Category: Devotions

Be reminded
Romans 3
You were once controlled by sin:
Your mind and heart were controlled, v11
Your will was controlled, v12
Your speech was controlled, v13-14
Your ways were controlled, v15-16
You had no peace, v17
You were arrogant, v18
This is the case for all, v23
But a day came when Christ set you free.
There was an eternal declaration made in heaven and hell, written in blood, “the sinner is officially set free,” v24-26.
No one else need ever live as a slave to sin, a victim of its power!
It’s good to be reminded don’t you think?!

10 things we need to be careful of if we want to become a moralist.
Romans 2
1. The moralist who points a finger have 4 pointing back at themselves, v2-3
2. The moralist tends to pre-judge based on a summary but God will judge in facts, the truth, v2
3. The moralist’s morals turn out to be not worth much, v3
4. The moralist wants to drive people to repentance, but God leads, v4
5. The moralist will also be examined, v6-10
6. The moralist is not God’s favourite, v11
7. The moralist focuses on the outward but God focuses on the conscience, v15
8. The moralist is a ‘big-head’, v17-20
9. The moralist can easily turn people away from God, v24
10. The moralist is often irrelevant, v25-29

We need moralists who practice morals
We need moralists who teach morals
We don’t need moralists who condemn the immoral.

It’s a draw!
Romans 1
To those who promote and practice homosexuality we have our verses … perhaps.
To those who carry judgment in their heart and slander on their lips to the above, we have our verses … perhaps.
It’s a draw!
Fair enough.

With all boldness and without hindrance
28:31
The end of the book of Acts says that no man was able to stop Paul.
No man can stop you either.
But where is Paul? He is under house arrest. He is not in the stadiums and open market places. He is held back. But the gospel isn’t!
Let the Acts of the Spirit carry on in every generation till Christ comes again.
Who is trying to stop you today?
You may be not where you want to be but the gospel message will never be stopped. The Acts can and will carry on!

Lessons from the sea
Acts 27

1. Life is not plain sailing, v4,7
Things do go against us at times, circumstantial winds beat against us.

2. Listen to experience
Trust those who have been through the worst, v10.
He was speaking from experience. In 2 Cor 11:25 he tells us that he had been shipwrecked 3 times and spent a night and a day perhaps clinging to some floating wood.
People who can be best described as walking with a limp because of life’s experiences can be trusted far more than those who have had perpetual victory.

3. Everything will change because of the storm.
You will lose what was important to you, v16, 18, 19, 20.
But one thing will never change: the position of God towards you.
v22 He still has a promise
v23 He still has a presence
v24 He still has a purpose.

Chains are not necessarily harmful.
Paul You are mad!
Acts 26:24
Festus is pointing out how pathetic Paul looked.
You may not have a crown or a gown, you may be in a plain prisoners clothing, there may be nothing special about you. In fact, you may even have a stigma of social disgrace, you can have chains and hindrances that mean you are contained and limited to be what other people take for granted. Yet you can stand and dominate the environment you find yourself in with Christlike dignity and confidence knowing the outward chains of your life are small in comparison to the chains that the people around you are facing.

These chains can open doors of opportunity.
When Paul lifted his hand like a great orator (v1) we can imagine his chains lifted too. He is about to preach to a king and queen, “I consider myself fortunate,” and “These chains have given me the greatest opportunity.”
Your disability, your suffering, your hindrances are tools in the hands of God.

It is who is with you in the chains not who is facing you that matters, v22, “God has stood by me (Msg).

Chains can be the best thing that ever happened to you.

The importance of empty hands.

Acts 25:1-22

God does more to shape us when we have not than when we have.

Paul experienced the empty hands of waiting, 24 v27
Waiting when there seems to be no reason. Two years spent waiting in jail. God had promised him he would be in Rome but here he was in Caesarea.
Little did Paul realise this was actually his greatest protection.

Paul experienced the empty hands of not being in control, v19-22
He has no control of the accuracy being given and has no say in the decisions being made about him.
Agrippa was from a line of Herods, one had murdered the babies at the time of Jesus’ birth and Agrippa’s father had executed James. Beatrice, his sister who had previously been married to her uncle was according to historians in an incestuous relationship with Agrippa. Paul had written earlier, “there is no authority except that which God has established.” (Romans 13)

Paul’s empty hands revealed Christlikeness.
v19 “a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.” The issue was Jesus.
Jesus who stretched out his empty hands on a cross is your Lord and Saviour and is asking you for empty hands.

We were not always known as ‘Christians’ which means ‘follower of Christ’.

Acts 24: 14, 22.

We were known as followers of the ‘Way’. Probably to honour the fact that Jesus called himself The Way.

The Way: we haven’t arrived but we are heading there.
The Way: we don’t know it all but we humbly seek for more.
The Way: we are not pursuers of answers but that of direction.
The Way: we do fall on this journey but we get back up and walk again.
The Way: we joined at different times but we will all get there together.

Paul has been beaten by a mob, bound in chains and nearly suffered a Roman flogging. He has not slept, eaten or had any physical care. He is weary, bruised and burdened. The message from God is ‘Take courage’ Acts 23 v11.

1. Courage is needed when your day fails.
He had failed to convince the Sanhedrin of his innocence, v1
He had failed in his anger, v3
In prison alone, with no one to comfort him, guilty for missing his gospel chance because of his outspokenness. This was the end.
But Christ brought him courage and removed the pain of failure, v11.

2. Courage is self-control
The greatest influence will always be the presence of the Lord.
“The Lord stood near Paul” v11
In your darkest hour the Lord will be standing near you. As He does, prisons become refuge places, caves become security places, the dark nights become days of light.
It is the self-control that comes from changing oneself not the circumstance.
The self-control that comes from listening to only one voice. We need to develop the ability to listen to the Lord. For that, maybe we need to train ourselves to be deaf to certain voices. Perhaps only then will we hear ‘Take courage!’

3. Courage will re-appoint you.
“You have achieved” Jesus is reminding Paul what he has done, ‘you haven’t failed’
“You will achieve”. Paul always believed, always wanted to get to Rome with the gospel. Before this taking of courage Paul must have realised the uncertainty of this now. Jesus’ words reawaken this desire within him with a “you must”.

Our 3 important commands …
Acts 22
GET UP v16
With this command comes the ability to do just that.
I have seen those in self-pity get up, those who used to have passion for Jesus get up, those who gave away their potential get up, those paralysed by a stronghold in their life get up, those in the grip of sin get up. This seems to be the constant call of the Spirit: GET UP. God is the God of the resurrection.

BE BAPTISED, v16
Though I know this was water baptism and I am a promoter of this discipline, baptism has much more significance for me. It is the plunging into the identity of God. This also is the Spirits call to us. Let people see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in you.

GO, I SEND YOU, v21
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is continually opening the way. GO to others. You may like to read about being sent but it’s not the same as saying YES. Jesus came during a time when Judaism had been consumed and preoccupied with being blessed themselves. Jesus came with a message to a leading Jew, shaking him from complacency, saying GET UP, BE IDENTIFIED and GO.
And this is still the message today.