22 September 2010 Devotion for Today "Anger on Steroids" Acts 13:42-47

22 September 2010 Devotion for Today "Anger on Steroids" Acts 13:42-47

42 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue,[j] the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us:

‘ I have set you as a light to the Gentiles,

That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth" (Acts 13:42-47)

Envy Its an evil emotion that is beyond my understanding. Not that I would ever deny being guilty of it myself, but truly it is one of the most irrational emotions seated in the sinful heart of man. I heard someone describe this emotion as "Anger on steroids!" Envy is an intense of inadequacy and occurs when a person lacks another's (perceived) superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it. It often brings about anger, resentment, and even aggression towards those whom one envies. Such was the feeling the Jews of the Synagogue at Antioch had when they saw that a huge crowd of Gentiles were hanging on every word of Paul and Barnabas while they preached. The missionary pair had preached in the Synagogue, but were not well-received and no one received Christ there. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, the missionaries decided to preach to the Gentiles, whose response to Christ was nearly overwhelming. The Jews obviously did not approve of their response, and resented Paul and Barnabas for stooping to preach to them. The Jews, thinking they were so much better, were blind to the possibilities of further influencing the Gentiles about their God and benefited both groups greatly as a result.

Have you ever been tempted to envy? Its hard not to be when you have worked hard on something, hoping to win someone's approval, and then have that person take no notice of it as they shower that approval on to someone else. I have even seen preachers grow envious of another's congregation or response to his preaching, etc. The most evil form of envy is Shadenfreude, a German word describing the emotion of envy so intense that it takes delight in the downfall or misfortune of others of whom they had been jealous. God commands us in the Ten Commandments not to covet- to be jealous of another's possessions but to be content with what they have. Imagine what would have happened if John the Baptist had coveted Jesus' popularity or speaking ability? It would not have dissuaded Christ in the least but it would have made John the Baptist look badly for all time.

I suppose what I am saying is, while most of the sins that we commit have to them some degree of rationality, envy clearly does not. It is perhaps the most destructive emotion, because wars, feuds, and even family violence has ensued over envy. Nations have been inflamed over envy, and so are most relationships.

Are you envious of someone today? Perhaps the seat of your ill-feeling runs deeper than your jealousy of that person's attractive looks or athletic prowess, or even their cleverness. It stems from a lie of Satan who whispers to your heart and says, "You are no good! You will never be good enough!" Satan's lies are dispelled by the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who can liberate you from that evil emotion and set you free to love and to appreciate others for all of their qualities you can celebrate, and make you glad that you know them.

Do all that you can to kill that green-eyed monster, envy, and allow good thoughts about others occupy your heart.

Have a blessed day.

 

15 September 2010 Devotion for Today "P.U.S.H" Acts 12:11-17

 

What does the word "push" mean to you? The verb "push" means to physically move something or somebody out of your way or in a forward direction. In this passage of Scripture we see people pushing- actually they were praying. The people in that day (unlike today) really believed in the power of prayer. They came together for the purpose of praying for Peter and James who were in prison and threatened with death. Unfortunately, James befell the sword- but Peter is miraculously released from prison. He is just ushered right out of there, as the Scriptures described. What made the difference? Prayer!

 

Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."

 ¹²When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"

 ¹⁵"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."

 ¹⁶But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place. (Acts 12:11-17)

    Notice what the people of the church were doing. Were they listening to a sermon? No. Were they singing? No. Were they eating and sipping on coffee? No. They were praying. Prayer is the most important thing we can do as Christians, and yet the most overlooked and undervalued activity that we do because most people neither see the value or the sense of prayer. You can tell the temperature of a church by their attendance at prayer meeting and what they pray about. What does this have to do with PUSH? It is not original with me, but PUSH is also an acrostic which means to "Pray Until Something Happens.

    In Luke 18:1 Jesus said that "men always ought to pray and not lose heart". We are to continue in an attitude of prayer until the desired goal or outcome is reached or until God shows us differently. We might not receive the answer we had hoped to have- such as in the case of James; God allowed James to be executed but Peter was not only spared but ushered right out of the prison. Why did this happen? No one knows but the mind of God. It could have been because God knew who would become the most effective disciple of the two, or perhaps because the people in John Mark's mother's house were not praying fervently enough. Perhaps this is the case because when their prayer for Peter's release was fulfilled, the people of the church did not want to believe that when Rhoda went to the door and saw him standing there. Even then they tried to explain it away.
    Prayer is not Pushing God- because He will do what He intends to do or not do. He has commanded us to pray so that we can accept His answers and to allow our minds to be likeminded with His. This is not to say we will understand everything by praying about it. But God wants us to pray nonetheless because God desires to see if we are truly serious enough about what we want by coming to Him persistently in prayer. In prayer we not only discern the will of God but also know our own hearts better as we do. It is as one person said years ago, "Be careful what you pray for- you just might get it!"

Do you have something that you are praying about? PUSH it through until you get the answer. It may not be the answer that you want, but you will get an answer nonetheless.

 

Have a blessed day!

 

 

 

08 September 2010 Devotion for Today "Change" Acts 10:1-8

 

Acts 10

• 1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"
  

  4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.
  

  4 The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."
  

  7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
  

  9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."
  

  14 "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
  

  15 The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
  

  16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
  

  17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
  

   
   

  Acts 10: 9-18
  

 
 

Back in 1912, Ford Motor Co. had a production manager named William Knudsen - considered one of the best in his field. Knudsen became convinced that the Model T (which had been in production for 4 years now) had to be updated. But, the only problem was - Henry Ford loved his creation so much it was well known that he opposed changing anything about the car.

According to Robert Lacy (in his best selling biography, Ford: The Man and the Machine) Knudsen thought to convince Ford by building an updated and impressive model to show what could be done with a few changes in color and design.

Ford had just returned from a European vacation, and he went to a Highland Park, Michigan garage and saw the new design created by Knudsen.

On-the-scene mechanics later revealed how Ford responded.

They say that the car was it was a four door job, and the top was down, painted gleaming red and built on a new, low slung version of the Model T.

One eyewitness tells how "Ford had his hands in his pockets, and he walked around that car 3 or 4 times�. Finally, he got to the left hand side of the car, and he takes his hands out, gets hold of the door, and bang! He ripped the door right off!� How the man done it, I don�t know! He jumped in there, and bang goes the other door. Bang goes the windshield. He jumps over the back seat and starts pounding on the top. He rips the top with the heel of his shoe. He wrecked the car as much as he could."

Knudsen left for General Motors. Henry Ford nursed along the Model T, but design changes in competitors models made it more old-fashioned than he would admit. Competitive necessity finally backed him into making the Model A, but his heart was never in it.

Henry Ford was one of the most creative men of his age. And yet Henry Ford - one of the great minds of his day - resisted the obvious need for change. Most people don't like change in their lives any more than he did. One man once observed that the only people who DO like change are "wet babies" and even they aren't' too excited about it. Churches are notorious for that kind of attitude as well. You'll find church boards saying things like "we've never (pause to let them complete it) done it that way before!"

Someone once said that when it comes to change the church is often like the snail riding on the back of a turtle and do you know what a snail does when it rides on the back of the turtle?

It goes: "Whee!" Many churches bulk at even the slightest change in their routine. Even when they�re fairly sure the changes would be something pleasing to God they still resist.

I. Now, things weren't a whole lot different back in the days of the early church.

People back then didn't like change anymore than people now do.

 
 

When we read about the events in Acts 10, it may be hard visualize how earth shaking the events actually were, but the changes God brought to pass reverberated in the early church for the next 50 or 60 years. In this passage Peter was praying on his rooftop and began to grow hungry. While a meal was being prepared for him, Peter continued in prayer until a deep trance came over him. In the trance Peter saw a sheet being lowered with all kinds of unclean animals- swine, oysters, shrimp, catfish, etc., being lowered down in the sheet before him. Then the voice of God instructed him to kill these unclean animals and eat them. As a good Jew, Peter protested because he had been taught that such animals were unclean and not fit to eat. However, God chided him in his prejudice, and told Peter that what God had cleansed he ought never to call unclean.

 
 

This food was symbolic of an even deeper struggle- overriding the prejudice of the Gentiles. For no sooner had Peter awakened from his trance than Cornelius, a pagan Roman soldier with a heart for God appeared before him. Peter spoke to him about Christ and the Roman committed his life to Jesus Christ. Peter also baptized him, but he did not speak to him about circumcision. At that time a huge wall fell down- a wall that had been the barrier of division between Jews and Gentiles for millennia. Christ opened the pathway for Jews and Gentiles to unite under a common banner, paving the way for Christ's message to be preached throughout the world. . Prejudice was confronted and overcome, and Jesus Christ was glorified.

 
 

To be sure, there were people who would not like this, and the Jewish Christians would give the Gentile believers some trouble because not all issues are resolved immediately or overnight. However, the cause of Jesus Christ was pushed forward because of Peter's obedience and his reaching out to Cornelius.

 
 

We often fear change and latch on to what we know not only because we are afraid of losing what we have, but the challenges of confronting the need for change is simply tedious and difficult. It is much easier staying where we are comfortable. Is Christ demanding change in your own life right now? What about in your church or community? What evidence is there right now where change is greatly needed. However change is identified, may I say that it will be disastrous if the change is entered into without the power of Christ. IF He is not present, we may speak of change all we want, but it will not amount to anything.

 
 

Examine your heart today and let the changes Christ desires begin first in you.

 
 

Have a blessed day!

 
 

 
 

07 September 2010 Devotion for Today "Tabitha" Acts 9:36-43

 36In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas[b]), who was always doing good and helping the poor. 37About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!"

 39Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

 40Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. 42This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

 
 

Acts 9: 36-43

 
 

In this very touching passage we learn of a dear saint whom many loved for her selfless service to the Lord. Her name is Tabitha. We are not told of her age or whether or not she was married, only that she lived in Joppa, that she was a disciple of Jesus Christ, and that she devoted her life to serving Him and helping the needy by making clothes for them. Making clothing is a complicated skill. It requires focus and attention to detail, and is also very labor intensive- especially in the days before the sewing machine. Tabitha must have made some beautiful clothing as special attention was made to the robes and other clothing she had made. She was probably middle-aged- old enough to have acquired such a skill in being a seamstress, yet was not so advanced in age that her death would have been considered understandable. In fact, her sudden illness and death hit the Joppa community so hard that word was sent for Peter immediately to come. Peter prayed and called upon the Lord, and life was restored to the dear woman.

 
 

Tabitha serves as a testimony to us of the joy of self-less devotion to Christ and to others. People like Tabitha are remembered for their sacrificial love and their dedication to serving others. They are sorely missed when they die or unable to do what they used to do because of age or illness. They do not live for accolades or for appreciation, but appreciation still ought to be shown to them anyway. Making clothing is a dying art. It is difficult to find yard goods anymore. Clothing is manufactured cheaply and sold at Walmart because most women today do not have the time to spend making clothing the way my mother and grandmother used to do it. They were also very much like Tabitha. But being remembered as a disciple is an even greater testimony; that is how one learned of and modeled commitment to Jesus Christ. It is interesting how most disciples in the New Testament were characterized by men, but here is a female disciple of Christ who is held up to women as a wonderful example of how a Christian woman ought to live her life. In this Tabitha brought glory to Christ.

 
 

So live your life so that when you die, people will be sorry to see you leave this world.

 
 

Have a blessed day!