Lent 2018

I would like to complete the Book of Acts during Lent 2018. This year we start on Valentines Day, a big event in the Western World’s calendar. Now is the time when lovers openly display their love for one another, aiming to win love with romantic gifts and promises.

But love is more discerning. True love cannot be bought with many gifts. I hope that during these next 6 weeks we can experience something greater than Valentines Day. We’re going to have to leave this world for a while and go put ourselves in another time and place.

Acts 11

The persecution was having the good effect of sending out the believers into the World and some by now had travelled as far as to Turkey and Greece.

But there remained the problem of people sticking to their culture and not reaching out. Many had still not accepted Christ’s message in full!

In fact they were just doing what immigrants often do, keeping things as comfortable as possible by creating “a home away from home”.

To be a successful immigrant, accepted by the country you are going to, you need to integrate. To obey Christ means going even further out of your comfort zone and being prepared to look like a fool.

Some of the believers did reach out to the Greeks and it says the Lord honoured their effort by multiplying the Gentile converts. If we remain humble, there is something particularly attractive about a believer who gives up everything to become of another culture while still living and breathing Jesus. For my journey I must become a Breton Christian 😊

Acts 10

Up to this point the faith had remained with Israelite believers. Now all that was about to change thanks to Peter following the leading of the Holy Spirit despite it not making much sense to him and in fact seeming like the opposite of what God would say. We know that Satan also has a voice that can lead us into evil, how do we discern the difference?

We have all heard stories of people who have killed another person because they heard God’s voice telling them to do it. Even Abraham came close to killing his own son and that really was God!

Following Jesus is not always as straight as you might think. When Jesus was on Earth, he healed people on the Sabbath. It was against God’s Law to work on the Sabbath and the Pharisees condemned him for it. But Jesus pointed out that the Sabbath was made for man and that it was more important to do good and to help someone in need than to obey the law like a robot. In effect, a higher law was in place, the law to love your neighbour.

In case of doubt where someone is claiming to be speaking from God when it appears against God’s Law, we must apply some rules of discernment;

1. Test the spirit(s)
Dearly loved friends, don’t always believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God: test it first to see if it really is. For there are many false teachers around, and the way to find out if their message is from the Holy Spirit is to ask: Does it really agree that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, actually became man with a human body? If so, then the message is from God. If not, the message is not from God but from one who is against Christ, like the “Antichrist” you have heard about who is going to come, and his attitude of enmity against Christ is already abroad in the world.
1 John 4:1-3

2. A malevolent spirit doesn’t like to be challenged and will react aggressively. Name calling, cursing, anger are obvious signs.

3. Ask the question, is there a higher law in place? For example the disciples had been given the Great Commission to go into all the world. That made it necessary to take the Gospel to Gentiles!

If after checking carefully and it passes the test then don’t resist the Holy Spirit!

When questioned by others a short time after, Peter gave his testimony which was accepted joyfully by others.
“Well, I began telling them the Good News, but just as I was getting started with my sermon, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning! Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘Yes, John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with* the Holy Spirit.’ And since it was God who gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to argue?”
Acts 11:15-17

Acts 9

But Paul, threatening with every breath and eager to destroy every Christian, went to the High Priest in Jerusalem. He requested a letter addressed to synagogues in Damascus, requiring their cooperation in the persecution of any believers he found there, both men and women, so that he could bring them in chains to Jerusalem. As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven spotted down upon him! He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Paul! Paul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who is speaking, sir?” Paul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city and await my further instructions.” 
Acts 9:1-6

“I have seen the light” is a saying we hear today to describe when someone comes to a new understanding or has a change of heart.

Nothing could have been more dramatic than Paul’s conversion. In the brilliant light of Heaven it is easy to see things clearly. The World is a dark place and we are immersed in it from our youth but the light can still break through the smallest crack. All of Paul’s hatred melted away when he saw the light.

The change in Paul was immediate but it wasn’t yet complete. The Lord sent Ananias to pray for Paul as he was still blind. When Ananias prayed for Paul, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and the scales fell from his eyes and he was immediately baptised. The transformation was complete. From moment;

Paul became more and more fervent in his preaching, and the Damascus Jews couldn’t withstand his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Christ. Acts 9:22

Paul was a new man filled with the love of Christ, not the same as the one before. He later said; Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 
2 Corinthians 5:17

The truth is that the new birth is available for everyone. The apostle John said we can come willingly into the light, we don’t have to wait for a dramatic intervention Damascus experience like Paul had, though of course these make the most interesting testimonies!

How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for choosing me as one of his messengers, and giving me the strength to be faithful to him, even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I didn’t know what I was doing, for I didn’t know Christ at that time. Oh, how kind our Lord was, for he showed me how to trust him and become full of the love of Christ Jesus. 
1 Timothy 1:12-14

Meanwhile the Church was growing rapidly in all the places the believers had fled to escape persecution. They went everywhere telling people how Jesus was the Messiah proven by the fact he had been raised back to life. And news travels fast! The nets were full to bursting and Peter was working extremely hard going everywhere gathering in the fish.

At last he arrived at Joppa on request to raise a woman (a stranger to him) back from the dead and the faith was at such a level that the request was completely reasonable and acceptable so he went and it was done 😀

I often have my wife ask me to pray for someone, usually in the family, to be healed of one thing or another. This is because of prior successes mostly due to faith on her part I suspect. It’s not always easy to drop the days agenda to do what someone else wants. I would like to be a lot more like Peter in accepting requests to go out of my way when there are other important matters to attend to.

But if Peter had stayed in Lydda, Dorcas would have stayed dead, the town of Joppa wouldn’t have been saved and maybe Peter wouldn’t have had a place to stay for such a long time! And if we read on, something was about to happen that would change the world!

Acts 8

Tertullian, one of the 2nd century Church Fathers would have had Stephen in mind when he wrote that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church".

There is some confusion over what a martyr is today. A martyr is an innocent victim who is persecuted and killed because of their faith. A martyr is not someone who sacrifices their life in war while killing others, brave and noble as that may be (or may not be in the case of the terrorist).

The death of Stephen led directly to the growth of the Church. To escape the sudden wave of persecution, Philip (one of the chosen 7 who administered the food program) headed for Samaria. Nothing could have been safer than escaping into enemy territory, a no-go zone for his Jewish persecutors!

The move of God is unstoppable.

In Samaria, Philip did many great miracles and many were converted including Simon a sorcerer who had the status of a Messiah. The rapid conversion rate prompted the visit of Peter and John to pray for the new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. We must learn to adapt to changing circumstances as led by the Holy Spirit if we are to see the rapid growth of the Church.

Simon, just a young believer and still wearing his wizards hat presumably, asked Peter if he could buy their power! It may have been tempting to take someone’s money in exchange for spiritual things when living by faith as Peter was.

No Sale! Peter told Simon he had an evil heart and needed to repent. Peter understood that Simon had a greater need than Peter’s need for money.

Given what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira, Simon must have feared for his life! But notice Simon immediately repented of his sin. There was only denial from Ananias and Sapphira which is the crucial difference in God’s mercy being show to Simon.

Next Philip, under the angels instruction, headed South to the road between Jerusalem and the Gaza Desert for a supernatural encounter with the treasurer of Ethiopia on his way home from Jerusalem.

The treasurer had been reading Isaiah 53 but didn’t understand what it meant. When Philip explained it, he believed in Jesus and was baptised. God is at work in the lives of many people and if we are open like Philip was, he will lead us to find these people to give them a word in season that may even immediately convert them.

And who knows where Christianity on Ethiopia would have been today without Stephen obeying what the angel had said! Today, about 62.8 percent (Orthodox 43.5%, Protestant 18.6% and Catholic 0.7 %) of the people of Ethiopia are Christians, and Christianity is predominant in the north.

Finally we discover that time travel is possible 😊 Philip found himself at Azotus, transported through time and space by the Holy Spirit. How exciting !

 Acts 7

The Jewish leaders were stung to fury by Stephen’s accusation and ground their teeth in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and Jesus the Messiah standing beside God, at his right hand!” Then they mobbed him, putting their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, and dragged him out of the city to stone him. The official witnesses—the executioners—took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Paul. And as the murderous stones came hurtling at him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” and with that, he died.
Acts 7:54-60

What do you think about the statement in this picture?

Isn’t it strange that when something good is happening that there are people who want to shut it down? Any reasonable person would have said it was wonderful to have Stephen working great miracles amongst the people. Why would anyone want to kill a healer?

Stephen gave a strong message telling the Sanhedrin the truth that they were a stiff necked people resisting the Holy Spirit. They killed him just for saying that! Many people deny that Satan exists but when things like what happened to Stephen occur, the truth is evident.

Because of our sin, we are all capable of being manipulated by evil forces. The Sanhedrin had risen to positions of leadership because they were “good” men but even they were capable of evil. That’s why we must all be born again into God’s Family.

Acts 6
But with the believers multiplying rapidly, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke only Greek complained that their widows were being discriminated against, that they were not being given as much food in the daily distribution as the widows who spoke Hebrew. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. “We should spend our time preaching, not administering a feeding program,” they said. “Now look around among yourselves, dear brothers, and select seven men, wise and full of the Holy Spirit, who are well thought of by everyone; and we will put them in charge of this business. Then we can spend our time in prayer, preaching, and teaching.”
Acts 6:1-4

One of the issues a large group faces is dealing with the many views (and voices!) and problems that individuals bring to the group. As the Church grows rapidly, it doesn't take long before problems appear that distract from the main focus that Jesus had given the disciples of carrying out the Great Commission.

Looking after widows is a mandate from God. With great wisdom and obedience, the disciples chose to set up an administrative team that would ensure that they were obedient to both God's Law and Jesus' instructions at the same time.

While less glamorous, this administrative team was helping the Gospel to progress by using their gifts and talents to take care of the widows as God had said they should. This is the way the Body of Christ should work!

Satan tries to use God's law against us to distract us and burden us with guilt to stop us from carrying out our main calling. It's true we are not excused from our duties just because we are dong the Lord's work. Some people do great work in the Church but are neglectful of their families and that brings dishonour to God's name.  However, we can be sure the Lord will always provide a way to fully obey him.

Once the disciples have managed to overcome the human obstacles, events take a turn for the worse and evil rears it's ugly head when Stephen is arrested on a false accusation. Satan prefers to stay undercover, he is most effective when people don't believe in him. Sooner or later when you persevere with God's work and are making progress, you will find yourself locked in a battle with evil. Don't be afraid, that's when God steps in.

Acts 5 
The only thing I want to impress on you from today’s passage is make honesty your friend. Lying is one of the things the Lord hates, that is a very strong word so pay attention! Here are some scriptures to help you 😊

For there are six things the Lord hates—no, seven: haughtiness, lying, murdering, plotting evil, eagerness to do wrong, a false witness, sowing discord among brothers. 
Proverbs 6:16

“Outside the city are those who have strayed away from God, and the sorcerers and the immoral and murderers and idolaters, and all who love to lie, and do so. 
Revelation 22:15

Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you are prevented from doing so! For you are the children of your father the devil and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and a hater of truth—there is not an iota of truth in him. When he lies, it is perfectly normal; for he is the father of liars. And so when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe it! 
John 8:43-45 

And if that doesn’t do it, I’m sure the story of Ananias and Sapphira will convince you!

In those early days of the Church, there was a kind of social pressure to give up all your possessions. It was one of the things that Jesus had told a would be disciple to do and now people joining the group were doing exactly that daily.

Ananias and Sapphira were deceiving the group into thinking they were just like the other disciples when in fact they weren’t ready to give it all up. But they didn’t need to lie about it, God would not have condemned them.

Their deaths sent a shockwave of fear throughout Jerusalem, not just in the Church. No wonder when so many tells lies daily!

People so casually tell lies and think it doesn’t matter. We are so used to being lied to that we learn to take everything with a grain of salt. How great it will be to one day live in a world where everyone tells the truth.

The scripture tells us to examine ourselves and it is a wise idea to ask for forgiveness before it’s too late.

The disciples were remembered as honest men, that’s why we can trust their testimonies. But that was not always the case was it? In the courtyard after Jesus had been arrested, Peter had denied he even knew Jesus 3 times. Peter was now a transformed man by the Holy Spirit. Nothing would stop him from telling the truth.

Ask the Lord to fill you with his Holy Spirit so that you will always tell the truth, no matter what pressure may come upon you, He will help you to do it! He will because he is the Truth. He is the father of honest men.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 
John 14:6

“Honesty is such a lonely word, everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard but mostly what I need from you”
Billy Joel


 Acts 4

The man who was healed had been lame from birth and was more than 40 years old. It is interesting to see the reactions of people to this great healing. In all honesty why wasn’t everyone rejoicing that a man who had been lame for 40 years was now able to walk? Isn’t that strange?

A great light exposes what has been living in the darkness. People think they can keep their sins in secret but when the light shines in, it exposes the truth. Some react aggressively, some have joy depending on the truth of their lives. When the Holy Spirit is working in someone’s life, they will feel convicted of their sin. It is a good sign if you feel the fear of the Lord, it is something to embrace rather than reject. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The Gospel message IS offensive to us. It tells us we are sinners, we are not good people. It tells us we are lost and heading for Hell and if we don’t repent we will end up in that terrible place. It tells us that Jesus Christ is the only Way out. Not Allah, not Buddha, not any other god and especially not us!

We can think and say that a loving God wouldn’t condemn us but if we reject Jesus we have rejected God’s only Way of Salvation. That makes a lot of people angry. Only the Truth matters and when we see the Truth for ourselves, as these people did, suddenly it changes everything. Embrace the Truth and you will Live in the Light.

And besides, a move of God cannot be prevented so it is pointless to oppose it

Acts 3

It would be difficult in any big city in the world to avoid being asked for some money by some poor person in the street. Sometimes we can avoid them by looking the other way but they may ask anyway. Reluctantly we give them a couple of dollars, feel better about ourselves and move on.

Have we truly helped them by giving them money? Many people think the proper solution is for them to go out and find work like the rest of us. We’ve heard the stories of people begging for a living, going home in the evening to a place to stay only to resume the whole pretence the next day.

They would be the few actually. Most people begging in the street aren’t there because they want to be. They have neither food nor shelter because they have fallen on hard times and/or have an addiction and they rely on the kindness of strangers.

The man in this story had been lame since birth. Probably there was no surviving family left to look after him so he was begging where the religious people went thinking he could get some help there. He was a genuine case in need and he asks for money from Peter and John. But money wasn’t his real need. His greatest need was to be healed from his lameness. Luckily Peter didn’t have any money but what he did have was plenty of faith. Jesus said anything is possible if you have faith. So Peter commands the man to walk and he does!

Before we do our good works, perhaps we can ask God what is the real need? Sometimes it will be money, sometimes food and shelter, sometimes prayer, sometimes acceptance and encouragement. But if the real need is healing, let’s not stand by with a sympathetic glance. Let’s have the courage to follow Peter’s example and pray in faith.

Acts 2

In 1 Kings 18:46 you can read how God have special strength to Elijah to run faster than King Ahab’s chariot, faster than a horse.

7 weeks had gone by since Jesus’ death and resurrection and tte Day of Pentecost has now arrived (you can read this in Leviticus 23:15-22). As the believers met together that day, suddenly there was a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them and it filled the house where they were meeting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of Fire appeared and settled on their heads. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages they didn’t know for the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
Acts 2:1-4

From that moment the church grew rapidly and thousands of believers were added within just 3-4 months of the 1st Communion with the disciples in the little upstairs room.

Paul’s message later was that the Church is a body. If the body is to do well, then everyone must equally contribute their gifts and talents. Everyone has to train as well so that their talent is fine tuned and they can do to the best with their ability. If anyone holds back with their gifts and talents, then the entire body doesn’t do as well. We can think of a sports team where everyone has a part to play and must give their all to win. The game is won together!

This is the opening clip from a multi Oscar winning movie Chariots of Fire. It shows the British Olympic team of 1924 in training at St Andrews in Scotland (where Prince William and Kate met). The movie is really about the way that God was glorified through a man called Eric Liddell who ran his race for God not himself. Ben will talk later on Eric Liddell and of course you can watch the movie!



Acts 2:1-42

The Festival of Weeks
“‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 
Leviticus 23:15-16

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 
Acts 2:1-4

Luke records that the Holy Spirit arrived with perfect timing on the 50th day after the resurrection of Jesus just as Jesus had promised (the resurrection had fulfilled the ancient Festival of First Fruits also found in Leviticus 23).

The coming of the Holy Spirit was like the day that you found the love of your life. Two worlds collide. The Holy Spirit brought an eternal fire that could never be quenched. Uncontrollable. Pure. Mysterious. All consuming. The Church is called the Bride of Christ. No one in that room that day would ever be the same again.

A great miracle takes place and those who are filled with the Holy Spirit begin speaking in languages they’ve never learned and even more amazing is that the languages spoken were all the other nationalities present in the crowd. Babel is reversed.

And then Peter spontaneously preaches a great sermon and 3000 people believe and get saved! Now if Peter spoke in one language, how did they all understand him? That was an even greater miracle. The power of the Holy Spirit far exceeds our capabilities.

The people could not deny the great miracle, nor the the empty tomb, nor the truth that Peter preached. The Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin and they became desperate to be saved. They had what is known as a Holy Awakening and they were scared! 3000 were baptised and were saved that day. Just think of how long that would have taken in the remainder of the day!

Now baptism isn’t what saves you but it does demonstrate that you have believed the message. Actions always follow beliefs. That’s why you can know a person by their fruits.

Acts 2:43-47
A deep sense of awe was on them all, and the apostles did many miracles. And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other, selling their possessions and dividing with those in need. They worshiped together regularly at the Temple each day, met in small groups in homes for Communion, and shared their meals with great joy and thankfulness, praising God. The whole city was favorable to them, and each day God added to them all who were being saved. 
Acts 2:43-47

Advertising drives us to purchase things that we don’t really need. It’s what keeps the economy going and us all employed. But it also keeps us slaves to the world system fooling us we need to “keep up with the Jones’s”

It was part of Jesus message that you cannot serve 2 masters. Either God or Money. To one person at least he said to sell everything, give it to the poor and leave to follow him. The believers sold their possessions to join together and pool resources. They gave up personal ownership to rely on God. We should credit their ingenuity for finding a way to live while giving up everything!

But that doesn’t mean we sit around listening to God all day not working! Faith must be living, it must be active not passive. Sharing resources in community has its problems. Laziness cannot be tolerated. I’m sure even the Amish communities have to deal with this problem every now and then.

We also know of the problems caused where resources fail to be equally distributed as we shall see later in Acts 6. Justice is important and a community can quickly fall apart when some seem to be doing better than others despite everyone putting in a good days work. In George Orwell’s story “Animal Farm”, the problem was that “some animals were more equal than others”. The story is a comment on Communism but equally look at the resentment in our Western World at “fat cats” who pay themselves huge bonuses while the workers get the inflation rate!

The difference in Acts was the Holy Spirit who placed all on equal footing in Gods Family. Luke refers to the family often calling them brothers and sisters. Love is the bond in a family. The love that had come down from Heaven. Blood is thicker than water they say. Love is not forced as in Communism and sharing was spontaneous according to need.

Paul’s message later was that the Church is a body. If the body is to do well, then everyone must equally contribute their gifts and talents. It is better to see money as just one of the gifts and talents God has given. If anyone holds back with their gifts and talents, the body will suffer in some way. We shall see this problem later on with Ananias and Sapphira. Everyone must look out for one another, do their best. When one is struggling, another must step into the gap, another must help the one who is suffering.

Acts 1

During the forty days after his crucifixion he appeared to the apostles from time to time, actually alive, and proved to them in many ways that it was really he himself they were seeing. And on these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. In one of these meetings he told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them in fulfillment of the Father’s promise, a matter he had previously discussed with them. 
Acts 1:3-4

There are some memories that we have which are so strong that we hold on to them for many years afterwards. As time passes and our nostalgia grows, we can forget the present and start living in the past as if those days were better.

In the opening chapter of Acts, Luke recalls all the wonderful things that Jesus did, his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. These thing were so beyond normality that it could have been very difficult to come down from such an experience just like the men who went to the moon, or a sportsman who broke the world record. The rest of life would be dull in comparison and the person could easily slip into depression.

But instead there was the promise of the Holy Spirit, that something greater was coming soon that they would all share in. Then they would no longer be spectators but they would be participants in establishing God’s Kingdom in the World. We all need to believe that tomorrow will be better than today.

Since I was very young, I always ran on ahead. It would have been very easy for the Disciples to rush out with the news of the resurrection and fail to make any breakthrough because it was all done in man’s strength. Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit. This World is in so much of a hurry. Let us wait this Lent just a little while longer for God’s timing rather that trying to jumpstart things our own way.