Author: missionspaul

The last day of 2015.
I want to say thank you to you for reading the daily Bible blogs.
Wordpress tell me that this year they have been read in 63 countries.
I no longer have one local congregation who keep me studying the Bible, but I do have people across the world, people like you. I am encouraged when I know God has used me to encourage you.
I will continue to write each day.
If you like any blog then you could ‘like’ it or ‘share’ it on any of the social media sites listed. This would extend the blog further afield.
I am not sure how we got to reading verse by verse through Acts but that’s where we are.
The next blog will come in 5 minutes time.
Thanks very much.
Kind regards
Paul

Acts 4: 20

“For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

The apostle Paul quoting Isaiah wrote, ‘No eye has seen nor ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love him.’
There are some things we cannot see nor hear from God. We sit in the dark whilst He is silent on many things.

But let’s not be concerned with what we don’t know.
Mary Magdalene ran to the disciples and said, “I’ve seen the Lord!”
The disciples told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord!”
They couldn’t help themselves but speak out.

Now there’s a strong chance that you reading this blog have never seen nor perhaps heard the audio voice of Jesus. Nevertheless you could have a very strong belief that he is with you. He has changed your life. He has filled you with joy and good things and you cannot keep silent. He has transformed your life and you are bubbling over. There is no way you can stop talking of him. You cannot help yourself. You might not be able to win the theological discussions. But you have experienced Him.
That’s all that matters.

Stubborn is good Acts 4:19

“But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.”

There was no greater council than the Sanhedrin. For the Jew they were not only the last word but they represented the authority of God. They were the final interpretation of the Scriptures.
So for these 2 men (who were not educated and did not possess the knowledge that the Sanhedrin had) to challenge them in this way was unprecedented.
But that is also the evidence of the importance of Jesus to them. When Jesus is everything then even the important isn’t all important. When you know Jesus then you are prepared to risk everything. It is not even a discussion point. There is no alternative.
Man sometimes make themselves look so big that we forget they are only representatives of God. Sometimes people are deceived and they submit as if these important people are God. Enforced blasphemy pursues.
Our eyes must be on Jesus. We must be stubborn in our belief of him. Stubborn in our relationship with him. Stubborn in our obedience to him.

The commands of man: Acts 4: 18

“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.”

The commands of man can come from a place of pride, ignorance and fear. The commands of man can be orders to separate and distance people from their true callings. The commands of man can often be focusing on what the individual cannot do than what they can do. So the commands of man are sometimes restricting not releasing. The commands of man sometimes are veiled as fair judgments. The individual must agree to follow the command and be pleased no further action will be taken against them. The commands of man can come from dictators taking into no account the individual and their desires, gifts or even their needs. So the commands of man are often not from the shop floor where life is truly experienced but from an office many miles away. The commands of man are thus not incarnated into what is workable or understood but fuel the already growing detachment between them and us.
Next year you will once again hear many commands of man. But let those of us who lead and who command do it from a heart of sacrificial love which has made the journey into servanthood. Let our commands feel more a release for the individual to become all that they can become!

“Ease up a bit” says your enemy: Acts 4: 17

“But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

Your enemy cannot do anything about the miracles in your life. Your enemy cannot change the transformation that God has done. The Sanhedrin couldn’t make the healed man a cripple again, they couldn’t turn the clock back, he was healed and standing there, well actually probably still leaping! They couldn’t do anything about the fact that people in Jerusalem were not only seeing this crippled man walk but hearing it was done in the name of Jesus. But they could try and stop it happening again.
If the enemy cannot stop you he will try and slow you down.
He will speak thoughts into your mind suggesting it isn’t worth the hassle anymore. No one appreciates what you do. No one values your hard work. The enemy will then warn you to change the course you are on.
“Stop speaking and ministering in this way, we don’t want to hear the name of Jesus anymore”
This is your cue to turn up the volume!
This is the moment not to back down, slow down, turn around, sit down, shut up but this is your confirmation that you have rattled the enemy. Speak louder, do more, let Jesus be known!
Man has always tried to silence Jesus, from the moment he was born into this world to the moment he left. But man has always failed.
There will be failure in your life. The failure from your enemy to silence the name of Jesus in you. Whatever you are doing in life do it unto Jesus. Work for Jesus. Live for Jesus in your home and with friends.
Don’t slow down and don’t shut up!

Exaggerated publicity: Acts 4: 16

“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it.”

Happy Boxing Day everyone!

We are setting fires all over the world!
We are taking cities for Christ!
Thousands and thousands came to Jesus through our ministry this year!
The most effective, the biggest church, the best welcome, the church with the largest influence, the anointed musicians. The number one church, pastor, preacher, book, conference blah blah blah. We’ve had it all this year. We read it and hear it every day. It has become so common to us we hardly notice it anymore so those who rely on such claims have to make bigger ones to get our attention.
Of course the world also joins in with this exaggerated self-publicity. On a recent programme of The Apprentice one contender in trying to seek his company boasted he was the leading number 1 company in that field. One of the interviewers then simply asked, “Who said this? Which reward ceremony did you get this title from?” It was priceless as the contender realised he had said it of himself.
Self-publicity is tiring but still many buy into it and that is why it will continue.
However, when it comes from your competitor, now that is something else!
“Everybody in Jerusalem knows” well that is probably stretching it. Was it actually everybody? Maybe, maybe not. It was a saying. An exaggeration.
I wonder if next year we could live our lives and our churches/ministries could conduct themselves in a way that those who don’t hold the same beliefs become the ones who make positive exaggerated claims of us?
Now that is an exaggeration I want to see promoted!

Withdraw: Acts 4: 15

“So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.”

Happy Christmas everyone who gets a spare minute today to read this devotional blog.
The verse isn’t obviously a Christmassy verse but it may well help us today of all days!
The Sanhedrin was a Supreme Court of 70 men and the high priest. They were the highest Jewish court and were the only ones who could try a King and they were the ones with final authority of the Jewish law. It was the Sanhedrin who forced the trial of Jesus and handed Him over to the Romans for crucifixion.
Peter and John were ordered to withdraw from the Sanhedrin.
My simple message on this Christmas Day is this: no matter how busy it maybe for you today please find time to withdraw from the Sanhedrin.
You may have spent the whole year worrying about your future, you may feel it is out of your hands and left to the decisions of others. You may be waiting for hospital tests. The inevitable may seem inevitable and you are battling doubt. You may know this year the damaging effect of intimidation. Man may have ruled you with an iron fist this year or maybe even a manipulative one. Today you can withdraw.
Come away from those experiences and come to the Incarnate Son of God, to Jesus. He knows what the Sanhedrin can do, they did it to him. But he conquered. He came back and so can you. Even if you know there is much conferring going on about you, still withdraw.
Come away. It’s an order. You may feel the order has come from your enemy but it has come from your God.
Today rest in Him. Your future is in Him. He has you. He came for you. Withdraw into Him.

Acts 4: 14

“But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.”

I get tired of the voice of opinion.
Everyone seems to like their own voice.
It doesn’t matter what it is they know best.
A friend recently told me that on inviting someone over for a meal that when it came to saying goodbye that person commented how they enjoyed it but that the food was a little over cooked. Why do that?
It is because people just seem to need to speak.
They need to write that email, they need to speak their mind on a matter. Everyone talking.
Today it will be the same.
Christmas Eve amongst the shops the noise will be deafening.
The atmosphere will be wonderful and in the middle of that people will be speaking and not all of it will be kind words.
In today’s verse we see that with the healed man standing there then there wasn’t anything the religious leaders could say. They could hardly say it’s not true.
The impact of the Church silenced the world.
May that forever be.
And may the presence of Christ be in your life, so that the gospel of the Christ-child may silence your world so that there be nothing that can be said. His presence and power be enough.

Acts 4:13

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

No high flying qualifications, no top-notch references, just very ordinary men. I am not sure what ordinary means. But they were ordinary. But they had been with Jesus and as a result they were courageous.

The first people to go to Jesus after his birth were not royalty, but shepherds. They were lower class citizens who often failed in fulfilling the duties that was expected of the Jew. However they came together to bow down and worship Jesus.

Often the Church wants stars not servants. It wants status to be high. Achieving is an overarching desire. But no matter how gifted, the aim is to have the most charismatic, the most popular, the loudest person on the stage. However, what the Church needs are people who have been with Jesus.

Have you been to Jesus today?

Acts 4:12
“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

There is only 1 character in the Christmas story whose name means ‘saves’.
No one could save the people from Roman oppression.
No one could save the people from burdensome religious laws and duties.
Not one person could save.
Except Jesus.
It would be difficult perhaps to look at the Christ-child and see a Saviour. A baby does offer hope and a future but no one knows it’s true potential.
People still struggle to see the Saviour in this season.
How can this Jesus save me?
But just as in that first Christmas in order to see a Saviour one had to bow down and worship, in surrender and by faith to say, “I believe you are the Saviour, you are my Saviour.”
Nothing has changed. We still need to come that way.
The Saviour is still here. Faith has not gone from the story.