Tag Archives: Acts

Something Worth Living For

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In life, there’s got to be something that gets us up in the morning.

Other than coffee, that is.

It could be the duty of work or family.

It could be the need to do something.

It could be the requirements of life.

And those will get us up, those will motivate us, those will get us going, but only for a little bit.

In life, we need something to be passionate about. Something to really transform us, push us, pull us, something to live for.

And something to die for.

We see something happen to Paul today in Acts:

12When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ 14Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’

Paul knew, the people knew that if he went to Jerusalem it was not going to end well.  He knew he would be bound, he knew things could get ugly.

But, he was motivated to do it.  He didn’t have to.  He wanted to.

He had something worth living for.

What?  Jesus.  Telling folks about Jesus.  Living for Jesus.  Loving for Jesus.

Showing all that he could meet the power of the transforming love of Jesus.

Paul was motivated by that through his life. It was what he lived for.

Today, what are you living for? What is the purpose of your life?  What motivates you?

Is it Jesus?  Or is it something else?  Everything else but Jesus will fade away.

Issues will fade.  Money will fade.  Duty will fade.

All this will fade away.

Jesus will not.

We all need something worth living for in our lives.

May it be nothing but Jesus.

A Little Help from My Friends

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One of the things I really enjoy seeing in the book of Acts is to see all the folks involved in the spreading of the Gospel.

It starts off with the 12 Disciples. Then we see Stephen.  Then Paul. But, Paul is not the end.

Barnabas strengthens Paul. Paul goes all over the world preaching. Timothy enters in. Silas.  John Mark. So many people.

Priscilla and Aquila, so man others.

The cool thing about this, to me, is that none of the people in Acts that God uses to spread the Gospel could have done it alone. They each needed each other’s help. The each needed the encouragement that they could receive from each other.

And, they each needed to encourage one another. We see this play out today in Acts 18:

26 He (Apollos) began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.

Apollos was doing some great things. But, it wasn’t until Priscilla and Aquila helped him out a little, that he was able to do greater things for God.

And, Priscilla and Aquila would not have been there if not for Paul. Paul would not have been there if not for Barnabas. Barnabas would not have been there if not for the work of the Disciples.

They needed each other.

So, today, two questions. What are you trying to do today that you simply can’t do by yourself?  What are you trying to do that is going to take help?  These burdens get heavy if we don’t have help.  What do you need help with today?

And second, who do you need to help?  Who is carrying a burden that you can help lift? Who is doing something that you know you can help them with?

In Acts, God used the people working together. Today, how does God want us to work together, for His glory?

Our First Option? Or Our Last Option?

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Troubles come. That’s part of life. Times of trial come.  That’s part of life.

What will be our response to our troubles. What will be a our response to our trials?

What will we do when we are in these tough times. When those we love are in these tough times?

I was reading about Peter this morning in Acts. It had gotten tough. James had been killed.  Now Peter was locked up, and would probably be killed later.

He was in jail, waiting, when an angel of the Lord came and freed him.

Then this happens:

11Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’ 12As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying.

The thing that struck me this morning in this text was not Peter’s imprisonment.  It wasn’t the angel freeing him.  It was the response of his friends and family.  What did they do?

They gathered, and they prayed.

In our life, we sometimes have to respond to unpleasant situations. Things that happen to us. To those we love. To those we care for.

How will we respond?  Will we grow angry?  Bitter?  Resentful?

Or, will we do what they did in the text today?

Will we pray?  Will we turn it over to God? Will we seek His face?

When the tough times come, when the trials come, what will be our response?

Prayer should not be our last option. For many of us, we pray when we’ve done everything else.

Pray shouldn’t be our last options.  It should be our first option.

May we be a praying people.

Make a Difference

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One of my favorite characters in scripture is Barnabas.  He doesn’t get all the attention that Paul gets in Acts, but without him, Paul wouldn’t be Paul. We see their friendship start today in Acts 11:

25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians.’

Paul had one of those dramatic conversion experiences. When he got saved, he got saved.  He went from being someone out to get the church; someone trying to destroy the church, to someone that was trying to grow the church.

He went from someone that was trying to stop the working of the Holy Spirit to someone that was a being led by the spirit.

And that’s awesome. Except that people didn’t know what to think. People didn’t know if they could trust him.  Not long before, he had been involved with the murder of Stephen. And now he’s on our side?

And in comes Barnabas.  You know what he did that was so awesome?  He simply loved on Paul.  He was his friend.  He encouraged him.  He walked beside him.  He was there for him.

He made a difference.

By being a friend.

Today, you can make a huge difference.  You don’t have to climb the mountain.  You don’t have to swim the ocean.  You don’t have to perform feats of unusual strength.

You can simply be nice to someone. Encourage someone.  Give a smile.  A hug.  A warm word.

And you may never know the difference that would make.  Today, you can be a Barnabas to someone.

Without Barnabas, there was no Paul. Without Paul, there is no Gentile Church. Without Paul, the Gospel would not have spread across the world.

Barnabas made a huge difference simply be encouraging someone.

Today, so you can you. Today, you can make a difference.

Today, you can change the world by touching someone’s life!

Is This Not the Man?

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This morning, as I was reading and praying, I was thinking about how hard it is to change.

We all have things in our lives we’d like to change.  We all have things in our lives we’d like to do different.

But, if you’re like me, you find that change is hard. We fall into routines, we do things the way that we’ve always done them, we pick up bad habits that are hard to drop.

And we can think, well, this is just the way that it is.  I won’t be able to change.  It is as it is, and this is just the way that it’s going to be.

I was thinking about change this morning, and I read this passage in Acts 9:

19b For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”

The people ask of Paul, “Is this not the man that. . . ?”

Paul had changed.  But, if we remember the story of Paul, it wasn’t that he had enough will power to change. It wasn’t that he wanted it badly enough to change.  It wasn’t his desire to be changed that changed him.

It was God.

He had an encounter with God, and God changed him.  He was knocked off his donkey and the Lord changed him.

It was God that did it.  Not Paul.

Perhaps we are frustrated today because we are trying to do it ourselves and finding that we can’t.  Perhaps we finding that we don’t have enough will power. Perhaps we fall back into the old habits and feel guilty.  And feel like we can’t do.

And really, guess what?

We can’t do it.

Alone.  We can’t change ourselves by ourselves.

But God can.

What do you want to change today?  Give it to God. And give it again, and again, and again, and again.  Give it to Him each second, each minute, each hour.

Give it over and over again.

You will take it back.  I do, we all do.  Give it back.

God changed Paul to the point where folks couldn’t believe it was him.

He is still God. And He can still do it.

What do you want to change today?  Give it to Him.  Again and again.  And, He will change us.  For our good and for His glory.

Give it to Him.

False Life

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Do we settle for less than we should?

Do we settle for a life that is less than what God would have for us?

Do we settle for happiness from this world instead of joy from God?

Quite often, we settle for the stuff of the world, thinking that it is real life, that is something worth having, when in the end, what we are really seeking is a deep, abundant, and amazing life.

And that life is only found in God.  It’s not found any other place.

We settle for the false idols of this world, instead of the Holy, Living God.

We settle for the false life this world offers instead of the real life God wants us to have.

We see someone realize that mistake in Acts 8 this morning:

9 Now a certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone great. 10 All of them, from the least to the greatest, listened to him eagerly, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they listened eagerly to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip, who was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed. After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip and was amazed when he saw the signs and great miracles that took place.

Even Simon himself believe. And was amazed when he saw these miracles.

This was one that had been peddling a false religion, a false life, a false hope.

And when he was confronted and transformed by the real life of God, instead of the false life he has been offering, he was amazed.

For he saw something real.

He saw something worth having.

He experienced real life.

He was tired of settling for false life and desired to have that real life that comes only from God.

How about us?  Today, are we tired of settling for the false life that the world offers? A world where possessions and status and all these things all are that matters?

Or do we desire something deeper. Something real. Something that can truly give us life.

Something that amazes us.

Today, let’s not settle for the false life the world offers.  Let’s only take the real life found in daily living in Jesus Christ.

There Ain’t No Stopping Us!

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I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite Christian Artists is Rich Mullins.  He did a song we all know and we’ve sung a million times, “Awesome God.”  In worship Sunday at Asbury Church we sang a song “He Reigns” which takes Awesome God and adds to it these words:

There ain’t no stopping us (naw)
Devil there ain’t no blocking us (naw)

I was thinking about that song this morning as I read this passage from Acts:

34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. 35 Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them-in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”

If it is of God, there is no stopping it.

Their ain’t no stopping God. There’s nothing that can stop God. Their’s nothing that can stop God’s people from doing what He wants to accomplish.

Nothing.

There’s nothing in front of you this morning that can’t be worked out by God’s plan and God’s grace. Nothing.

As Jesus told Peter, even the Gates of Hell will not stop the Church!

If God is for us, who can be against us.

You don’t have to live a life of defeat this morning.  You don’t have to live a life as it’s always been this morning. This is a new day. This is a new beginning.  This is a new gift from God!

Live in it.  Live this day to the fullest. Live this life to the fullest. There’s nothing that God can’t accomplish.

If it’s of God, nothing will stop it.  Or stop you.  You can live with courage and boldness today.

Don’t live defeated.  Live victorious.  There ain’t no stopping us! Though God.