Acts 6 - Thrilled for being beaten

This morning I was reading the end of the 5th chapter of Acts. The apostles are called in yet again and are warned not to continue to speak of Jesus. They respond as they have in the previous cases with, " We must obey God rather than man." Of course Peter has to mention, " you killed Jesus" again. This time in verses 33-42, they are brought in front of the council , beaten and then charged not to speak in the name of Jesus. Their response is what got me to thinking, " They left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name." It reminds me of Luke 6:22-23 , " Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in Heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." These apostles respond with joy and with a resolve to not , " cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." 

So here is my question for myself and for you. What kind of persecution will it take  to get the modern Christian to respond this way? Can it be said that our daily interactions with people are characterized by a determined resolve to teach and preach Jesus daily and " from House to house"? If not, perhaps God ought to allow more persecution in your our lives. Maybe he already is. 

Are we willing to pray that? 

Qualified

There is a slight difference between being "unqualified" and being "disqualified". In the former case, I may simply lack a talent or attribute or sufficient education to fulfill a task. There's really no shame or fault in being unqualified. We can always work harder or go to school to cultivate the necessary characteristics for whatever it is we desire to achieve.

But to be "disqualified" means you are unfit for the task, you are excluded because of specific failures or vices or behaviors that prove you to be morally unworthy of some high office or responsibility.

Now, maybe I'm pressing too far the distinction between these two words, but I want to make a point. You and I, in our natural, sinful state, apart from divine grace are not merely unqualified for the kingdom of God, we are profoundly disqualified. It's not as if God says to us, "If only you could perform this task or solve that problem or answer some question, then I would grant you entrance into my kingdom." Rather, he says to us, "By nature and choice you are the kind of person who is prohibited from entering my kingdom. You think thoughts and commit deeds that warrant exclusion from my presence. It's not simply that you would be admitted if you could do this or that, but you are excluded because you are the moral and spiritual antithesis of what is required of any who would share my fellowship."

Ouch!

But thanks (joyful thanks!) be to God who has "qualified us" or "fitted us" or "made us sufficient" to inherit the blessings. How did he do it? By redeeming us (v. 14a) and forgiving us our sins (v. 14b) and clothing us in the righteousness of his Son (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21). Whatever qualifications we formerly lacked, we now have. Whatever deeds may have disqualified us, they are forever forgiven.


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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.