Missions Paul

Who am I?

Acts 11:17
“So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?”

Who was I?
Great question.
Who am I? We do well to carry this question around a bit more.
Peter knew his place.
Many are on a mission today. A mission of wanting to become someone, trying to make a name for themselves. Sadly and probably not surprisingly you find some of these within the Church especially those who get paid to be in it. Whilst those who pay do so because they want to have heroes. It’s modern day idol-worship.
Many have tried to pretend they have something that has never actually been given to them.
Many are trying to be great, anything less is failure.
These people tire quickly and leave the Church, unable to sustain such pressure. Or they move into retirement having spent a life of misbelief, not about God, but about themselves.
It’s time for the ‘many’ to acknowledge who they are not.
I am not the be all and end all.
I am not the answer to everyone’s questions.
I am not the healer.
I am not the Saviour.
We are people following the Way, we don’t own the way.
We just do not know everything. What we believe we know today could change in a decade. A lot that we hold to is subjective.
We peer through a glass darkly at times but we worship the Truth. You see no one has the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But we follow the Truth.
We don’t give life we receive it from the Life.
Who am I?
We need to give ourselves a break from trying to be the fountain of all truth and knowledge and we need to give others a break who are fed up of hearing such comments perhaps.
We have part-vision. We do not see everything. We do not possess the perfect understanding. We at times see trees that walk.
However, by staying connected to Jesus we have a far better chance of getting perfect sight!
That’s the point of the journey.
So, if today it’s all a bit cloudy then that’s okay. Hang in there for with Jesus it will become clear in the end. Even if you have to wait till after your end!
It’s not until you know who you are not, that you open up to who you are.
What Peter knew was this: God loves everyone equally. God can do things that we think He wouldn’t do.
I think that’s all we need to know don’t you?

Remembering what Jesus said

Acts 11:16
“Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’

Some are contained by what others have said to them.
The words entered their very soul and destabilised their balance of life.
Today they respond according to what was cursed on them. Their yes or their no is filtered through that curse that came from an enemy and even a loved one.
Why is this so?
They chose to remember what was said. In their remembrance they replayed those words time and again in their minds until they became conditioned by this pattern.
This is not rocket science, no one needs a degree to realise how true this is. You may even be that person today.

What do you remember today? How is that helping you?
Peter remembered what Jesus had said about the Holy Spirit coming on people and it helped him process what was happening.
I have a Good News Bible that I won at the Keswick Bible week children’s meeting for my skill in memory Bible verses. What a claim to fame that is?!
In my early years of ministry I would run many holiday clubs for children, they all involved memory Bible verse games.
Most churches still do this kind of thing. But only for children.
In fact what happens when these children become adults and maybe even before that, is that they stop memorising what God has said in the Bible.
The result of this is that adults cannot recollect much of what the Bible and in particular what God has said.
They do not recollect because there is a famine of the reading of the Bible amongst the Christian family. Muslims and Jews learn their Scriptures but not Christians. We don’t learn because we don’t read.
This daily blog started many years ago after a survey conducted by LICC said that only a minority of my members read the Bible. I was so concerned that I began to write a daily blog from the Bible to introduce my members to the Bible and how it can help their day. Approximately 80% of the church signed up for this daily blog. I didn’t want them to be people who remembered what man said about them but what God said. I wanted them to be guided in their life by what Jesus said.
When I left the Church I continued. I have wrote a Bible blog and posted it on the Internet every day for 10 years. I’m not sure exactly how many read it. It goes on to a few social media sites and people access it from many countries. Why do I do this every day?
For the simple fact that I believe remembering what God says in the Bible is the most important thing in your life.
I too have been plagued by the words of people in my life and it does limit you if not careful, but I know the victory that comes from remembering what Christ has said. If I can keep encouraging people to daily have time in the Bible then it’s the best thing I can do.

Peter was able to move forward in this move of God, he could recognise it as such, even though it ran against his cultural and learned experience. He did this because he remembered what Christ had said.

The reason why you read the Bible is to memorise it so that at some point when the test comes you can remember it. Just like you did as a child perhaps. Just like I did.

Begin
Acts 11:15

“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.”
You have to begin.

You may have good intent. You may declare you will.

But you have to begin.

Peter began to speak and as he did, the Spirit began to come on the household. 

What happened surprised him. He would never have anticipated this move.

He began to speak because that’s what he believed God had told him to do. He didn’t speak having worked out what would happen next. He just began.

Who knows where things would lead if we just begin?

Some speeches motivate and are remembered for generations: ‘never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’ – Churchill’s war time speeches inspire even today.

We certainly need more preachers to be more inspiring. Those of us who communicate for a living need to work at the craft and get better. 

However, this is not about the quality of Peters speech or his delivery. It is about the Holy Spirit and it is about Peter beginning to speak.

Maybe just going next door to a neighbours house and just beginning to speak words of love and other great things that need to be said. Maybe just sharing with a loved one the truth that God does care and He cares enough to have sent Jesus. Maybe that’s what you need to begin to do.

And maybe then you will see the move of the Holy Spirit that you have longed for or maybe the Spirit will surprise you and do more than you could have imagined.

Maybe.

If you begin.

The Message

Acts 11:14
“He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.”

The message of Jesus Christ is still a message that leads to whole households being saved.

An old childhood hymn had these words:

I’ve a message from the Lord, Hallelujah!
The message unto you I’ll give;
’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah!
It is only that you look and live.
Look and live, O sinner, live, Look to Jesus now and live;

’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah! It is only that you look and live.

A quick scan over the gospels and we see:

1. The message must be clear, simple and in context.
Matthew 3:1-2 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

2. The message is not only about the past or the future but what God can do now.
Matthew 10:7 as you go proclaim this message, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’

3. The message must be explained not just spoken.
Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

4. The message should be illustrated with relevance, helping the listener to understand.
Mark 4: 33-34 With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke. When he was alone with his disciples, he went over everything, sorting out the tangles, untying the knots.

5. The messenger may well be challenged and that may come from the religious.
Luke 20: 1-2 One day he was teaching the people in the Temple, proclaiming the Message. The high priests, religion scholars, and leaders confronted him and demanded, “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to speak and act like this?”

6. Their needs to be messengers in every generation.
John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,”

7. The message needs to be brought, this takes a focused effort, it just doesn’t automatically happen.
Today’s verse, v14 “He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.”

Angelic work
Acts 11: 13

“He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.”
It was an angel. He was awake and was suddenly aware that there was a being, a figure which mysteriously appeared in his home.

Here’s some thoughts:
The angel appeared to a believer in God who was not yet saved.

– I hear continually of a supernatural God appearing as Christ or by sending angels to devout Muslims seeking Allah. We need to pray for an increase of those searching after Him. 
He knew it was an angel. 

– If it had been Christ there would have been no need for Peter. Cornelius would have been saved there and then. But this event was not just about Cornelius but also that of saving Peter from his prejudice. 
The angel appears in his home.

– God isn’t restricted to cathedrals and fine church buildings. He works in homes. In fact probably more in homes than buildings. There’s an obvious thought there!
The angel went into the place where the church would not go.

– There was no way the early church would go into this gentile home. The church wants the world to come to them. They pray them in every weekly prayer meeting. They don’t come in. Some prayer meetings need to be stopped. Why should they come in to our strange houses of prayer when we wont try to get into the houses of strangers with acts of love and kindness?
The angel has a message from God: send!

– It seems to be His number one message. This is mission. God wants His church moving. He wants His leaders moving. Get Peter moving. That’s the message. God is still crying out through the world, (‘creation groans’ we are told in Romans) the world needs you to go to it. Whether that is your next door neighbour or the local community or the nations of the world. 
My prayer: God send more angels for the church seems stuck in some quarters. 

Take someone with you

Acts 11:12
“The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.”

We should take people with us. We go alone to the cross and we cross over to eternity alone. However, every other journey shouldn’t be alone. It doesn’t matter whether you are widowed, divorced, or have never married, you are not meant to do this life alone.
You can take someone with you. It might be a niece or nephew, a neighbour or friend, a peer or trainee, young or old, always find someone.
I am thankful for the young people that have always accompanied me on a journey in life. Of course my very own 2 special children who are priceless and great friends along this amazing path. But also young people in the churches I’ve led and now those who are missionary apprentices. I love it all.
Whatever and whoever they are you can take someone with you.
Peter took 6 men with him.
So what did they have to agree to?
They had to believe that:
1. The Spirit had spoken. People want to fall behind the Voice from heaven.
2. Peter was worth following. They went with ‘me’. They saw in Peter something valuable. With Peter they would always have an exciting life!
3. They were open for change. They would enter into this mans house with Peter. They were willing to enter into an experience they would never have had before. They were not resistant to change.

So ….
1. Carry the purpose, the cause, the vision in your heart whatever that is.
2. Believe in you. Be sure. Be strengthened. Be a person people want to be with, likeable, sociable, loving and gracious. Work on the ‘you’ so that you can say, ‘they came with me’.
3. Let the journey not just be easy but make it challenging. Make it difficult. Taking people with you is to see God transform them.

Go on …
Take someone with you.

Right then …

Acts 11:11
“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.”

Right then…
At that very moment…
Behold…
That’s the God we serve.
Never forget He works behind the scenes of your life with many surprising interruptions. The sheet ascends to heaven for the lesson is over and right then, immediately, as soon as that happened, the next event took place. This next event was the test for the lesson.
God is working His order in your life. It might seem unorganised or haphazard but there is a plan with many ‘right then’ moments still to happen. There could even be one today. Trust Him and put your life in the God who knows.

The push and pull of heaven

Acts 11:10
“This happened three times, and then it was pulled up to heaven again.”

The sheet comes down full of creatures. It comes from heaven, pushed out of heaven not because it has been expelled but rather it has been commissioned. There is a push of heaven that forces revelation and inspiration for the transformation of the person. My children are adults now. They no longer need me to push them on the swing. This is the joy of any parent who always shouts ‘hold on’ whilst they push the child forward. If they do not hold on the force of pushing could cause the child to wobble and even fall off the swing.
Here comes the push. ‘Hold on’ is the unspoken voice. ‘Get up kill and eat these unclean creatures’. Hold on. Trust me. This is going to cause you to wobble and be uncertain but hang on in there, I am doing a new thing.
What new thing is God pushing towards you or indeed pushing you towards?

Peter wrestles and he wobbles and the exchange lasts three times and then …

Peter sees the unclean creatures go back to where they came from, to heaven.
It was only ever going to be for awhile. Heaven loans earth the sheet, this canopy, it has come down to Peter like a tabernacle resting where he was. Peter looks into that sheet and has this amazing experience but now heaven wants it back.
There is a pull of heaven. A magnetic force pulling whoever belongs to him.
Jesus came and tabernacled amongst us. The invitation was to take a look and engage with him. He became unclean for you and me. He took on the sin of the world. The world rose and killed him. The sacrifice was paid and the resurrection proved it. But then the pull of ascension took place.
Jesus went back to heaven. He always knew he had to return.
Isaiah said that God’s word would not return to Him empty of what it had been sent for.
The pull of heaven.
God is forever drawing you to His side. Heaven wants earth. God wants you. His desire is so strong for you. You may be unclean in the eyes of the righteous but His love draws you to Him.
How is God pulling you towards Him? Is it for solitude? Is it for rest? Do you know that pull, that strong desire from heaven for you to go higher? Do you know that today is the day to come away from the earthly things, from the limited and contained, to the impossible opportunities set before you?
There is a time to go low in humility of service, to the dusty earth, this is missions. May God until Christ is pushed again from heaven continually by His Spirit push us to the needy, to those who are blind and lost, who need a Saviour, who need Jesus.
There is a time to go higher. To take out eyes off this world and to look to Him. May God continue to pull us towards Him, where we recognise that the most important thing is not only missions on the earth but the worship of Him in heaven.

This is the push and pull of heaven.

The second time

Acts 11:9
“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

Growing up I remember (even now,) the sentence ‘For the second time of asking …!’
I hadn’t heard it the first time. Well, I had, I just wasn’t responding the way I should have done.
Another sentence I remember is, ‘I’m not going to say it again ….(but then they continued to repeat what it was they were not going to say again)’. Such confusion!

Sometimes we don’t hear it correctly. We hear it but we don’t take it in. We hear a message, an instruction perhaps, maybe a command. But it’s strange, it is not what we thought we would hear, it’s contrary to our belief of what we think God wants. It can seem like an attack, an assault from our enemy instead of a divine call from heaven.
We hesitate, we pull back, we deny, doubt and rule it out. NO is our response. That can’t be the message. We must have heard it wrong. So we take no action. There is a pause in our life. That pause can last.
What we hold to and deny 20 years ago may not be true of us today. Things change. We change. God knows that. So the voice comes again. He knocks on the door of our heart again.

Abraham had to hear the heavenly voice a second time.
Elijah was told the second time to get up and eat.
Jeremiah received the word of the Lord a second time, so did Jonah and Haggai.
Christ appeared once and He will appear a second time.
The second time. A second chance. Another opportunity that we might understand.
Thank God for the grace of the second time. Thank God He doesn’t give up on us when we don’t get it the first time round. Thank God for His patience.
We have all benefited from the second time voice.

I am good.

Acts 11:8
“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

Peter was so careful.
He didn’t take into his body anything that was impure or unclean.
He didn’t drink or eat the wrong things that Jews would never take in.
He had a feeling of purity and cleanliness. He felt good about himself.
Some people live such good lives. They don’t break any rules. They don’t compromise. They don’t make mistakes. They don’t abuse their bodies. They have a track record, a cv that is very impressive. They are set apart from the ‘sinners’. They can boast about what they haven’t done and what they don’t get involved with. These people are found in all religions and outside of them. Yes they can even be Christians. Popular Christians. “I want to be like him” “She is so holy”. We build our heroes but then we knock them down.
Peter was all this. He was one of the purists. But he was reflecting as he was repeating the story of what happened. In this reflection he realises that though he and everyone thought he was pure, blameless and clean. He wasn’t so. In fact he found out that what God says about purity is far greater than what he and any other says.
Don’t be fooled. Don’t be impressed. Look only to God who calls people righteous.