Category: Devotions

You belong to the Lord

Acts 26: 10 “And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.”

Paul recognised that these were not just people that were put in prison and to their deaths, they were the ‘Lord’s people’. The journey to prison and death came because of the authority of man against people who belonged to the highest authority in heaven and earth, Jesus Christ. It is still going on today of course. More Christians than ever are facing persecution from the authority of man. We know that for sure and the statistics are horrifying.

However, what about you? Today you may wake to realise that your future is in the hands of an authority higher than you. You may think at times that you are just a pawn on a chess board, being used for the good of the game but willingly sacrificed when not needed. It is hard sometimes to grasp hold of purpose and design when pushed from pillar to post by a ruthless regime or a heartless manager etc.

Look at the verse again. Circumstances may not have changed for them but these were the ‘Lord’s people’. Today no matter what people say to you or even what they do to you. You may be demoted and discouraged today, you may be overlooked and oppressed, but lift your head, you belong to the Lord! He is LORD over anyone who tries to lord it over you. Don’t let anyone even take your life from you. NO! No one can take your life, you lay it down of your own accord (John 10:18 Jesus says, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”)

You belong to the Lord!

Changing your mind

Acts 26: 9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”

I … was …

Convinced.

I am not anymore.

I changed my mind.

I recently met a man who for over 17 years had been trained to become an Imam but he changed his mind and he is now a Pastor. How did that happen? It was because of the intervention of Jesus, as it was for Paul.

Sometimes it takes a dramatic intervention such as this, where it leaves the person in no doubt that they have to change the course of their life.

Sometimes it is less so.

Maybe today you are at a crossroads and you never saw them coming. One day you were convinced you were going in a certain direction and then suddenly out of nowhere comes an offer to change course and in order to do so you have to change your mind.

The intervention may not be so dramatic but the changing of your mind can be as traumatic as if you had to change from being an Imam to a Pastor or being knocked off your horse on the way to Damascus.

It takes faith to change your mind in order to change your course.

 

 

It’s never beyond Him

Acts 26: 8 “Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?”

The Pharisees believed in an end-time resurrection but they didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus.

They believed that it was possible in the future but it was too incredible for the present.

Is that similar to you?

You believe that it’s possible that God could but it’s too huge to think He would do it now, for you?

Why?

That’s what Paul asks. Why is it too much to expect God to move miraculously and supernaturally now?

He can do it.

You need such a move.

You need the incredible to happen to you, now.

It can happen.

In front of your nose

Acts 26: 7 “This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me.”

Paul uses this ancient phrase, ‘the 12 tribes’ to signify:

They are a body, a united assembly under God.

They are longing to see what they hope for.

They are a worshipping congregation.

They are 24/7 servants of God.

They are an earnest, expectant and fervent group.

However, the message of Paul regarding this hope:

Did not fit with their timing.

Did not fit their pre conceived minds of this hope.

Did not fit their own experiences of this hope.

The end result is that they missed what they were looking for.

You can give your whole life to something, sacrifice much in order to attain it and yet completely miss what you are looking for when it comes along.

“But I tell you, Elijah (John the Baptist) has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Matthew 17:12
In 1946 George Orwell wrote an essay entitled, ”In Front of Your Nose.”

”… We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield… To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle. “

The Jewish mob were fixed and unmovably so on one thought that Paul was a heretic and had to be stopped because of his message of Jesus. They refused the struggle.

Today whatever you know let it be tested by the struggle that you could be wrong. You may be missing what is right there, in front of you, but you are blinded to it. Be flexible in enough to be wrong, to have missed it, to have wasted your chance. You can make the change to be right.

The hope will cost you

Acts 26:6 “And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today.”

Paul knows why he is on trial. He knows it is because he truly believes that the Old Testament hope is found in Jesus. All that the writers, prophets and priests longed for, the coming Messiah, is now found in Jesus. The hope has come. He knows it and believes it but the Jewish mob missed it.

An atheist website recently cancelled its event called, ‘A Reason To Hope’ because of the lack of interest in it. Clearly people were not bothered with what they had to offer.

A little boy was found waiting at the foot of an escalator in a shopping mall. He was watching the hand rail going round and round. A concerned security guard asked him if he was lost or needed help. He said “No I’m just waiting for my chewing gum to come back”. Quite a good definition of hope perhaps.

But today Jesus is still the hope of the Old Testament. He is still the hope for the world.

Yet holding to Him as such puts Christians in many dangers around the world.

On January 15th Boko Haram burnt down 2 churches on the border of Cameroon and Nigeria.

On January 18th 6 Christians in Yunnan province, China, were jailed for 13 years for preaching Jesus.

On January 23rd Muslim High school students in Nairobi, Kenya, beat and stabbed Christians who refused to convert to Islam.

I could go on and you know so many stories. Today the family of God who hold to the hope of the world are paying the price.

We are called to pay the price for the hope. Whatever that cost looks like for you, it has to be paid.

The hope can put you on trial. It can cost your life. It demands your all.

Living life with the rulebook

Acts 26:5 “They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.”

As a Pharisee Paul followed the laws of Moses and mans application of the laws in minutia detail.

They lived in communities that were closed to others. Apparently there were many in Jerusalem. Getting into such groups was strictly regulated. There were vows of obedience to all of the ceremonial laws and an allegiance to the dietary purity laws. The members would be monitored and scrutinised with the aim being accuracy and perfection.

Why does Paul start here in his defence? Perhaps it is to say that this was the foundation of his life. He lived under a strict regime so it cannot be possible that he is now guilty of some notorious crime.

He says ‘they know who I am’. But they wouldn’t testify as they didn’t want anyone to see any good in Paul at all.

What has been the foundation of your life? Rules don’t mean you will follow them as an adult and we know many people who have walked away from the church when they were old enough. Yet rules do give a basis for building a strong value system. Maybe getting children to follow more rules will help their next chapters of life.

Outside and inside the church rules are replaced with a readiness to believe and do anything.

Is it time for a reforming of some strictness upon you?

Will that keep you from making errors?

Do people know how you live and will they testify of how you live amongst the community?

Let them see you.

Acts 26:4 “‘The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem.”

Today I am 52 years and 1 day. How this can be I do not know. It has been a long time since we were able to fit candles on my cake. Yesterday I had just a number 5 and a number 2 and sadly it was in that order. Messages poured in from people who said I was still young and in my prime to those who said I was now so old I was senile and virtually every part of my body was now not working like it should. It was a mixed day!

Those messages came from people who have known how I have lived since I was born.

My parents sent me messages. My school friend sent me a message. College friends, work colleagues from different jobs, members from the 2 churches I pastored, close friends who have walked with me for years, leaders from the UK and around the world all sent messages. These people “all know the way I have lived” and for some “ever since I was a child” and in different parts of the world too. They know my beliefs, my values, my priorities, the vision I follow, the challenges I face, the struggles I have. For some they have seen that for many years.

My life is far from perfect. I have failed throughout the years. If I could do life again I know I would do it better. However, being known is worth the vulnerability, drawing people into your life is the essence of it all.

Today I am thankful for the people who have known and know me. I look forward to the years ahead of engaging with the old and new. My encouragement for you today is to continue to engage with people. You may have been hurt but do not pull up your draw bridge. Friends will come and go, families will separate and some severely, but there will always people to journey with.

Let people come close enough to see how you live. It is good for them and it is good for you.

Finding someone who knows

Acts 26: 3 “… and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.”

Paul is defending himself before Agrippa. We now see the reason why he thinks himself fortunate. It is because he is not speaking to someone who doesn’t understand the Jewish culture. Agrippa was not ignorant and because of that Paul felt safe to begin his defence.

Finding somebody who not only will listen to you but who understands your life is so important.

Those who are ignorant to your life, work, your ways and challenges can only offer nodding heads and passing comments which may not help but also hinder your progress.

We all need someone who understands and who can see the difficulties we go through. They may even be people you would never expect to know. Agrippa’s great grandfather was Herod the Great who had attempted to kill Jesus as a child. His father was King Agrippa I, who beheaded James and tried to kill Peter also. The point is you wouldn’t think Agrippa standing as judge before Paul would be making him feel fortunate. Don’t dismiss people outside of your situation or profession or even culture. Like Paul you may end up saying ‘I am fortunate to have you and to speak with you’.

 

It could be worse

Acts 26:2 ‘King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defence against all the accusations of the Jews,’

This does seem strange doesn’t it?!

After Paul had spent 2 long years waiting for trial on trumped up charges, he has had to defend himself before Felix, then Festus and now King Agrippa. So in today’s verse we may not know why he deems himself fortunate but we can ask ourselves how can he say such a thing?

In lesser difficult circumstances we would not be saying we are fortunate.

Paul has learnt to be content in all circumstances it would seem.

He has learnt to find the good, to focus on the positive, even when the situation is bad and everything is negative.

“It could be worse’ is his motto.

Is the glass half empty or half full for you?

It is easy to think that our difficult situation is completely at a loss and there is nothing good at all. Maybe today we can all begin to appreciate what we have? Instead of always focusing on what we don’t have we should find something to be thankful for, someone to appreciate and realise that things could be much worse and that indeed we are fortunate.

 

 

Raise your hand

Acts 26: 1 “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You have permission to speak for yourself.’ So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defence…”

Acts 12:17; 13:16; 21:40; and here in this verse today, Paul before he speaks motions with his hand.

Ancient statues throughout cities and towns have some orator speaking with a hand raised. We can easily imagine this scene.

So why did Paul do this and why did Luke record it and more importantly what lesson can we learn? Let me try and answer this from 3 perspectives.

1. For those ready to start a new chapter (as we have done today!): Be ready to begin.

The hand signal was the sign he was beginning. Just as in the athletic world a hand for many years being raised by the referee was the sign that the race was to begin. Are you ready? If called upon you to give your testimony, share your faith, can you raise your hand and say I am ready? Are you ready? If God called you to speak up, move out, change course would you bravely raise your hand and move into that new moment?

2. For those who are called to communicate: Listening is easier when we have something to look at.

Recently someone recounted how they had to listen to a communicator read their entire talk from their script, head down and totally disengaged with the crowd. The result was they didn’t listen. Communicators have to get better at communication and that is not necessarily finding the right words but also finding the right way to say them. Everything from the way you dress, the way you stand and what you do with your hands can be major distractions to what you are saying.

3. For those who are frustrated at their circumstance: Don’t be the loudest voice, be the only voice.

Be different. Don’t fit into the noise. You are unique and you need to live your life how God created you. Learn to silence your world so that your voice can be heard. “No one knows I am here, no one cares, no one is listening” then make it happen. This is your moment to shine and thrive, to be all that you can be, to step out from the shadows. Don’t let any man contain you, suppress you, mould you into something you were never created to be, raise your hand, silence the intimidation.

This is your moment, raise your hand.