August 2 – Paul on Trial
Resurrection, Pentecost, Damascus, Antioch are now words with meaning after this summer. We have journeyed through the first century church everyday this summer, placing ourselves in the shoes of those who were there. We have seen the Holy Spirit at work, miracles taking place, men of God dying a martyr’s death, people being imprisoned for the gospel, missionaries being sent out, the Way increasing in unity and numbers, and concluded with Paul preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
My great hope is as you read the accounts of the early church that you didn’t just get lost in the story but it kindled something in you. My great hope is that the kindling is increasing in your heart! My great hope is that the kindling has become a passion! That the passion has turned into not only reading the story of Acts but living the story of Acts!
We would love to hear your own story of Act this summer!
-Ben
What a blessing to again be reminded that ALL of our trials are subject to the amazing redeeming hand of God. None of our pain or disappointment has to be in vain or without reason if we will seek His face and allow Him to “recycle” our circumstances. He will truly give us “beauty for ashes”.
I am not sure if anyone is even reading these anymore, but I wanted to post what God has been speaking to me as we finish up our time in Acts. Recently God has been challenging me, and showing me a great lie I used to believe. I used to think that Peter, Paul, John, James, and the rest had the closest walk with God that anyone could ever have. That they were the pinnacle, the top. That all of us could never expect to walk with God like they did. God has been showing me what a terrible lie this is. I believe that every believer is called to a closer, deeper, more powerful walk with God than they had. I do not believe that God gave us the Bible to merely show us some great history; “Hey look at what great things happened years ago”. I believe God gave us these stories to say something more like; “Hey, this was great what happened back then, but I want to do even more through believers today, I want to show Myself even more powerful today than I did then”.
In Hebrews 12:1-2 it tells us that there is a great cloud of witnesses around us. All the apostles are there, John Wesley, Smith Wigglesworth, DL Moody, all the great men and women of God are there. And I believe every single one of them is telling us to “Go harder, go farther, go deeper. Take what we have done and go so far beyond it that it leaves us in the dust.”
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:12 that the Kingdom of Heaven advances forcefully and forceful men lay hold of it. Another translation says that violent men lay hold of it. I don’t know about you, but all of these things challenge me. There was a quote that DL Moody, the great evangalist, heard early in his walk with God. “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man who is fully committed to Him”. This challenged him to want to be that man.
So my challenge and question to you who are reading this is:
Are you a violent, forceful man or woman of God? Are you willing to forcefully lay hold of the Kingdom of God?
Do not take this challenge lightly. This is not for those who believe that our walk with God begins and ends with Sunday morning. Accepting this challenge will radically alter your life. You will never be the same. This challenge is for those who want to be sold out to God, who have seen what God can do on a Sunday morning and want to see what He can do with a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday, and so on. For those of you brave enough and bold enough to accept the challenge, I welcome you. I too am on that path, and although most days I feel like I am in such deep waters that I can’t even begin to see the surface, I would not trade it for anything. I am so excited to see what God will begin to do when forceful men and women begin to lay hold of the Kingdom of God with both hands and declare that we want everything He has for us!!! Let’s take the challenge that God has placed before us, and exhaust it for all it is worth.
God bless you guys!! We love you all!!
Chance & Tanya
Time this morning will not allow me to write the “acts” of the last few weeks. Living according to God’s will puts a man (or woman) in a position of constant communication with Jesus. Standing by my side as Adviser in all circumstances I find myself completely in need of His counsel. I use to think of asking only when I didn’t know what to do. Consequently, I walked off into stupidity way too often (not as often now TG). Others may think it absurd to ask God before making decisions that seem to be “no brainers” however I remember King David asking God “should he go up?” every time he went into battle. Even though God had promised David that he was already the conqueror, David still made sure he was doing the right thing.
I believe that I and Chance Anderson are of the seed of Joshua or Caleb or Peter. We are ready to fight for the Kingdom! The Sword of the Spirit is with us! Speaking for myself I am engaged in the battle for the lives of the children of God. My soul wants to take matters into it’s own hands as did Peter in the garden but Jesus insists on doing the fighting for me so I will strive to do His will (good pleasure) and PRAY for the Kingdom.