November 10–Acts 7

“You men are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did”(7:51).

Stephen was one of the first deacons. (See chapter 6). He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Wise and generous, a man of great integrity and courage.

We are not told how he came to Christ. What we do know is that he was an able student of Scripture and a fearless communicator of God’s truth. So much for the argument that laymen should leave the preaching to the professionals!

“The best defense is a good offense,” says the old football proverb. In the face of opposition, Stephen pressed forward (6:10). Filled with the Holy Spirit, He preached to the Sanhedrin a scalding sermon that cost him his life.

His sermon was a summary of Jewish history from Abraham to the present day. Sometimes gently, sometimes not, Stephen reminded them of the moments of Israel’s resistance to the will of God. Many examples! The patriarchs were jealous of Joseph. The people disowned Moses and wanted to return to Egypt. As a nation, they misunderstood the deeper meaning of the temple. They killed the prophets. It was a clear pattern.

Sad, but true. The “family tradition” of the human race is resistance to God. Apart from Christ, this would be the the only story.

When Stephen spoke, the crowd reacted with fury! Common reaction of human pride. “I am no sinner! How dare you judge me!” Patriotism poured additional fuel on the fire. “You don’t love our country! We are God’s people!”

Who preaches this way in our day? Who reads history and Scripture as proof that men are lost and (apart from a Savior) hopeless in both time and eternity? Fearless followers of Christ do! Like Stephen, we preach God’s truth, even when it is unpopular or dangerous to do so.

“ ‘They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:19).

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer . . . Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

November 9–Acts 5-6

“Brethren, select from among you seven men. . .whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word”(6:3-4).

As the church expanded and developed, the apostles recognized a strategic priority. They were to focus their efforts on, “prayer and the ministry of the word.”

It was wisdom learned from Jesus. Always prioritizing preaching and teaching over healing and helping ministries, the Lord left a clear example. Be often with the Father in prayer! Speak to all men the truth of His word.

God’s word is our greatest need. The lack of it, our deepest illness. “Man does not live by bread alone but by every WORD that proceeds from God’s mouth” (Matthew 4:4).

Through the “the ministry of the word” people learn both the wrath and the mercy of God. Through the “ministry of the word” we learn the meaning of the cross, our value and security in the Savior. In His word, we hear God’s call to repentance and faith and salvation. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Apart from the word of God, no personal relationship with Him is possible.

As a pastor, my main assignment was not administration of staff or visitation or marketing. I was neither primarily custodian nor counselor. My priority task was to speak God’s word and to spend sufficient time in prayer to do so with authority. When a congregation hears from God, all things are possible. When they do not, nothing is.

Leaders who make this choice, produce bold churches. Learning to HEAR from God, we also SPEAK for Him. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

Friend, do you seek the Lord in prayer and speak for him in public? Do you learn from your pastor? Do you guard and appreciate His priority on prayer and the ministry of the word?

“Witness calls for withness, the complete opposite of detached observation” (David Dark). We must be with God and then with lost people.

“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

November 8–Acts 3-4

“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”(4:19-20).

Government is a part of God’s will for the human race. Submission to governing authority is a clear principle of Scripture. See Romans 13, 1 Peter 2.

The state, however, has limited authority. All governments answer to God, and when they overreach their legitimate authority (demanding support for things that are contrary to the will of God), they are to be disobeyed. This, too, is the teaching of Scripture.

In Acts 4, the rulers and scribes arrest Peter and John for the healing/preaching event in Acts 3. At the end of the hearing, they forbid them,” speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus”(4:10). To a Holy Spirit-filled man like Peter, the moral logic was obvious. “Is it right to obey you, or God?” It is not a hard question!

History later would call it civil disobedience. Peaceful resistance to a specific demand of government without resorting to violence or anarchy. Selective disobedience without rejection of the system as a whole. Acceptance of punishment as an expected result (and the consequent loss of moral authority that inevitably comes to the oppressive government.)

The Nuremberg trials (for crimes against humanity by Nazi leadership, 1945-46) gave the world compelling instruction. In some circumstances, a person can be held accountable (and should be) for failure to disobey an immoral law.

God’s assignment for the church is witness. We are to declare His excellencies. See 1 Peter 2:9. We are to openly declare the coming judgment of God and His astounding mercy in Christ! When a government tells us to be silent, we will disobey. When a world threatens to harm us for speaking truth, we will bear the shame and speak anyway.

“In an unjust society, the only place for a just man is prison” (Henry David Thoreau).

“My conscience is captive to the word of God” (Luther).

“Nevertheless, many of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God”(John 12:42-43).

November 7–Acts 1-2

“Wait [in Jerusalem]. . . you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5).

After the cross and resurrection, during a 40 day period of powerful, occasional and unpredictable appearances, Jesus commanded His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to baptize them with power.

Just as Jesus submitted Himself to the calendar of the Father (“my hour has not yet come”), so the disciples were to resist any temptation to rush ahead or to run away from the careful schedule of God. At Pentecost, in prophetic fulfillment, a new, unimagined life of power would come. They were to wait for it.

Baptism with/by the Holy Spirit suggests a full immersion (dipping) of life into a new element! Fully submerged. Positive and permanent effect. As a body is plunged under water emerges clean (water baptism, both symbol and reality), so, a soul plunged into (under) the life of the Holy Spirit emerges with new power and peace. “The kingdom of God. . .is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

Please note. Our Lord had no expectation that the disciples could survive or serve without this experience/reality. Our need is unquestionably the same.

Some teach the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a post-conversion, second act of grace, event that must be “waited on” in believing prayer. I disagree. The Holy Spirit came to the church for the world at Pentecost and now permanently abides in the life of every true believer. Like the cross and the resurrection, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was a historical, one-time event.

It is, however, a great mistake to teach that we have no need to wait on the Spirit for guidance, power and blessing. Far from it! The only power the church has for life and service is Christ and the only presence of Christ in the church is by the Spirit. Waiting on the Spirit is our daily discipline. Confession of pride and fear. Surrender of life in worship and obedience. Filling.

How often we fail, dear one, because we are impatient. The world does not need our energy or wisdom. It needs God and the full measure of His power promised to those who wait and pray.

“Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”–Isaiah 40:31

November 6–John 21

“Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you’ “(21:3).

I am a creature of habit. Given a choice between something new and something familiar, I will usually choose the second. Not always a good thing.

It makes sense to me, therefore, that days (weeks?) after the resurrection, the disciples felt the predictable pull of their former occupation.

Maybe a return to fishing was nothing more than the need to eat. I suspect it was more. Deep emotions at play here. Even with the resurrection event so fresh in their minds, they seemed stalled and uncertain. Not yet knowing the power of Pentecost, they drifted backward.

With great tenderness and fierce strength, the Lord met them at the lake. His purpose was to get them FORWARD into a new chapter of His will. These days, I feel Him challenging me with the same purpose!

“Do you love Me more than these?” Jesus asked Peter. His words recalled Peter’s proud boast on the night of the crucifixion. “Even if others fall away, I never will!” Peter’s true assignment, however, was to care for God’s people, not to compete with them. He used to be a fisherman. Now he was a shepherd! Want to get forward, dear one? Care for God’s flock!

“Follow Me,” said the Savior to Peter that day. Akoloutheo. Literally, “No road”, no independent path. Peter’s old tendency (ours) was safety and self-determination. Want to get forward? Don’t decide your own life! Don’t make your own choices! Live in Christ! In both life and death, seek Christ and walk with Him!

“Does it really matter to you what I do with John?” Said Lord in v. 22. The higher reaches of maturity never allow for comparison with others. The Sovereign Lord has a unique call for each of us. Nothing is gained by searching the lives of others for our meaning or assurance. Christ’s example and approval is enough for us. Want to get forward? Do not compare yourself with others!

In Exodus, the children of Israel were chastised for, “wanting to go back to Egypt.” I wish I didn’t understand this temptation, but I do. In this third “third” of my life (3T), I am often tempted to avoid challenges of a new chapter, to be satisfied with old wine skins. The Lord will not allow it! “Don’t go back and don’t stay back,” says the Spirit. New lessons are waiting. Keep growing. Christ bids us FORWARD!

“But his (Lot’s) wife, from behind him, looked back and became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26).

“But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him”(Hebrews 10:39).

November 5–John 20

“So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed”(20:8).

John was a humble man. A lesson learned from Jesus. An eyewitness to the empty tomb, he wanted no credit or attention on himself. He included Peter’s name in the story, but not his own. He called himself, “the other disciple.” In chapter 21, he calls himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He was consistently reluctant to use his own name.

Great wisdom, here. Over 50 years of ministry, I have seen “big names” come and go. Gifted people. Smart. Ambitious. In the end, however, they are (we are) individually inconsequential, tiny compared to the glory of God. There are no BIG PEOPLE in GOD’S world. The power and the credit ALL belong to Christ.

“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.” These are words from John the Baptist. See John 3:27. John the Apostle included them in his gospel because both men understood the truth. In the end, the TRUE STORY will be about GOD! The only permanent place or value a human can have comes by fitting into God’s plan, being participant and recipient in God’s victory.

Lost men compete for attention and fame. The true believer makes no attempt to convince others of his importance. He has no need to press himself forward for the applause of men. The glory belongs to God. Only.

Friend, if you could take yourself out of the picture (and you should take yourself out of the picture) would you find deeper hope? Greater confidence? If you stopped trying to make a name for yourself, would you discover that God has given you a name (and a place) in an eternally successful family?

“To me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. . . but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgement before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s heart; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God”(1 Corinthians 4:3-5).

November 4–John 18-19

“When He said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground”(18:6).

“We beheld His glory,” John later wrote to summarize his experience with Jesus. In the Savior, the disciples saw glory, the shining significance of God. A beauty and value far superior to anything in this world.

Peter used a similar word. “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty“( 2 Peter 1:16). The Greek word is an expanded form of the word mega (megaleiotes, “great, large”). Similar language is common in our day. Megachurch. Megavitamin. Something larger than large, HUGE in rank and value and beauty and power and purity. Jesus is!

Thursday night in Gethsemane was a MAJESTIC moment. When Judas arrived with soldiers and lanterns and weapons, Jesus met the mob with grand calm. “Whom do you seek?” He asked them. “Jesus of Nazareth,” came the answer. “I am,” said the Savior, and the moral power of his words and presence blew the soldiers and scribes back like an explosion! They fell to their knees. The encounter humbled them, shorted every circuit, shattered every illusion of human self-sufficiency.

“Every knee will bow and every tongue confess,” says the Scripture. The next time the world sees Jesus, none will ignore Him, nor stand to offer excuses. When our Lord returns, what the mob experienced that night in Gethsemane will happen across the globe. We will see His MAJESTY and will fall on our knees. All questions and complaints, all resistance and justification, will be destroyed in brilliant light of His majestic presence.

A good reminder in this political season. NO candidate, NO outcome, has majesty. Nothing that happens in a voting booth will last beyond a fleeting moment in time. True worth, eternal glory, belongs only to the Lamb!

“Come soon, Lord!” This is the prayer of His church. The needed healing will come when the world sees His majesty.

“Majesty! Worship His Majesty! Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise. Majesty! Kingdom authority flow from His throne, unto His own. His anthem raise!”(Jack Hayford).

November 3–John 16-17

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me”(17:20-21).

In 1985, Holly and I stood together in a church in Coral Gables, FL. In that holy moment, we made vows. We became husband and wife. “The two shall become one,” says God’s word. Legally, physically, financially, Spiritually, our lives were joined together by the Creator.

Oneness in marriage is tricky business. Self and pride and fear pull constantly against the higher pursuit. As in every marriage, sin (in me, and in Holly) is still part of the struggle.

In the deep plan of the Creator, however, marriage is a symbol of something even better. The highest goal of human life is union with God. He the lover, we the beloved. Shared life and identity and purpose! As in marriage, we are to be ONE with Him.

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus spoke of this grand narrative! Our Savior prayed for us to be one, and for us to be perfected in unity. see v. 23). Please note, oneness with the Father and the Son is a process rather than a single step.

Would you walk with the Father? You must seek Him daily. Abide in Him. Find time to talk, and to listen. Moments of surrender and apology. As in marriage, it is an intimacy that grows over time.

Want to get married, dear one? Jesus prayed for you not to miss this grand privilege! Will you seek and worship Him? Will you gladly surrender your will, and your fears, and walk in union with Him?

“Wives be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. . . Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. . . This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:22-23, 25,32).

“It will no longer be said of you, ‘Forsaken,’ . . .for you will be called. . .’Beulah’ (Hebrew, “married”, Isaiah 62:4).

November 2–John 14-15

“If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also”(14:3).

Our Lord was alone in the upper room with the disciples. Tender moment. Important. He had much to tell them, much they (we) needed to understand.

In the next hours, He would be arrested and crucified. He had predicted it often over the previous few weeks. They were understandably anxious.

There was a bright light in that gloomy moment. A clear promise. He would return. “I will COME again” He promised in 14:3.

Many comings, actually. Wave after wave, from the ocean of His love. Jesus promised the disciples a future shaped by His continual comings! They would not be orphaned. He would come to them.

Christ CAME to the disciples after the resurrection. He came to Mary. He came to Peter. He came to the team gathered behind locked doors (possibly in this same room they first heard His promise). He met them in Galilee. He came to them, again, on Pentecost in the person of the Holy Spirit. The church exists because Jesus came to these believers. He keeps this promise, even now!

Soon, our Lord will COME AGAIN in glory. It will be the final fulfillment of this promise. Joyful truth! The reason we rejoice in the certainty of His coming is that we have seen this dependable pattern.

Friend, as you face the dangers and questions of this present hour, do you expect Christ to come to you? We are taught to seek Him, but do you realize that He seeks you? Would you be less fearful if you knew that on the stormy sea, the Lord would come? Would you be a bolder witness if you knew that soon the trumpet will sound and (in ultimate fulfillment of this promise) He will come again in undeniable glory?

“I will come again.” Write it on your heart, dear saint. This is the promise of the Faithful and True. You are not alone, and you will not be. He will come to you.

“Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me; buried, He carried my sins far away; rising, He justified freely forever; one day He’s coming–O glorious day!”(J. Wilbur Chapman).

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come Lord Jesus!”(Revelation 22:20).

November 1–John 13

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. . .and began to wash the disciples feet”(v. 3-5).

If I am to understand Jesus, I must consider His focus. “The lamp of the body is the eye; so if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light”(Matthew 6:22). As humans, we have God-given capacity to concentrate, to focus our attention. Our minds/eyes have great power for good.

On the last night of His earthly life, Jesus displayed the power of this principle. Hours away from betrayal and brutality, His eyes were fixed on unseen realities! He saw an unseen world in which the Father had given all things into His hands. He saw the world from which He came and to which He was returning. This focus on unseen things gave Him motivation to do hard things with great strength. Wash feet. Carry a cross.

The word that John used in v. 3 is helpful. Most translations read “Jesus, knowing. . .”, but orao (pronounced “horao”, the root of our English word “horizon”) actually meant “to stare, to focus.” In this moment Jesus was literally staring at certain facts. He was not scrambling to control events. He was not obsessed with problems. His eyes were focused upward, looking at eternally true realities.

I am often distracted and deceived by material things. If I am not careful, my eyes are fixed and focused on the physical and social and political world. I find no help in it. The longer I obsess, the more anxious I get. Like the Lord, my strength and joy and wisdom come from a steady vision of unseen things. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills” (Psalm 121:1).

Friend, where are your eyes today? At what are you staring? Will you learn from your Savior the secret of keeping your eyes on unseen things? As you do, peace and strength will come!

“Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth Thou hast for me; place in my hand the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for Thee, ready my God, Thy will to see; open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit Divine!” Clara H. Scott).

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. . .while we look not at the things which are seen. . .but the things which are unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:16, 18).