Hey guys it is Zack (notice the KJ) here talking about the final chapter in our “Of one Accord” Bible study which is Acts chapter 28. Isn’t it cool how Paul can have a viper latched on to his arm and he just throws it back into the fire? That’s just impressive to me because I’m so terrified of snakes. That’s totally not relevant to anything I wanted to talk about in this blog, I just thought it was like the coolest thing since sliced bread. Before I go on to the actual blog keep in mind the Flood band played in Ritchie County and found it necessary to keep me up until about 2 or 3 in the morning the past couple nights, AND I had to get up early…so I’m tired, but nonetheless here we go.
In verse 26 of this chapter Paul quotes to the Jews what Isaiah the prophet said which was, “Go to this people and say, ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’” Verse 27 goes on to say, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” I typically wouldn’t quote a whole paragraph of scripture, but there is no better way to put it than what was said here. So many people have hardened their hearts to the Holy Spirit, it’s unbelievable. People are so selfish and content in their lifestyle they refuse to change even if it might change someone else’s eternity.
Out of this entire chapter the verse that really got my attention is verse 28, which is what I say to you as we end this month long Bible study. It says, “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” Joel Houston from Hillsong said it pretty well when he sang the lyric, “Salvation is here.” This is a salvation that doesn’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you’ve done, or where you’ll go. A salvation is here that “Died just to set you free.” If you’ve already received this salvation then share it with someone else. Do like Paul did in verse 31 when, “He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ-with all boldness and without hindrance!”
Again, sorry for all the quotes and the rambling because of the exhaustion, but it was all so that six lives in Ritchie County would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That’s what my life is about and I encourage you to make that decision. Maybe you’re reading this and don’t know Jesus as your personal savior, or that He loves you, but you can. It’s as simple as confessing your sins, believing He died on the cross for you and rose from the grave, and giving your life to Him. It would be the best decision you have ever made. Maybe all of the people reading this are saved, and if that’s the case I hope this has encouraged you to share the simple, but powerful, gospel message with whoever is on your mind right now. Salvation is here!
Love you guys,
Zack
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Acts 27: Pushing Through The Storm
Is it just me or does it seem like trouble always finds Paul? He regularly ran into sorcerers and other demon possessed individuals, was persecuted almost everywhere he went, had his own words turned against him, had to escape jail as well as various cities, was charged for a crime that had no proof behind it, had several individuals plotting his murder, and after all that he gets caught in a hurricane. But even though there was trouble, God was always right there beside him, turning those bad moments into blessings. Paul was a man of God who knew that as long as he followed God’s plan, everything would be ok.
If I lived around A.D. 70 I would have wanted to be wherever Paul was. He was truly a man who had God with him wherever he went. Paul was placed on a ship sailing to Italy so that he could stand trail in front of Caesar. While he was on the ship, a huge hurricane came by and for two weeks they were battling the wind and rain. Because an angel came and spoke to Paul while he was sleeping, he knew they would be able to keep all the passengers alive and make it to land safely. Had he not been on that boat, every person on it may have died.
It is interesting to see how Paul earned the respect of Julius and got all the passengers to follow is directions. He wasn’t a sailor, a soldier, or even a paying passenger, he was a prisoner on his way to stand trial. They were not obligated to listen to him. However, they knew Paul had predicted the very situation they were in (27:10) and knew that with God on his side he could lead them to safety.
We should all be like Paul, having faith that God is going to see us through to the end. When things seem like they can’t get any worst, lean to God and he will bring you out of those times, making you stronger in your faith as you go. Use every chance you get to win over new believers to Christ. Even when things seemed to get worst, Paul was right there witnessing to everyone around him. Use the moments when you are down to bring someone else up.
With all my love,
Beth
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Acts 26- “If God is for us who can be against us” when we aren’t ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
We all know that Saul was one of the most horrible people in the Bible, and that he made a living hunting down and killing Christians for their beliefs and in this chapter Paul goes to plead his case before King Agrippa. He admits himself that what he did was heinous, but that didn’t mean anything to God. God knew how influential Paul was on the world that he came in contact with and that if he was for God rather than against him, that he would be the greatest apostle. God has called everyone to be an apostle and to spread the word to the point of persecution. Even though Paul stood and stared in the face of death he knew that God would never leave him nor forsake him, and that God would be his strength when Paul felt weak. Because Paul did what was right in the eyes of God, God delivered him out of certain death from King Agrippa. So “If God is for us who can be against us” when we aren’t ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Friday, February 25, 2011
Acts 25 : a dead man named Jesus
So here we go: Paul is being held on trumped up charges. The Jews can't stand him. They can't tolerate his insistence that the law was fulfilled in Jesus. Not in the sense that the law is no longer important but that He came to be their sanctification. That His one act, the blood of Jesus spread became sanctification for them. Further more - those filthy Gentiles - well Paul was all about them. He insists that Jesus' blood cleansed them as well, but how could that be? Here's the truth in this message. We can't ever be good enough (clean enough) for God. No matter what you do, in and of yourself, you can't become "right" in Gods eyes. The beauty is that you don't have to, Jesus did it for you. What the Jews didn't get, is the same thing that the church today struggles with. The bible in light of the blood of Jesus becomes more than a guideline to rights and wrongs in life. It becomes a lifeline into the heart of who God is, and a catalyst to allow us to respond to our King with our life.
The phrase I found interesting in this passage was found in verse 19 "Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive." ( NLT) Understand this: as you pursue Christ with your life, you will confound those who don't have a revelation of who Jesus is. When your life centers around worshiping him, EVERYTHING changes. You lay things down. Your heart changes. You pray, I mean really pray. You love. You care. We are called image bearers of God. The heart of who God is, is so dramatically different from the world around us you can't help but notice. Your life makes no sense to the world around you. To them Jesus is just some dead man --- but yet there you are proclaiming with your life that He is alive. You are proclaiming right? Your life is different right? You understand the cost of the cross don't you? Or at the end of the day do you just look like everyone else. Is Jesus really alive and king in your life, or is He just a dead man?
Grace & Peace
Dennis
The phrase I found interesting in this passage was found in verse 19 "Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive." ( NLT) Understand this: as you pursue Christ with your life, you will confound those who don't have a revelation of who Jesus is. When your life centers around worshiping him, EVERYTHING changes. You lay things down. Your heart changes. You pray, I mean really pray. You love. You care. We are called image bearers of God. The heart of who God is, is so dramatically different from the world around us you can't help but notice. Your life makes no sense to the world around you. To them Jesus is just some dead man --- but yet there you are proclaiming with your life that He is alive. You are proclaiming right? Your life is different right? You understand the cost of the cross don't you? Or at the end of the day do you just look like everyone else. Is Jesus really alive and king in your life, or is He just a dead man?
Grace & Peace
Dennis
Acts 24: God’s not a Quickie Mart!
Acts 24 starts off with the high priest and some elders bringing in a high class lawyer named Tertullus, to present their case against Paul. Tertullus comes before Felix (the governor, not the cat) and begins his case by telling him how great he is and that he has brought prosperity to the nation. Basically Tertullus is just flattering Felix so that he will listen to what he has to say. Felix was not known as a great governor, he was known as a master of cruelty and lust, who exercised his powers of a king with the spirit of a slave. It says in Romans that “who do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” I think that flattery is just insincere gestures to try and gain advantage in a situation. God wants us to praise him out of choice not out of obligation. When we give God insincere praise all we are doing is flattering him, and God doesn’t want that. Why are we trying to gain an advantage with God? Why can’t we go to God and just tell him the truth? God doesn’t want us to sugarcoat everything thing that we bring to him.
So eventually Felix makes a decision on what he wants to do with Paul. Even though he knows he is innocent he stops the trial and said “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.” So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul but to let him have some liberty. Felix tried to make both sides happy here. He knew that Paul was innocent, but yet he didn’t want to identify himself with Paul’s gospel and the Christians. So he just decided not to make any decisions and just keep Paul in custody. So after a couple days Felix brought his wife to hear Paul’s testimony. But when Felix heard Paul talking about the righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come Felix becomes afraid. Hearing the gospel and what Paul had to say made him scared of how life is was, and for those who are intending on rejecting Jesus it should make them afraid. Felix then says something that caught my attention right off. “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” How many of us are this way toward God. We want to live our own lives and do whatever we want but when it is convenient for us, and then we want God to listen. Why do we think that God is just a late night convenience store? When we get that small craving for something sweet in the middle of the night we can just go to the quickie mart and pick it up. You should consult God on every situation that you come to even if it is just something minor. Why is it that when something goes bad, thats when we start to pray for God to intervene. Why do we only pray when it rains and not when the sun shines? I think that most of the time when things are going well we think that it’s because of the choices WE made. And then when things go bad we run to God and want him to fix the situation immediately. We must trust God in all things.
God should never be put on a shelf nor can we ask Him to be “on-call.”
Peace Out, Cub Scout
Temp
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Acts 22
In Acts 22, Paul begins the chapter by giving his testimony of his transformation. He acknowledges that he is speaking to jews, and begins to speak in the Hebrew language. He finds this common ground and gains this opportunity to speak to the people about the Gospel.
At this time, the Jews were not easily obedient to accepting the Gentiles. They refused to share the word with them, almost as if they were not worthy of knowing the same Lord they they knew (sound familiar to christians now?). When Paul began to speak their language, they hushed down, and decided at that point that they wanted to tune in to see what this man had to say.
Paul's testimony is a powerful one (isn't it always?!). Have you ever given a testimony that might have frightened you for years until spoken? God puts on our hearts the words and hope for others to receive our stories, and learn from them. This is also what He had done for Paul.
Paul told the jews about his life as a "pre-christian". He didn't excuse or take pride in his faults, but he wanted the people to really understand that second chance. The chance that says, this is where Paul came from, and this is where he is going. Christians can make wonderful impacts in the world when they don't take themselves as a perfect creation. Testimonies of journeys from deep dark places to brighter, worship-filled days is something to be spoken of.
In addition, Paul told his listeners about the Lord speaking to him. Paul didn't stop the story with only discussing his flaws and dangerous ways. He didn't leap from being the bad guy to the good. He told the most important part of the testimony; the place he was at with the Lord, and most importantly, what was said. He used God's words, and told them what God has called him to do. This is the real substance that will bring people closer to our God. We need to talk about our relationship with him. The beginning, present and what we are striving for with his hand in ours.
Although we would like to believe that we can simply deliver our testimony and it will be received with hugs and tears and a newly saved person, that isn't the case. In Acts 22:21, Paul mentions God's command to go to the Gentiles. The Jews were furious of this! They wanted only their traditions and were not going to listen to another word that this Paul guy had to say. In fact, they were already planning on taking him away. Talk about backfire!
They convicted him of blasphemy; the very same conviction that was given to Jesus. Obviously, God has a much larger plan than to keep Paul in prison. They take him to court and he tells them that he is a Roman citizen, and appeals for justice. I have a feeling that this will now allow him to continue sharing the gospel of Jesus. Stay tuned in to Acts 23, but most of all, stay focused.
Sharing Dad's book,
Ashley
At this time, the Jews were not easily obedient to accepting the Gentiles. They refused to share the word with them, almost as if they were not worthy of knowing the same Lord they they knew (sound familiar to christians now?). When Paul began to speak their language, they hushed down, and decided at that point that they wanted to tune in to see what this man had to say.
Paul's testimony is a powerful one (isn't it always?!). Have you ever given a testimony that might have frightened you for years until spoken? God puts on our hearts the words and hope for others to receive our stories, and learn from them. This is also what He had done for Paul.
Paul told the jews about his life as a "pre-christian". He didn't excuse or take pride in his faults, but he wanted the people to really understand that second chance. The chance that says, this is where Paul came from, and this is where he is going. Christians can make wonderful impacts in the world when they don't take themselves as a perfect creation. Testimonies of journeys from deep dark places to brighter, worship-filled days is something to be spoken of.
In addition, Paul told his listeners about the Lord speaking to him. Paul didn't stop the story with only discussing his flaws and dangerous ways. He didn't leap from being the bad guy to the good. He told the most important part of the testimony; the place he was at with the Lord, and most importantly, what was said. He used God's words, and told them what God has called him to do. This is the real substance that will bring people closer to our God. We need to talk about our relationship with him. The beginning, present and what we are striving for with his hand in ours.
Although we would like to believe that we can simply deliver our testimony and it will be received with hugs and tears and a newly saved person, that isn't the case. In Acts 22:21, Paul mentions God's command to go to the Gentiles. The Jews were furious of this! They wanted only their traditions and were not going to listen to another word that this Paul guy had to say. In fact, they were already planning on taking him away. Talk about backfire!
They convicted him of blasphemy; the very same conviction that was given to Jesus. Obviously, God has a much larger plan than to keep Paul in prison. They take him to court and he tells them that he is a Roman citizen, and appeals for justice. I have a feeling that this will now allow him to continue sharing the gospel of Jesus. Stay tuned in to Acts 23, but most of all, stay focused.
Sharing Dad's book,
Ashley
Monday, February 21, 2011
Acts 21: Not My Will
While Paul and his companions were on their way to Jerusalem, a prophet named Agabus approached and prophesied that Paul would be arrested by the Jews when he reached Jerusalem. Upon hearing this frightening word, Paul's friends begged him not to go on to Jerusalem. I know if I was with them and I heard that prophesy, I wouldn't doubt that I would be pleading with them. But listen to what Paul says.
"'Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.' When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, 'The Lord's will be done.'"
Acts 21:13-14 [NIV]
Paul's unshakable willingness here is certainly convicting. I can imagine the temptation to just turn around and head the other way would be MORE than a strong one. Self-preservation was the last thing on Paul's mind. This is because Paul's calling was to unceasingly preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, self-preservation in the sense I am talking about is not only a life-and-death idea. We act out self-preservation on a constant basis. We grasp at everything that we believe is rightfully ours. Here's the problem: nothing is rightfully ours. Rather, everything is given to us by God. Beware of the view that if we pray hard enough, or act good enough, then we are entitled to some sort of material blessing. When we subscribe to this thought, pray hard, are faithful, and the blessings DON'T come, then that whole idea has no leg to stand on. Hebrews 11 mentions plenty of the most faithful people in the Bible, and many of them were poor, and some of them were killed. If there was anything that the great faithful men of God in the Bible had in common, it was NOT wealth. Accumulating material wealth does nothing for the gospel of Jesus Christ unless you are willing to give it away. So if God does bless us (and He does), Great! But it is certainly not because we did something to deserve it.
But wait, doesn't the Bible talk about Jesus coming so that we may live abundantly? Absolutely. But our idea of abundance is the 'grasping' for materials that I spoke of earlier. This is reaaalllyy misguided. True abundant living is not about self-preservation, being wealthy, or doing exactly what we want. It is about living in the peace and love of God DESPITE the trials and unfortunate things of this corrupt world. So we need to be careful about the mindset of "getting what we want", and adopt Paul's mindset (the true mindset of the gospel): the "giving of ourselves." Loving God is the greatest privilege or blessing we can ever gain. That is why Paul was willing to give away his very life in order to preach the gospel. No money, no job promotion, no new car, not even earthly life itself is worth forsaking the true blessing of loving God and spreading His message. Not my will but Yours, O God. Not my will.
~ Ben
"'Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.' When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, 'The Lord's will be done.'"
Acts 21:13-14 [NIV]
Paul's unshakable willingness here is certainly convicting. I can imagine the temptation to just turn around and head the other way would be MORE than a strong one. Self-preservation was the last thing on Paul's mind. This is because Paul's calling was to unceasingly preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, self-preservation in the sense I am talking about is not only a life-and-death idea. We act out self-preservation on a constant basis. We grasp at everything that we believe is rightfully ours. Here's the problem: nothing is rightfully ours. Rather, everything is given to us by God. Beware of the view that if we pray hard enough, or act good enough, then we are entitled to some sort of material blessing. When we subscribe to this thought, pray hard, are faithful, and the blessings DON'T come, then that whole idea has no leg to stand on. Hebrews 11 mentions plenty of the most faithful people in the Bible, and many of them were poor, and some of them were killed. If there was anything that the great faithful men of God in the Bible had in common, it was NOT wealth. Accumulating material wealth does nothing for the gospel of Jesus Christ unless you are willing to give it away. So if God does bless us (and He does), Great! But it is certainly not because we did something to deserve it.
But wait, doesn't the Bible talk about Jesus coming so that we may live abundantly? Absolutely. But our idea of abundance is the 'grasping' for materials that I spoke of earlier. This is reaaalllyy misguided. True abundant living is not about self-preservation, being wealthy, or doing exactly what we want. It is about living in the peace and love of God DESPITE the trials and unfortunate things of this corrupt world. So we need to be careful about the mindset of "getting what we want", and adopt Paul's mindset (the true mindset of the gospel): the "giving of ourselves." Loving God is the greatest privilege or blessing we can ever gain. That is why Paul was willing to give away his very life in order to preach the gospel. No money, no job promotion, no new car, not even earthly life itself is worth forsaking the true blessing of loving God and spreading His message. Not my will but Yours, O God. Not my will.
~ Ben
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