Good morning friends! I hope your all ready for another great day in the Lord and your first task of the new day is to spend time with Him and focus on His plan for your day. There’s an old saying that if aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time. If you’re goal is to walk with God and make a difference in the lives of others every day you must aim at it! Time spent with God every morning is time well spent indeed.
Marge and I had a great day yesterday. We got in the 4 daily goals, Spiritual, sleep, diet and exercise. We had our Bible study very early first thhing, then a 3 mile walk early before it got too hot, decent food choices and then off to bed at 9:30 and up at 5:45. Our bodies need rhythm and structure just like our souls and a good routine can offer this. Last night we enjoyed our Wednesday night bible study and tackled Revelation chapters 4 and 5. What beautiful imagery and messages God gives us through John from the throne room of Heaven! Check it out!
This morning I move right on along in the book of Acts and I’m in chapter 4. It doesn’t take long for the ol’ religious leaders to get right back to their games and after Peter’s sermon in chapter 3, He and John are arrested and hauled before the religious court. Acts 4:1, “and as thy were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” I key in on the phrase, ‘greatly annoyed.’ You know the whole goal of the religious leaders in the crucifixion of Jesus was to just make the problem go away. Yet here their problem is still right in front of them. This guy Peter is still preaching about this Jesus guy. The problem just won’t go away. I’ve had problems like this in my life. I bury them, I ignore them, I deny them, I just want them to go away. But the truth is the truth and until the truth is dealt with, the problem will never go away. Jesus says “I am the truth” (John 14:6) and we all, like these religious leaders will have to deal with Jesus. How are you dealing with Jesus?
As Peter addresses the court it says he is filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 4:8. Peter is normally a very passionate guy and can sometimes be seen as a hothead. But being filled with the Holy Spirit and by letting the Spirit do the talking Peter rattles off a defense speech in court that sounds like something Tom Cruise would deliver in a Grisham movie. In fact, we’re seeing a scriptural promise play out right in front of us. Luke 12:11-12 “and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” That’s why Peter doesn’t necessarily sound like Peter. He is filled with the Holy Spirit and God is doing the talking for him to address these scoundrels that are hassling him. The result? When the rulers saw the boldness of this ‘uneducated common man’ they were ‘astonished’ and had ‘nothing to say in opposition.’ They were in awe. They were speechless. Take that Sadducees!
So here stands Peter, John and the man they just healed, all before the council. They ask them how they healed this guy. Peter tells them He did it in the name of the Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The healed man was standing right before them and Acts 4:16 even says they “cannot deny it” but they still didn’t believe because they could not understand it. Now here is something really interesting. Yesterday we touched on the unbelieving ears and eyes. Those that heard the mighty rushing wind but didn’t believe. Then there was those that saw the lame man walk but they didn’t believe. Now here, God gives us a third type of unseeing and it is by far the most alarming to me. The Sadducces, saw and heard. They understood, were ‘astonished’ and even ‘could not deny’ what they saw and heard, but they still would not believe. Why? They had hard unbelieving hearts. A hard heart is a terrible thing to behold. A hard heart will resist and flee from God at every turn, deny the truth and explain away God. A hard heart can condemn a soul. Pray for those with hard hearts.
They release Peter and John and they go back to their new church and pray a beautiful prayer. Not for the end of all persecution on them but that they could ENDURE the persecution. They prayed not for it to stop but that they might be able to preach right through it! How in tune they were. Even today persecution of the church is a guarantee. We can’t pray it away, we just have to preach right through it. The result of this beautiful prayer? Acts 4:31 “and when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with Boldness.” Wow, how would you like to be at that prayer meeting? It ended in an earthquake! I like to think of being in step with God kinda like tuning a guitar. When its outta tune you know something is off but what string? You grab a tuner and as you get to the right string and get it in tune, the whole thing seems to come to life and resonates in your hands. It’s in perfect harmony. When we and our church is in perfect harmony with God’s will it will resonate in perfect harmony and God will move. This is what was happening in powerful way in the early church. God’s people in perfect harmony with His Word, His Plan and His Will.
As a result of this perfect harmony all the members sell their stuff and create a common treasury within the church to support God’s work. This is also in God’s perfect timing as Rome was about to crack down on Christians and start confiscating their personal property. So, this combining of money in the early church not only served God’s Kingdom but the timing allowed the money to be safeguarded against being taken. God’s timing, right?
What a great lesson today. Persecution will come, that’s a guarantee. God will empower you through the Holy Spirit to deal with it and respond for Him. Rely on prayer, His Word and your local church to support you and walk with you through the persecution. Lastly, there is strength in the local church that proclaims Jesus is Lord and His Word is Holy. Be a part of a local church body and enjoy God’s plan for you as a follower in Jesus Christ.
Please join me in praying for the Hawaiian islands as hurricane Lane bears down on them today. Margie and I served in Lahaina, Maui for a few years and we have so many dear friends that are preparing for this storm. This is the biggest storm to approach the islands in over 20 years, pray for God’s intervention to weaken and turn the storm and for safety and provision for those in the islands.
Have a blessed day, may the Lord illuminate your path clearly today.
Comments