Devotionary

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Ep 392 – Acts 6:1-9 Jan 12, 2018

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No doubt you believe that God is at work in and around your life. But sometimes it may appear that He is either distant or distracted. The nature of your circumstances can leave the impression that God is nowhere to be found. And this usually happens when things don't appear to be going particularly well or quite as we had expected them to. What we have in the first nine verses of Acts 6, is a scene where the newly found church of Jesus Christ runs into some unexpected conflict. And what makes this scenario especially surprising is that the conflict came from within. It was an internal struggle, between fellow believers. And it would be easy to assume that this was outside the will of God. After all, Jesus had prayed that His followers would be one, just as He and His Father are. But we must look closely when examining a text like this one. There is much going on that we don't see at a cursory first-glance. There is little doubt that God was at work in those early days of the church. He was working behind the scenes, directing the paths of the disciples and orchestrating the timing of each and every event. He had a bigger plan in mind. He had future ramifications already predetermined for what appeared to be spur-of-the-moment, unplanned situations. And what appears to be unnecessary and unhelpful conflict in the camp is going to turn out to be the sovereign hand of God preparing the church for future growth.

Ep 391 – Acts 5:27-42 Jan 11, 2018

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Nobody likes to suffer. No person in their right mind would seek it out. But in Acts 5:27-42, we are going to see Peter and his fellow apostles actually rejoice for having been given the opportunity to suffer on behalf of Christ. In fact, they would see it as a privilege, an undeserved right to suffer just like their Savior had. But even that sounds odd to us. It comes across as a less-than-normal way to view life. It's unrealistic and unnatural. But for the apostles, it was business as usual. They were convinced that suffering was going to be a normal, everyday part of their lives as followers of Christ. Jesus had told them it would happen, and they took Him at His word. They had watched Him suffer and even die on their behalf. So, they saw no reason to think that they would not endure the same treatment at the hands of men. And they were glad to do so. Suffering was the least they could do for all that Christ had done for them. They had been given eternal life and had been justified before God, their sins having been fully and completely forgiven. They had been filled with the Spirit of God and had already seen the kind of power that was at their disposal as a result. Their lives had been radically changed and they had seen thousands of others come to faith in Christ and experience the Spirit's filling. So, they were more than happy to speak up and stand up for the gospel, even if it meant they had to suffer for their efforts.

Ep 390 – Acts 5:19-26 Jan 10, 2018

Show notes

Who in their right mind would stand opposed to God? You would think the answer would be, "No one." But the truth is, over the centuries, millions upon millions have chosen to call God their enemy rather than submit to His will and acknowledge their need for the gracious gift of His Son's offer of salvation. Today, in Acts 5:19-26, we find the high priest and the Sanhedrin choosing to stand against God by continuing to reject His Son as their Messiah and the apostles as His emissaries of the good news. It is one thing to decide you want nothing to do with God and His offer of salvation, but it is quite another to do everything in your power to stand opposed to them both. The members of the Sanhedrin, while claiming to be the spiritual leaders of the people of Israel, were doing everything in their power to put an end to all the talk about a resurrected Jesus and His offer of eternal life. They had killed Jesus. Now, they were doing everything they could to rid themselves of His troublesome disciples. But they were going to find their efforts unfruitful and non-productive. The Son of God was alive. The Spirit of God was active. The children of God were expanding in number. And there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

Ep 389 – Acts 5:12-18 Jan 09, 2018

Show notes

The church continued to grow. And as we will see in Acts 5:12-18, so did the opposition toward it. As the reputation of the disciples and their ability to perform miracles spread, their popularity increased, but so did the animosity of the Jewish religious leaders. The disciples were about to discover that the commission given to them by Jesus was going to be a battle of wills – theirs against the Sanhedrin. But it was also going to be a spiritual battle of epic proportions that pitted the Spirit of God against the powers of darkness. Soon, they would find themselves suffering arrest and interrogation, beatings and threats, all because of their faith in Christ and their determination to spread the gospel. But even as the opposition grew and the intensity of the enemy's attack increased, God was blessing His church. He was growing the congregation with each passing day as more and more people came to faith in Jesus Christ. This portion of Luke's account provides us with a transition, as the church begins to outgrow the confines of Jerusalem and, with the increase in persecution, the gospel begins to make its way outside the city walls and into the neighboring regions of Judea and Samaria. God was growing His church. And He was using persecution to make it happen. The attacks of the enemy never truly threatened the church, it only caused it to spread. Like trying to use gasoline in an attempt to put out a fire.

Ep 388 – Acts 5:3-11 Jan 08, 2018

Show notes

Today's passage, Acts 5:3-11, contains one of the most disturbing and potentially confusing stories in the New Testament. In the midst of all the wonderful things taking place within the context of the newly formed church, there appears a sudden and unexpected tale of two disciples whose lives end tragically in death. But, surprisingly, these two didn't die for their faith. They died because they lied to the Spirit of God. Or was it because they sold some land and then claimed to be giving all the proceeds to the church, all the while holding back some of it for themselves? The text accuses them of both. But what's really going on here? And why did these two have to die for their sin? Obviously, they can't be the only ones who ever lied to the Spirit of God. And they can't be the only two who ever tried to deceive others in the church in an attempt to make themselves look good. So, why does Luke include this story and why did the Holy Spirit inspire him to do so? What we have in this story is the description of the Spirit of God interfacing with the sin nature of man. The new believers who made up the church were saved, but they still had their own sinful natures to deal with. The church wasn't made up of perfect people who did everything right and lived in complete obedience to the Holy Spirit's direction. But God was going to make it perfectly clear from the get-go that He considered behavior just as important as belief in the lives of His people.

Ep 387 – Acts 4:32-5:2 Jan 07, 2018

Show notes

Things had been going so well. The gospel was spreading and the church was growing. Thousands of new converts had been added and the Spirit of God was working mightily through the apostles. Yes, there had been a tense encounters with the high priest and the Jewish council, but they had come out of it relatively unscathed. But now, in Acts 4:32-5:2, we get a stark reminder that the early days of the church were not all rainbows and unicorns. In other words, the Spirit-filled and directed atmosphere in which the church was birthed, had another influence: The sin nature of man. While faith in Christ eliminates the penalty for sin, it does not eradicate its presence. Even those who know Christ as their Savior still wrestle with the indwelling presence of their old sin nature. The flesh, as Paul would later call it, is an ever-present reality for any and all believers. And that was true in those early days of the church. The story of Ananias and Sapphira provides us with a sobering reminder that the presence of the Spirit, the miraculous signs of God's power, and the successful preaching of the gospel message do not remove the threat of sin from the midst of the body of Christ. As long as there are people involved, sin will be present. We can't afford to let our guard down. We can't become complacent or risk compromising our faith. Ananias and Sapphira provide us with a much-needed reminder that sin is, as God warned Cain, always crouching at the door.

Ep 386 – Acts 4:23-31 Jan 06, 2018

Show notes

Peter and John had been arrested and forced to appear before the Sanhedrin. All because they had performed a sign, healing a man that had been lame since birth. The high priest and the Jewish council, not knowing what to do with these two men, commanded them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, threatening them with further action, if they didn't. Upon release, the two apostles made a beeline to their fellow disciples, informing them of all that had happened at Solomon's Portico. And in Acts 4:23-31, Luke provides us with an insider's view of what took place next. You would expect that the news of Peter and John being arrested and interrogated would have sent shockwaves of fear through the rest of the disciples. It would have been normal for these people to go into the early stages of a mild panic, questioning just exactly what was going on. You wouldn't be surprised to read that they began to argue among themselves as to what they were going to do next. But what Luke points out is that they reacted to the news with prayer. They turned to God. And what they had to say to God is also a bit surprising and unexpected. They didn't question Him. They didn't express anger at Him. They didn't demand action from Him. They simply appealed to His sovereignty and asked that He bestow on them the boldness to fulfill the commitment Peter and John had expressed to the Sanhedrin: "We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard."

Ep 385 – Acts 4:13-22 Jan 05, 2018

Show notes

When God's people are faithful to share the gospel as He has called them to do, it will always cause a reaction. It won't always be a good one, but rarely is the gospel met with indifference. People either love it or hate it, receive or reject it. But they seldom simply ignore it. In the case of Peter and John, their preaching of the good news regarding Jesus was accepted by many. There were thousands who had come to faith in Christ as a result of their preaching. But there were others who found what they had to say not only unbelievable, but unacceptable. The Jewish religious leaders were having a case of déjà vu all over again. They had been through this same scenario before, with Jesus Himself. Now they were having to experience the frustration of a new rash of so-called "missionaries" for the Way. And they weren't happy about it. Acts 4:13-22 continues Luke's record of the interrogation of Peter and John by the Jewish council or Sanhedrin. What they had seen and heard regarding these two men and all that had happened since Pentecost, had left them at a loss for words. They couldn't explain what had taken place. They couldn't just write off the events of the last few days as just a flash in the pan. Lives were being changed. People were becoming ardent followers of Jesus – once again. And all the Sanhedrin could do was threaten Peter and John. Beyond that, they were helpless in the face of what God was doing in their midst.

Ep 384 – Acts 4:5-12 Jan 04, 2018

Show notes

What if you found yourself standing before a governmental authority who had the power to throw you in jail, punish you severely, even put you to death, just for your religious beliefs? And what if they demanded you to vocalize what it is you believe, incriminating you and possibly resulting in a severe beating, if not death. What would you do? What would you say? Would you refuse to speak up or would you tell them what they wanted to hear, in an effort to save your own skin? For most of us, this scenario is pure conjecture. It will never happen. So, we have nothing to worry about. But for millions of Christians around the world, this kind of occurrence is not only possible, it's a part of their daily lives. They live with the constant threat of persecution and even execution for their belief in Jesus. And, as we are beginning to see, that was the case for the apostles as they began to speak up regarding their belief in Jesus. Obedience to His command to make disciples was going to cost them. Proclaiming the name of Jesus was going to result in converts, but also conflict. And in Acts 4:5-12, Luke gives us a glimpse into not-so-friendly encounter Peter and John had with the religious authorities of their day. They had been arrested and were now being forced to explain by what authority they spoke and acted. The answer they gave was vital and potentially life-threatening. But they knew they had no choice but to speak the truth, regardless of the danger.

Ep 383 – Acts 4:1-4 Jan 03, 2018

Show notes

In Acts 4:1-4, Luke provides us with the ramifications of Peter's message that day. There were those who were enraged by what they heard, and there were those who believed. Two completely opposite responses to the very same message. And as Luke continues his recounting of the early days of the church, he will come back to these two disparate responses, showing that the gospel of Jesus Christ always got a reaction, but not always a positive one. Yet, there were always those who believed in the message of the gospel. The word concerning Jesus as Savior and the work of the Spirit through His disciples always elicited a response. Sometimes it resulted in the arrest of those who preached. Other times it resulted in the salvation of those who heard. What was the difference? Why did some respond positively while others responded negatively? The animosity against the church was mounting. The religious leaders were growing increasingly more hostile. And yet, there were many who were accepting Christ as their Savior. On this one occasion, more than 5,000 became believers in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. God was at work. And not only by equipping and anointing the apostles to share, but in preparing the hearts of those who would hear and later believe. This was all the work of God, from the Spirit-inspired proclamation of the good news, to His regeneration of the hearts of those who would ultimately believe. The growth of the early church was not the result of great preaching. It was not the byproduct of persuasive men. It was the sovereign work of a loving God.

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