The Everyday Prayer

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

“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord”–v 1

It is a memory Paul carried for the rest of his life.  Shameful.  Cruel.  Convicting.  Obsessive. (“I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man” he would say years later in 1 Timothy 1)  A reminder to him (and to us) how lost people are without Christ. Even religious people.

Did he ever wonder?  I wonder.  As he watched Stephen die with love and forgiveness, did Saul have a moment of self-doubt?  Did he momentarily recognize the demonic power of hatred at work in his own heart?  How empty and angry he was?

Years later, this same man (reborn) will plead with others.  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves.”–2 Corinthians 13:5.  Maybe, as he wrote those words, he was remembering how easy it is to think you are one thing and actually be another.

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 6:8-10, 7:54-58, 8:1-5, 26-38 (day five)

Acts 6:54 “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick,” God’s Word had done its task. It had accomplished its purpose. It had resonated deep with the human soul. Sounds like Hebrews 4:12. ¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Stephen has “rightly divided the Word of Truth”.  What happens next, is the response. We read/hear the Bible and the Bible reads us. It reveals the condition of our hearts. Each and every time we listen and hear the scripture, we must “check our hearts”. Here are some responses mentioned in scripture:

James 1: Distracted and Insincere- “immediately forgotten what kind of person he was”

Acts 7: Anger and Rebellion “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears”

Acts 8: Humility and Obedience “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

How do we respond to God’s Word? It will be a heart check!!

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

When we face difficult situations, often our first response is to pray and ask God to deliver us from the hardship.  When things are going really great, we often ask God to sustain the good times.  Both of these responses are completely opposite to what we see here in Scripture.  The early Church was facing very intense persecution which began to scatter the believers to the four winds.  What appeared to be bad though, provided for the Gospel to spread across the whole known world.  With the multitudes that were responding to Phillip’s preaching, most preachers would set up their tent and build their numbers and prestige.  Phillip was set on obedience to God though.  Instead of staying with the comfortable, he departed for the desert roads to find his divine appointment.

Whatever our situation…good or bad…we must make sure our response is according to God’s plan and Word.  Phillip chose obedience regardless of his circumstances.  Shouldn’t we?

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

“Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power…”  By grace we are saved.  The mighty acts of power were necessary to push back the rot of a decaying universe through the healing of broken bodies, pointing to a day when all things will be new.  But grace governed that power.  That is why Stephen could use it to reveal God and resist the temptation of leveraging it to gain the upper hand.  It was the grace brimming in his soul that enabled him to turn his eyes to heaven.  It was the grace flooding his spirit that gave him the peace to fall asleep.  And it was the grace radiating from his life that reached a young man named Saul, and began the preparatory work for his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus.

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

Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.”  Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet… 8:29-30a

Philip knew that he would not be on this journey were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit. It seems logical, then, to assume that Philip was very sensitive to the Spirit’s guidance. How did he respond? He ran. There is so much to unpack about the Re:Verse this week, but what has struck me first was Philip’s obedience. He was on a desert road to begin with, also at the Spirit’s behest, and now he has been called to speak to a foreigner. We don’t read of his hesitations, or his doubts. These might have existed, but they are not what drove Philip. He knew had had a reason to be on that journey. He was called, and therefore he felt compelled to share the truth.

We would do well to remember that we are on a journey instigated by the Holy Spirit. When we are called, will you run to or from?

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

“Do you understand what you are reading? “–8:30

In 1975, Bill Hybels started Willow Creek Community Church in a west-side suburb of Chicago.  A church designed to be “seeker sensitive”–aware of the questions and concerns of people who do not yet know the Lord, with church activities and services shaped around the mindset of “seekers” (Hybel’s word).

In AD 33, Deacon Philip gave us a different version of being sensitively aware of “people not yet reached”.  Both seeker sensitive and Spirit sensitive, Philip got near enough to the Ethiopian Eunuch to hear him reading scripture (aloud, as was the ancient practice) and offered help in interpreting the meaning.  Brilliant.  Kind.  Considerate. Philip’s offered friendship became, for this man, a door into light and life.

MANY  are “white unto harvest” said Jesus in John 4, prepared  by the drawing work of the Spirit.  Are you being sensitive to them?  Are you ready to speak when your opportunity comes?

 

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 4:5-31 (day five)

“…whom you crucified,” Acts 4:10

Peter does not mince words with his interrogators, or the two previous times he said the exact same thing. At first glance, this words would not appear to be the best of strategies. Peter’s aim is far more than to cast accurate blame, but rather to put on full display the extravagant love of Jesus. He contrasts their utter rejection of Jesus (which led to his death) against Jesus offer of forgiveness made possible through his death and resurrection. He wants them to feel the weight of this great extravagant work of love. He wants them to know that while they were Jesus’ enemies, he died for them and rose from the grave so they could know forgiveness and restoration. He wanted them to know just how good this news was.

The gospel is good news. Do we feel the weight of that? Do you?