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The 260 Journey
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A life-changing experience through the New Testament one chapter at a time.
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What Difference Can the Infilling of the Holy Spirit Really Make? – Part 1
May 2900:06:32Tap to summarizeDay 107 Today's Reading: Acts 18 I had a discussion with a friend who believed the gifts of the Spirit were only for the first century and not for today, that the gifts ceased. That is called “cessation” theology. He keyed in on one gift he said he had a hard time with, and that was what “you Pentecostals call the filling of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues. It’s the last and least of all the gifts and you make a big deal about it.” I responded, “Let’s assume that Paul’s list of the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 is written in order of importance.” (That’s why people say tongues is the least of the gifts, because it’s last in the list.) “Even the least gift of God is a great gift from God. Don’t ever minimize a gift that God gives because He chose to make it number 9 on your list. I’ll take God’s number nine over any man’s number one. A low gift from God is still a great gift. There is no one who can’t be better having a gift from God, even if it is speaking in tongues. Don’t minimize God’s gift.” This is precisely what happened in the city of Ephesus, which we read about in Acts 18. This is a powerful lesson that actually goes into tomorrow’s reading as well. Ephesus was the number-one city in Asia Minor. It was known for having the greatest marketplace in the world—it really was the world’s shopping capital. It was one of the locations for the ancient Olympic festivals, in which people from everywhere would come to see the best athletes in the world compete. It was also the home for some of the most notorious criminals. The temple of Artemis (Diana), which was one of the seven wonders of the world, was an asylum for any criminal. If you committed a crime and if you made it there, you were guaranteed safe haven and off limits to authorities. (So Ephesus had the richest shopping, the greatest athletes, and the most deplorable criminals all there.) The temple also was a seller of magic charms and superstition items. They had the famous “Ephesian letters.” If you carried these papers, you were guaranteed safety for you and your traveling companions. They would also be good luck for your business or believed to get someone to love you—like a love potion. People would come from all over the world to buy little magic charms of Diana. The Goddess Diana was ugly—she was half-animal and half-human. And that temple was full of prostitutes. Ephesus had all of this—and they had a new church. This church was so important that Timothy pastored it, John the apostle pastored it, and Paul stayed in Ephesus longer than in any other city. But for our purposes, I want you to meet their first pastor, Apollos: A Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. (Acts 18:24-26) Apollos had the resume for pastoring any church in America. Everyone would have wanted Pastor Apollos. Consider his resume: he was eloquent— people loved to listen to him; he was mighty in the Scriptures—there was no false doctrine; he was fervent in spirit—this is amazing to have an educated man who is fervent in spirit. Usually education dulls the passion. He was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus. He was speaking out boldly in the synagogues. He was unafraid of popular opinion in that city. And finally, Apollos powerfully refuted the Jews in public showing them Jesus was the Christ through the Scriptures. Apollos was eloquent, mighty in the Scriptures, educated, fervent in spirit, taught the Bible accurately, and proclaimed boldly outside the church. Who wouldn’t want this man to be their pastor? That’s if you just wanted a church service or a church but not a change in the city. These are great things but not enough for where they were located. This was Ephesus and it needed more. It needed someone with a gift from God. It needed a leader filled with the Holy Spirit. How do we know that? When Paul left Ephesus, he left a husband-and-wife team, Aquila and Priscilla, there to attend the church services. They listened to an Apollos Sunday sermon, and “when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (verse 26). The “more accurately" goes along with verse 25—that he had been “acquainted only with the baptism of John.” The baptism of John is water baptism. So they explained another baptism, one without water but full of fire, a baptism of the Holy Spirit. A correctable educated man is very rare, but Apollos was. He listened to the visiting couple, and here’s the result of his encounter with Priscilla and Aquila: “When he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (verses 27-28). They encouraged Apollos to go Achaia, and he became a help to that city. But Ephesus needed help, big time help—and help was on the way. Same city, same church, but a different man—and this time, one filled with the fire of God, one filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 19, we’ll see that the apostle Paul came to Ephesus. And something happened not only in church but in the entire city. What difference can the infilling of the Holy Spirit really make? That’s Acts 19.
Transcribe →Sixty Miles’ Worth of Jealousy
May 2800:06:11Tap to summarizeDay 106 Today's Reading: Acts 17 Quaker minister and advocate of religious freedom, who also founded Pennsylvania, wrote about the dangers of jealousy: Jealousy is a kind of civil war in the soul, where judgment and imagination are at perpetual jars [odds]. . . . Nothing stands safe in its way: nature, interest, religion, must yield to its fury. It violates contracts, dissolves society, breaks wedlock, betrays friends and neighbors. Nobody is good, and everyone is either doing or designing a mischief. It has a venom that . . . bites. On our 260 journey today we find Paul ensnared in the consequences of jealousy. Paul had just finished preaching in Thessalonica and he left to preach in Berea—and jealousy was about to enter the picture: The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17:10-12) His trip from Thessalonica to Berea was a sixty-mile journey. Sixty miles to walk and preach the gospel. While he was there, he was seeing success. It says that “many of them believed.” But then another group made the sixty-mile walk. Not only does love and mission make you walk sixty miles, hate, jealousy, and anger will make you walk that far too. The Jews of Thessalonica were walking after them to mess up Paul’s journey. They hated Paul in Thessalonica. They were so jealous of him that they wanted to make his life miserable sixty miles from their hometown: “When the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds” (verse 13). This all started in their hometown, which we read about in verses 5-7: The Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also.” Instead of letting it go and saying, “At least they are out of our city,” their jealousy made them walk sixty miles. It takes about forty-five minutes to walk three miles if you’re walking at a brisk pace (you do the math) . . . that’s at least fifteen hours of walking. They couldn’t let it go. They couldn’t be happy that Paul and Silas were out of their town. They had to go and wreak havoc in the other city for them. That is the power of jealousy. There is a distinction between jealousy and envy. To envy, or covet, is to want something that belongs to another person. The tenth commandment says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17). In contrast, jealousy is the fear that something we possess will be taken away by another person. Although jealousy can apply to our jobs, our possessions, or our reputations, the word more often refers to anxiety that comes when we are afraid the affections of a loved one might be lost to a rival. We fear that our mates, or perhaps our children, will be lured away by some other person who, when compared to us, seems to be more attractive, capable, and successful. Jealousy is a form of hatred built upon insecurity and fear. What were they afraid of? They were losing their influence to the gospel and they projected it on Paul. It was really Jesus, but Paul was the spokesperson, so their insecurity and fear made them go after Paul. The story is told of a great English preacher, F. B. Meyer, and his struggle with jealousy when another great English preacher, G. Campbell Morgan, returned to England after being in America. Meyer admitted to some friends, “It was easy to pray for the success of Campbell Morgan when he was in America. But when he came back to England and took a church near mine, it was something different. The old Adam in me was inclined to jealousy, but I got my heel upon his head, and whether I felt right toward my friend, I determined to act right.” F. B. Meyer’s jealousy is that insecurity that said, You are close, now I don’t want you to do so well. Do well in America but not around the corner. As R. T. Kendall wrote in Jealousy, “It takes minimal grace to weep with those who weep; it takes a lot of grace to rejoice with those who rejoice.” That second part—rejoicing with those who rejoice—reveals the heart. Rejoicing with those who rejoice is saying they got blessed and you didn’t, and that you’re okay with that. Can you and I be joyful when other people are blessed by God? That is a sure sign of jealousy being defeated. Those sixty-mile walkers did not like all those people believing. Instead of rejoicing that lives were being changed, they saw it as Judaism no longer holding the leading voice in their lives because Jesus was. Let’s make it a point today to rejoice with someone. How do we rejoice someone? By loving them. The presence of jealousy means the absence of love. Paul reminds us in the love chapter: “Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else” (1 Corinthians 13:4, TPT). That’s love . . . when you refuse to be jealous.
Transcribe →A Painful No Can Lead to an Incredible Yes
May 2700:03:54Tap to summarizeDay 105 Today’s Reading: Acts 16 Welcome to one of the most important New Testament chapters, Acts 16. This chapter is the reason we meet for church, and it all started with God saying "no" to the apostle Paul. Let me tell you that my “no” story changed the direction of my life. In the summer of 1983, I had the opportunity to go on two mission trips. The first was to Jamaica and the other to Detroit. Without praying, I said yes to Jamaica. I thought the sun, beach, and sand was the best place to minister. Then I did something that changed everything—I prayed and asked God what He wanted me to do. God said no to Jamaica and yes to Detroit. If left to me, I was heading to the Caribbean; if left to God, I was heading to one of the most impoverished inner cities in the country. Didn’t make sense . . . yet. That summer mission’s trip changed my life. What I thought would be two months between semesters at university, ended up becoming thirty years of my life and a call to ministry. And it all started with hearing no to Jamaica. That is not only my story, that is Paul’s story in Acts 16. God was doing great things in Asia, and Paul was on his second missionary journey. While he was starting to make plans for his “Jamaica,” he heard God’s no twice: They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. (Acts 16:6-7) Two no’s, then the yes from God: Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:8-10) Two thoughts for us to remember: 1. God is a father and fathers say no. 2. No is not rejection but protection. Remember, Satan always says yes. Sometimes you have to hear some no’s before you get a yes. If you have never heard no from God, then your relationship with Him is suspect and you’re probably not talking to Him. When He does say no, it means He has something bigger and better for you. For Paul, that bigger and better was that God had a global strategy for the church, one He mapped out way back in Acts 1:8: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Jerusalem was covered in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. Acts 8 moved the gospel into Judea and Samaria through the great persecution: “On that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. . . . Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:1, 4). Part 3 of the Acts 1:8 strategy had yet to be fulfilled—until we hit chapter 16. This was the gospel going to Europe and eventually around the world. If Paul didn’t listen to God and did what was comfortable by staying in Asia, then your church and my church wouldn’t exist today. It was so much easier to stay in Asia, but God had something bigger in mind, and so God said no. Thank You, God, for saying no to us, and especially to the apostle Paul.
Transcribe →The Best Of Men Are Still Men at Best
May 2600:05:46Tap to summarizeDay 104 Today’s Reading: Acts 15 I’ll always be thankful for my friend and mentor, Dr. R. T. Kendall, who during a critical time in my life quoted these words from an unknown source: “Always remember that the best of men are still men at best.” We all have our faults and flaws, even the greatest Christian leaders. In today’s reading, we will see how true these words are. First let me tell you a revival story from the First Great Awakening in the 1700s that shook two continents. The awakening was spreading from England to a nation soon to form (the United States of America). What God did during that time became the DNA for the language used in our foundational documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Though the revival was great, it was not without controversy. Two great preachers and close friends, John Wesley and George Whitefield, who played significant spiritual roles during that time often found themselves in sharp disagreement with each other. Both men led countless thousands to faith in Christ, but they were at odds theologically. Whitefield had traveled to the American colonies and when he returned to England, the men had a heated confrontation. Wesley wrote of the event: “He told me that he and I preached two different gospels; and therefore he would not only not join with or give me the right hand of fellowship, but was resolved publicly to preach against me and my brother [Charles], wheresoever he preached at all. The best of men are still men at best. Before Whitefield came to the end of his life, he asked Wesley to preach his funeral sermon. Wesley agreed, and while there, a woman approached and asked, “Dear Mr. Wesley, do you expect to see dear Mr. Whitefield in heaven?” After a lengthy pause, Wesley responded solemnly, “No, Madam.” “Ah, I was afraid you would say so,” she said. “But,” Wesley continued, “do not misunderstand me. . . . George Whitefield will stand so near the throne that one like me will never get a glimpse of him!” Just like the first Great Awakening, the first missionary journey of the church to take the gospel beyond Jerusalem had problems between its leaders: After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. (Acts 15:36-40) The greatest Christian of his time (Paul) and the greatest encourager of his time (Barnabas) had a sharp disagreement. The best of men are still men at best. I heard someone say it like this: “The church is like Noah’s ark. The stench on the inside would be unbearable if it weren’t for the storm on the outside.” Many times we stink, but the world is really stormy. Paul and Barnabas only traveled together on one of the three missionary journeys because of this fight. The sharp disagreement between them was based upon whether to take the young disciple John Mark with them. Earlier, the young man seemed to have gotten scared and deserted the dynamic duo. Paul thought John Mark’s actions should get him fired, but Barnabas wanted to give him a second chance. When things are emotional, people tend to become illogical. The disagreement over John Mark became emotional and illogical. Sharp disagreement implies the emotional; separating and going different ways is illogical. When we read how this disagreement ended, it’s good for us to consider some questions: Who do you have in your life who will tell you the truth? Who can disagree with you without the situation becoming disagreeable and defensive? Can your spouse, best friend, family member challenge your opinion—spiritually, politically, racially, socially—without it turning into a shouting match? Here’s the truth: when you are shouting over a differing opinion, it isn’t the opinion that is revealing, it’s the yeller being revealed. Two quick thoughts to use for the times someone disagrees with you: First, get the second side of everything. Job 11:6 says that “sound wisdom has two sides.” You are not able to see everything and you are not able to know everything. Go in trying to find the truth not trying to be right. Second, surround yourself with wise people, those who feed your soul, not your ego, those who won’t be afraid to disagree with you, who will force you to practice getting the second side. As Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (NLT). Prominent 1920s attorney Dudley Field Malone said it this way, “I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.” I am happy the Bible records the argument of the apostle and the encourager, but not so happy about their separation. In the end, God used Paul and Silas on the other two missionary journeys, however, I wish we would have seen a resolution instead of a separation between the two. But it really is true . . . the best of men are still men at best.
Transcribe →A Strange Response to a Miracle
May 2500:05:13Tap to summarizeDay 103 Today’s Reading: Acts 14 C. S. Lewis wrote, “Miracles in fact are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” Lewis was saying that a miracle was retelling the big story that God exists and God is good. Seeing a miracle should help us to see the big letters. Unfortunately, as we find in today’s reading, Lystra missed it. Acts 14 is about a man being able to walk for the first time. It’s a miracle! But the chapter shows us more: it shows how the people who can walk are lame. They are crippled in their worldview. The people in Lystra saw a miracle and end up worshiping the guys who performed it: While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed. So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!” They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes. (Acts 14:8-12, NLT) A man walks who had never walked. God healed him. And when the town saw it, they responded with a wrong conclusion—that Paul and Barnabas must be gods. And they decided, “Let’s praise these guys.” So Paul had to speak to their false conclusion: Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings—just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” (Acts 14:15-17, NLT) Verse 17 is so important. Paul was explaining the reason Lystra blew it when the man was healed: God had left them evidence of His existence and His goodness. When it rains, it’s because God is good. When they had good crops, that was from a good God. Émile Cammaerts was right in these profound words: “The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything.” Because the people of Lystra missed God’s evidence, they had to come up with their own gods—and this day it was Paul and Barnabas. Paul’s words are not just important for Lystra to know but for our world to know. This is so important: we see something amazing happen and we praise people and leave God out of the mix. People know how to blame God for the bad but they don’t know how to praise God for the good. That was Lystra, and that’s happening today. Some years ago, I was flying home only to have my flight canceled because of a weather-related issue. Huge thunderstorms grounded all the flights. The other passengers and I would have to wait until the storm passed, which looked to be the next morning. When I asked the gate agent if the airline would cover the expenses of my night in a hotel, her response was, “We only cover that when it’s mechanical. When it’s an act of God, you are on your own.” I laughed when I realized what she’d said. She was saying God exists! But He exists only when bad stuff happens, and the airline isn’t responsible for His storms. When the good stuff happens, though, the airline did it. When storms happen, passengers have to pay. Insurance companies and airlines call storm-related damages acts of God. But they forget that the sunshine is from God too. In 1970, the Apollo 13 mission was almost a catastrophe. Apollo 13 was the third mission NASA was sending to the moon, but after an oxygen tank explosion onboard en route, they had to abort the mission. This is where the famous “Houston, we’ve had a problem . . .” line occurred. Many people only know about the event from watching the iconic movie Tom Hanks starred in and Ron Howard directed. The part the movie did not show us was that the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, came on television and asked the nation to pray for the astronauts’ safe return. And this is what happened: the capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean and was put on an aircraft carrier. And when the astronauts were safely aboard the carrier . . . don’t miss this . . . the president praised American space technology for the return of our astronauts. He asked us to pray, and when God answered that prayer, he praised human skill and technology. He should have just called NASA Zeus and Hermes. It was just a few years later that Watergate occurred and that president resigned in disgrace. God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good.
Transcribe →You Never Know What Can Happen When You Worship
May 2200:03:59Tap to summarizeDay 102 Today’s Reading: Acts 13 In her children’s novel, The Candymakers, Wendy Mass wrote, "If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.” Well, in today’s reading we see that the butterfly is about to come out, because a change is coming. Can you imagine having Sunday school teachers in your home church named Paul and Barnabas? I mean the Paul and Barnabas. The church in Antioch did. Acts 13 tells us this and then tells us what happened during their worship service. And it’s the butterfly moment: There were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit . . . .” (Acts 13:1-4) Paul had been saved in AD 34—Acts 9. In Acts 13, it was AD 48—fourteen years later. It had been fourteen years since Paul’s conversion. Antioch was a six-year-old church, which we saw had been started in Acts 11, where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Paul was teaching there but had not been released into full-time ministry yet until the music started one Sunday in the service. Let’s read verse 2 again, this time in a different translation: “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’” (NIV). You have to worship. It’s a command. Not only because God deserves it, but because it positions us for God to talk to us and even guide us. And on this day in Antioch, God tapped Paul and Barnabas on the shoulders and said that it was time for them to change locations and ministries. You may have thought you are just singing when the music starts at your church, but so much more can happen. When you worship you are positioning yourself to hear God’s voice. The songs were playing and God said it was time for a change in the Antioch staff team. Whatever their role was at the Antioch church, it would have been cool to go to Barnabas and Paul’s church. But their church was soon about to have a staff shake up. Just when it seems like you have the perfect leadership team, God may say, “Change.” That doesn’t seem too cool to do to your dream team, but in this case, we know the end of the story and we know it was the right move, because this was the beginning of Paul’s missionary journeys and the spread of the gospel around the world. Remember, God’s will is more important than any of our preferences. His Kingdom is more important than personalities and our comfort. When it’s a God thing, there may be sadness but there is never harm to God’s work. God will not change the landscape to harm one place and bless another. God will not change something to kill ministries, but will raise up others to do the work of the ministry that did not have a chance before. Abrupt vacancy sometimes means we got comfortable with the same people doing the same thing for a long time and God wants others developed. Don’t think any person is off limits to God. Don’t put any boundaries around a singer. A musician. A pastor. A leader or faithful worker. As Corrie ten Boom reminds us: “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” That’s exactly what was about to happen to Paul and the church at Antioch. They were both holding their hands lightly when God tapped them on the shoulder during the worship service. Next time you stand and sing at church and you feel a tap, it may not be the person behind you. I’m just saying.
Transcribe →What If Someone’s Future Was in the Hands of Your Prayer Life?
May 2100:04:43Tap to summarizeDay 101 Today’s Reading: Acts 12 Today we come to a challenging passage of Scripture. We are about to see two men in prison, yet those same men’s lives have a different outcome. And it seems there is something that happened that changed one of these men’s future. Let’s read the story: About that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. (Acts 12:1-5) Herod arrested two key figures in the first church: James and Peter. Both were imprisoned. James was put to death by the sword, and Peter was about to face the same outcome . . . but Peter was miraculously delivered. Something seemed to change Peter’s meeting with the executioner: “Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God” (verse 5). Read that verse again: “But prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Could it be that God was showing us the power of prayer? James got a sword; Peter got an angel: On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. (Acts 12:6-7) I have to say this about the angelic visit in prison. Take a look this sentence: “He struck Peter’s side and woke him up.” Talk about the peace of God. If I knew I was going to die the next day, I would not be in such a deep sleep that an angel would need to strike me on the side and yell, “Get up." Why did Peter have the peace of God? Because he knew the promise of God. This is really important. Back in John 21, Jesus made Peter a promise about his death: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!” (John 21:18-19) He was telling Peter that he would not die young but as an old man who can’t even dress himself. Peter knew a promise that Jesus made over him twelve years before. So Peter could go to sleep, because he believed God would get him out. And God did. Puritan writer Thomas Watson said that “the angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.” Could the difference be that God is showing us that prayer is intercession? That prayer gets people out of a death sentence. One gets killed, the other gets delivered. And the thing separating their fates was a praying church. Peter was going to be killed, but prayer trumped Herod’s intentions. My prayer, our church’s prayer, can be a matter of life and death. If Peter’s life depended on your prayer life or on your church’s prayer life . . . would he have had a chance? Or would he have faced the same fate as his companion? A Christian lady lived next door to an atheist. Every day she prayed, and the atheist could hear her. Many times, he would harass her and say, “Why do you pray all the time? Don’t you know there is no God?” But still she kept on praying. One day she ran out of groceries. As usual, she was praying, and the atheist could hear her. As she prayed, she explained her situation to the Lord, thanking Him for what He was going to do. The atheist was so annoyed with her praying, that he decided to get her. He went to the store, bought groceries, dropped them off on her front porch, rang the doorbell, and hid in the bushes. When she opened the door and saw the groceries, she began to praise the Lord! The atheist jumped out of the bushes. “You old crazy lady. God didn’t buy you those groceries. I bought those groceries!” His announcement started her shouting and praising God all the more. “I knew the Lord would provide me with some groceries, but I didn’t know he was going make the devil pay for them!” Can your prayer life get someone out of jail?
Transcribe →One of Three
May 2000:04:07Tap to summarizeDay 100 Today’s Reading: Acts 11 In today’s reading we see a word that we use all the time but it’s used for the first time in the entire Bible. In fact, the word is used only three times in the entire New Testament. It is the word Christian. That sounds impossible, but it’s true. Pastor Sam Pascoe once said, “Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.” It’s time to see how the Bible uses the word Christian. The Bible is very careful with this word, and I think so we must be. Let’s build a description of a Christian with the three passages, starting with Acts 11: “He left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (verses 25-26). The “he” in this verse is Barnabas, Paul’s mentor. The two men went to Antioch for an entire year. And it was in that city where Christian was first used. Let’s build our description on this economy of words. First, a Christian is a reminder. I love that the church did not make up this word about themselves and get T-shirts made. The word, which means, “little Christ,” was a derogatory, slang word made up by unbelievers. They were in essence saying that the believers reminded them of the man with the thorns on the cross whom was crucified a year before. A real Christian looks like Jesus, not like a church, a religion, a denomination, or a culture. Hopefully when an unbeliever sees us, they see Him. The second time this word is used is in Acts 26:28. Paul was talking to a king who was not a Christian. Paul was not just dispensing knowledge and information but was trying to persuade and change: “Agrippa replied to Paul, ‘In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.’” The second thing we need to understand about a Christian is that a Christian is a persuader. Christianity is not just right for me and you; it’s right for the planet. We are not inviting people to a place but to a person. Finally, we leave the book of Acts to find the last use of the word. It’s in 1 Peter 4:16: “If anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.” A Christian is a reminder, a Christian is a persuader, and a Christian is a sufferer. What does that mean? It’s suffering for doing the right thing. There will be times when a Christian will not get an award for doing the right thing, will not get cheers for doing the right thing, and will not get a plaque for doing the right thing. Instead that Christian will get laughed at, mocked, reprimanded, fired, and even sued for living like Jesus. There will be moments when your only audience will be an audience of one—God Himself. But that is enough motivation for doing what’s right. Christians are considered by many to be crazy, and, as A. W. Tozer suggests, with good reason: “A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest. . . . He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible and knows that which passeth knowledge.” May that be true of you and me always.
Transcribe →The “Can’t Help It” Condition
May 1100:03:28Tap to summarizeDay 93 Today's Reading: Acts 4 Today’s reading in Acts 4 is connected to a miracle story in Acts 3. In Acts 3, Peter and John prayed for a man they had seen every day at the temple, but this time with the fresh power from the Holy Spirit they received in Acts 2, they see this lame man walk and he's healed. Peter and John told the people that Jesus did this miracle. That’s where we pick up our story in Acts 4. The people who saw the miracle and heard their story became Christians—5,000 of them! But there was another group listening who did not believe: As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. (Acts 4:1-3) The miracle and the message landed Peter and John in jail. And after questioning them, this is what happened: When they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:18-20) The authorities told Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Let me say this about the Christian and our government. Talking about Romans 13, pastor John R. W. Stott says that “we are to submit right up to the point where obedience to the state would entail disobedience to God.” At that point our Christian duty is to disobey the state in order to obey God. If the state misuses its God-given authority either to command what God forbids or to forbid what God commands, we have to say no to the state in order to say yes to Christ. As John Calvin said, “Obedience to man must not become disobedience to God.” And that is where this story lands us. The Jewish authorities told Peter and John they could no longer speak in the name of Jesus, which has to be a no to the state to say yes to Christ. And Peter says "that's impossible. We don't have the ability to not speak," Peter says, “We cannot stop.” Dr. E. V. Hill, one of the great Baptist preachers preached on this moment when Peter challenged the “no speaking” rule of the courts: Peter spoke up and said, “You’ll have to judge whether or not we should obey you or obey God. But as for us, we have a condition, and it’s contagious and it’s called ‘can’t-help-it.’ We couldn’t stop if we wanted to. We could not stop in spite of your threats. We are not spectators; we are participators. No matter how you have threatened us and forbidden us to preach by this name, we will continue to do it, because we can’t help it. This isn’t something we can cut on and off. . ." “We were with Jesus when He turned the water to wine. We were right there with Him when He hollered to Lazarus to come forth. . . . We were there when He gave sight to the blind. Don’t tell us to shut up; we’ve got evidence.” They said that on that basis they were going to keep on preaching Jesus. “We can’t help it.” You and I need that “can’t help it” condition too. We all do.
Transcribe →3 P.M. Christians
May 800:03:44Tap to summarizeDay 92 Today's Reading: Acts 3 When a big event is over and life starts up again, how do we cope? How does that look? Or how do we look? After an inspiring Sunday church service, Monday will be there. Monday is always coming. There will be no lights, no band, no greeters at the door, no hugging . . . because it’s Monday and we have a job and a schedule to keep. The biggest event in church history after the cross and resurrection is the day the Holy Spirit fell upon the church—called the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church, which we read about in Acts 2. Fire touched them, the church was started, and people were changed. And what came after, which we read about in Acts 3, is monumental. It is a great guide for us on how to look at Mondays: Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. (Acts 3:1-8) Look at verse 1 again: “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.” After the most powerful move of God in the church, the church went back on schedule. The ninth hour is 3 p.m., the normal hour of prayer in the Jewish culture. God put them back on schedule. They started attending the normal prayer meeting. That is insightful. They became 3 p.m. Christians. What is a 3 p.m. Christian? It is a Christian who was touched by the Holy Spirit in a special setting but now takes that new touch and brings it into their everyday environment and schedule. They are new people in the same old place. A 3 p.m. Christian comes to the same places with a different heart and different perspective. God doesn’t change places, He changes the person. Acts 3 determines if Acts 2 is real. Real life determines if the experience and change are real. Monday behavior is a great test of Sunday inspiration. What happened to the disciples? One thing that was very noticeable was that the ordinary started to look extraordinary. They received new eyes. That lame man wasn’t new, he had been placed there every day from the time he was a kid. They passed that guy, but today he looked different. He looked like a candidate for a miracle. One of the best tests for us is that we will notice people: when God touches us, then we love people—not just God—better. It isn’t a true work of God if we don’t treat people better. The ordinary and the common should start looking different—from the people in Starbucks to our spouses and our kids to our bosses to our coworkers. God didn’t change you for church. God changed you for life—everyday life, Monday life. He changed you to be a 3 p.m. Christian.
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