Today, as we continue through Acts (I highly recommend reading through it over the next few days), we see yet another example of Paul persevering through persecution.  Tomorrow I think I’ll be commenting on my thoughts of this (which is ultimately the entire book of Acts )

¹⁶Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”¹⁸She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

¹⁹When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.²³After they had been severely flogged, …KEEP ON READING »

This week I think we’re going to try something a little different. I’ve been really enjoying my reading, and don’t want you to get used to MY studies. I think they are a healthy thing because you can see somebody else’s perspective and thoughts, but it’s also obviously healthy to study on your own (which I trust you’re doing as well).

With that said, today is a chapter on Saul’s conversion (to Paul). This is GREAT stuff, especially considering Saul was a big part of Stephen’s killing (chapter 7). This all just goes to show how truly passionate and RUTHLESS he was towards non-Christians. Also goes to show who God can use

1 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.[a] So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying …KEEP ON READING »

So today is our first day in Acts (yeah yeah, the last two days were ABOUT Acts, not in it ).. This is a good book, I’m really excited to study and dwell on it throughout the next several weeks.  Today I only made it through the first two chapters though (like I said… good stuff), but before we get started you can check it out HERE.

The book opens in Jerusalem, during the Pentecost holiday.  A group of about 120 believers were all meeting together and BAM, the promised Holy Spirit shows up.  Every one of those believers lives instantly changed.  This is powerful, can you imagine going through that experience yourself?  At this point, I’m sure they were still missing Jesus, still a little nervous about taking over the reigns of his ministry.  But at the same time, they also had John 16:7 on their minds; “It is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Counselor won’t come” (Jesus’ words).  They were waiting, they knew that the Counselor (Holy Spirit) was going to show up.  So in the beginning of chapter 2 He did!!  Suddenly that group of 120 believers came alive; they understood that there is NO OTHER REASON TO LIVE unless it is for God, they truly understood that!!  They went out and hit the streets with a bold new style, and as a result, in the first day over 3,000 new believers joined.

My favorite passage of this reading (and maybe even the entire bible), is the description of how this “new church” lived.

Acts 2:44-47 – “All the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had.  They sold their property and possessions and shared the money …KEEP ON READING »

I’d first like to start my study of Acts with the ORIGINS of how it was actually written (it’s always good to get a perspective right?).  Acts is MOST LIKELY written by Luke, it is considered his sequel to The Gospel “Luke”.  Not entirely positive, considering the writer never actually gives his name, but there’s a couple of things that make it SEEM it’s him

- First off, it’s the same writing style.  Luke was a very intelligent, very investigative, precise type of writer.  Acts seems to follow the exact same blueprint as “Luke”, the perfect follow up to Jesus’ ministry on earth.  It’s Jesus’ CONTINUED ministry once He was gone.

- Second, there’s a lot of “we” passages (16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16).  This is telling us that the writer was clearly a companion of Paul (with whom a great majority of Acts is following).  A lot of the events recorded are told from a first person perspective, meaning the author was involved in a lot of these events.  Luke was known to have traveled with Paul quite a bit.  That’s how he got a lot of his research for “Luke”, through interviewing those they came in contact with.

Now when was it written? This again is unclear, for the writer doesn’t disclose that information.  It is thought however, to be sometime between 63 and 70AD.  Some scholars (non-christian) like to push it closer to 100 AD.  Scholars are not all in agreement nor are they without their prejudices and agendas …KEEP ON READING »

Have you ever started a fire?  It all starts with a spark doesn’t it?  A simple, yet powerful, flick of a match.  A small flame burns, fueled by kindling and oxygen.  Higher and wider it rapidly spreads until becoming the desired, full blown FIRE.  Nearly 2,000 years ago a match was struck in Palestine.  It started with just a few, but then just like a fire, grew and grew until the flame (what we now know as Christianity) became full blown.  Many forget that Jesus’ ministry was simply to create disciples (and then there was obviously that whole dying on the cross for our sins thing).  He kept it small and contained.  But WOW was He the spark that ignited that fire.

Acts provides an eyewitness account of the flame and fire, the birth and SPREAD of the church.  Empowered by the newly arrived Holy Spirit, this courageous band of disciples preached, taught, healed, and demonstrated LOVE in synagogues, schools, homes, marketplaces, courtrooms, and on streets, hills, ships, and desert roads – WHEREVER God sent them, lives and history were changed.

The best way to appreciate Acts is to imagine a bible without it.  You just read four different accounts of the life of Jesus (The Gospels), and then you turn to Romans.  Wait ROME?  How the heck did we get there from Jerusalem?  And who in the world is Paul?  Obviously something is missing.  Without Acts, the NT jumps from an orderly history of one man, to a collection of unexplained correspondence.  Jesus laid out his plot in his last RECORDED words on earth; “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  Acts shows what Jesus’ disciples did with those words.

…KEEP ON READING »

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

Don’t have time to do a full blown out study, thought I’d leave this verse for you to meditate on.  A definite favorite!

So we’ve officially reached the end of Luke.  Yes, you’ll probably notice that I’ve skipped a lot, but these studies are just pieces of what I study.   Hopefully you’re reading along and not just relying on MY goofy interpretations of these passages  With that said go check out the last chapter (you can find that HERE).  We’re done with the passover meal, done with Jesus getting arrested, Peter denying Jesus, Jesus’ trial, Jesus’ death on a cross, and some of Jesus’ return to his followers.  In this read he returns to a couple of believers walking down the road, and then eventually a large group of believers (like I said, go read it for yourself)..

This is Luke’s closing scene, the end of his investigation on Jesus’ life.  The end of his “careful summary” for us, “to reassure us of all we were taught”.  I’m sure many people walk away from this ending with many different takes (which there should be).  I think this return is the reason Christianity is in existence with such a wide level of exposure.  How encouraging must it have been to not only have JESUS show up (in some sort of heavenly/earthly flesh) three days after his death, but on top of it have him declare “with my authority take this message of repentance to all the nations, there is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me, YOU are witnesses of all these things.”  Talk about cementing a faith!!  Not only were these believers obviously already believers, but to have THIS event occur must have been truly life changing.  Like, to the point that we comfort seeking (too much God in my life is radical) americans can’t even fathom.  This was SO life changing that these believers dedicated THEIRS to “take this message of repentance to all the nations”.  How humbling to read this.

…KEEP ON READING »

First off, I’d like to say thank you to everybody that offered encouragement in regards to my post yesterday.  I received emails that ranged from Health Insurance advice, all the way to a trip to Chicago.  This is a great group of friends, and ultimately a great family.  I love you guys, and love what this community is becoming (just wish there would be more discussion below ).  You are all a great encouragement to me, and all not only push me to a greater knowledge of our Creator, but SHOW me a greater knowledge of HIS love.

Alright, lemme dry my eyes and we’ll get on our way.  We’re up to chapter 22 in our journey through Luke. This is a pretty amazing chapter where Jesus and his disciples share their last supper.  I read through this event in each of the Gospels several times this morning, and am honestly really floored with the experience these disciples must’ve had.  I think we often forget that they didn’t realize this was the end.  To them they’ve been apart of a wonderful ministry for the past three years.  One which has caused them to leave their families, jobs, possessions, etc. in order to follow Christ.  To them, they are in the “prime of lime” (whoever can get this quote reference gets a special gift from me ).  I don’t know why, but for some reason this supper just seems all the more special with this in mind.  JESUS obviously knew what would be happening, and it was clearly special to him “I have looked forward to this hour with DEEP LONGING, anxious to eat this passover meal with you before my suffering begins” (Luke 22:15).

I’d obviously recommend checking this passage out on your own, as my study today isn’t really focusing on the main message.  The title of this study kind of …KEEP ON READING »

So this morning I did a little study, a LOT of prayer, and a LOT of talking with the wife (it was a good morning).  Just to fill everybody in, Lisa was let go from her job yesterday.  Actually a LOT of people were let go from their jobs yesterday (apparently they’re “restructuring”).  For those of you who don’t know, Lisa was a MAJOR contributor to our household income.  She was also THE contributor of our health care

So where do we go from here?  We trust in God!  That’s honestly all that we can do.  If you read through my last couple of weeks of studies you’d see that the main things that have been on my heart are perspective and distractions.  I think that God is continuing to mold us THROUGH this trial.  A job is just a job, things are just things, money is just money, but a relationship with God is NOT just another thing to add to our list.  He is our world, He is MY world, He is the Creator and reason we’re here on this earth.  Yes our lifestyle is going to have to change, and yes we’re going to have to be more reliant on God (big time), but is that a bad thing?  We’ve been praying for God to get rid of our distractions, and reorient our perspective in order to see HIM FIRST!!   Thank God for answering that prayer!  I’m excited to see what He has in store for us.

So with that said, please pray.  Not only for us (it’s do or die time with my businesses), but also for Lisa’s fellow employees.  It’s really, REALLY sad what this company has done to them (some with only a year left till retirement), so I pray that through this SOMETHING positive can come from it.

Love you all, see ya tomorrow

Today I’d recommend reading all of chapter 21.  Since it’s an entire chapter, obviously I won’t be able to type it out on here.  BUT, it’s good context for the verses we’ll be studying.  This is Jesus’ most vivid description of both the coming persecutions and ultimately his return.  At first glance this may seem like a pretty gloomy description, a pretty rough future for us Christians.  But ultimately don’t these events (no matter how much persecution they might entail) signify His return?  Instead of worry and fear, shouldn’t they bring us great joy?  When we see these events starting to unfold, which many of them have already occurred (goes to show everything is run on God’s timing J), we should be comforted in knowing we are right in line with God’s plan.

Alright, lets focus on Jesus’ words AFTER giving this description:

“Watch out, don’t let me find you living in careless ease and drunkenness, weighing your hearts down with profitless activity, and the worries of this life.  Don’t let that day catch you unaware, as in a trap.  For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth.  Keep a constant watch.” (Luke 21:34-35)

This is one of those verses that really fires me up.  It really tends to put things into perspective doesn’t it?  Jesus says, “don’t let me find you screwing around living for yourself and this world, don’t let me find you wasting your life on worthless activity, or worrying about things that should be reserved for those who know no better. “.  Jesus is saying to LIVE LIKE EVERYDAY IS THE LAST.  Sounds cliché I know, but it’s ultimately what he’s stating.  We learned back in …KEEP ON READING »