November 15–Acts 16-17

“When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them”(16:10).

Unusual word. Important idea. Symbibazo was a compound word in Greek. Sym meant “together or with.” Bibazo meant “to force or cause.” Often translated as “concluding” (see above), it literally meant “to force together.” It was an intellectual and moral discernment process, putting pieces of evidence together to determine meaning and discern the direction of God.

For many days, Paul and his team had been stalled. Every attempt to move had been frustrated or forbidden. One night in a vision, Paul saw a Macedonian (Greek) man pleading for them to, “come over and help.” (Up to this moment, all missionary activity had been confined to Asia Minor and the area immediately around Israel. A move into Europe was groundbreaking!)

The next morning, over coffee (how I imagine it, anyway), the team considered and concluded that God was calling them into Europe! Unlike Acts 13, where the Holy Spirit communicated the conclusion to them in direct words, in this instance, God pointed direction via a dream and required His children to use their minds to discern His will.

God’s people are sometimes slow to reach conclusions. Exactly Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees. “Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the time”(Matthew 16:3).

Friend, have you REACHED A CONCLUSION as to the will of God? It takes courage, I know. All of us experience a certain reluctance to face this moment of decision and accountability. What do all the pieces of His dealing with you (taken together and drawn to a moral conclusion) tell you? Will you spend time to consider and decide what He is saying? Having reached a conclusion, will you begin immediately to do His will?

“If you don’t make up your mind, your unmade mind will unmake you” (E. Stanley Jones).

“Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil”(Hebrews 5:14).

November 14–Acts 14-15

“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God”(14:22).

The perseverance of genuine faith is a marvel! Like a cork in water, a person in Christ is impossible to keep down. In Acts 14, Paul is stoned and dragged out of a city. With irrepressible courage, he gets up, goes to the next city and preaches the gospel. Amazing! Unconquerable.

The Spirit of God produces the same mental toughness in us! He tells us to EXPECT tribulations. See Paul’s words above. The Greek word is thlipsis, it meant “pressure or stress.” Believers are not surprised when life gets difficult, when opposition or danger comes. Facing problems, enduring them, is part of our assignment in this world. We are called to courage, not ease. No discouragement. No pouting. The road home leads through these difficulties.

When problems come, we TRUST GOD to open doors. “God opened a door of faith to the Gentiles,” reported Paul with great gladness! Note his focus on God’s work rather than his own comfort! Life cannot be what we want. It CAN be what He wants! When God opens doors, we walk through them. No regrets. No attachment to things that are necessarily left behind. Faith and forward are often the same word.

In our troubles, the Spirit teaches us to be WISE. The Acts 15 reports a controversial situation. Potentially destructive. With calm faith, Peter and Paul and James face the potentially divisive conflict with testimony, scripture and wisdom. Their leadership did not satisfy everyone, but it did make a way for the people of God to move forward in unity. Wise as serpents, gentle as doves.

Friend, do you expect tribulation as a norm? Do you accept them without complaint or regret, as a part of the journey? Do you endure and trust God to open doors? Are you wise with your opponents, certain that the Lord will guide you through?

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

“The best way out is always through”(Robert Frost).

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle”(Phillips Brooks).

November 13–Acts 12-13

“When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself”(12:10).

The Apostles were often in trouble with the authorities. Often in jail. In several instances, God miraculously opened the prison doors and set them free. Peter in Acts 12. Paul in Acts 16. Daniel and Joseph in the Old Testament. Symbolic message! God is greater than any jail cell or legal threat. Nothing is impossible for Him. (Nothing is even difficult.) See Jeremiah 32:27.

In Revelation 3:20, Christ calls us to open the door for Him. He seeks entrance into our lives. For those who obey, dinner conversation follows, deep intimacy.

In the same way, we should know and rejoice that Christ opens doors for us. Leads the way. Makes progress possible. All obstacles must be viewed through this lens. When God opens the door of our prison, we are to walk out with PRAISE on our lips. When He doesn’t free us (from jail or suffering, as was the case with John the Baptist), we are to stand certain in His greater plan. In both circumstances, we trust Him.

Are you facing a door that seems closed and locked? Are you trapped, your progress hindered? Will you lift your eyes to a God who is bigger than your cell, stronger than your guards? Will also consider that your job may be to endure with joy? Will you walk through the door when it opens? Will you praise Him and rest in His daily provision when it doesn’t?

“Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee”(Charles Wesley).

“Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut” (Revelation 3:8).

November 12–Acts 10-11

“And a large number who believed turned to the Lord. . . and the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch”(11:21,26).

It was something brand new! Not like anything the world had ever seen before. Diverse AND unified! Jews and Gentiles. Slaves and free men. Male and female. Rich and poor. They were a team. A family united by faith in Jesus.

In the tsunami of the Spirit,old prejudices were being washed away. When God promised,”Behold, I do a new thing,” (Isaiah 43:19), He was predicting the church!

Reaching for an appropriate name, some began to call these people “Christians” (little replicas of Christ, people in whom His life and values are present and powerful.

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). One of the remarkable realities of the new-born church was (is) unity.

The secular age often speaks of “the brotherhood of man”. It claims an existential unity by virtue of humanity alone. Sadly, this connectedness is imaginary and impracticable. Every war proves it so.

True unity, much-needed unity, rises only from the supernatural. The restless sinfulness and proud autonomy of the human heart can only be calmed by the Prince of Peace.

Filled (dominated, directed) with the Spirit, believers discover a new basis for unity. We accept those God accepts. “What God has cleansed no longer consider unholy (rejected as unacceptable). See Acts 11:9. As we walk in the Spirit, a united family is born.

Friend, do you embrace the duty and privilege of life in the family of Christ? Do you gladly and fully embrace those whom Christ embraces? Do you live with your brothers and sisters in carefully guarded unity. Are you a Christian?

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

“Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).

November 11–Acts 8-9

“Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?”(9:4).

The stoning of Stephen was a tipping point. “On that day,” says Luke, “a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem” (8:1). As Jesus warned, hatred toward Christ and His followers quickly burst into open flame. Opposition is always part of the story. This world does not welcome Truth.

“Paul began ravaging the church,” writes Luke in 8:3. The word meant “to desecrate or shame.” From a root that means “filth,” it pictures throwing mud or fecal material in order to injure or dishonor. Persecution is a “smear campaign,” an attempt to turn public opinion against believers, to make it morally acceptable to hate or harm them.

Resisting God, however, is hard! If painful for the victims, also for the aggressors. “Is it hard to kick against the goads?”, the Lord later asked Saul (Acts 26:14). Painful conscience! Empty heart. Those who hate God do not get free from Him!

What a glorious relief (for Saul, for us) when God’s love finally breaks through our resistance. Presented with undeniable proof of Christ’s resurrection and glory, struck blind (as a representative judgement on his spiritual blindness and pride), Saul believed! His life was changed. He was born from above.

The world hates the truth of Christ. It will hate us for speaking it. To seek safety in silence, however, is to betray the love of Christ. In persecution, we experience, “the fellowship of His suffering.” In persecution, the kingdom makes progress!

“The tyrant dies and his rule is over. The martyr dies and his rule begins” (Soren Kierkegaard).

“They overcame him (the accuser) because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their own life even when faced with death”(Revelation 12:11).

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. 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 would 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 our 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) are 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 truest 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 in order 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 forbade 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 to answer!

History later called 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”(1:4-5).

After the cross and resurrection, during the forty day period of powerful 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 in their own strength and understanding.

The Father has a plan and a schedule. The disciples were to wait for God’s gift and God’s timing.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit suggests a full immersion (dipping) into a new element! As a body plunged under water emerges clean (the symbolism of water baptism), a soul plunged into permanent union with the Holy Spirit emerges with new power and peace. Please note, our Lord had NO expectation that His disciples could (then or now) survive and serve without the Holy Spirit! “The kingdom of God. . .is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”(Romans 14:17).

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

It is, however, a GREAT MISTAKE to teach that we have no need to WAIT on the Spirit for guidance, power and blessing as a regular part of our faith. The filling of the Holy Spirit is a repetitive necessity. Waiting on the Spirit is our daily discipline. “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer,” declares 1:14.

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

“Be filled with the Spirit”(Ephesians 5:18).

“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 words of the Great Commission ringing in their ears, 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. Peter’s true assignment (our’s) was to care for God’s people rather than compete with them. Christ took a fisherman and made him a shepherd! Want to get forward, dear one? Care for His flock!

“They will tie your hands and take you where you don’t want to go,” said the Lord to his friend, speaking of Peter’s death. “Even when that day comes,” said the Savior, “Follow Me.” Akoloutheo. Literally, “No road”, no independent path. Peter’s old tendency (ours) was safety and self-determination. Forward is a new blessed principle. 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).