Acts 26-39 Seeds Grow on Good Soil!

Acts 26-39  “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.  The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.  Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.  When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.  But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.  They are now his witnesses to our people.  “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestor, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.  As it is written in the second Psalm: “‘You are my son; today I have become your father.’  God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay.  As God has said,“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’  So it is also stated elsewhere:  “‘You will not let your holy one see decay.  “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.  But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.  “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

In the above passage we see Paul introducing the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch to Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus might have been known to some of them, for Jesus’ popularity had spread to other lands, but for most of them, they were probably quite ignorant of what happened to Jesus in Jerusalem and why.  Paul tells them that he and Barnabas and others, who knew and walked with Jesus, have the responsibility to present the message of salvation, the GOOD NEWS, to the world that has come in and through Jesus Christ.  The Romans, at the behest of the Jewish elite, executed Jesus on a cross.  By condemning Jesus to death, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.  Jesus' agonizing death on the cross fulfilled the Psalmist's words: I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.  My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.  My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me they pierce my hands and my feet.  All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.  They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.  (Psalm 22:14-18)  In Jesus’ dying moments He experienced everything the prophets wrote about him.  He fulfilled their words of what the Messiah would experience in his last few minutes on earth.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away.  Yet who of his generation protested?  For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.  He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.  (Isaiah 53:7-9)  In the land of the living where people were enamored with violence and sin, He was sinless.  He carried their sins to his death.  He became God's propitiation for the people's sins.  Paul tells the people of Antioch, by the death of Jesus, God ransomed Jews and all others from the hands of the oppressor, the devil.  But God’s Messiah, Jesus, did not inhabit the tomb long, for as with Jonah, He was in the earth’s domain for only three days.  God raised him from the dead.  After his resurrection, he presented his resurrected self to his followers and commissioned them to tell of this Good News that God through faith in his works would give all people, everywhere, eternal life.  By being raised from the dead, He fulfills the promise God gave King David:  I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.  He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.  I will be his father, and he will be my son.  I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor.  I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.  (1 Chronicles 17:10-14)  Of course, David a man of flesh eventually fell asleep, he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.  But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.  But his offspring, God promised would never face decay, instead He would reign forever over the house of David and all others.  The Good News is that Jesus paid the price for sin and death.  Through him eternal life is guaranteed to all people who place their trust in his work on the cross.  He paid the complete price for the transgressions of humans, for their rebellious nature to the God of creation.

This promise of eternal life to all people began in the Garden.  God made people in his image, in his likeness.  In their freedom, Adam and Eve chose to go their own way.  This was part of God’s plan for humans from the beginning of time.  God made humans with the privilege to organize their lives as they desire, not necessarily as God desires for them.  Eve, because of Satan’s words, chose to be like God, to plan out her own existence.  This desire to be separated from God brought a condition of sin and rebellion in humans. The crescendo of this rebellious nature happened In Noah’s time, hundreds of years after creation.  The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  (Genesis 6:5)  God dealt with this generation by destroying them through the flood, starting over with mankind through Noah’s family.  Yet the decay of sin was still present in humans.  However, God was gracious to mankind and chose not to punish them further; instead, He gave them grace through an idol worshipper: Abraham.  God called Abraham’s family out of the land of Ur of the Chaldeans, northern Turkey.  Later they settled in southern Turkey where Abraham’s father, Teran, died.  Then God through unmerited grace told Abraham to leave the land of his forefathers and settle in Canaan.  He also told Abraham things that were improbable or even impossible: The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.  “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  (Genesis 12:1-3)  This intervention into Abraham’s life left Abraham with a choice: either believe these words he heard from God or keep his mindset of believing in his idols.  He chose to believe God’s words, which God credited to him as righteousness.  God gave Abraham right standing with him because Abraham chose to believe God’s words instead of his inclination towards serving idols as the direction in his life.  Abraham so much believed God’s words that he even was willing to give up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice because God requested that of him.  For him, in his fleshly understanding, God could fulfill his promises to him through his son Isaac, but God asked him the unimaginable: give Isaac to me on an altar of sacrifice.  Because Abraham stood solid in his faith, God affirmed his words to Abraham by saying to him,  “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.  Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”  (Genesis 22:16-18)  Now Paul is affirming this blessing to Abraham in the synagogue in Antioch.  He and Barnabas and others are going to all lands spreading the Good News that was given to Abraham, through your offspring [Jesus] all nations on earth will be blessed.  This blessing is encapsulated by faith in Jesus Christ, the resurrected One.  Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

God has never lost contact with, or forgotten, his eternal plan to make humans into his own, eternal children.  Through freedom as God has freedom, the human race lost contact with God, rebellious to him and his nature.  To the Antioch congregation, Paul is declaring the Good News of God’s salvation plan to alter the composition of mankind, making them born-again people.  We see Paul quoting Psalm 2:7, You are my son; today I have become your father.   We know Christ from the beginning of time was united with God the Father.  He has always been with the Father, a part of the household of God.  But Jesus called himself, the Son of man.  Christ became flesh as we are flesh, and his flesh died, as we will die.  When resurrected, He became the universal created one, from the flesh, as the son of man, to eternal life: Today, you are my son, passing from the fleshly garment of a human into the raiment of eternal life.  We too who are buried with Jesus in faith will hear that announcement in our own resurrection: Today, your are my son or daughter.  We are the seed that fell on good ground.  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.  This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”  (Matthew 13:23)  We will flourish because of the work of Christ in us.  We are those that Jesus is not embarrassed to introduce us to his Father.  For we are those who accept the Good News of transformation of the flesh into eternal life.  This is a promise not only for us but to all the people of the world.  Each of the redeemed can say, I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.  (Isaiah 61:10-11).  The blessings of Abraham have come to all of his descendants.  And who are his descendants?  All who are clothed in righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ, the Jews first and then the Gentiles.  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  (Galatians 3:26-29)  We should consider the blessings of Abraham as ours.  He went to a new land, a land he did not own. There in that land he was promised that he would become the possessor of it.  All of this was unimaginable to his flesh, unobtainable for sure by human effort.  But God promised it to him, and it was fulfilled through his descendants who came out of slavery.  We too have been in slavery to sin and rebellion, but God has delivered us from slavery through the blood of Jesus Christ over our lives.  The Jews were delivered from Pharaoh’s hand, through the blood of lambs.  We have been delivered out of sin and death by the blood of THE LAMB.  Our release has been completed.  We now have a land to occupy, forever known as the kingdom of God.  We are no longer homeless, bound to the waywardness of this world.  We have a home with the eternal Father.  He will never leave us or abandon us, for He gave his only begotten Son for us.  This is the GOOD NEWS that Paul was trying to hammer home.  God’s salvation plan from the beginning has been culminated IN JESUS THE CHRIST who lives forever, so WIILL WE.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  (John 3:16-17)  Praise the Lord!  

 

 

 

  

Acts 13:20-25 Let There Be No Weakness!

Acts 13:20-25 “After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.  Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.  After removing Saul, he made David their king.  God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’  “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.  Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.  As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am?  I am not the one you are looking for.  But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’

In this focus, we see Paul continuing to introduce Jesus to the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch by recounting some major points in the history of the Israelites.  Paul tells these Jews that in Egypt they became a great people, but were in bondage to Pharaoh.  When they went into Egypt as nomads and shepherds, they did not understand anything much about being a nation.  But when they left Egypt, they understood well the components of a nation, how to organize a society that consisted of hundreds of thousands of people.  Before their 400 years in Egypt, they were nomads, wandering from place to place to feed and to take care of their animals.  They had no place to call theirs, for they did not own land.  God had other plans for them.  He promised Abraham that he would own land: Canaan.  In Egypt, even as slaves, he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt.  (17)  God led them out of Egypt by displaying his mighty power to Pharaoh and to the Egyptian people.  After they were free from their bondage in Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.  Finally God allowed them to enter Canaan and take possession of that land.  In Canaan they were faithful to God only as long as Joshua and his contemporaries lived, but as soon as the first generation died off, the decedents of Abraham chose to worship idols again.  In the time of the Judges, it could be said there is no God in Canaan or for the Israelites no real allegiance to the God of Abraham, the one who brought them out of Egypt.  After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.  Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.  They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt.  (Judges 2:10-12)  The Israelites chose to worship the gods of those people who they were supposed to have driven out of Canaan.  Their failure to do away with the inhabitants of Canaan inundated their society in idol worshipping.  The gods of the people of Canaan became their gods, a trap God said they would fall into if they did not get rid of all the inhabitants of Canaan.  Their gods became a snare to the Israelites, causing the Jews to fall under the control of the people of Canaan.  At different times, the Midianites, Canaanites, Moabites, and Philistines would rule over the Jews.  Because of God’s grace and his promise to Abraham, He would raise up judges to deliver the Israelites from their oppressor.  Finally in the time of Levi and Samuel, the Israelites had gained more control over their own lives, but still worshipped other gods that contaminated their lives; they would go in and out in their faithfulness to God.  Although, in Samuel’s time, the Jews were quite obedient to his rule, but the Israelites saw that the other people surrounding them had kings to rule over them, so they clamored to Samuel to allow them to have a king rule over them.  God gave them what they desired.  Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.  As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.  (1 Samuel 8:7-8)  The Jews rejected theocracy and turned to autocracy, the rule of one man.  The first king was Saul from the small tribe of Benjamin.  He was a humble man at first but then turned into an unruly autocrat.  God rejected Saul.  He had Samuel select a new king from the household of Jesse.  The youngest son of Jesse was selected as the new king: David, revealing God’s grace once again, selecting someone not deserving, but the youngest, inexperienced son of Jesse.  After removing Saul, he made David their king.  God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.  Paul tells the Jews in the synagogue that David was a man after God’s own heart.  He was willing to be led by God.  In essence he brought back the attitude of a theocratic rule, allowing God to rule the Israelites.  However, David's self-willed weakness of lust in his personal lifestyle eventually caused the splitting of Israel into two kingdoms.  His son Solomon followed David’s lifestyle of marrying many wives and having many concubines.  This weakness corrupted Solomon’s reign.  He fell out of God’s favor by accommodating his idol-worshipping wives, allowing their idols to contaminate Israel.  

Paul emphasizes King David’s faithfulness to God.  David chose to allow God to direct him as he ruled the Israelites.  David’s willingness to follow God in directing the Israelites found favor with God; therefore, out of his lineage would come the Messiah, who would always do the will of God.  From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.  In Jesus, the Messiah, there is no weakness, self-willedness.   David failed to live a holy life, but Jesus would be without sin.  David ruled as a secular king in a theocratic manner.  Jesus would not take the secular throne, but He would rule as divine leader, one who would lead people to God, his Father.  Before Jesus could take his rightful place as the Messiah in the Jewish community, John the Baptist's ministry was to precede him.  Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.  The Jews everywhere knew the ministry of John, a call for the Israelites to repent of their sins.  Jews from from Israel and other countries came to John to be baptized for the remission of their sins.  This period of confession of the Jewish people was a necessary step to the introduction of Jesus.  John came baptizing in water sensitizing people to their need for repentance, but Jesus would baptize with fire.  “I baptize you with water.  But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  (Luke 3:16)  John’s baptism reveals the people’s desire to be right with God, but Jesus will baptize with fire, purifying the soul within.  No longer will people serve God just outwardly, but now inwardly.  This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.  I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  (Hebrews 8:10)  Paul is informing the Jews in Pisidian Antioch that the old covenant, which was never truly followed by the Jews has now been replaced by the new covenant that Jesus is Lord and that He will change the inner man from a rebel to being obedient to the will of God from their hearts.  This transition moves from outward obedience to laws, to obedience from the soul, the heart.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.  (Hebrews 8:9)   Paul is introducing the Jews to the promise God had given them from the beginning: one day they would have the Messiah in their midst and he would deliver them from the oppression of the world.  He would be so powerful that even a great, holy man like John the Baptist would not be worthy to even unbuckle the straps on his sandals.  There is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.  Even the most righteous of the people in the Antioch synagogue could not come close to the perfection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  By Paul relating the waywardness of the Jewish people even after having supernatural events in their lives, he exposes the Jewish people to the need of a Savior, a righteous mediator between them and God the Father.  

Paul is telling these Jews that the Good News is that the Messiah has come and that He has fulfilled the prophets’ words about him.  Jesus died for the sins of all people, and his salvation has come to the Jew first and then to the rest of the world.  He is recounting the history of the Jews to explain to them their unruly nature and that the law could never make them reliable instruments of the living God.  They failed to hold true to the blessings of Abraham; they gave away their land of Canaan because of idol worshipping.  They willingly followed the gods of the people they were supposed to replace in Canaan.  Their behavior became even worse than their idol worshipping neighbors.  They sacrificed their own children who were gifts from God, who made them prosperous in Egypt because their population grew faster than the Egyptian's population.  Paul is reminding them in this short-hand account of the history of Israel that their recalcitrance and their eventual dispersion to other countries was a result of sin, and that they have needed a savior all throughout their history.  These Jewish synagogue attenders knew their history.  They also understood that the Jewish people have faced discipline by God because of their waywardness to God’s directions and commandments in their lives.  They were very versed in their history because of their pride in their Jewishness, their separation from the Gentile world.  They have longed for the Messiah to come to them and to restore the Jewish people to a place of honor in the world, to throw off the yoke of oppression.  Paul was now giving them the answer to their prayers: for the Messiah to come to them and bring real salvation to them and their people.  And all that hope is locked in the man Jesus, who called himself the Son of man.  Paul in recounting the history of their people was telling them that the Messiah has come and that He will bring the fire to their hearts, changing them from just human beings to eternal beings, new creations.  Jesus said to the Pharisee Nicodemus you must be born again; you must make the transition from an earthly vessel to a heavenly vessel that can live with God for eternity.  As Paul reveals Jesus to these Antioch Jews, he reveals the truth of the new covenant.  Jesus has come to redeem all people from their empty way of living, that which was not successful for their Jewish ancestors.  He has not come with a new way of living or new laws; He has come to all people, shedding his precious blood for the sins of the world, making them right with God for all eternity.  Jesus fulfills every requirement that a holy God has placed on people.  Now these Jewish brethren of Paul, need to believe this fact by faith.  Baptism in water would never save them, obedience to the law would never make them right with God.  Only the likeness of God in them would make them right with God, and that comes through faith, believing in Christ’s work and not the work of the flesh.  We have that same privilege today to place our faith in Christ’s work at the cross, trusting in our eternal salvation because He shed his blood and rose victorious from the grave.  

 

 

Acts 13:14-20 Love One Another!

Acts 13:14-20 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.  From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch.  On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.  After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”  Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!  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; for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance.  All this took about 450 years.

We see in the above focus that Paul, even though called to the Gentiles, was carrying on his ministry in a city where a big contingent of Jewish people lived.  He and Barnabas had first journeyed to the island of Cyprus to minister to Jews.  He now goes to Pisidian Antioch, an important city in the Roman Empire, a city with a thriving Jewish community.  As we see in Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey, they are fixed on carrying the Good News to their fellow Jewish brethren.  After all, for them, Jesus Christ came to the Jews through the womb of Mary, and He ministered primarily in the Jewish country of Israel.  Therefore, his brethren should be the first to know about the Messiah coming to redeem the world from sin and destruction.  Paul moves away from Cyprus to go to Pisidian Antioch, a harrowing, difficult journey; first sailing 200 miles from Cyprus to Perga, which is located on the coast of present day Turkey.  Then he and Barnabas, without Mark, go to Pisidian Antioch, a 300 mile arduous journey inland through the Taurus Mountains to speak to the Antioch Jews.  Paul, in his sermonette to the Jewish community in their synagogue, begins his talk to them by telling them how they became prosperous in their 40 years of slavery in the country of Egypt.  This prosperity could be described in three ways: their population was growing faster that the Egyptian population, they were exposed to a civilization much more advanced than their shepherding lifestyle, and finally they left Egypt with the gold and silver and finery of the Egyptian people.  Through their wilderness travels, they were carrying with them the luxury of the Egyptian society, which also included idols and images of other gods to worship.  These gods of Egypt that they carried with them caused much trouble for the Chosen.  Even though they knew Moses’ God, the I AM, had delivered them from Pharaoh’s hands with mighty power and that he led them out of that country, they were a stubborn people.  God endured their rebellious nature all the way through their forty years in the wilderness.  The Israelites clung to the Egyptian gods.  This weakness manifested itself when Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the law, the full revelation of the I Am, they immediately fell into open idol worship because Moses was absent from them.  Aaron made them an Egyptian idol in the form of a golden calf to worship.  God disciplined them for that behavior, but He still had to put up with their recalcitrant, rebellious nature for forty years in the wilderness.  Even though God had chosen these particular Semites, the descendants of Abraham, as his own, they resisted God’s authority over them.  Nevertheless, only Jacob’s descendants would be God’s chosen, when they went into Egypt.  The family of Jacob consisted of sixty-six people.  When they left Egypt, they numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

The Israelites original father was Abraham.  Abraham, their patriarch, was raised in an idol worshipping environment; however, he came to know the I AM, Jehovah God, the creator of all things.  God because of his grace came to Abraham, spoke to him about his future and the future of his descendants through dreams and visions.  In these supernatural experiences, God promised Abram that his barren wife would have a son and that the land of Canaan would be his inheritance.  He told Abram not  to be afraid for He would be Abram’s shield in life and his great reward.  However, He showed Abram that his descendants would experience slavery for four hundred years.  “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.  But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.  (Genesis 15:13-14)  Paul begins at this point in his talk to the Antioch Jews to remind them of their history that they were birthed out of slavery as a free people, a special people who because of Abraham’s faith have obtained God’s favor.  Sounds somewhat contradictory, for they are ordained to go into slavery, but Esau, a descendant of Abraham through the loins of Isaac, lives free in the hill country of Seir, but Jacob’s descendants find slavery as their inheritance.  We know Ishmael, from the seed of Abraham, also lived free in the area east of the Red Sea: from Havilah to Shur.  (Genesis 25:18)   Now Paul’s ministry is directed primarily to the seed of Jacob, not to the other Semites born from Ishmael and Esau or to the Greeks and Romans.  We see Paul on the Sabbath talking to his fellow Jews, even though Abraham’s promise from God was that he would be the father of many nations, many people.  Abraham’s choice of believing God’s words to him that he experienced in dreams and visions was more real than any idol worshipping.  His stance of believing God’s words to him was called faith.  God counted Abraham’s willingness to believe what he heard from God as righteousness or right standing with God.  Abraham affirmatively believed God would give Sarah a son and that he would receive Canaan as his own.  This strong belief of Abraham made God his friend.  Jehovah became Abraham’s great reward.  Abraham and his descendants would always have God with them.  We see in this transition of Abraham, the idol worshipper to a follower of the Creator, the hand of God’s grace towards him.  The Holy Spirit was intricately involved with Abraham’s decision to know God.  This activity of the Holy Spirit’s involvement with the thinking of men is illustrated when Peter said to Christ, you are the Son of God, the Messiah.  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:16)  His affirmation of Jesus as the Son of God originated with the Holy Spirit.  Abraham’s willingness to believe what he dreamed and saw in visions was God’s work in him, not his fleshly mind or intellect.  Both Peter and Abraham sinned later in their lives, but God did not count that as unrighteousness, for they knew God by faith.  The faith in God in both instances came before the real act of circumcision.  Circumcision has nothing to do with holiness; it is but a confirmation that you are now God’s child.  But real circumcision is not an outward show, but an inward work of God.  Peter went on and experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit, an inward work of God, not just an affirmation that Christ is the Son of God.  An inward work makes a new specie, a born-again specie that can inherit eternal life. 

Paul in presenting the Good News to these synagogue attenders was acting as a surgeon.   He was attempting to surgically removed the law as the standard of salvation for these Jews and replace it with faith in the works of Jesus and in his resurrection.  For the Jews, accepting the law and living up to its obligation was the standard of holiness, for them there was no other way to serve God or to please the God of creation.  Now Paul is setting before them THE WAY to know God, and it comes only through faith in God’s Son’s work on the cross.  This is a hard transition for the Jews, for anything other than obeying the law throws them into the abyss of eternal darkness.  Paul ends his talk to them with this statement: Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.  (Acts 13:38-39)  This is a monumental change in the Jewish belief system.  How could one man’s life in their time bring a place of righteousness in their lives?   How could they throw away hundreds of years of Jews believing in the efficacy of the law?  For Paul his 500 mile journey from Cyprus to them was so representative of his commitment that he would endure anything and everything to tell his fellow Jews the Good News, that Jesus saves, that the Messiah has come to the world for them and all people.  Paul understood well that Abraham’s blessing was for the future.  He understood the Seed of Abraham would be carried down to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Jesus the Christ is the fulfillment of all the promises made to Abraham, the man of faith.  Through Jesus all nations will be blessed, new births will happen, new creations, born in the likeness of God will come to earth, and a new land, God’s kingdom, will come to all people.  Jesus fulfilled every revelation of God through the law.  Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  (Matthew 5:17-18)  What should the law accomplish?  To make men and women right before God.  Jesus fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law.  He completed the work God required of men and women to be right with him.  Therefore, to know God we place our faith IN THE WORKS OF CHRIST, or we are covered with his blood, the final and only sacrifice that is pleasing to a holy God.  Paul in this breakfast focus is at the beginning of convincing his Jewish brethren to place their faith in the works of Jesus—a challenge that is still going on today.  Will the Jews transition from believing the law is the only way to God?  Will the Gentiles believe this Jewish man, Jesus, is the path to knowing the Creator of all things?  This is the challenge of all Christians within the world today.  How can the world know that this Good News is the way to an eternal God?  By the Christians' love they will know the truth of Christ.  A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:34-35)  Only the new specie: the born-again, can love as God desires.  Old men and women will be critical of others and judge others, harm others, but new creatures will love as God loves.  Faith in God requires love.  The question for us breakfast companions: do you love freely or is your love only for those you think deserve love?  Paul and Barnabas traveled 500 miles to tell the people in Pisidian Antioch that God’s instrument of love, Jesus Christ, has come to them.  Such a love drove them to Antioch to deliver the Jews of that city from sin and death.  Amen!   Where does God want you to take the salvation message today?  Where is your Antioch?  

 

      

      

 

Acts 13-4-12 Light Shines In Darkness!

Acts 13-4-12  The two of them (Barnabas and Saul), sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.  When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.  John was with them as their helper.  They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos.  There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus.  The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.  But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.  Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right!  You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.  Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?  Now the hand of the Lord is against you.  You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”  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.  

In the above focus we see Saul and Barnabas going into all the world to win souls for Christ.  They go after much prayer by the brethren in Antioch.  They traveled across the island of Cyprus, ministering the Good News in Jewish synagogues.  The proconsul or governor of Cyprus heard about these two men of power who were proclaiming the name of Jesus.  Therefore, he wanted an audience with them to examine what Saul and Barnabas were ministering throughout his territory.  We must assume that the Holy Spirit was drawing him to the Good News, for he assesses it as the word of God.  But in his way to hearing the word of God was Bar-Jesus, a sorcerer.  Sorcerers have always stood in the way of the Israelite people in knowing God.  Paul said we do not wrestle with flesh and blood:  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  (Ephesians 6:12)   We see Bar-Jesus attempting to interfere with the Good News being proclaimed to the governor.  The world after Noah was inundated by the powers of the wicked one.  Abraham’s ancestors were in the hands of the viper: Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.  But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants.  I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.  I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.  (Joshua 24:2-4)  Abraham’s people lived in today’s Iraq.  They were idol worshippers.  We can assume that Abraham as a young boy also was acquainted with idol worshipping.  But the grace of God intervened, through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Abraham interacted with God and believed what he heard from God.  Abraham placed his faith in what he heard from God, discounted his ancestor’s way of knowing God through worshipping Idols.  He chose to believe God, but the devil interfered with Abraham’s descendants.  We find Jacob’s beautiful wife Rachel stealing her father’s idols, taking them with her to the hill country of Gilead.  Jacob’s household and servants carried idols wherever they went.  Before going to Bethel in Canaan to worship God, Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.  Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”  (Genesis 35:2-3)  Idol worship, sorcery, witchcraft, and the like were always prevalent in the Jewish society.  People such as Bar-Jesus were constantly with the Jewish people to prevent them from serving God with pure hearts.  There was no end to the devil’s deception in the Jewish community.  We find Ezekiel stating that they are worse than the people around them who were saturated with the evil works of the devil.  You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws.  You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.  (Ezekiel 5:7).  In today's focus, we see the powers of the dark world attempting to thwart the plan of God in the governor’s life.  But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.  Through the works of the cross, the devil is a defeated foe, but he still attempted to stop the Good News from being heard by the governor.  But Paul knows the devil is defeated; therefore, he tells the devil’s instrument, Bar-Jesus, You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right!  You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.  Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?  Now the hand of the Lord is against you.  You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.  The spirit of evil is stopped in its tracks.  Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 

This power that Saul, now Paul, displayed came to the church after the resurrection.  After Christ arose the church had to wait in Jerusalem for 40 days before the body of Christ on earth was filled with the power of God.  Before Pentecost, the believers were warned not to go out into the highways and byways to proclaim the Good News that Jesus was resurrected, but after the Holy Spirit’s infilling, they were to deliver the Good News of eternal life to all people, everywhere.  In the above focus we see this commandment of Jesus being carried out through Paul and Barnabas.  They and the apostles were challenging the principalities of the air, the powers that were enslaving the human race.  Before the resurrection and the infilling of the Spirit in the believers, the church was powerless to effect spiritual transformation.  We see this evident in the apostles after the Lord’s Passover supper.  Jesus broke the bread and drank the cup of wine with the disciples.  This breaking of bread and the drinking of the wine is a confirmation of the new covenant with mankind.  God was making a new covenant that would be eternal.  The bread and wine are emblematic of the work of the cross.  The apostles partake in this supper, but they do not really understand what it is all about, but will later.  The Messiah they ate and drank with often terrified them because his existence was unimaginable to them.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.  The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet!  Be still!”  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this?   Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  (Mark 4:37-41)  They often saw him as a good teacher, and also as one who had the power of the prophets, but to see him as the Son of God was a stretch for their imaginations, but when Jesus would perform such a miracle as calming the elements of the environment, they became fearful for He was dong things that only God could do, and how could they exist with a holy God without immediate judgment for they were sinful men, not as He, perfect and righteous.  We see this scenario carried out when Jesus told Peter to go out into deeper water to fish.  Peter objected to this command of Jesus for he had fished all night and caught nothing.  But when he obeyed and let his net down, his net became so full of fish that he had to call James and John to help him get the abundance of fish to the shore.  This catch almost swamps two boats.  Peter reacts to this miracle by an expression of fear.  When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”  (Luke 5:8)  He knew he was in the presence of God.  However, as we see the apostles leaving the supper, their concept of Jesus was still fleshly oriented, and not seeing him as the Son of God.

After the Passover supper, they go to the Mount of Olives.  Jesus sits them down and talks about what will happen to them immediately.  They had just gone through this sacred ceremony of partaking of the sacrament emblems that represent a new, eternal covenant between God and man.  But now Jesus tells that that they will forget the reality of this spiritual, eternal aspect of the supper and move back into the reality of the flesh.  Sometimes they saw Jesus as the Son of God, but other times, they saw him as a man who had authority with God and therefore could do many miraculous things.  Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:“‘I will strike the shepherd,and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’  But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”  (Matthew 26:32)  They will flee from the authorities when they come to arrest Jesus.  Even the strongest of them, Peter, will flee.  His leadership ability and his boastful attitude will submit to fear when faced by those who could take his life.  He had told the Son of God, you are wrong, saying I will not stand by you even in the face of death.  But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.  (Matthew 26:35)  As we know, Peter did not stand with Jesus in the face of Jesus’ enemies.  He not only did not stand when the mob came to arrest Jesus, but even worse, in the courtyard of the high priest, he denied Jesus before men and before God the Father.  He swore by heaven that he did not know this man Jesus.  The apostles got a glimpse at times of who Jesus really was: the Son of God.  When the time came for them to really believe He is the All Powerful God, they fled, placing their fleshly existence above the knowledge of Jesus being the Son of God.  In the above focus, we see Paul and Barnabas facing persecution and death, willing to place their lives in danger to fulfill the commandment of Jesus to go throughout the world to preach the gospel.  The world was very dark--sin inhabited the people everywhere: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  (Galatians 5:19-20)  Sin has never dissipated in people; it is alway present abundantly.  The hatred of God and his people is an ongoing story of life.  Bar-Jesus hated Paul and Barnabas; he hated the light they represented, for he was an agent of the devil.  Bar-Jesus represented the kingdom of darkness; Paul and Barnabas represented the Light.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  (John 1:5)  Jesus is the light; Jesus is eternal life.  Jesus is the truth, the way, the life.  No longer would the believers walk merely in the flesh; no longer would the Peter’s in the world deny the living God.  They would be willing to die for the cause of Christ, for light and life to be spread throughout the world.  Breakfast companions, you are the light of the world.  Be willing to spread your light to the world, for when you do, you are introducing the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God to a dark and desperate world, a world of chaos, with no answers for why they are here, living their short lives of consciousness, with death as their only future.  Spread the precious gospel light while you have the opportunity.  

 

   

 

Acts 12:25; 13:1-5 Lift Up Your Head!

Acts 12:25; 13:1-5  When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.  Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.  The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.  When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.

The Antioch church was functioning as the body of Christ on earth.  The many parts of the body: apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, speakers of tongues and interpreters were known to all in this community of believers.  In the above focus we see five leaders fasting and praying for the guidance of the Spirit in their community and in the world.  What will happen through their worshipping of God, seeking his direction in their lives and in others, will far exceed their imaginations.  These five men could not realistically envision that the results of their prayers would impact the world to the point that billions would know Christ and accept him as their savior.  This work that God had for Barnabas and Paul would open the Gentile world to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross.  When the Holy Spirit said, to them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them, they could only know that God meant for Paul and Barnabas to spread the Good News to other communities.  But as we see subsequently in Paul’s ministry to a variety of communities, the mystery of God from the beginning of time was being revealed to mankind.  The reason for the creation of mankind was to make children of the living God.  To be God’s children they must have the experience of what it is like to be in bondage to slavery, to not know God because of the darkness of their souls, and then to be released from this darkness through the works of the Son of God on the cross.  They must accept this work of Christ by faith, a substance that has no limits.  Belief might have boundaries, but faith has no boundaries that limit it.  As reflected by Job’s life, he declared: Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him, (Job 13:15)  Job would put his trust in God no matter what circumstance he faced in his life.  The mystery of being born again through faith in the works of Jesus Christ will be offered to all people.  Paul and Barnabas were set apart to reveal this Good News to people.  As they traveled through the Greek world, God accompanied them with power and authority.  They spoke the Good News of eternal life IN CHRIST everywhere they went, even under the threat of death, they expounded the purpose of God to save people from their finiteness, to give them eternal life in and through Christ.  Many of the Gentiles received this word gladly; others rose up in opposition to the Good News.  For them the Good News represented folly, disrupting their lives and their communities’ lives, destroying the structure of their societal norms, built around worshipping gods made out of their own imaginations.  But Paul’s revelation of God’s mystery to bring children into his existence was paramount in his ministry.  It was his purpose on earth.  I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.  (Ephesians 3:8-9)

What grace has been given to you dear friends around his breakfast table?  What is your purpose in life?  The people in Antioch prayed and fasted, opening up their hearts and lives to God’s purpose in this world  As born-again people, they desired to follow God passionately.  We see the church of Antioch operating within the will of the Spirit of God.  For them this world was not their home anymore: they knew they were just moving through.  Eating, drinking, socializing, and working were not the primary purposes of their lives.  As with Paul and Barnabas, they had a purpose for their lives, one intricately planned out for them to fulfill.  They no longer lived as slaves to the devil’s will.  They were living new lives, in a new kingdom, not in the sin of the camp of slaves.  But as Christians in this time, are we so entangled with the affairs of life that we have no time for God, for the Holy Spirit’s involvement in our lives?  No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.  Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.  The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.  Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.  (2 Timothy 2:4-7)  Are we in this world soldiers under command or are we living a civilian life, designed for our fleshly desires?  Are we the athlete in training or are we freewheeling it through life, little Bible reading, no prayer, no meditation on God?  Are we the farmer whose efforts have produced many lives for God or are we unconcerned about bringing the salvation message to others?  Where is our foundation laid, on ephemeral sand or on the eternal Rock of God?  We cannot deceive God; He knows the reality of our lives.  The believers in the Antioch church knew their primary purpose for living was to exercise the gifts of God within their community.  They were not nonchalant about life; they had a purpose for living, not just eat, drink and be merry and then tomorrow die, facing a Creator with an empty life.  Can we say the Father’s will is primarily our will?  What is the Father’s will?  My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”  (John 6:40)  Do we want everyone to know Jesus or is this kind of life passe, old-fashioned in our day of electronics, computers that can work independently of human involvement?  Of course, Christ is real for us believers.  God is on the throne regardless of the nature of our society, of the world’s involvement in living finite, purposeless lives.  We have an eternal purpose for our lives.  As Christians we will serve God and not ourselves.  We will wear the stripes of Jesus on our backs, not the logos of this world.  Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  (John 6:53)

After the Antioch believers knew the will of God for Paul and Barnabas, they sent them out.  They did not wait around, thinking whether they should or should not obey what the Spirit of God was inspiring them to do: after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.  God’s will was to send two of the people in their group out into a dangerous world, one that would include persecution, threats of death and deprivation.  The believers in Antioch knew they were serving God’s will in this action.  Paul and Barnabas were sent out as Jesus was sent out into the world.  As Jesus, they would have no permanent place to lay their heads; they would have to trust God for the provisions they would need: food, clothing, housing.  Paul related that often he had no place to lay his head, that many times he had little food, and sometimes his clothing was inadequate to keep him warm.  But he would serve God regardless of the vicissitudes of life.  While belief will often be based on circumstances; faith will serve God regardless.  Sometimes Christianity has been discarded by people because of difficult circumstances in their lives, but faith in Christ’s work will hold steady, for we know Christ also suffered.  God’s love for Paul and Barnabas sometimes did not correspond to the circumstances in their lives in the flesh.  Sometimes the abundant life promised to them was not a reality in their pursuit of God’s will in their lives.  Nevertheless, they knew they were living abundant life, for they possessed eternal life in their souls, and what is more abundant than that?  John said emphatically about this life, Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)   Sometimes we wrap God’s goodness and kindness to us around how we feel the world is treating us, our love for the world and its good things is much in us.  If we have rough weather in our lives or if our lives seem to be going nowhere, we feel God has abandoned us.  But the I AM has never abandoned us.  The I AM went with Moses into the land of Egypt.  The I AM does not abandon you, even when you face your enemies.  The Old Testament is full of this testimony.  The I AM is the I AM WITH YOU, even in exile.  His enduring love is so often extolled in the Old Testament.  Paul and Barnabas knew the God of faithfulness and the eternal love of God.  The struggles of life were not going to deter them from serving God.  As with Abraham they knew the voice of God, and they would serve him with an enduring faith in that voice.  As in Abraham’s life,  the voice of God was so important to Paul and Barnabas that they felt no sacrifice was too great for them.  They would lay their lives on the altar, as Abraham did when he tied Issac to the altar.  The love of God compels people to give their lives to an eternal God.  Therefore, when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.  They would proclaim the word of God without counting the cost.  Moses, the prophets, Jesus, all declared the word of God regardless of the cost.  Are we there my friends?  Or are we engaged in the cares of this world, living fruitless, empty lives, full of loving the world, never involved with the task of serving God.  Is your gift in the body of Christ on a shelf somewhere, maybe placed there because of circumstances in your life or sadly because the love of this world is too much in you.  Breakfast friends, sensitize your ears to the voice of God.  If you do so, your involvement in propagating the Good News will be on your lips and in your actions.   Look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.  (Luke 21:28 KJV)  

       

 

Acts 12:19-24 You Are Alive!

Acts 12:19-24  Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.  He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him.  After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.  On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people.  They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.”  Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.  But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.

In the above focus we see a conundrum to our rational minds.  We see a wicked king who has gained great respect from the Jewish people for persecuting God’s anointed, the Lord Jesus’ closest followers and friends.   These people who Herod is harassing are God’s special people, chosen by Jesus as his apostles.  James and Peter were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Herod received no immediate retribution for beheading James; therefore, without adverse consequences, he imprisons Peter, intending to behead him also after the Passover.  Of course, Jesus the Christ knew this kind of thing would happen to his followers, but it had to hurt his heart as Herod was carrying out his wicked deeds, persecuting the people Jesus loved and protected while on earth.  For Herod to be so bold against Jesus’ followers and the Father’s plan of redemption, one would think that God would strike Herod dead on the spot.  But we do not see this quick retribution in Herod’s life, and for that fact, neither in the elite priests’ lives.  They seem to have gotten away with their attempt to thwart God’s plan of redemption for all humans.  However, God does punish Herod with death after he accepted honor from people for a speech he gave to the leaders of Tyre and Sidon. They were probably praising Herod profusely because they were in desperate need of the grains that were produced in Israel.  Therefore, after Herod’s oration to them, They shouted, This is the voice of a god, not of a man.  Herod’s acceptance of their praise without honoring God brought immediate retribution from God.  Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down.  For us it seems as if God should have struck him dead the minute he decided to persecute the church of the living God.  He was interfering with God’s salvation plan, a mystery hidden in God’s heart from the beginning of time.  This mystery of redemption of mankind through faith in Jesus the Lord, the Son of God was the primary purpose for mankind’s existence.  God’s intentions were to make humans his sons and daughters.  Therefore in historical accounts of humans, we see the fall, the battle between good and evil, the struggle of faith, and the law given to reveal the righteousness of God.  We see the dispersion of his chosen people to other lands because of their idol worshipping.  Later, Jesus comes to earth and gives his life for the redemption of mankind.  Subsequently, after Christ's resurrection from the grave, the Holy Spirit comes to infill believers to do Christ’s work.  All of this was in the heart of God from the beginning, but Herod boldly interferes with this plan without any adverse consequences.  Later, however, by accepting praise from people as if he were a god, Herod received immediate retaliation.  In the above focus we are exposed clearly to the sovereign will of God.  He will do what He wants when He wants to do it.  Man’s thoughts about life and how things should be in a rational world are not necessarily part of God’s planning for human beings.  Our wisdom and knowledge are not acceptable to God.  As Paul wrote, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.  (1 Corinthians 3:19)  We would strike Herod down immediately for touching God’s anointed: James and Peter.  But God does not retaliate because of Herod’s destructiveness to the nascent church of God.  Instead, He chooses to strike Herod down for a different reason, one that we might consider to be just the nature of a narcissistic man who has a lot of power.  For us accepting self-indulgence praise from people seems minuscule compared with interfering with God’s plan of redemption for humans.  

To perceive God’s mysterious plan for humankind is sometimes difficult for us.  We often see a mishmash of events in the historical accounts of humans.  When we look at God’s chosen people's history, we see they had 39 kings who ruled their two kingdoms: Judah and Israel.  The nineteen kings who ruled Israel all were wicked.  A rational question we might ask is how can a chosen people whose spiritual father is Abraham have only wicked kings as their rulers?  This does not make sense to us.  We would design a redemption plan with better people.  And in Judah, considered the good kingdom, only eight kings out of twenty rulers were considered good by God.  The Jews' history is like scrambled eggs, seemingly a mess, a hodgepodge of good and evil.  But as with Herod at his death, the sovereignty of God cannot be questioned.  Paul states very clearly that the wisdom of God is beyond the understanding of the wisdom of men and women.  Where is the wise person?  Where is the teacher of the law?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him.  God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom.  (1 Corinthians 1:20-22)  We see that man cannot detect God by analyzing the history of mankind, not even in looking at God’s chosen people, the Jews.  Man desires to find God through his own wisdom or knowledge.  The Greeks look for him through their rational minds; the Jews want a sign so that they might have knowledge that He exists.  But as with the focus this morning, God does not kowtow to the wisdom of the understanding of mankind.  God should have destroyed Herod for persecuting the body of Christ, but instead God chose to kill a narcissistic man for accepting unwarranted praises of men.  But the foolishness of preaching about faith in Christ’s work exceeds the wisdom and knowledge of the rational mind.  It seems out of place in a world where men and women attain good things by their efforts.  A free gift of eternal life from the hand of God seems unreasonable, ignoring the involvement of the human race other that faith in Jesus and his works.  However, for those who acknowledge Christ’s work through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we know this fabulous redemption to life eternal did not come through the wisdom, knowledge or understanding of the minds of humans.  As  Paul states about the mysterious plan of God, We speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.  (1 Corinthians 2:6-10)  The Spirit of God has come to mankind to reveal clearly the message of redemption.  The result of that message is so great that it exceeds our imaginations: no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human mind has conceived—the things God has prepared for those who love him.

As we experience the vicissitudes of life, we sometimes question the goodness of God, for life can become very difficult.  We can find James' words as an affront to our present situation, not being sympathetic enough to our struggles in life.  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  (James 1:2-5)  We find our wisdom concerning the way things ought to go for believers is being tested.  Why are the Herod’s in our lives still allowed to pester us.  Why are our foes: sickness, adversity, troubles of all sorts allowed by God to be in our lives.  Why not kill them off!   God is the universe maker.  Why does He allow such things in his chosen people’s lives?  Why allow James to be beheaded by a wicked man, and then he receives no retribution for such an evil deed?  Why can be our cry.  But as with the apostles, we are the first-fruits of the inheritors of eternal life with God as his children.  Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.  (James 1:16-18)  We, as all who are redeemed, are God’s first-fruit or new creatures, born again.  And with Paul, who understood well that we have been made holy, we still must move forward in our walk with Christ.  Even though our lives may seem difficult, beyond our endurance, our assignment is to press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:14)  We ARE CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH with the promise in our lives that God will bless us with eternal life and with honoring us in heaven as Jesus Christ is honored.  All of creation will know our stature when we are with God, as Jesus is lifted up in the domain of the heavenly’s, we too will be lifted up as children of the Eternal Father.  Jesus has won for us an eternal covenant with God.  A promise for us that goes beyond our imagination.  This is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.  (Isaiah 59:21)  Breakfast companions, can you believe this promise to you?  Your children and your children's children will be present with God forever, honoring God and his redemptive plan.  Yes, all of this is difficult to see with the rational mind, the limited understanding and knowledge within humans who are caught in the milieu of time.  But God is sovereign: He will do what He desires and when He desires.  Herod’s demise came, but in God’s time, not based on our understanding.  When all seems fruitless and dying in you, hear Paul’s response when young Eutychus, who was listening to Paul’s ministry, fell three stories from a windowsill, seemingly lying there dead.  Paul goes to him and proclaims:  HE IS ALIVE.  (Acts 20:10)  Regardless of the circumstances in your life, the sovereign Lord proclaims, YOU ARE ALIVE IN ME!  Rejoice in that resurrection life today, thanking God for his eternal plan for your soul.  

   

    

    

         

     

  

      

“