave to God’s will, plans and purposes. I choose love no matter what. Your good at my expense.”
Can someone live that way without being cut in their flesh? Yes they can. That’s what the disciples were saying.
Can someone be cut that way and still live for themselves? Yes they can. That is also what the disciples were saying.
The proof of being “cut” and bearing scars will be shown in your family and intimate relationships. People close to you will know if you are dead or alive unto yourself. Their happiness with you will show others if your covenant was validated by the death of self, or not.
You could be cut, but if you did not willingly die in attitude, submitting your self life to others, the world will know it. They can look at your family, your co-workers, your friends, your neighbors and tell. It is shown in the fruit of your life.
God is looking for those who lay down their lives for others and the others know it personally, they feel the security of God’s unconditional love through you. You are a circumcised covenant “man”. It is done in the intimate place, but everyone sees the fruit. (like a child conceived – everyone sees the pregnant belly and then the living child)
We must be oh so careful to not use God’s righteous royal covenant laws to slay people to show how much we know more than they do, or how much more we are following God closer than they are. His laws are to govern our own hearts and minds, to keep us within the bounds of our own covenant with God, they protect and guide us into truth, the truth that makes us love people who need Him and do not understand His ways yet.
With the law of God, whom we are impassionate for, we slay our own selves and show the world how to live. His laws become attractive in living form as we show forth the produce or products of the law at work in us personally. Things such as love and joy, and peace and patience, and kindness and endurance, etc.; These are evidences of my revelation of the sacrifice of love at work in me. They are characteristics of his kingdom rule at work in me. It’s not my insistence on things my way that is in full bloom in me, it is that I step out of the way daily, allowing His work to be done in a through me, instead of my own work at the forefront. I submit to the ways of His kingdom, because I am made to be a kingdom ambassador through my own obedience to the King’s will.
It does not matter my race, color, or language or my original culture. If I have come under the Kingship and Lordship of Christ willingly, I live in a new way. I struggle when I try to bring the old ways of my own culture into His. It is not allowed and it is illegal alien-ship and I become an enemy of His kingdom when I say things in haste like, “ I’m all in”, but I’m not and it is clearly known by my actions and words spoken.
Anyone from anywhere can find asylum in this kingdom. They just have to come in and be made new, everyday. Jew or Gentile alike, we are both the same if we find ourselves inside of and made one with the covenant practices of his love. I am known by my actions and behaviors, whether I’m of the circumcision or not. It is known in my reproduction and in the work I do with others.
Why would I be troubled by a decision to no longer have others wear marks on their skin as an outward sign? Maybe because I’m not ready to be branded on the heart? Maybe it isn’t on my own heart yet and I want to be at liberty to look like and call myself a Christian, but not really be one on the inside.
Religion exalts man through good outward works, but Jesus described it as whitewashed tombs. That’s a pretty vivid picture there. You look good on the outside, but inside you are as good as dead unto the true desires of God. Religious people do not like change unless they initiate it. If they initiate it, it is ok, but when God or someone else who God subtly uses does, they get upset and offended. They want to sit on the seat of God and do not readily accept anyone telling them what to do.
Jesus upset a few religious man-centered ideas and overturned the tables of earning their own way to god-ship. Religion says look at me, and all that I’ve done in making my way to God. It tries to tell people what they don’t yet know, rather than who they can know.
It points fingers and blames. Blaming is a sure sign of religious thinking and response. Religion looks more outwardly than inwardly.
Your good, at my expense.
That’s relationship, with God exemplified everyday to those around me, if I truly bear the marks of the Lordship of Christ in my body. They may be invisible marks, but they have been cut very deeply into the covenant soul and their fruits are never invisible, in fact they heal nations and peoples. They are for people who pass by to eat off of my tree, for my tree is not my tree at all. It belongs to Him; it is his I gave my own life up for it. It cost a lot, but is worth every penny! Amen.
Lena Posts TRC's Daily Bread Reading for Today - Acts 15
1 While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the Christians F78 : "Unless you keep the ancient Jewish custom of circumcision taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 Paul and Barnabas, disagreeing with them, argued forcefully and at length. Finally, Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. F79 They told them – much to everyone's joy – that the Gentiles, too, were being converted. 4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported on what God had been doing through their ministry. 5 But then some of the men who had been Pharisees before their conversion stood up and declared that all Gentile converts must be circumcised and be required to follow the law of Moses.
6 So the apostles and church elders got together to decide this question. 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: "Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God, who knows people's hearts, confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he gave him to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he also cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 Why are you now questioning God's way by burdening the Gentile believers F80 with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the special favor of the Lord Jesus." 12 There was no further discussion, and everyone listened as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 When they had finished, James stood and said, "Brothers, listen to me. 14 Peter F81 has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. 15 And this conversion of Gentiles agrees with what the prophets predicted. For instance, it is written: 16 'Afterward I will return, and I will restore the fallen kingdom of David. From the ruins I will rebuild it, and I will restore it, 17 so that the rest of humanity might find the Lord, including the Gentiles – all those I have called to be mine. This is what the Lord says, 18 he who made these things known long ago.' F82 19 And so my judgment is that we should stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 except that we should write to them and tell them to abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from sexual immorality, and from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals. 21 For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations."
22 Then the apostles and elders and the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders F83 – Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas. 23 This is the letter they took along with them: "This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings! 24 "We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but they had no such instructions from us. 25 So it seemed good to us, having unanimously agreed on our decision, to send you these official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 So we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you what we have decided concerning your question. 28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these requirements: 29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell." 30 The four messengers went at once to Antioch, where they called a general meeting of the Christians and delivered the letter. 31 And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message. 32 Then Judas and Silas, both being prophets, spoke extensively to the Christians, encouraging and strengthening their faith. 33 They stayed for a while, and then Judas and Silas were sent back to Jerusalem, with the blessings of the Christians, to those who had sent them. F84 34 F144 35 Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch to assist many others who were teaching and preaching the word of the Lord there.
36 After some time Paul said to Barnabas, "Let's return to each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are getting along." 37 Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. 38 But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not shared in their work. 39 Their disagreement over this was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. 40 Paul chose Silas, and the believers sent them off, entrusting them to the Lord's grace. 41 So they traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia to strengthen the churches there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F78: Greek brothers; also in 15:32, 33.
F79: Greek brothers; also in 15:23, 36, 40.
F80: Greek disciples.
F81: Greek Simon.
F82: Amos 9:11-12; Isa 45:21.
F83: Greek were leaders among the brothers.
F84: Some manuscripts add verse 34, But Silas decided to stay there.
F144: Some manuscripts add But Silas decided to stay there.
The New Living Translation
6 So the apostles and church elders got together to decide this question. 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: "Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God, who knows people's hearts, confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he gave him to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he also cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 Why are you now questioning God's way by burdening the Gentile believers F80 with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the special favor of the Lord Jesus." 12 There was no further discussion, and everyone listened as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 When they had finished, James stood and said, "Brothers, listen to me. 14 Peter F81 has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. 15 And this conversion of Gentiles agrees with what the prophets predicted. For instance, it is written: 16 'Afterward I will return, and I will restore the fallen kingdom of David. From the ruins I will rebuild it, and I will restore it, 17 so that the rest of humanity might find the Lord, including the Gentiles – all those I have called to be mine. This is what the Lord says, 18 he who made these things known long ago.' F82 19 And so my judgment is that we should stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 except that we should write to them and tell them to abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from sexual immorality, and from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals. 21 For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations."
22 Then the apostles and elders and the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders F83 – Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas. 23 This is the letter they took along with them: "This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings! 24 "We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but they had no such instructions from us. 25 So it seemed good to us, having unanimously agreed on our decision, to send you these official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 So we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you what we have decided concerning your question. 28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these requirements: 29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell." 30 The four messengers went at once to Antioch, where they called a general meeting of the Christians and delivered the letter. 31 And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message. 32 Then Judas and Silas, both being prophets, spoke extensively to the Christians, encouraging and strengthening their faith. 33 They stayed for a while, and then Judas and Silas were sent back to Jerusalem, with the blessings of the Christians, to those who had sent them. F84 34 F144 35 Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch to assist many others who were teaching and preaching the word of the Lord there.
36 After some time Paul said to Barnabas, "Let's return to each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are getting along." 37 Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. 38 But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not shared in their work. 39 Their disagreement over this was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. 40 Paul chose Silas, and the believers sent them off, entrusting them to the Lord's grace. 41 So they traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia to strengthen the churches there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F78: Greek brothers; also in 15:32, 33.
F79: Greek brothers; also in 15:23, 36, 40.
F80: Greek disciples.
F81: Greek Simon.
F82: Amos 9:11-12; Isa 45:21.
F83: Greek were leaders among the brothers.
F84: Some manuscripts add verse 34, But Silas decided to stay there.
F144: Some manuscripts add But Silas decided to stay there.
The New Living Translation
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' for Today
I’ve subconsciously thought somehow that when we decided to engage our gift of Holy Boldness, by personally obeying God, all will just fall into order and all who we obediently speak to will instantly believe and the universe will instantly respond to our obedience? We learn from the experiences of these men who were bold before we ever knew Christ. The universe is still taking its time to respond to the work of the cross and the free gift given it by God who sent His only Son, Jesus Christ.
There’s always a cost of truth. Someone has to pay. Jesus paid for what God had hoped and dreamed of, that it could actually become a reality to any man who would believe and walk in the truth. It was impossible to do before He came and paid that price. Our boldness gives out the offer of the acceptance of this truth.
We must obey God in Holy Boldness no matter what anyone ever does with it. If they reject our message, or if they hate us for delivering it, or if they don’t like the way we say it, or cannot stand our personality. If they beat us up or kill us, our portion is before God and not men. We stand in righteousness as His own faithful messengers who will deliver His will no matter what.
Many times I’ve immaturely thought that as I give I’ll have solved some sort of problem and my obedience will activate the answer and bring the result right there, right then. My motivator wanted to see an instantaneous result. My motivator needed adjustments made to see into the realm of the planting of eternal seed and being a mere “messenger boy”, boldly, not considering the instantaneous result.
Even if people feel to debate the word, it is not subject to debate. It is truth, no matter what we think about what we hear. It is for receiving or rejecting. The Lord narrows our choices down. The Lord sums it up saying, “All of these choices that you are pondering, they belong in this one category - rejection of Me. The only other choice is reception. Choose reception, that you and your seed may live, forever.”
Narrow is the way that leads to eternal life, and few are they who will truly walk that way, and go there, and stay there, and who Live and die there.
Narrow means laden with obstacles. People like to go on Easy Street, only to find eternally it was called Broadway and led to destruction!
There are some who will listen and immediately faith will arise. Be bold no matter the outward response. Seize every opportunity for Christ.
Sacrifice your own life. Live as a dead man.
Don’t let anyone worship you, as much as is in you, bring pride down. Let God arise, and as His enemies scatter. Bow down and say, “Thank you, Lord, now what else do you have for me to be a part of doing?” We are vessels of the Lord, bodies He can use because we yield to His work, and we’ve allowed Him to do His will in us. The body that yielded to His will, can disappear in a day and its opportunity for use can be taken in a moment. The only true power we have is in yielding to God. Give it up. The struggle of power lies in who we yield ourselves slaves to the use of. Who are we given over to?
It amazes me that Paul was beaten and rose up and went back for more bold living. I felt so happy when I read it. It was like his first real test of faith and he so passed. That was a hard one. I bet compassion rose in him as he saw firsthand the persecution, but knew of the great love that endures all things.
I don’t think anyone can have that kind of love in all humanness, but knowing Jesus and the love of the Father personally supersedes all flesh natured love. Paul knew Jesus, though he’d not spent the same 3 years with Him physically that the apostles did. We too can know Him as Paul did, and make Him known through this intense personal love
There’s always a cost of truth. Someone has to pay. Jesus paid for what God had hoped and dreamed of, that it could actually become a reality to any man who would believe and walk in the truth. It was impossible to do before He came and paid that price. Our boldness gives out the offer of the acceptance of this truth.
We must obey God in Holy Boldness no matter what anyone ever does with it. If they reject our message, or if they hate us for delivering it, or if they don’t like the way we say it, or cannot stand our personality. If they beat us up or kill us, our portion is before God and not men. We stand in righteousness as His own faithful messengers who will deliver His will no matter what.
Many times I’ve immaturely thought that as I give I’ll have solved some sort of problem and my obedience will activate the answer and bring the result right there, right then. My motivator wanted to see an instantaneous result. My motivator needed adjustments made to see into the realm of the planting of eternal seed and being a mere “messenger boy”, boldly, not considering the instantaneous result.
Even if people feel to debate the word, it is not subject to debate. It is truth, no matter what we think about what we hear. It is for receiving or rejecting. The Lord narrows our choices down. The Lord sums it up saying, “All of these choices that you are pondering, they belong in this one category - rejection of Me. The only other choice is reception. Choose reception, that you and your seed may live, forever.”
Narrow is the way that leads to eternal life, and few are they who will truly walk that way, and go there, and stay there, and who Live and die there.
Narrow means laden with obstacles. People like to go on Easy Street, only to find eternally it was called Broadway and led to destruction!
There are some who will listen and immediately faith will arise. Be bold no matter the outward response. Seize every opportunity for Christ.
Sacrifice your own life. Live as a dead man.
Don’t let anyone worship you, as much as is in you, bring pride down. Let God arise, and as His enemies scatter. Bow down and say, “Thank you, Lord, now what else do you have for me to be a part of doing?” We are vessels of the Lord, bodies He can use because we yield to His work, and we’ve allowed Him to do His will in us. The body that yielded to His will, can disappear in a day and its opportunity for use can be taken in a moment. The only true power we have is in yielding to God. Give it up. The struggle of power lies in who we yield ourselves slaves to the use of. Who are we given over to?
It amazes me that Paul was beaten and rose up and went back for more bold living. I felt so happy when I read it. It was like his first real test of faith and he so passed. That was a hard one. I bet compassion rose in him as he saw firsthand the persecution, but knew of the great love that endures all things.
I don’t think anyone can have that kind of love in all humanness, but knowing Jesus and the love of the Father personally supersedes all flesh natured love. Paul knew Jesus, though he’d not spent the same 3 years with Him physically that the apostles did. We too can know Him as Paul did, and make Him known through this intense personal love
Lena Posts TRC's Daily Bread for Today - Acts 14
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium
1In Iconium, F75 Paul and Barnabas went together to the synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Gentiles believed. 2But the Jews who spurned God's message stirred up distrust among the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas, saying all sorts of evil things about them. 3The apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. The Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4But the people of the city were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
5A mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them. 6When the apostles learned of it, they fled for their lives. They went to the region of Lycaonia, to the cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area, 7and they preached the Good News there.
Paul and Barnabas in Lystra and Derbe
8While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. 9He was listening as Paul preached, and Paul noticed him and realized he had faith to be healed. 10So Paul called to him in a loud voice, "Stand up!" And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.
11When the listening crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, "These men are gods in human bodies!" 12They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul, because he was the chief speaker, was Hermes. 13The temple of Zeus was located on the outskirts of the city. The priest of the temple and the crowd brought oxen and wreaths of flowers, and they prepared to sacrifice to the apostles at the city gates.
14But when Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, 15"Friends, F76 why are you doing this? We are merely human beings like yourselves! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. 16In earlier days he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, 17but he never left himself without a witness. There were always his reminders, such as sending you rain and good crops and giving you food and joyful hearts." 18But even so, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.
19Now some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and turned the crowds into a murderous mob. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, apparently dead. 20But as the believers F77 stood around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch of Syria
21After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned again to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, 22where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that they must enter into the Kingdom of God through many tribulations. 23Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church and prayed for them with fasting, turning them over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had come to trust. 24Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia. 25They preached again in Perga, then went on to Attalia.
26Finally, they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun and where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported about their trip, telling all that God had done and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too. 28And they stayed there with the believers in Antioch for a long time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F75: Iconium, as well as Lystra and Derbe (14:6), were cities in the land now called Turkey.
F76: Greek Men.
F77: Greek disciples; also in 14:22, 28.
1In Iconium, F75 Paul and Barnabas went together to the synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Gentiles believed. 2But the Jews who spurned God's message stirred up distrust among the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas, saying all sorts of evil things about them. 3The apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. The Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4But the people of the city were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
5A mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them. 6When the apostles learned of it, they fled for their lives. They went to the region of Lycaonia, to the cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area, 7and they preached the Good News there.
Paul and Barnabas in Lystra and Derbe
8While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. 9He was listening as Paul preached, and Paul noticed him and realized he had faith to be healed. 10So Paul called to him in a loud voice, "Stand up!" And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.
11When the listening crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, "These men are gods in human bodies!" 12They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul, because he was the chief speaker, was Hermes. 13The temple of Zeus was located on the outskirts of the city. The priest of the temple and the crowd brought oxen and wreaths of flowers, and they prepared to sacrifice to the apostles at the city gates.
14But when Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, 15"Friends, F76 why are you doing this? We are merely human beings like yourselves! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. 16In earlier days he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, 17but he never left himself without a witness. There were always his reminders, such as sending you rain and good crops and giving you food and joyful hearts." 18But even so, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.
19Now some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and turned the crowds into a murderous mob. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, apparently dead. 20But as the believers F77 stood around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch of Syria
21After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned again to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, 22where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that they must enter into the Kingdom of God through many tribulations. 23Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church and prayed for them with fasting, turning them over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had come to trust. 24Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia. 25They preached again in Perga, then went on to Attalia.
26Finally, they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun and where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported about their trip, telling all that God had done and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too. 28And they stayed there with the believers in Antioch for a long time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F75: Iconium, as well as Lystra and Derbe (14:6), were cities in the land now called Turkey.
F76: Greek Men.
F77: Greek disciples; also in 14:22, 28.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 13 Today
So why would the Holy Spirit need to appoint human messengers to go to preach to His church body? Have you ever thought about that? I’ve heard it stated that 80 or so percent of the Bible’s words are written to people who call themselves followers of God. Yet we find it laden with a call to discipleship, consecration, and holiness. Its words are not speaking to people who do not yet know of God, it speaks to those who think they do!
The Holy Spirit anointed and appointed two men and other helpers to go into His church and bring a living word for the church to follow. I noticed today 4 different races, cultures and backgrounds represented in the messengers who were sent to the religious mindset of the day.
Only one was a religious man, in the sense of his own life being dedicated to the study of scripture and its laws. That man had to be taken off of his high horse, arrested by God’s spirit, awakened and completely changed before the Holy Spirit sent him back into the very church he’d served. What he’d been raised to think that seemed to be what was correct and righteous and good, was all waste to God’s own plan.
The men would come from different backgrounds, but they would not live in His kingdom with the flavor of any of those backgrounds. The old would pass away and the newness of Kingdom of God citizenship would present itself through Him to the world. God would not allow them to go anywhere with His message, if they did not get the new “law” written upon their minds and hearts, the law of the spirit of Christ Jesus had to be written on their hearts a new.
Fasting brings separation. One must see to separate. Such as with a bad relationship one should separate from. They must see that it is bad and stand back and make a new move, away from what is bad, the fast would be the time to be separated and see further for greater wisdom and following action.
In fasting we separate from our own desires and embrace His. We afflict our souls telling our soul that we will not just be who we were born to be and stay that way. We won’t allow our self life that luxury, we must change into whatever His image and likeness is. We say no to earthly desires and pleasures. We shut down the screaming child in us who wants their own way.
I was thinking, God gave them a word and their soul may not have liked the word, the influence of their culture may not have embraced the word, their lifestyles may not have enjoyed the word, so they fasted longer to tell their souls NO to you and YES to God!
Sometimes our souls need to become blind, especially if influenced by the lies of God’s enemy. Remember in Saul’s conversion he was made to be blind for 3 days. He laid this same whammy on the sorcerers.
A sorcerer uses satan’s power as his source of self exaltation and to veer people’s attentions off of God as THE Supreme Source.
Did you know the influences and addictions of drugs (prescribed and not prescribed) and alcohol are based on sorcery? Think about the word- source-ery. Interesting huh? Who and what is your source of pain relief? Who do you trust to be healed? What about entertainment? Why do you have to entertain other sources, other offers for being fulfilled, made to feel happy and satisfied, that are not from God?
We are keepers of the eye and ear gates to our souls. Satan bombards these to have a place to enter-in to us. Thus the word Entertain. “Let me find a way to detain them by flashiness and trickery; then and as they are unaware, I’ll enter in”. This is the device and trickery of the devil! Be aware, wake up and do not sleep on this one. It is sorcery in its fullest sense. It delights the senses and numbs the spirit, to being able to hear and follow God’s Spirit and voice. It is so mind filling and distracting. It is a demonic strategy to take us in to its prison.
Usually when we read these kinds of things, we so separate ourselves out from them, but we need to rather put ourselves right in them. How are we being entertained? How are we being tricked, deceived, led in, captured? Do we allow another source to heal us, relieve our pains? How do we deal with sorrows? Who is our source and why is anything our source other than God? If anything is our source other than God Most High, we are involved and sucked into sorcery
The man needed to be blinded to that spiritual activity, and opened up to see the true light of the Lordship of Jesus Christ as his own Source.
Demonic forces attach themselves to people. They are on a mission and take it very seriously. They do not ever let go of a person as an influencer, unless made to and legally so. They won’t leave if someone just wishes they would. It has to be one in authority who says so.
It’s like a citizen who just thinks someone should not hang around a store’s property. The citizen may ask them to leave or request they do or become angry that they don’t, but the person is going to stay. They’ll be like, “on who’s word are you basing your request?” But when the manager or owner or owner’s son shows up, too bad buddy, time is up, leave! The wicked spirits understand the Godly order of authority more than we do. When we get it and walk in it, we must insist on it.
I believe it takes holiness and separation for the spirit realm to know we are in and under authority. They have to know we choose order and submit ourselves when it is hard. They know hierarchy inside and out. They know when a man is playing games, doing his own will everyday of his life. I don’t believe we can live disobediently and have the kind of power needed to loose powers of wickedness who are on assignment to reign. This is where we lack results. Power and authority are unleashed to responsible people, to people who understand God ordained and set up order, and willingly yield to it without being forced to.
I don’t believe you can be drinking on Saturday night to relieve yourself of a sorrow and then have much authority to de-seat a principality on Sunday morning.
How much we fear or believe the Lord is how much we are wiling to separate out of our cultural backgrounds and dive in and become learn-ed kingdom citizens. Our lifestyle of freewill choice is where the power to help others change their own lives lies. I am free and do not have to obey anyone, but I release the power of God’s very character when I do anyway, that which I do not have to do. They don’t deserve it, but I love and forgive them anyway. That’s when people get healed and made whole, sorrows fleeing away!
After being tested, by the grace of God remain……faithful and FULL of faith!
The inheritance is the earth, the earth belongs to the Lord who can do as He pleases with its contents. He has decided to allow sons to rule it for Him. We are not exactly speaking of dirt here, we speak of dirt beings, humans. Rule for humans, so we can bring salvation to them. Fight the spiritual enemies of their souls, submit to other humans so you can de-seat and displace principalities of darkness that blind truth. Bring truth to the insides of men, and teach and train them to do the same for other flesh natured beings, removing the curse on their land.
What we, the church reject, will be offered to others who will accept it. God has a mission to accomplish on earth. He is asking those who will go do His mission and do what changing it takes to be the persons He needs to execute that will and plan.
Is God putting up with us? Yes, He has been. With all who say they are His, while doing whatever they think is right. Those He loves, even though they do not deserve it, He puts up with. He puts up with those who ask for someone else to follow after other interests than who He has set up over them to obey. He puts up with it, because He is Love, He puts up with it!
God is looking for men and women after His own heart, those He receives joy from, and doesn’t have to just put up with.
There is a need for the church to turn from sin, where we serve ourselves or who or whatever we deem, setting up our own standards of rule in which we serve and obey ourselves. We must turn to Our God as our only God and be baptized. That means covered with all He is, and completely immersed in whatever He wills for us to do. We come under to be surrounded with his ministry, co-missioned with Him. Salvation is for us, church people. That means we can be healed, if we want to, delivered, if we want to, saved from the death grip of selfish living, if we want to, and fully immersed inside of the purposes of God through Christ, who is our eternal ticket to fulfilling of purpose, starting now.
God can also say to us, and so longs to say to us, “You are My sons, today I have become your Father.” (Because you’ve allowed Me to be.) Sons are not sons alone, they are products of fathering. If they submit to fathering, they are sons. If not, they are children. There is a difference.
Without a test of authority, no one would know we are sons who have any father. The father would not know this. The spirits of wickedness would not know this. With a test it is known to all. Only a father can acknowledge a son. It is known in the test given by the father, not chosen by the son. The son chooses to pass his father’s test, not a test of his own choosing. It’s about being response able over His father’s investments and will. It’s about inheritance. Children do not get inheritances to manage and keep. Sons do.
The Father’s test was death to self life. It will always be the test for sons.
I’ve noticed lately how much people change to make money. Some expect to make money without change, but many are willing to make more by making the necessary changes into someone’s image to get the proper job done, and they get paid-rewarded when they make those conscious changes. They’ll go through training to become what that position deems they should be. They’ll dress how the job deems they dress, even speak in the way the trainer teaches them to speak, all in pursuit of more money, which is a nice thing to have plenty of, right?
If we as a society are so willing to comply and conform to what our society tells us sells the goods, why would we not be as willing to conform and comply with the Lord of heaven and earth who is trying to tell us how to win our world and have the inheritance He’s paid for to accomplish His Divine eternal mission?
The independence of the flesh does not like this message; neither does the self bettering and self exalting religious mind. We’d rather be our own rulers, but we can’t. God is God of the whole universe. We make war with Him when we choose to rule ourselves and we experience havoc in our lives, we find everything is off kilter.
The balance is in doing it someone else’s way and not insisting on our own ways. That takes a death of self, and we don’t like it. So what, tell your souls so what! We’re gonna serve the Lord’s purposes and in it be truly free to live eternally and receive the inheritance as He deems.
As for me and my own person, spirit, soul and body - We will serve the Lord. Come on Body and Soul, we’re gonna spread some good news today!
There is another King and it isn’t you!
Guess what now? Get ready for the first test, as a childlike souls arises and throws a fit about it, insisting on it’s own way, because it always has been allowed to. Or will the spirit man - father him and just say – no?
Everyone needs a father.
The Holy Spirit anointed and appointed two men and other helpers to go into His church and bring a living word for the church to follow. I noticed today 4 different races, cultures and backgrounds represented in the messengers who were sent to the religious mindset of the day.
Only one was a religious man, in the sense of his own life being dedicated to the study of scripture and its laws. That man had to be taken off of his high horse, arrested by God’s spirit, awakened and completely changed before the Holy Spirit sent him back into the very church he’d served. What he’d been raised to think that seemed to be what was correct and righteous and good, was all waste to God’s own plan.
The men would come from different backgrounds, but they would not live in His kingdom with the flavor of any of those backgrounds. The old would pass away and the newness of Kingdom of God citizenship would present itself through Him to the world. God would not allow them to go anywhere with His message, if they did not get the new “law” written upon their minds and hearts, the law of the spirit of Christ Jesus had to be written on their hearts a new.
Fasting brings separation. One must see to separate. Such as with a bad relationship one should separate from. They must see that it is bad and stand back and make a new move, away from what is bad, the fast would be the time to be separated and see further for greater wisdom and following action.
In fasting we separate from our own desires and embrace His. We afflict our souls telling our soul that we will not just be who we were born to be and stay that way. We won’t allow our self life that luxury, we must change into whatever His image and likeness is. We say no to earthly desires and pleasures. We shut down the screaming child in us who wants their own way.
I was thinking, God gave them a word and their soul may not have liked the word, the influence of their culture may not have embraced the word, their lifestyles may not have enjoyed the word, so they fasted longer to tell their souls NO to you and YES to God!
Sometimes our souls need to become blind, especially if influenced by the lies of God’s enemy. Remember in Saul’s conversion he was made to be blind for 3 days. He laid this same whammy on the sorcerers.
A sorcerer uses satan’s power as his source of self exaltation and to veer people’s attentions off of God as THE Supreme Source.
Did you know the influences and addictions of drugs (prescribed and not prescribed) and alcohol are based on sorcery? Think about the word- source-ery. Interesting huh? Who and what is your source of pain relief? Who do you trust to be healed? What about entertainment? Why do you have to entertain other sources, other offers for being fulfilled, made to feel happy and satisfied, that are not from God?
We are keepers of the eye and ear gates to our souls. Satan bombards these to have a place to enter-in to us. Thus the word Entertain. “Let me find a way to detain them by flashiness and trickery; then and as they are unaware, I’ll enter in”. This is the device and trickery of the devil! Be aware, wake up and do not sleep on this one. It is sorcery in its fullest sense. It delights the senses and numbs the spirit, to being able to hear and follow God’s Spirit and voice. It is so mind filling and distracting. It is a demonic strategy to take us in to its prison.
Usually when we read these kinds of things, we so separate ourselves out from them, but we need to rather put ourselves right in them. How are we being entertained? How are we being tricked, deceived, led in, captured? Do we allow another source to heal us, relieve our pains? How do we deal with sorrows? Who is our source and why is anything our source other than God? If anything is our source other than God Most High, we are involved and sucked into sorcery
The man needed to be blinded to that spiritual activity, and opened up to see the true light of the Lordship of Jesus Christ as his own Source.
Demonic forces attach themselves to people. They are on a mission and take it very seriously. They do not ever let go of a person as an influencer, unless made to and legally so. They won’t leave if someone just wishes they would. It has to be one in authority who says so.
It’s like a citizen who just thinks someone should not hang around a store’s property. The citizen may ask them to leave or request they do or become angry that they don’t, but the person is going to stay. They’ll be like, “on who’s word are you basing your request?” But when the manager or owner or owner’s son shows up, too bad buddy, time is up, leave! The wicked spirits understand the Godly order of authority more than we do. When we get it and walk in it, we must insist on it.
I believe it takes holiness and separation for the spirit realm to know we are in and under authority. They have to know we choose order and submit ourselves when it is hard. They know hierarchy inside and out. They know when a man is playing games, doing his own will everyday of his life. I don’t believe we can live disobediently and have the kind of power needed to loose powers of wickedness who are on assignment to reign. This is where we lack results. Power and authority are unleashed to responsible people, to people who understand God ordained and set up order, and willingly yield to it without being forced to.
I don’t believe you can be drinking on Saturday night to relieve yourself of a sorrow and then have much authority to de-seat a principality on Sunday morning.
How much we fear or believe the Lord is how much we are wiling to separate out of our cultural backgrounds and dive in and become learn-ed kingdom citizens. Our lifestyle of freewill choice is where the power to help others change their own lives lies. I am free and do not have to obey anyone, but I release the power of God’s very character when I do anyway, that which I do not have to do. They don’t deserve it, but I love and forgive them anyway. That’s when people get healed and made whole, sorrows fleeing away!
After being tested, by the grace of God remain……faithful and FULL of faith!
The inheritance is the earth, the earth belongs to the Lord who can do as He pleases with its contents. He has decided to allow sons to rule it for Him. We are not exactly speaking of dirt here, we speak of dirt beings, humans. Rule for humans, so we can bring salvation to them. Fight the spiritual enemies of their souls, submit to other humans so you can de-seat and displace principalities of darkness that blind truth. Bring truth to the insides of men, and teach and train them to do the same for other flesh natured beings, removing the curse on their land.
What we, the church reject, will be offered to others who will accept it. God has a mission to accomplish on earth. He is asking those who will go do His mission and do what changing it takes to be the persons He needs to execute that will and plan.
Is God putting up with us? Yes, He has been. With all who say they are His, while doing whatever they think is right. Those He loves, even though they do not deserve it, He puts up with. He puts up with those who ask for someone else to follow after other interests than who He has set up over them to obey. He puts up with it, because He is Love, He puts up with it!
God is looking for men and women after His own heart, those He receives joy from, and doesn’t have to just put up with.
There is a need for the church to turn from sin, where we serve ourselves or who or whatever we deem, setting up our own standards of rule in which we serve and obey ourselves. We must turn to Our God as our only God and be baptized. That means covered with all He is, and completely immersed in whatever He wills for us to do. We come under to be surrounded with his ministry, co-missioned with Him. Salvation is for us, church people. That means we can be healed, if we want to, delivered, if we want to, saved from the death grip of selfish living, if we want to, and fully immersed inside of the purposes of God through Christ, who is our eternal ticket to fulfilling of purpose, starting now.
God can also say to us, and so longs to say to us, “You are My sons, today I have become your Father.” (Because you’ve allowed Me to be.) Sons are not sons alone, they are products of fathering. If they submit to fathering, they are sons. If not, they are children. There is a difference.
Without a test of authority, no one would know we are sons who have any father. The father would not know this. The spirits of wickedness would not know this. With a test it is known to all. Only a father can acknowledge a son. It is known in the test given by the father, not chosen by the son. The son chooses to pass his father’s test, not a test of his own choosing. It’s about being response able over His father’s investments and will. It’s about inheritance. Children do not get inheritances to manage and keep. Sons do.
The Father’s test was death to self life. It will always be the test for sons.
I’ve noticed lately how much people change to make money. Some expect to make money without change, but many are willing to make more by making the necessary changes into someone’s image to get the proper job done, and they get paid-rewarded when they make those conscious changes. They’ll go through training to become what that position deems they should be. They’ll dress how the job deems they dress, even speak in the way the trainer teaches them to speak, all in pursuit of more money, which is a nice thing to have plenty of, right?
If we as a society are so willing to comply and conform to what our society tells us sells the goods, why would we not be as willing to conform and comply with the Lord of heaven and earth who is trying to tell us how to win our world and have the inheritance He’s paid for to accomplish His Divine eternal mission?
The independence of the flesh does not like this message; neither does the self bettering and self exalting religious mind. We’d rather be our own rulers, but we can’t. God is God of the whole universe. We make war with Him when we choose to rule ourselves and we experience havoc in our lives, we find everything is off kilter.
The balance is in doing it someone else’s way and not insisting on our own ways. That takes a death of self, and we don’t like it. So what, tell your souls so what! We’re gonna serve the Lord’s purposes and in it be truly free to live eternally and receive the inheritance as He deems.
As for me and my own person, spirit, soul and body - We will serve the Lord. Come on Body and Soul, we’re gonna spread some good news today!
There is another King and it isn’t you!
Guess what now? Get ready for the first test, as a childlike souls arises and throws a fit about it, insisting on it’s own way, because it always has been allowed to. Or will the spirit man - father him and just say – no?
Everyone needs a father.
Lena Posts TRC's Daily Bread Reading Today - Acts 13
Barnabas and Saul Are Sent Out
1Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called "the black man" F63 ), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas F64 ), and Saul. 2One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work I have for them." 3So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.
Paul's First Missionary Journey
4Sent out by the Holy Spirit, Saul and Barnabas went down to the seaport of Seleucia and then sailed for the island of Cyprus. 5There, in the town of Salamis, they went to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. (John Mark went with them as their assistant.)
6Afterward they preached from town to town across the entire island until finally they reached Paphos, where they met a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, a man of considerable insight and understanding. The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Saul and Barnabas said. He was trying to turn the governor away from the Christian faith.
9Then Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked the sorcerer in the eye and said, 10"You son of the Devil, full of every sort of trickery and villainy, enemy of all that is good, will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord? 11And now the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be stricken awhile with blindness." Instantly mist and darkness fell upon him, and he began wandering around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him. 12When the governor saw what had happened, he believed and was astonished at what he learned about the Lord.
Paul Preaches in Antioch of Pisidia
13Now Paul and those with him left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia,* landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14But Barnabas and Paul traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. F65 On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services. 15After the usual readings from the books of Moses and from the Prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: "Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for us, come and give it!"
16So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet them, and started speaking. "People of Israel," he said, "and you devout Gentiles who fear the God of Israel, listen to me.
17"The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them prosper in Egypt. Then he powerfully led them out of their slavery. 18He put up with them F66 through forty years of wandering around in the wilderness. 19Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. 20All this took about 450 years. After that, judges ruled until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22But God removed him from the kingship and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, 'David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to.' F67
23"And it is one of King David's descendants, Jesus, who is God's promised Savior of Israel! 24But before he came, John the Baptist preached the need for everyone in Israel to turn from sin and turn to God and be baptized. 25As John was finishing his ministry he asked, 'Do you think I am the Messiah? No! But he is coming soon—and I am not even worthy to be his slave. F68 '
26"Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also all of you devout Gentiles who fear the God of Israel—this salvation is for us! 27The people in Jerusalem and their leaders fulfilled prophecy by condemning Jesus to death. They didn't recognize him or realize that he is the one the prophets had written about, though they hear the prophets' words read every Sabbath. 28They found no just cause to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.
29"When they had fulfilled all the prophecies concerning his death, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. 30But God raised him from the dead! 31And he appeared over a period of many days to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem—these are his witnesses to the people of Israel.
32"And now Barnabas and I are here to bring you this Good News. God's promise to our ancestors has come true in our own time, 33in that God raised Jesus. This is what the second psalm is talking about when it says concerning Jesus,
'You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father. F69 '
34For God had promised to raise him from the dead, never again to die. This is stated in the Scripture that says, 'I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.' F70 35Another psalm explains more fully, saying, 'You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.' F71 36Now this is not a reference to David, for after David had served his generation according to the will of God, he died and was buried, and his body decayed. 37No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.
38"Brothers, listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. 39Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God—something the Jewish law could never do. 40Be careful! Don't let the prophets' words apply to you. For they said,
41 'Look, you mockers,
be amazed and die!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn't believe
even if someone told you about it.' F72 "
42As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people asked them to return again and speak about these things the next week. 43Many Jews and godly converts to Judaism who worshiped at the synagogue followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them, "By God's grace, remain faithful."
Paul Turns to the Gentiles
44The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
46Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, "It was necessary that this Good News from God be given first to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life—well, we will offer it to Gentiles. 47For this is as the Lord commanded us when he said,
'I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.' F73 "
48When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were appointed to eternal life became believers. 49So the Lord's message spread throughout that region.
50Then the Jewish leaders stirred up both the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. 51But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and went to the city of Iconium. 52And the believers F74 were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F63: Greek who was called Niger.
F64: Greek Herod the tetrarch.
F65: Pamphylia and Pisidia were districts in the land now called Turkey.
F66: Other manuscripts read He cared for them; compare Deut 1:31.
F67: 1 Sam 13:14.
F68: Greek to untie his sandals.
F69: Or Today I reveal you as my Son. Ps 2:7.
F70: Isa 55:3.
F71: Ps 16:10.
F72: Hab 1:5.
F73: Isa 49:6.
F74: Greek the disciples.
1Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called "the black man" F63 ), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas F64 ), and Saul. 2One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work I have for them." 3So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.
Paul's First Missionary Journey
4Sent out by the Holy Spirit, Saul and Barnabas went down to the seaport of Seleucia and then sailed for the island of Cyprus. 5There, in the town of Salamis, they went to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. (John Mark went with them as their assistant.)
6Afterward they preached from town to town across the entire island until finally they reached Paphos, where they met a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, a man of considerable insight and understanding. The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Saul and Barnabas said. He was trying to turn the governor away from the Christian faith.
9Then Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked the sorcerer in the eye and said, 10"You son of the Devil, full of every sort of trickery and villainy, enemy of all that is good, will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord? 11And now the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be stricken awhile with blindness." Instantly mist and darkness fell upon him, and he began wandering around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him. 12When the governor saw what had happened, he believed and was astonished at what he learned about the Lord.
Paul Preaches in Antioch of Pisidia
13Now Paul and those with him left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia,* landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14But Barnabas and Paul traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. F65 On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services. 15After the usual readings from the books of Moses and from the Prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: "Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for us, come and give it!"
16So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet them, and started speaking. "People of Israel," he said, "and you devout Gentiles who fear the God of Israel, listen to me.
17"The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them prosper in Egypt. Then he powerfully led them out of their slavery. 18He put up with them F66 through forty years of wandering around in the wilderness. 19Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. 20All this took about 450 years. After that, judges ruled until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22But God removed him from the kingship and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, 'David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to.' F67
23"And it is one of King David's descendants, Jesus, who is God's promised Savior of Israel! 24But before he came, John the Baptist preached the need for everyone in Israel to turn from sin and turn to God and be baptized. 25As John was finishing his ministry he asked, 'Do you think I am the Messiah? No! But he is coming soon—and I am not even worthy to be his slave. F68 '
26"Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also all of you devout Gentiles who fear the God of Israel—this salvation is for us! 27The people in Jerusalem and their leaders fulfilled prophecy by condemning Jesus to death. They didn't recognize him or realize that he is the one the prophets had written about, though they hear the prophets' words read every Sabbath. 28They found no just cause to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.
29"When they had fulfilled all the prophecies concerning his death, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. 30But God raised him from the dead! 31And he appeared over a period of many days to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem—these are his witnesses to the people of Israel.
32"And now Barnabas and I are here to bring you this Good News. God's promise to our ancestors has come true in our own time, 33in that God raised Jesus. This is what the second psalm is talking about when it says concerning Jesus,
'You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father. F69 '
34For God had promised to raise him from the dead, never again to die. This is stated in the Scripture that says, 'I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.' F70 35Another psalm explains more fully, saying, 'You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.' F71 36Now this is not a reference to David, for after David had served his generation according to the will of God, he died and was buried, and his body decayed. 37No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.
38"Brothers, listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. 39Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God—something the Jewish law could never do. 40Be careful! Don't let the prophets' words apply to you. For they said,
41 'Look, you mockers,
be amazed and die!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn't believe
even if someone told you about it.' F72 "
42As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people asked them to return again and speak about these things the next week. 43Many Jews and godly converts to Judaism who worshiped at the synagogue followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them, "By God's grace, remain faithful."
Paul Turns to the Gentiles
44The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
46Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, "It was necessary that this Good News from God be given first to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life—well, we will offer it to Gentiles. 47For this is as the Lord commanded us when he said,
'I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.' F73 "
48When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were appointed to eternal life became believers. 49So the Lord's message spread throughout that region.
50Then the Jewish leaders stirred up both the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. 51But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and went to the city of Iconium. 52And the believers F74 were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F63: Greek who was called Niger.
F64: Greek Herod the tetrarch.
F65: Pamphylia and Pisidia were districts in the land now called Turkey.
F66: Other manuscripts read He cared for them; compare Deut 1:31.
F67: 1 Sam 13:14.
F68: Greek to untie his sandals.
F69: Or Today I reveal you as my Son. Ps 2:7.
F70: Isa 55:3.
F71: Ps 16:10.
F72: Hab 1:5.
F73: Isa 49:6.
F74: Greek the disciples.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 12 Today
The enemy is out to silence the voice of truth. It has always been His plight. God brings an answer and satan has a new plan, to try to intercept that answer. We are in all out spiritual warfare. Peter, James, John and the other apostles were messengers of this truth, soldiers and warriors, in this all out warfare. They were making some headway in the spirit, and taking some ground back for the Lord, right out from the enemy’s hand. The enemy hates God and more so hates who God sends. If ever there is any trace of truth being brought he’s right there to try and destroy its messengers. He’ll kill off generations to steal the truth. Kill of races to silence the truth, even kill off before birth to make sure there’s no opportunity for another person to be raised up and brought to the knowledge of truth, and become its messenger.
The church has to pray about that continually. That truth will prevail. That people will buy and not sell it. That they will hear it, when it is spoken and shared, so they can do it. That their love for truth will increase to such an extent that nothing can kill it off. That they will never turn from truth ever, no matter what. That they will passionately desire truth in their inward persons. That His love will burn within and well up inside of them so much that it is what they live and die for. That they will have such a zeal and be lovers of truth. That they will be kept from evil and the evil one. That they will hate what’s wrong because they love what is right. That the truth in them will be released. That God will have His way, because people will give their wills over to His. That people, the church, will stand for righteousness and be victors engaged in warfare and anointed to win souls and make disciples, to win the lifelong victory in this warfare.
That there would be miracles wrought by the hands of those who commit their lives wholly unto God. That the holiness and consecration would increase among the church members and that unity would increase. That power of God in us would also increase. That the people would count the cost and willingly pay the price to be dressed in God’s armor with a sword of power in their hands and the enemy would not prevail at all!
Mountains move for those who are all in. Miracles are unleashed to those who are all His.
If James is dead, we must pray that Peter lives. The names mean, trickery, deception, conniving. That is James. If there’s been any trickery among us, where we have deceptively thought we can live in compromise and still release the truth of God’s word as messengers in the earth, we are off. The name Peter is so opposite the name James. The characteristic of the name James is wishy-washy, Peter is solid, steadfast, immoveable, sure, foundational, trustworthy, etc.
This is what must arise and come out of imprisonment - Surety, steadfastness, and foundations to stand and build on. This is what we have to pray in unity for insisting on it as though it is ours to take back, and it is!
We need to pray that when the spirit tells Peters what to do, they will follow after the word of God. They go out from the comfort and “safety” of the prison cell, and are ready to go out again as sheep among wolves, wise and serpents, yet gentle as doves among a wicked and perverse generation!
It says the angel struck Peter. Has God struck you and told you what to do? Are you obeying Him? (Let’s not think too complicated here, What about obeying your leaders-pastors and the current word of your house? Like “Win, Consolidate, Disciple and Send”?).
When we heard these words, we were struck by God’s messenger, whoever spoke the words, was as this angel to us, a very messenger of God. The word of God struck us and gave us opportunity, that we can do lots of things with it. Moving towards the acting out of the word is evidence that we are a Peter and that the Peter in us is alive and the James in us is dead. Yes the enemy killed “James”, because he could. There were open doors of sin by deceit and compromise. If we do not do the word we’ve been struck with, we may stay inside of our prison cell, yet we are dying in deception.
We need to pray for bold action for church members. That we all would do the word and not take our time to do it.
The angel of the Lord struck someone else, he struck evil and consumed it. I believe it was directly due to the Peter’s response to the striking and igniting and obedience to God’s active purposes. If Peter had chosen to stay in prison due to his disobedience to God, and self will or hesitation to figure it all out first, evil would prevail. It is like a balance scale. One triggers the movement of the other. Obedience to God causes enemies to be dealt with by God. Our obedience to His call can bring the miraculous working of victory over our enemies.
The church has to pray about that continually. That truth will prevail. That people will buy and not sell it. That they will hear it, when it is spoken and shared, so they can do it. That their love for truth will increase to such an extent that nothing can kill it off. That they will never turn from truth ever, no matter what. That they will passionately desire truth in their inward persons. That His love will burn within and well up inside of them so much that it is what they live and die for. That they will have such a zeal and be lovers of truth. That they will be kept from evil and the evil one. That they will hate what’s wrong because they love what is right. That the truth in them will be released. That God will have His way, because people will give their wills over to His. That people, the church, will stand for righteousness and be victors engaged in warfare and anointed to win souls and make disciples, to win the lifelong victory in this warfare.
That there would be miracles wrought by the hands of those who commit their lives wholly unto God. That the holiness and consecration would increase among the church members and that unity would increase. That power of God in us would also increase. That the people would count the cost and willingly pay the price to be dressed in God’s armor with a sword of power in their hands and the enemy would not prevail at all!
Mountains move for those who are all in. Miracles are unleashed to those who are all His.
If James is dead, we must pray that Peter lives. The names mean, trickery, deception, conniving. That is James. If there’s been any trickery among us, where we have deceptively thought we can live in compromise and still release the truth of God’s word as messengers in the earth, we are off. The name Peter is so opposite the name James. The characteristic of the name James is wishy-washy, Peter is solid, steadfast, immoveable, sure, foundational, trustworthy, etc.
This is what must arise and come out of imprisonment - Surety, steadfastness, and foundations to stand and build on. This is what we have to pray in unity for insisting on it as though it is ours to take back, and it is!
We need to pray that when the spirit tells Peters what to do, they will follow after the word of God. They go out from the comfort and “safety” of the prison cell, and are ready to go out again as sheep among wolves, wise and serpents, yet gentle as doves among a wicked and perverse generation!
It says the angel struck Peter. Has God struck you and told you what to do? Are you obeying Him? (Let’s not think too complicated here, What about obeying your leaders-pastors and the current word of your house? Like “Win, Consolidate, Disciple and Send”?).
When we heard these words, we were struck by God’s messenger, whoever spoke the words, was as this angel to us, a very messenger of God. The word of God struck us and gave us opportunity, that we can do lots of things with it. Moving towards the acting out of the word is evidence that we are a Peter and that the Peter in us is alive and the James in us is dead. Yes the enemy killed “James”, because he could. There were open doors of sin by deceit and compromise. If we do not do the word we’ve been struck with, we may stay inside of our prison cell, yet we are dying in deception.
We need to pray for bold action for church members. That we all would do the word and not take our time to do it.
The angel of the Lord struck someone else, he struck evil and consumed it. I believe it was directly due to the Peter’s response to the striking and igniting and obedience to God’s active purposes. If Peter had chosen to stay in prison due to his disobedience to God, and self will or hesitation to figure it all out first, evil would prevail. It is like a balance scale. One triggers the movement of the other. Obedience to God causes enemies to be dealt with by God. Our obedience to His call can bring the miraculous working of victory over our enemies.
Lena Posts TRC's Daily Bread for Today - Acts 12
James Is Killed and Peter Is Imprisoned
1 About that time King Herod Agrippa[a] began to persecute some believers in the church. 2 He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. 3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration.[b]) 4 Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. 5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.
Peter’s Miraculous Escape from Prison
6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered.
9 So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. 10 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.
11 Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders[c] had planned to do to me!”
12 When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. 13 He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.”
16 Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. 17 He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.
18 At dawn there was a great commotion among the soldiers about what had happened to Peter. 19 Herod Agrippa ordered a thorough search for him. When he couldn’t be found, Herod interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death. Afterward Herod left Judea to stay in Caesarea for a while.
The Death of Herod Agrippa
20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod’s country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod’s personal assistant, 21 and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them. 22 The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!”
23 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.
24 Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission to Jerusalem, they returned,[d] taking John Mark with them.
Footnotes:
Acts 12:1 Greek Herod the king. He was the nephew of Herod Antipas and a grandson of Herod the Great.
Acts 12:3 Greek the days of unleavened bread.
Acts 12:11 Or the Jewish people.
Acts 12:25 Or mission, they returned to Jerusalem. Other manuscripts read mission, they returned from Jerusalem; still others read mission, they returned from Jerusalem to Antioch.
1 About that time King Herod Agrippa[a] began to persecute some believers in the church. 2 He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. 3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration.[b]) 4 Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. 5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.
Peter’s Miraculous Escape from Prison
6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered.
9 So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. 10 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.
11 Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders[c] had planned to do to me!”
12 When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. 13 He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.”
16 Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. 17 He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.
18 At dawn there was a great commotion among the soldiers about what had happened to Peter. 19 Herod Agrippa ordered a thorough search for him. When he couldn’t be found, Herod interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death. Afterward Herod left Judea to stay in Caesarea for a while.
The Death of Herod Agrippa
20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod’s country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod’s personal assistant, 21 and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them. 22 The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!”
23 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.
24 Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission to Jerusalem, they returned,[d] taking John Mark with them.
Footnotes:
Acts 12:1 Greek Herod the king. He was the nephew of Herod Antipas and a grandson of Herod the Great.
Acts 12:3 Greek the days of unleavened bread.
Acts 12:11 Or the Jewish people.
Acts 12:25 Or mission, they returned to Jerusalem. Other manuscripts read mission, they returned from Jerusalem; still others read mission, they returned from Jerusalem to Antioch.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 11 Today
Religion is a man made interpretation of what God has set up. People sometimes don’t understand it when Pastors say, “Let’s not be religious”. They think he is saying let’s not be good. He is saying, “Let’s not take God’s words of truth and construe them into out own ideas and use it to further our own successes”.
Religion is a man made system of good rules and regulations that say, if we do these things we’ll be truly good and possibly get closer to God. We could never be good enough to reach God. It is only by the acceptance of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we can get close to God at all. Relationship is completely different. God is looking to have a relationship with man. Jesus made a way for any and all person, no matter what the sin situation is, to be close with God.
This passage is a great demonstration of this type of mindset. The Jewish leader asked, “Weren’t we supposed to stay separated from these kinds of people?” Notice he is angered by a violation of the man’s religious practice. Notice when Jesus was on earth, he was all about upsetting religious practices. Why? Because, these practices stood in the way of a person having a personal relationship with God. They lie to people to make them think they could ever earn their way to a righteous relationship with God. There is no earning of the right to approach God or become His friend. Only Jesus’ blood did that for us.
Yes, what we do has an affect on how well our relationship goes, but there is always a way back towards a restored or enhanced relationship with Christ.
Notice Peter had been religiously trained to know right and wrong. He’d memorized the rules and regulations of being a good Jewish boy. Knowing and living strictly by those rules caused him to contest God, but he had something that he did not have when he learned the rules and regulations. He had God’s very own spirit alive inside of Him with a living voice in which they could relate together. He didn’t have to go to the priest and ask what God was saying, he listened and God told Him! God told him more than what His words of the law had been taught him. He was being told the words of life for that day and time, he was hearing the plan and will of God unfold. The law had led him to this day, kept him for this day, but the day was here and would be gone and God was ready to take humankind the next step, telling the rest of the story! And a beautiful story it is.
The Lord is so faithful to confirm His words to us so we are sure. We must listen and believe to release those words of confirmation; if we look and listen they will come, just as these men came to Peter’s door.
Listen, He will tell you how everyone in your household will be saved! This is why we are in the families we are in. If one person in a family will receive the truth of the word of God in a personal and relational way, there is great hope for each family. This is God’s will, to use a person in each family as an example of His saving love. This is why relationship inside of each family must be repaired and restored and believed God for the restoration of. Judgment and religious condemnation do not work well in being an example to family members, goodness and love go a long way! Being religious and preaching at people can frustrate and sabotage the work of the Holy Spirit in lives inside of families. Every person wants to see a demonstration of faith that is alive. Those who believe are witnesses in daily demonstration. Religion has deceived us into thinking we can preach what we don’t live rather than allowing our lives to preach what we believe. People are a lot wiser than that, they believe the life lived, not the words spoken without the back up of life force.
It is a privilege to be able repent of our sins and receive the free gift of eternal life, one we could never afford to pay for ourselves. The believers were told by a prophetic word, that there would be great needs, before seeing the actual needs they responded by sending help for the need ahead of the time that the need appeared! Do we ever act that quickly on words from God, prophetic words given by physical persons? That’s faith in loving and obedient action.
Religion is a man made system of good rules and regulations that say, if we do these things we’ll be truly good and possibly get closer to God. We could never be good enough to reach God. It is only by the acceptance of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we can get close to God at all. Relationship is completely different. God is looking to have a relationship with man. Jesus made a way for any and all person, no matter what the sin situation is, to be close with God.
This passage is a great demonstration of this type of mindset. The Jewish leader asked, “Weren’t we supposed to stay separated from these kinds of people?” Notice he is angered by a violation of the man’s religious practice. Notice when Jesus was on earth, he was all about upsetting religious practices. Why? Because, these practices stood in the way of a person having a personal relationship with God. They lie to people to make them think they could ever earn their way to a righteous relationship with God. There is no earning of the right to approach God or become His friend. Only Jesus’ blood did that for us.
Yes, what we do has an affect on how well our relationship goes, but there is always a way back towards a restored or enhanced relationship with Christ.
Notice Peter had been religiously trained to know right and wrong. He’d memorized the rules and regulations of being a good Jewish boy. Knowing and living strictly by those rules caused him to contest God, but he had something that he did not have when he learned the rules and regulations. He had God’s very own spirit alive inside of Him with a living voice in which they could relate together. He didn’t have to go to the priest and ask what God was saying, he listened and God told Him! God told him more than what His words of the law had been taught him. He was being told the words of life for that day and time, he was hearing the plan and will of God unfold. The law had led him to this day, kept him for this day, but the day was here and would be gone and God was ready to take humankind the next step, telling the rest of the story! And a beautiful story it is.
The Lord is so faithful to confirm His words to us so we are sure. We must listen and believe to release those words of confirmation; if we look and listen they will come, just as these men came to Peter’s door.
Listen, He will tell you how everyone in your household will be saved! This is why we are in the families we are in. If one person in a family will receive the truth of the word of God in a personal and relational way, there is great hope for each family. This is God’s will, to use a person in each family as an example of His saving love. This is why relationship inside of each family must be repaired and restored and believed God for the restoration of. Judgment and religious condemnation do not work well in being an example to family members, goodness and love go a long way! Being religious and preaching at people can frustrate and sabotage the work of the Holy Spirit in lives inside of families. Every person wants to see a demonstration of faith that is alive. Those who believe are witnesses in daily demonstration. Religion has deceived us into thinking we can preach what we don’t live rather than allowing our lives to preach what we believe. People are a lot wiser than that, they believe the life lived, not the words spoken without the back up of life force.
It is a privilege to be able repent of our sins and receive the free gift of eternal life, one we could never afford to pay for ourselves. The believers were told by a prophetic word, that there would be great needs, before seeing the actual needs they responded by sending help for the need ahead of the time that the need appeared! Do we ever act that quickly on words from God, prophetic words given by physical persons? That’s faith in loving and obedient action.
Lena Posts TRC's Daily Bread for Today, Acts 11
Peter Explains His Actions
1 Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers[a] in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers[b] criticized him. 3 “You entered the home of Gentiles[c] and even ate with them!” they said.
4 Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5 “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6 When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of small animals, wild animals, reptiles, and birds. 7 And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’
8 “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.[d]’
9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ 10 This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.
11 “Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. 12 The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us. 13 He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. 14 He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’
15 “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with[e] water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
18 When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”
The Church in Antioch of Syria
19 Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. 20 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles[f] about the Lord Jesus. 21 The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.
22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. 24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers[g] were first called Christians.)
27 During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters[h] in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. 30 This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
1 Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers[a] in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers[b] criticized him. 3 “You entered the home of Gentiles[c] and even ate with them!” they said.
4 Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5 “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6 When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of small animals, wild animals, reptiles, and birds. 7 And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’
8 “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.[d]’
9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ 10 This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.
11 “Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. 12 The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us. 13 He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. 14 He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’
15 “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with[e] water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
18 When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”
The Church in Antioch of Syria
19 Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. 20 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles[f] about the Lord Jesus. 21 The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.
22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. 24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers[g] were first called Christians.)
27 During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters[h] in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. 30 This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' for Today to Acts 10
What does devout mean? Why does this passage point out this character trait? These are the types of questions to ask when digging into God’s word to find treasure.
God spoke to this devout man, who in turn picked out a servant/soldier who was also noted as being devout. They heard the Lord’s voice, the voice of a commander of the Lord’s army, and went forth to do the will of God.
If you needed or even desired your will to be carried out by someone, who would you choose? A person who listens? A person who listens and does? Or persons who won’t listen, and don’t give their lives to being in tuned to the direction of God’s voice? Of course, you would choose the most likely candidate who will both listen and do your will. They would care less about their own will and plans and live to take care of and be more concerned about yours. They’d be more self less and less self fish. That is a hard person to find, but God found two in the same household! Maybe that’s why He chose this household. Not only was Cornelius devout, but he trained others inside of his household, to be soldiers who were also devout.
We could say, God is looking for a few devout men and women who are interested in doing his will more than they are in doing their own!
In the dictionary, devout means having devotion to and sincerity for. It’s being committed to.
Is that how we are as Christian soldiers? Do we live as soldiers of our King everyday? Is there another King in our lives?
Our lives would completely change if we began to live this way. This is why he was a man of prayer. He had to hear and know his instructions and directions for he was a part of the army of God and had daily assignments in order to be a part of the carrying out of the will. Because of his self less life style, he had to do this, for it is/was his Destiny and purpose, the very reason he was alive.
Why are we alive?
I can tell you.
I know, I know, I’m always trying to tell you what to do and where to go. I can even seem a bit bossy, because His love wells up in me to see you get it.
I know why you are here, for the very reason Cornelius was, for the very reason I am. It is the same for all of us. That makes it so very easy to find out.
You could live anywhere, work at almost any job (being a bit choosy based on principles of morality of course), be married to any person, or go to any church and still understand and be on the road to fulfilling the purpose and will of God. You know that what place you live, the job you work, the spouse you choose to spend your life with, and the church you go to specifically, do effect the understanding and ability to launch deeper and more vigilantly into the fulfillment of that purpose, but you could be at the best church and married to the best Christian spouse and not get it or be fulfilling the will and plan of God also.
We are here, subjects of our King Jesus, to be an active part of His plan for the earth while we are alive here. We are soldiers, executioners of His will and plan, engaged. We are the ones who make God’s dreams come true or not. He’s always looking for a man or woman who is selfless and willing to live in such a way as to make His earth-dreams come true.
Winning the lost and saving who are eternally dying, is the biggest reason to live, ever. Doing what it takes to be that person who can win people in our homes, our neighborhoods and on our jobs is huge. Being a lover of God and people can be a happening anywhere, and should be. Being available to God’s specific direction for each day is the life of a Christian soldier.
This lifestyle is demonstrated for us here in the life of Cornelius.
The word of God is always relevant to us, everyday. Put yourself in the word today and ask, Am I devout? Am I in direct communication with God to receive instruction that I plan to do today? Am I bold in spirit, and have I trained myself to be selfless, that I will do His will, above my own today? Am I living for His purposes, so much that I’m desperate to find them out and can’t wait to go and do them, today?
Ask, Am I a soldier? Can other men tell me what God has said for us to do and I believe them and respond with obedient actions? Have I said I’m a part of a body, a family of God, and do I take instruction so that we are all helping one another do the same will of God together, or do I like being called a Christian while I live doing my own thing, which is very un-Christian in behavior and fruit?
Don’t exempt yourself from the word, ever.
Can God speak the unordinary to you? I mean can He change the boat you were on and the route you were on and what you thought He was wanting you to do? Do you ever go off to do what you thought He’d like, but you hadn’t asked Him and now you have to change what you are doing?
A great way to live, a new lifestyle to adopt, is one of asking permission first. God knows all things, knows what is ahead and all. Living by permission will save many a need for change of course and remove the picking up of messes from making wrong choices. It’s the exercise of preventative communication.
With Peter, He was so close to the Lord, knew the Lord’s voice so intimately that he could have his theology messed up, disrupted by God. What he thought needed to be changed. God His Father and Master commander was able to change it, because Peter was a soldier. This opened a whole new world for the spreading of the gospel in which we are beneficiaries of today.
What a remarkable time they were in. What a remarkable time we are in, when we are soldiers in our day and we heed the voice of God in His word for us today, when we put ourselves into this word.
They were a people under command and authority, convicted by the Holy Spirit to heed the voice of God and covered by their obedience. They were able to turn their world upside down, because they had a leader who they followed, then they led others who would follow.
Who are you under? (God is not the correct answer here. We all know that one. I’m talking who is your Cornelius or Peter?) If you don’t have one there is still time.
Whatever he tells you to do, just do it. (I know what the world is saying right here, don’t worry, in being under men, you are under God and if they are off, He’ll come in and correct them! If you trust Him to, by submitting yourself to a person as unto the Lord Himself. Doing this is visible evidence of faith in the order of God’s command.)
God spoke to this devout man, who in turn picked out a servant/soldier who was also noted as being devout. They heard the Lord’s voice, the voice of a commander of the Lord’s army, and went forth to do the will of God.
If you needed or even desired your will to be carried out by someone, who would you choose? A person who listens? A person who listens and does? Or persons who won’t listen, and don’t give their lives to being in tuned to the direction of God’s voice? Of course, you would choose the most likely candidate who will both listen and do your will. They would care less about their own will and plans and live to take care of and be more concerned about yours. They’d be more self less and less self fish. That is a hard person to find, but God found two in the same household! Maybe that’s why He chose this household. Not only was Cornelius devout, but he trained others inside of his household, to be soldiers who were also devout.
We could say, God is looking for a few devout men and women who are interested in doing his will more than they are in doing their own!
In the dictionary, devout means having devotion to and sincerity for. It’s being committed to.
Is that how we are as Christian soldiers? Do we live as soldiers of our King everyday? Is there another King in our lives?
Our lives would completely change if we began to live this way. This is why he was a man of prayer. He had to hear and know his instructions and directions for he was a part of the army of God and had daily assignments in order to be a part of the carrying out of the will. Because of his self less life style, he had to do this, for it is/was his Destiny and purpose, the very reason he was alive.
Why are we alive?
I can tell you.
I know, I know, I’m always trying to tell you what to do and where to go. I can even seem a bit bossy, because His love wells up in me to see you get it.
I know why you are here, for the very reason Cornelius was, for the very reason I am. It is the same for all of us. That makes it so very easy to find out.
You could live anywhere, work at almost any job (being a bit choosy based on principles of morality of course), be married to any person, or go to any church and still understand and be on the road to fulfilling the purpose and will of God. You know that what place you live, the job you work, the spouse you choose to spend your life with, and the church you go to specifically, do effect the understanding and ability to launch deeper and more vigilantly into the fulfillment of that purpose, but you could be at the best church and married to the best Christian spouse and not get it or be fulfilling the will and plan of God also.
We are here, subjects of our King Jesus, to be an active part of His plan for the earth while we are alive here. We are soldiers, executioners of His will and plan, engaged. We are the ones who make God’s dreams come true or not. He’s always looking for a man or woman who is selfless and willing to live in such a way as to make His earth-dreams come true.
Winning the lost and saving who are eternally dying, is the biggest reason to live, ever. Doing what it takes to be that person who can win people in our homes, our neighborhoods and on our jobs is huge. Being a lover of God and people can be a happening anywhere, and should be. Being available to God’s specific direction for each day is the life of a Christian soldier.
This lifestyle is demonstrated for us here in the life of Cornelius.
The word of God is always relevant to us, everyday. Put yourself in the word today and ask, Am I devout? Am I in direct communication with God to receive instruction that I plan to do today? Am I bold in spirit, and have I trained myself to be selfless, that I will do His will, above my own today? Am I living for His purposes, so much that I’m desperate to find them out and can’t wait to go and do them, today?
Ask, Am I a soldier? Can other men tell me what God has said for us to do and I believe them and respond with obedient actions? Have I said I’m a part of a body, a family of God, and do I take instruction so that we are all helping one another do the same will of God together, or do I like being called a Christian while I live doing my own thing, which is very un-Christian in behavior and fruit?
Don’t exempt yourself from the word, ever.
Can God speak the unordinary to you? I mean can He change the boat you were on and the route you were on and what you thought He was wanting you to do? Do you ever go off to do what you thought He’d like, but you hadn’t asked Him and now you have to change what you are doing?
A great way to live, a new lifestyle to adopt, is one of asking permission first. God knows all things, knows what is ahead and all. Living by permission will save many a need for change of course and remove the picking up of messes from making wrong choices. It’s the exercise of preventative communication.
With Peter, He was so close to the Lord, knew the Lord’s voice so intimately that he could have his theology messed up, disrupted by God. What he thought needed to be changed. God His Father and Master commander was able to change it, because Peter was a soldier. This opened a whole new world for the spreading of the gospel in which we are beneficiaries of today.
What a remarkable time they were in. What a remarkable time we are in, when we are soldiers in our day and we heed the voice of God in His word for us today, when we put ourselves into this word.
They were a people under command and authority, convicted by the Holy Spirit to heed the voice of God and covered by their obedience. They were able to turn their world upside down, because they had a leader who they followed, then they led others who would follow.
Who are you under? (God is not the correct answer here. We all know that one. I’m talking who is your Cornelius or Peter?) If you don’t have one there is still time.
Whatever he tells you to do, just do it. (I know what the world is saying right here, don’t worry, in being under men, you are under God and if they are off, He’ll come in and correct them! If you trust Him to, by submitting yourself to a person as unto the Lord Himself. Doing this is visible evidence of faith in the order of God’s command.)
Lena Posts TRC's Daily Bread for Today Acts 10
Cornelius Calls for Peter
1In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. 2He was a devout man who feared the God of Israel, as did his entire household. He gave generously to charity and was a man who regularly prayed to God. 3One afternoon about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. "Cornelius!" the angel said.
4Cornelius stared at him in terror. "What is it, sir?" he asked the angel. And the angel replied, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed by God! 5Now send some men down to Joppa to find a man named Simon Peter. 6He is staying with Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore. Ask him to come and visit you."
7As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. 8He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.
Peter Visits Cornelius
9The next day as Cornelius's messengers were nearing the city, Peter went up to the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 10and he was hungry. But while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. 12In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. 13Then a voice said to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat them."
14"Never, Lord," Peter declared. "I have never in all my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws. F48 "
15The voice spoke again, "If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't." F49 16The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was pulled up again to heaven.
17Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found the house and stood outside at the gate. 18They asked if this was the place where Simon Peter was staying. 19Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, "Three men have come looking for you. 20Go down and go with them without hesitation. All is well, for I have sent them."
21So Peter went down and said, "I'm the man you are looking for. Why have you come?"
22They said, "We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout man who fears the God of Israel and is well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to send for you so you can go to his house and give him a message." 23So Peter invited the men to be his guests for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some other believers F50 from Joppa.
24They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for him and had called together his relatives and close friends to meet Peter. 25As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell to the floor before him in worship. 26But Peter pulled him up and said, "Stand up! I'm a human being like you!" 27So Cornelius got up, and they talked together and went inside where the others were assembled.
28Peter told them, "You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure. 29So I came as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me."
30Cornelius replied, "Four days ago I was praying in my house at three o'clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. 31He told me, 'Cornelius, your prayers have been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! 32Now send some men to Joppa and summon Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore.' 33So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now here we are, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you."
The Gentiles Hear the Good News
34Then Peter replied, "I see very clearly that God doesn't show partiality. 35In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36I'm sure you have heard about the Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37You know what happened all through Judea, beginning in Galilee after John the Baptist began preaching. 38And no doubt you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him.
39"And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by crucifying him, 40but God raised him to life three days later. Then God allowed him to appear, 41not to the general public, F51 but to us whom God had chosen beforehand to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name."
The Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
44Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who had heard the message. 45The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles, too. 46And there could be no doubt about it, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked, 47"Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?" 48So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F48: Greek anything common and unclean.
F49: Greek "What God calls clean you must not call unclean."
F50: Greek brothers.
F51: Greek the people.
1In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. 2He was a devout man who feared the God of Israel, as did his entire household. He gave generously to charity and was a man who regularly prayed to God. 3One afternoon about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. "Cornelius!" the angel said.
4Cornelius stared at him in terror. "What is it, sir?" he asked the angel. And the angel replied, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed by God! 5Now send some men down to Joppa to find a man named Simon Peter. 6He is staying with Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore. Ask him to come and visit you."
7As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. 8He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.
Peter Visits Cornelius
9The next day as Cornelius's messengers were nearing the city, Peter went up to the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 10and he was hungry. But while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. 12In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. 13Then a voice said to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat them."
14"Never, Lord," Peter declared. "I have never in all my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws. F48 "
15The voice spoke again, "If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't." F49 16The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was pulled up again to heaven.
17Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found the house and stood outside at the gate. 18They asked if this was the place where Simon Peter was staying. 19Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, "Three men have come looking for you. 20Go down and go with them without hesitation. All is well, for I have sent them."
21So Peter went down and said, "I'm the man you are looking for. Why have you come?"
22They said, "We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout man who fears the God of Israel and is well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to send for you so you can go to his house and give him a message." 23So Peter invited the men to be his guests for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some other believers F50 from Joppa.
24They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for him and had called together his relatives and close friends to meet Peter. 25As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell to the floor before him in worship. 26But Peter pulled him up and said, "Stand up! I'm a human being like you!" 27So Cornelius got up, and they talked together and went inside where the others were assembled.
28Peter told them, "You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure. 29So I came as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me."
30Cornelius replied, "Four days ago I was praying in my house at three o'clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. 31He told me, 'Cornelius, your prayers have been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! 32Now send some men to Joppa and summon Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore.' 33So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now here we are, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you."
The Gentiles Hear the Good News
34Then Peter replied, "I see very clearly that God doesn't show partiality. 35In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36I'm sure you have heard about the Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37You know what happened all through Judea, beginning in Galilee after John the Baptist began preaching. 38And no doubt you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him.
39"And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by crucifying him, 40but God raised him to life three days later. Then God allowed him to appear, 41not to the general public, F51 but to us whom God had chosen beforehand to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name."
The Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
44Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who had heard the message. 45The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles, too. 46And there could be no doubt about it, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked, 47"Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?" 48So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F48: Greek anything common and unclean.
F49: Greek "What God calls clean you must not call unclean."
F50: Greek brothers.
F51: Greek the people.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin for Today with Acts 9
The spirit of “Saul”, the persecuting murderer of those who have faith and of their faith is the spirit of satan, who comes against any image of God being formed.
BUT God is so much greater than any circumstance, situation or demonic attack! There are literally more God-spirits available to believers than those who come against and attack the work we do in Christ. Don’t be deceived into thinking the enemy is oh so big and powerful. God is Master of the whole universe and most of satan’s power is illusionary and an abuse of God’s.
Really his power is limited by those who allow him to remain in focus. God gave man the rule over the earth realm. Satan lies to man, appears as an illusionary, and man applies his faith (in the form of fear) to whatever the offer of the day is and it, becomes beiger than the offer ever was. God is bigger than any “boogie-man”! Much greater. Just say NO to the offer. NO.
He does come to steal (lie), kill and destroy, BUT Jesus CAME, to give life and in it much more abundance of that God life in and through us.
The persecution and persecutors do not just disappear when we choose to ignore them or not give them the time of day, they persist, they are on an outright assignment and know how to stick with their cause forever, do we? Or do we faint at the least bit of trouble or pain?
When Saul got arrested by God, God said, ok now tell him, he’s gonna suffer a lot! How many people do you know that’d take a hold of that package offered and run with it wholeheartedly?
Suffer? For Jesus? Aren’t we supposed to be blessed by the Lord, and didn’t He save us to show us how much He loves us and wants to give us good things? Didn’t we come to Him to see more of His goodness?
He gave us all things that pertain to life and godliness, eternity now lies in the palms of our hands for the giving. What happens in order to give that precious priceless gift is of no matter. The ideal is to give what was given at any cost, as He did. Saul would see the high price of freedom and liberation in the spirit. God is not mocked, what men sow they shall also reap. Dow eternity, reap eternity!
The way to victory is obedience. Obedience brings victory. If Saul never ever had a physical blessing from God, he’d be blessed in obedience. Eternally blessed, and that is enough to sustain any eternal creature who can see beyond the here and now. The victory over our enemies is found inside of our personal obedience to God.
That’s how strongholds are taken down.
I heard this preached and I’ll ask people what they heard in it. They’ll say things like, “Yeah, people should do whatever God says to do”. They’ll say they are submitted and willing to obey Him. Then it comes time for the challenge, the test the living proof of their words, and they did not understand the materials so they do not pass. The very worst part is they think they do!
It’s like I hear people say they are committed to the faith, so a disciple leads them, says they should read a chapter in their Bible’s each day, even gives them a specific one. When asked if they read it, they say, “Oh no, I didn’t have time”. THAT was the test of your commitment level of faith. I see people say, “Yes Lord, I’ll follow You wherever you go and do whatever You say to do”. So He leads and guides and invites them to come under the Eklesiastic command and rule of their local church. The leaders there ask for the people, all of those who say they are a part here, to do such and such and so and so. Yet the people begin to exempt themselves. THAT was the test of obedience. When it came to act specifically they didn’t and wouldn’t. Now if it was a spiritual activity they choose to initiate themselves, like listening to church on the radio or watching it on TV, rather than being in their local church, or being at a conference while their own assembly has called special services, they are all in, the point is they wiggle out of authority and won’t submit to the suggestion of another’s lead. If their own idea, ok, if someone else tells them when and where and how to meet, not a big priority.
That’s called rebellion.
That opposes obedience.
Obedience, even in the smallest matter, is blessed.
Disobedience, even in the smallest matter, is cursed.
Saul had to obey God no matter what. It was his call out of darkness into light and so it is also ours.
Saul had scales fall off of His eyes. What is on mine, yours, ours, that needs to fall off?
Do we see through a glass darkly? If we think we are ok, while we never obey any man or woman in our lives, we’re far from being ok; we’re cursed in willful, possibly blind disobedience. We perish for what we do not know or will not see.
When one sees, their life changes. If you were physically blind, but could see, would you? Of course you would. Let’s do that. See.
Others will begin to see another man arise within you. The Saul in you will get saved and become a Paul through obedient action. Our simple obedience’s are the keys to our freedoms and liberties in the spirit. The last thing God told us to do is awaiting the key in the lock of that door of blessing and release. If we do not obey His voice (and it constantly shows up in the form of people and relationships on earth), we are bound in the chains and power of our own sins. Obedience unlocks the doors.
So what is the last thing God said to do? Read a book, read His word? Pray? Be a part of a prayer meeting? Come to another kind of meeting at your church? Commit where others can count on you? Yes, I can guarantee He’s said at least one of these things recently. Your obedience and willingness to make work what someone else initiated is the key to your freedom. Amen!
Persecution? Yes, it should arise for the word’s sake. The enemy hates the preaching of the word of God, hates Christians who are obedient.
When we obey God we disobey him and nullify his power over us, because we no longer serve him or ourselves, as he’d like. He’s screaming- “anything but God, let them serve anything but God!”
When we serve God, enemies are unleashed to stop us. They’ll make it harder to commit to that Bible study group and go to church regularly. Seriously, we are engaged in warfare, they hate who looks like God. BUT God and His power and the power released through our obedience’s to His words through His messengers, is greater than any threat of any enemy. The biggie, he no longer has my soul or spirit man, and even if my body was killed off, I’m alive unto God, and the words I’ve spoken that are the same as His, are eternal, even when I die, they live on!
The most suffering present day American believers experience is the suffering of the rebellion within. It is the battle of wills. His or yours.
Saying you love God with minimal corresponding action or growth causes suffering within. Your spirit is crying out Abba-Father ( please father me)Please lead me, rule me, help me come under someone I can physically follow after and align myself with, and not one of my own choosing, but I trust you to choose for me who should lead me. That’s the cry within, to be covered under command in the alignment of His will and plan, which shows up in the following of men.
The persecution is the war within the soul, where the spirit man who is renewed in Christ Jesus is trying to reign as Lord, but the body and mind are saying we want to stay on the throne. The suffering is when I protest to stay on the throne, but I have to get off, because God wants someone else on and He wants me to serve that someone, submit to that someone. and I don’t deem them worthy of my service! So I suffer further. That’s real the suffering of our day Psuche Soufflé’. It ought not to be so. WOW, it ought not to be so!
BUT God is so much greater than any circumstance, situation or demonic attack! There are literally more God-spirits available to believers than those who come against and attack the work we do in Christ. Don’t be deceived into thinking the enemy is oh so big and powerful. God is Master of the whole universe and most of satan’s power is illusionary and an abuse of God’s.
Really his power is limited by those who allow him to remain in focus. God gave man the rule over the earth realm. Satan lies to man, appears as an illusionary, and man applies his faith (in the form of fear) to whatever the offer of the day is and it, becomes beiger than the offer ever was. God is bigger than any “boogie-man”! Much greater. Just say NO to the offer. NO.
He does come to steal (lie), kill and destroy, BUT Jesus CAME, to give life and in it much more abundance of that God life in and through us.
The persecution and persecutors do not just disappear when we choose to ignore them or not give them the time of day, they persist, they are on an outright assignment and know how to stick with their cause forever, do we? Or do we faint at the least bit of trouble or pain?
When Saul got arrested by God, God said, ok now tell him, he’s gonna suffer a lot! How many people do you know that’d take a hold of that package offered and run with it wholeheartedly?
Suffer? For Jesus? Aren’t we supposed to be blessed by the Lord, and didn’t He save us to show us how much He loves us and wants to give us good things? Didn’t we come to Him to see more of His goodness?
He gave us all things that pertain to life and godliness, eternity now lies in the palms of our hands for the giving. What happens in order to give that precious priceless gift is of no matter. The ideal is to give what was given at any cost, as He did. Saul would see the high price of freedom and liberation in the spirit. God is not mocked, what men sow they shall also reap. Dow eternity, reap eternity!
The way to victory is obedience. Obedience brings victory. If Saul never ever had a physical blessing from God, he’d be blessed in obedience. Eternally blessed, and that is enough to sustain any eternal creature who can see beyond the here and now. The victory over our enemies is found inside of our personal obedience to God.
That’s how strongholds are taken down.
I heard this preached and I’ll ask people what they heard in it. They’ll say things like, “Yeah, people should do whatever God says to do”. They’ll say they are submitted and willing to obey Him. Then it comes time for the challenge, the test the living proof of their words, and they did not understand the materials so they do not pass. The very worst part is they think they do!
It’s like I hear people say they are committed to the faith, so a disciple leads them, says they should read a chapter in their Bible’s each day, even gives them a specific one. When asked if they read it, they say, “Oh no, I didn’t have time”. THAT was the test of your commitment level of faith. I see people say, “Yes Lord, I’ll follow You wherever you go and do whatever You say to do”. So He leads and guides and invites them to come under the Eklesiastic command and rule of their local church. The leaders there ask for the people, all of those who say they are a part here, to do such and such and so and so. Yet the people begin to exempt themselves. THAT was the test of obedience. When it came to act specifically they didn’t and wouldn’t. Now if it was a spiritual activity they choose to initiate themselves, like listening to church on the radio or watching it on TV, rather than being in their local church, or being at a conference while their own assembly has called special services, they are all in, the point is they wiggle out of authority and won’t submit to the suggestion of another’s lead. If their own idea, ok, if someone else tells them when and where and how to meet, not a big priority.
That’s called rebellion.
That opposes obedience.
Obedience, even in the smallest matter, is blessed.
Disobedience, even in the smallest matter, is cursed.
Saul had to obey God no matter what. It was his call out of darkness into light and so it is also ours.
Saul had scales fall off of His eyes. What is on mine, yours, ours, that needs to fall off?
Do we see through a glass darkly? If we think we are ok, while we never obey any man or woman in our lives, we’re far from being ok; we’re cursed in willful, possibly blind disobedience. We perish for what we do not know or will not see.
When one sees, their life changes. If you were physically blind, but could see, would you? Of course you would. Let’s do that. See.
Others will begin to see another man arise within you. The Saul in you will get saved and become a Paul through obedient action. Our simple obedience’s are the keys to our freedoms and liberties in the spirit. The last thing God told us to do is awaiting the key in the lock of that door of blessing and release. If we do not obey His voice (and it constantly shows up in the form of people and relationships on earth), we are bound in the chains and power of our own sins. Obedience unlocks the doors.
So what is the last thing God said to do? Read a book, read His word? Pray? Be a part of a prayer meeting? Come to another kind of meeting at your church? Commit where others can count on you? Yes, I can guarantee He’s said at least one of these things recently. Your obedience and willingness to make work what someone else initiated is the key to your freedom. Amen!
Persecution? Yes, it should arise for the word’s sake. The enemy hates the preaching of the word of God, hates Christians who are obedient.
When we obey God we disobey him and nullify his power over us, because we no longer serve him or ourselves, as he’d like. He’s screaming- “anything but God, let them serve anything but God!”
When we serve God, enemies are unleashed to stop us. They’ll make it harder to commit to that Bible study group and go to church regularly. Seriously, we are engaged in warfare, they hate who looks like God. BUT God and His power and the power released through our obedience’s to His words through His messengers, is greater than any threat of any enemy. The biggie, he no longer has my soul or spirit man, and even if my body was killed off, I’m alive unto God, and the words I’ve spoken that are the same as His, are eternal, even when I die, they live on!
The most suffering present day American believers experience is the suffering of the rebellion within. It is the battle of wills. His or yours.
Saying you love God with minimal corresponding action or growth causes suffering within. Your spirit is crying out Abba-Father ( please father me)Please lead me, rule me, help me come under someone I can physically follow after and align myself with, and not one of my own choosing, but I trust you to choose for me who should lead me. That’s the cry within, to be covered under command in the alignment of His will and plan, which shows up in the following of men.
The persecution is the war within the soul, where the spirit man who is renewed in Christ Jesus is trying to reign as Lord, but the body and mind are saying we want to stay on the throne. The suffering is when I protest to stay on the throne, but I have to get off, because God wants someone else on and He wants me to serve that someone, submit to that someone. and I don’t deem them worthy of my service! So I suffer further. That’s real the suffering of our day Psuche Soufflé’. It ought not to be so. WOW, it ought not to be so!
Lena Posts TRC's daily Bread Reading for Today Acts 9
Saul’s Conversion
1 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.[a] So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
10 Now there was a believer[b] in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
13 “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers[c] in Jerusalem! 14 And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”
15 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16 And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
17 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul stayed with the believers[d] in Damascus for a few days. 20 And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
21 All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”
22 Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. 23 After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. 24 They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. 25 So during the night, some of the other believers[e] lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.
26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
28 So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. 30 When the believers[f] heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown.
31 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
Peter Heals Aeneas and Raises Dorcas
32 Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda. 33 There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. 34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly. 35 Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord.
36 There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas[g]). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. 37 About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. 38 But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”
39 So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. 40 But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.
42 The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.
Footnotes:
Acts 9:1 Greek disciples.
Acts 9:10 Greek disciple; also in 9:26, 36.
Acts 9:13 Greek God’s holy people; also in 9:32, 41.
Acts 9:19 Greek disciples; also in 9:26, 38.
Acts 9:25 Greek his disciples.
Acts 9:30 Greek brothers.
Acts 9:36 The names Tabitha in Aramaic and Dorcas in Greek both mean “gazelle.”
1 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.[a] So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
10 Now there was a believer[b] in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
13 “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers[c] in Jerusalem! 14 And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”
15 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16 And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
17 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul stayed with the believers[d] in Damascus for a few days. 20 And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
21 All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”
22 Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. 23 After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. 24 They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. 25 So during the night, some of the other believers[e] lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.
26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
28 So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. 30 When the believers[f] heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown.
31 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
Peter Heals Aeneas and Raises Dorcas
32 Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda. 33 There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. 34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly. 35 Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord.
36 There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas[g]). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. 37 About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. 38 But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”
39 So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. 40 But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.
42 The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.
Footnotes:
Acts 9:1 Greek disciples.
Acts 9:10 Greek disciple; also in 9:26, 36.
Acts 9:13 Greek God’s holy people; also in 9:32, 41.
Acts 9:19 Greek disciples; also in 9:26, 38.
Acts 9:25 Greek his disciples.
Acts 9:30 Greek brothers.
Acts 9:36 The names Tabitha in Aramaic and Dorcas in Greek both mean “gazelle.”
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 8 Today
Ever not been the perpetrator, yet agreed wholeheartedly with him?
God does not judge according to the mere deed, but the heart’s involvement, and only He knows that part. Yet where good intentions are concerned, He doesn’t just want us to want to, but rather to do what we purpose to do.
Some things offend God in the meditations of the heart, others must be proven with active follow through. Faith is one of those things that must show itself by its works.
Persecution can scatter; and scattering can cause seeds to be planted in more places than before. God always makes something for something else if we allow Him to. They were persecuted and badly, they were paying a price to preach and uphold truth and yes they were being injured in their physical persons by men, but not eternally altered in spirit, and the Truth of the word of God entrusted to them by God’s very own Holy Spirit was spreading like wildfire. In fact, the persecution was causing it to spread further and wider, because they began to spread out in their scattering!
Ok so their peace was disrupted, or was it? Hmmmm? Was it? What is peace anyways, is it mere quiet?, No, peace lies inside of the very eternal spirit of man, no one can touch that if it is secured in Christ. They may take the body, or cause an uproar, or a circumstances can come, but the true inner peace of God remains through all.
When the Jewish people greeted one another and said “Shalom”, they were not saying, let every circumstance make you comfy cozy, where you don’t have to lift many fingers to work for very much! They meant, “through thick and thin, through any tough time, through any kind of outward circumstance, you can have peace with God”, (and now we know; that we can also have peace with His Son, Jesus Christ, who shed His very own natural blood, so we’d always be made righteous with God the Father). So Shalom to you today! No matter what, Shalom!
How eager are you to hear God’s message?
Have persecutions come your way and have they tried to choke out the effectiveness of God’s word in your life? You cannot allow that to be that way. We allow and disallow the enemy from stealing God’s words from our lives and hearts.
Jesus gave us a parable to help us understand it all, the sower parable. It states that a royal treasure will come to us, the seed of the word of God. It will be offered us everytime we hear it preached. We can take it or leave it, buy the truth or not. Then we can keep it or discard it, receive it or disregard it, it is up to us, we decide. Then even if we decide to buy it and keep it, there is a price to be paid for the rent of it so to speak for it says an enemy comes right away, immediately, to take the word of God and steal it from us, especially if we decide we’d like to keep it! Isn’t that something? Yes, it is, and it can be tragic, BUT if we know that, if you actually knew to stay on watch over your home, because a thief would come right away to steal what someone had just given you. I mean you know what the thief is gonna steal, and you know just about when, because the word says - right away, right after you receive the gift the thief will come, WHAT would you do?
You are a protector, of your family, of your house, your things, your body, what about a protector of the words of God? Yes, we are overseers, protectors, and watchmen. Come on. God’s word is valuable, or is it? If you were given a valuable jewel and you knew the thief was coming, you’d hide it, sleep with it, bury it….Bury it….in the case of seeds that means now they are gonna grow!!!!
We are keepers of the guard. Keepers of the faith!
The enemies come when?__________________ (you fill in the blank. Hint: see above) Get that and you’ll have a whole lot of wisdom for this faith walk.
There is a destroyer out there. He hates God and anyone who resembles God and Christ. That means he is after Christ-like ones, Christians. He hates Christians. Do you get that? When you made covenant with God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you made an exchange with God, you gave Him your name for His, your clothes for his covering, your treasures, for His treasure, your life for His new eternal life, and your enemies became His enemies, His are now yours. You’ve been recruited into His militant forces, as a soldier of the King’s kingdom.
Jn 10:10 says God’s and our enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, BUT Jesus came to give life and that more abundantly.
Truth hits the very core of a person’s spirit. When you hear it, I believe deep inside, you know it. Disciples train themselves to know it. There is sorcery all around us, it is a counterfeit for the truth. Its purpose, is self exaltation, not God Most High exaltation. Look at it, think about it, who or what are Psychics, astrologers, mediums, etc pointing to? God? No, either their own power, the power of satan, or people power. It is more about entertainment than anything.
PLEASE be oh so careful of entertainment and its demonic pull on your life! Entertainment, that which lulls your soul and does not feed and nourish your spirit, is mostly a self-centered form of worship, anything with an abundance of self exaltation is dangerous ground with opened doors for demonic activity. I’d rather separate myself from its power than to be dazed and confused by it lure. Simon, a sorcerer saw and knew this, he knew of the counterfeit and was a very dry man spiritually speaking, though others would say he was very spiritual. Wrong spirit = dry land. He was a man who was thirsty and was tasting that God is so good. He’d have to completely repent of His past involvements with self exaltation ministry and the participation in the powers of satan and of man
God does not judge according to the mere deed, but the heart’s involvement, and only He knows that part. Yet where good intentions are concerned, He doesn’t just want us to want to, but rather to do what we purpose to do.
Some things offend God in the meditations of the heart, others must be proven with active follow through. Faith is one of those things that must show itself by its works.
Persecution can scatter; and scattering can cause seeds to be planted in more places than before. God always makes something for something else if we allow Him to. They were persecuted and badly, they were paying a price to preach and uphold truth and yes they were being injured in their physical persons by men, but not eternally altered in spirit, and the Truth of the word of God entrusted to them by God’s very own Holy Spirit was spreading like wildfire. In fact, the persecution was causing it to spread further and wider, because they began to spread out in their scattering!
Ok so their peace was disrupted, or was it? Hmmmm? Was it? What is peace anyways, is it mere quiet?, No, peace lies inside of the very eternal spirit of man, no one can touch that if it is secured in Christ. They may take the body, or cause an uproar, or a circumstances can come, but the true inner peace of God remains through all.
When the Jewish people greeted one another and said “Shalom”, they were not saying, let every circumstance make you comfy cozy, where you don’t have to lift many fingers to work for very much! They meant, “through thick and thin, through any tough time, through any kind of outward circumstance, you can have peace with God”, (and now we know; that we can also have peace with His Son, Jesus Christ, who shed His very own natural blood, so we’d always be made righteous with God the Father). So Shalom to you today! No matter what, Shalom!
How eager are you to hear God’s message?
Have persecutions come your way and have they tried to choke out the effectiveness of God’s word in your life? You cannot allow that to be that way. We allow and disallow the enemy from stealing God’s words from our lives and hearts.
Jesus gave us a parable to help us understand it all, the sower parable. It states that a royal treasure will come to us, the seed of the word of God. It will be offered us everytime we hear it preached. We can take it or leave it, buy the truth or not. Then we can keep it or discard it, receive it or disregard it, it is up to us, we decide. Then even if we decide to buy it and keep it, there is a price to be paid for the rent of it so to speak for it says an enemy comes right away, immediately, to take the word of God and steal it from us, especially if we decide we’d like to keep it! Isn’t that something? Yes, it is, and it can be tragic, BUT if we know that, if you actually knew to stay on watch over your home, because a thief would come right away to steal what someone had just given you. I mean you know what the thief is gonna steal, and you know just about when, because the word says - right away, right after you receive the gift the thief will come, WHAT would you do?
You are a protector, of your family, of your house, your things, your body, what about a protector of the words of God? Yes, we are overseers, protectors, and watchmen. Come on. God’s word is valuable, or is it? If you were given a valuable jewel and you knew the thief was coming, you’d hide it, sleep with it, bury it….Bury it….in the case of seeds that means now they are gonna grow!!!!
We are keepers of the guard. Keepers of the faith!
The enemies come when?__________________ (you fill in the blank. Hint: see above) Get that and you’ll have a whole lot of wisdom for this faith walk.
There is a destroyer out there. He hates God and anyone who resembles God and Christ. That means he is after Christ-like ones, Christians. He hates Christians. Do you get that? When you made covenant with God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you made an exchange with God, you gave Him your name for His, your clothes for his covering, your treasures, for His treasure, your life for His new eternal life, and your enemies became His enemies, His are now yours. You’ve been recruited into His militant forces, as a soldier of the King’s kingdom.
Jn 10:10 says God’s and our enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, BUT Jesus came to give life and that more abundantly.
Truth hits the very core of a person’s spirit. When you hear it, I believe deep inside, you know it. Disciples train themselves to know it. There is sorcery all around us, it is a counterfeit for the truth. Its purpose, is self exaltation, not God Most High exaltation. Look at it, think about it, who or what are Psychics, astrologers, mediums, etc pointing to? God? No, either their own power, the power of satan, or people power. It is more about entertainment than anything.
PLEASE be oh so careful of entertainment and its demonic pull on your life! Entertainment, that which lulls your soul and does not feed and nourish your spirit, is mostly a self-centered form of worship, anything with an abundance of self exaltation is dangerous ground with opened doors for demonic activity. I’d rather separate myself from its power than to be dazed and confused by it lure. Simon, a sorcerer saw and knew this, he knew of the counterfeit and was a very dry man spiritually speaking, though others would say he was very spiritual. Wrong spirit = dry land. He was a man who was thirsty and was tasting that God is so good. He’d have to completely repent of His past involvements with self exaltation ministry and the participation in the powers of satan and of man
TRC's Daily Bread Post for Today Acts 8
1 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.
Persecution Scatters the Believers
A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.
Philip Preaches in Samaria
4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. 6 Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. 7 Many evil[a] spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
9 A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great. 10 Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One—the Power of God.” 11 They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.
12 But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. 15 As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. 16 The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. 19 “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”
20 But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! 21 You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. 22 Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, 23 for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”
24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”
25 After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south[b] down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
30 Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
32 The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.
And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
33 He was humiliated and received no justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”[c]
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” 35 So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.
36 As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”[d] 38 He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.
Footnotes:
Acts 8:7 Greek unclean.
Acts 8:26 Or Go at noon.
Acts 8:33 Isa 53:7-8 (Greek version).
Acts 8:36 Some manuscripts add verse 37, “You can,” Philip answered, “if you believe with all your heart.” And the eunuch replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Persecution Scatters the Believers
A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.
Philip Preaches in Samaria
4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. 6 Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. 7 Many evil[a] spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
9 A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great. 10 Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One—the Power of God.” 11 They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.
12 But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. 15 As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. 16 The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. 19 “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”
20 But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! 21 You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. 22 Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, 23 for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”
24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”
25 After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south[b] down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
30 Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
32 The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.
And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
33 He was humiliated and received no justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”[c]
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” 35 So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.
36 As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”[d] 38 He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.
Footnotes:
Acts 8:7 Greek unclean.
Acts 8:26 Or Go at noon.
Acts 8:33 Isa 53:7-8 (Greek version).
Acts 8:36 Some manuscripts add verse 37, “You can,” Philip answered, “if you believe with all your heart.” And the eunuch replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
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