Acts 18:19-19:41

Today we see Paul traveling to Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila. They were tent makers. He left them there to encourage and strengthen the Ephesians, and went to different churches throughout the region strengthening the disciples. This was not to establish new work, but to strengthen the churches. God used Paul and others for this. He raised up Apollos and equipped Him for this and gave him the ability to represent Him publicly. His knowledge of the scriptures was one way in which God was able to use him tremendously to strengthen, teach and encourage. 18:28For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. (NIV)

We see some believers in Ephesus not knowing there is a Holy Spirit. They were only familiar with John's baptism of repentance. We see them being baptized again in the name of Jesus and they received the Holy Spirit. They showed signs of the power of God in their lives in tongues and prophecy. Then we see God doing extraordinary miracles through Paul. Paul had an assignment but I believe the difference was Paul's understanding of the power of God in His life. We all have access to the same Lord with the same strength, wisdom and power. I believe the more we access the father, the more access He has to us. We cannot leave unchanged when we spend time in the word and with the author of the word. The more we do, the more the power of God will be evident in our life. 2ND Thessalonians tells us we will develop love for the truth. If we expect to make a difference in the assignment we have, we must display evidence of the power of God in our life that will cause others to desire His truth in a way that is life changing. This will stop an unbelieving world in their tracks. They have no power over the power of God in your life.

Acts 17-18:18

We start chapter 17 today seeing Paul in the middle of the mission God had given him and stayed three weeks in Thessalonica teaching about Christ. We see some Jews accepting Christ and some creating dissension. When He was driven out, He went to Berea where the scriptures tell us that they were of more noble character and searched the scriptures for the truth and received the scriptures with eagerness. We see Silas and Timothy stayed first at Thessalonica and then stayed in Berea after the Thessalonians stirred up trouble in Berea. After Paul left they stayed behind to teach the ways of the Lord. Discipleship was more than just a buzz word, they lived it and left teachers and preachers in every city. The scriptures tell us they later appointed elders and began the early churches with their own leadership.

Then in Athens we see Paul teaching in the marketplace. There were false Gods throughout the city and He was greatly troubled. They ended up taking Him to the Areopagus where He brilliantly used the Altar of the unknown God to tell them about Jesus. He knew some of their own poets had said "We are His offspring." Some sneered, needed to hear more and some believed. Paul never came back to Athens to tell them more.

In chapter 18 we see Paul in Corinth. When Timothy and Silas came from Macedonia, Paul stopped making tents with Aquila and Priscilla and devoted Himself to preaching the word to the Jews there. When they got abusive and opposed Him He shook His clothes and said "Your blood be on your own heads, I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles!" But God spoke to Him in a vision and persuaded Him to stay. He stayed there a year and a half teaching them the word of God. God knew the Corinthian church needed Him there as they became established. Paul showed true servant hood as He stayed and went about the father's business. When things look like they are getting out of hand, it may be the Lord at work. If we do not see it through, we may never be used as God intended and will not experience the blessing He has intended as He carries us through the difficult situation. If you are facing a situation that is bigger than us, let God carry you through and the faith God builds in you through depending on Him in this, will bring you through the next one and the next one. Just like Paul, Silas and Timothy, we are on a journey with the Lord. As we let Him lead, we will end up at the right destination and will gain a wealth of wisdom, perseverance and blessings along the way.

James 1-5

James 1 starts with having a solid relationship that does not waver. Trials develop us and was doing so in this early church. Perseverance develops maturity and completeness spiritually. 1:12"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." He says we should be doers of the word. When we encounter the Lord through scriptures, we should spend some time before him and that truth. Then when we get up we can experience the fruit of the truth through experiencing God through His message.
Foe example God tells us in 1:26 "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. When we spend some time with that truth and start doing this it will change our relationship with God and those He is bringing into our life."

One thing we encounter today in James 3 is Godly wisdom. Here is what my friend Pastor Stan Jordan wrote about it yesterday in his blog: Friday, November 21, 2008
"Finding God's Wisdom in Any Situation"

"Often, people ask me how they can know God's will or how they can find God's wisdom for a particular situation. I can't tell them God's will for them, and they can only get God's wisdom from Him, but I can point them in the right direction. James 3:13-18is a passage I use to help people like this.

There are certain things that show us when things are done according to the wisdom of this world. Those things are envy, self-seeking, and confusion. It leads to sensuality and even the demonic. However, sometimes it is just very subtle selfishness. God never operates that way.
On the contrary, God's wisdom is seen by these types of things: purity, peaceableness, gentleness, being willing to yield, mercy, good fruits, no partiality, and no hypocrisy. I believe that is a clear contrast, don't you?
Therefore, when you are seeking God's wisdom, step back and look at these lists, and see how they apply to your situation. I believe that will make it clear to you how to act in God's wisdom. However, I do want you to pray for God to direct your steps and your words in all you do and how you do it."
Posted by Stan Jordan

Acts 9-10

In acts 9 we see Saul's conversion. That's what it should take place in all our lives as God starts to work. The conversion just begins when we accept Christ. It's a process the living God puts into place and continues to adjust, tweak and make repairs and improvements that we are not capable of by human methods and techniques. It seems there are many formulas out there for success, but as we see with Saul only one thing could stop him in his tracks and change his heart sending him in a complete different area of service. He had all the right stuff. He was driven, dedicated and trained for the job. It just happened to be the wrong one. Can God take what was intended for evil and use it for good? What does it take on our behalf for that to take place? We must be stopped, turned around and redirected by our Lord. The scene went like this 9:4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
It was a direct command that He was given. He could have argued with Him, but He didn't. He could have said that a loving God certainly would not make me blind and denied God's way of working here, or He could have denied that the whole thing happened the way it did (because the others could not see the light from heaven). When God chooses a method of delivery many times we have the idea that we have a choice on how and where it should be sent. Ananias had the same choice to make as did Peter in chapter 10. We must understand the part prayer played in all of these events. God answered all of the men as He chose as they prayed. We see each of them getting up from that prayer and what they were about to do changed in a radical way to encounter the Lord as He is working. We are in a serious spiritual dilemma when our prayer life has no effect on what we do next. You can see who our Lord chose to include to involve in the father's business. Is He the same God today? Do his promises still hold true. How we believe God will have a tremendous effect on what He will include us in and how He chooses to involve us in what He is doing. That's where these men found inner peace and joy. They put their life on hold and followed Him. That's where the scriptures say we will find life. In Matthew 10:39 our Lord said: "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." The rewards always outweigh the cost. Obedience is not a choice it is the most crucial aspect of our worship. Pray and get up with a willing heart expecting the good things the Lord will do.

Acts 7-8

Today we see three examples of what Christ can do in our lives if we will let Him. He wants to use us in a tremendous way when we are open to His ways. Two of the people He used were the first deacons. In order to be used in this capacity their lives had to show a character that was full of power and wisdom. This is the direct sign of a work done in our lives by the Lord. One of the people we see today, Simon the Sorcerer, also a believer, tried to buy these qualities. He was astonished by the miracles Philip did and followed Him everywhere. When He saw the Samaritans receive power from the Lord at the laying on of hands, He tried to buy it. This was Peter's response:
8:20Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."(NIV) This was Simon's response: 24Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."(NIV) Our response to the answer to our prayers are so important. We don't always ask with the right motives, or understand how to respond to the answer we get. Many of us at times are in danger of God's wrath because of the motives of our heart. The Sanhedrin's' response to Steven's message was to put Him to death. These men were both deacons and Peter was an apostle. All were messengers from the Lord. Many times we pray for a word from God and then don't approve of His method of delivery. He says we will be His messengers. God chooses the messengers and many times today we think we should be able to make the determination if it is from the Lord. The job of the Holy Spirit to make that determination as He did to Simon the Sorcerer. He will reveal that when we let Him. Does God have the authority to choose the messenger? Does He have the authority to choose the message? Does He have our permission to deliver it as He chooses? Does He have our permission to use the ministry that He chooses to involve us in? Our current situation may be radically affected by our response to what the Lord intends to accomplish in our lives. Try to pray, listen, and then look for next thing the Lord does. Many times we will pray and get up and proceed with our lives without either looking back, forward or look around us to see where and how He intends to answer. Many times we are guilty of asking and waiting for the answer we are looking for, and we reject the messenger or method God chooses to respond to us. We are huge saints as prayer warriors and in the practical ministry He desires to accomplish through our prayer life we respond as we are atheists. His word tells us He will always answer. That is one of His dimensions - He is faithful and will always be as faithful to answer our prayers as He did the early church. Let's enter our day expecting an answer and respond to that open to the idea that God is really in charge. One of the hardest things we may ever do is to get out of His way and let Him be God in all areas. His blessings, wisdom and power (His will for all of us) is waiting on the other side of our obedient response to Him.

Acts 3-6

Peter and John were going up to the temple at three in the afternoon. It shows that they went to the temple daily and taught and prayed with the people of God. They refer to them as brothers even though the Jewish leaders had crucified their Lord. They did not blame them as they understood that was part of God's plan. God really does know what He is doing, even when are not aware. He is still at work today. We see the crippled beggar healed and jumping with joy and praising God. We see God using this act to actually show his power in a few ways. He healed the lame, then He gave Peter and John words to answer the charges against them, delivered them from jail and established their faith as they they saw the room shaken 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (NIV) The religious leaders did not really know what to do with them.

Then we see the believers being of one heart and one mind, sharing all that the Lord had provided. We see there were no needy persons among them. Then we see where they named Joseph Barnabas which means the son of encouragement.

God worked in many ways in the early church. Then we experience Ananias and Sapphira trying to fool God and get recognition for giving their property to the Lord. He will always convict us of our sin. He sat an example as they plotted to deceive the New Church. We then see the apostles arrested and God released them and the Holy Spirit told them to teach in the the temple courts. I love this passage from chapter 5:29Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."
33When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."
40His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

The church had grown tremendously and we see the early organization in the form of deacons. The Grecian Jews were complaining because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. They instituted the office of deacon. It is an office of service. Then we see the first deacon suffer persecution for His faith. We then see the Jews producing false witnesses to substantiate their actions against what God was doing through Stephen. Acts 6:15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. When God uses us, His spirit shines on all who are there.

Luke 24; John 20 & 21

They discovered Jesus' body was gone and thought they had taken Him. The angels told them and they did not understand. Understanding what Christ is doing among us requires our eyes to be opened by the Lord. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus allowed their minds to be opened to spiritual things, they began to understand. It doesn't matter if we just spent the last Three years with our Lord, we must be open to what He is doing to see Him at work.

Yesterday Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest shared shared this with us:
"We should be so one with God that we don’t need to ask continually for guidance. Sanctification means that we are made the children of God. A child’s life is normally obedient, until he chooses disobedience. But as soon as he chooses to disobey, an inherent inner conflict is produced. On the spiritual level, inner conflict is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He warns us in this way, we must stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind to discern God’s will (see Romans 12:2 ). If we are born again by the Spirit of God, our devotion to Him is hindered, or even stopped, by continually asking Him to guide us here and there. ". . . the Lord led me . . ." and on looking back we see the presence of an amazing design. If we are born of God we will see His guiding hand and give Him the credit."

Don't worry about what you did yesterday or what you are going to do tomorrow.
Make a concerted effort to see where God is working today and join Him in that. There is where you will see the Lord working.

Luke 23; John 18-19

Today we see the arrest, trial and crucifixion of our Lord. The search for truth is one that we are all responsible for. Pilate understood the dilemma and sent Jesus to Herod. Pilate asked in John 18:38"What is truth?" That search for truth is so key as we each have to determine who we say Jesus is. This is one area where we cannot pass the buck. This will also determine the way we are to follow Him. Many people create a God that meets their expectations and their idea of ministry and that is who and how they serve. They have created a God and a daily walk that is not of the Lord, and therefore is a false Gos and belief. The Jews had the Pharisees (who kept the law strictly in their own minds), and the Sadducees who did not believe in angels or the resurrection from the dead. They had a tremendous knowledge of God without really knowing Him. At some point we must go through the same process to determine who Jesus really is and then how to join Him in His plan. The search for truth is key to obedience. God rewards our obedience tremendously as a loving father would. He makes it possible to do His will as we understand truth. God wants us to join Him where He is, not where we are. We are to bring our understanding of Him to His understanding of truth, not bring Him down to our understanding. The result is peace in the midst of whatever circumstances are surrounding us as we see Jesus example as He gave His life following His father's plan. This plan is not always comfortable, it is the will of the father. What adjustment do we need to make in order to say "not my will, but thine?" That is the only thing that will allow us to do things that are way to big for us, are way out of our comfort zone or things that we disagree with. We must pray and ask God for understanding of how He is working. There are those calling out to Him who He will place in the hands of good stewards. That place will be given to those willing to answer the call on His terms, not ours. Then we will all give thanks to the father and truly worship Him as we see our Lord at work among us. Here is an example from Oswald Chambers in today's My Utmost for His Highest devotional readings.

"We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, "I haven’t had this experience or that experience"! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith "in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 1:30 ). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a "prayer meeting" Jesus Christ, or a "book" Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him."

Matthew 27: & Mark 15

Today we see our Lord going as a a lamb to be slain. He did not complain or feel sorry for Himself. He gave no defense for His charges nor spoke bad about anyone. He did mention in other passages that No one took His life, but He gave it willingly. We see his true servant hood by His actions. He loved people who were hard to love, gave of himself to people who were ungrateful, and died for a church that did not recognize Him and despised His kingdom. He did all of this with grace and dignity. He even asked His father to forgive their ignorance as they had Him flogged, mocked Him, spat on Him and put Him to death. The way He served His father and carried out the assignment truly did what He said would happen; "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me."

As we look into our personal assignment we observe a few things. Where has God placed me? What is the assignment He has given me, am I carrying it out with true servant hood and where am I in the process?
Am I serving in every assignment in a way that will draw others to our Lord? Or am I serving Him in a way that would would be self serving... so others can see my suffering and certainly hear my case that justifies the way I serve, and the ministries I am willing to be involved in? True servant hood shoots holes in all of my excuses. The Lord has a way of bringing me around to His way of thinking when I compare these things to what He did on the cross for me, and how he carried out the assignment.

What have you been thinking about lately? Has the Lord been bringing a certain thing to your mind more than anything else? Most likely that is where He wants you to be involved with His people. That may seem like the most challenging assignment He will ever give you. It will take total dependence on the father to do such a thing. That may be the hill called Cavalry God is leading you into. Many times God leads us into the valley because the experience in the valley builds something He is doing in our lives. That's where we experience Him, his power with its sustaining grace. This is evident in Paul's life when our Lord told Ananias (Acts 9) 15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." We see Ananias did not want the assignment nor did Paul, but many times God has other plans. So when we say I know the Lord could not possibly want me to be in this situation, think of our Lord and Ananias (the leader of the church in Damascus) and the Lord paring Him with Saul (the one seeking to kill Him). Suffering is a reality with service and we must trust God to let Him lead us and serve when, where and how He says to serve.

Matthew 24

Today we experience Jesus leaving the temple in Jerusalem dealing with the future. It's something we all think about at times. He starts out talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and moves into the end of time. He tells us not to be deceived with wars and rumors of wars. These things must take place but the end is still ahead. Nation will rise against nation kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes, the sea in turmoil (roaring seas and strange tides; Luke 21:25). These are the beginning of birth pains.

We are to be deep rooted in the word of God and establishes in our relationship with Him so we will not be easily deceived by those false prophets claiming to have the answers. There will be those who betray the faith. Matthew 24:10 "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

This may not happen in our generation. Our job is to have a relationship with the father that will be life changing to those the Lord places in our path. This will help establish the faith of those entrusted to us. All of this was passed down to us, we are be good stewards and leave a legacy of faith. How are we doing? It's our individual relationship that will be either life changing or business as usual to future generations. This will take sound doctrine. We are to apply ourselves to the word of God in a way that produces discernment and wisdom. There are those today who make an art of discrediting our Lord and treating the scriptures and prophecies with scoffing and contempt. Applying ourselves to the word will bring down strong holds against those who would keep those seeking truth in spiritual bondage. I encourage you to take the challenge and experience God daily. That personal experience and witness of what He does in our life will encourage future generations. We are to leave a generation behind that will be ready when the Lord appears. Be encouragers and teachers of what God is doing in your life and share the good news. Christ said "freely you have been given, freely give ... you will do even greater things than me." Let God will surprise you at the way He will choose to use you.

Matthew 22; Mark 12

Today we see the Lord speaking in parables. He spoke to teach and to confound the religious leaders who despised Him. He was actively working in the midst of the people where God had placed Him. He starts with the wedding banquet for the king's son. The invited guests disrespected the invitation and the king opened the invitation to the common people. We see where one showed up without showing honor to the king by not wearing wedding clothes. This shows us to bring honor to God by respecting what He has done in our lives by doing things His way and not enjoy the benefits of His gift while no adjustments on our part are made.

They made plans to trap our Lord by saying;
22:17Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
18But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
21"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (NIV)
Every Hebrew boy clearly understood that were made in God's image and should give their life to Him.
Jesus answered many questions such as marriage in the resurrection asked by the Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection. Jesus says they will be like the angels in heaven. I believe we will not be concerned with such stuff. We will be completely devoted to fellowship and service for God and the place in heaven He assigns us. The Lord has plans for us during that time.
He then taught on the greatest commandment. Since the Father and Son are one, loving God includes loving the Son. Love God, love people. This command to be obeyed. When we do we can then see the Lord at work. In Mark 12:42 Jesus asked "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" (NIV) We must all answer that question. Getting that question right and applying His teachings according to the gift given us is the most important thing we will ever do.

Matthew 20-21

We begin today with Jesus teaching about the nature of the father. He will lovingly reward us fairly and most likely we will get the same reward regardless of when we accepted Him. It may have been early in life or late. God is just and give all who trust in His son the life He has promised.

We're experiencing the lat week of Jesus' life. He is preparing the twelve for that and the mother of James and John asked for seats of honor in the Kingdom. He said whoever wants to be first must be last (must serve or be their servant. "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus then healed two blind men and they followed Him.

In chapter 20 Jesus made His triumphal entry Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God[d] for the Son of David!Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” and the entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.

He proceeded to clear the temple told the parable of the dishonest farmers who did not pay the landlord the rent (a share of the crop from the vineyard). He told them Vs. 43 "I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.” (NLT)

We are to be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with, His kingdom. How are we doing? As we pray for guidance God is faithful show us His will. We should pray for the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the field and be open to what He does next.