Acts 16:1-3 -- Jesse April 2 2010

Acts 16:1-3 'He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.'

When we think of the disciples and prophets in the bible, many of us have a distinct picture in our minds. We see a perfect holy man talking to God on a daily basis that has everything going for him and a holiness surrounding him. We can forget that these were ordinary men with problems just like the ones that we face today.

In fact many of them would be considered outcasts or criminals by our standards. And yet these are the people that God chose to use to show us our love for them. Take Timothy for example. Though it says that his mother was a believer and a Jew, it says that his father was a Greek. It doesn't say that his father was or was not a believer, but we do have to remember one thing.

In this day and age, a non Jewish person was considered a Gentile and unclean to the Jews. So in effect Timothy was only half acceptable at best. And at worst, he was a mixing of the clean and unclean as a half blooded Greek. Something that many would look down upon.

And yet we see God accepted and used him greatly. And Paul, rather than reject him, accepted him and took him with him accepting him as he was. We could learn a lot from that example. Perhaps we are in the position of Paul given the opportunity to work with a less than desirable Timothy. Or perhaps we ourselves are the Timothy down and out on our luck offered with an opportunity.

Either way that you look at it, God can use you as long as you are willing to let him. You just have to be willing to take that leap of faith forward. Just look through the bible and see what God did with a bunch of troubled struggling people and think what he could do with you. God Bless

Acts 15:36-41 -- Jesse April 1 2010

Acts 15:36-41 'Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.'

We all have disagreements. It's just a part of life that somebody somewhere will think in a different way than you. Chances are, if you're in a room with somebody else, they have a different opinion than you. The real question is how do you deal with it?

Wee see a prime example of it right here in these verses. Paul and Barnabas had been traveling together for some time and doing great works of God. Despite all they had accomplished, we see the two of them had a separate vision of what was to come next. What did they do then?

Rather than drag things out and let opinions and grudges grow, they split up peacefully and quickly while things were calm. We could learn a lot from that example. All too often when we have disagreements, we drag it out and bury emotions as we put on a happy face pretending nothing is wrong at all.

That goes all well until that one last thing fills us up and we explode and things end in a very intense confrontation. One that could have been avoided in the first place if we had just been honest and dealt with it before the situation got out of hand.

Perhaps there is somebody right now that you're at odds with. Perhaps somebody that it's gone as far as the two of you are arguing constantly. Maybe the next time you see that person, you could use a similar approach. That the two of you could peaceably go your separate ways. It's just a thought. God Bless

Acts 15:25-27 -- Jesse March 29 2010

Acts 15:25-27 'So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.'

We live in a world of constant information. Day after day we are bombarded with information from every direction. Not a moment goes by that we don't have something overloading our senses. So much so that we are bogged down just sorting through all that information in search of anything meaningful.

And to top it off, so much good information is lost to us every day. How do we sort the good from the bad? How do we know when something is worth understanding and remembering? How do we know when God is talking to us? Is it as simple as a phone call, or something as grand as a voice from heaven?

The truth of the matter is that both of these and neither can be true at the same time. It's not a matter of how we hear the information, but what happens when we receive it. Sometimes God talks to us in our own heart, or through others around us, or even in the Word. Many times you will not even catch it until you feel that burn in your heart when you hear it a second time.

Just as we see in the verses above, God's message is always conformed. Perhaps you've been reading a certain passage that speaks to you or a thought or feeling that has been burning in your heart. You're not sure about it and put it into the back of your mind until, boom, you hear a friend suggest the very same thing or a message in a teaching speaks right to that very subject.

Understanding this is the first step to knowing that you're being spoken to. It is true that not everything that you hear from others or in yourself will be from God, but if you start seeing things getting conformed, maybe it's time to start paying attention.

What do we do after that is really up to you. You can either choose to ignore it, or seek out God in prayer and see if He's calling you. I hope that we're all ready to listen when He gives us a call. God Bless

Acts 15:7-11 -- Jesse March 17 2010

Acts 15:7-11 'After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."'

As I read this section of text, a thought came across my mind. When I spread the word to others and look to see people saved, do I put in standards to go along with that salvation? Many of us find ways to connect to God. Ways that make us feel closer to Him and that make us feel that we are someplace better.

Often times, we can feel those special times are a must for our own good rather than a special time to connect with God. Sometimes, we can even see them as a requirement to get to God. And sometimes we can assume that all people are made to worship the exact same way that we do.

This is a danger because we can put unnecessary pressure on an already challenged life. Rules are good at keeping us from doing bad, but too many rules can also squeeze the life out of us as well. We see that same very thing being talked about in these verses.

A major discussion at the church about the necessity of circumcision for salvation. Not something that we would discuss in our own time, but a major issue at the time. Much in the same way today we hear discussions on dietary adjustments, worship days and the such. I love Peter's response to the issue.

He tells the council that why are we putting rules in there that we can't keep. After all, it's not those rules that saved us but Jesus' grace. We could keep that very thought in mind when we think that we have the definitive answer to getting in touch with God.

Are we putting yokes on others that we can't keep ourselves? I certainly hope not. God Bless

Acts 14:21-23 -- Jesse March 10 2010

Acts 14:21-23 'They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.'

Looking at this section of text, we see Paul and Barnabas traveling and spreading the good news to various places as they gathered disciples. When I was reading this section of text this morning, I noticed something.

The one thing mentioned that they preached is that you will go through hardships in life to enter the Kingdom of God. How encouraging a word is that? From the beginning, they were told that they would go through struggles on their journey. How would you respond to such an offer? And yet it says that many were saved and became disciples.

But that in itself was not what my eyes were drawn to today. What I noticed came just after that. Though they gave them words to think about, Paul and Barnabas didn't leave it there. Instead they took steps to get those people through the struggles and gave them an example.

They gathered people from around them appointed them as elders to watch over the people. That way they could keep an eye on those that were troubled or have issues. Just as we can appoint or be appointed to keep an eye out for a lost or hurt heart around us that needs love or help.

And the next thing that did was prayed and fasted as they committed them to God. How many times do we see a struggling person in our own lives or community? How many times have we helped them or even prayed for them? Not enough most likely.

I'd like to put out a little challenge today. If you know somebody that's really struggling or hurting, commit them to the Lord. It may seem like a small thing, but great things have been and can be done through prayer. And you never quite know how many people have been praying for you until you ask. I think it's about time to do our part too. God Bless.

Acts 14:19-20 -- Jesse March 3 2010

Acts 14:19-20 “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.”

Can you imagine that happening today? A man dragged out of city gates and stoned to death. It would make major news in most placed as a case of mob mentality or something worse. And that is only the setup.

Not only alive, but ready to go marches right back in the city gates and continues. Could you imagine the headlines? “Man presumed dead continues plight” or “Preacher pulls Lazarus and continues ministry” And yet when we read the verses, we act as though it's a normal thing? The sight of a man stoned and bloodied getting back up and going in for more is normal?

I would say it was anything but normal. It's rare that we see anything near that passion in today's life. Comparatively, what we call passionate today is so much more mild and yet Paul would have done it again without a second though. Why is it that he could carry such passion?

Because he kept his eyes on the prize. He knew that he was doing God's work and nothing else mattered. Saving souls and doing what God had made him to do was more important than anything else. We need to keep that in our own minds. Though not all of us do, many know what it is that God has given us the talents and passions to do with in our lives.

We just lack the drive and the confidence to make use of it. So we just let day by month by year slip by until the passion has been drained and there's little to nothing left and the urges simply go away. What we need to do is realize that God gave us these abilities so it would make sense to use them and not just let them fade away.

And here's the powerful thing. As we use those talents, those passions, the feeling of accomplishment and passion grows stronger each time we do what we know God has made us to do. Before long, it's like a freight train is motoring along and there's nothing that can stop it. Not even a few stones thrown our way. God Bless

Acts 14:1-3 -- Jesse March 2 2010

Acts 14:1-3 “At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.”

Looking at the text this morning, I noticed something. Paul and Barnabas were preaching God's word spreading the good news. Just when they were thinking things were going smoothly, boom, something broad sided them.

The Jews that caused them so much trouble previously had followed them and started causing similar trouble where they were. Do you ever feel that way sometimes? Just when you think you've separated yourself from troubles and are on the right path, they come out of nowhere and hit you even harder? We've all felt that way at one time or another. Trouble following us and chasing us just seems like a part of every day life.

What do you do when those troubles come back at you? How do you deal with them when they just keep coming back over and over? We can look at Paul and Barnabas' example. The bible tells us that they didn't confront the trouble or get upset, rather they continued to spread the good news for considerable time.

That means that they dug their feet in and kept at what God had told them to do rather than giving up. Sometimes when we face those troubles, we can assume that it means that we are not meant to go that direction, but that's not always the case. Paul knew this and kept preaching, because he knew that the troubles was Satan driven to prevent God's work from being done.

So when we are doing God's work and feel troubles nail us, we can step forward boldly knowing that we are on the right track. And as we all know, only one side can win in that war. I know who's side I want to be on. What about you? God Bless

Acts 13:46-48 -- Jesse March 1 2010

Acts 13:46-48 'Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us:" 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'" When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.'

When I read this section of text, I tried my best to see in the heart what God was telling me through this text. We see Paul preaching to the Jews telling them what was being preached was the word of God and truth, but they rejected it.

They rejected their teachings because it didn't align with what they thought they knew and their traditions and habits. So instead of changing their traditions, they chose to reject what was being taught to them and remain as they were. In simple, they feared the change.

In times in our lives, we will hear things from God that will literally rock our worlds. Lives will change in a blink of an eye, or words will be passed on to us that we should change what we are doing for a better way, God's way. Sometimes we listen to those words easily and other times, we decide to stay the course on what we are comfortable with.

If you look at the verses here, it tells us that the Gentiles were excited and ready to believe. In fact further tells us that many were saved and followed God. Not so much of a reaction for the Jews. Instead, they ran Paul out of town.

Which course of action sounds like it aligns with God's will? Listen and be ready to change or stay rigid and run anybody off that shows you when you are wrong? I hope that all of us learn to keep our mouths closed and ears more open. God Bless

Acts 13:6-11 -- Jesse February 25 2010

Acts 13:6-11 'They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun."'

When I read this section of text, something verify significant jumped out at me. In the section where it says Paul was filled with the spirit, his words are very strong, confident and cut straight to the truth. A confidence and strength that we can lack in our day to day life.

How is it that he had such confidence when speaking those words? Because he was in the spirit and there is power in the word of God and speaking God's word and will. Look at the things that have been done in Jesus' name. Not the things that people do for their own gain, but when things are done to his will.

There is an aura of power to those things and those that speak those words. Something that we can each have if we would simply choose to believe the power in God's name. Think of what we could accomplish in a day if we had a fraction of that faith and confidence. Just look at what the disciples did healing, casting out demons among other things. All of which Jesus promised to his believers.

Don't you think with all Jesus did for us that we could start believing that his name has power? Imagine the things that could change in the world if just a few more people chose to believe. God Bless

Acts 13:2-3 -- Jesse February 24 2010

Acts 13:2-3 'While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.'

Looking at these two verses, I noticed something today. When the situation was serious, the first thing they did was come together to worship, pray and lay hands. How often do we see that in our own lives? Situations are dire and we are unsure what we are going to do next.

How often do we get together with a group of believers and pray? How often do we even pray together in a group. Most of us more likely view prayer as something that you do in private on your own and don't ask for things. This is not the way that it should be. When things are looking their worst, we should be together praying for one another.

After all, Jesus told us that we have not because we ask not. Is that sobering or what? We don't have the solutions or things that we need because we don't ask for them. Maybe we need a serious wake-up call when it comes to prayer. Maybe instead of finding reasons why we shouldn't pray about little things or ask for things, we should start looking for things to pray about and with others instead. No matter how small that they seem at the time. God Bless

Acts 12:21-23 -- Jesse February 23 2010

Acts 12:21-23 'On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.'

Can you imagine that kind of picture? A member of royalty coming out to give such a rousing speech to the people that they hung on his words and adored him. So much so that they thought of him more than a man. And they let him know. Then just at the height of all that love and confidence, boom it is over.

That is exactly what we see pictured here. A man struck down at the absolute height of his power and reverence. I'm sure that the people were asking themselves what just happened as most of us would at the time. What did happen?

Herod was on top of the world being the royalty in charge, people respected him and obviously loved him to make such remarks. As is human nature, he was probably very confident and comfortable in his position and proud of his accomplishments. So much so that he had forgotten that not everything was in his control or done by him.

Instead of correcting the crowd that he was not a God and thanking God and those around him for all that had been done for him, he took that praise and we see the result. Sometimes we can feel that way as well. Like we were taken from the top of the world crashing back down lost to see what happened.

Or perhaps we've seen those that we admire greatly taken down a few notches. Even off the ladder all together and wonder just what happened to them or to us. Often, but not all times, we need look no further than our own attitude. Where is our focus aligned? Where do we see the glory headed? Is it giving glory to God for what he's done for us, or going elsewhere? I think we all know where it should be going. God Bless

Acts 12:6-11 -- Jesse February 22 2010

Acts 12:6-11 'The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."'

As I read through this section of text, one thing came to mind: Peter had no idea what was going on. If you look at the text and what comes before, he was going about his business preaching the word, then he was locked up facing death. Going from there, he's woken up in the middle of the night by an angel telling him what to do.

Life can nail us in a similar way when we are least expecting it. There we are just moving along smoothly when all of a sudden we are just broadsided out of nowhere with some kind of trial or persecution taking the wind out of our sails. Before we know it, we feel trapped and shackled in place.

As if that's not troublesome enough, just as we are getting used to the idea of our bonds, a voice tells us to get up. Sometimes when we hear that voice from God to get up, we are so scared, comfortable or breathless that we just stay where we are in a stupor. Thankfully Peter had no such problem. How was it that he knew to move? Because he realized how dire the situation that he was in and because he knew that people were praying for him.

When we are in such a situation and that voice comes and tells us to do something that doesn't make sense at the time or just seems foolish, we can hang our hats on that knowledge. The knowledge that God is at work to free us from those bonds and the knowledge that others are praying for us. And if those two thoughts don't get us to move, then something else is wrong with that picture. God Bless

Acts 11:19-21 -- Jesse February 19 2010

Acts 11:19-21 “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

As a follow up to yesterday's devotion, we see what happened as a result. While spread in fear, these believers were spreading God's word. Though at this time, still only to Jews. But as we can see from the text, some of them stepped out in faith and preached not just to Jews, but also to Greeks.

They moved outside their comfort zone and took a leap of faith preaching to all the people rather than just some. And as a result, the scriptures tell us that a great number of them turned to the Lord. Isn't that just amazing what can come out of faith?

We can have a similar outcome if we are willing to step out in faith. When things seem the hardest and we feel persecuted and scattered, the temptation can be to just curl up and resort to what is comfortable and what we know. While things can seem nice this way, we know deep inside that something is missing.

Instead, like these people here, we too can step out in faith and move forward. If you feel that desire in your heart to move into a ministry, or a job, or whatever God has put a burn in your heart for, go for it. You never know what just might happen. Just look at what a little faith did for a group of people wanting to spread God's word outside their box. God Bless

Acts 11:18 -- Jesse February 18 2010

Acts 11:18 'When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."'

Looking at the verse above, we today can shake our head in thanks. At the time that these verses were written, it was thought that only Jews could be saved, as they were God's "chosen people". In turn, anyone who was not a Jew was thought to be unworthy of being saved.

That means a lot today as most of us who are saved are not of such blood. We can be thankful that such revelation was made and followed otherwise we would not have the opportunity today to accept Jesus into our hearts.

How does this apply today? That is a very good question and one that has been pressed upon my heart today. While, in most cases, we do not separate religion and race in the same way today, we still can tend to pick and choose who to share with. Feeling as though we are justified by past sins, we can pick out those that seem to be desirable to be around.

This is not the way that it should be. Think about this for a moment. Were you the kind of person that others wanted to be around before you were saved? Were you a positive person that shined a light in others lives? In honesty, I'm sure almost all of us would have to say no. And yet God chose to do a work in us and see us saved.

Why should we deprive others of the same opportunity and grace that we were offered. You just may be surprised to see just who is saved. God Bless.