Category: Acts

Acts 28

1/9/2012

Acts 28:25-27 “And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: The Holy Spirit was right when He said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet, ‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes – so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to Me and let Me heal them.”

Are we caught in the same deafness and blindness? I know that was to Israel but we as Gentiles have heard and should be in awe of what Jesus did yet we struggle to grasp the message. We sit in church but we don’t really open our ears and eyes to what fully devoted follower of Christ means. It’s not (fit in follower of Christ.) It’s not (when I need Him follower of Christ.) It’s not (I will be of the world because there are things I don’t want to give up or miss out on follower of Christ.) It is not just going through the motions it is fully devoting and fully surrendering, longing to know and live out all of what Jesus did and then making a difference that glorifies God. Our eyes and ears need to be opened for learning and application. How any of us have seen miracles? I believe when Christians do the right thing and die to self, reacting to this world as Christ did that is a miracle. When a dad praises God when his son is shot and killed, that’s a miracle. When a person gets bad news and they turn to God and show their love for the Lord by their reaction to it that is a miracle. When we see the church living out feeding the hungry, visiting the prisoner, and taking care of the widow, those are miracles. This world is happening and we are in it so we should get behind the Spirit of God and let Him shield us from the world so our eyes are opened and we do nothing without the Father. Then we meditate on His word daily so our ears are opened and we seek and ask for wisdom and then live it out. We can’t be satisfied with where we’re at, we should desire to win the race and be the best. Amen

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Acts 26

1/7/2012

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Acts 26:29 “Paul replied, ‘Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”

Paul just speaks about Jesus and with passion shares his story, praying that everyone will accept it. I like the fact that Paul has no concern about who he is talking to, he just shares. The reason he does this so boldly is because he knows what he is taking about because he has put the time in to learn. We must continue to desire growth and learning so we can open our minds and heart to share with everyone our love for Jesus. We shouldn’t get nervous or back down when people ask, we should share and be ready to defend our faith. When we give Jesus the time asking the Father for wisdom we will be given the words to speak and when we speak we will shine with passion and strength. This takes us putting in the time to learn and grow, and that time should be filled with prayer and at times fasting, so we can be still and hear. I say we should all know that incredible moment when we knew Jesus and it was apparent to us that we needed to be different. Then we need to share it with everyone and explain how Jesus affected our life. Then when we share our passion will show that our faith is real. Amen

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Acts 21

1/6/2012

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Acts 21:13 “But he said, ‘Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”

We all need to pray and ask God to fill us with this desire. I was thinking of why Paul was so passionate about his message about Jesus and I realized it was because that’s what the desire of his heart was. Plain and simple Paul desired that everyone know Jesus like he did and he knew that there was only life through Him. God has given us so much, we need to understand this and desire to learn more and more every day.

I grew up struggling in most academic classes. I could study and try but it never sank in no matter if I had a tutor or not. But with sports I could memorize a playbook in a day and know it perfectly. I realize why this was now, it’s because sports were where the desire of my heart was and I was going to know it so I could compete.

When I accepted Jesus in 2005 there were many things that God put in place to grab my attention but when Lee Faulkner gave me that hug and said praise God, God is good, after his son Brandon was shot and killed I wanted to know more about God. It became the desire of my heart and nothing mattered to me but learning and growing to know more. I ask everyone, is there anything in your life that is more important than knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior? When you seek Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength it will be that desire that helps you not only believe but belong to Him. And then you will be able to say what Paul did in Acts 21:13 “…I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen

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Acts 20

1/5/2012

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Acts 20:22-24 “And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.”

I am amazed at Paul and enjoy learning from him because he is determined not to care about his life and he lives for one purpose, glorifying God. He is sharing how he is listening to the Spirit and He tells Paul nothing good is going to happen to you as you travel but many will learn from you even as you suffer. And Paul goes. We struggle when it doesn’t cost us anything but our stuff. We are to submit our lives and live for Christ as we proclaim His name. If we truly open our hearts and realize there is nothing better in this world but knowing and sharing the Good News about Jesus we would be able to do the same. Sometimes we can’t even get out of bed to read God’s word because we are too tired. We get uncomfortable sharing our faith and it cost us nothing. We need to pray and say Spirit lead me and I will follow no matter what you show me, even if it will hurt. We must realize that our lives are worth nothing without us surrendering to His will and living to share the Good News about our amazing Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

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Acts 19

1/4/2012

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Acts 19:8-10 “Then Paul went to the synagogue and preached boldly for the next three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God. But some became stubborn, rejecting his message and publically speaking against the way. So Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he held daily discussions at the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for the next two years, so that people throughout the province of Asia – both Jews and Greeks – heard the word of the Lord.”

When I read this it really stood out that Paul’s boldness of teaching the Good News kept him teaching the truth and not worrying about who he offended, he just spoke the truth. It says, “…arguing persistently about the Kingdom of God.” He never said this might offend the new believers or the un-churched, he just brought the message. When people objected he took the ones that wanted to learn and hear and taught them for two more years opening the doors for anyone that wanted to grow. Teaching the word of God is what makes people grow and seek God not anything else. I do believe you get them there any way possible and then you teach them the truth. If they don’t like it you keep teaching and preaching the truth focusing on glorifying the Father by living as Jesus did and you get behind the Holy Spirit and follow. We do not serve people but the Lord, stay seeking, asking and knocking so we can develop and mature in our faith. Amen

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Acts 17

1/3/2012

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Happy New Year to everyone, I have been praying and I want to make a small change in my blog posts. I have always prayed to see and hear something I could use to grow and change my life. Well in 2012 I want to journal my day to day reading and just pick out something I can share from my heart even if it is a single Scripture that impacts me in any way.

Well on the last day of the year I was reading in Acts 17:27-28 which says, “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him - though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘we are His offspring!”

This really made me think of how important my desire to talk and hear God is. He is right here but He wants us to make the effort to seek Him. When we make an effort we are showing Him our love for Him and when we ask for wisdom He responds to our request. It’s not about having to do it; it’s about wanting to do it. When we surrender and go to Him we really can grow and we understand what it says in verse 28 “For in Him we live and move and exist…” We should do nothing without going to the Father and having a heart to heart then following what we hear by living to glorify Him. We must show Him our desire to change and be born new in His Son Jesus learning and obeying what the Spirit shows us. Amen

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Acts 9

12/25/2011

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Acts 9:31 “The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.”

This was after Saul (Paul) was converted and was preaching the Good News about Jesus. I love what it says because we see reverence for God and encouragement from the Holy Spirit so we can know He loves us. When we are praying and reading daily, asking God to fill our hearts, we get stronger and the Holy Spirit gets louder. There is such peace with that and we can see joy even in this crazy world. What I have realized in my almost 7 years of truly seeking the Lord it’s that buildup of reverent fear that makes me want to not disappoint and work to glorify Him more. Life hasn’t stopped and the bad news still comes but I feel better in my heart and I want to look to Him more. Today is the day of Jesus birth and I sit here wanting to thank Him more than ever because of what He did to show His love for the Father. If we all sat back and thought of God as our Father (because He is) then sought after wisdom from Him totally, the Spirit would encourage us and we would shine that light of Christ. I saw a video the other day and these two guys were doing a skit about God chiseling the sin from the other. After a couple things were knocked off the one guy says that’s enough you can stop. Then the man playing God says, when you look in the mirror what do you see? And the other guy answered me; then God started chiseling again and said you should see Christ.

In Galatians chapter 6 verse 15 Paul says, “It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.”

We need to realize that we all need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and die to ourselves living differently as people that mirror Christ. We grow and change daily and it doesn’t stop until we are home with the Father in Heaven. I pray that God the creator of Heaven and earth can see our change and continue to see it as long as we live because we have a healthy fear and are following the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Happy Birthday Jesus, thank you.

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Acts 20:21

8/9/2010

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Acts 20:21 “I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike- the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.”

This is so simple yet so hard. We want more and more when we just need to turn to God and have faith in Jesus Christ. We need to open our hearts to what is said and be willing to truly repent of our sins. The Holy Spirit fills us when we are obedient and faithful and willing to listen.

I love what Paul says in verse 24 “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus- the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.”

We need to fill ourselves with what God is showing us and then live it out for people to see. When we truly live by the Spirit we choose what is right and we are able to do the work assigned to us. That is spreading the Good News and showing people a different person that loves God and then people. The Spirit leads us to live holy lives that resemble Christ; we choose to do what feels good and is worldly. We need to die to self and have faith that this world is not what we are living for. We are living for Christ that is why the Holy Spirit is so helpful and is called the comforter.

Truly stop and read Philippians 1:21, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.”

Do we really believe “living is for Christ” or do we struggle with living is for me. I always want to pray that I grow in wisdom and understanding and I pray for God to show me everything He wants so I can make a difference.

Paul prays in Philippians 1:9 “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.”

Surrender to His will and live asking for everything that is good and helpful, but don’t seek gifts more than God. He is the one that gives everything and He is love so when you ask, seek, and knock be ready to live out what you learn, then you can live like Christ and say “your will be done.” Amen

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Acts 17

7/23/2010

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Acts 17:27-28 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him- though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His off spring.”

Do we seek after Him for our every need? Do we truly believe what the bible tells us? And are we willing to learn and grow to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ? These are questions that we need to ask ourselves as we grow and mature in our relationship with God. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few even find it.”

Are we satisfied with mediocrity and only doing some things God explains to us, or do you desire to get on the difficult road and give it all to God? We are called to be Christ like and Christ obeyed the Father and did everything the Father told Him. We must be willing to say I truly believe and want to know more and then follow what we learn by living it out. When God is the center of our lives we will strive to do all we can to be obedient and that means serving, giving and loving just as we are shown in God’s word. Don’t sit back and hope the ride takes you to the narrow road, let God drive you there. Then you will experience all the strength, joy and love He promises through our trials and tribulations. The difficult road is going to be a constant dying to self and living for others but the end result is so worth it. Seek Him in all you do and obey everything even when it is not the easy thing to do. Amen

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Acts 2

7/11/2010

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Acts 2:46-47 “They worshiped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”

This is a great vision of what we do as we mature in our faith. It becomes about others not just ourselves. You go to church on the weekend to help with growth and then you should be meeting in homes during the week to continue to challenge and encourage each other. All the while you should be praising God for all He has done and live out all you learn to be a light in the world. As we grow and have community with other it helps us keep focused on what is true and God adds to the numbers who are accepting Christ. This is the passion we need for the Lord, one that makes us move, share and live the way Jesus did.

In Acts chapter 4 verse 32 it says, “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.”

Nothing is ours, God has given us everything, and we need to continue to learn and grow so we can serve God with joyful hearts and spread the light of Christ to everyone. Amen

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Acts 28

Acts 26

Acts 21

Acts 20

Acts 19

Acts 17

Acts 9

Acts 20:21

Acts 17

Acts 2

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