By what Power or Name

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

BY WHAT POWER OR NAME

Acts 4:5-7

5 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"

NIV

This is just the beginning of another demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life, but we need to stop and visit this beginning for a moment. Although it is a record of an actual event, there is still a life lesson for us to consider. This question the rules, elders and teachers of the law asked Peter and John brings us something to ponder on. They knew there was power at work, power that was not of human origin, but they did not know who it was from. This is the established spiritual leadership of the nation of Israel, and they did not recognize the power of God at work. The other reason for the question could have been they knew the power was from God, but did not what their power and influence over the people to be disrupted by these men, even if God was at work in them. But we will see they were impressed with Peter’s response, so we might well conclude it was more about their not seeing the moving of God, then wanting to crush this new movement. Although they were also wanting to crush it, as they are the ones responsibly for having Jesus crucified. The point we see here is they were trying to trap Peter and John by some means. Whenever God moves in the lives of people some are not going to be happy about it. It is even quite possible those who are the rulers, elders, and teachers of the New Testament today may not like it when a simple uneducated person, who has not paid for their denominational degree from the subscribed bible college, is filled with the Holy Spirit and is used by God to perform miracles and speak with the wisdom of God. Yet it is by the power of the name of Jesus we all can be filled with the Spirit and speak the mind of God. The scriptures can be open to all of us who seek the truth from God. He has poured out his spirit upon all men, if they are willing to be filled, filled to overflowing. That is another point we will see, but should note in this context as well. When Peter responds being filled with the Spirit, he is filled to overflowing. What good is being filled, if we are not filled to overflowing? Others cannot be affected by the Spirit within us, unless it flows out of us, unless it is overflowing from us all over them? The power of the Spirit, the power of the name of Jesus is not exclusive, it does not only belong to the leaders, elders, and the teachers of the Scripture, and it is all inclusive, available to anyone who believes. So as we live and walk in the Spirit, we should be doing it in such a manner that people would ask us, “By what power or what name did you do this?” 

A Message

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

A MESSAGE

Acts 4:1-4

4:1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

NIV

Peter and John were speaking the truth about Jesus Christ and the establishment was not happy about it, to the point of arresting them and putting them in jail. But it was already too late for them to really do anything about this truth because many of the people who heard what Peter had to say, believed in that truth. There are too many voices out there that are not speaking the truth today because it is not what people want to hear. Large numbers are not being added to the congregation of truth, but there are large numbers being added to the followers with silver tongues proclaiming all the feel good, you deserve it to have it all, messages. What has happened to the truth? Even the establishment seems to have moved into messages for the believers, rather than for those who need to believe. Some of them certainly want to increase their numbers in the pews, but then that might simply be to increase their offering. Certainly not all of them are like that, certainly some of them are preaching the good news, the truth about Jesus, spreading the truth. But the personal life lesson for us today it that we should be standing up and speaking out about the truth of Jesus Christ, even if the rest of the world isn’t and even it is cost us something, as it did Peter and John. The truth has to be told, first to the unbelievers, but even to those among the congregations of churches. There are so many who believe in something other than the truth as those priests, the temple guards and the Sadducees yet they belonged to the establishment. We must stand up and tell the truth about Jesus Christ, about the word of God, which is Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. When we tell the truth about the scriptures we are telling the truth about Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility, no matter what anyone else says, to tell the truth about the Word. The truth is simply as the Word says that in order for anyone to enter the Kingdom of God he must be born again. The Word declares we are all sinners, and that Jesus Christ is the sacrifice for our sin, there is no other way. We must declare the truth, stand up, speak up, tell those in and out of the churches the truth about Jesus Christ. It may not be the most popular message, but it is the message that must be told. We have a message. 

Blessed

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

BLESSED

Acts 3:24-26

24 "Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'   26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."

NIV

All the peoples on earth will be blessed. Of course we know that Jesus was sent to Israel first, that they are the chosen people of God. It is not that they are any better than any other nation on the earth, but the fact remains he chose them to reveal himself to the whole world. It decided to use Israel as a showcase of his power, his might, and his method of redeeming mankind from their wicked ways. He used Israel to demonstrate that man could not live by his set of rules, his laws, that they needed a Savior, a Messiah, to redeem them from that Law. He used Israel to bring his Son into the world in order that he could be that sacrifice for the world. Yes, he came to Israel first, but he came for us, the rest of the world. He came for all of us. What a blessing it is to have a life in Christ. This life has all sorts of ups and down, highs and lows, but the one constant in our life is the blessing God has given us in Jesus. Although it is true the people of Israel can trace their ancestry to Abraham who God had made a covenant with, we can trace our ancestry all the back to Noah, who God has also made a covenant with. But the greatest ancestry anyone can have is to Christ. Even if we are what is called adopted, we are co-heirs with Christ, which makes us family. Yet we may be actual descendants of Abraham, in a way, then we think. If we are circumcised of the heart, we are true Israel which would makes Abraham our ancestor. Although this is just an exercise of sorts, the real point here is that we are indeed blessed because of Jesus. We are forgiven our sin, we are saved from the wrath of God, we are going to get to be in the presence of God at the conclusion of this life on earth, what greater blessing can there be? Yet while we are still here we have the blessing of turning from our wicked ways. Life can be of two forms, one living in our wicked ways, or turning from them and living to please God. The first results in receiving the wrath of God, the second results in eternal life. So no matter what else happens in our  life, having the blessing of God upon us is really all that matters.  

Restored

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

RESTORED

Acts 3:17-23

17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'  

NIV

As we already looked at repenting and turning to God, we certainly could spend more time on the refreshing that comes from the Lord. To be refreshed, to be cooled, and to recover breathe comes from the Lord. All that we in our own strength attempt to do in order to obtain refreshing, perhaps found in a refreshment, is nothing compared to the refreshing of our spirits which comes from the Lord. When we get tired in the body we refresh ourselves with something, but when we get tired in the spirit there is no human form of refreshing that will do, but only that which comes from the Lord. We also should turn our attention to the fact Jesus must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything. The implication here is that restoring to something good, which indicates there was something bad which requires restoration. We could see this as the whole of creation, all of mankind, which has deviated from the original intent of God to have his creation to fellowship with. Mankind has left God and turned to their own evil ways and the world has become a place in need of restoration. The kingdom of God is the good that needs to be restored and as we know it will indeed be done. But we also can see this in a personal internal way. Each of us at one point in our life is in need of God restoring everything within our lives. We were deaf to his words, we did not listen to what he said and we lived completely to fulfill our own desires and pleasures. We ignored the words of his prophet Jesus. We ignored the fact we needed to repent and turn to God for the forgiveness of our sin. We did not even acknowledge that we had sin. But praise God somehow he was able to get through to us and we turned and repented and received a restoration, a refreshing unlike anything we had ever experienced before. But a fate is waiting those who will not listen to the words of Jesus, A fate of being completely cut off from among mankind. The Greek word used here for completely cut off means extirpate which is defined as completely destroyed, wipe out, to pull up by the root, to cut out by surgery, to take every legal measure possible to root out the evil from the land. This is the fate of those who do not listen to Jesus when he says that in order for a man to enter the kingdom of heaven he must be born again. Those who do not accept Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the sacrifice for their sin, and repent and turn to God will be completely cut off, destroyed, perish as John wrote about when he was inspired to write that God so the loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. This kind of restoration in each of us, frees us from perishing, from being cut off, completely destroyed and gives us eternal life. A restoration of everything as we are the “everything” of God. Yet there is also a day coming when he will restore the new city of Jerusalem on a new earth with a new heaven, and we who have listened to the words of Jesus will live forever in the restored place of God. But the blessing for us is that we have been restored. 

Turning

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

TURNING

Acts 3:17-23

17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'  

NIV

Here is another part of what Peter said that is difficult to cut up into pieces so we will have to deal with it in whole, but may have to camp out here for a couple of devotions. We should first understand that sin is an act of ignorance, at least until the truth is told to the one sinning in ignorance. Once we know the truth than sin becomes a willful act against God. True, we may not be able to withstand some temptations but we still know that what we are doing is sin. Before knowing the truth we were ignorant of his will and his ways for our life, although he said that he created all people with the knowledge of him, some which we were once a part of suppressed that knowledge of him by our evil deeds. But we repented as anyone must in the process of turning to God in order for our sins to be wiped out. That is the most refreshing our spirits could every experience, to know our sins are wiped out, that he wipes them out. He cleans the slate, washing us completely clean in the blood of Jesus. We are made new. Yet we continue to disappoint him, continuing to fail him, continuing to sin. Sure it was not like before, but each day we need to repent, each day we need to ask him to forgive. We are still saved, still having all our sin forgiven, not being cast out because we fail to do all we should, or fail to not do that which we should not. The truth is we repented, and we continue to repent for our failures, because we have turned to God and we have acknowledged him as our Lord and Savior and we trust him to continue to lead us, to correct us, and yes, even disciple us, when necessary, because he loves us with all his being. We cannot never forget to repent, and we can never ever turn anyway other than to God. If we start looking at anything else, with a wanting heart, other than God, we might be turning in some other direction other than in his. We cannot afford any turn other than to him and once we have turned we must stay the course, but first we must turn. 

By Faith

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

BY FAITH

Acts 3:16

16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

NIV

We are still camping out on the same section of this book, yet we have come to the last portion of it and focus our attention on faith that comes through him. We notice that it was by faith in the name of Jesus that Peter and John were able to speak those words and through their faith which came to them through Jesus a lame man was made whole. It would seem that man alone cannot even have faith, as faith in the name of Jesus requires it to come through Jesus. How can we have faith in the name of Jesus unless Jesus gives us that faith, or there was never a Jesus in the first place? But because there was and is a Jesus we can have faith in his name. If we look at many of the other portions of the Holy Text we will see that it was by faith we are justified, it is by faith we stand firm, it is by faith we live, rather than by sight. We see that the righteous will live by faith, we are sanctified by faith and it is by faith that we eagerly wait. We also see that we are not alone in the faith journey because it was by faith that Abel offered his sacrifice and by faith he was commended as a righteous man. It was by faith that Enoch was taken from this life, never having to experience death. It was by faith that Noah built that ark and by his faith he condemned the world and became heir to righteousness that comes by faith. We see that by faith Abraham left his home, made a new one in the Promised Land and even in his old age by faith had a son, and then by faith was willing to sacrifice him to God. We see by Faith Isaac, by faith Jacob, by faith Joseph, by faith Moses, by faith the people passed through the Red Sea, by faith the walls of Jericho fell, by faith Rahab, by faith Gideon, by faith Barak, by faith Samson, by faith David, by faith Samuel. So many people of the past lived by faith and their lives were recorded for us to read about so we could see the value of having faith in the name of Jesus. If we are believers, and we are not truly living by faith, we might be guilty of unbelief. If we live by faith only for the purpose of salvation at the end of this life, we are missing the point. All these of the past lived by faith and their lives were filled with actions like that of Peter and John with this lame man. We cannot afford to live be sight, we cannot afford to rely on our own flesh to provide the life we live, but we must live by faith in the name of Jesus. If we want to be considered righteous we must live by faith. If we want to be considered a man after Gods own heart we need to live by faith. If we want to live in a manner that condemns the world we must live by faith. If we want to be sanctified, justified we must live by faith. If we want to live in the miraculous we need to live by faith. If we do not live completely by faith we are living as a crippled man, a lame man, begging from others, depending on man, rather than on God. The righteous will live by faith. We will live by faith therefore we are the righteous. Living by faith is the only way to truly live, to truly be completely alive. By faith which comes through Jesus.

Faith in the Name of Jesus

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

FAITH IN THE NAME OF JESUS

Acts 3:11-16

11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

NIV    

We have noticed and looked at the fact the people were astonished, but now we should focus on the response of Peter to their astonishment. Peter asks them why were they surprised and why were they staring at him and John. He was quick to make it clear that this miracle was certainly not because of any power or godliness they had. This in and of itself could be a good life lesson for us. Sometimes we use the first person when speaking about the gifts, such as, I have the gift of discernment, or I have the gift of teaching. This might imply that we think we have some form of godliness, which might not be the truth. All that we are, all that we have, all that we do is solely because of God. All the gifts are his, all the power is his, and how and who he empowers is completely under his authority. We can only be a willing vessel to be used by God for his purpose which is to bring glory to himself. Any pride we have in our own abilities, our own talents, or display of his gifts operating in our lives is sin. Peter made it clear it was not about him, but about Jesus, however he also made it clear this man was healed due to having faith in the name of Jesus. To have any of the gifts of God displayed or operating in our lives, such as this gift of healing, or any of the gifts, such as the gift of helps, administration, discernment, tongues, prophesy, word of knowledge, teaching, preaching, or any of the other gifts we need to have faith in the name of Jesus. Certainly we all can learn in the human capacity many abilities, but we cannot function as God intends us to, unless we have faith in the name of Jesus. We can teach, we can preach, we can help others, we can administrate, we can give, we can have knowledge, all in human strength, but that does not mean we are operating in the gifts given by God, for we cannot heal, have wisdom, speak in tongues, or interpret, we cannot prophesy or perform miracles, unless the power of God is operating through us. So if we are going to bring glory to God, we must always be sure to credit God for any of our actions, which are brought about by the Spirit operating in our lives because of our faith in the name of Jesus. 

Atonished

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ASTONISHED

Acts 3:11-16

11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

NIV

While this is a rather large section of scripture and a complete statement that Peter made and we cannot really break it up, we will have to camp out in it for a while. The first thing we should look at it is the fact all the people were astonished and came running to them. Certainly we would think that all the things Jesus did, all the healings, the raising of Lazarus from the dead would have made the local news, headlines in the newspaper, even instagrams posted on facebook, but of course none of that was available. Yet it would seem natural that kind of behavior over a three year period would have spread through the area and people would have been aware of it. So then why were all the people astonished? Did they think that once they got rid of Jesus all that would stop? Did they actually think that Jesus was just a man with the power of God in his life, like one of their prophets and once he was gone so was the power? We will see that Peter makes it all very clear, but we should first make an application for our lives about being astonished. Sometimes it seems when something supernatural happens, believers are astonished. Should we not expect the supernatural? Should we not expect to see miracles among the body of Christ? Perhaps we are just content to live in the human condition. Maybe some of us really do not believe in miracles because we have never seen any. Maybe some haven’t seen any because they have a difficult time believing in them. This believer has had so many miracles happen in his life he has a difficult time remembering them all. This believer is never astonished when a miracle occurs, when someone is healed, when God does a supernatural action in our lives. None of us should ever be astonished, amazed or even surprised when God acts in a supernatural way. That kind of response should be reserved for unbelievers, so we might be able to explain to them what is going on as Peter did. People should not have to read some bogus miracle in the tabloids waiting in line at the grocery store, they should see them in our lives, so they can actually be astonished and that would give us the opportunity to explain to them what just happened and by the power of the name of Jesus. We should be living so people are astonished.  

Praising God

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

PRAISING GOD

Acts 3:6-10

6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

NIV

Now to the rest of the first part of the story, as the best part is yet to come. Peter and John must have had some silver and Gold for they had all things in common with all the other disciples and thus no one was without some source of purchase power. But the point in this narrative is that Peter was so filled with the power of the Holy Spirit he was simply moving in the Spirit, seeing things as Jesus did. Jesus had healed people all the time for the purpose of bringing Glory to his Father, and this is exactly what happened here. This man got up and leaped and jumped and was praising God. He could have started to praise Peter, as we will see some people might have been doing. Although it was Peter who took him by the hand and helped him up after telling him to get up in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, he was praising God. It is not clear if this man knew who Peter and John were, but it was clear that he knew God had healed him. Who wouldn’t be overjoyed to be healed? He no longer was going to have to be carried to the gate to beg for money anymore, he could simply walk to the gate himself and beg. But certainly this man was not going to be begging anymore, he would start hunting for a job, to support himself, unless of course he joined the church, and simply shared in all that was in common. There is a lot of the story about this man that is left out, giving us no clue as to what happened to him after his healing, except he was praising God. He was jumping and leaping and praising God. Some of us have been healed, physically but there is little leaping and jumping, but at least there is the praising God part. But there is also some skepticism on the part of other believers, instead of praising God along side the healed, or taking the opportunity of speaking up to non-believers about the healing that took place. When one of us is healed we all should be praising God, telling everyone we know want happened. Surely we all have been healed spiritually and yet it seems some of us are not leaping for joy. There was such an openness of this man in his praising of God, of course he had just been healed in a very miraculous way. But shouldn’t we also be as open in our praising of God, especially when we gather together in a worship service, but also whenever we are awake. If it were not for the healing power of God in our lives where would we be? What kind of life would we have? Would we be like that lame man? If fact, we would be living a crippled life, perhaps not begging from others, but nevertheless we would be crippled from unconfessed and unforgiven sin. We would not be able to have a full life, as God intended us to have, but we have been healed, we have been forgiven and we are no longer crippled by sin, for Jesus took it away and we can leap and jump and praise God. What greater miracle can there be? Yet we should also be aware that God still heals our physical conditions. He can heal the lame, he can heal the blind, he can heal cancer, he can heal any disease, any infirmity, and any condition we might be subjected to.  If we forget, if we doubt, if we live with the faith he can, but wonder if he will, we may never see such miracles. We must live with the faith that the name of Jesus has the power to heal the lame, to cure the sick, to bring about praise and Glory to God. 

The Need

Sorry the format is a little different as I had to do this on my ipad in a campsite in Illinois this morning, with no internet, so a very late posting
Devotion
the book of Acts
the need.


Acts 3:3-6

[3] When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
[4] Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!"
[5] So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
[6] Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”


It is interesting that the first thing people think of is giving money to someone in need, but it appears Peter and John did not have any, but they certainly had something much better. Why do we give money instead of the power of God's healing? Why did the lamb man expect money? It seems this has been the way of helping others for a very long time. Surely it is a good thing to assist someone in need with a little silver and gold. We just saw how the disciples had everything in common,  selling their possessions  and giving to whoever had a need. So why didn't Peter give some to this man? Could it have been the moving of the Holy Spirit? On a very personal note, I remember a time many years ago in Chicago, I was driving on lower Wacker and I saw a lamb man selling pencils, I was nudged by the Spirit to stop and tell this man that I had no money, but that I would give him what I did have and then tell him to walk. But I failed to obey and I will never forget that time. We certainly need to be careful to obey even when it seems like we could make a fool of ourselves. what would have happened if the man was not healed? God does not make fools of us, so when he inspires us to act, we must act. Although money is good to give, healing is far better. There does need to first be a need, as this man was showing. He was out there looking for help, he was not hiding his need, or begging for someone else's need. If we have a need we should not be too proud to let people know of our need. There is two people here,  the needy and the giver. Sometimes the need. Can be met with money, but sometimes the need must be met with the power of God. let us know when took use what.

Time of Prayer

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

TIME OF PRAYER

Acts 3:1-5

3:1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer — at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

NIV

This is the beginning of a story we all are familiar with, but we should stop for a moment before we get to the silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give to thee part we should stop for a moment and notice something here. We are not sure if this one day was like every other day, or this was just one day, but in either case, Peter and John were going for prayer in the temple. This certainly says something about the need to participate in what we might call corporate prayer, or congregational prayer. It would be doubtful that Peter and John would go to the temple for a time of personal prayer, as that is something they would have done in their private prayer closet, so to speak. Yet there is something to be said about praying together, but then we are not sure what kind of prayer they would have been engaged in the temple. Being a Jewish temple, it might seem natural that prayer was conducted in the manner accustom to the old Jewish ways, but Peter and John were new believers, not yet called Christians, but they were, in fact, different than others who had not yet accepted Christ. Yet the point here is prayer. They were going someplace to pray which was their custom. We should also go someplace to pray, either in our private prayer closet, wherever that might be, or to the church to pray along side our fellow believers. Prayer is being in communication with God, spending time in worship of him, giving him praise and thanks for all he has done for us, in us and through us, but more importantly it should be about listening for his voice. What he has to say, is far more important than what we have to say. If we spend all our time in prayer talking we have gained nothing from our time. God has promised if we ask, he hears us and he will answer us, so we should be careful to spent time listening. Of course there is importance of praying together as Peter and John must have intended to do in the temple that day, but those corporate prayer times might not be the best for confession of sin, or maybe that is the best time for that kind of pray. Maybe we should be confessing our sin to one another that we might be healed. It seems that we might have gone astray from that kind of prayer and we simply skip right to the asking for things part, or thanking for the things part. We simply do not know what kind of prayer Peter and John were going to the temple for, but we know for sure they knew the importance of prayer, as they were making a point to go to pray. We should make prayer a point of our life as well, making sure we spend time, either alone time, or time together in communication with God. There is such a diverse amount of teaching on prayer for us today, we could spend mouths reading all the books, and studies on prayer, with all sorts of acronyms as a guide to use. But the point is we should pray. We should be going to pray at the time of prayer.

The Way It Is

DEVOTION

 THE BOOK OF ACTS

THE WAY IT IS

Acts 2:44-47

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

NIV

We certainly have left behind and trace of this New Testament church. This having everything in common thing in our society would never work because most if not all of us are way too attached to all our stuff. In fact many of us even have to rent a storage space to store some of our stuff because we don’t have room enough for it in our garage. But what would that look like today if we did have everything in common? Who among us has that kind of need? At least most of us who attend the same church seem to all have about the same amount of stuff, except of course for those who have so much they need a financial advisor to help them store it up in the right place to make it grow. Many of us have simply built bigger barns. Maybe that is the way it is supposed to be now. Maybe that everything in common thing was just for them at that time, and we now have a whole different system. Maybe by our tithing and giving offerings are our way of having everything in common, except our tithes usually just pay for all the salaries of the church staff, and upgrades to the church stuff. How do we deal with this selling our possessions and goods and giving to anyone as their have a need? This is just too hard so maybe we should just ignore it, see it as a historic record of what they did, and move on. They must not have had any jobs, if they continued to meet every day in the temple courts. We have to be content to meet once a week in the temple foyer, except once again we only meet a few of the others we actually know, the rest we sort of ignore, especially in the bigger churches.  At least we can break bread together, or at least gluten free wafers, or the like, whenever the pastor decides to have communion. Well maybe we can at least comply with having sincere hearts and praising God as well as enjoying the favor of all the people, except of course now in some countries it is not possible to enjoy the favor of all the people. Maybe we are not doing any of that either, for it does not seem that our number is being added to on a daily basis by God. Maybe that is why he is not adding to our number daily, because we are not doing any of what that early church did. This is going to take a lot of thinking over, who is going to start? Would this teaching even gather and support? If just one of us did it, the rest might just take advantage. No, we all would have to agree to this kind of life at the same time, otherwise it would just create greed in the hearts of some, envy in others, jealously in others, or some other form of un-Christ like attitude. So what do we do? How can we apply this to our life? Or should we just accept the fact it was for them, but not for us? It seems this is the way it is.  

No Awe

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

NO AWE

Acts 2:42-43

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

NIV

It would seem they had nothing else to do, as if they had no jobs, no homes to clean, no laundry to do, no cars to wash, or horses to groom, or food to buy at the market, for they were devoted to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship and breaking of bread and prayer. When would they have time for life? Of course this is simply a description of their life. They had other responsibilities and perhaps this was am explanation of how they spent their Sabbath. Yet it could also be how their spent their daily lives. We are going to see some other things they did, which does give way to a daily life, rather than simply actions on the Sabbath. But yet the fact remains they were filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. Although we might say we are devoted to the apostle’s teaching, and to the fellowship, we have to ask ourselves are we really? It may be true we read our Bible; we may even study it, but are we devoted to the word? Have we given our whole self to it? Are we truly devoted to the fellowship, to the others in the body of Christ, or do we just say hi to them in church? Are we filled with awe? Or do we just make church and God a part, a portion, a Sunday activity of our life? What does being filled with awe look like? The original word translated awe carries a meaning of to be put in fear. The power of God was on display through the apostles with wonders and signs. Who would not be in awe, in fear? If we saw awesome acts of God being displayed through people we certainly would be in awe, in fear of God. But it would seem we sing about being a friend of God, he calls us friend. How can we be in awe or fear of a friend? Maybe there are no wonders and signs to make us filled with awe. Maybe everyone else today is just like us, not really devoted to the teachings of the apostles. Maybe we need to be the ones who should be having many wonders and signs, so others can be filled with awe, with fear of the power of God. It would seem we are just going about our own lives, giving a small portion of our life to some of the teachings of the apostles rather than being devoted to those teachings. We certainly do not have the time to be devoted to the fellowship except for a couple of hours on Sunday morning. It’s no wonder they is no awe.

Warning and Pleading

DEVOTION

 THE BOOK OF ACTS

WARNING AND PLEADING

Acts 2:40-41

40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

NIV

We were warned and pleaded with to save ourselves from this corrupt generation. At least that is what those three thousand were able to say. Can we say the same? Have we been warned and pleaded with to save ourselves from the corrupt generation we live in? Do we even recognize that the generation we live in is corrupt? Although it is true there are some very nice people in this generation, if they do not base their lives on the truth of God, they are corrupt. Even if they seem to be good upstanding people who serve their community, doing all sorts of humanitarian deeds, if they are not serving God, living for God, they are corrupt. They are corrupt because if they are not serving God, they serve their own hearts which are inherently wicked. If we are living too close to them, to their ways, is it possible we might allow some of their ideas, some of their ways, infiltrate into our thinking? If we simple refer to them as the unchurched, are we overlooking the fact they are a corrupt generation and they need to be warned and pleaded with to save their selves from what they belong to? What kind of reaching out to the unchurched are we really doing? Are we just hoping they will notice us, notice our good deeds among them? Are we living too much like them for them to even notice us as believers? Some of this corrupt generation even call themselves Christian because they might attend some church occasionally, but have absolutely no commitment to Christ at all. We need to see they are corrupt; they are men with wicked hearts. That is not to say we should judge them for we too were once a member of this corrupt generation, but we have been saved from it and they have not. We should have pity on them, showing them mercy and grace, demonstrating true love toward them, warning them, pleading with them to accept the provision of God for their salvation. Instead it seems we just go on living among them, in fact, living much like them, and saying nothing to them at all about Jesus. If we love them as God does, we should be warning and pleading with them. 

This is a warning and a pleading to all those who read this message, if you are not saved, if you are not born again, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you need to today. If you need help in doing this contact me, and I will pray with you, but you need to be saved from this corrupt generation. 

What Shall We Do?

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

WHAT SHALL WE DO

Acts 2:37-39

37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call."

NIV

What shall we do? It is doubtful that there are many believers who came to Christ because they were cut to the heart. The words of Peter cut his listeners to their heart, to the very core of their being, because they understood what they had done, and were saddened by their actions. Why did we come to Christ? What motivated our turning from a life of sin and accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Was it the promise of eternal life? Was it the promise of a better life? More than likely it had something to do with us, rather than Jesus. Yet once we became a believer, we learned the truth about what we did, and what God did. We truly repented, and we sought out baptism, and we received the promised gift of the Holy Spirit for we are either their children or all who are far off. It is truly a bitter sweet experience. There is joy because we are in fact saved, but there is a saddest of heart knowing Jesus had to endure that cross for us, for our sin. We can join our brothers and sisters who stood on that street in Jerusalem hearing those words of Peter. The Spirit opens our heart to the pain and suffering Jesus endured for us. Yet at the same time the Spirit fills our heart with joy because we will see Jesus one day and we can experience his love, his forgiveness in our life right now. To have the burden of sin lifted from our hearts, to be relieved from the burden of the grave brings a great joy only a believer in Christ can experience. Once we understand that all we can do is repent and accept it makes the choice clear. Why some refuse is beyond understanding, unless they have never really understood the choice. Maybe too many see Christians as narrow minded denominational rule followers, rather than people forgiven of their sin filled with the Spirit and living a joyful life in Christ. Maybe we have never spoken the words of Peter to them, giving them the opportunity to be cut to the heart and ask, “What shall we do?” Maybe we should be standing up more and telling people, to listen carefully, and we will explain what is happening. But then that would require something to be happening. That would require us being out there pouring out on the street with happenings of God in our life. We have repented, we have been baptized, but in water and in the Spirit. We need to be living like it, not just as a church attender, or a member of some organization. Many people attend church or are members of organizations; we need to be living it personally. If we are saved, than we need people asking us, “what shall we do?”

Assured

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ASSURED

Acts 2:33-36

 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand 35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." '  36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

NIV

We finish up with the first part of Peters Sermon, before he gets into a conversational interaction with the crowd listening to him. Here he concludes the facts about David with his words about Jesus. What must it have felt like to be told that you just killed the Lord and Christ? We have thought about this before and understood that it is also our sin which caused Jesus to have to be crucified, and thus we are a part of that crowd even if we were not there at that time. Yet going forward from there we are also aware that Jesus is our Lord and he is our Christ. We also understand that we are not his footstool for we are not his enemy, but rather we are a friend of God’s, he calls us friend. Because we have accepted what Jesus did on that cross we know without a doubt that we are safe and secure from all alarms, for now we are leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus. Before Jesus it was not possible for a man to defeat death, which is what Peter was saying about David. Although he was a great man, one of the forefathers of Israel, a king, a man who God testified as a man after his own heart, died and was buried, but Jesus defeated death, and now it is possible for man to cheat death, to not have to be captured by the grave. Jesus is our Lord and he is our Christ, we have the opportunity through him to gain eternal life. We know we will never be free of sin, not completely free. Yes, we can change our life, change our lifestyle, repent of many of the evil deeds we once did, and endeavor to live a life which is pleasing to God, but we will never be totally free of some sin. We certainly desire to do what is right, and stop doing anything which is wrong, yet like Paul we continue to do some wrong, and we do not do all that is right. It is a constant battle that wages within our soul, but at the same time we can be assured that Jesus is both our Lord and our Christ. He covered our sin by his blood. There is nothing more for him to do, in order for our sin to be forgiven. Yes, we need to continue to repent daily of those failures, those sins which we struggle with. Yes, we need to make every effort to live in a manner which pleases him. Yet the greatest pleasure God enjoys in our life is when we accept his Son as our Lord and our Christ. God loves his creation, all of mankind, which includes us. He loves us so much that he sent his one and only Son to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, so that we could return to our rightful place in his kingdom. What greater Joy can that be for both God and for us? So, yes we crucified Jesus, but as we will see, we have repented and we have been baptized in the name of Jesus and we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. What more is there to life? So we can be assured. 

Explain it

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

EXPLAIN IT

Acts 2:29-33

29 "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

NIV

Now Peter explains the words of David and puts Christ right at the center of everything. It seems rather sad that today we are not able to make sure a concise case for Jesus. Peter did not invite these people to his church. Peter did not hope they would notice his lifestyle and ask why he is the way he is. Peter did not show them a bunch of good deeds and hope they would notice and ask what church does he is he a member of. Peter did not do anything, but stand up and explain the gospel to them. He told them to listen carefully to what he was going to say, the he would explain it all to them. Of course they did notice the power of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all the disciples, and they noticed them speaking in languages unknown to the disciples, but known to people all over. Perhaps if we had the power of the Holy spirit pouring all over us, people would notice us too and wonder what was going on. But then we would have to then tell them to listen carefully to us and we could explain it as concise as Peter did. Sure it is a good thing to do good deeds in our community, and yes it is great to invite people to visit our church, but unless they hear that Jesus was killed for them, that he was crucified for their sin, was buried and then rose from that grave to ascend to the right hand of God and that he sent the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them, what good are our deeds, and our invites? Peter explained to them that it was because of them, but also that it was God’s plan all along for Jesus to be their Savior. Yet on the other hand it may not do us any good to try to explain to people about what is happening, unless something is happening. If we are living pretty much the same as they are, what is there to explain? If the only difference between us and them is we attend church on Sunday morning, we have nothing to explain to them, other than we go to church. There are a whole lot of unsaved people who go to church on Sunday morning. Unless something is happening, unless we have the power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us and we are exhibiting his power in our lives, we may not have anything to explain. Surely there are unsaved people who are watching us simple because we may have told them we are Christians. But if they do not see any power of God in our lives, then they may simply not listen to anything we have to say about Jesus. The point of all this is to see how much we need that power, how much we need the infilling of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so much that people take notice, and wonder what is happening in those people. Then we can explain it.  

Path of Life

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

PATH OF LIFE

Acts 2:25-28

25 David said about him: "'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.'  

NIV

Although the words that David penned apply to Christ, and for the most part to Christ alone, we can still learn a life application within this passage. God will make known to us our path of life. We do not have to guess what we should do, we do not have to try to decide to go here or there, for God will make it known to us. We might make all sorts of plans but God orders our footsteps. We could spent a whole lot of energy and concern trying to decide what we should do in life, where we should live, what kind of career we should have and how should we serve him, but if we simply wait upon the Lord he will direct our paths. If we are listening he will make known the path of life we should walk. Certainly he makes known to us the path of righteousness. He has given us all we need to know in order to live a life that is pleasing to him. But he also gives us all we need to know for the direction of our life. All our life choices can be made by us, by our own will, but it might well be way outside the will of God for our lives. For our hearts to truly be glad, for us to be absolutely filled with joy in his presence, we need to be allowing him to make those life choices for us.  He knows the best for us, he has a specific design for each on of his children. Because we are living stones being built into the temple of God, he needs to be the architect and the builder designing and placing each stone where he designed it to be. Each stone, each of us needs to be in the designed place God has for us, therefore he will make known to us the path of our life. 

Effective

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

EFFECTIVE

Acts 2:22-24

22 "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

NIV

It must of hurt these men to the core to hear these words of Peter, being told that they were manipulated by wicked men. But at the same time their hearts might have been encouraged to hear that is was God who handed Jesus over to them because he had this set purpose because he knew exactly what he wanted to do. This was not just a flash mob, but a designed plan of God to set men free from death and give them an opportunity to have eternal life. If we listen to these words, we can understand that we too were the cause for God to have this set purpose. We all are wicked men, and our evil deeds are the reason Jesus had to be nailed to that cross. Although it is true the many of us are now forgiven of our sin, and we have been saved from the agony of death, and it will be impossible for death to keep its hold on us, we were still the reason for God to have to come up with this plan for our salvation. If we begin to think that we are good enough, we are fooling ourselves. If we think we are living a perfectly Christian lifestyle we are deceiving ourselves. The truth is we are forgiven. The truth is we need to accept this Jesus of Nazareth who was accredited by God to us by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among them, and is still doing among us. Although we need to accept him by faith, he is still in the miracle, wonder and sign business. Many of us have personal testimonies of these acts of God in our lives, and we should be standing up as Peter was doing, but telling men of America, “Listen to this……..” We cannot depend on or hope that a few pastors might include a salvation message to someone who wanders into our church, in fact, we cannot even depend on someone wandering into our church. Peter was not a perfect man, nor was he highly educated. He did not attend a seminary, or denominational Bible college. He was not licensed or ordained by anyone other than God. He had no public speaking experience or for that matter any training in sharing the Gospel. But what Peter had was the empowering of the Holy Spirit. We are not perfect men or woman, and many of us do not have any Bible college education, license or ordination papers issued by men, but what we have is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to stand up and tell others, “Listen to this”. We have been called by God, ordained by God and empowered by God. Even in Peter’s imperfection he was effective for God. Even in our imperfection we too can be effective for God. 

Saved

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

SAVED

Acts 2:19-21

19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below,   blood and fire and billows of smoke.       20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.  21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'  

NIV

Although there will definitely be signs in the heaven and on the earth that would give an announcement  of the day of the Lord, we still cannot, and will not know the date or time of that day. As much as we might think we can predict that day, we will never be able to. Those who make so much about the blood moon are simply using the scripture for their own benefit, whether it is for fame or future, or both. These signs are simply to tell us God is in control of his creation. The blood moon has nothing to do with eclipses, but rather it has to do with the hand of God. The point is not to be so concerned about these signs, but rather to be concerned if we have called on the name of the Lord and are saved. If we become too focused on signs we might actually miss the day of the Lord. If we actually look at the scripture, it says that I, God, will show wonders and signs. These are supernatural wonders and signs shown to the world by the hand of God. They are not the common course of the cosmos that he set in motion and has happened over the centuries. When these signs and wonders happen, we will know without a doubt God is at hand, doing a God thing. Yet our focus needs to be on our current relationship with him. Having called on his name at some point in our lives, we are saved, those signs and wonders have little to no meaning in our lives for when the great and glorious day of the Lord arrives, we who are alive shall be gathered together with those who have already fallen asleep, or died, and we will ascend into the air to meet our Lord and be with him forevermore. So our focus should be on living a life in relationship with him, rather than on trying to figure out what and when the wonders and signs will be, and how they will happen. Anything we can think of is only in our human minds, but when God performs these things, they will be far beyond the human comprehension. So let us live a life pleasing to  him, knowing, having full assurance that we are saved. 

Hearing from God

DEVOTION

 THE BOOK OF ACTS

HEARING FROM GOD

Acts 2 13-21

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:      

17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'  

NIV

We have seen the power of the Spirit upon Peter and because of this his boldness to said and tell all the People to listen to him carefully, and he will explain what is happening. His words about the last days have had some wondering as to when are those last days. If they were at the time Peter was speaking then what are the days we live in now? It would appear we are still in those last days, and so they have lasted now for thousands of years. Of course Joel was inspired by the Spirit to say that and it as it was way before Jesus came to earth, the last days are the time after Jesus returned to heaven. The point of all that is the fact that the Spirit is still being poured out upon us and because of his outpouring we should be prophesying, in our youth we should be seeing visions and in our old age we should be dreaming dreams. Some of us should be speaking about God the divine influence of the Spirit, which is the implication of the word prophesying. Visions and dreams were both ways in which God communicated with his people; we can see that all throughout the Old Testament. We certainly need to have communication from God today. What kind of life would we have if it were not for God revealing himself to us in some way? It would be a very lonely and hopeless life if God did not communicate with us. We have his Spirit poured out upon us though the Spirit God speaks volumes to us. The Spirit leads us into all truth; he reveals the true nature of God and his divine plan for us. Without the Spirit we would be wondering aimlessly through life without a purpose other than to try to satisfy our own self. But because of the Spirit we can hear from God and know and understand our purpose of declaring the greatness of God. When we hear from God, what else can we do, but declare his greatness. We are indeed in the last days and God is speaking to his people. We should listen carefully to what he has to say. It is a wonderful experience to call upon the name of the Lord. It is incredible to be saved. There is nothing better than to hear from God.