Month: May 2019

From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
Acts 16:11-12

The Book of Acts records the many places the followers of Jesus went in order to share the Gospel with all the world. Paul’s travels took him and those who accompanied him to a wide variety of places, meeting people of different backgrounds and beliefs. In each case, Paul was able to find common ground, something they were familiar with in order to relate the wonderful story of God’s love for all of us.

We may not be called to travel around the world as Paul did but we are all charged with sharing the Good News to those who have not heard. It might be hard to believe in this day of instant communication that some have never been told what Jesus has done for us and the promise of salvation He offers. They may have heard of Jesus, read about Jesus, but until a believer shares what a relationship with Him means, they will remain unconvinced.

Jesus wants everyone to know the love of God, and He has commissioned us to be the means for the world to hear this amazing truth. Ask for guidance and strength to share your knowledge of Him, letting everyone know what He has done for you!

Loving Lord, we are humbled by the fact that You trust us to continue Your ministry here on earth. Make us bold in the service of the Gospel, that everyone may come to learn how much they are loved and that You have a place for all. Amen.

During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Acts 16:9-10

Paul also received a call from God in a vision to go share the Good News. Like Peter, he encountered resistance from some of the other apostles, but as his ministry in far flung places grew, so did their respect for him. Paul was a vigorous church planter and letter writer, teaching and baptizing all over the ancient world.

In this passage Paul has been called to Macedonia to preach. Never a hesitant man, he goes to one of the cities there to begin his work. As we will hear, he meets with conflict and success while he is there. This is a lesson we should learn, that we will encounter opposition as we share God’s love, but we must persevere even when it is difficult.

Like Paul, we are called to give our testimony to an often unbelieving world. Paul endured hardships we may not be called to face, but we must remember his example when we are frustrated or dismayed in our ministry efforts. Jesus said we are blessed when people persecute us for His sake (Matthew 5:11). We are called to share the Gospel of Jesus no matter what!

Gracious God, thank You for making us part of Your saving work here on earth. When it is hard, strengthen us; when we meet resistance, make us bold. Help us to know You are always with us as we go to spread the Good News. Amen.

In Acts 11:1-18 we hear Peter’s testimony to the disciples of being called to minister to a Roman soldier’s family. His fellow believers are upset because he seems to have broken a religious law that prohibited eating with those outside the faith. Peter explains the vision he was given from God to go there, that the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that he baptized them as Christ commanded. Then the disciples understand the salvation Jesus brought was for everyone, not just a select few.

We can find hope in this story that promises Jesus’ love for all, regardless of our heritage or how we have lived previously. God’s grace is given freely to the whole world and He calls us to repent, accept His forgiveness and to make sure everyone hears the wonderful truth of redemption. This is how God will bring back all His children, through His blessings being shared by them.

How amazing is it that God would want us as part of His plan to save the world! He loves us so much, and trusts us so much that we are empowered to share the Gospel with those we meet. This our faith “job description”, the call He places on our lives – that we tell everyone about our relationship with the Heavenly Father and that they can have the same connection themselves.

Gracious God, we are humbled that You would choose us to be Your children and Your representatives. Help us to share this joy by the way we live, that others might see a glimpse of You in us. Bless us as we go from praise and worship in Your church to do Your work in Your world. Amen.

So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Acts 11:17-18

Peter finishes his testimony to the disciples in Jerusalem and they thank God that He has offered His grace to everyone. They remember that God had called them to be a nation of priests, to share the relationship they know with the world. Sometimes it is hard for us to be happy for the blessings of others, but God calls us to rejoice whenever someone accepts His love and becomes an active part of His plan.

Like the early Hebrews and the apostles who followed Jesus, we are called to be a nation of priests to make the Good News known everywhere. That may sound a little intimidating to realize the spread of the Gospel depends on us! We are indeed His chosen instrument, but it is His message and His love that we carry to the world. God will bless our obedient and faithful efforts, giving us the gifts necessary to carry out His plan. He also has given us brothers and sisters to strengthen our faith and support our efforts.

Let us go in the knowledge that God is with us, even when we encounter difficult situations and people. He has called us to be His messengers and He will bless us as we share His truth.

Gracious God, we are grateful that You want us to be involved in Your kingdom work. Help us to be good stewards of the gifts You give, that we may carry the message of Your love and salvation to the whole world. Amen.

“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

Acts 11:15-17

Peter relates to the disciples that God was working in ways they hadn’t expected. Even with the teachings they had received from Jesus, they were still amazed when the Holy Spirit came to people outside their culture. God often does the unexpected in the lives of others and our own.

We seem to think that because we are believers we know the mind of God and how He “should” work. This kind of attitude makes us seem judgmental and pompous. We know what God has called us to do and that must be our focus, not what we think God should be doing.

God will continue to surprise us. This doesn’t mean He changes, only that our understanding of Him is not complete. As long as we think of God in a human way, we will not be able to see the marvels of His love fully displayed. Open your heart and your mind to His greatness and He will give you grace to be part of His plan!

Loving Lord, we think we know You, but we sometimes see only what we want to see in Your amazing world. Help us to continue to grow in Your love and our connection to You that we may obey Your will and be fully aware of what You are doing in our lives. Amen.

He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.

Acts 11:13-15

Peter relates to the disciples in Jerusalem how he was called to go to a Roman home to share the Good News, and that the people there received the Holy Spirit. They had been visited by an angel and told to go find Peter; he had received a vision to overcome his reluctance to minister to outsiders.

It would be great if every opportunity for evangelism was set up this way, those needing the truth being sent to find someone to teach them and those bearing the message of Christ strengthened to witness. God provided the perfect opportunity for this sharing and receiving encounter.

If we are honest, we know God provides us the same opportunity. We know we are sent to seek the last, the least and the lost, and they are seeking us to hear the Good News. Perhaps they weren’t told our name and maybe we didn’t have a vision to shake us from our spiritual lethargy, but our call to reach out to them is the same as the one Peter received in Joppa.

Do you feel God’s call to share today? He asks each of us to continue Christ’s work here, to make disciples of all the world by telling His story in our words and our actions.

God of all things, You have made us in Your own image. You have chosen us for Your work here, to be partners in salvation for all people. Bless us as we go into our communities to be representatives of Your love. Amen.

At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. Acts 11:11-12

The Book of Acts is all about going and doing, hearing the call and making it happen. Peter hears the direction of the Holy Spirit and obeys, even though the ones who ask for help are foreign and pagan. God is showing him a new place for ministry and new people with whom to share the Good News.

It’s not always easy to interact with those who are different. We are sometimes uncomfortable – and they likely are as well! We need to see them as Jesus does and treat them as brothers and sisters, realizing that we are there to share His love and not to change them; they must do that for themselves.

Jesus calls us to turn our lives around and follow Him, but it is an invitation we must accept willingly. No one is forced into the kingdom, all must choose to receive the grace God offers. Our task is to ensure everyone has the opportunity to hear about Jesus and the salvation He brings us.

Gracious God, help us to see everyone as part of Your family, even though we may look and act differently. Show us how we can share Your love, and invite people to know You better. Amen.

But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ (Acts 11:8-9)

Peter was a devout Jew and obeyed the dietary laws found in the Torah. He has just received a vision from God telling him to eat some of the animals that were previously forbidden, and he reacts according to those laws, saying he has never violated them. Perhaps he thought God was testing him to see if he would be faithful.

In fact, just the opposite was true. Peter was being led to a new truth, that God wanted him to be able to see past the human-manipulated intricacies of the law to broaden his knowledge and accept that those outside Jewish practice were also children of God.

God gave the people of Israel laws as part of their desert experience to protect them and mold them into the nation of priests He called them to be (Exodus 19:6). Now God called them to go into the world, to see that they had more in common with their Gentile neighbors than they thought, and to share His love with them. Their relationship with Him was to be strengthened through their obedience and ministry. May we be obedient today, as God calls us to go to people who live differently than we do, stepping out of our comfortable routine and into the mission field where He sends us.

Patient God, help us to see past the rules we impose on ourselves that often keep us from being the disciples You call us to be. Make us strong in Your love, ready to go where we are needed to spread the Good News of Your salvation. Amen.

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Acts 11:1-3

The Book of Acts (or Acts of the Apostles) is important to us because it records what the followers of Jesus did after His resurrection. It tells the first stories of their evangelism, the sharing of the Good News with the world. They didn’t just sit around and talk about what Jesus taught, they went and taught His lessons to others.

As we can see from this passage, even early on there was disagreement about how the church should grow, who should go share the Word and to whom. Jesus knew we would have different opinions, but He modeled the way to witness by eating with sinners Himself, and caring for those that society shunned.

We face similar issues today, but we must remember that under the Great Commission He gave us to “go and make disciples of all the world” (Matthew 28:19), no one is to be left out. Jesus wants all of God’s children invited back into relationship, part of the plan of salvation. We are all uniquely gifted and called to different places and ways of service. No one should question another’s mission, but prayerfully support God’s work through them.

Gracious God, we don’t always see the same needs or the same solutions to the problems we face. Help us understand that you have a special outreach for all of us and to lift up our brothers and sisters in their service. Amen.

Happy Mother’s Day! Please honor your mother today, whether living or with the Lord, and share with others how much she means to you. Our mothers are among the first to teach us the love of Jesus and to know we are God’s children, too.

Loving our God and each other is so important that it is remembered as the Great Commandment from a lesson Jesus gives us in Mark 12:30-31. He says there is nothing more important than this. If we could keep this commandment as God intended, we’d be a lot better off!

God loves us each equally and wants us to live together in peace. Like willful children, we often disagree and fight to get our own way. I remember my mother stepping in to mediate disputes between us when I was younger. God may not show up to stop every disagreement we encounter, but if we remember His love for all of us and honor the Great Commandment, we can be the peacemakers He calls us to be.

Loving Lord, you blessed us all to know Your love and to return it to You as well as to share it with all our brothers and sisters. Help us to see each other as You see us, members of Your family, precious and worthy of being called Your children. Amen.