Acts Chapter 12

Wow!  The rollercoaster of joys and tragedy continue in Acts 12.

The chapter opens with startling news that James is killed and Peter is put in prison.  We don't get much details about what happened with James such as how long he was in prison before he was killed "with the sword".

I heard Greg Laurie commenting on this passage once and he said that the church was probably a bit apathetic and may not have been praying hard when James was first arrested.  They were used to such things happening to some degree but they usually were released.  So when James was put to death, it was likely a wake up call to the church.  They knew that they needed to be praying hard and now when Peter is arrested we see that the church is praying through the night for him with "earnest" prayer (v 5).  We don't know the details around James situation, but I agree that this is a likely scenario and seems to be hinted at in the details of the text.  He further commented that they were praying though with unbelief because they were praying through the night for Peter to be released and when God miraculously gets Peter out of prison in the middle of the night, when he goes to the door where they are praying, they at first cannot believe that it could be Peter.  It is as if they didn't/couldn't believe that God could/would answer at that time of day and in that way.  On the other hand, I probably would have reacted in the same way.

Lord Jesus, help me to pray earnestly and not to just assume that things will work out fine.  Help me also to trust in you when I pray and to have the faith to expect your answers that are beyond all that I can ask or think (Eph 3:20).

The story of Peter's release is quite dramatic!  He is chained directly to two guards, held in a prison with multiple locked doors and four squads of soldiers (a squad is 8-14 soldiers - so 32-56 soldiers) specifically guarding him!  An angel comes in, hits Peter to wake him, and the chains fall off his wrists and the prison doors swing open by themselves.  The soldiers must have been put into a supernatural sleep because none of them knew this happened.  King Herod cross-examined the guards and had them all executed.  Wow!  That is an amazing miraculous escape!

Then Herod grows in his pride, even allowing people to call him God, so God brings him low and struck him down and he was eaten with worms and died.  So God takes out the enemy of the gospel in a supernatural way and then the word of God continues to increase and multiply.

We see the amazing ending, but we have to remember that things probably seemed very dark and bleak at the beginning when James was executed.  We need to remember that when things seem impossible and dark and hopeless, that God is still on the throne.  We need to turn our eyes and our hearts to him in earnest prayer and put our hope and trust in him.  He is able to deliver us from even the most impossible situations.  We don't need to take things into our own hands and fight and we don't need to run and hide.  But we need to continue in faith and earnest prayer, keeping our eyes on God and casting our cares, worries and crisis on him.

Lord, help us to do this!

Acts Chapter 11

In the beginning of this chapter we see the ripples caused by the work that God had done among the Gentiles through Peter.  The first ripples were those of opposition.  Just as Peter had the wrong attitudes toward Gentiles and believed that it was unlawful to eat with them, so the "circumcision" group in Jerusalem criticized Peter as doing something unlawful.  

There was never any law of God not to eat with Gentiles, but this is a good example of man's law that made it's way into the religious group that became viewed as God's law.  Jesus spoke against such man-made laws and traditions, especially when they cause us to disobey God's laws, which this one clearly did (Mark 7:8-11).

However, after Peter told them all about first the vision that God showed Peter and then that the Holy Spirit came on the Gentiles, then they realized that this was God's plan and that God was granting forgiveness and new life to the Gentiles.  I think it is interesting that it says "when they heard these things they fell silent" (v 18).  I can just picture a large group of people that Peter is talking to and as he is speaking they are still grumbling and murmuring about the things that he is saying, especially every time he said "Gentile".  Then when they heard what God did, they became silent and then gave glory to God.  So they all changed their attitudes, at least partially, toward Gentiles.  But as Justin pointed out in a comment, this prejudice is not dead yet and Peter himself will be swayed later by the pressure of the circumcision group (circumcision being the sign of the Mosaic covenant and here would probably just refer to those who are circumcised and then later, or perhaps already, they take the stand that to become a true follower of God, you must be circumcised.)  This topic of circumcision is one that we will read later about and will see that it is not in fact something required of Gentile believers.

We then see the ripples of God's word going to Gentiles in the city of Antioch.  In the early days as believers went out from Jerusalem and Judea they only spoke to Jews and so all of the believers in Jesus were still only Jewish.  But then some in Antioch began to speak to Greek speakers - this time to non-Jewish Greek speakers.

Another point of interest is that in Antioch the term "Christian" first was used.  Before that we saw the term "followers of the way" and before that they were simply "those who had been with Jesus".

Barnabas, who the apostles had so named because he was an encourager (son of encouragement - Acts 4:36), we see bringing Saul back onto the scene.  Barnabas first brought Saul to the church in Jerusalem that was afraid of him, and now brings him back from Tarsus to help Barnabas in teaching the new believers in Antioch.  Barnabas and Saul begin their work together.  Barnabas was one who was able to see potential in people and encourage them and walk with them and bring them out of hiding and walk beside them and help them to grow in their life in Christ and in the gifts that God has given them.

Lord Jesus, help me to be like Barnabas to see the potential in others and to encourage them in growing in you.

Acts Chapter 10

A few things really stood out to me from this chapter.  Again it is a very exciting story as now God is leading Peter to bring the Good News to Gentiles.

I find it very interesting as we encounter persons such as Cornelius who is a devout, God fearing man.  Even though he isn't a Jew, he has recognized that Yahweh is the true God and he and his whole household fear God.  He additionally regularly gives money to those in need and prays continually to God.  Here is an example of a man who fears and trusts God, even though he doesn't fully know who God is.  And since there apparently no one in his town to speak to him about Jesus, God tells him to send to Joppa for Peter.  Both Joppa and Caesarea were on the coast, but they were quite some distance apart.  I've heard of recent stories where God has spoken to Muslim Imam's in Pakistan with no witness of Jesus in their town to go to another town and find certain believers who are able to tell them about Jesus.  It is exciting to see God working in such ways to bring his word to those who don't have an immediate witness to Jesus nearby!

I also think it is interesting to see the prejudice and bias that had been worked into Peter in the Jewish culture of that day to the point where it was "illegal" for him to visit the house of a non-Jewish person.  But God is faithful and spoke clearly to Peter and showed him three visions telling him not to call unclean what God has made clean.  We'll see these prejudices come up later in Acts as well, but God is faithful to work with us to change us.  I think that it is important for us to recognize that these things happen from two perspectives: 1) recognize that just because people have come to Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit and even if they are leaders, it doesn't mean that all of their old preconceptions and biases are gone.  They can and do still have sinful attitudes and actions.  2) Recognizing this, we need to be patient with one another, praying, talking and asking God to bring us all into a full realization of his plans and purposes so we can love those around us as God loves them.  We need to be humble ourselves recognizing that we ourselves are in this situation and we have sinful attitudes and actions (though as always it is hardest to recognize our own sinful attitudes and actions) and recognize that God keeps working on and in us.  So we need to both be vigilant to examine ourselves, allow God to speak to us to correct us, and be able to listen when others are speaking and highlighting areas were we need to change and grow.  This last area is hardest for us, but we need to recognize that fact and choose humility, openness and honesty so that God can be exalted and honored in and through us.

It also struck me that just as we saw Jesus have a life of prayer, we see Peter here exhibiting that same characteristic that he had gone up onto the housetop to pray when God spoke to him and showed him the visions.  He probably would never have gone with the men from Cornelius if he hadn't been there in prayer listening to God.  This again highlights the absolute necessity of prayer, prayer and more prayer.  Lord Jesus, please put in me a deeper hunger for you and a need to spend more time with you in prayer!

As the other messages/speeches and sermons have been interesting, this one is especially interesting to me since here Peter is speaking to Gentiles who haven't witnessed who Jesus is and what he did.  This comes closer to the normal situation that we face in speaking to others about Jesus.

I think it also interesting that the Holy Spirit works in yet a different way in this situation.  In this case the believers are filled with the Holy Spirit before they are baptized in water.  And then Peter baptizes them.  It just goes to show that we cannot put the Holy Spirit in a box.  He is God and he works in the way that he wants when he wants.  Holy Spirit, I need more of you and want more of you.  Please work in my life and help me not to quench your works with my preconceived ideas! This is your world and I give my life to you, so do as you desire!

Acts Chapter 9

Acts is certainly an exciting book and chapter 9 does not disappoint!

The chapter opens with Saul, still wanting to murder and imprison believers in Jesus Christ (who evidently are now known as followers of "the way" - v. 2) heading up to Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem and imprison any believers in Jesus.  It is worth noting that Damascus is in Syria, not Israel, and it is approximately 135 miles north east of Jerusalem which is about twice as far as Caperneum which is the northern part of Israel on Lake Galilee where Jesus lived and did much ministry.  Saul was zealous in his persecution.

And then we have the dramatic account of Saul's conversion.  Jesus speaks to Saul out of heaven in an audible voice - even those travelling with him heard the voice - and asks why Saul is persecuting Jesus.  Jesus takes the persecution of his followers very personally.  We ARE his body.

It is always amazing to see the dramatic turnaround in Saul.  He goes from ardent persecutor of followers of Jesus to a follower himself who goes around proving that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ).  He is so successful in his arguing that now those Jews who don't believe are turning against him and want to kill him.  The reversal is very dramatic, complete and so very quick.  It reminds me that those who are enemies of Christ today, and those who fight against believers now, can be just moments away from following Jesus themselves.

It is interesting that Saul has disciples in Damascus (v. 25) by the time he left.  Also then as he comes to Jerusalem and everyone is afraid of him, Barnabas, the son of Encouragement, is the one who has the courage to bring Saul to the apostles and other believers.  Of course we'll see these two working together later.

Also interesting is that in Jerusalem Saul is debating mostly with the Greek (Hellenistic) Jews preaches boldly in Jesus name.  They then want to kill him so Saul is sent off to Tarsus - a very long way away (in southern Turkey).  The church is now described as at peace and growing, now not just in Jerusalem, but in Judea, Galilee and Samaria.

We then see Peter moving out from Jerusalem a bit visiting believers and going to Lydda and then Joppa.  Both of these are west of Jerusalem, Joppa being right on the Mediterranean and Lydda not far inland.  Jesus first heals through Peter a paralyzed man in Lydda and then raises a woman, Tabitha, from the dead in Joppa.  Jesus is reaching out his hand to heal and perform miracles in these places and many are turning to Jesus.  It is interesting that Peter says "Jesus Christ heals you."  He doesn't say "I heal you in Jesus' name" or "You are healed in Jesus' name" but very explicitly that "Jesus Christ heals you."   This is the best form of healing and working "in Jesus name."  And as all signs from Jesus go, they point directly to Jesus and people put their trust in him.

Lord Jesus, give us the grace to see those around us who need you, some who are even fighting hard against you.  Let us be your hands and feet.  Teach and lead us to speak and act in your name, not our own, to build your kingdom, not ours.

Acts Chapter 8

The excitement continues!  In this chapter it starts with bad news that the stoning of Stephen was the beginning of great persecution and that Saul (later Paul) not only approved of Stephen's execution but now he is going house to house and putting believers in prison.  While this isn't good, it has the effect of disbursing the believers to Judea and Samaria, away from being just congregated in Jerusalem.  I've seen God do this other times when his people are happy staying where they are, he brings some difficulties into their lives to get them to go where he wants them to go.

Philip is then one who is scattered.  There is a Philip who is an apostle and a Philip who is one of the seven ministers (named second after Stephen).  Since Luke says that the apostles stayed in Jerusalem, this must have been the minister.

Several things are interesting and stand out to me in this passage:

1) the order of the preaching and then signs to confirm

2) the baptism in Jesus' name only without the Holy Spirit being given

3) Simon who was a baptized believer who's salvation isn't complete

4) God supernaturally moving Philip around

For the first, when Philip first goes to Samaria, he begins with preaching the good news about Jesus Christ.  Specifically it says that he proclaimed to them the Christ, or Messiah.  Since the Samaritans were also of Jewish background (though considered a mixed group of outcasts by Jews at that time) they also knew about and were awaiting the Messiah (Christ).  So Philip begins by proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah - that he has come.  And then the Holy Spirit confirmed the message with signs and wonders.  This order of proclamation followed by confirmation of signs is very common, both with Jesus, apostles and disciples.

For the baptism part, this is very interesting.  Philip of course was full of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit was working through him.  He was preaching about Jesus and he baptized the people in Jesus' name but they still didn't have the Holy Spirit fall on them.  This is again an evidence of what some call the "second blessing".  I would say that in Acts we've seen that first that baptism in the Holy Spirit isn't a one time event as the apostles and believers in Jerusalem were baptized in the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 and Acts 4.  Now we are also seeing that people can be baptized in water in the name of Jesus but not have the Holy Spirit "fall on them" or "come on them".  The Holy Spirit then came on them as a result of the apostles laying hands on them (though the apostles and believers in Jerusalem didn't have someone lay their hands on them when they received the Holy Spirit).  So this tells me these things: 1) The experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can come in different ways for different people at different times 2) We can be filled with the Holy Spirit more than one time 3) It is possible to be a baptized believer who hasn't had the Holy Spirit come upon them and this difference is evident to those who have experienced and received the Holy Spirit.

So that leads me to want to pray to be baptized in Holy Spirit more and regularly and in such a way that it is evident to me and others!  Lord Jesus, I need more of you and more of your Holy Spirit!  Father God, please send your Holy Spirit in power to fill and come upon me and upon your church!  We need you in our lives!  We love you and want more of your presence, more of your love and more of your power in our lives!  Come Holy Spirit!

About the other items, I won't comment too much right now.  Lord thank you for your word and please give us more of you!

Being Missional in everyday life

I just read this article and thought that the ideas were great and wanted to pass it on.  It gives great ideas of how to be reaching out to others in our everyday lives by making slight changes to things that we are already doing.  I think that is key!  Obviously there are significant life changes that we can make, but I think that adding intentionality to our current activities is a great way to start and it is probably more sustainable over a longer period of time.

Acts Chapter 7

In this chapter we see the dramatic conclusion of the life of Stephen, one of the seven ministers.  We also see the beginning of the tide turning for the disciples in Jerusalem going from dramatic miracles, growth and some opposition to greatly increased persecution - Stephen being the first disciple to lose his life as a witness to Jesus Christ.

Stephen's speech has always been interesting to me.  He seems to just be getting warmed up describing how the Israelites have been rebellious and stubborn back from the days of Moses.  Then he starts talking about the temple built by Solomon and makes a jump to his statements that he had been building to.  The part about the temple seems to be just hanging there.  Obviously he could have said more about it to tie it in, but this is a dynamic speech and I think that the Holy Spirit just led him at that point to the "You stiff necked people..." 

I've seen that happen to others where they are preaching along and then suddenly the Holy Spirit jumps in and leads them to the heart of what he is wanting them to say.

Obviously in Stephen's case it gets the religious leaders very upset at him.  At that point God opens up the heavens for him to see Jesus.  God obviously knows that Stephen is going to be killed and he is preparing him and speaking to him, making life on this earth less interesting now that he has a glimpse into heaven.

God is allowing this persecution to happen and giving the disciples the faith and strength to make it through the situation.  Stephen demonstrates that working of God such that he asks that his killers not be held guilty just as they are stoning him - obviously a supernatural response.

It is this persecution that begins to disburse the believers from Jerusalem so that the message goes to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the world.  God also knows that his plan, as prophesied by Jesus, was that Jerusalem would be destroyed and that the temple would be torn down.  God is preparing for these events.

We normally think that being killed is the worst possible thing that could happen, but in God's view of eternity, this life is short and the eternity that is lived afterward is greatly more important and valuable.  In the case of Stephen, he was going to a joyous eternity with Christ Jesus.  God gave Stephen a special gift of seeing inside heaven and worked in him to remove the fear of death and made the event not a disaster for him, but a joy.

It is hard to imagine how this can be, but it seems that God has done this quite a few times for people who are killed for him.  The temporary pain becomes overwhelmed by the eternal joy.

I don't know what God's plans are for my life or yours, but I pray that we would have the grace and strength to trust in Jesus as deeply as Stephen did, even in the face of the most painful situations!

Acts Chapter 6

This chapter gives us an interesting view into the early church and some of their activities.

First off we see that the church is providing food daily for the widows in the church.  

In case you aren't aware, the church at that point is made up completely of Jewish believers and based on previous chapters we see that they are mostly congregated in Jerusalem and that there are probably around 10,000 by this point.  There are two main groups of the Jewish believers - those who are Jews who are from the nation of Israel who speak Hebrew (Hebrews) those who are Jews from other countries - some of them being Hebrews who now just speak Greek and others who are converts to Judaism who also speak Greek (the Hellenists or Hellenistic Jews).  Greek at that time was the universal language similar to English today.

The Greek Jewish believers were complaining that their widows weren't being provided for in the daily food distribution.  This is not too different from what we might see today where you have differences by language and culture as believers are coming together.  Unfortunately, some of the biases and discrimination can come into church life, especially as many new believers are there who are still in the process of having their worldviews and attitudes sanctified and renewed (e.g Rom 12:2).

The apostles bring everyone together and say that they need to focus on the task of preaching and prayer and that the people should appoint some persons to oversee the distribution to make sure that it is being done fairly and completely.

Here is our first example of ministers/workers being selected for church activities beyond the initial apostles (and of course Mathias).  I think that it is interesting the qualifications that the apostles choose for selecting the ministers: 1) good repute 2) full of the Spirit 3) full of wisdom

It is also interesting because these qualifications are not for someone preaching and teaching, but overseeing and helping to distribute food to widows, yet the qualifications include "full of the Spirit".  To me this is very instructional when looking at qualifications for ministers in general and certainly Paul elaborates on these qualifications in his letters to Timothy.

The first qualification relates to how they are perceived by others (NIV just says "known to be..." where as ESV spells out "of good repute").  In other words, since these ministers were going to be working with other people, they needed to be people that others trusted and had earned a good reputation with others.

The second qualification relates to the spiritual character of the person that the Holy Spirit is living and active in the person's life in such a way that others can see the Holy Spirit's work in character and action.

The third qualification "full of wisdom" has both a spiritual and personal character dimension.  Again, since these ministers were going to be working with people and especially since there could be/have been complaints and probably arguments and disagreements, a person with wisdom would be needed to help diffuse problems and work to a good solution.

In this situation the church members themselves (note that they are all called disciples - v.2 :) ) selected the ministers based on the qualifications the apostles provided.  In Timothy we see Paul instructing him to choose the elders, so both mechanisms are valid.

It is interesting to see that all of the ministers selected had Greek names (as opposed to Hebrew names). 

It is also interesting that the apostles prayed and laid their hands on the ministers in a way of approving and sending them into their ministry.

I also thought it interesting the comment that a large number of priests were now following Jesus as well.

This is immediately followed by the account of Stephen, one of the seven ministers selected to help with food distribution, preaching and performing signs and wonders.  While some of the Hebraic priests are now coming to Christ, this opposition is now being stirred up in the Hellenistic Jewish communities.  

We kind of get cut off in the middle of the story in the chapter divide. :(  A good place to remind ourselves that the chapter breaks were not a part of the original Biblical books (they were added in the 13th century) and are really more used for reference in finding things and they sometimes break things up in the middle of a thought or story.

All for now... :)

Acts Chapter 5

This chapter goes from scary/serious to amazing to fear to excitement.  It is quite a roller coaster of emotions and experience.

It starts with Ananias and Sapphira which is quite a serious and somewhat strange situation.  They lied about the amount of money they got for the house, wanting to make themselves appear better to the church.  As Peter said, the money was theirs and they didn't have to give it all, but they shouldn't have lied about it.  Imagine if God always dealt this seriously with us.  I'm afraid that everyone would probably be dead.  God seems to do this at the beginning of a new era when he is moving powerfully, he lets people know the seriousness of sin.  He did this when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and Korah and his followers rebelled against Moses.  He did this with the sons of Aaron who offered unauthorized fire to God.  He did this with Akin after Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land and God brought a powerful victory over Jericho.  He did this when David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant up into Jerusalem. In each case he dealt quite immediately with sin and put the fear of God into the people.

I think that if such a thing like this happened, we'd have the police in here investigating potential wrongdoing.  Though I have seen God take people's life when they remained in their sin and rebellion.  For most of us we aren't judged so quickly, but it is important for us to remember that sin is serious and it is a life and death issue.

The next section is an amazing reflection of God working powerfully.  It seems that God does have seasons where he is very visibly and actively working, such as this time and in times of revival that we've seen throughout history.  And then there are times when God is still working, he just chooses not to be moving so intensely.  I would say that there is a very strong correlation between the surrender of the persons to God and the power and visibility of God's working.  Clearly we've just seen in the previous chapter how surrendered to God that Peter was, not caring about his life or safety but only focused on obeying God and being a witness to his death and resurrection and proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah.  We also see that the people are dedicated to prayer and the apostles teaching and a deep fellowship with one another.  I think it is clear that these go together.  So if we want to see and experience God's working in powerful ways, we need to surrender our lives completely to Christ Jesus, faithfully witnessing to who he is, and dedicate ourselves to prayer and the apostles teaching and fellowship.  It started with them gathering together in prayer and waiting on the Holy Spirit, and I think that is where we should start as well.

Again comes the opposition, but this time God miraculously brings the apostles out of prison.  Again they confront the religious leaders who recognize that the apostles are spreading Jesus' teaching all over and that they are accusing the leaders of killing Jesus (a valid accusation).  But of course as Peter and the apostles again speak this accusation clearly to them, they become enraged and would have probably killed them if not for the intervention of Gamaliel, who somewhat ironically is who Saul/Paul studied under.  I like his statement "You might even be found opposing God."  Clearly this was a wise man, though I think it is unclear if he ever became a believer in Jesus.

They were beaten this time, but that only caused them to rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.  Lord, increase our faith!

They continued to preach in the temple - in the religious gathering place of the whole nation - and from house to house.  They preached in the large corporate setting and they preached in smaller house meetings.  

I'd love to see God working in these ways.  Clearly though it takes preparation, dedication and surrender to him and the road isn't easy:  opposition seems to increase proportionally with God's working.

Lord Jesus, please work deeply in our lives!  Prepare us as we choose to dedicate our lives to you and surrender our will to yours.  To you be the glory!

Acts Chapter 4

As is usually the case, when Jesus is moving and doing great things, there will be opposition!  And also as is usually the case, the opposition first comes from the religious persons.

Again in this situation, Peter speaks quite boldly and plainly says that the crippled man was healed by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "whom you crucified ... rejected by you".  He doesn't hold back in his clear condemnation of the leaders.  I'm actually surprised that the reaction of the religious leaders at that point was not to throw them into prison more or have them flogged or something.  But instead they "let them go, finding no way to punish them, because all of the people were praising God."

This is a good example of not worrying what to say when brought before the leaders and courts (Matt 10:19), but clearly Peter is "filled with the Holy Spirit" who gives him boldness and leads him in what to say.

This always stands out to me: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus."

Their boldness was astonishing because they knew that it didn't come from the disciples themselves.  They recognized that something had changed these common men and that something was from being with Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

To me what absolutely highlights their boldness is that after they are going to release them and they command them not to speak about Jesus any more, instead of just exiting and being glad that they were released, Peter says that they have to obey God and keep speaking.  He is clearly less worried about prison than about obeying God.  Wow!  Lord, give me that boldness and conviction!  I want to be so totally devoted to you that being a witness and speaking the truth about you is more important than how people view me and more than my physical safety!

As they gathered back together, they didn't pray to be protected and kept from prison, but rather they prayed that God would give them boldness to speak and that Jesus would continue to heal and perform miracles as they go in his name.

Amen!  Lord Jesus give us boldness to speak and act in your name!

An important note is that the Holy Spirit shook the place AGAIN and filled them AGAIN!  The baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit is not a one time experience but he can fill us over and over!  Holy Spirit come!  Fill us and give us boldness to speak and act in the name of Jesus!

Here again we see the deep and complete sharing and fellowship of the believers.  They gave of what they had to provide for each other, even selling properties to provide the needs for others.  This of course needs to be led by the Holy Spirit and there were particular circumstances happening here (like that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed soon) but the giving to one another is quite notable.

Lord, guide us in reaching out as witnesses to your love and power and in reaching in to those in the body to help and give and provide for!

Acts Chapter 3

In chapter 3 we see Peter and John performing their first recorded healing miracle after Jesus has ascended.  And as they are quick to point out, the healing is not done by their power or righteousness but by the name of Jesus and faith in his name.

Several interesting points

1) Since this man was set out every day (v 2) it is very likely that Jesus had passed by him previously but didn't heal him.  His time to be healed came later.  The man was not expressly asking to be healed in this situation but God still healed him.

2) When the man was healed, it appears that the healing occurred at the immediate time that they were helping the man up.  It then took faith for the man to respond to being pulled up (and not say no or not try to get up thinking it impossible) and it obviously took faith on the part of Peter since there was no sign of his healing as he was beginning to pull the man up.

3) Peter proclaims that it is in the name of Jesus and faith in his name that the man is healed.  Not only were his legs healed but he has "perfect health".  He actually weaves a mini sermon into the explanation of how the man was healed.

The last note is that this is a fairly lengthy recorded sermon by Peter.

I'm challenged by this passage to listen to the Holy Spirit and see those people who are ready to be healed and come to faith in Jesus who may not be asking at the time.

In Christ,

Nathanael

Acts Chapter 2

Acts Chapter 2 is always a very exciting chapter.  The disciples are dramatically changed from fearful victims to bold leaders, all by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This gives hope to us who know the fear of speaking to others and urges us on to cry out to God and ask for his Holy Spirit to fill us and give us boldness to be witnesses who testify to others about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I always try to picture this scene and it seems that the disciples go from being huddled together inside a house to being out in a public area where they are speaking in the new languages that the Holy Spirit gave them that they didn't know previously.  They were speaking in these languages and "declaring the wonders of God".

It strikes me that some mocked them as we will always have opposition and mocking when following Christ.  But Peter didn't let that stop him, it didn't make him angry at them and he didn't just ignore them.  But rather he addressed everyone, got their attention and said that they were incorrect in their wrong understanding and told them the truth about Jesus Christ and what was happening to them by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The next thing that spoke to me was Peter's statement in verse 29 about David's tomb being here and that David was dead and still in the tomb.  This is in contrast to the tomb of Jesus.  The empty tomb was then and is today a powerful evidence that Jesus is risen from the dead and He Is Alive!!

Verses 38 and 39 are ones that I've quoted many times - in fact just last night as I was talking to my daughter about getting ready for baptism :)  They are foundational in that they provide the clear beginning steps of coming to Jesus Christ - 1) Repent - turn from sins 2) Be baptized - in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins 3) receive the Holy Spirit.  And the great news is that this promise is for us, our children and those who are far away - all whom God calls!

Finally, we have the pattern of life in the early church - devotion to (devotion being key) 1) Apostles teaching 2) fellowship - being with each other 3) breaking of bread - eating together 4) prayer - the foundation of the church.  The Holy Spirit was showing signs and wonders, miracles the pointed to the fact that Jesus is alive.  They all joined together and supported each other, provided for each other, ate together, prayed together and God met with them and gave them favor and added to their number those who were being rescued from their sins and brought to life in Jesus Christ!

Let us also seek God in earnest prayer, waiting and crying out for his Holy Spirit and may we be filled with boldness and the power of God, as God himself, the Holy Spirit, fills and lives in our hearts and lives and changes us into his witnesses and his servants to a world around us that is dying in sin and hopelessness.

Amen!

Pastor Nathanael

Acts Chapter 1

Acts is a very interesting and exciting Book.  As we see from the first verse, Luke is writing and he picks up from where he left off in the Gospel of Luke.  The Gospel focused on all that Jesus began to do and teach - and using the word began it is hinting that the book of Acts is a continuation of what Jesus is doing and teaching.  While of course it is focusing on the Acts of the Apostles, since the job of the Holy Spirit is to remind us of all that Jesus did and taught (John 14:26) and give to them new things from Jesus as well (John 16:15).

Acts is always interesting and exciting to me because we as disciples and followers of Jesus can get a glimpse into the lives of the first believers who are now to be witnesses for Jesus just as we are.  We can see their joys and triumphs and their difficulties and it gives me encouragement and expectation as we walk in Christ as to the things he can and is willing to do in and through us by his Holy Spirit.

In this first chapter, several things stood out to me:

1) In verse 3 it says "he gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive"  That seems to indicate two things to me 1) they were still struggling at some level to believe that he was actually alive 2) as they were to be his witnesses (v.8) they would need specific evidence to tell others and prove to them that Jesus was alive.

As we are approaching Resurrection Sunday, these proofs and evidences are certainly quite important and interesting for us as well.  I think it is interesting to note that in verse 8 Jesus was eating with them while telling them that they were to be his witnesses, and eating in itself is one of those evidences and proofs that Jesus gave - since spirits don't eat (see Luke 24:43).  We certainly have many proofs and evidence and we should be familiar with them so we too can be witnesses to Christ's resurrection.

That leads me to the second thing that stood out:

2) We are to be Jesus Christ's witnesses (1:8) - that is, those who speak about and defend the fact that he is true and has risen from the dead - and some will defend that to their death as martyrs (which is the Greek word for witness).

That witnessing comes after the empowering from the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to witness not just in our town (Jerusalem) but to the neighboring regions (Judea), into foreign countries (Samaria) and to the ends of the world.

3) Verse 11 - Jesus will come back in the same way that the disciples saw him leave - coming down out of the sky in plain view.  This is always neat to see and be reminded of Jesus' return (which could be quite soon based on things happening in the world today).

4) Finally in verses 16 and 17 when discussing Judas, Peter remarks that he was one of their number and part of their ministry.  It is always interesting to me how Jesus bore with Judas during his ministry even knowing that Judas was to betray him.  It reminds me of the wheat and weeds - Matt 13:24.

I look forward to reading your comments and what things that spoke to you as well.

In Christ,

Pastor Nathanael

Re: Bible Reading Group - Acts - Starting Tomorrow

Hi pastor Nathanael,

Thanks for your organization for the bible reading group.

I'd like to join this reading group,

At the bible reading of Acts 1, God was telling me through V7.

"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set  by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem"

God clearly states the attitude of us as christians. We can't know the time when Jesus will come/ Be the witnesses of Jesus, and do that in Jerusalem (today: where non-christian place or doesn't welcome Christians) with confidence in holy spirit.

Bible Reading Group - Acts - Starting Tomorrow

Hello everyone!

  As a help and encouragement for daily reading of the Bible, we're going to start a group that is reading together through the scripture.  In the past we've used different formats at different times but generally having multiple people reading together in the same passage helps to keep us on track.  

In addition to reading together, we've had accountability in the groups in different ways.  Generally we've had people discussing with each other the things that they have read that day, especially focusing on the things that really stood out to them or spoke to them.  This helps in several ways: 1) It causes us to read a bit deeper so that we can answer the question "What spoke to me?" 2) The sharing back and forth of things that spoke to us encourages us all and usually helps us to see new things 3) It helps us to keep being faithful in our reading.

This is a completely optional group, but I would encourage you to be reading the Bible each day and better yet to be talking with someone about what you read.

We are going to start by reading through the book of Acts, one chapter at a time, reading each day starting tomorrow.  After reading, we'll then discuss with each other via email and blog (http://discipleshipinternational.blogspot.com/).  You can publish to the blog by either going to the above url or emailing to nathanaellhe....@blogger.com (This address is copied on this email).  I haven't tried the posting by multiple people via email so we'll have to find out the best way to do this, but we'll try it and make changes as necessary.  Probably it will be best to keep all of the posts on one day for one chapter under a single post with comments, but we'll see how it goes.

If you desire to read more than one chapter in a given day, I'd recommend that you read those other chapters in a different book and this reading and group will be a supplement to your other reading (though I've found that it is better to read less in one day and get more out of it than read more as some sort of duty).

I also encourage you to start various smaller reading groups where you can communicate either in person or on the phone.  This group is not the be-all-end-all of groups, but more of a pattern and an encouragement to be reading and discussing together.

You may participate in this group at any level you want - passively reading or actively contributing.  If you aren't reading in a group and discussing with others, I'd encourage you to be actively involved.  Jump in, make a commitment to read every day and to let us know what things spoke to you.  It will help you and encourage us.

If you don't want to be on this email thread, just let me know and I'll remove you.  If you go to the blogspot address you can also sign up to get notifications of comments etc.

Happy reading, discussing and growing in Christ!!!

In Christ,

Pastor Nathanael