Acts: The Sovereignty of God

“In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will” (Ephesians 1:11)

I want to take you on a ride through history, but first, grab your Bible and read Acts 8:1-8. This is just after the death of Stephen, the Church’s first martyr (7:54-60). It begins the fulfillment of Jesus’ proclamation in Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In 332 BC, the nation of Israel, along with much of the known world was conquered by Alexander the Great, a Greek warrior and king. Alexander’s conquests were not meant for destruction, but rather for assimilation into the Greek empire. All nations were educated in the Greek language for unification. Alexander ordered the ancient Hebrew Scriptures to be translated into Greek, a work that was accomplished in 70 days.

In 63 BC, the Roman Empire took Israel from the Greeks. Though known for their cruelty and harsh rule, they also established strong infrastructure wherever they went to enable swift transport for their military. Roads were laid by the Romans throughout the European and Asian continents.

Now, come back to the point of our key passage in Acts 8.  After the stoning of Stephen persecution drove Jesus’ followers from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria and all throughout the region. As they went, they traveled along those Roman-built roads and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the unified Greek language. The story of God’s mercy, grace, and love could be read and taught – and understood – everywhere because the language was the same wherever they went.

While all these events seemed to be unconnected, harsh circumstances, it’s clear that the God of heaven and earth was “working all things together” for the spread of the Gospel. Now, don’t you think this same sovereign God is able to manage the circumstances of your life? He is at work “perfecting that which concerns you” (Psalm 138:8). I’m clinging to this promise with all my heart right now. He’s got the whole world in His hands – and that includes you. Stand still, Beloved, and watch Him make a way as only He can.

Seeking

My life-verse is Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”  David wrote, “You have said to my heart, ‘Seek My face.’  Your face Lord I will seek” (Ps 27:8).  Isaiah 45:19 declares, “I have not spoken in secret . . . I have not said, ‘Seek me in vain.’” Paul said that God has placed Himself near us so that when we reach out to Him, we will find Him (see Acts 17:26-28). This is an extraordinary invitation: “If you seek Him, He will be found by you” (1 Chr 28:9). 

But understand that we will not just “stumble over” God. Nor is seeking Him a casual glance in His direction on Sunday morning.  Seeking God is a life-long, daily, determined pursuit.  It is making time every day for Bible study, prayer, and meditating on Him, His character, and His Word.  It is allowing nothing to distract us or disrupt our heart’s mission – to know God. 1 Chronicles 22:19 says, “Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God.”

But get this: God is seeking you too.  Jesus declared in John 19:10 – “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Imagine that with me – God; the God of heaven, the Creator of all things, the great and holy I AM, sought you and me out to be His own. 

No, it’s not like God has lost sight of you, but you have wandered far from Him, and are lost in a wilderness of your own choices. John 15:4-7 tells the parable of the lost sheep.  Jesus said, “Does [the shepherd] not…go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (vs. 4,5).  The Good Shepherd is on a “search and rescue” mission to find you and restore you and bring you home – and He does so with great Joy.

It is a beautiful two-fold promise. God has pledged that when you seek Him with all your heart, He will make sure you find Him.  And when you lose your way, He will seek you and bring you back home. Either way, Beloved, you win. And the prize? Eternity with the One who created you and loves you – and seeks you with all His heart.

Acts: Stephen, the First Martyr of the Church

I want to be like Stephen. Stephen was a disciple of the Lord in the first-century church. He was one of seven men chosen as the church’s first deacons. His story starts in Acts 6 and runs through chapter 7. You will be blessed if you read these two chapters.

I want to be like Stephen whom the Bible says was full of faith and the Holy Spirit (v. 5), God’s grace and power (v. 8 ), and wisdom (v. 10) And it showed. It showed in his service to the church as he ministered to the widows in need. It showed as he “did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people” (v. 8 ). And it showed in the way he faced opposition. Some unbelieving Jews dragged him before the Sanhedrin and charged him with blasphemy. Standing before his accusers, Stephen had an other-worldly expression about him. “His face was like the face of an angel” (v. 15)

I want to be like Stephen because he was full of holy boldness. He did not cower or shrink back nor did he try to defend himself against the false accusations. He told the story of Israel, a stiff-necked people who had rebelled against God for generations. The same people who rejected God in the flesh (Acts. 7:1-53). You’re probably not surprised to learn that Stephen infuriated the religious leaders, even though he simply told them the truth. He was dragged out of the city and stoned to death (v. 57).

I want to be like Stephen because Jesus was pleased with him. As he faced his “punishment,” he was given a glimpse of the Lord in all His glory. Christ stood to receive His into the fullness of His Kingdom (vv. 55-58).

I want to be like Stephen because, even in his death, he was a man of godly influence. Standing among the crowd, “giving approval to his death,” was a young man named Saul (8:1). We’ll encounter him again as Paul – the persecutor of the Christian church who became her first missionary and writer of much of the New Testament.

I want to be like Stephen who was the first martyr for the Christian faith. To the church, he died a hero. To the world, he died a fool. But to the Lord Jesus Christ, he died a good and faithful servant. And that’s all I want to be.

Do You Love God?

My best friend turned me on to the stories of the martyrs of Christendom.  Martyrs are people who suffered persecution, and often death, for their faith in Jesus Christ. The first martyr was a man named Stephen, We’ll learn more about him on Monday. He died with the gospel on His lips and his eyes on Jesus (Acts 7:56). The history of the church is replete with men and women that “did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Rev. 12:11). People like Perpetua and Felicity, John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer, Martin Luther, and on and on and on even to the present day. Tertullian wrote, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.”

But what enabled them to stand under such extreme abuse and the threat of death? And why did some give in to the demands and recant their testimony? What made the difference? We get a clue in the verse from Revelation above. And we find more in the book of James – who by the way was Jesus’ half-brother and was only converted after the resurrection (Acts 1:14). James wrote, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (Ja 1:12). What makes someone die for their faith? They loved God.

Consider Jesus’ words in John, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (15:13). The Lord was talking about the love of one Christian for another, but could it not also apply to the Christian’s love for God? If we count God as even a friend, but more than a friend, as our Creator and Father and Redeemer, should we not also be willing to lay down our life for Him? Did He not do the same for us? How, then, should we love God? “. . . with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). With your thoughts, desires, actions, emotions, intentions, affections, obedience, and yes, your physical body – which may even mean death rather than denying your Beloved.

God has already expressed His love for you and me at the cross. Men and women throughout history have returned His love with their own lives. I’ll leave you today with the question all believers must answer: Do you love God?

Acts: Proclaim the Gospel

In our last Acts lesson, we left the apostles in jail for ministering and preaching in Jesus’ name. At least that was the “party line.” But the real reason was “jealousy” (v. 17). The apostles had become very popular and the religious authorities felt threatened. This would be a good place to stop and read today’s text: Acts 5:17-42.

During the night an angel “opened the doors of the jail and brought them out” and told them to keep proclaiming the gospel. They were back in the temple courts at the first light of day (vs. 19-21). When the Sanhedrin met to question them, they were shocked to find the jail empty and the men “standing in the temple courts teaching the people” (v. 25). They were again brought before the Jewish leadership, albeit more gently out of fear of the people.

The Sanhedrin reminded them of their orders to refrain from teaching in the name of Jesus but Peter boldly declared “We must obey God rather than men.” (v. 29). He pointed the finger directly at the Jewish council as the perpetrators of Jesus’ murder and proclaimed the Lord’s resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of the Father. They were naturally furious and wanted them executed. But one Pharisee – Gamaliel – wisely advised caution saying “If [this] is from God you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God” (v. 39).

The culture today, particularly where I live in the U.S., is turning decidedly away from God. The message of the Bible is not welcome and is considered “hate speech.” How the gospel can be called hateful is beyond me – it is the greatest show of divine love in human history. The gospel declares the mercy of God towards sinful creatures who are rightly condemned for their corrupt state.

The apostles refused to back down, even after they were flogged. They “rejoiced because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (v. 41). They “never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ” (v. 42). So must we. The gospel is God’s message and it is unstoppable. It will offend some, but it will also save some. Maybe someone you love. Never stop declaring the good news of Jesus Christ. Eternity is at stake. Beloved, tell somebody about Jesus today.

Acts: Signs and Wonders

Larry Dossey, M.D. wrote a book entitled Be Careful What You Pray For: You Just Might Get It. I’ve not read the book and this is not an endorsement, I just think the title is really cool. The apostles could have contributed to his book. Grab your Bible and read Acts 5:12-18. This section describes the healing and miraculous ministry of Jesus’ disciples. But to get the full context of this passage, you have to go back to chapter 4.

After the Sanhedrin disciplined Peter and John for preaching and healing in the name of Jesus, the church joined together in prayer. Not for protection but for boldness to speak Jesus’ words and that God would “Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your Holy servant Jesus” (4:30). And God answered their prayers.

“The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people” (v. 12). Just as they had asked. And just as the Lord Jesus had done. The gospel of John calls Jesus’ miracles “signs” that pointed to His divine nature as the Son of God. The miracles the apostles performed were signs that confirmed their message about Jesus. Healing miracles abounded wherever the apostles went. People lined the streets with their sick folks in hopes of healing just from Peter’s shadow passing over them. Luke never confirmed that any “shadow healings” took place, but it does show the respect and wonder with which they were regarded. All around the Judean territory word spread and the sick and demon-possessed were brought before them. Luke said “. . . and all of them were healed” (v. 16). Imagine how the world would react today to that kind of ministry.

But it wasn’t only the people who took notice of these miracles – the religious leaders become aware of what was taking place too. And they weren’t impressed. They were jealous (v. 17). And enraged. The apostles disregarded their orders and continued to declare the name of Jesus. Worst of all, their popularity was growing. They were arrested and thrown into the public jail.

The apostles prayed for boldness and miraculous power. God granted their prayer. Great and wondrous things happened. So did awful things. So, were these “unintended consequences” of their prayer? There’s no such thing in God’s kingdom.

Stay tuned. God’s not done with them. Or you, Beloved.

Shaken and Stirred

When I read about the first church and those who fled Jerusalem under persecution for the gospel (Acts 8:1-3) and the martyrs who died with the name of Jesus on their lips, and I think about the Christians in the east who are still tortured and killed for their faith in Christ, I am ashamed. Oswald Chambers rightly said, “Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.” Beware of the Lazy-Boy faith of the Western church today. The true Christian life is not safe.

If every day as a Christian is an easy-breezy-peazy day, then we are in trouble. Following Jesus is not intended to be some blissful nirvana. It’s a climb, a race, a battle, a challenge.  It’s a step-by-step, day-by-day, prayer-by-prayer trek over desert sand and rocky mountains and treacherous trails through hostile territory.  That’s the life the Apostles experienced.  That’s the life the martyrs endured.  Their faith was tried and tested in the fires, and it came forth as gold.  The Christians with the strongest, deepest faith are the ones who defy opposition, persecution, threats, and even death for the name of Jesus.  The most dangerous state for a Christian is when all is right in their little world. 

After grapes are crushed to extract the juice it is placed in containers and allowed to ferment.  During fermentation, the dregs, or sediment, settle at the bottom of the container.  After forty days the wine is “shaken up” – poured into another container to allow the dregs to be removed.  If the dregs remain, the wine becomes too sweet and thick and it is spoiled. The Lord spoke of Israel’s enemy, “Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another.  So she tastes as she did and her aroma is unchanged” (Jer. 48:11).  Moab had been largely at peace, and their turmoil-free life had made them spoiled.  The Lord said the same of Jerusalem, “I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs . . . (Zephaniah 1:12)”

Beloved, has your life – and your faith – been shaken lately?  Mine has. James says, “Count it all Joy . . .” (James 1:2).  God is sifting out the dregs, the dangerously sweet stuff that spoils you.  He is making your life an offering worthy of Christ.  Is it hard?  You bet.  Is it painful?  Without a doubt.  Is it worth it?  Just ask the saints who endured.  They’re the ones singing songs of Joy and praise around the throne.

Acts: I Cannot Tell a Lie

What sets the church apart from every other organization? Consider all the benevolent organizations in the world that are dedicated to good causes. What makes the church different?  I see two things in today’s Scripture – grab your Bible and read Acts 4:32-5:11. Luke wrote, “All the believers were one in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32). Unity is the first point that stood out. Their focus was caring for one another and proclaiming the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (v. 32-33). The first is at the heart of today’s Scripture lesson, but the second, declaring the gospel, was – and still is – the mission of the church and we’ll see that as we continue through Acts and into the history of the church.

The first believers were selfless and “shared everything they had” so that “there were no needy persons among them” (vs. 32, 34).  We’ve been through some very tough times financially, but God put us on someone’s heart and they met our needs with gracious plenty. I am forever grateful for their compassion and the Lord’s provision.

Not only did the believers share out of their own supply, but they often sold property and brought the money to the church for distribution. And this brings us to another distinguishing mark of the church: integrity. A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold some property and brought some of the money to the apostles as an offering. But he told them it was the full amount. The Lord was not pleased – not because of the sum of money given, but because of the lie. Peter told Ananias that the money was his to do with as he chose. He would not have been at fault for bringing a portion of the money – if he had been honest about it. Peter said, “You have lied to the Holy Spirit . . . you have not lied to men but to God (v. 3, 4).” His wife confirmed the same lie. Both Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for their deception.

That seems pretty extreme, but we have to understand that dishonesty is an ugly stain on the church. It harms the reputation and the mission of the Body of Christ. When a person is known for deceitfulness, we disregard everything they say. When a representative of the church is dishonest, even their testimony about Christ is in doubt.  Simply put, nobody trusts a liar, even when they are speaking the truth. When a church member is untrustworthy in their business or their marriage or their relationships, nothing they say is worth believing.

The Bible is clear: “God does not lie” (Nu 23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18). Nor should we. For the sake of Christ and the gospel, we must be people of integrity. Beloved, you were made in the image of God – speak in His image too.

Go To The Word

Everyone seems to have an opinion these days and we all want to be heard.  As a blogger, I am one of the hundreds of thousands – probably even millions – of people on the world-wide-web trying to get a word out to the world. Christian bloggers, of which I am one, seem to be the most overcrowded segment of the species. So, with so many voices out there, to whom should you listen? Who should you trust?

Isaiah was God’s prophet prior to the Israelites going into Babylonian captivity. He had been called and anointed by God to speak on the Lord’s behalf. But just as it is today, there were a lot of people saying a lot of things. But were they reliable? Were they true? Were they clear and righteous messages for God’s people? Those are the same questions we need to be asking today.

In Isaiah’s time, the ungodly messengers were consulting mediums and spiritists who “consulted the dead on behalf of the living.” They whispered and muttered nonsense because that is what the people wanted (Is. 8:19). Paul warned Timothy that men would “gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim. 4:3). If you listen to the popular messages coming from many pulpits (books, blogs, podcasts, etc.) today, you will hear much the same.

Paul told Timothy to “Preach the Word” (2T 4:2) and that agrees perfectly with Isaiah’s admonition: “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn” (Is. 8:20). And that brings me to my favorite people, the Bereans, who took Paul’s messages and “examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).

If there is one hill I will die on, it is this: Do not depend on what others say about God. Not even me. Check out every word against the One Word of Truth. You MUST be a student of the Scriptures yourself. That doesn’t mean you have to go to seminary. It means you have to spend time in this divinely inspired Book, searching out truth, wisdom, and understanding and aligning your heart to it. Then you will know how to spot the errors, lies, and false witnesses in the world. Beloved, I implore you – study God’s Word as if your life depended on it. Because it does.

Acts: Holy Boldness

Just as Jesus was a praying teacher, the first church was a praying church. After their arrest and confrontation with the Sanhedrin, Peter and John returned to the gathering of believers and replayed the whole event, including the demand that they stop speaking in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). The people immediately “raised their voices together in prayer to God” (v. 24). This would be a good time for you to grab your Bible and read Acts 4:23-31.

One thing that has always stood out to me about the prayers in the Bible is they were unlike my own. My prayers tend to be whiny and ramble on and on.  The prayers of God’s people were almost always God-centered, concise, and simple. Let’s look at this prayer. First, they laid a strong foundation declaring God’s sovereignty, power, and authority (vs. 24-25). Only then did they present their request to God (v. 25b-27). They remembered that men have plotted against God for generations – this current dilemma was nothing new to Him. They declared that God’s power and purpose overrode the enemy’s scheming. “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (v. 28).

Then they laid the matter before the Lord and got read to get back to the work God had given them. “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (v. 29). They put the battle – and their enemies – in God’s hands and carried on with the divine mission. They asked for boldness to continue doing what got them in trouble in the first place. That ought to be a lesson for us in this evil generation.

Then something remarkable happened. “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (v. 31). Why are our churches not being shaken (up)? Why are we not speaking the word of God boldly today? I believe it is because we are praying in fear, not in faith. I’m guilty. I find that I’m praying more about what can go wrong than what God can do right.  And too often I’m praying that life will get easier, not that I will get bolder. It’s no wonder the Spirit isn’t shaking me up.

It is right and good to present our problems and struggles to the Lord in prayer. But then we need to ask for the power and boldness to continue in our divine calling. Beloved, it’s time to stop shaking in fear and start shaking in the Spirit.