Acts 2:37-38 At the heart of the Gospel, there is the love of God. This is the story told by Peter on the Day of Pentecost – the story of God’s love for us. In love, God offers to us the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (v. 38). These blessings …
Continue reading The Day Of Pentecost – What A Day That Was!
Acts 25:1-27 Paul stood before Festus as an accused man. Festus listened. Recognizing his own shortcomings and respecting the accused wishes, he gave Paul a fair hearing (20-21,25). Festus made no decision - 'I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him' (26). Jesus was 'dead'. Now, He is 'alive' (19). This is …
How did the world begin? How will the world end? Who was there when the world began? Who will be there when the world ends? How and Who - these are quite different questions. The How question wonders about the beginning and the end. What happened? What will happen? The Who question takes us beyond …
Continue reading At every stage of our life’s journey, the Lord is there – with us and for us.
Acts 1-3 The Lord Jesus called His disciples to be His witnesses, in the power of the Holy Spirit. They prayed that the power of God would come upon them (chapter 1). The Lord sent the Holy Spirit to them. They were were epowered by the Holy Spirit. Their ministry was blessed by God. It …
Continue reading Witnessing for Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Peter preached Christ with great boldness: ‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’(Acts 4:12). This boldness came from the Holy Spirit. Peter was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’(Acts 4:8). Don’t say, ‘I‘m no Peter’. Peter failed his Lord …
Acts 5:12-6:7 There was great blessing: 'More than ever believers were added to the Lord' (14). There was persecution (17-18). This did not hinder the advance of the Gospel (42). Satan was not going to give up easily. He came right back at the apostles (1). Satan was defeated. Through the Spirit of God and …
Acts 4-6 God is at work, and so is Satan. The devil does all that he can to try to hinder the work of God. The victory, however, belongs to the Lord. His work is advancing: "Their proclamation of the Good News of Christ Jesus was never interrupted... the number of disciples was increasing" (5:42-6:1).
Acts 19:23-20:16 Read verse 28: 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians'. Remember Exodus 20:3 - 'You shall have no other gods before Me'. Remove all pretenders from God's throne. Rededicate yourself to the Lord - 'King of my life, I crown Thee now, Thine shall the glory be' (Redemption Hymnal, 165). People could not get …
Ascension of the Lord: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or 93 or Daniel 7:9-14; Psalm 24:7-10; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53 Jesus is taken up into heaven. The Holy Spirit is given to us. We read, in John 7:39, that ‘the Spirit’ would not be ‘given’ until Jesus was ‘glorified.’ Now, as Jesus was about to be ‘taken …
Continue reading Jesus is taken up into heaven. The Holy Spirit is given to us.
Acts 7-8 In chapter 7, through a history of God's dealings with Israel, Stephen exposes the sin and guilt of hts accusers, They react violently, and Stephen is stoned to death. Saul watched this, and "entirely approved of the killing" (8:1). Saul went on from there, "working for the total desctruction of the church" (chapter …
We're nearly at the end of the old year. Our thoughts are turning to the New Year. Is it time for thinking about something else - new life? "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who …
Continue reading New Year: a time for thinking about something else – new life
"We will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4). Prayer and the ministry of God's Word: these are to be important priorities in the lives of God's servants, but this is not all that's done by the people of God. When we read these words in the light of the …
Continue reading Pray to God, preach His Word – and care for the people.
1 Kings 20:1-21:29; Acts 18:9-19:13; Psalm 78:32-39 As a prophet of God, Elijah brought this message to the people: "This is what the Lord says" (1 Kings 21:19). This was Paul's ministry: "teaching them the Word of God" (Acts 18:11). Elijah's ministry was the denunciation of the evil king, Ahab. Paul's ministry was the proclamation …
A strange thing happened. It was a very wonderful thing. It was the Day of Pentecost. It was the day that the fire of God came down. What blessing there was that day! Peter was a completely different man - and so were three thousand others! God was moving in power. Great things were happening. …
Immediately before he was stoned, Stephen preached the Gospel of Christ. After he had finished speaking, we see Stephen - about to be stoned - facing death as a man, full of the Holy Spirit, a man looking to Jesus Christ - "Now when they heard these things they were enraged and they ground their …
Continue reading Learning from Stephen – a man, filled with the Holy Spirit
Jesus preached the kingdom of God. His apostles preached the kingdom of God. In moving from Jesus' preaching in the Gospels to the apostles' preaching in Acts, we're not really moving away from Jesus at all. Luke, the author of Acts, describes his Gospel as an account of "all that Jesus began to do and …
Are you confused by what's happening in today's world? You're not alone. Is there a way out of this confusion? Are we to look for easy answers? or Do such answers only show that we have failed to understand life's deepest questions? Can we answer life's deepest questions? or Do we have to look beyond …
"Help me, Lord my God; save me according to your unfailing love" (Psalm 109:26). When we're going through hard times, we come to the Lord and ask for his help. Is this only a prayer for partcularly hard times? It is that, but it is, also, more than that. Is there ever a time when we can …
2 Samuel 22:1-23:7; Acts 9:1-31; Psalm 73:15-28 2 Samuel 22 begins with a tremendous declaration of who God is and a marvellous expression of trust in Him – “The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer … my Rock … my Shield and the Horn of my Salvation … my Stronghold, my Refuge …
Acts 11-13 Peter's taking the Gospel to Cornelius opened the way for the Gospel to go the Gentiles. In chapter 11, Peter emphasizes that the Gospel is for the Gentiles. In chapter 13, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, emphasizes that the Gospel for all nations is rooted in God's revelation to the Jews. While …
Continue reading The good news of Christ is for people of every nation.
Acts 14-16 Here, we see the great influence of both Peter and Paul in the life and witness of the early church. In chaoters 14 and 16, we have the ministry of Paul. In chapter 15, we see Peter giving his support to Paul's ministry. He does this by emphasizing that the Gospel is for …
Continue reading Peter and Paul, working together to bring many people to Christ
1 Kings 18:16-19:21; Acts 17:22-18:8; Psalm 78:17-31 In the relationship between God and the gods, we see (a) the conflict between good and evil (1 Kings 18); (b) God's way of salvation - He leads people out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of knowledge (Acts 17:23); (c) God's word of warning …
His word is in my heart like a fire (Jeremiah 20:9). What is it that keeps the fire burning? It's the power that comes from God. It's the power of the Holy Spirit. He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and …
Continue reading How can we become more on fire for the Lord?
Acts 20-22 As we read about Paul, travelling from place to place, we come to appreciate the geographical breadth of his ministry. In chapter 22, we see the spiritual depth of his ministry. This spiritual depth arises out of his real, life-changing experience of the salvation which had come to him through the Lord Jesus …
Acts 26-38 In addressing King Agrippa, Paul focuses attention on the resurrection: "Why does it seem incredible to you that God should raise the dead?" (chapter 26). Paul proclaimed that "Christ... as the first to rise from the dead... was to proclaim that light now shone for our people and for the pagans too" (chapter …
Continue reading In the eyes of men, Paul was a prisoner. In the plan of God, he was a witness.
1 Kings 22:1-53; Acts 19:14-41; Proverbs 15:31-16:7 Here's a spiritual principle for everyone who seeks to be faithful to God: "As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me" (1 Kings 22:14). In Ephesus, there was a riot. The crowds shouted, "Great is Artemis ("Diana" in the King James …
Continue reading I will tell him only what the Lord tells me.
Acts 23-25 "The resurrection of the dead" was a central theme in Paul's preaching: "It is for our hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial" (chapter 23); "It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today" (chapter 24). His teaching concerning the resurrection …
Continue reading The resurrection of Christ opens up for us a glorious future.
2 Samuel 23:8-24:25; Acts 9:32-10:23a; Psalm 74:1-9 “His mercy is great” (2 Samuel 24:14). These words of David are powerfully demonstrated in the call to Peter to take the Gospel to Cornelius, the Gentile. God’s mercy is not only for the Jewish nation. It’s also for the Gentiles. Now, the Gentiles belong to the people …
1 Kings 8:22-9:9; Acts 14:8-28; Proverbs 15:11-20 The majesty of the Temple was not merely human. The glory belonged to the Lord. His glory would be among His people, as they honoured Him by doing His will. The servants of the Lord must always say, "we are only men ... We are bringing you Good News, …
2 Kings 18:1-19:13; Acts 27:13-44; Psalm 82:1-8 “Do not let the god you depend on deceive you” (2 Kings 19:10). The Lord alone is worthy of our trust. He alone will prove trustworthy. There is no god like the Lord - “God presides in the great assembly: He gives judgment among the gods” (Psalm 82:1). …
Continue reading The Lord alone is worthy of our trust. He will not fail us.
"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness" (John 12:46). "As he (Saul of Tarsus) neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you …
Continue reading The Word and the words (14): A light from heaven
"God so loved the world (the people of the world)" (John 3:16); "Do not love the world (the ways of the world)" (1 John 2:15). "God so loved the world" - These words are a call to mission. We are to show the people of the world how much God loves them. We're to be …
"No one ever spoke the way this man does" (John 7:46). There was something different about Jesus. There was something special about him. Jesus spoke with authority - "My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me" (John 7:16). Jesus spoke with power. In John 7:37-39, Jesus speaks of "rivers …
Continue reading The Word and the words (9): Speaking with authority, speaking with power
The question is asked: "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). The answer is given: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). Sometimes, when questions come into our minds, we wonder if we will ever receive an answer. The more we think about it, the more we come …
Continue reading What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
“Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’” (Acts 15:36). We begin with making decisions – but we don’t end there. We must go on from there to making …
Acts 9-10 In these chapters, we read of two events of enormous significance for the advance of the Gospel: the conversions of Saul of Tarsus (chapter 9) and Cornelius, the Roman centurion (chapter 10). Saul became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. The conversion of Cornelius was the beginning of the Gospel going to the …
“Paul … strengthened the faith of all the disciples” (Acts 18:23). Strengthening the faith of all the disciples: This is such an important ministry. We are not to be content with the faith that we have. We are to press on to a stronger faith. What do we mean when we speak about a strong faith? …
Continue reading The School of Discipleship (14): Strengthening the faith of all the disciples
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free ... If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:32,36). "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). When we speak about 'the truth' we should, also, speak about Jesus. It is a good thing …
Continue reading More than ‘telling the truth’ – we are to be witnesses for Christ.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). Here, we read about faith - and we read about God. How are we to think about faith - and how are to think about God? …
Continue reading The God who is there… and the God who is here (in the human heart)…
"God has set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God has given us some understanding of himself, but we do not understand everything all that he is doing in our lives and in our world. There are two thoughts here, and …
Continue reading Our limited understanding and God’s revelation
In ourselves, we are weak. From the Spirit, we receive new strength – God’s strength, the strength that we need to live for the Lord, the strength that we need to be His “witnesses” (Acts 1:8). This is the lesson that we’re learning from Acts. Remember what Peter was like at the time of the …
Continue reading From the Spirit, we receive new strength – God’s strength …
"We preach Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23). In his preaching. Paul "reasoned with people from the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2), but he did not say, "We preach Isaiah", "We preach Jeremiah" or "We preach... ." He said, "We preach Christ crucified." When Paul spoke about the death of Christ, he spoke about the love of God: …
Continue reading When we preach Christ crucified, let us, also, preach that he is the risen Lord.
"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24, New International Version). What is Jesus saying to us here? When we read, in the King James Version, the words, "worship in spirit and in truth", we may feel that he's speaking about the attitude in which we are to …
"Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls... Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words... Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord" (Acts 15:24,32,35). There was a …
Acts 17-19 Here, we see that the preaching of the Gospel which is grounded in the Scriptures. In chapter 17, Paul spoke "from Scripture." In chapter 18, we read about Apollos who "demonstrated from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ." In Paul's preaching, the message was "the Christ is this Jesus." When we preach …
"The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:39). When Peter preached to the crowds on the day of Pentecost , he wasn't preaching only to the people who were in Jerusalem on that day. He was preaching "for …
Continue reading Words from a faraway place and a long ago time, words for today, words for us
"Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless (or unsearchable) riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). This post continues on from an earlier post, which contrasts Paul and Jesus. You may find it helpful to read that post before reading this one. …
Continue reading The good news for sinners: our Saviour is greater than our sin.
"God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:3-4). This post is a continuation of my earlier post, "This is my Son. This is your Saviour." You should, really, read that post before reading …
Continue reading Let us rejoice in Jesus, God’s Son. Let us rejoice in Jesus, our Saviour.
Sometimes, we're up on the mountaintop. Sometimes, we're down in the valley. Sometimes, we're really rejoicing in the Lord - on fire for the Lord. Sometimes, our heads go down - and we've lost the joy of the Lord. What are we to make of the turmoil of confused and confusing emotions that we experience …
Continue reading Up on the mountaintop, down in the valley …
"God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it... God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:32,36). On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached Jesus, the risen Lord. What are we to say about Jesus and the resurrection? Did Jesus become the Lord and the Christ when …
How then can we be saved? (Isaiah 64:5). What must I do to be saved?... Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved (Acts 16:30-31).' We think of our sin, and we ask the question, "How then can we be saved?" Is there a way of salvation for us? Can our sins be forgiven? …
"In Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9). We read these words of Paul, and we may wonder, "Was he going 'over the top' with this description of Christ?" Then, we think of the resurrection of Jesus. What does the resurrection tell us about Jesus? It tells us that He …
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42). "They devoted themselves ... " This is what they did. This is what we are called to do. Let's think about something else - not about what they did, not about what we are called to do. Let's …
"While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word" (Acts 10:44). When the Word of God is being preached, there are two things happening. The preacher is speaking, and God is speaking. True preaching of God's Word is always more than the words of the preacher. There is …
2 Kings 16:1-17:41; Acts 26:24-27:12; Psalm 81:8-16 “They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless” (2 Kings 17:15). There is no god who can compare with the Lord (Psalm 81:9-10). He alone is worthy of praise. He alone gives value to our lives by bringing fulfilment to them: “Open wide your mouth and I will …
Continue reading There is no god who can compare with the Lord.
"I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). When we think about the history of God's salvation, we begin with God's everlasting love. We go back beyond the beginning of the world - back to the everlasting God and his everlasting love. "That it might be fulfilled" (Matthew 1:21). When we focus our …
Continue reading The history of God’s salvation – Jesus is our Saviour and Lord.
We will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). "Love your neighbour as yourself" (Matthew 22:39): this is part of what the Lord has to say to us, but it is not all that he has to say to us. Some people may tell us that this is all …
Continue reading Responding to God’s Word (41): Open my eyes that I may see.
We look at the world around us, and we feel like we are near to God. Where does this feeling of God's nearness take us? Does it take us to Jesus Christ, our Saviour? or Are we left with something less than faith in Christ? When we feel that God is speaking to us through …
Continue reading More than a mysterious presence – the good news of God’s love
Acts 20:17-21:14 From Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders, there are some lessons for all of us. (a) 'Repentance to God' and 'faith in our Lord Jesus Christ' (21) - This is not only a call for conversion. It is for every believer - all the time. (b) 'Take heed to yourselves and to all …
Continue reading More than Duty Giving and Grudge Giving – Let there be Thanksgiving.
"In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). The Gospel doesn't begin with the coming of Jesus to our world. We need to go back beyond that. We need to go back to the beginning, back to God, our Creator. The God who created us is the God who sent His …
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