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timewithgod.blog-city.com — December 2007
Acts 17 -- Seeing God In Every Part Of Our Lives
I've learned a lot from Paul in this chapter over the years. No matter who we are talking to, we must enter their world if we are to bring them out of it and into Christ.Athens could have been described as a "heathen" city.
I've learned a lot from Paul in this chapter over the years. No matter who we are talking to, we must enter their world if we are to bring them out of it and into Christ.
Athens could have been described as a "heathen" city. It was said to have more idols than citizens. With that much "religion" going on, Paul would be competing with all the other religions for attention.
He didn't stay cloistered away from all the sin he witnessed, just studying his Bible. It says he talked every day with the people in the marketplace. After all, people are more willing to listen to someone they know, and doing so in the marketplace was perceived as a less threatening environment by them. Just as in life today, the extremists took note of him and began to cause trouble, probably because they were feeling the most threatened by the gospel he spoke about.
In his meeting before the governing board, he first paid them a compliment on their "religiosity". This goes right along with what one of my business professors taught about writing letters that people would not want to receive: You have to first sell them on the idea that you like them if you want to keep them reading.
I watch each week as God puts things or people in my path that help me each Sunday to connect my Bible study students with what He's wanting to show them. Paul found this same thing happening, speaking about the monument "TO A GOD WHO IS NOT KNOWN". His next sentence rang out to me, even for Christians today: "You worship a God you don't know...." How many of the people God places before me have believed in Christ but have not taken the important next step of getting to know Him in order to commit to Him as their Lord? They only know the Savior part!
Paul picked what my commentary called "a point of departure", where he could move the conversation out of the secular and toward the divine. He told about God's sovereignty in our lives -- a difficult concept for those who don't know Him well and who haven't made Him Lord. He told about God's availability to each of us. Paul even picked the lyrics of a secular poem and used it as evidence that God was sprinkling breadcrumbs in all areas of their lives to help them to find Him.
Verse 28 reminded me a Joseph's fishbowl -- God is not to be seen just as our Creator. He is also our environment as well, my commentary said. Like the water surrounding the fish, God permeates His creation (the environment around each of us) with evidence of His existence.
Finally, my commentary noted that "most of the preaching in Acts was spontaneous and extemporaneous. Usually there wasn't time to prepare a message. It was not the performance of an hour but the preparation of a lifetime. It was the preachers who were prepared, not the sermons.
Father, I thank You for giving me eyes to see You in everyday situations that I can relate to others as I help them grow in You. Thank You for continuing to reveal Yourself to me every day!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 18 -- Dealing With Frustration
Paul had moved to Corinth and at first was teaching on every Sabbath day, needing to apparently work during the week to support himself. When Silas and Timothy arrived, he was able to resume his full-time ministry. Yet despite all of this
Paul had moved to Corinth and at first was teaching on every Sabbath day, needing to apparently work during the week to support himself. When Silas and Timothy arrived, he was able to resume his full-time ministry. Yet despite all of this, many Jews would not accept Paul's teaching, even saying evil things against him. It's amazing that, even today, more opposition that we face often comes from within the church than from without it!
Our human nature can take only so much of banging our heads against a wall, and before long, Paul had had enough of their stiff-necked unbelief. Vividly illustrating his feelings, he shook the dust off his clothes (them being the dust) and told them rather forcefully, "If you are not saved, it will be your own fault! I have done all I can do!" He went so far as to leave the synagogue and set up his teaching in the house next door.
God spoke to him that night in a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid. Continue talking to people and don't be quiet. I am with you, and no one will hurt you because many of my people are in this city."
Over the last several weeks, I've been feeling as frustrated and disgusted as Paul due to a project at work. We are changing providers we use for a service, and as always happens, the new providers have made promises of how smoothly things would go in the transition and how they would come in and do all the work. Instead, I've found myself getting farther and farther behind in my regular work because of the time I'm having to spend putting together information I felt that they were supposed to be gathering. It has been horribly frustrating, even leading to 2 days of migraines. Just yesterday, I furnished them with what they swear is the last thing they need, and I sent them the equivalent of Paul's "shaking off of the dust" in an email. I have to admit that it did little to ease my tension and I wonder if Paul felt the same way.
Father, as You did with Paul, I'm in need of Your whispering to me that everything will be okay. I need Your joy redirected in my life. Frustration at not being able to keep my desk, sofa, and coffee table at work cleared off seems to be doing a number on my joy, and it's now beginning to have a physical impact. I need a break, Father -- not so much time away, but instead for them to go away. Nonetheless, please give me what You know I need, not just what I want.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 19 -- The Authority Of The Believer
Paul encountered people who'd only heard part of the story of Jesus, and whose belief was not yet complete. He worked to help them to understand and believe the truth about Christ and to receive the Holy Spirit.Paul had been granted superna
Paul encountered people who'd only heard part of the story of Jesus, and whose belief was not yet complete. He worked to help them to understand and believe the truth about Christ and to receive the Holy Spirit.
Paul had been granted supernatural ability to perform miracles, just like the other apostles, and God used this ability to draw people to Him. Those who attempted to take on such power themselves met staunch resistance from Satan. The seven sons of Sceva tried it and were beaten and stripped by a demon-possessed man.
The sidebar in my Bible by Josh McDowell spoke of the tendency we Christians have to "blame it all on the devil" when in fact our own carelessness or fleshly nature has led to our sin or error. "Satan and his army of demons desire that we be drawn to the world's standards. Satan is the one who ultimately desires that we pursue the lusts of the flesh .... Though not always directly involved, Satan's primary objective is the defeat of God, and for us that means our defeat. The authority of the believer is a possession that belongs to every true child of God. And it gives so much authority over the enemy that Satan has tried to BLIND most believers to the authority they have ... Jesus said all authority is given to the believer in heaven and in earth."
Father, thank You for warning us about Satan. Please don't ever let me use him as the excuse for my own carelessness or fleshly nature, though. Keep me accountable for my own stumbles, yet help me to see Satan in the details and to realize how relentless he is. Help me to remember that You have given me authority over him.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 20 -- Leaving It All Out On The Field
Paul was saying a permanent goodbye to the elders of the church of Ephesus: "So today I tell you that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible, because I have told you everything God wants you to know. Be careful for yourse
Paul was saying a permanent goodbye to the elders of the church of Ephesus: "So today I tell you that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible, because I have told you everything God wants you to know. Be careful for yourselves and for all the people the Holy Spirit has given to you to care for."
I noted that even for these elders of the church, Paul allowed for the possibility that some might not actually be saved. My commentary also said that the elders are not appointed or elected by the local assembly. They are made overseers by the Holy Spirit.
As I read this, my thoughts could not help but go back to the times when I said goodbye to Brian, Dirk, Kendon, Chas, and Luke as they left the youth group to go off to college. We'd been together learning about God for many years. Now, God was sending them out to eventually do what I'd been doing.
We have only seven years to really make a God-shaped impression on the hearts of those kids we have in youth. How vital it is that we be able to say with absolute certainty, "I have told you everything God wants you to know." It may not be everything they will ever learn, but it needs to be all that God has directed us to relate. We should be as "spent" in teaching them about God as they are when they come off the field after a hard-fought football game. If we leave anything unsaid, we have not met the bar which God established through Paul.
Father, please help me to always give 100% in my teaching of the guys You give me. Let me never go in unprepared or distracted. Help them to hear Your word through me, in a way that radically alters their lives and leads them to do the same for others.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 21 -- For Such A TASK As This
Paul had to get to Jerusalem. He'd been in such a hurry that he wouldn't even travel inland to see the church he'd helped start at Ephesus. Stopping at the seaport of Tyre on the way, Paul was warned by several Spirit-filled b
Paul had to get to Jerusalem. He'd been in such a hurry that he wouldn't even travel inland to see the church he'd helped start at Ephesus. Stopping at the seaport of Tyre on the way, Paul was warned by several Spirit-filled believers not to go to Jerusalem. He instead continued on to Caesarea where another prophet vividly illustrated his arrest with bound hands and feet. The man even said, "The Holy Spirit SAYS, 'This is how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man who wears this belt.' ".
Despite these clear warnings and their pleas, Paul would not be persuaded. In resignation to his decision, the followers prayed that God's will would be done.
Was Paul disobedient to God? There was considerable discussion in my commentary. The short answer seems to be "No". Luke may have filled in the details of the warnings being Holy Spirit-inspired once he'd seen the whole thing played out. And when the prophet illustrated Paul's arrest, there apparently was no warning that he should not go, only the delivery of the details of his arrest.
I'm feeling that what's important in what I read today is verse 14: "We could not persuade him to stay away from Jerusalem. So we stopped begging him and said, 'We pray that what the Lord wants will be done.' "
It reminded me of those 15 months while I waited to find Josh. Countless times my own parents questioned whether I knew what I was doing and what I was getting into. Others did as well. But like Paul, I too had received my marching orders and I would not be swayed. There was almost a "headiness" going into the unknown -- not apprehension by any means, but instead an eagerness to see what God would do. I could see that clearly while few others could. There was an assurance that I wish every believer could feel -- that things would work out fine despite all the obstacles. God would guide. Even when I headed to Ukraine accompanied by Curt, without an appointment, with the Iraq War just starting, and with SARS causing international travelers to panic, I knew it was all either Satan's last ditch effort to get me off track or God testing my faith to show me whether I would stay the course. He already knew.
Father, it is an awesome thing to know for certain You have called me to a task. It's like getting called off the bench and sent in to catch the game-winning pass. There is no thrill greater than discovering that You have chosen me to do something, and knowing it with such clarity. Please let all who read this experience it in their lives as well!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 22 -- Be Sure Which Side You're Really On
Paul seemed to do everything right in addressing the crowd who had been attacking him. Reviewing it helps to see that he wanted them to come alongside what God was doing through him.First, he spoke their language -- Aramaic and not Greek -- whi
Paul seemed to do everything right in addressing the crowd who had been attacking him. Reviewing it helps to see that he wanted them to come alongside what God was doing through him.
First, he spoke their language -- Aramaic and not Greek -- which surprised them and at least made them more willing to hear.
Secondly, he began with his roots as a Jew. They had common ground with him and knew he respected their beliefs.
Thirdly, he cited authorities that THEY upheld. The high priest and the Sanhedrin had authorized his crusades against Christians. Who better to list as character references?
They had probably changed their minds about Paul at this point. They couldn't deny a single thing he'd said. Because Paul had said it was "the God of our fathers" who had ordered the events on the Damascus road, not Jesus. If they were to resist what he'd said, they'd be choosing to fight against God Himself!
But it was what Paul said next that ignited a firestorm: "But the Lord said, 'Leave now. I will send you far away to the non-Jewish people' ".
They were so zealous about keeping all this "in the family" that they weren't about to share God with anyone else!
It's easy for us to shake our heads and snicker at how incredibly self-centered these people were, to the point that they'd rather the non-Jewish people go to hell than to modify their own beliefs and be the light God had intended them to be to the world!
Sadly, in more than one church, I've seen this happening even today. We hear it in such phrases as, "We don't DO that!" or "This is the way we've always done it," or even "I'll see that THAT never happens here!"
God is doing a new thing, and modern Sadduccees, Pharisees, and Sanhedrin are determined to see that He fails! What's wrong with this picture??
Father, I thank You for doing a new thing in our church. I pray that where opposition to Your will arises, You will change hearts and put them on the path to You. If their zeal causes them to find themselves at odds with You, I pray that You will help them to have their own Damascus Road experience, rather than finding themselves fighting against You.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 23 -- Losing A Guilty Conscience
The Roman commander brought Paul to a hearing before the Jewish council, consisting of Sadducees and Pharisees, so that he could determine the nature and severity of the charges against Paul. As he stood listening, he heard Paul say, "Brot
The Roman commander brought Paul to a hearing before the Jewish council, consisting of Sadducees and Pharisees, so that he could determine the nature and severity of the charges against Paul. As he stood listening, he heard Paul say, "Brothers, I have lived my life without guilt feelings before God up to this day."
The high priest reacted quickly to this, ordering him to be struck on the face. According to my commentary, the high priest probably considered Paul to be "an apostate from the Jewish religion, a renegade and a turncoat" for having turned from Judaism to Christianity.
Paul snapped right back at him for not following the law of Moses by ordering him to be struck before his guilt had been established, which was forbidden by the law of Moses.
But in a more basic sense, how could Paul say that he had lived his life up to that point without guilt feelings before God? Granted he had been a Pharisee and scrupulously followed the law, but what about the feelings of anguish he surely must have felt once he became a Christian for his participation in the stoning death of Stephen? After all, he'd been there tacitly approving of the stoning by holding the coats of those doing the stoning. Had he felt no remorse for past actions, so long as he had felt that God had justified them according to his beliefs at the time?
The only plausible explanation I could come up with was that, on the road to Damascus when he had seen Jesus, and during the ensuing days of blindness, God had so thoroughly convinced him that he had been forgiven and made right before God that he had indeed felt not guilty feelings for his old life. Paul must have believed firmly that his ld life had died and that he was a new creation. If that is the case, they his only reasons for feeling guilt feelings before God would have occurred after his conversion, and he had been so sold out to Christ that he hadn't dare commit an intentional sin.
Father, help me to also have that sense of forgiveness from You, that my old sinful self was drowned in Your sea of forgetfulness. Let me never be hindered by the past, knowing You've both forgiven and forgotten.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 24 & 25 -- Handling The Waiting Times
Paul had languished in prison for 2 years, with no real charges against him. So how does a man who has been told by Christ that he will preach in Rome NOT go crazy being unable to do his life's work? For if nothing else, the Jewish le
Paul had languished in prison for 2 years, with no real charges against him. So how does a man who has been told by Christ that he will preach in Rome NOT go crazy being unable to do his life's work? For if nothing else, the Jewish leaders should have been happy that they had at least sidelined him.
Paul may not have been able to preach to audiences, but he did continually preach to the Roman governor and his wife. Also, they definitely seemed interest in the Gospel, but they seemed to have no desire to change their hearts and lives. There is no record that they ever became Christians. There is also no record of anyone else being saved as a result of Paul's preaching during his over 2 years of captivity in Caesarea.
Yet he kept on, refusing to pay a bribe to secure his release. Had he done so, he would surely have needed to leave the area. He might have been followed and ambushed at some point. Instead, he went to Rome and spread Christ's message there eventually.
Was God still at work? Definitely. What was He doing? Showing new converts that it's about the message and not the messenger. New Testament churches were continuing to grow.
There have been times in my own life when I felt nothing was happening -- times when lessons I've taught seemed to evaporate before the kids hit the door; times when numbers dropped so low that some Sundays I had no one to teach. When I felt like giving up -- that it just wasn't worth it -- God would patiently say, "Keep pedalling!" It seems that's when the truly hungry show up. They're the ones who really need to hear the message. And we can watch them grow spiritually. We learn something too -- appreciation for those God sends our way. We no longer take them for granted, but count them instead as blessings.
Father, thank You for carrying me through such a time. Thanks for the reminder that every kid is important. Help me to remember that You are still at work when numbers go down and when no one seems to be listening. Don't let Satan try to beat me up and cause me to ever doubt my worth to You as a teacher. Thank You for my job!
Acts 26 -- The Lie And The Truth
King Agrippa understood the Jewish religion and Paul hoped to appeal to him to see the truth Paul had discovered. In describing his commission from Jesus, he said that Jesus had sent him "to open their eyes so that they may turn away from
King Agrippa understood the Jewish religion and Paul hoped to appeal to him to see the truth Paul had discovered. In describing his commission from Jesus, he said that Jesus had sent him "to open their eyes so that they may turn away from darkness to the light, away from the power of Satan and to God."
That part of his commission would resonate with King Agrippa. I think the next part probably peaked Agrippa's interest: "Then their sins can be forgiven."
I'd read earlier in my commentary and reviewed the various offerings and sacrifices to verify that those offerings, sacrifices, and rituals of the Jewish religion could only bring forgiveness for accidental sins. But there was no provision for the forgiveness of INTENTIONAL sins. People who committed intentional sins (everybody) actually found no provision whatsoever to have them remitted and forgiven. It made life seem quite hopeless, and an afterlife with God an impossibility.
Just before all of that in Paul's testimony, he mentioned something Jesus had said to him on the Damascus road: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? You are only hurting yourself by fighting ME." I can remember a time when I did just that. By not turning away from darkness to the light, I was hurting myself by fighting God. Worst of all, I knew it. And I believe all who do so are aware that they are hurting themselves. Yet they probably see it as a protective measure, thinking wrongly that letting go and letting God will set them into slavery rather than freedom.
Father, I pray that I might be able to help others realize this awful lie of Satan. You do offer forgiveness of all sin, and You do not enslave. That's Satan's job. They simply have no clue, Father.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Acts 27 & 28 -- A Longer-than-expected Mission Opportunity
I wonder if Paul had any idea what his appeal to Caesar would cost in time and money? Unlike today, when we can hop an plane from Jerusalem to Rome and be there in a few hours, Paul and his two friends and the centurions guarding him traveled b
I wonder if Paul had any idea what his appeal to Caesar would cost in time and money? Unlike today, when we can hop an plane from Jerusalem to Rome and be there in a few hours, Paul and his two friends and the centurions guarding him traveled by boat. Along the way, they stopped at many ports, spending days in each. On the southwest coast of Asia Minor, they had to transfer to a second ship. Lacking modern weather forecasting technology, they took off into the Mediterranean at just the wrong time, fighting bad weather and ending up on Malta after a shipwreck. They wintered there, then in spring they took off on a third ship, finally arriving near Rome. Along the way, Paul used every opportunity to heal and preach.
It may have taken six months to get there. Paul also tells how he rented a house for 2 years while on house-arrest, awaiting his trial. There is no mention of his trial before Caesar, but my commentary added that it is believed that Paul was acquitted of all charges. Paul used that time productively and did not get discouraged by his house arrest or the slowness of his trial.
Father, we tend to think of the missions You send us on as being 1-week trips. But You have longer term plans for us. I thank You for allowing me to join You on what I thought would be a 2-week trip to Russia, but which led me to both of my sons and a lifetime on mission with them. I pray that, as we did last night, we can tell others about what You have done in and through us and lead others to know and accept You and Your Son.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
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