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Day 190: 2 Chronicles 26:1-29:2; Acts 7:17-41 — Stupid People Tricks

Friday, July 9th, 2010

It’s amazing the lengths we will go to in order to do things our own way. Sometimes we rebel against authority figures from our past for the wrongs they committed against us. Sometimes we are convinced we are right in spite of mounds of evidence to the contrary. Sometimes we are just plain stoopid.

Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28) was one of those kings who just wouldn’t learn. He tried over and over to make things work out in his favor but never looked to the one source of true security. “Hey Ahaz! Giving gifts to the idols didn’t work for you. How about giving some of God’s stuff to the other king.” When that didn’t work, he tried giving gifts to the idols again.

Maybe if Stephen had been around to convince him, he would have changed his ways. Or maybe not. Those that heard Stephen’s impassioned retelling of the history of Israel (Acts 7) didn’t react appropriately. Just as the Israelites in the wilderness witnessed the wonders of God firsthand yet capriciously turned from Him toward a golden calf, the Jews rejected Stephen’s message and stoned him in the end (oops! hope I didn’t spoil anyone for tomorrow’s reading). So he probably wouldn’t have been able to convince Ahaz to repent either.

The question is, would he be able to convince you?

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Day 186: 2 Chronicles 15:1-17:19; Acts 4:23-5:11 — Fear or Faith? Which rules me?

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Asa and Ananias and Sapphira usually do not come to mind as being related, but the readings today certainly link them together. They start well but end trying do it “my way.”

Two other groups find real life as their faith overcomes all odds.

Asa brings much needed reforms to Judah, yet a threat from Baasha and human judgment takes over. Why? An old man tells Asa that if he does well he will be accepted and protected by the God of all the earth. It is easy to get rid of a few weak pagan prophets and places, yet those Israelite kings can be ruthless and murderous, and the Syrians — well I can see Syrians, I can see their power, and I can pay them to help me. When threatened by what he really feared, Asa resorts to what he really understands, and fails. Asa resorted to human judgment and power based on fear. How ironic that in his fear of threats against his power he falls. Fear opposes faith.

The early Christian husband and wife team start out with such a great promise — odd I really never thought of them as Christians, but they were, sharing the same great forgiveness and grace as all of those new believers. What brought them to lie? It appears that they wanted to be accepted, to look good to the church, and especially to the apostles, not to be rejected. Fear again steps in to cloud judgment. We cannot do what everyone else does. we cannot give it all away, but everyone else sacrifices so much and we will look badly. In one of the great passages often used to teach theology of the Holy Spirit, that He is of the Godhead, we miss the horrible irony: fear of rejection resulted in ultimate rejection by God. Fear opposes faith.

Having been released from prison the apostles and the church receive a renewed sense of boldness and strength to live and teach the Gospel. Their lives have already been given to the Lord Jesus; nothing remains that can be taken. So they move forward with the plan of God. Jehoshaphat believes the teaching from Moses, sends teachers back into Judah. His fervor brings refugees from Israel to the powerful draw of God’s wisdom and the covenant.

What do I fear? Shall I trade the power of God’s love and promise for what I “know will work”, what I can see? what I can do? Shall I trust Him who faced His own fear to die for me?

Faith overcomes the world. 1 Jn. 5:4.

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Day 185: Acts 4:5-22 — A Shot Across the Bow

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

If you are familiar at all with maritime lingo, then you probably know what the title of this blog entry is about. If you are not, in the days before radar, radio and high-powered binoculars, one ship meeting another at a distance might not be able to tell the country from whence she hailed. Therefore, in the 18th century, the captain would order a “shot across the bow,” that is, a cannonball lobbed across the bow of the ship. This was essentially a way to hail the ship and ask her to show her colors and to let them know that you mean business.

In Acts 4:5-22 Peter fires a shot across the bow of the teachers of the law. Why? Because Peter wanted them to know the gospel of Jesus would be brought forth into the light and that they were going to spread the word. Acts 4:8-12 is very defiant language. Earlier in the passage it said that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” He was bold. He was brash. He was serving notice that he and the other disciples wouldn’t be afraid to preach the gospel. In other words, he was firing a shot across the bow of the teachers of the law to let them know they meant business. They wouldn’t shrink from the light.

I encourage you all to pray to be so bold in your faith. Every week we encounter situations where we can step forth in our faith and proclaim Jesus. The scriptures say that we are to be bold like lions Proverbs 28:1.

May God bless you this week!

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Day 184: Acts 3:12-4:4 — Many who heard the message believed

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. Acts 4:4

It’s not about you.

Have you ever made the most eloquent argument, based on Scripture, driving home all the finer points only to have your “mark” shrug and walk away? “I planted the seed.”

How about just striking up what started out to be a normal, casual conversation but quickly turned to matters of faith — and you don’t remember how it got there? “Apollos watered it.”

It’s about God.

Or have you seen someone study with a friend, then study with a different friend, then days later — perhaps weeks or months or even years — you find out from a brother in another city that this person has given her life to Christ, being baptized in His name, and is now living for Him? “But God made it grow.”

So neither he who plants is nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.1 Corinthians 3:6-7

In Acts chapter 3, Peter got the chance to heal a man who had been crippled from birth (Acts 3:1-10), and beginning with verse 11, the Rock gets a chance to address the crowd with the Gospel message. This is the man who just days ago was speaking in languages unknown to him, and 3,000 were baptized — the same guy who Jesus said He would use to build His church. So if there’s any man on earth short of Jesus Christ Himself who could deliver a message powerful enough to persuade everyone within earshot, certainly it would be Simon Peter.

But not all believed. We’re told “many” believed; we’re not told “all” believed. Indeed, the Word of God is living and active; it is sharper than any double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), but we’re called merely to plant and water the seed, which is what Peter did the day he healed the crippled beggar at the temple gate called Beautiful. Not even Peter was called to make the seed grow and produce fruit of the Spirit. Only God can do that.

That’s all we’re called to do — be the best light we can be (Matthew 5:16), produce fruit in keeping with the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). So the next time you don’t see immediate growth from a seed you just watered, remember — it’s not about you. And be thankful to the One it is about. Be patient and wait upon the Lord. (Isaiah 40:31)

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Day 183: 2 Chronicles 6:12-8:18 and Acts 2:27-3:11 — All Sin

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

We are given accounts throughout the scriptures where men acknowledge what God already knows — all men sin. In Solomon’s dedication of the Temple, he asks God in 2 Chronicles 6:36-39 that when they (the Israelites) sin against God that if they have a change of heart, repent, and acknowledge to God through prayer that they have sinned that God hear their prayer and pleas and forgive them. During this request, Solomon acknowledges that all men sin, “…for there is no one who does not sin…” In Romans 3:23, Paul states a similar fact that all men sin and fall short of the glory of God.

The New Testament reading in Acts for this day continues this thought and carries it a step further. In Acts 2:37, the people in Jerusalem who heard Peter’s message were “cut to the heart” and asked what they could possibly do to be saved from their sin – crucifying the Son of God. Peter tells them the pure fact — “Repent and be baptized…in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” You see, the Jewish people were familiar with the teachings of Solomon and the acknowledgment of sins. What they did not understand was the new covenant brought to them by God’s Son, Jesus Christ, that their sins could be forgiven forever, through Him.

FOREVER — we still struggle with that concept today. I, as a man, still want to remember my sins even though God remembers them no more through the blood of Jesus. What I have to do is daily strive to look forward and not look back except as historical perspective. Easier said than done. This is a continual process. Satan wants me to look back and have doubt that my sins are actually forgiven. God wants me to look forward, knowing through faith that my sins are forgiven. Who am I going to believe – God!!!!!!!!!

Posted in 2 Chronicles, Acts, Forgiveness, Sin | 1 Comment »

Day 182: Acts 2:5-36 — “I Love it when a plan comes together!”

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

I recently saw the movie the A-Team. When I was younger, I used to watch the TV series with the same name and loved watching Col. Smith’s plans come to fruition. He would say, “I love it when a plan comes together!” We marvel at the military, political, or social insight of someone who can make a plan and see it through to the end.

I marvel even more at the plans of God. God has a plan of salvation and even though we try to thwart His plans with our sin and disobedience, God’s plan always comes through. God had told us this day would come, a day the followers had been instructed to “wait” for (Acts 1:4). The word for “Pentecost” literally means, “fiftieth day.” It was used by Diaspora Jews for a day-long harvest festival more commonly known as the “Feast of Weeks” (Shavuot) and scheduled fifty days following Passover. Pentecost was one of three pilgrimage feasts when the entire household of Israel gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the goodness of God toward the nation (Acts 2:11). “I love it when a plan comes together!”

NRSV says, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages” (Acts 2:4). The presence of the Holy Spirit in the community’s life is indicated first of all by the miracle of speaking in unknown foreign languages. This miracle indicates the importance of the proclamation of God’s Word, which is central to the church’s responsibility to the risen Christ (Acts 1:8). The dramatic speech is neither ecstatic nor unintelligible; it is language that communicates to others “the wonders of God” (Acts 2:11). The community is filled with the Spirit to express the wonders of God in intelligible and intelligent tongues. “I love it when a plan comes together!”

As you read on in Acts, we should be left with one comment, “I love it when God’s plan comes together!”

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Day 181: Acts 1:12-2:4 — Selfish or submissive?

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

I want to be consumed with God’s Spirit. I want Him to take over every fiber of my being and make me, wholly, completely and totally His. I want God to overpower me to remove all resistance from me.

Does this sound like a payer to be used or a prayer of selfishness? How could that possibly be a prayer of selfishness? God wants me to be all that. He wants me to think about Him when I lie down and when I rise up. He wants me to be his servant every moment of every day. So how could that be a prayer for anything but God’s glory?

Look at the wording: “I want God to overpower me to remove all resistance from me.” The selfish part of me says OK God, I’ll do what you want just don’t give me any choice. If I have no choice then I have given nothing to God.

You may wonder what all this has to do with the first four verses of Acts two (Acts 2:1-4). Read those verses. It appears as if God has overwhelmed them, leaving them no choice. As we progress thru the book of Acts, we will discover nothing about this event removed choice from these men. They still had to fight temptation every day, as we all do.

As for my selfish prayer it will happen in Glory until then I pray He will walk with me and keep poking me to do what he would have me to do.

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Day 180: Acts 1:1-11 – “Wait for it!”

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

“I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1 NIV). It is clear by this statement that what Jesus began, his followers will continue. The purpose of Acts is to tell a story that invites us to continue what Christ began in His life and will continue in the church to the end of history. The pattern of Jesus’ life and ministry shapes the direction of the church. Jesus was about His Father’s Kingdom business. “Giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:2) introduces the key elements of how the church will continue. The contemporary movement and redefinition of the church as an entertaining business that’s primary business is to poll the members in a democratic style to determine direction and increase membership and contributions by pleasing the mob is just downright wrong. The Spirit and the apostles are both the appointed successors of God’s Messiah, and through their sacred partnership we receive God’s Word and direction that leads to the promised salvation of God. The mark of God’s people is not defined by a new church, philosophy, or a pleasurable institution. It is a body or organic people that live in obedience to God’s instruction. I am sure that the apostles had places to go and things to do. I am sure they could have developed some unique ministry plans and programs to increase the acceptance of this new body of believers. Yet, they decided to obey Christ and wait for His instruction through the Holy Spirit. I think we live in a world of confusion. We react before we put some deep thoughts into the ways of God. Our guidance from God is sometimes difficult to understand or fathom. Yet we should wait, listen, and obey the Words of the Spirit not in some touchy-feely way but in listening to the Word of God that the Spirit has guided and revealed. “Wait for it!”

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