Category: Devotions

Advent – the giving God!

Acts 13:20

“All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. “

God gave them the judges in the post-Joshua generation. Joshua (the Lord saves) had died and the people soon fell back into rebellion. The judges were appointed and given by God to maintain order among the Israelites and to lead them into relationship with God. Within the judges era the Israelites developed a cycle of disobedience and God continually gave them a new judge.

The Advent is the coming of the new Joshua, of Jesus (the Lord saves). Throughout the story we see a God who gives in order to bring man back to Him. Jesus, the new Joshua, is given once and for all, there is no replacement, no one else will come.

The angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and confirms that Mary has conceived from the Holy Spirit.

Mary would give birth to a son.

Joseph would give that son the name Jesus.

Mary was told by Gabriel that she would conceive and then give birth to a son.

Mary was told that her son would be given the throne of his father David and he will reign and his kingdom would never end.

The angel of the Lord told Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son and he was to call him John.

Elizabeth gave birth to a son. He would give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins

The magi opened their treasures and presented Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The gift of Christmas is connected to bringing man back to God through Jesus who came to die. The same reason that God gave the judges after Joshua had died. We worship a giving God!

 

 

Advent – the overthrowing God!

Acts 13:19

“and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance.”

God overthrows the enemy so that His people can move into their inheritance. That is what He has done. This is what He does. Let us have a closer look at those seven nations, briefly examining the meaning of their names and as we do we will see the inheritance that is ours.

God defeats fear: The Hittites were the nation that brought fear.

To Mary, Joseph and to the shepherds the message from God is, “Fear not! Do not be afraid!”

God has defeated the fear in your life. He is still proclaiming this message over your situation.

 

God proclaims peace: The Girgashites were the nation that brought strife.

The good news is the announcement of peace on earth from the angels.

Peace with God has been given to you, unearned, it has come, it is yours!

 

God speaks: The Amorites were the nation that brought the command.

But at Christmas God is giving the commands. He speaks to the prophets ahead of time. He speaks to the angels and to man. He uses words and signs.

God is communicating now, to you.

 

God rules: The Canaanites were the nation that brought subjection bringing others under its rule.

The prophet Isaiah spoke, “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”

God is your ruler and king. Let Him bring order to your life.

 

God sees: The Perizzites were the nation with un-walled villages, they were unprotected from God.

But God protects the characters of Christmas. That is seen clearly in the protection of the Magi who were warned to return by a different way because of Herod.

God is watching over you.

 

God of truth: The Hivites were deceivers, just like the meaning of their name, they were serpents.

Herod sent the Magi to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

God enlightens us to the truth.

 

God within pain: The Jebusites were the nation that trampled down others.

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. The story of Christmas is told in the violent circumstance of this time. Whether the violence of Christmas or the vulgarity of the cross the gospel survives.

No matter what pain you are walking through, the good news in your life will survive.

Now revisit each one, thanking and worshipping God for His overthrowing victory.

He has done this for you. You are free today.

Advent – our enduring God

Acts 13:18

“for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness.”

The word endurance here probably means to provide for people’s needs despite an ungrateful response. The translations use the words ‘He suffered’, ‘He put up with them’, ‘He took care of them’, ‘patient with them’, ‘he nursed them’.

That God would do such a thing is amazing love in itself.

In fact, Paul was probably referring to Deuteronomy 1:31 when he used the word ‘endured’.

“There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

Despite their behaviour, he carried them as a father carries his son.

In the coming days there will be many re-enactments of the story of Christmas. Maybe this year you can have a fresh understanding of the endurance of our God, that He cares enough to carry.

Some people are like King Herod. He wanted to kill Jesus for the Christ-child threatened his insecure position. They live their life questioning God’s existence. They are threatened by the claims of Christianity and so choose to dismiss them. God endures the Herod’s for He loves them.

Some people are like the Chief priests and teachers of the Jewish law. They knew where the promised Messiah would be born. Were they looking for the birth? No. Some can recite the nativity, they know the beliefs of Christianity, but it means nothing because they do not yet know Christ. God endures the religious for He loves them.

Some people are like the Magi. Maybe this year has been a year of investigation, looking at the claims of Jesus Christ. For some people along the way there have been seasons of doubt and even of fear and they have thought about turning around. God endures the Magi for He loves them.

Some people are like the Shepherds. Granted they didn’t have an angelic host sing to them, but this year their life has turned around. God has come to them, He revealed Himself to them. To those who know what it is to nurse and care for straying sheep, God endures the Shepherds for He loves them.

Some people are like the Innkeeper. Some are sympathetic to Christianity. If they had more time or more room in their life they would seriously consider its beliefs. God endures the innkeepers for He loves them.

Some people are like Joseph. He initially had been a doubter. He believed what sadly some believe today. The virgin birth did not happen, Jesus was conceived naturally. Some people have a very small God. The God of Christmas is Supernatural, Almighty, Powerful and He chose to come into this world the virgin birth way. God endures the Josephs for He loves them.

God endures all these characters and more. He carries them within the Christmas story for His love for the world.

Okay so who are you? Which character are you?

Whoever you are, God endures you. He carries you. For He loves you.

 

We are staying on the same verse as yesterday, I don’t want to move from it because it is so important!

Acts 13: 17

^“The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country”

 He chose the ancestors of our faith and He has chosen you. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were thankfully people who were very human and who sinned, they were not perfect, but He chose them.

The Kings, Prophets and Priests lived lives with a mixture of godliness and sinfulness, but He chose them.

The 12 disciples were a mixed bunch of people who really tried their best but who were by and large failures and loud-mouths, but he chose them.

You may not feel very chosen. You may even feel you are more like Zechariah who was chosen by a lottery, by chance and even an accident perhaps, but he went into the temple which then kick-started his experience of God at the Advent.

Circumstances and feelings vary, you may doubt it at times, but He has chosen you!

The word ‘chosen’ means to select, by a deliberate choice with a definite outcome.

When the angel went to Mary to tell her he had chosen her he used the words ‘highly favoured’. The word is ‘Charitoo’, it means ‘a once in all role’.

Mary was deliberately chosen for a once in all history role.

There was no one else like her.

Special.

Privileged.

Chosen.

She was amazed, she could hardly believe it.

When Paul says in Ephesians 1:6 “his glorious grace which He has given us.” He used the same word ‘Charitoo’.

This Advent know this: His coming tells us we worship a God who is forever choosing. He chose His one and only Son to come to a world that He had already chosen. He chose the characters of the Bible and we have these incredible stories that shape our lives.

And He has chosen us because of the Advent of Christ.

We have been given a once in all role.

There is no one like you.

Unique.

Special.

People are alike but they are not the same.

Where you are, where you live, what your story is, there is no one like you.

God has chosen you!

 

Advent – ancestry and the power of God.

 

Acts 13: 17

“The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country”

 

I love old people who remember what God powerfully did when they were younger. Not so that they can scorn and despise what is happening today. But that these people serve the new generation needing to trust God for many things.

We need old people to tell stories of the pioneers of old; the missionary zeal; the courage to cross over into new seasons of God; the ability of God to open ways that seem impossible. We need old people to shout from the rooftops, “All things are possible here.”

Come on old saints the Church needs you. Show us the memorial stones of past years when God performed miracles, signs and wonders. Tell us the stories of personal sacrifice. Testify of the days of passion and of the church surrendering to God in order to be sent by Him.

We need old people in the present to prophesy from the past into our future. We need to know of the stories of our ancestors. We need to know God is a God of His people who makes us prosper and who leads us out into a new place.

Advent is a reminder that whether it is Bethlehem or Egypt, something is about to happen in the insignificant place that will determine your significance. There is a divine power to be found in the insignificant place because our powerful God is there. The God of our ancestors is our God today. What He did then He can do now.

Advent – the God we worship

Acts 13: 16 “Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!” Paul welcomed the invitation to speak. He is going to deliver his sermon. This will be our Christmas sermon, an Advent journey. “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!” God is who we worship! Last night I was sat in a field in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India with believers worshipping God. Everything couldn’t be more different than what is my culture. But they worshipped God. Within a 10km radius there were 10,000 villages who do not know Jesus and who worship idols. But on that patch of land we worshipped God. Jew. Gentile, they both were worshipping God. Mission is for every tribe, every language, every culture of every nation worshipping God. That’s the ultimate dream. That is what will happen at Christ’s second Advent.

Advent always involves worship. It seems like Christmas comes earlier every year and with it come the songs many which are meaningless. In the Philippines the shops have been playing Christmas songs since September!

However, the number one Christmas song of all-time will always be by that multitude of singers:

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests”

A song that declares that God is great and that Peace has come to replace anxiety.

So as Advent worshippers let us do what Paul asks of the synagogue. Let us listen.

Speaking words that truly encourage

 Acts 13:15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.”

So as there service was coming to the end, the team as guests of the synagogue were invited to speak as was their custom.
A message of encouragement is what they hoped for and what they were used to.
They are a people oppressed by their enemy, the Romans.
They long for freedom, for the Messiah to come.
That’s why they ask for encouragement.
There is an expectation that the guests would say similar things to what they always hear.
But this is Paul! His encouragement will come in a different package than they usually got.

Using the Law and then through the messages from the Prophets Paul will clearly lay out in his sermon the forgiveness of sins by Jesus is now available. It is going to stir up the whole city and will cause major problems for the religious leaders

Sometimes what is needed is not a pat on the back, a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, we need a hard word, a revelatory word, something spoken that hasn’t been said before, we need outside of the box thinking.
We need the encouragement that will move us out of a position we may be stuck in.
We need the encouragement to think the opposite.

We need the encouragement to dare to believe in the face of opposition that something just maybe true!

This Advent if given an opportunity to speak then do so with an encouragement that changes lives.

 

How can the synagogue help our Advent season?

Acts 13: 14

“From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.”

This is not the Antioch that they had been sent out from. The region was known as Galatia and Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in the cities and towns of this area.

What was happening on the Sabbath for Paul and his team?

• They went to the synagogue. It is what Jews did on the Sabbath, Jesus did it.
• The most important prayer of the meeting was the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Jesus prayed this prayer.
• Two main focuses of the meeting was: The Law, that no one could ultimately keep; and the Prophets who often spoke of a Messiah to come, which everyone hoped would be in their lifetime. How often the synagogues would speak of the one who was amongst them but they did not know, Jesus.
• The synagogue was not just a meeting, it was for community living. If you wanted to meet people and get to know them and know what was happening in the community, go to the synagogue. The reason for the rejection of Jesus in the synagogue of his hometown Nazareth was because they all knew he was the carpenter’s son. Everyone knew everyone and the Nazareth community knew Joseph and Mary, they knew their son Jesus, so they thought.
• The meeting would then have an invited speaker, preferably one who was the most intelligent there or perhaps would have some understanding on the readings that had been used. On that rejection day in Nazareth Jesus was invited to read the prophets, he read Isaiah 61 but then without invitation continued to expound the true Messiahship.

Why do I say all this? Why am I focusing on Jesus and not Paul?

1. To show that Paul was doing what Jesus had done. He went to worship God. He went to focus on prayer and Scripture.
2. Paul was called to the Jew first then the Gentile. Paul was a Jew. It was the ideal place to look for opportunities to teach these people and he took each one given to him.
3. He and his team sat down. They became part of the congregation.

By the time of around AD50 the church had split from the synagogue and began a completely different path.

How can I encourage you today?

Starting with all that we have just read:

1. Love your God with everything. This Advent make a new commitment of love to your Saviour. Say the Shema.
2. Know that Jesus has fulfilled the Law, the requirement to please God, He has done that, you please Him. Celebrate this Advent the coming of Jesus that you are at peace with God.
3. Jesus fulfils the Law but also He is who the Prophets spoke about. Know that Jesus will always be your hope and the hope for the world. This Advent tell him so.
4. Know that Jesus wants you in community, in the church, but more importantly those who are yet to know Him. Where do these communities gather at Advent? Yes our church buildings will have their programmes, do all you can to take someone along to a carol service. But how about going into their community gatherings, a party, or some place you would never go perhaps asking the Advent Jesus to give you the opportunity to speak when invited within the conversation.
5. This Advent, be there. Be where God wants you to be. Do what you should do. Go to church and sit down.

 

U-turn

Acts 13:13

“From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.”

Something happened on that sailing. In between Paphos and Pergia, John Mark came to a decision that would effect not just himself but later the friendship of Barnabas and Paul.

He decided not to continue.

‘In between’ can be a dangerous place. You have left but you have not arrived. Transitioning between the past and the future when the journey could be stormy and life challenging can be the decider for you. Will you keep going or at the first opportunity are you going to give up?

The difference between those who succeed and those who fail is that those who succeed thought about giving up but didn’t.

There are times on the roads of life when a U-turn is just not unacceptable it is life-changing for many other people connected with you. The ripple from the stone in the water is more like a tsunami.

Today friends, don’t bale out, don’t throw in the towel, don’t go back, you are needed on this mission.

 

What is success?

Acts 13:12

“Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”

 

Cyprus was a success, the proconsul was saved and being such an influential figure on the island no doubt many more believers followed.

We don’t know what happened to the proconsul nor how long Elymas was blind. But it was time to move on for the team.

Success didn’t mean the island was saved but it did mean they had put in position a new believer, the proconsul, who would bring the island to Jesus.

In AD 325 at the Nicene Council, Cyprus was represented by 3 bishops. These early centuries found monasteries set up across the island and in AD 478 the remains of Barnabas with the gospel of Matthew were found.

Your success could be just to start a chain reaction. One person that’s all it might take. One conversation of what Jesus means to you and how He shapes your life could cause something to last for 4 centuries! Now that is success.