Acts 3:6 : what I have I give you

I was reading from Acts chapter 3, it has a lot of great insights. But this morning, verse 6 caught my attention.

"Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

Words spoken to a crippled beggar who was sitting at the temple gate  asking from money. This statement by Peter was followed by a miraculous healing. This statement verbalizes the true Spirit of Christ - give to those in need.

This does not mean that we, as Christians, are to always give to a person exactly what they are asking for, but rather that we should give out of the abundance, out of the gifts, that God has given to us. Read through chapter 3 of Acts and you will notice that this man was begging for money, Peter did not give him money, but rather, he gave him out of the abundance of what God had given to him; the gift of teaching, healing, and leading.

This crippled beggar at the gate was asking for money. This man was poor and helpless due to his disability. Notice the steps that Peter takes here:

1. Peter looked straight at him.
2. Peter spoke to the man and called for his attention.
3. Peter saw through his felt need (money) to the heart of his problem (his crippling disability).
4. Peter spoke healing into his life and into his body.
5. Peter helped him up and walked with him.
6. Peter stood beside the man and defended him.

This is exactly what we are called to do; take notice of those around us, call for their attention, see through their felt need to the heart of the matter, speak healing into their life through the gifts God has given to us, and walk with others, standing beside them and defending them in difficult times.

What are you obsessed with?

We are all obsessed with something or many things. Whether it is ourselves, other people, money, television, the computer, locations, or our possessions, or one of a million other things.

Let's just face it, we are obsessed!

To obsess is "to have the mind excessively preoccupied with a single emotion or topic".

With this definition in mind, I want to be a person that is totally obsessed with Jesus. I want to be a person that is excessively preoccupied with Jesus.

I want to be a person that loves to worship Jesus and takes the opportunity to do so at every chance. I want to be a person that loves to talk and walk with Jesus in readings, study, prayer, and meditation.

But this is just the beginning. I want to be a person that grows to be just like Him; loving and serving just as He did.

And I want to lead others to do the same. I want to lead my family in being totally obsessed with Jesus. I want to lead my church in being totally obsessed with Jesus. I want to lead my circle of influence in being totally obsessed with Jesus.

The Acts 2 Church: the progression then and now

I started reading Acts 2 this morning and then set out to determine what the Acts 2 Church really looked like, or rather, what the progression looked like on and around the day of Pentecost into the first days of the Christian church. Below is what I observed:

1. The 12 Apostles were gathered together waiting for the Spirit of God. (vs. 1)
2. The Holy Spirit fulfills Christ's promise and fills the 12 Apostles. (vs. 2-4)
3. A crowd is drawn to the group of leaders because they recognize and experience something different. (vs. 5-13)
4. Peter addresses the crowd that has gathered around them. (vs. 14-36)
• Explaining (vs. 14-21)
• Teaching (vs. 22-35)
• Response/Call (vs. 36)
5. The crowd respond in question to Peter's message. (vs. 37)
6. Peter further explains and clarifies the needed response. (vs. 38-40)
7. 3,000 people accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are baptized into His family. (vs. 41)
8. The people became devoted followers. (vs. 42)
• They were devoted to the teaching of the Apostles.
• They were devoted to fellowship with one another.
• They were devoted to prayer.
9. The people were filled with awe and experience many miracles. (vs. 43)
10. The people developed Spiritual disciplines. (vs. 44-47)
• They were together and shared commonalities. (vs. 44)
• They gave to anyone as they had a need. (vs. 45)
• They met together every day. (vs. 46)
• They ate together with gladness and sincerity. (vs. 46)
• They praised God. (vs. 47)
11. God added to their number every day. (vs. 47)

Now, if you take Acts 2 as "prescriptive", than you believe that we, as a church, should follow the words and direction of the Acts 2 church to the letter and that the church today should look exactly like the Acts 2 church in order to be successful and reach others for Christ. On the other hand, if you believe that this passage is "descriptive" than you believe that it is merely describing a model of the church and that as times and society changes, we as Christians and as a church need to adapt in order to reach others for Christ. Further, if you believe that it is merely descriptive than you must decide how the church should adjust and adapt our methods so that we can reach more people for Christ and therefore fulfill the great commission as found in Matthew 28:18-20.

I take this passage as descriptive and therefore I feel it necessary to determine how our church must adjust and adapt to reach more people in our culture for Jesus Christ. Some of these listed below are foundational and must not be changed, others can be changed based upon the local church body and local culture. This is what I believe God is calling us to:

1. The church leadership must continue to gather together waiting for the Spirit of God.
2. The church leadership must not move forward until they are filled with the Spirit of God.
3. People will be drawn in to the church (attractional) but they also must be invited in (missional).
4. Through the explaining and teaching of the Scripture and the needed response, people will respond. 
5. The response is to be an acceptance, repentance, and baptism - nothing less.
6. As believers, we are to become devoted followers.
• We are to be devoted to teaching.
• We are to be devoted to fellowship.
• We are to be devoted to prayer.
7. As followers, we are to develop Spiritual disciplines.
• We are to give of ourselves and of our blessing as we see a need. (James 4:17)
• We are to praise God with glad and sincere hearts. (John 4:23-24)
8. God will add to our numbers regularly. (Matthew 21:43)

What are you going to do?

These past few weeks this question has been running through my mind. As we approach Resurrection Sunday, or as some call it, Easter, we have been hitting the subject of evangelism head on at our church. I think that all too often we make it far too difficult.
Jesus has left us with the mission of sharing His message with the lost and the hurting. We are obligated by our Master to tell those who do not know and those that need to know about the hope and grace that He, and He alone brings.

Jesus has left us with the promise that He has gone to prepare a place for us to come and be with Him for all of eternity. As believers, this is where we find our hope, our drive, and our passion, to keep on keeping on.

Jesus has blessed us with gifts which we are to use to share the message of love and restoration with everyone that we come in contact with. Further, He has made these blessings known to us through the power of His Spirit and revelation.

Jesus has blessed us with relationships; people that we love and people and have a deep desire to help and offer assistance to.

Jesus has left us with the promise of His ever present guidance, assistance, and support, also known as

So, given all of these things; the obligation by Christ, the opportunity through Christ, and the omnipresence of Christ.....

...what are you going to do?

Let me give you some reasons to get up, get out, and get moving...

Do it for your sake; But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:20)

Do it for your loved one's sake; For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (2 Corinthians 15:4)

Do it for Jesus' sake; eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body. (Philippians 1:20)

Coackroaches and Light

The other night I was walking out the door toward the garage steps and flipped the light on just before walking out. As I flipped on the light my attention was immediately drawn to hundreds of large black/brown cockroaches as they scurried up and down, back and forth to find a hiding spot from the light. I have known for some time that we had a number of cockroaches in the garage and a few in the basement but never did I imagine that there were so many.

As I thought about these cockroaches and the way they scurried when the light hit them, I began to think about light as it is described in the Bible, what is light, who is light, what does light do, what does it reveal, who is drawn to the light and who is repelled by the light.

WHAT IS LIGHT

Psalm 119:105 says: "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."

God’s word is both a lamp and a light, it discovers things, within us, concerning God and ourselves that otherwise we could not have known.

Ephesians 5:14 reminds us that "It is light that makes everything visible."

1 John 1:5 tells us that "God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all."

He is all that illuminates truth, and perfection. He does not represent truth and perfection, He is truth and perfection. We are the ones that represent His truth and His perfection.

Hebrews 1:3 further states: "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word."

Then John 1:4-5 says of Jesus: "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it."

And in John 8:12 Jesus is quoted: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."
Colossians 1:13 reminds us that: "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and has brought us into the Kingdom."

John 3:19 states that: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil."

EVIL HATES THE LIGHT

John 3:20: "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."

TRUTH CRAVES THE LIGHT

John 3:21: "Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

BELIEVERS ARE LIGHT

1 John 1:7: "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin."

Matthew 5:14-16: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven."

Mark 4:21: "Do you bring a lamp in and put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead don’t you put it on its stand?"

Philippians 2:15 tell believers: "You shine like stars in the universe."

BELIEVERS MISSION

Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Jesus Christ, God's Holy Son: "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being"

BUT, as God’s children, aren’t we called to be “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being”.

Grace and Truth

I was having a conversation with a gentleman that I have never met before over facebook this evening, I thought I would copy and paste one of my thoughts from that conversation here:

"Jesus was the perfect blend of "grace" and "truth" (John 1:14). He said what needed to be said, at the time it needed to be said, and in the way it needed to be said. Never skirting the issue or beating around the bush. Yet He did it with grace, never making it a personal attack against someone, only the sin or situation by which they were involved.

It seems to me that each of us find ourselves somewhere on the grace/truth spectrum. It is important that we identify where we stand on this spectrum and that we aim for the center, the perfect match of grace and truth, as Jesus was. When we find ourselves there (and we never will be perfect as Jesus was), then we will be able to answer critics as Jesus did."

A Blessing for Job

If you have been around the church for any period of time, or even if you haven't, you have probably heard the story of Job from the Old Testament. Job is the guy that in the period of a couple of days lost his oxen, his camels, his donkeys, his sheep, his servants, his daughters, his sons, and finally his health. This was a successive pattern, happening one after the other, through Satan, as God gave him permission to do so.

As we consider this account we often look at Job and think of the poor guy. Sometimes we might ask the question of how God would allow something so horrible to happen to a guy that was blameless. But, then, that is the point. Isn't it?

Job 1:8 reads; "Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 

It was because Job was blameless and upright, because he feared God and shunned evil that he was the target of these tests and the persecution that came at the hand of Satan. Not only that, it was because of his faith and the life that he lived that God pointed him out to Satan and encouraged him to examine him, to evaluate his life, and even allowed Satan to put him to the ultimate test. It was because of Job's strong faith that he was able to withstand the ploys of Satan and to combat the words of his closest friends and his wife and did not curse the God that gives and takes away.

When we consider all of this, we realize that this entire episode of testing and persecution from Satan, by the permission  of God, was the greatest compliment that could have ever been given.  When we consider Job 1:8 perhaps we should ask ourselves; What would God say if He were having a discussion with Satan about you and your life? Would God feel confident to send Satan your way and encourage him to examine you, to evaluate your life? Would God feel confident that you would stand strong in your faith if you were to lose all that you hold dear, if all that God has given to you were taken away?