Acts 2:14-41

In reading the Sermon Peter preached, I am amazed at how the Holy Spirit worked. Verses 36-38 are especially amazing. "This Christ whom you crucified"  So Peter accuses them of being responsible for killing Jesus. Their response is, " What shall we do ?" Peter says, "repent and be baptized" And guess what? They do just that. The end of the passage tells us that they , including 3000 people received the Word and were added to the church. This is a picture of how the Holy Spirit works when His Word is preached. We do not need to pretty the Word up at all. Our job is to just preach the Word the way it was written. We let the Spirit do HIs work. Our job is to yield to His Spirit and Word and leave the results up repentance up to Him.

Waiting Acts 1-2:13

As I was reading Acts today , it occurred to me that I am not very good at waiting. Perhaps you struggle as well with waiting. We struggle especially when we are waiting in situations where God must move in order for things to happen. Often, in these cases we move ahead and try to do God's work for Him. I have found this to be disastrous. So, why does God make us wait?

I believe there are two reasons He makes us wait at times.

1. To prepare us. In scripture we see several examples of people that had to wait: Moses, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Joseph. In all of these examples God was doing a work in the lives of those devoted to Him. While they did not always understand the reason, God brought them through and revealed Himself more fully to them.

2. To prepare others and situations. If  Jesus had immediately sent is Spirit and had not waited,  the pilgrims would not have reached Jerusalem . ( Read Acts 1-2 and you will see that waiting is often for the benefit of others as well.) Remember that out  of the 500 people that Jesus appeared to after the resurrection, only 120 waited  as He instructed and  received the Holy Spirit.


Prayer: Jesus, you told the people on the hillside to wait, and you also tell me to wait. I want to learn the lessons you want me to learn. Today, I trust you to__________________ (fill in the blank)

2 Corinthians 3 - We are changed

Salvation restores to us the glory lost by the fall. Salvation has a transforming power. This transformation begins in salvation (12-17). When we turn to the Lord there is a change at the deepest level of our being. The veil is lifted from our heart and glory is restored in our hearts . The transforming  glory continues in our sanctification (18). Sanctification is progressive growth in righteousness. It is the process whereby God gets the glory as your life is changed. One of the ways  that God does this is by study of His Word. The Believer looks into the Word of God, sees the Son of God and is changed into the image of God by the Spirit of God to the glory of God.

I love verse 17 where is says," Now the Lord is the Spirit , and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Amen

2 Corinthians 2:14 ( A Fragrance to your life)

Verse 14 tells us that, " God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads  the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. The key here is the phrase "In Christ" We as sinners have triumphed over sin and death in the (temporal) in addition we will triumph (Those who are in Christ Jesus) in what we understand as the believers "spiritual victory" Through Paul's and our suffering. God spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. When we offer our lives to God(With Christ as our example) we participate in the spreading of the fragrance  of Christ. The world needs nothing less than to know of the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We have ben commissioned to speak of Christ. (verse 17)

2 Corinthians 1:4

" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts  us in all of our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those  who are in any affliction , with the comfort with which we  ourselves  are comforted by God"

  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Verse 3 tells us that He is the God of all comfort , it seems that comfort is available because of Who He is ! Not only is it available because of who He is, but also because of what He does . This scripture says He comforts us. Well just how is it that God can comfort us, or otherwise worded, how can we get or receive the comfort of God? The whole passage seems to hinge on verse 5 when Paul says, " For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings , so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." So can it be said that suffering is an inevitable part of our Christian walk? More than that however is that suffering seems to be the path through which His comfort is made available. Verse 9 tells us why " Indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God  who raises the dead." So sharing in Christ's sufferings is good because it  causes us to flee to Him for comfort, thereby teaching is to rely on Him.

Journey Through Ephesians # 3 (2: 1-10)

When you read the first 10 verses of this chapter, it sounds somewhat like a spiritual autobiography for the believer .

Verses (1-3) (Your past)
Verses (4-6,8-9) (your present)
Verses (7,10) (Your future)

What struck me the most in this passage is the word "Workmanship" This word actually means poem. So a saved soul is God's work of art. Well what do we do with a piece of art that we are proud of? We hang it on a wall to show off, for everyone to see. But what is shown off? You have to look at verse 7 for the answer. "He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus"  Verse 10 sums it up. We were saved yes by Grace alone, but for doing "Good Works". These good works were prepared beforehand. It seems to me that He has it all figured out. We just need to learn to trust in Him as He teaches us to walk "In Him"

Journey through Ephesians # 2 (1:15-20)

A Prayer for  Each Other : 

Paul expresses his thankfulness for his fellow brothers and expresses a prayer that we could do well  to model for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

" For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places" 

1. Spirit of Wisdom and knowledge if Him. 
2. The eyes of your hearts enlightened.
3. You may know they hope to which He has called You.
4. What are the riches of HIs glorious inheritance
5. Know the immeasurable greatness of HIs Power. 


What if we prayed this for each other, daily  for our Church?  

Journey through Ephesians # 1 (1:3)

"... Who has blessed us in Christ  with every Spiritual; blessing in the heavenly places." Ephesians  1:3

I wonder if we Christians realize how truly rich we are? No, I am not talking about financially rich. Paul, in this letter tells us about the SOURCE of our wealth. We have a rich God who owns everything and knows exactly what we need. Paul also speaks to the SCOPE of our wealth. He says we have been blessed with "Every" Spiritual blessing. Yes, material riches come from God, but more than that true riches are spiritual in nature. All of what we need and have are wrapped up in the person of Christ. Lastly Paul informs us of the SPHERE of our spiritual blessings. They are "in the heavenlies" We as believers have a new spiritual address and that is with Christ in Heaven. That is where true riches are found.

So here is the question, Are we living our lives in this reality . Our position in Christ is not only where we derive our wealth, but really our identity.

Father, thank you for giving me all things in Christ! Help me to be content in you and help me to trust you with my life, the life you have given me !

Galatians 5

" Walk in the Spirit... not fulfill the lust if the flesh" Galatians 5:16

I was reading Galatians chapter 5 this morning. Verse 16 is key to  understanding victory over the flesh. We must daily live,  allowing the Spirit to control. Verse 17- 18 implies that we have a conflict going on in our lives. Remember Paul, in this passage is speaking to believers. This conflict exists because our sin nature battles our new nature we have as a result of being in Christ. So what do we do to face this conflict? Verse 16 tells us! " Walk in the Spirit"/ When you read verse 10-23 you see the contrast. Paul tells is that the graces of the spirit must grow like rich fruit in our lives, but how? "Walk in The Spirit" Verse 24-26 explains how all of this is done. Paul tells us that the evil desires must be crucified, done away with  so that we can walk in step with the Spirit.

In summary , it seems that in order for us to walk in the Spirit(16), we must get rid of the desires in us that are contrary to His will. In order to do that we must walk in step(25) with the Spirit. So We submit to His leading, He guides us as we learn to walk  day by day with Him.

Prayer: "Lord , today help me walk in step with the Spirit"

Hint: Spend some time with Him in His Word!

The Word of God !

“He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. . . . He sends his word and melts them” (Ps. 147: 15–18)

Wow! His Word does so much, but as I read this I thought wow, how seriously ought we be taking His Word? HIs Word is not just something we have the option of reading, but it is so powerful  that it controls. Does His Word control you? I do not mean control in the sense that you  have no choice in the matter, rather does His Word so influence (control you ) that you do that which pleases Him because His Word has changed your heart.  He has much work to do in me, I do however long more and more for the time where His Word is such a delight to me that doing anything contrary makes me mourn!

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome" 1 John 5:3

Show me Thy Glory

Moses, in Exodus asks God to show him God's glory ! Just what does that mean? God's glory is the outward manifestation of His inner reality. Next we wonder how is it that we can see His glory! How does God choose to reveal Himself  to mankind? Hebrews 1 , I believe answers this well , : He(Jesus) is the radiance if God's  glory and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, he sat down, at the right hand of the Majesty on High" Hebrews 1:3 So Jesus is the glory of God, for we believe He is God. So this being true, how do we see His glory? We see His glory in the incarnation of Christ (John 1:14), the crucifixion of Christ(Luke 24 26), the resurrection of Christ, ( 1 Peter 1:21) and the exaltation of Christ (1 Timothy 3:16) . Do you desire to see His glory ? Turn your eyes upon Jesus --Hebrews 12:2