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.
“What are we to do?” – Before we think of what we are to do, we must think about what Jesus Christ has done for us. This is the Good News. Jesus Christ has taken our sins upon Himself. He has died for us so that we might be forgiven by Him. We must never …
Continue reading God’s Answer comes to us in the Name of Jesus Christ.
"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 …
"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 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 …
"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 all …
Continue reading Words from a faraway place and a long ago time, words for today, words for us
"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 …
"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'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.
"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 …
"Building a tower and making a name for ourselves" (Genesis 11:4) There is no salvation in ourselves. Salvation is in Christ alone (Acts 4:12). The Lord is our "strong tower" (Proverbs 18:10). Salvation doesn't begin with ourselves. It comes to us from Christ: "Who came down from heaven to earth? - Jesus Christ, our Saviour." …
1 Kings 1:1-2:12; Acts 10:23b-11:18; Psalm 74:10-17 God’s purpose does not stand still. It moves forward. “So Solomon sat on the throne of his father, David, and his rule was firmly established” (1 Kings 2:12). “The circumcised believers … were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the …
"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
1 Kings 11:14-12:24; Acts 15:22-41; Psalm 77:10-20 "They obeyed the Word of the Lord" (1 Kings 12:24). They were "commended ... to the grace of the Lord" (Acts 15:40). Obedience to the Word of the Lord and being commended to the grace of God - these two things belong together. We can only promise obedience …
1 Kings 12:25-14:20; Acts 16:1-15; Psalm 78:1-8 "The Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel" (1 Kings 14:14). There was much "sin" among God's people (1 Kings 13:33-34). God did not abandon His purpose of salvation. His saving purpose finds its fulfilment in Christ. He is the Gospel ("Good News") which God has …
"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 …
1 Kings 14:21-16:7; Acts 16:16-40; Proverbs 15:21-30 The history of the kings was, for the most part, a history of rebellion against God. So few were asking the question: "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). God has given His answer to this question: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be …
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 26). When …
"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 of the …
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 Christ. Paiul's …
Here, we see that the preaching of the Gospel which is grounded in the Scrptures. In chaoter 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 Jesus Christ, …
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 the Gentiles …
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 there is, …
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 (chapterr 10). Saul became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. The conversion of Cornelius was the beginning ofg the Gospel going to the Gentiles.
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 8). The …
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).
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 brought blessing …
"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). As you read this verse from God's Word, note its last few words: "the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." This …
Continue reading “… the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28)
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 …
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 …
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.
"Where the word of a king is, there is power; And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”" (Ecclesiastes 8:4). "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). What do we mean when we speak …
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Colossians 2:8). On the one side, there is philosophy. On the other side, there is Christ. The two are very different. Philosophy begins with man - "after the tradition of men." …
John 16:33, Acts 4:10–12, 1 Cor 15:57 Jesus is the way of salvation - Concerning "the Name of Jesus Christ", Peter tells us that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:10, 12). Jesus is the way …
Continue reading Jesus is the way of salvation, joy and victory.
"I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus" (Acts 20:21). What are we to say about "repentance" and "faith"? Where are we to begin? Are we to begin with repentance? or Are we to begin with faith? Let's begin with …
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 …
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!
"I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). These words were spoken by Jesus to Simon, also known as Peter. What a great answer to prayer there was on the Day of Pentecost - "When the people heard this, they were cut to the …
Continue reading Jesus prays for us – and his prayer will be answered.
We read about the great days. We wonder, "Is there anything else?" Is there something more? Do we have a future? Don't think of these great days as "long, long ago, when life was very different." Have we outgrown the need to listen to Peter,s earnest appeal: "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation" (Acts 2:40)? …
What a day it was! It was the beginning of something new. It was the start of something really special. It was the day of the Spirit. It was the day of his power. It was a day of salvation. Peter preached. This was more than Peter. This was the power of God. "I will …
Fifth Sunday of Easter: Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 or Proverbs 4:10-18; Psalm 119:9-32; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14 Stephen’s Prayer: An echo of Christ’s words from the Cross In life and death, Stephen was Christlike. In life and death, he made a great impact. In life, we see him, ‘full of grace and power’, …
Sixth Sunday of Easter: Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20 or Ezekiel 43:1-7a; Psalm 115; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21 In our worship, we listen to the Word of the Lord. Notice the importance of the Scriptures for both public ministry - ‘reasoning with them from the Scriptures’ and private devotion - ‘examining the Scriptures every day’ …
Continue reading We listen to the Word of the Lord – and we hear the Story of God’s salvation.
God's purpose was moving on. He had begun with Israel. Their deliverance from bondage in Egypt was a mighty demonstration of His saving power. This was only the beginning. God was moving on to Jesus - "the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42). In Jesus Christ, crucified for us, God was reaching out, in love, …
Continue reading "His dominion shall be… to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:10).
Fourth Sunday of Easter: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23 or Ezekiel 34:7-15; Psalm 100; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10 The Day of the Spirit’s Power In Acts 2, we read about the Day of Pentecost. It was a great day. The Spirit was poured out on God’s people. Christ was proclaimed to the crowds. Many were …
Second Sunday of Easter: Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16 or Exodus 15:1-11; Psalm 111; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 Christ has risen. Believe the Gospel. Be changed by the Gospel. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ (John 16:14). ‘No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 12:3). In the preaching …
Continue reading Believe the Gospel. Be changed by the Gospel.
"In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28) - This is what Paul says to us about ourselves and the Lord. There is, here, an echo of the words of Ecclesiastes 3:11 - "God has planted eternity in the human heart." God is speaking to our hearts. He's calling out to …
"I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing" (Psalm 23:1). I lack nothing - God has given us a full salvation. It's a salvation that covers our past, our present and our future. -- We begin by emphasizing that God's salvation covers our past. "He makes me lie …
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This was just the beginning. It was the beginning of something big. The Lord's followers remembered Jesus. They had many precious memories. There were …
Great things can happen when ‘earnest prayer’ is ‘made to God by the church.’ God ‘is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think’ (Acts 12:5-7; Ephesians 3:20).
Before His ascension to heaven, Jesus told His disciples that they were to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit - "wait for the gift My Father promised" (Acts 1:4). The Holy Spirit is God's gift. He is not a reward that was given to the disciples because they waited on the Lord. Waiting …
1 Kings 16:8-18:15; Acts 17:1-21; Psalm 78:9-16 Elijah confronted King Ahab in the Name of the living God (1 Kings 18:15). The apostles confronted Caesar in the Name of "another King ... Jesus" (Acts 17:7). It was in the Name of the Lord that the authority of Egypt was brought to nothing: "He did miracles in …
Continue reading In the Name of the Living God, in the Name of Jesus
Day of Pentecost: Acts 2:1-21 (or Numbers 11:24-30); Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 (or Acts 2:1-21); John 20:19-23 (or John 7:37-39) The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ. ‘No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 12:3). ‘In Jerusalem’, on ‘the day of Pentecost’ there are ‘Jews, devout men …
"The Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5) - This is in relation to social concern. "Prayer and the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4) - This is not the whole service of the Lord. It lies at the heart of God's work, but there must also be ways of showing people that we care.
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 4:1-5:11 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' (12). This boldness came from the Holy Spirit. Peter was 'filled with the Holy Spirit' (4:8). Don't say, 'I'm no Peter'. Peter failed …
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 …
"Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven" (Psalm 32:1). The forgiveness of sins - this is such a great blessing. The forgiveness of sins: it's just the beginning of so much great blessing which will continue throughout our life on earth and for all eternity. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within …
* The conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch begins with the call of the Spirit - "The Spirit told Philip, 'Go to that chariot, and stay near it" (Acts 8:29). * It continues with the reading of the Scriptures - The Ethiopian was reading Isaiah the prophet (Acts 8:30) - and the explaining of the Scriptures - …
Continue reading The Conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch: The Spirit, the Scriptures, the Saviour
"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.
In Mark 14:66-72, we read about Peter denying his Lord three times. Was this the end of the road for Peter? No! In John 21:15-17, we read of Peter declaring his love for Jesus - three times, once for each denial! In Acts 2:41, we read of three thousand people being brought to faith in …
Psalms 18:2 (KJV) The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
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