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.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
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.”
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 7 Today
From yesterday, Is there enough evidence to convict you as a follower of the LORD Jesus Christ? (That means He has His way in your daily life and walk, that means you are under command and in lines of submitted freewill authority) If through being convicted of being one who is like Christ is in the earth, you are persecuted, challenged, hated, spoken evil of…Do you take the opportunity, as Stephen did, to preach anyway?
Truth is truth, the word of God is eternal seed. No matter what the responses seem to be and even if one’s life is given to give it out, it will not go out void.
When I say one may give his life for the word, I’m not speaking of one being arrogant and losing his head over arrogance and prideful delivery of the word of God. Pride and arrogance come against the very character of God’s words, and if they are involved, there is an element of death mixed with His words spoken.
The best way to lay down your life is to give it freely each day in submission to God and to others in the spirit of His word. It is deference to another’s desires, plans and schedules. That is a demonstration of the death of self life, which is what “taking up our crosses daily” means to God.
It may actually be harder for us to relate with other people and lay down our desires and ways of accomplishing the same things, than it would be to lay down and disappear in death.
How much value does God’s word hold for us? Are we willing to risk the presentation of ourselves to the world to deliver its lifesaving power to others?
This makes me think of a few scenarios. Maybe you work a job where you feel you’ve been witnessing for years now. No one there seems to respond to your “words from God”, you are tired of it, feel it doesn’t work, etc.
God’s word is powerful and does work. It is our witness of His word that makes it alive in us or not. Think about it. God gave you that field of daily opportunity to shine His light and life. It is Your Harvest Field. If you never say a word from the written pages of the Bible, your daily life is His word in demonstration, or it can be. The more you obey God’s spirit and do His will, especially in fruit of the spirit character development and in the exercise of unconditional love walk development, the more your daily co-workers see a living resurrected Christ! If they are not seeing Christ at all, questions must be asked and changes made.
The question is,” Is it worth the laying down of your life everyday to make these needed changes willingly?” Or is it just easier to stay just the way you are? I mean God made you the way you are, loves you the way you are, right? Shouldn’t THEY be the ones who wholeheartedly and unconditionally love you?
Who said this walk of faith was on the Easy Road? Who told you that? I die daily, we say as Christians!
Do you love and accept the people involved in our daily lives enough to change our very character for them? Do we love them enough to show Christ’s unconditional love? Do we love them in the spirit enough to not be impatient and angry, just to name a few combatants to the very character of His word? This is the laying down of one’s life that is being spoken about in taking up a “cross” daily, and dying to self daily. How much we truly love God will show up in how much we are willing to be corrected instructed and how much we do towards changing into His very image and likeness. Christ- like, that’s what Christians are. Without change in us personally there is no witness of His work in us.
I’ve seen so many people not want to work jobs where they are around the people thing much. If it’s a constant influx of people they do good, but with the same people, they struggle. There is a root issue there that needs dealt with. I’ve also seen people gung-ho about going away for missions work, To go away and serve God, while at home they can’t be like Christ. One reason doors to the nations may not be opening is because he who is faith-filled in little will be a ruler over much. Get It at home take it out to nations, it’s that kind of thing.
Home is the proving ground. We must be proven, especially in character, before we are exported. People get frustrated that no one listens to their words as they “witness”, they get frustrated because they don’t get to go away as they’ve seen in a spiritual picture given them by God. That spiritual picture was a goal to lead you towards step A which leads to step Z. There are many more steps in between and all of them have to be taken to reach the God vision and goal. Not one step can be skipped over, all must be satisfied.
Abraham had a large promise a far off, which was dependant upon his own faithfulness and change. He had to obey God, love God, follow God or the promise would never come to pass. If it did not come to pass, it would not have been God’s fault! He said it, how much did Abraham, or us for that matter, believe it? Enough to do some changing to get it?
How valuable is the promise to us? I mean if someone told you there was gold in your backyard, and you went out back and did not see it, what would you do? If they told you it is large nuggets and it is buried, probably worth about a million dollars. What would you do? Walk back inside the house, get frustrated and give up, blaming the person who told you? No silly, dig, dig deep, keep digging, everyday, until you find every piece of it, right?
That what God’s words to us are if we treasure them, because we treasure Him. Oh I have to change to see the promise of my loved ones being saved and walking in obedience? Yes, you absolutely do have to change or they may never see Him in visible form. Ok, let’s do it!
Stephen got his opportunity to be listened to, by being a Christian with such evidence, he was convicted. Others saw he was like Christ and said so.
Have we lost heart? We’d better gather it all up and bring it before His throne if we have. Have we given up through impatience and misunderstanding of His words? Have we given up on our eternal walk with Him, saying we’re tired and can’t do it this way anymore? Have we at all turned back to our old ways, to idol worship, or mis-prioritization of our time and spending our energies frivolously? Have we given what belongs to God to others, or to ourselves? Do we ease our own pains, and solve our own concerns with human wisdom? Do we turn to the world for advise? Do we fix our own finances and miss fellowship or prayer times to do so? Are we still tithing, or can we not add it all up? Do we spend our money and time as though it belongs to us alone?
Do you live knowing you are NOT your own, you’ve been bought with a price, you are purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ? Saved or unsaved, you do not belong to your independent self, You are God’s property.
It may be time to take down the sacred pillars of man-centered worship, and the strongholds of wrong mindsets. Time to break the stone edifices we’ve erected with our opinions of God and His word and the outcome we thought it should have. It is time to declare Him Lord as never before, and change. Lives are in the balance! Eternal life and death awaits someone in our sphere of influence, someone in our own field of harvest. What are we harvesting? Good or evil? Death or life?
This is a time as never before (don’t know if it is that grace is running out or what) to accept and receive the Holy Spirit. To resist Him is dangerous business. A large part of the church has accepted God the Father as their Creator and Jesus the Son as their Savior, but we must also receive the very gift and power of God. The very part of God that makes us complete and the part Jesus commanded us to receive. Without Him we are nothing and are unable to be changed into the image of Christ Jesus our Lord. Stubbornness needs to be broken, brought to nothing, for it does not serve the purposes of God. Having the 2 parts of God is not enough. We have to live and breathe in His spirit. All of Him in all of Me, I’m all in. All of God, All in all, All the way. Not part. Part is as though there is none at all. We have to wake up and see our great need for Him, alive and active on a daily basis in us. Dependant upon His voice in us.
What’s resisting the Holy Spirit like? Let’s be honest here, It’s things like saying, you don’t need to speak in tongues. It’s like disobeying the still small voice of God, or reinterpreting the word of God delivered you by your local pastor or leaders, with excuses. It’s excusing God’s words to you as though they are nothing, mere words of men, most of whom you don’t really care for or like their personal delivery of.
The Lord may have told you to be faithful in a local body of believers, but whenever it is time to assemble, and the pastors call for the whole body to show up for prayer or regular assemblies, you have other things to do, or you are too tired or whatever. When asked to serve you have excuse after excuse. If you do not overcome these excuses, you’ll not obey God’s original word to you, He said, “be faithful”, you’ve disobeyed Him.
He takes it very seriously, and He forgives those who repent, not the ones that are just sorry, they didn’t choose what He asked them to choose. When we think of that it should make us feel badly, but only to the point of getting back on the right road quickly.
Repent, means go back to what God said to do and just do it! Be faithful, don’t make an excuse. Change your lifestyle, subtract some things out, trust Him and live as He’s deemed through the words of followers to live. Even if a leader is NOT just on the target, or it could be done a different way, be a follower. The mere godly principle of following after and being under cannot be cursed by God. Your are following the principles of God’s own kingdom and you’ll be blessed in what you do, and for the stubbornness that you leave behind.
When we gave our lives To Christ, we decided to follow others who follow Christ. We decided to have our lifestyles changed, our schedules reworked for us by God and His loving people.
No one who lives in led by the flesh nature initially love hearing the truth. Stephen told religious people that they resist the very God they say they serve! They did not like hearing that from an unscholared one, but it is /was truth. Truth shows up and we have our opportunity. If my flesh nature rises up, I usually know it is God who is speaking. Because if there’s a resistance in me I know there’s something in me that needs to die today to self life. The Pharisee in me, needs to surrender to the truth of Christ Jesus! I can decide to stone the truth bearer. (Think and talk badly about them or their rotten delivery), or I can love Truth as a person, embrace it and change. I either buy it or I don’t, it is my personal prerogative. I have that freedom, but do I TAKE IT? That depends on how alive my flesh is.
When I don’t receive the words of Jesus through broken vessels of light, I may as well have been one to have a stone in my hand that day and whirled it at Stephen. All the while the leader God sent to lead us says, “Lord don’t hold them to the account of their sin of railing accusations and wrong opinions and judgments. Forgive them Lord. Let me take what I can in the way of pain that they could see clearly and be saved.”
Amen.
Truth is truth, the word of God is eternal seed. No matter what the responses seem to be and even if one’s life is given to give it out, it will not go out void.
When I say one may give his life for the word, I’m not speaking of one being arrogant and losing his head over arrogance and prideful delivery of the word of God. Pride and arrogance come against the very character of God’s words, and if they are involved, there is an element of death mixed with His words spoken.
The best way to lay down your life is to give it freely each day in submission to God and to others in the spirit of His word. It is deference to another’s desires, plans and schedules. That is a demonstration of the death of self life, which is what “taking up our crosses daily” means to God.
It may actually be harder for us to relate with other people and lay down our desires and ways of accomplishing the same things, than it would be to lay down and disappear in death.
How much value does God’s word hold for us? Are we willing to risk the presentation of ourselves to the world to deliver its lifesaving power to others?
This makes me think of a few scenarios. Maybe you work a job where you feel you’ve been witnessing for years now. No one there seems to respond to your “words from God”, you are tired of it, feel it doesn’t work, etc.
God’s word is powerful and does work. It is our witness of His word that makes it alive in us or not. Think about it. God gave you that field of daily opportunity to shine His light and life. It is Your Harvest Field. If you never say a word from the written pages of the Bible, your daily life is His word in demonstration, or it can be. The more you obey God’s spirit and do His will, especially in fruit of the spirit character development and in the exercise of unconditional love walk development, the more your daily co-workers see a living resurrected Christ! If they are not seeing Christ at all, questions must be asked and changes made.
The question is,” Is it worth the laying down of your life everyday to make these needed changes willingly?” Or is it just easier to stay just the way you are? I mean God made you the way you are, loves you the way you are, right? Shouldn’t THEY be the ones who wholeheartedly and unconditionally love you?
Who said this walk of faith was on the Easy Road? Who told you that? I die daily, we say as Christians!
Do you love and accept the people involved in our daily lives enough to change our very character for them? Do we love them enough to show Christ’s unconditional love? Do we love them in the spirit enough to not be impatient and angry, just to name a few combatants to the very character of His word? This is the laying down of one’s life that is being spoken about in taking up a “cross” daily, and dying to self daily. How much we truly love God will show up in how much we are willing to be corrected instructed and how much we do towards changing into His very image and likeness. Christ- like, that’s what Christians are. Without change in us personally there is no witness of His work in us.
I’ve seen so many people not want to work jobs where they are around the people thing much. If it’s a constant influx of people they do good, but with the same people, they struggle. There is a root issue there that needs dealt with. I’ve also seen people gung-ho about going away for missions work, To go away and serve God, while at home they can’t be like Christ. One reason doors to the nations may not be opening is because he who is faith-filled in little will be a ruler over much. Get It at home take it out to nations, it’s that kind of thing.
Home is the proving ground. We must be proven, especially in character, before we are exported. People get frustrated that no one listens to their words as they “witness”, they get frustrated because they don’t get to go away as they’ve seen in a spiritual picture given them by God. That spiritual picture was a goal to lead you towards step A which leads to step Z. There are many more steps in between and all of them have to be taken to reach the God vision and goal. Not one step can be skipped over, all must be satisfied.
Abraham had a large promise a far off, which was dependant upon his own faithfulness and change. He had to obey God, love God, follow God or the promise would never come to pass. If it did not come to pass, it would not have been God’s fault! He said it, how much did Abraham, or us for that matter, believe it? Enough to do some changing to get it?
How valuable is the promise to us? I mean if someone told you there was gold in your backyard, and you went out back and did not see it, what would you do? If they told you it is large nuggets and it is buried, probably worth about a million dollars. What would you do? Walk back inside the house, get frustrated and give up, blaming the person who told you? No silly, dig, dig deep, keep digging, everyday, until you find every piece of it, right?
That what God’s words to us are if we treasure them, because we treasure Him. Oh I have to change to see the promise of my loved ones being saved and walking in obedience? Yes, you absolutely do have to change or they may never see Him in visible form. Ok, let’s do it!
Stephen got his opportunity to be listened to, by being a Christian with such evidence, he was convicted. Others saw he was like Christ and said so.
Have we lost heart? We’d better gather it all up and bring it before His throne if we have. Have we given up through impatience and misunderstanding of His words? Have we given up on our eternal walk with Him, saying we’re tired and can’t do it this way anymore? Have we at all turned back to our old ways, to idol worship, or mis-prioritization of our time and spending our energies frivolously? Have we given what belongs to God to others, or to ourselves? Do we ease our own pains, and solve our own concerns with human wisdom? Do we turn to the world for advise? Do we fix our own finances and miss fellowship or prayer times to do so? Are we still tithing, or can we not add it all up? Do we spend our money and time as though it belongs to us alone?
Do you live knowing you are NOT your own, you’ve been bought with a price, you are purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ? Saved or unsaved, you do not belong to your independent self, You are God’s property.
It may be time to take down the sacred pillars of man-centered worship, and the strongholds of wrong mindsets. Time to break the stone edifices we’ve erected with our opinions of God and His word and the outcome we thought it should have. It is time to declare Him Lord as never before, and change. Lives are in the balance! Eternal life and death awaits someone in our sphere of influence, someone in our own field of harvest. What are we harvesting? Good or evil? Death or life?
This is a time as never before (don’t know if it is that grace is running out or what) to accept and receive the Holy Spirit. To resist Him is dangerous business. A large part of the church has accepted God the Father as their Creator and Jesus the Son as their Savior, but we must also receive the very gift and power of God. The very part of God that makes us complete and the part Jesus commanded us to receive. Without Him we are nothing and are unable to be changed into the image of Christ Jesus our Lord. Stubbornness needs to be broken, brought to nothing, for it does not serve the purposes of God. Having the 2 parts of God is not enough. We have to live and breathe in His spirit. All of Him in all of Me, I’m all in. All of God, All in all, All the way. Not part. Part is as though there is none at all. We have to wake up and see our great need for Him, alive and active on a daily basis in us. Dependant upon His voice in us.
What’s resisting the Holy Spirit like? Let’s be honest here, It’s things like saying, you don’t need to speak in tongues. It’s like disobeying the still small voice of God, or reinterpreting the word of God delivered you by your local pastor or leaders, with excuses. It’s excusing God’s words to you as though they are nothing, mere words of men, most of whom you don’t really care for or like their personal delivery of.
The Lord may have told you to be faithful in a local body of believers, but whenever it is time to assemble, and the pastors call for the whole body to show up for prayer or regular assemblies, you have other things to do, or you are too tired or whatever. When asked to serve you have excuse after excuse. If you do not overcome these excuses, you’ll not obey God’s original word to you, He said, “be faithful”, you’ve disobeyed Him.
He takes it very seriously, and He forgives those who repent, not the ones that are just sorry, they didn’t choose what He asked them to choose. When we think of that it should make us feel badly, but only to the point of getting back on the right road quickly.
Repent, means go back to what God said to do and just do it! Be faithful, don’t make an excuse. Change your lifestyle, subtract some things out, trust Him and live as He’s deemed through the words of followers to live. Even if a leader is NOT just on the target, or it could be done a different way, be a follower. The mere godly principle of following after and being under cannot be cursed by God. Your are following the principles of God’s own kingdom and you’ll be blessed in what you do, and for the stubbornness that you leave behind.
When we gave our lives To Christ, we decided to follow others who follow Christ. We decided to have our lifestyles changed, our schedules reworked for us by God and His loving people.
No one who lives in led by the flesh nature initially love hearing the truth. Stephen told religious people that they resist the very God they say they serve! They did not like hearing that from an unscholared one, but it is /was truth. Truth shows up and we have our opportunity. If my flesh nature rises up, I usually know it is God who is speaking. Because if there’s a resistance in me I know there’s something in me that needs to die today to self life. The Pharisee in me, needs to surrender to the truth of Christ Jesus! I can decide to stone the truth bearer. (Think and talk badly about them or their rotten delivery), or I can love Truth as a person, embrace it and change. I either buy it or I don’t, it is my personal prerogative. I have that freedom, but do I TAKE IT? That depends on how alive my flesh is.
When I don’t receive the words of Jesus through broken vessels of light, I may as well have been one to have a stone in my hand that day and whirled it at Stephen. All the while the leader God sent to lead us says, “Lord don’t hold them to the account of their sin of railing accusations and wrong opinions and judgments. Forgive them Lord. Let me take what I can in the way of pain that they could see clearly and be saved.”
Amen.
TRC'S Daily Bread Post for Today Acts 7
1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, "Are these accusations true?" 2 This was Stephen's reply: "Brothers and honorable fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he moved to Haran. F25 3 God told him, 'Leave your native land and your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.' F26 4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live. 5 But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole country would belong to Abraham and his descendants – though he had no children yet. 6 But God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign country where they would be mistreated as slaves for four hundred years. 7 'But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,' God told him, 'and in the end they will come out and worship me in this place.' F27 8 God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. And so Isaac, Abraham's son, was circumcised when he was eight days old. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Jewish nation. 9 "These sons of Jacob were very jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him from his anguish. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of all the affairs of the palace. 11 "But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery for our ancestors, as they ran out of food. 12 Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons F28 to buy some. 13 The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all. 15 So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did all his sons. 16 All of them were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 "As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18 But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 19 This king plotted against our people and forced parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die. 20 "At that time Moses was born – a beautiful child in God's eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. 21 When at last they had to abandon him, Pharaoh's daughter found him and raised him as her own son. 22 Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he became mighty in both speech and action. 23 "One day when he was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. 24 During this visit, he saw an Egyptian mistreating a man of Israel. So Moses came to his defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses assumed his brothers would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn't. 26 "The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. 'Men,' he said, 'you are brothers. Why are you hurting each other?' 27 "But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside and told him to mind his own business. 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?' he asked. 28 'Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?' 29 When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian, where his two sons were born.
30 "Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. 31 Moses saw it and wondered what it was. As he went to see, the voice of the Lord called out to him, 32 'I am the God of your ancestors – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses shook with terror and dared not look. 33 "And the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 34 You can be sure that I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries. So I have come to rescue them. Now go, for I will send you to Egypt.' F29 35 And so God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected by demanding, 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?' Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, Moses was sent to be their ruler and savior. 36 And by means of many miraculous signs and wonders, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and back and forth through the wilderness for forty years. 37 "Moses himself told the people of Israel, 'God will raise up a Prophet like me from among your own people.' F30 38 Moses was with the assembly of God's people in the wilderness. He was the mediator between the people of Israel and the angel who gave him life-giving words on Mount Sinai to pass on to us. 39 "But our ancestors rejected Moses and wanted to return to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, 'Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don't know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.' 41 So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and rejoiced in this thing they had made.
42 Then God turned away from them and gave them up to serve the sun, moon, and stars as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written, 'Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel? 43 No, your real interest was in your pagan gods – the shrine of Molech, the star god Rephan, and the images you made to worship them. So I will send you into captivity far away in Babylon.' F31 44 "Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle F32 with them through the wilderness. It was constructed in exact accordance with the plan shown to Moses by God. 45 Years later, when Joshua led the battles against the Gentile nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it was used there until the time of King David. 46 "David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. F33 47 But it was Solomon who actually built it. 48 However, the Most High doesn't live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says, 49 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that?' asks the Lord. 'Could you build a dwelling place for me? 50 Didn't I make everything in heaven and earth?' F34
51 "You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One – the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God's law, though you received it from the hands of angels. F35 "
54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen's accusation, and they shook their fists in rage. F36 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. 56 And he told them, "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand!" 57 Then they put their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, they rushed at him. 58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The official witnesses took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. F37 59 And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 And he fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!" And with that, he died.
FOOTNOTES:
F25: Mesopotamia was the region now called Iraq. Haran was a city in what is now called Syria.
F26: Gen 12:1.
F27: Gen 12:7; 15:13-14; Exod 3:12.
F28: Greek our fathers; also in 7:15.
F29: Exod 3:5-10.
F30: Deut 18:15.
F31: Amos 5:25-27.
F32: Greek the tent of witness.
F33: Some manuscripts read the house of Jacob.
F34: Isa 66:1-2.
F35: Greek received the Law as it was ordained by angels.
F36: Greek they were grinding their teeth against him.
F37: Saul is later called Paul; see 13:9. The New Living Translation
17 "As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18 But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 19 This king plotted against our people and forced parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die. 20 "At that time Moses was born – a beautiful child in God's eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. 21 When at last they had to abandon him, Pharaoh's daughter found him and raised him as her own son. 22 Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he became mighty in both speech and action. 23 "One day when he was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. 24 During this visit, he saw an Egyptian mistreating a man of Israel. So Moses came to his defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses assumed his brothers would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn't. 26 "The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. 'Men,' he said, 'you are brothers. Why are you hurting each other?' 27 "But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside and told him to mind his own business. 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?' he asked. 28 'Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?' 29 When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian, where his two sons were born.
30 "Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. 31 Moses saw it and wondered what it was. As he went to see, the voice of the Lord called out to him, 32 'I am the God of your ancestors – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses shook with terror and dared not look. 33 "And the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 34 You can be sure that I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries. So I have come to rescue them. Now go, for I will send you to Egypt.' F29 35 And so God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected by demanding, 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?' Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, Moses was sent to be their ruler and savior. 36 And by means of many miraculous signs and wonders, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and back and forth through the wilderness for forty years. 37 "Moses himself told the people of Israel, 'God will raise up a Prophet like me from among your own people.' F30 38 Moses was with the assembly of God's people in the wilderness. He was the mediator between the people of Israel and the angel who gave him life-giving words on Mount Sinai to pass on to us. 39 "But our ancestors rejected Moses and wanted to return to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, 'Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don't know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.' 41 So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and rejoiced in this thing they had made.
42 Then God turned away from them and gave them up to serve the sun, moon, and stars as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written, 'Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel? 43 No, your real interest was in your pagan gods – the shrine of Molech, the star god Rephan, and the images you made to worship them. So I will send you into captivity far away in Babylon.' F31 44 "Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle F32 with them through the wilderness. It was constructed in exact accordance with the plan shown to Moses by God. 45 Years later, when Joshua led the battles against the Gentile nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it was used there until the time of King David. 46 "David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. F33 47 But it was Solomon who actually built it. 48 However, the Most High doesn't live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says, 49 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that?' asks the Lord. 'Could you build a dwelling place for me? 50 Didn't I make everything in heaven and earth?' F34
51 "You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One – the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God's law, though you received it from the hands of angels. F35 "
54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen's accusation, and they shook their fists in rage. F36 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. 56 And he told them, "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand!" 57 Then they put their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, they rushed at him. 58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The official witnesses took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. F37 59 And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 And he fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!" And with that, he died.
FOOTNOTES:
F25: Mesopotamia was the region now called Iraq. Haran was a city in what is now called Syria.
F26: Gen 12:1.
F27: Gen 12:7; 15:13-14; Exod 3:12.
F28: Greek our fathers; also in 7:15.
F29: Exod 3:5-10.
F30: Deut 18:15.
F31: Amos 5:25-27.
F32: Greek the tent of witness.
F33: Some manuscripts read the house of Jacob.
F34: Isa 66:1-2.
F35: Greek received the Law as it was ordained by angels.
F36: Greek they were grinding their teeth against him.
F37: Saul is later called Paul; see 13:9. The New Living Translation
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 6 Today
The Cross is shaped like a “t”. There are vertical points going both up (North) and down (South), horizontal points reaching East and Westward.
Its symbolism is much like that of our relationships, both with God (N to S, He to us, us to Him)and with people here on earth. (E & W)
There is an order of priority in relationships. One has got to be first in order for the other to work well.
There is that greatest commandment and the one just like it, Love God with everything, and then love people the same.
If we love people wholeheartedly and neglect a relationship with God it can be we are doing some good, for we do kind deeds, but it is out of priorital order and will not hold up well without its “missing link”.
If we love God and are not ever very interested in people, we’re “missing the boat”, the very intended purpose for being on earth.
The disciples said, we cannot only tend to people and their physical needs. We must attend to God.
Now in attending to people we do attend to God’s will, yet tending to God must be first priority to properly love and serve His people. Jesus was a grand example of this. He would wake up early, go away for hours, with His Father, find out His will for the people and then be that will to the people, not in writing as Moses did, but on a tablet of flesh, a living breathing man.
The words that God gave Moses were laws written on tablets of stone. Jesus showed us that through a relationship with His Father He became the living alive and breathing word with His father’s words inscribed on His heart. Without being in the Lord’s presence, the words or deeds we might do or speak are as stone tablets, and our words and actions can be quite weighty to the hearers.
Jesus spoke weighty and serious words, yet His relationship and obedient love of His Father held the weight needed to be carried.
We also cannot neglect the Lord, and our relationship building with Him to do a good work in soup kitchens, or visit the elderly, or do any good work in the place of relationship building and then say we did it for or with God. He wants our presence as much as we want His. We can do the good and practical work all day long and never be with Him or we could have been with Him, then do the work as living breathing examples of that love relationship with Him.
Is there enough evidence coming out of your heart and life to convict you of being Christ-like? Do other people look at you and say, “man, they’re just like Jesus was?”
Christians are called Christians, by others, not by themselves.
We all know you cannot convince anyone that you are what you say you are, unless you prove it by your life force. Being with God daily brings out that life force that is evidence of being with Him.
Stephen, a man who served the “soup kitchens” of their day, did good works among the believers, had a solid relationship with his Father God and the Lord Jesus Christ, one that was visible enough for others to see outwardly, enough to convict him of being with the Lord!
Its symbolism is much like that of our relationships, both with God (N to S, He to us, us to Him)and with people here on earth. (E & W)
There is an order of priority in relationships. One has got to be first in order for the other to work well.
There is that greatest commandment and the one just like it, Love God with everything, and then love people the same.
If we love people wholeheartedly and neglect a relationship with God it can be we are doing some good, for we do kind deeds, but it is out of priorital order and will not hold up well without its “missing link”.
If we love God and are not ever very interested in people, we’re “missing the boat”, the very intended purpose for being on earth.
The disciples said, we cannot only tend to people and their physical needs. We must attend to God.
Now in attending to people we do attend to God’s will, yet tending to God must be first priority to properly love and serve His people. Jesus was a grand example of this. He would wake up early, go away for hours, with His Father, find out His will for the people and then be that will to the people, not in writing as Moses did, but on a tablet of flesh, a living breathing man.
The words that God gave Moses were laws written on tablets of stone. Jesus showed us that through a relationship with His Father He became the living alive and breathing word with His father’s words inscribed on His heart. Without being in the Lord’s presence, the words or deeds we might do or speak are as stone tablets, and our words and actions can be quite weighty to the hearers.
Jesus spoke weighty and serious words, yet His relationship and obedient love of His Father held the weight needed to be carried.
We also cannot neglect the Lord, and our relationship building with Him to do a good work in soup kitchens, or visit the elderly, or do any good work in the place of relationship building and then say we did it for or with God. He wants our presence as much as we want His. We can do the good and practical work all day long and never be with Him or we could have been with Him, then do the work as living breathing examples of that love relationship with Him.
Is there enough evidence coming out of your heart and life to convict you of being Christ-like? Do other people look at you and say, “man, they’re just like Jesus was?”
Christians are called Christians, by others, not by themselves.
We all know you cannot convince anyone that you are what you say you are, unless you prove it by your life force. Being with God daily brings out that life force that is evidence of being with Him.
Stephen, a man who served the “soup kitchens” of their day, did good works among the believers, had a solid relationship with his Father God and the Lord Jesus Christ, one that was visible enough for others to see outwardly, enough to convict him of being with the Lord!
TRC's Daily Bread Post for Today - Acts 6
1 But as the believers F23 rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers."We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program," they said. 3 "Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business. 4 Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word." 5 This idea pleased the whole group, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had now become a Christian). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. 7 God's message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
8 Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9 But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 10 None of them was able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke. 11 So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, "We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God." 12 Naturally, this roused the crowds, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council. F24 13 The lying witnesses said, "This man is always speaking against the Temple and against the law of Moses. 14 We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us." 15 At this point everyone in the council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel's.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F23: Greek disciples; also in 6:2, 7.
F24: Greek Sanhedrin; also in 6:15.
The New Living Translation
8 Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9 But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 10 None of them was able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke. 11 So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, "We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God." 12 Naturally, this roused the crowds, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council. F24 13 The lying witnesses said, "This man is always speaking against the Temple and against the law of Moses. 14 We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us." 15 At this point everyone in the council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel's.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
F23: Greek disciples; also in 6:2, 7.
F24: Greek Sanhedrin; also in 6:15.
The New Living Translation
Monday, January 08, 2007
Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 5 Today
This morning I heard my husband begin to read the chapter aloud, as he likes to do. I overheard Ananias and Sapphira, then he read a bit and was quiet.
I was thinking, “not today, that one isn’t today, is it? Is it that soon in Acts that the people of God begin to offend the Holy Spirit? It couldn’t be, aren’t we only on chapter 5, it must be he’s quiet because he turned to the wrong page and that was like ch 11 or something, not 5, not Ananias and Sapphira already!” As I thought about it, I knew it wasn’t chapter 11 and the Lord began to speak to me from what Lance had read aloud.
I thought I recalled him reading something like this,
“He’d promised to bring the whole thing, but he brought only part.” Or did I hear,
“He’d said he was one of the disciples who were in one accord and had said, “hey. let’s bring our all and combine it all together, like we were in one accord in the spirit, so let us be in the natural provisions also.”” Or I heard,
“He’d said to the disciples face to face, Oh yes,” I’m a Christian, I’m all in, a 100%-er. A believer in Christ All the way”, but in action, he only did part when it came to living it out and proving it so, for his own life, personally.”
I heard a lot of things and it sank my heart.
So many times we take ourselves out of the scriptures, when we should put ourselves right back in them. Is this us at all?
Ananias means: One to who Jehovah has so graciously given.
Sapphira means: precious, costly, valuable, jewel.
This salvation we have was given us by God so freely, so graciously. Do we understand the magnitude of this free gift? It is so precious. God’s only Son was given us as a living sacrifice. A man’s physical body was tortured, shredded, because God loves us enough to take all of our eternal pain in punishment for the separation our sin made between us and our Creator Father.
It is very serious business- discipleship. It is not pretty when a man makes a promise he does not keep, especially a promise to God! Wow.
Do we realize God gives and takes life away? He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts? How could we ever lie to Him, saying one thing while doing another? He knows us from the inside out!
We may lie to men, who serve God, we may think it’s no biggy to say one thing before men, yet do other things, but God sets men up as representatives of Him, “face to facers” I call them. They make us accountable to God.
If we go into our prayer closets and pray between us and God we can say or do anything, there, it’s when we sit face to face with a man that we hesitate on what to say, and that should be. Ananias most likely hesitated before he lied.
If you’re not in with face to facers, you otta be.
Can anyone you know father you? Can anyone ask you what you are doing, where you are going, and correct you to help save your soul? If they cannot you are not a disciple! If that offends you, you may believe in Him, but you’re not all His yet.
I know it’s a journey, but we decide how long it takes by how soon we yield to His will and ways or not.
So what Jehovah had so graciously given died.
Is your born again faith in Christ Jesus still alive, or did you become a believer and never grow into a disciple? If a child does not grow they die. We as believers MUST grow into disciples.
It is serious when someone does not grow, there should be alarms going off. People should be horrified, really. It is not normal to stay a baby for life, it is not normal for a believer to not become a disciple who gives all to follow Jesus.
If we do not force ourselves to be disciplined and grow, we do not value what God freely gave us. When you value something you tend to it, nurture its growth. If we do not tend to it properly, it becomes worthless to us and in us.
Sapphira died also, She ignored the conviction of the Lord. Deception does that and devalues us, tells us the walk with Christ is of no value, it lies to us. Maybe in the here and now it does not seem to bring us a whole lot of personal increase, so what! We’re talking serious eternal value here. We cannot afford to listen to any other voice, but God’s voice!
So Ananias, Sapphira, what was the price? What exactly does it cost to be a disciple? I know you had no idea when you “signed up”, but now that you’ve come to find out the true value of relationship, with God and His Son and Spirit; now that you know the value of right relationship and understand that our God is a Covenant God, are you willing to pay?
Well, we can’t afford to pay.
Well, yeah, that is true, the thing is it is way too expensive, but guess what?
God gave you a ticket to have it for free.
Well I thought it cost us. It does, but it’s free.
I don’t get it.
I know you didn’t get it, but we can through your example.
The example of a Life laid down.
That’s the valuable price, life. A life for a life! It’s always been that way.
Yet the life is not taken, it is given.
That is a freewill sacrifice.
It is due Him.
It is a very appropriate response, due God from all humans.
How are signs and wonder wrought by the hands of human men? The laying down of on’s life and the picking up of another. The disciples were the ones the power flowed through. Those who willingly gave up their own agendas, plans goals, etc. THAT is the laying down of the life!
They were glad to suffer for His name. that person wiling to do so knows Him. No one can feel that way and not know Him, eternally.
Those who willingly lay down their lives will find it, life eternal. These see into another realm right here and now, but another realm, the eternal realm.
I was thinking, “not today, that one isn’t today, is it? Is it that soon in Acts that the people of God begin to offend the Holy Spirit? It couldn’t be, aren’t we only on chapter 5, it must be he’s quiet because he turned to the wrong page and that was like ch 11 or something, not 5, not Ananias and Sapphira already!” As I thought about it, I knew it wasn’t chapter 11 and the Lord began to speak to me from what Lance had read aloud.
I thought I recalled him reading something like this,
“He’d promised to bring the whole thing, but he brought only part.” Or did I hear,
“He’d said he was one of the disciples who were in one accord and had said, “hey. let’s bring our all and combine it all together, like we were in one accord in the spirit, so let us be in the natural provisions also.”” Or I heard,
“He’d said to the disciples face to face, Oh yes,” I’m a Christian, I’m all in, a 100%-er. A believer in Christ All the way”, but in action, he only did part when it came to living it out and proving it so, for his own life, personally.”
I heard a lot of things and it sank my heart.
So many times we take ourselves out of the scriptures, when we should put ourselves right back in them. Is this us at all?
Ananias means: One to who Jehovah has so graciously given.
Sapphira means: precious, costly, valuable, jewel.
This salvation we have was given us by God so freely, so graciously. Do we understand the magnitude of this free gift? It is so precious. God’s only Son was given us as a living sacrifice. A man’s physical body was tortured, shredded, because God loves us enough to take all of our eternal pain in punishment for the separation our sin made between us and our Creator Father.
It is very serious business- discipleship. It is not pretty when a man makes a promise he does not keep, especially a promise to God! Wow.
Do we realize God gives and takes life away? He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts? How could we ever lie to Him, saying one thing while doing another? He knows us from the inside out!
We may lie to men, who serve God, we may think it’s no biggy to say one thing before men, yet do other things, but God sets men up as representatives of Him, “face to facers” I call them. They make us accountable to God.
If we go into our prayer closets and pray between us and God we can say or do anything, there, it’s when we sit face to face with a man that we hesitate on what to say, and that should be. Ananias most likely hesitated before he lied.
If you’re not in with face to facers, you otta be.
Can anyone you know father you? Can anyone ask you what you are doing, where you are going, and correct you to help save your soul? If they cannot you are not a disciple! If that offends you, you may believe in Him, but you’re not all His yet.
I know it’s a journey, but we decide how long it takes by how soon we yield to His will and ways or not.
So what Jehovah had so graciously given died.
Is your born again faith in Christ Jesus still alive, or did you become a believer and never grow into a disciple? If a child does not grow they die. We as believers MUST grow into disciples.
It is serious when someone does not grow, there should be alarms going off. People should be horrified, really. It is not normal to stay a baby for life, it is not normal for a believer to not become a disciple who gives all to follow Jesus.
If we do not force ourselves to be disciplined and grow, we do not value what God freely gave us. When you value something you tend to it, nurture its growth. If we do not tend to it properly, it becomes worthless to us and in us.
Sapphira died also, She ignored the conviction of the Lord. Deception does that and devalues us, tells us the walk with Christ is of no value, it lies to us. Maybe in the here and now it does not seem to bring us a whole lot of personal increase, so what! We’re talking serious eternal value here. We cannot afford to listen to any other voice, but God’s voice!
So Ananias, Sapphira, what was the price? What exactly does it cost to be a disciple? I know you had no idea when you “signed up”, but now that you’ve come to find out the true value of relationship, with God and His Son and Spirit; now that you know the value of right relationship and understand that our God is a Covenant God, are you willing to pay?
Well, we can’t afford to pay.
Well, yeah, that is true, the thing is it is way too expensive, but guess what?
God gave you a ticket to have it for free.
Well I thought it cost us. It does, but it’s free.
I don’t get it.
I know you didn’t get it, but we can through your example.
The example of a Life laid down.
That’s the valuable price, life. A life for a life! It’s always been that way.
Yet the life is not taken, it is given.
That is a freewill sacrifice.
It is due Him.
It is a very appropriate response, due God from all humans.
How are signs and wonder wrought by the hands of human men? The laying down of on’s life and the picking up of another. The disciples were the ones the power flowed through. Those who willingly gave up their own agendas, plans goals, etc. THAT is the laying down of the life!
They were glad to suffer for His name. that person wiling to do so knows Him. No one can feel that way and not know Him, eternally.
Those who willingly lay down their lives will find it, life eternal. These see into another realm right here and now, but another realm, the eternal realm.
Acts 5 Today's TRC Daily Bread Post
Ananias and Sapphira
1 But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?”
“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”
9 And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.”
10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.
The Apostles Heal Many
12 The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. 14 Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. 15 As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. 16 Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil[a] spirits, and they were all healed.
The Apostles Meet Opposition
17 The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them, 20 “Go to the Temple and give the people this message of life!”
21 So at daybreak the apostles entered the Temple, as they were told, and immediately began teaching.
When the high priest and his officials arrived, they convened the high council[b]—the full assembly of the elders of Israel. Then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail for trial. 22 But when the Temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported, 23 “The jail was securely locked, with the guards standing outside, but when we opened the gates, no one was there!”
24 When the captain of the Temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. 25 Then someone arrived with startling news: “The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple, teaching the people!”
26 The captain went with his Temple guards and arrested the apostles, but without violence, for they were afraid the people would stone them. 27 Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. 28 “Didn’t we tell you never again to teach in this man’s name?” he demanded. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”
29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross.[c] 31 Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. 32 We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, the high council was furious and decided to kill them. 34 But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while. 35 Then he said to his colleagues, “Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men! 36 Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. 37 After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered.
38 “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
40 The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.
41 The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.[d] 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”
Footnotes:
Acts 5:16 Greek unclean.
Acts 5:21 Greek Sanhedrin; also in 5:27, 41.
Acts 5:30 Greek on a tree.
Acts 5:41 Greek for the name.
1 But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?”
“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”
9 And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.”
10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.
The Apostles Heal Many
12 The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. 14 Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. 15 As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. 16 Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil[a] spirits, and they were all healed.
The Apostles Meet Opposition
17 The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them, 20 “Go to the Temple and give the people this message of life!”
21 So at daybreak the apostles entered the Temple, as they were told, and immediately began teaching.
When the high priest and his officials arrived, they convened the high council[b]—the full assembly of the elders of Israel. Then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail for trial. 22 But when the Temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported, 23 “The jail was securely locked, with the guards standing outside, but when we opened the gates, no one was there!”
24 When the captain of the Temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. 25 Then someone arrived with startling news: “The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple, teaching the people!”
26 The captain went with his Temple guards and arrested the apostles, but without violence, for they were afraid the people would stone them. 27 Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. 28 “Didn’t we tell you never again to teach in this man’s name?” he demanded. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”
29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross.[c] 31 Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. 32 We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, the high council was furious and decided to kill them. 34 But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while. 35 Then he said to his colleagues, “Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men! 36 Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. 37 After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered.
38 “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
40 The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.
41 The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.[d] 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”
Footnotes:
Acts 5:16 Greek unclean.
Acts 5:21 Greek Sanhedrin; also in 5:27, 41.
Acts 5:30 Greek on a tree.
Acts 5:41 Greek for the name.
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