Acts 8:26-40 Obeying God's Leading

The fourth man mentioned in Acts 8 is not even named.  He was labeled "a concerned seeker" by my commentary and he was an Ethiopian who served Candace, their queen.  He was returning from Jerusalem where he'd gone to worship God.  "Because he was a eunuch, he could not become a full Jewish proselyte (Deut 23:1), but he was permitted to become a God fearer or a proselyte of the gate.  He was concerned enough about his spiritual life to travel over 200 miles to Jerusalem to worship God, but his heart was still not satisfied," my commentary said.

"God had directed Philip to the right person at the right time, as he will with us today, if we will just listen and pray.  This man represents many people today who are religious, read the Scriptures, and seek the truth, yet do not have saving faith in Jesus Christ.  They are sincere, but they are lost!  They need someone to show them the way," my commentary continued.

"God had already prepared the man's heart to receive Philip's witness.  If we obey the Lord's leading, we can be sure that God will go before us and open the way for our witness ... It is not enough for the lost sinner to desire salvation; he must also understand God's plan of salvation.  It is the heart that understands the Word and eventually bears fruit."

Finally, my commentary tells about a man in China in 1857 who'd been led to Christ by J Hudson Taylor.  He asked Taylor, "How long have you had the good tidings in England?"  "Many centuries," was his answer.  The man replied, "My father died seeking the truth.  Why didn't you come sooner?"

Father, help me to share the gospel with those You put in my path.  Help me to help fulfill Your plan to save the nations.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Acts 8:9-25 Satan's Counterfeits

The next of four men discussed in this chapter is Simon the sorcerer, who my commentary calls "a clever deceiver".  He comes into the picture due to "a basic principle in Scripture -- wherever God sows His true believers, Satan will eventually sow his counterfeits."

"The people were amazed at the things that Simon did and, therefore, they believed the tings that he said.  They considered him the great power of God.  Simon's sorcery was energized by Satan and was used to magnify himself, while Philip's miracles were empowered by God and were used to glorify Christ."

"The wickedness of Simon's heart was fully revealed by the ministry of the two apostles.  Simon not only wanted to perform miracles, but he also wanted the power to convey the gift of the Holy Spirit to others -- and he was quite willing to pay for this power!"

"Peter's words to Simon give every indication that the sorcerer was not a converted man ... his heart was not right before God.  While it is not out of place for believers to repent, the command to repent is usually given to unbelievers ... There is no evidence that he repented and sought forgiveness.  A sinner who wants the prayers of others but who will not pray himself is not going to enter God's kingdom."

"Simon heard the gospel, saw the miracles, gave a profession of faith in Christ, and was baptized, and yet he was never born again.  He was one of Satan's clever counterfeits, and, had Peter not exposed the wickedness of his heart, Simon would have been accepted as a member of the Samaritan congregation."

Father, help us to have discernment like You gave Peter.  Keep counterfeits away from our congregation and help us to be one in You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Acts 8:1-8 The First Two of Four Men

My commentary calls the Gospel "God's dynamite for breaking down sin's barriers and setting the prisoners free."  With the persecution of the church beginning, it said, "the salt was now leaving the Jerusalem saltshaker to be spread over all Judea and Samaria, just as the Lord had commanded."

Acts 8 is centered around four men, it said, and the first two are mentioned in these verses:

Paul - the Zealous Persecutor:  "... a devoted Pharisee ... measured by the law, his life was blameless ... he was well on his way to becoming a great leader for the Jewish faith.  His zeal for the law was displayed most vividly in his persecution of the church.  He really thought that persecuting the believers was one way of serving God, so he did it with a clear conscience.  He obeyed the light that he had, and when God gave him more light, he obeyed that and became a Christian!"

Philip - A Faithful Preacher:  "Philip was chosen as a deacon but like Stephen, he grew in his ministry and became an effective evangelist.  God directed him to evangelize in Samaria:  an area that had been prohibited to the apostles ... Philip not only declared God's Word, but he also demonstrated God's power by performing miracles ... the emphasis here is on the Word of God:  the people gave heed to the Word because they saw the miracles, and by believing the Word, they were saved ... God in His grace had built a bridge between the Jews and the Samaritans and made the believers one in Christ, and soon He would extend that bridge to the Gentiles and include them as well."

Father, help me to build bridges that will allow people to come to You who may have thought they were excluded from Your love.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Acts 7 --Stephen Goes Home

Now, my commentary says, Stephen's ministry is that of Judge.  "Stephen proved from their own Scriptures that the Jewish nation was guilty of worse sins than those they accused him of committing."  It says those sins were:

1) "They misunderstood their own spiritual roots -- Abraham was saved by grace, through faith, and not because he was circumcised, kept a law, or worshiped in a temple.  All of those things came afterward ... He believed the promises of God and it was this faith that saved him."

2)  :They rejected their God-sent deliverers -- Joseph, Moses, and now Jesus."

3)  "They disobeyed their law -- No sooner had the people received the law than they disobeyed it by asking Aaron to make them an idol ... Acts 7:42 describes the judgment of God when He 'takes His hands off' and permits sinners to have their own way ... The law made them a holy people ... when Israel broke down that wall of distinction by disobeying God's law, they forfeited the blessing of God and had to be disciplined."

4)  "They despised their temple -- The witnesses accused Stephen of seeking to destroy the temple, but that was exactly what the Jewish nation did!  ... Over the years, the worship at the Temple degenerated into mere religious formality and eventually there were idols placed in the temple."

5)  "They stubbornly resisted their God and His truth -- this is the part that cut his hearers to the heart ... Their ears did not hear the truth, their hearts did not receive the truth, and their necks did not bow to the truth.  As a result, they killed their own Messiah!"

Finally, Stephen's ministry was that of martyr.  "Our Lord sat down when He ascended to heaven, but He stood up to welcome to glory the first Christian martyr ... Stephen was not only tried in a manner similar to that of our Lord, but he also died with similar prayers on his lips ... God does not call all of us to be martyrs, but He does call us to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2)."

Father, help my life to be a living sacrifice for You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Acts 6:8-15 Stephen's Ministry

Stephen had been chosen to be a servant-leader, entrusted by the Greeks with ensuring that their widows received their fair share of the food distributions, but he was more than that.  God was working through him mightily.

My commentary said, "Stephen's powerful testimony would be the climax of the church's witness to the Jews.  Then the message would go out to the Samaritans and then to the Gentiles."

Though his first area of ministry was servanthood, God enabled him to miracles just as He did the apostles, in his second area of ministry-witnessing.  "Nobody could match or resist Stephen's wisdom and power (Luke 21:15).  Their only alternative was to destroy him."

"The enemy surprised Stephen and arrested him while he was ministering, and they took him before the same council that tried Jesus and the apostles.  It was not even necessary for Stephen to speak in order to give witness, for the very glow on his face told everybody that he was a servant of God."

Father, please help me to use wisdom and discernment when I speak for You.  Let others see from my face itself that I am Yours.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Acts 6:1-7 The Church Has Growing Pains

"The church was experiencing growing pains, and this was making it difficult for the apostles to minister to everybody ... The fact that the outsiders were being neglected created a situation that could have divided the church.  However, the apostles handled the problem with great wisdom and did not give Satan any foothold in the fellowship," my commentary explained.

"When a church faces a serious problem, this presents the leaders and the members with a number of opportunities.  For one thing, problems give us the opportunity to examine our ministry and discover what changes must be made ... We must regularly examine our lives and our ministries lest we start taking things for granted."

"The apostles studied the situation and concluded that they were to blame:  they were so busy serving tables that they were neglecting prayer and the ministry of the Word of God.  They had created their own problem because they were trying to do too much ... It is a matter of priorities:  the apostles were doing jobs that others could just as well.  'It is better to put 10 men to work than to try to do the work of 10 men,' D.L. Moody used to say."

"Church problems give us an opportunity to exercise our faith, not only faith in the Lord, but also faith in each other ... The church was not afraid to adjust their structure in order to make room for a growing ministry.  When structure and ministry conflict, this gives us an opportunity to trust God for the solution ... The apostles were not afraid to share their authority and ministry with others."

Father, thank You for allowing me to share in Your ministry at our church.  Show me where I'm needed most and guide me to do Your will.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Acts 5:40-42 The Fourth Response To God's Truth

The apostles were beaten and commanded to stop speaking in the name of Jesus Christ.  My commentary explained that "when understanding fails, violence starts to take over.  This violence often masquerades as religious zeal, and people begin to destroy each other in the name of their God."

William Temples is quoted as saying, "Christians are called to the hardest of all tasks:  to fight without hatred, to resist without bitterness, and in the end, if God grant it so, to triumph without vindictiveness."  This goes along with something Phillips Brooks said, "The purpose of life is to glorify God by the building of character through truth."

"The Sanhedrin thought that it had won a great victory, when actually the council had experienced a crushing defeat.  It was the apostles who were the winners, because they grew in godliness as they yielded to God's will and suffered for their Master ... Neither the threats nor the beatings stopped them from witnessing for Jesus Christ.  If anything, this persecution only made them trust God more and seek greater power in their ministry."

One other thing worth noting:  "The witness of the church included both teaching and preaching, and that is a good balance.  The word preach gives us our English word evangelize ... However, proclamation must be balanced with instruction so that the sinners know what to believe and the new converts understand why they believed.  The message cannot produce fruit unless the person understands it and can make an intelligent decision."

Father, I thank You for giving me the desire and the ability to teach Your Word.  Don't let me fail to do that according to Your will.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

The Third Response To God's Truth

Continuing the four different responses to God's truth, here is the third one from my commentary:

3)  Gamaliel Avoiding the Truth:  "He was a Pharisee who did not want to see the Sadducees win any victories.  (Paul had been trained by this man.)  ... He had tried to use cool logic rather than overheated emotions, but his approach was still wrong.  To begin with, he automatically classified Jesus with two rebels, which means he had already rejected the evidence.  To him, Jesus was just another zealous Jew, trying to set the nation free from Rome ...With a clever twist of bad logic, Gamaliel convinced the council that there was really nothing to worry about!  Troublemakers come and go, so be patient.  Furthermore, he assumed that history repeats itself ... He also had the mistaken idea that, if something is not of God, it must fail.  But this idea does not take into consideration the sinful nature of man and the presence of Satan in the world ... But the biggest weakness of his advice was his motive:  he encouraged neutrality when the council was facing a life-and-death issue that demanded a decision.  'Wait and see' is actually not neutrality; it is a definite decision.  He was voting 'No!' but he was preaching 'maybe someday' ... Jesus made it clear that it is impossible to be neutral about Him and His message:  'He that is not with Me is against Me' ... There are times when being neutral means making a quiet (and perhaps cowardly) decision to reject God's offer."

Father, I pray especially for the junior high kids I got to teach last night.  Work on their hearts and lead them to not quietly reject Your offer, but to understand they must make a decision to accept it if they want eternal life.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford