Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....May 6, 2019
Lets continue our journey through the Book of the Acts of the Apostles...
Acts 1:1-11; 2:1-41
Can you think of anything in life that’s unstoppable?
By definition if something is unstoppable then it can’t be stopped (I know… Profound!). Yet this side of heaven, everything is stoppable. What is unstoppable is anything attributed to the love/grace of God. His love is unstoppable – He’ll never stop loving you; He’ll never stop pursuing you; He’ll never stop forgiving you; He’ll never stop calling you and inviting you to Himself.
Did you know there’s one thing this side of heaven involving you/me that God ordained to be unstoppable?
The church!
What comes to mind when you think of church? It’s likely what you think is different from what 1st century believers thought and what God planned.
From inception, the church is nothing more or less than a movement of the Holy Spirit. It was never intended to be a work of man but an unstoppable work of God. It’s a movement to give witness to the belief that Jesus died as God’s solution to the problem of sin and arose from the grave to prove He was who He said He was and did what He said He’d do.
The Greek word translated church (ekklesia) a compound word – ek means out of and kaleo means called out. So an ekklesia is a movement of a group of people called out around an idea/mission of God.
Unfortunately, over the years, a terrible thing occurred. Soon after Christianity became accepted w/in the Roman Empire, instead of being a people on mission, the church began to become as a place you went to for religious services.
Our English word “church” doesn’t come from ekklesia but from German word kirche – meaning a sacred place to gather for religious purposes?
The danger of the church in every age is to cease being a movement and instead become a ministry that provides services to people – or worse, a place simply to attend.
I believe this shift in thinking fundamentally has changed the way people relate to the church and how the church functions today. For too many people, the church has become a place to attend or an event to sit through, instead of a movement to which our lives are launched. And here is the one thing about a movement that makes a movement a movement – it moves and moves exponentially – which brings us to Acts 1 and the purpose of the church.
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating w/ them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized w/ water, but in a few days you will be baptized the Holy Spirit” Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But 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 1:1-8
As we embark on this journey thru Acts, I want to begin by looking at the key ingredient to this unstoppable movement – the Holy Spirit.
The PROMISE v. 1:4-5
Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
The gift of all gifts. Prior to His ascension, Jesus promised a gift to the disciples to empower/guide them until His return. This gift was to author their lives. What can’t be missed is the life of the disciples and their mission was to be fully powered by this Gift and not from their ability/ingenuity.
No one can live the Christian life independent of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is a life lived in submission, under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:6
What’s true for us individually is true corporately – the Christian life and church is absolutely dependent the Holy Spirit. We walk in the Spirit not the flesh.
In Acts 19, the Holy Spirit was busting loose and Ephesus was in awe of the power/presence of God. Lives were being changed in droves. But 30 yrs later, Jesus spoke of the Ephesians and says while I love that you have a passion for the Bible, for the Gospel mission, and you’re willing to stand for Christ in a Christ-less culture, I’m sick that you’ve lost your 1st love. He was saying, I appreciate the boldness you have in the flesh, but you’re trying to operate independent of me – and the church only works in the Spirit.
The POWER v. 1:8a
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; power – a dynamic, explosive power of God. This is what Paul prays for the Colossians:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened w/ all power according to his glorious might so you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light.
I want to re-teach you all what I think is a critical lesson. Good vs God
God gives us His power for a purpose so we might be a living, breathing, walking testimony of His grace.
The PLAN v. 1:8b
…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem…
witness (martyr) one who gives testimony of what has been done laying aside his life for what is greater.
Upon receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were to become witnesses of the good news – beginning right where they were throughout the entire world. And so should we.
world – refers to geographical world – every nation
nations (ethnos) – refers to every ethnic group
Quite simply – God’s church has been commissioned to bear witness of the love and grace of Jesus Christ to every nation, tribe, and ethnic group throughout the world.
When you think about it – it’s both a brilliant and a bizarre plan. Brilliant in that God entrusts the sharing of His love into the hands of a feeble humanity who can give 1st hand testimony of the transformational power of God. And bizarre, because we cannot be a witness without living submitted to the Holy Spirit. We couldn’t be a more unqualified group for such a great task.
There’s never been a more critical assignment given to a less qualified group of people. But God doesn’t call the qualified – through the Holy Spirit he qualifies the called.
How does God qualify us; He lives thru us – prayer!
The PRIORITY v. 1:14
If we’re to walk or exist in the Spirit – it requires we must know and obey the Scripture and we must hear and follow the Lord’s leading thru prayer.
They all joined together constantly in prayer…
joined together (homothumadon) homos = of the same kind – thumos = mind or passion; they were united w/ the same passion and purpose. Their hearts were wrapped around the same priority.
prayer – in desperation, they sought the Lord’s will.
No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer – Christians persistently praying for revival. J. Edwin Orr
In 1857, Jeremiah Lanphier, a businessman burdened by the spiritual condition of his day, knelt in the back room of a small church in NYC with a broken heart and a simple request: “Lord, what will You have me to do?”
That day, God birthed in his heart to begin a businessmen’s prayer meeting at noon one day a week for an hour. His invitation simply read, “Come when you can, leave when you must.”
On September 9, 1857, he launched the prayer meeting and found himself alone. After 30 min., 6 others joined him – so they prayed. The following week, 20 men came. The next week 40. By January, 1858 (3 mo. later), they were meeting simultaneously on three floors of the same building. By March, 6000 gathered daily in NYC, 6000 in Pittsburgh, 2000 in Chicago, 4000 in Philadelphia… By May, 50,000 people in NYC had trusted Christ for salvation. A New England newspaper reported that in entire towns had come to Christ – meaning there were no unsaved adults! It was estimated that for a period of months, 50,000 people a week were accepting Christ across America. By early 1859 (18 mo. after 1st prayer meeting), Over 1 mil. people had accepted Christ in the U.S. At that time, the population of U.S. was approx. 30 mil.
Important Spiritual Truth – God in His sovereignty has chosen to limit His activity to the prayers and obedience of His people.
NEXT WEEK, the third installment in our journey through the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
Alright, here goes. I’m old. What that means is that I’ve survived (so far) and a lot of people I’ve known and loved did not. I’ve lost friends, best friends, acquaintances, co-workers, grandparents, mom, relatives, teachers, mentors, students, neighbors, and a host of other folks. I have no children, and I can’t imagine the pain it must be to lose a child. But here’s my two cents.
I wish I could say you get used to people dying. I never did. I don’t want to. It tears a hole through me whenever somebody I love dies, no matter the circumstances. But I don’t want it to “not matter”. I don’t want it to be something that just passes. My scars are a testament to the love and the relationship that I had for and with that person. And if the scar is deep, so was the love. So be it.
Scars are a testament to life. Scars are a testament that I can love deeply and live deeply and be cut, or even gouged, and that I can heal and continue to live and continue to love. And the scar tissue is stronger than the original flesh ever was. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are only ugly to people who can’t see.
As for grief, you’ll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you’re drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it’s some physical thing. Maybe it’s a happy memory or a photograph.
Maybe it’s a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.
In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don’t even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you’ll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out.
But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what’s going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything…and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.
Somewhere down the line, and it’s different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O’Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself.
And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you’ll come out.
Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don’t really want them to. But you learn that you’ll survive them. And other waves will come. And you’ll survive them too. If you’re lucky, you’ll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks.
Alright, here goes. I’m old. What that means is that I’ve survived (so far) and a lot of people I’ve known and loved did not. I’ve lost friends, best friends, acquaintances, co-workers, grandparents, mom, relatives, teachers, mentors, students, neighbors, and a host of other folks. I have no children, and I can’t imagine the pain it must be to lose a child. But here’s my two cents.
I wish I could say you get used to people dying. I never did. I don’t want to. It tears a hole through me whenever somebody I love dies, no matter the circumstances. But I don’t want it to “not matter”. I don’t want it to be something that just passes. My scars are a testament to the love and the relationship that I had for and with that person. And if the scar is deep, so was the love. So be it.
Scars are a testament to life. Scars are a testament that I can love deeply and live deeply and be cut, or even gouged, and that I can heal and continue to live and continue to love. And the scar tissue is stronger than the original flesh ever was. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are only ugly to people who can’t see.
As for grief, you’ll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you’re drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it’s some physical thing. Maybe it’s a happy memory or a photograph.
Maybe it’s a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.
In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don’t even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you’ll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out.
But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what’s going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything…and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.
Somewhere down the line, and it’s different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O’Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself.
And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you’ll come out.
Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don’t really want them to. But you learn that you’ll survive them. And other waves will come. And you’ll survive them too. If you’re lucky, you’ll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
This week we look at the Book of Romans...
Who wrote the book?
Paul had never been to Rome when he wrote the letter to the Romans, though he had clearly expressed his desire to travel there in the near future (Acts 19:21; Romans 1:10–12). The apostle greeted twenty-six different people by name, personalizing a letter from a man who would have been a personal stranger to most of the recipients. No doubt they had heard of Paul and would have been honored by the letter, but Paul always took opportunities to personally connect with his audience so that the message of the gospel might be better received.
Where are we?
The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57, just three years after the 16-year-old Nero had ascended to the throne as Emperor of Rome. The political situation in the capital had not yet deteriorated for the Roman Christians, as Nero wouldn’t begin his persecution of them until he made them scapegoats after the great Roman fire in AD 64. Therefore, Paul wrote to a church that was experiencing a time of relative peace, but a church that he felt needed a strong dose of basic gospel doctrine.
Writing from Corinth, Paul likely encountered a diverse array of people and practices—from gruff sailors and meticulous tradesmen to wealthy idolaters and enslaved Christians. The prominent Greek city was also a hotbed of sexual immorality and idol worship. So when Paul wrote in Romans about the sinfulness of humanity or the power of God’s grace to miraculously and completely change lives, he knew that of which he spoke. It was played out before his eyes every day.
Why is Romans so important?
The letter to the Romans stands as the clearest and most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in all the Scriptures. Paul began by discussing that which is most easily observable in the world—the sinfulness of all humanity. All people have been condemned due to our rebellion against God. However, God in His grace offers us justification by faith in His Son, Jesus. When we are justified by God, we receive redemption, or salvation, because Christ’s blood covers our sin. But Paul made it clear that the believer’s pursuit of God doesn’t stop with salvation; it continues as each of us is sanctified—made holy—as we persist in following Him. Paul’s treatment of these issues offers a logical and complete presentation of how a person can be saved from the penalty and power of his or her sin.
What's the big idea?The primary theme running through Paul’s letter to the Romans is the revelation of God’s righteousness in His plan for salvation, what the Bible calls the gospel:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17)
Paul showed how human beings lack God’s righteousness because of our sin (1–3), receive God’s righteousness when God justifies us by faith (4–5), demonstrate God’s righteousness by being transformed from rebels to followers (6–8), confirm His righteousness when God saves the Jews (9–11), and apply His righteousness in practical ways throughout our lives (12–16).
How do I apply this?
The structure of Romans provides a hint into the importance of the book in our everyday lives. Beginning with eleven chapters of doctrine, the book then transitions into five chapters of practical instruction. This union between doctrine and life illustrates for Christians the absolute importance of both what we believe and how we live out those beliefs. Does your day-to-day life mirror the beliefs you hold, or do you find yourself in a constant battle with hypocrisy? Take heed of the doctrine you find within the pages of Romans, but don’t forget to put it into practice as well.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou
This week we look at the Book of Romans...
Who wrote the book?
Paul had never been to Rome when he wrote the letter to the Romans, though he had clearly expressed his desire to travel there in the near future (Acts 19:21; Romans 1:10–12). The apostle greeted twenty-six different people by name, personalizing a letter from a man who would have been a personal stranger to most of the recipients. No doubt they had heard of Paul and would have been honored by the letter, but Paul always took opportunities to personally connect with his audience so that the message of the gospel might be better received.
Where are we?
The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57, just three years after the 16-year-old Nero had ascended to the throne as Emperor of Rome. The political situation in the capital had not yet deteriorated for the Roman Christians, as Nero wouldn’t begin his persecution of them until he made them scapegoats after the great Roman fire in AD 64. Therefore, Paul wrote to a church that was experiencing a time of relative peace, but a church that he felt needed a strong dose of basic gospel doctrine.
Writing from Corinth, Paul likely encountered a diverse array of people and practices—from gruff sailors and meticulous tradesmen to wealthy idolaters and enslaved Christians. The prominent Greek city was also a hotbed of sexual immorality and idol worship. So when Paul wrote in Romans about the sinfulness of humanity or the power of God’s grace to miraculously and completely change lives, he knew that of which he spoke. It was played out before his eyes every day.
Why is Romans so important?
The letter to the Romans stands as the clearest and most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in all the Scriptures. Paul began by discussing that which is most easily observable in the world—the sinfulness of all humanity. All people have been condemned due to our rebellion against God. However, God in His grace offers us justification by faith in His Son, Jesus. When we are justified by God, we receive redemption, or salvation, because Christ’s blood covers our sin. But Paul made it clear that the believer’s pursuit of God doesn’t stop with salvation; it continues as each of us is sanctified—made holy—as we persist in following Him. Paul’s treatment of these issues offers a logical and complete presentation of how a person can be saved from the penalty and power of his or her sin.
What's the big idea?The primary theme running through Paul’s letter to the Romans is the revelation of God’s righteousness in His plan for salvation, what the Bible calls the gospel:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17)
Paul showed how human beings lack God’s righteousness because of our sin (1–3), receive God’s righteousness when God justifies us by faith (4–5), demonstrate God’s righteousness by being transformed from rebels to followers (6–8), confirm His righteousness when God saves the Jews (9–11), and apply His righteousness in practical ways throughout our lives (12–16).
How do I apply this?
The structure of Romans provides a hint into the importance of the book in our everyday lives. Beginning with eleven chapters of doctrine, the book then transitions into five chapters of practical instruction. This union between doctrine and life illustrates for Christians the absolute importance of both what we believe and how we live out those beliefs. Does your day-to-day life mirror the beliefs you hold, or do you find yourself in a constant battle with hypocrisy? Take heed of the doctrine you find within the pages of Romans, but don’t forget to put it into practice as well.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou