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Yesterday’s reading included the description of a plan where more than forty people were conspiring to kill Paul. This information led to Paul being sent from Jerusalem to Caesarea where he would face Felix the Governor.

Today’s reading link: Acts 24

Much like Jesus standing on trial for his life, there were false charges brought against Paul, but Paul stood firm and used this as an opportunity to evangelize. A few of the things that stood out for me here:

• Paul didn’t argue and directly confront the charges. He gave verbal substantive evidence as to what happened, where he was, and why he was there. When we’re facing false accusations, it doesn’t do us any good to bicker as this ends up being a distraction from the truth.
• The murderous plot by the forty men. There was no mention of this during the trial even though Felix was made aware of it from a reputable source (Claudius Lysias, a military commander). The accusers weren’t seeking justice, they were seeking their own selfish will to be done.
• Paul’s accusers were saying that Paul was stirring up riots (Acts 24:5), however wouldn’t the murder by forty plus people have incited some sort of a riot? These people planned this as a group actually shared their plans with the chief priests and elders! Imagine getting together with forty of your buddies, calling the elders of your church and sharing your plan to kill someone via an ambush… The very people who should have been the most upstanding and honoring of The Ten Commandments seemed to ignore the sixth commandment (Deuteronomy 5:17). I’m also reminded of the commandment to not bear false witness (Exodus 20:16).
• Satan is often deemed as the father of lies and the accuser. I very much sense this theme here with Paul as we read what actually happened as compared to what he was being accused of. Satan’s strategy is to suppress the word, suppress evangelism, and to make us doubt our faith.
• Paul’s statements remind us of 1 Peter 3:15: “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”. What is the reason for the hope that is in you? Are we ready to make a defense and share our faith at all times? Practice plus repetition leads to mastery!

Once again, we see a pattern of sin here that should force us to reflect on our own behaviors. Have we had stirrings in our hearts to falsely accuse? Perhaps not a blatant, intentional false accusation, but I believe through jealously or other feelings we can be deceived into thinking that we’re better (or worse) than others, that someone else is in the wrong and we’re in the right.

Dear God, thank you for your living truth where we can learn more about your will and ways. Thank you for the eternal hope that we have through repentance of sin and faith in your son and our king Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s Reading: Acts 20

Hello Friends,It’s been a whole month since I’ve written to you. I’m sure it’s become evident that my Bible Journal journey is often more about my relationship with you, the readers through these “letters” than it is about me bringing any sort of expertise to God’s word! It’s late on Sunday, and I’ve been avoiding putting pen to paper. Acts 20 takes us to a heavy place. Paul is saying goodbye to the Ephesians for the last time. Paul and the Ephesians have cultivated a relationship that serves as a beautiful example to us of Christian fellowship. They cared for one another. They grew close, shared joys and sorrows and held fast to the message of Jesus Christ. Paul leaves the Ephesians with these words:

“I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in and among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Acts 20:29-30

 Paul’s departure from Ephesus is characterized by “much weeping on the part of all…” What follows is indeed a season of wolves for the Ephesians. After reading this chapter a few times, I find myself in a season of wolves. As much as I take hope and solace from the story of Eutychus falling and surviving earlier in Chapter 20, I’m still stuck on the emptiness left by Paul’s departure. The truth is that even after the joy of Easter, some of us find it difficult to hold fast to the Jesus we cannot see. Just as Paul promised, Jesus is alive in our lives each and every day, but we have to cultivate our relationship in order to live that reality. In the last month, our three year old daughter developed seizures. Just like the Ephesians, I felt my foundation crumble beneath me. So many of the wolves that Paul describes have come in the night to tear away my strength, my joy, my Jesus.

Just as Paul forewarned the Ephesians, he is also preparing us. We all know that a certain darkness will come to our lives. He tells us:

“Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:31-32

 Did you catch that? Three years. For three years Paul built up the Ephesians, never ceasing to grow their faith like iron sharpening iron so that they would be able to stand alone in the face of adversity knowing their God and His grace. Our daughter Ruby Mae just turned three. For three years she has remained healthy while our oldest son was tested time and again with physical illness. Our heavenly Father knows our hearts and knows that this new storm is just the next opportunity to bring us closer to Him. As I Mom, I felt the storm coming, saw the clouds on the horizon. When it came, my mind was armed and ready to stand strong but my heart was exposed. Slowly, God is shepherding us through this new challenge and we follow, stumbling, often losing our way. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen. In fact, I think my husband and I would agree that we have had way more bad stuff to face since we committed our lives to Jesus Christ. I know we’d also agree that the love, care and support we’ve received from our church family has taken away so much of that pain. At the end of today’s reading, Paul reminds the Ephesian’s of Jesus’ words:

“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than receive.’” Acts 20:35

We are so blessed to be helped when we are weak and called to help others when their weakness comes. I hope that our testimony of Christian love in our life gives you hope in yours. We humbly ask for your prayers for our precious daughter. The future is uncertain. We in turn promise to hold fast to prayer for you, our readers that we know face storms of one kind or another.

Peace I Leave You My Friends

Today’s Reading is Acts 15

One of the hardest issues in my life right now is, how do I deal in a Godly way with people I disagree with? I know from our trip through the Gospels that God tells us to love everyone. But what does it actually look like to love someone you disagree with? I am wading through this with several people in my life, in relationships that are very dear to me. It seems wrong to disagree so strongly on issues with people I love who I know have a relationship with God and also love Him. We have relationship with the same God who has given all of us His Word, so shouldn’t we be able to figure out how to move forward when we disagree?

Today in Acts 15, we see two separate arguments or disagreements between four different parties, all who have deep relationship with God. All parties were serving God by leaving their lives behind and traveling to spread the Gospel to people who hadn’t yet heard it. These people are not just dabblers in their faith, not Sunday morning Christians, they have made a life out of sharing Gods story! These people are invested in God’s plan and are sacrificing themselves for His ministry. So how can this happen, how do they disagree on God’s plan?

The first argument is between some believers from Judea and Paul and Barnabas. The men from Judea believe that “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you can not be saved.” Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. So what are they to do? How do they solve this situation? In verses 2-7 we learn that some representatives from both sides of the argument travel to meet with more apostles and elders of the church to figure it out. In verse 7 it says, “ after a long discussion”. They did not find an easy answer, it was a long process and discussed from every angle, but eventually Peter stood and spoke the decision for the group. (Lets look at the solution to this particular problem first and then we can look at what we can learn from watching them work through their argument.) Peter said,” God knows peoples hearts, and He confirmed that He accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus”. First of all praise God that we who are not Jews are not held to their law for our salvation! Thank you Jesus that we are all saved by Your undeserved grace! Now back to our question at hand, how do these two parties deal with the argument? In this case, they got help. They went to a group of people who knew Jesus personally and got to the truth of God’s plan. The part that I wish we could see better is how the men from Judea reacted to this decision. Basically they lost this argument. The only clue that I can find is in verse 22. “The apostles, and elders together with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates to go out and report on this decision.” Obviously the Gentiles were encouraged and full of joy to hear this message, but we never really hear what happened to the men from Judea. Were they a part of “the church in Jerusalem” in spirit or were they frustrated and angry with the decision? I don’t know the answer.

The second argument in this chapter is between Paul and Barnabas. A team of preachers that God put together to spread His story, butts heads over whether they take John Mark on their next mission trip with them or not. Paul says no, he’s not trustworthy and Barnabas wants to take him. In verse 38 it says, “Paul disagreed strongly” and in 39 it says, “Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated”. Wow…who is right? Like in the conclusion of the last argument, I don’t know the answer. The only good I can see from this disagreement is that God ended up with two teams of preachers because Barnabas ended up taking John Mark and going one way, and Paul picked up Silas and went another direction. From God’s eyes, this argument is a win for His truth being spread. From Paul and Barnabas’ eyes, I see hurt and frustration with each other, enough at this point to cause them to separate.

So back to my original questions. What do we learn from this chapter to help us deal in love with those we disagree with? I think we learn from the first argument that getting to a solution is not easy. It takes long discussions. Sometimes if both parties are willing, a third party with wisdom and maybe more knowledge can be brought in to help facilitate discussion, and truth can be found. (Whether the injured party decides to accept the truth or not is another entire post.) From the second argument, I think I can learn that just because two people serve God and love Him doesn’t mean they wont ever argue. It happens, and in this case we don’t really get to the bottom of who was right or wrong about John Mark. After checking in my commentary from Dallas Seminary I learned that Paul and Barnabas remained friends despite their contention over John Mark. They didn’t have to agree on everything to remain in relationship with each other.

I wish we could finish this with a nice step–by-step approach of what works to settle arguments. The truth is that we get some help for some hard and sometimes unexpected situations from this chapter but its not as neat and tidy as I would like. I think for today I have to sit with the fact that it happens. People who love God and are trying to follow Him disagree. Maybe for me today the lesson is to not be surprised or ashamed of these struggling relationships I am wading through. Maybe God wants to use other people to change the way I understand His principles in a certain situation. Maybe I stand on solid ground and He wants me to help bring truth to light in someone’s life. I know I will not be able to change another person’s point of view. God is the only one who can. The thing I am sure of is that I have to stay in close relationship and communication with God for any of this to be able to take place, and it will only happen when it is His plan.

Todays Reading Acts 13

Happy Easter Monday

The passage for today’s blog is a beautiful complement of the Easter Resurrection story. Paul and Barnabas are sent on their first mission trip of the gospel. They have recently come from Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover and they meet up with some spiritual brothers to prepare to go to Cyprus. While at Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas encounter several people who want to know Christ for their spiritual growth and some for their personal growth. While at the Antioch, Paul gives a great speech, which showed the completeness and fulfillment of the Scripture.

Acts 13: 15-35

After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” ¹⁶ So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. ¹⁸ And for about forty years he put up with^[b]them in the wilderness. ¹⁹ And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. ²⁰ All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ ²³ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. ²⁴ Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶ “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸ And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹ And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. ³² And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, ³³ this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’

³⁴ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

³⁵ Therefore he says also in another psalm,

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.

In the New International version of the bible the word for corruption is replaced with decay. This is a really important use of the word and aspect of the Easter story that we sometimes forget. We remember the trial and the beatings and flogging of Jesus. Then we see the crucifixion and burial. Then we see the resurrection of the body. We forget the days in the tomb and the decay that was taking place for three days. Many of the disciples and followers of Christ witnessed the horrible treatment that he endured before the cross. This brutality started to disfigure him, so much that the people hardly could recognize him. Then he was crucified and left in the hot arid sun for several hours. This intensified his disfiguration and appearance. He had bruises and blood dried on him and that left him unrecognizable. Then he is anointed with oils and wrapped in linens and placed in a tomb. Here he lies for three days. This would have left him decaying to a point that no one would be able to know that it was a human before. The image that I imagine is one from those CSI shows where they have to re-create the person face with technology to make a positive identification. He not only was resurrected from the dead, he was recreated and perfected in Glory.

This was not the first time that a person was resurrected; remember the widow’s son and Lazarus, but this is the first time that decay could not hold onto the body or the spirit. This is the first time that decay could not complete its orders. This is the first time that decay could not accomplish its main objective and I am excited for the Monday after Resurrection Sunday. It tells me that no matter what type of decay that I may face in life, family, finances, work, or health the decay will not be able to complete its work because Christ has freed me from that death and given me a new and risen life.   Be Blessed as we start these 40 days of the Easter Season.

Does this Easter Sunday give you HOPE?

The Son of God has Risen from the Dead!

What does that actually mean to you?

To me, it means I have HOPE! Life is hard, I can’t imagine getting through some awful and stressful days without knowing that I have the hope of Heaven and an eternity with God in my future! No matter what horrible things we have to go through on this earth…we have but ONE HOPE!

In Acts 12 we read about Peter being imprisoned with no possible way of escaping. Talk about hard! He was chained and surrounded by 4 sets of 4 guards! We don’t read anything about him worrying or complaining about his circumstances. In fact, in verse 6, it says that Peter was actually sleeping! Can you imagine being able to sleep with chains around you, guards standing by, and no chance of freedom?? I have trouble sleeping many nights from troubles much less than what Peter faced. His future did not look promising, but he knew who was in charge of his future and believed it 100%, so he could sleep.

We have that same promise of who holds our future and we are surely reminded of it on this Easter Sunday. Jesus broke the chains of sin when He died on the cross for you and for me! He rose from the grave 3 days later and this is the hope that we have today.

Know that, just like Peter, your chains have been set free by Jesus on the cross. You have the freedom to ask Him into your life, to ask forgiveness of your sins, and He has promised you eternal life with Him.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Who Holds Your Future?

Today’s reading:  Acts 11

My son Freddy is in seventh grade. His school was planning a dodgeball tournament for charity a couple of weeks ago.  All the junior high students were invited to participate by forming a team and donating a small sum of money.  Sounds fun, right?  What junior high boy wouldn’t love a contest that involves hurling rubber balls at your classmates for two hours?

Well, Freddy came home from school the afternoon before the tournament upset.  His friends were forming a team.  They didn’t want to mess up their team’s chances of winning, thus they told him he couldn’t be on it because he wasn’t athletic enough.  He didn’t have what it took to be “part of the group”.  His heart hurt.  So did mine.

With two pre-teen kids at home, feeling left out or not good enough to be “part of the group” is an emotion we routinely encounter these days.  As a result, the beginning part of Acts 11 resonated with me.  The chapter started with Peter being criticized by other Jews because he had been ministering to the Gentiles.  He was leading them to faith in Jesus Christ and welcoming them as “part of the group”.  While these Jews embraced God’s new covenant and salvation through faith in Jesus, they were having trouble understanding that salvation was available to anyone who believed and put their faith in Jesus.  It wasn’t just for the Jews.  After reading the entire Old Testament in 2016, can you see why the Jews felt this way?  I sure can.  For 39 books of the Old Testament we studied their long, difficult journey.  They had been God’s chosen people for generations.  Now that they had a new covenant and a new start, they didn’t want to mess it up by letting the wrong people “in the group”.

The Holy Spirit’s message through Peter helped these Jews see God’s bigger plan in Acts 11.  Jesus’ message of salvation is inclusive rather than exclusive – it is available to ANYONE who believes and puts their faith in him.  This was great news for the Gentiles.  It is great news for us today.  But have you ever wondered why God had a chosen race in the first place?  The Jews weren’t exactly model believers.  Remember?  The Old Testament storyline was consistent – God’s people turned away from him, bad things happened, they came crawling back, asked for forgiveness and God restored their relationship.  This happened over and over and over again.  Do you think God just changed his mind?  Perhaps he got tired of this cycle with the Jews and decided to branch out?  Maybe he thought extending the invitation to more people would breed a better result?  My study of Acts 11 this week led me to a variety of Old Testament passages that revealed the truth.  A truth that is consistent with the unchanging nature of God.  He didn’t change his mind, rather his plan of salvation for ALL was the same from the beginning of time.  He just had to have a starting place.  He started with the Jews, then charged them with taking his message to everyone else.  The book of Acts is the account of this transition from a select chosen few to everyone.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

He says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you (Zechariah 2:11).

Aren’t you glad this was the plan?  I generally don’t like to be left out, especially of a group where the stakes are this high.  The choice of whether we’re in this group is totally ours.  One road leads to life, the other leads to death.  It is a weighty decision.  I suggest we choose wisely.