Author: Chris Johnson

Re:Verse reading–Acts 17:10-12, 16-34 (day seven)

People around you are looking for answers just like the Athenians.  You might not realize it if you listen to the loud voices of our culture, but people are searching for truth.  They want to know answers to the deepest questions of life from their individual purpose on this planet to why gruesome evil does not fade.  People are are carrying the burden of unanswered questions that you hold the key to.  Paul understood this.  He was ready when the thoughtful men of Athens truly wanted to know about life and this unknown God they had built an altar to.

All these deep questions people want to know harken back to the Gospel.  You know the truth, you know the Gospel, and most importantly, you have the gift of the Holy Spirt who will strengthen you and give you the words you need to say.  Do not be afraid to point people to God when they are wrestling with the deep questions of life.  The truth of the Gospel is the only peace in that struggle.  They may not understand it right away, but it will all make sense some day.

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?  For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)  Acts 17:19-21

Re:Verse reading–Acts 16:11-34 (day seven) 

Paul and the early Christians missionaries in Acts made many people angry.  Most often we see them challenging the religious status quo, and the religious leaders chase them out of town.  This week is different.  Paul and Silas are stuck down, beaten with many blows, and thrown into a maximum-security prison cell with their feet shackled, not because they are sharing the Gospel, but because the profit was gone (v.19).

The thought of the profit being gone is frightening.  We work our whole live to keep the profit up so that we can take home a pay check to take care of our families.  Where do we turn when the profit dries up and we are left with nothing?  These slave owners turned themselves over to anger leaving a wake of destruction.  We do not have to lose our minds when the profit dwindles.  Jesus taught a better way.

In Matthew 6:31-33 Jesus tells us to keep a proper perspective on profit and providing for our families:  Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’  For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Re:Verse reading–Acts 15:1-29 (day seven)

I am amazed at the resiliency of the early church, and the resiliency of Paul.  They went through trial after trial, but joy remained.  From the outside, they were ran out of most every town they visited, and from the inside, they could not agree on what life in the church was supposed to look like.  Strife surrounded the church, but the Holy Spirit was in it.  The Holy Spirit kept the peace and gave them joy in the most joyless situations.

This week’s text is a prime example.  After a church fight, Paul and Barnabas were sent down to Jerusalem to get their opinion, and along the way we get verse 3.  Between the two great debates that happened in Antioch and Jerusalem we get a glimpse of Paul and Barnabas on the road.  They weren’t sulking, they weren’t bulking up their arguments, the text says they were sharing their stories of joy, encouraging the church all along the way.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Re:Verse reading–Acts 13:1-52 (day seven)

Paul witnessed with surgical precision.  He left Antioch with a specific model to reach devout Jewish men in their natural synagogue setting.  It made sense to Paul because they were his tribe, he knew them as well as anyone.  Paul was a Jew of Jews, he was a Pharisee, he had unique access, and now he was armed with the Gospel instead of indignation.  Being familiar with their order of worship Paul knew that as a guest rabbi he would have the opportunity to offer encouragement at the end of their service.  He was ready.  He restated their shared story and led them to the person of Jesus Christ as the culmination of all they believed.

Paul had a specific word, he had a specific place, he had a specific time, he was fully prepared to witness that day.  I hope that we can look around our spheres of influence to recognize people that we can specifically reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You have a unique access to people that you can witness to just like Paul.  I hope that we can pray for a specific model that we can use to witness to our own tribes for the sake of the Gospel.

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews…To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.  I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.  1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Re:Verse reading–Acts 11:1-26 (day seven)

Jesus regularly got into trouble with religious folks.  One of the constant accusations against Him was eating with tax collectors and sinners.  Jesus made it a habit to eat with people no one else would eat with, going out of His way for people of different statures and ignoble backgrounds.  At the time, the disciples were not sure of Jesus’s behavior either, but here in Acts 11, Peter is being accused of the very same thing:  eating with riffraff.

As a pastor, I find my meals are filled up with good Christian people.  Those are always a great boon to me, but I’m never accused of eating with riffraff.  For my social standing that works out fine, but for my mission to be a witness to the world for Jesus Christ it is a terrible strategy.  If we are going to reach out and share the love of Christ with the world we must share meals with worldly people.  We eat with those that are exceedingly sinful and those that are ostracized by everyone else.

Who will you be accused of having lunch with this week?

The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”  And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”  Luke 5:30-32

Re:Verse reading–Acts 9:1-22, 26-31 (day seven)

It makes no sense for Paul to come to Christ, and it makes no sense for Christ to forgive Paul.  Paul’s hatred burned white hot towards Christians.  His heart’s passion was to prove Jesus was a criminal and snuff out Jesus’s followers.  Paul watched Stephen’s murder with an approving nod, and could not wait to find the next follower of Christ to murder.  Paul’s sins were as egregious as they come, yet Jesus chose to forgive him and use him.

It does not make sense to us.  We want really bad people to have really bad comeuppance.  The early church didn’t want anything to do with Paul.  They feared him and kept him at arm’s length for years.  The church hesitated because they could not believe what happened.  I’m sure they were like us quietly praying for the holy fires of vengeance, all the while God was doling out grace and mercy.

It is a blessing to us that God forgave Paul, not because he became the greatest missionary the church has ever known, but because it confirms that the grace of God is sufficient even while we are enemies of God.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”  (Romans 5:8-10)

Re:Verse reading–Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-58, 8:1-5, 26-38 (day seven) 

We first run into Stephen and Philip in the paragraph preceding our text for today.  It is a famous passage, often used to describe the work of deacons, about the disciples deciding that they could not handle both preaching the Word of God and caring for hungry widows at the same time.  The disciples chose to set aside a group of seven men including Stephen and Philip to bring food to the overlooked widows.

Remarkably we never hear of Stephen and Philip serving food, but we hear they went out preaching the Word of God.  The Holy Spirit filled them up and they continued serving God by proclaiming Jesus wherever they went.  Stephen preaches in Jerusalem, Philip preaches in Samaria, and numbers increased greatly.

It makes you wonder if the overlooked women were ever fed.  Surely they were.  Surely the church worked diligently to care for this need.  The greater story is that Stephen and Philip were not content in quietly serving, no matter where they were or what they did they were going to speak the name of Jesus boldly.

Re:Verse reading–Acts 4:5-31 (day seven)

There is a story in Luke 16 that puzzles me.  Two men die.  One goes to heaven, the other goes to hell.  The man in hell begs for a drop of water to touch his tongue which Abraham denies.  Then he begs Abraham to send the other dead man to his house to warn his 5 brothers of the torment of hell, which Abraham also denies.  The man in hells believes if they see a miracle they will surely repent, but Jesus knows better.

“If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” Luke 16:31

In my heart, I want those 5 brothers to believe when God does something incredible, but some people are not going to change their minds no matter what they see or what you say.  Peter is confronted with this fact in Acts 4.  The rulers see an unmistakable miracle and instead of believing they try to suppress the Gospel.  Did none of them wonder what God was doing?

No matter what you do or what you say you will not be able to convert all the naysayers.  All we can do is be a faithful witness to the Gospel, and our God will shape people’s hearts.  If they do not believe you have not failed, they have failed.  They have failed to see God for who He really is.

Re: Verse reading–Acts 3:1-20  (day seven)

When I read a passage of Scripture I typically picture myself as one of the characters in the text.  Pridefully, I tend to gravitate toward the hero.  In this text, I like to think that I am Peter proclaiming truth and healing in the name of Jesus Christ, but in reality I am closer to the lame beggar and the crowd.  I find myself to be a man in need of strengthening not a man dishing out miracles.  As God heals I hope my reaction is as genuine as the beggar’s, leaping and praising God all the way into worship.  Similarly, I am far more likely to be like the Peter who disowned Jesus at the crucifixion (which he accuses the crowd of here, v.13-14), rather than being the Peter who boldly changes a man’s life with the Gospel.  Thankfully, we have a patient God who will forgive our pride and restore us to life.

2 Peter 3:8-9   But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.