Resource Manager Posted April 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2014 26 April 2014Deuteronomy 12Ecclesiastes 5Acts 2“SO THOSE WHO RECEIVED HIS WORD WERE …”What is it to “receive” God’s word? It is different to just ‘hearing’ or ‘reading’! The words God caused to be written and then to be preserved are very special. Today we read in Acts 2 Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost. What an impact its climax had, for many present had been among those who had called out, ‘Crucify him’- they were led by the religious leaders jealous of Jesus’ popularity; these leaders had been particularly provoked by his accusations against them.Imagine being in that situation – how would you have reacted to Peter’s final words? “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” [Acts 2:36] Such is human nature – dare we claim that we would not have been similarly provoked? Or at least have abandoned Jesus? Denied being a supporter?With what intensity of feeling did they call out to Peter and the Apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter tells them, “Repent and be baptised … so those who received his word were baptised …” [Acts 2:38,41]What is it to “receive his word”? It implies that his word became part of their thinking – it is far more than ‘hearing’ or today – just reading. It changed the lives of those who “received his words … they devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” [Acts 2:42]Whether we have truly “received” God’s divinely inspired word, which is now so readily available to us, is proved – to God – by our actions, how we live our lives, the priorities we set ourselves. Consider carefully and prayerfully the final part of the quotation from the prophet Joel Peter made in his speech, “You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence” [Acts 2:28] What paths are we walking in? Do we have the prospect of utterly remarkable “gladness”?-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted April 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 27 April 2014Deuteronomy 13; 14Ecclesiastes 6Acts 3; 4"AS THEY WERE SPEAKING TO THE PEOPLE"Have you ever been greatly annoyed? Of course you have! It’s human nature. Sometimes such feelings are justified; usually they are not. We read today in Acts 4 of a group of people who were greatly annoyed. Why?Acts 3 tells us of a most remarkable healing, a man over 40 years of age who had been lame from birth and had to be carried around. All the people knew him because his friends brought him to the gate of the temple every day. There he received alms from generous hearted people, he was someone everyone knew.Peter and John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer (3pm) and cause a remarkable healing to occur to this man: this creates a great stir and they have a tremendous opportunity to preach. The rest of the chapter summarises what was preached and the message has lost none of its power as we read it today! Chapter 4 starts, “As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple came upon them.” They are “greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead and they arrested them and put them in custody” [Acts 4:1-2] “It was already evening” (at least 6pm) so what a remarkable 3 hours that had been in the temple precincts.Why were these ‘high powered’ men so greatly annoyed? They were “astonished” the next day at their “boldness” [Acts 4:13]. Not just those who arrested them but all the other high powered figures who came together (elders, rulers & scribes and the whole high priestly family, Acts 4:5-6) to seek a way to deal with Peter and John.Their boldness is in total contrast to about 2 months previously at the time Jesus was arrested. The great annoyance of the ‘authorities’ was because of the way they had captured the attention of 1,000s of people, worse still it took place in their domain of prestige – the Temple.The ‘powerhouse’ of Christ’s message had now been launched on the world, and the world has never been the same since. It seems that each Century has had equivalents of these annoyed people who have tried to dim that powerhouse: equally as bad, others have corrupted its true force and preached a misleading message – such as saying people go to heaven when they die. But the Bible is now in every language for all to read and, depending how they read, to feel stirred to the heart, as happened then. People are either stirred, think it is rather interesting, annoyed, or just indifferent. How does it affect you? How should it affect you?-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted April 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 28 April 2014Deuteronomy 15Ecclesiastes 7Acts 5; 6“COUNTED WORTHY TO SUFFER DISHONOUR”We continue reading the account by Luke in the ACTS of the way believers in Christ multiplied rapidly. The pouring out of God’s Spirit on the day of Pentecost was being manifested in dramatic ways. Jesus had said he would be with them through the Spirit “that will guide you into all the truth” (see John 16:12-14.) So the Apostles are enabled to preach with all boldness, and we see how the converts are awed by the miracles they perform [Acts 5:12] .The pathway, however, is not all smooth sailing, but we grow by overcoming obstacles, and that is even more true when we are striving to serve Christ. In Acts 5 we read of the tragedy of Ananias and Sapphira, a telling lesson that those belonging to Jesus need to be totally honest in their dealings, for their Lord sees and knows all hearts and minds, and in those days the disciples were also able to do this – at least to some extent..They become ever stronger in their commitment to the work of their Lord and overcome all challenges so that “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.” [Acts 6:7] The religious authorities are alarmed, many are enraged “and wanted to kill them” [Acts 5:33], but there is at least one wise man (Gamaliel) who counsels them not to be too extreme, so they only “beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name.” [Acts 5:40-41]It has been ever thus – sadly in the last generation or two, the willingness to “contend” for the original gospel has grown less and less, especially in affluent countries – for most, this world has too many things to offer to occupy their minds, few see it necessary “ to suffer dishonour” – but how are we to be “counted worthy” if we do not truly face up to the challenges life offers. The New Testament is full of examples of those who did so – and remember also the worthies in the Old Testament.A final thought is from the Epistle of Jude, he was “the brother of James” and he wrote, “I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation … appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” [Jude 1,3] Let us “contend” for the original faith, for the Lord will be with us and strengthen us, especially if we should suffer dishonour” as a result.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 29 April 2014Deuteronomy 16Ecclesiastes 8Acts 7“… FULLY SET TO DO EVIL”That is not an inviting heading for our thoughts, is it! Solomon observes in today’s chapter in Ecclesiastes that “the heart … of man is fully set to do evil …” because the “sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily” [Ecclesiastes 8:11] It made us think of the protracted system of so called justice today in this country. As each year passes the hearts of humans are more and more focussed on self-centred ways of living with any thought of there being a God vanishing out of their minds. How true it now is that “man’s trouble lies heavy upon him” [Ecclesiastes 8:6] – and it’s going to get heavier.Written near the end of his life, Solomon appears to be in a depressed, but totally honest, state of mind. Despite all his wise sayings and wisdom in ruling, the nation is not in a good state – and disaster will soon follow after his death. How does this compare with today – as genuine study and belief in the Bible is nearly dead?There are some comparisons of thought with the history lesson Stephen gave the religious leaders in Jerusalem after they arrested him. We read this today in Acts 7 and saw how they totally missed his point – and stoned him to death. His lesson was about the actions of God in interfering at different times in past events in Israel – so as to bring about his purpose. The hearts of his hearers had been “fully set to do evil” – and so they crucified their Messiah – and now they stone Stephen to death.Now consider how God always acts to bring good out of human evil! Think of the events that followed. Even more, we need to think of our own troubled times, evil, godless times. We are on the threshold of God’s ultimate dramatic act – to deal with evil – and shock a world that is more “fully set to do evil” than ever before. How blind our world has become – few consider the possibility that there is a God, especially a God who sees all and knows all.We have no Apostles to challenge us – only Bibles – but most of these are simply gathering dust! Does yours? There is no point in reading them – unless they provoke us to action to set our feet on the narrow way – for, said Jesus, “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction …” [Matthew 7:13] – and the time of destruction appears to be fearfully close.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 30 April 2014Deuteronomy 17Ecclesiastes 9Acts 8“HE SHALL WRITE FOR HIMSELF”We continue to read with great interest the final instructions Moses gave to the new nation before he died. God had raised up Moses to play the major role in creating his nation, he was a prototype of Jesus. We read yesterday how Stephen highlighted the role of Moses in his address to the council, that “he was mighty in his words and his deeds” [Acts 7:22] before God called him from the burning bush for a special role of service in leading his people. In today’s chapter in Deuteronomy we noted Moses’ words to the people allowing them to “set a king” over themselves, but only one “whom the LORD your God will choose” [Deuteronomy 17:15], David and Solomon are the outstanding examples of God’s choice.Now note Moses’ rather remarkable instructions about one of the duties of such a “when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God” [Deuteronomy 17:18-19] What are we learning as we read?I have never thought of writing my own copy of at least one of the Gospels, have you? How well would we start to get to know them if we did. Think of how often Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, remember how he refuted the temptations in the wilderness, using 3 different quotations, “it is written …”And then in today’s reading in Acts 8 we read of the Ethiopian travelled home after worshipping in Jerusalem. He was reading a scroll of the prophet Isaiah and Philip was caused by God’s Spirit to join him and explain it to him – how it was all about the work of Christ. This led to his baptism, after he asked, “What prevents me from being baptised?” [Acts 8:37]If you are not yet baptised, ask yourself the same question? If you are reluctant, it may well be because you have not read God’s word with sufficient attention, let alone writing out parts of it for yourself. Solomon in today’s chapter 9 in Ecclesiastes begins by observing, “how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God.” [Ecclesiastes 9:1] We should all want to be “in the hand of God.”-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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