One of the most told stories of the New Testament outside of the Gospels: the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. And most probably, my favorite. My favorite because it reminds me that no matter what wrong path I'm on-how far I might stray- God can and will stop me in my tracks and put me exactly where He needs me for His good, His message, His plan.
The second part of the story is worth taking note. Poor Ananias is elected by God to go lay hands on Saul to give him back his sight. "Get up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight". v.11-12 " But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name". v. 13-14 You see, Ananias was scared of being killed by Saul. But Ananias obeys. I would like to think that if I got such direct direction from God, like in a voice, that I would obey too, ie, knowing for sure that it was God talking. Hmm...I can not think at this moment of anytime that God has called me to do something and I was afraid but went anyway. That is probably not a good thing. I am going to think about that and let you know.
Praise God that Saul was struck down and saved. He would become key to the conversions of the Gentiles and God's perfect instrument to show/demonstrate grace...His Grace. What better person to tell and explain to people God's grace, than one that received it the most. Saul was saved for some days when the Jews had already started a plot to kill him - the disciples had to hide him to keep him safe. God didn't waste anytime getting Saul to work to proclaim His name.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Acts 8
We meet Saul here - later to be Paul - persecuting the church. The worst of the worst in that his only mission was to enter people's homes and drag them off, men and women, to go to prison and then eventually die for their belief in Christ. Saul was at the stoning of Stephen and "was in hearty agreement with putting him to death." I guess I didn't know that Paul (Saul) was at the stoning of Stephen. Wow.
I also meet Simon the Magician in this chapter; I've heard of him before but didn't know how it related. He tried to fool Philip, and himself, into believing that he had the Holy Spirit because he wanted the power...the power of the miracles...for money! Let's name who comes to mind when you think of someone that tried to fool the public into believing their miracles were of the Holy Spirit but it was really for money! Hmm...Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart and in my mind, many men who run churches today. Peter said to Simon, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!" v. 20
I can not emphasize enough that the apostles had to continually pray that the Holy Spirit would fall upon the new believers..."they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit." v. 15-17 Note: Something Simon the Magician wanted very badly...the gift of the Holy Spirit but It was not his to have because he didn't want the message of Christ.
But my biggest surprise was this: "W
hen they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him" v.39. I learned that both Elijah and Ezekiel were both snatched away in this same miraculous manner...made me think of Touched By An Angel. LOL Truly Philip belonged to God.
I also meet Simon the Magician in this chapter; I've heard of him before but didn't know how it related. He tried to fool Philip, and himself, into believing that he had the Holy Spirit because he wanted the power...the power of the miracles...for money! Let's name who comes to mind when you think of someone that tried to fool the public into believing their miracles were of the Holy Spirit but it was really for money! Hmm...Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart and in my mind, many men who run churches today. Peter said to Simon, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!" v. 20
I can not emphasize enough that the apostles had to continually pray that the Holy Spirit would fall upon the new believers..."they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit." v. 15-17 Note: Something Simon the Magician wanted very badly...the gift of the Holy Spirit but It was not his to have because he didn't want the message of Christ.
But my biggest surprise was this: "W
hen they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him" v.39. I learned that both Elijah and Ezekiel were both snatched away in this same miraculous manner...made me think of Touched By An Angel. LOL Truly Philip belonged to God.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Blessing
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." Romans 1:20
My husband, Dale, took this shot yesterday on our visit to Yosemite. Jesus blessed us abundantly with a fresh blanket of snow.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Acts 7
"And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel." v. 6:15
Here is Stephen, basically on "trial" for preaching the name of Jesus; without fear he starts into a long dissertation defending the Christian faith beginning with the Old Testament including examples of Joseph and Jacob. He concludes with the stories of Joshua, David and Solomon.
His real ending however was directly to the council, "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it." v. 51-53
How more direct could someone be? They began gnashing their teeth at him. Big surprise! What comes next, yep, they stone Stephen, to death.
But I love this; we know God was happy with Stephen's speech and courage: "...being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." v. 55-56 They continued to stone him and in the end Stephen cried out to God," Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"...."Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" v. 59-60
Not a lot you can say about that.
Here is Stephen, basically on "trial" for preaching the name of Jesus; without fear he starts into a long dissertation defending the Christian faith beginning with the Old Testament including examples of Joseph and Jacob. He concludes with the stories of Joshua, David and Solomon.
His real ending however was directly to the council, "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it." v. 51-53
How more direct could someone be? They began gnashing their teeth at him. Big surprise! What comes next, yep, they stone Stephen, to death.
But I love this; we know God was happy with Stephen's speech and courage: "...being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." v. 55-56 They continued to stone him and in the end Stephen cried out to God," Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"...."Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" v. 59-60
Not a lot you can say about that.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Acts 6
Acts - the whole New Testament - seems to use the term disciple and apostle almost interchangeably and they basically are. Here is the difference: apostles refers to a small, inner group of Jesus' followers; disciples refers to a larger group of Jesus' followers. You and I would be disciples - students. Apostle is designated for a group of men that either knew Jesus when He was on earth or was commissioned by Him after His Resurrection - one example being Paul who saw Jesus on the road to Damascus.
In this chapter we meet Stephen and Phillip among others to be chosen as disciples. "Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people." v.8 I wanted to quote my commentary that I use on the matter of wonders and signs. " "Wonders" is the amazement people experience when witnessing supernatural works (miracles). "Signs" point to the power of God behind miracles - marvels have no value unless they point to God and His truth. Such works were often done by the Holy spirit through the apostles and their associates to authenticate them as the messengers of God's truth. " John MacArthur
In this chapter we meet Stephen and Phillip among others to be chosen as disciples. "Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people." v.8 I wanted to quote my commentary that I use on the matter of wonders and signs. " "Wonders" is the amazement people experience when witnessing supernatural works (miracles). "Signs" point to the power of God behind miracles - marvels have no value unless they point to God and His truth. Such works were often done by the Holy spirit through the apostles and their associates to authenticate them as the messengers of God's truth. " John MacArthur
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Acts 5
Hypocrisy - now, there's a word: the pretending of having virtues, principles, or beliefs that one in fact does not have.
Synonyms: cant, dissembling, dissimulation, insincerity, piousness, sanctimoniousness.
Related Words: deception, deceptiveness, dishonesty, falsity, pretense, pretension, pretentiousness, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction; duplicity, fakery, falseness, fraudulentness, shamming; artificiality, glibness, oiliness, smoothness, unctuousness
The church wasn't even "five" days old when hypocrisy had already shown up, here in Acts 5. I believe that hypocrisy is the main reason that people leave the church or never even give the church a try. I think the world can forgive a Christian for what seems to be a "natural" - for lack of a better word -sin, but a true deception of our beliefs the world does not let us off the hook...and they will use it against us. In this chapter, God kills the couple that lied to Him...tried to pull one over by only giving part of what they promised. I was thinking, wow, little harsh don't you think. But no...God knew and knows how hypocrisy kills the church, kills the Christian witness...it had to be dealt with severely. Maybe if it was handled this way today, the hypocrisy would be less. The people in Jerusalem that saw this punishment were scared! "And a great fear came over the whole church," v. 11
Now, having said that, the world has it's responsibility too. The Christian is not Jesus, only human and the world needs to look at Christ and the Bible for the truth, not pin it all on the example of the follower; we will mess up. But we need to recognize the severity of the consequences of some of our actions especially the more public they are. In my own life I have been involved in a very public sin, and I know people that will probably never turn to Christ because of me and what I did...I am just so grateful that God let me live so I could come to a point of return and repentance. I'm just so sorry for the people that I misrepresented Jesus to, and I wish I could turn back time.
The last part of the chapter starts the real persecution of the apostles for proclaiming Jesus Christ. Here they are flogged. The persecution and martyrdom will continue even through today and into the future, until Christ returns. People get mad when you talk about Jesus, don't they? You can bring up any other religious leader and people can have a normal debate, but boy, bring up Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, and people's dander gets all worked up and they don't want to hear it or talk about it. Jesus' name carries an amazing amount of power.
The power of the Holy Spirit inside the first century church is a beauty to behold, because no matter the beatings, whipping, killings the church went through, they kept proclaiming the Gospel. And it is only with the Holy Spirit that we would be able to do the same. How real Jesus must have been to them. How real and precious the Word of God. We could only hope that it is that for us.
Synonyms: cant, dissembling, dissimulation, insincerity, piousness, sanctimoniousness.
Related Words: deception, deceptiveness, dishonesty, falsity, pretense, pretension, pretentiousness, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction; duplicity, fakery, falseness, fraudulentness, shamming; artificiality, glibness, oiliness, smoothness, unctuousness
The church wasn't even "five" days old when hypocrisy had already shown up, here in Acts 5. I believe that hypocrisy is the main reason that people leave the church or never even give the church a try. I think the world can forgive a Christian for what seems to be a "natural" - for lack of a better word -sin, but a true deception of our beliefs the world does not let us off the hook...and they will use it against us. In this chapter, God kills the couple that lied to Him...tried to pull one over by only giving part of what they promised. I was thinking, wow, little harsh don't you think. But no...God knew and knows how hypocrisy kills the church, kills the Christian witness...it had to be dealt with severely. Maybe if it was handled this way today, the hypocrisy would be less. The people in Jerusalem that saw this punishment were scared! "And a great fear came over the whole church," v. 11
Now, having said that, the world has it's responsibility too. The Christian is not Jesus, only human and the world needs to look at Christ and the Bible for the truth, not pin it all on the example of the follower; we will mess up. But we need to recognize the severity of the consequences of some of our actions especially the more public they are. In my own life I have been involved in a very public sin, and I know people that will probably never turn to Christ because of me and what I did...I am just so grateful that God let me live so I could come to a point of return and repentance. I'm just so sorry for the people that I misrepresented Jesus to, and I wish I could turn back time.
The last part of the chapter starts the real persecution of the apostles for proclaiming Jesus Christ. Here they are flogged. The persecution and martyrdom will continue even through today and into the future, until Christ returns. People get mad when you talk about Jesus, don't they? You can bring up any other religious leader and people can have a normal debate, but boy, bring up Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, and people's dander gets all worked up and they don't want to hear it or talk about it. Jesus' name carries an amazing amount of power.
The power of the Holy Spirit inside the first century church is a beauty to behold, because no matter the beatings, whipping, killings the church went through, they kept proclaiming the Gospel. And it is only with the Holy Spirit that we would be able to do the same. How real Jesus must have been to them. How real and precious the Word of God. We could only hope that it is that for us.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Acts 4
"But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand." v4 Wow. The power of the Holy Spirit. It must have been amazing to hear Peter speak and see the miracles they were doing.
Peter and John get arrested here...my thought is, how jealous the Jewish church leaders must have been! Their teachings were so convoluted with laws and rules and void of any power of God, they had to strike the disciples down. The only other alternative would be to accept that they had crucified the Messiah, repent and return; they were not about to do any of that! Too prideful, too full of themselves, no way they were going to admit they were wrong...even in the face of such miracles and blatant, in your face, power of the Holy Spirit. "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." v 12 So, what do they do? They ban the name of Jesus! Yeah, right! That'll happen. "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard." v. 19-20 What part of all this did they not, and still are not getting?
Below: The Church Triumphant, by Bill Gaither
Only by the Power of the Holy Spirit; The Power of God!
Peter and John get arrested here...my thought is, how jealous the Jewish church leaders must have been! Their teachings were so convoluted with laws and rules and void of any power of God, they had to strike the disciples down. The only other alternative would be to accept that they had crucified the Messiah, repent and return; they were not about to do any of that! Too prideful, too full of themselves, no way they were going to admit they were wrong...even in the face of such miracles and blatant, in your face, power of the Holy Spirit. "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." v 12 So, what do they do? They ban the name of Jesus! Yeah, right! That'll happen. "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard." v. 19-20 What part of all this did they not, and still are not getting?
Below: The Church Triumphant, by Bill Gaither
Only by the Power of the Holy Spirit; The Power of God!
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