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.  

   

    

    

         

     

  

      

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Acts 12:8-19 In Prison or Out You Are Free!

Acts 12:8-19 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him.  Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.  They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city.  It opened for them by itself, and they went through it.  When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.  Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.  ”When 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.  Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door.  When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”  “You’re out of your mind,” they told her.  When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.  ”But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.  Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison.  “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.  In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.  After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

We find in the above focus a very serious affair.  Herod wants to win more favor with the Jewish people by killing Peter.  The Jewish elite were extremely happy about Herod’s focus on eliminating the leaders of Christ’s followers.  For them these apostates were a danger to the Jewish society, to the staid religious order and to the coherence of the community.  The beheading of James was a necessary step in the cleansing of the Jewish community of the teachings of Jesus.  By eliminating the leaders of THE WAY, Herod understood he was doing everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.  In many ways, the majority of the Jews were persecuting Jesus’ followers.  The Sanhedrin had killed Stephen, causing many Christians to flee Jerusalem.  Nevertheless, the leadership of THE WAY stayed in Jerusalem.  Now Peter was in prison for the cause of Christ.  But an angel interrupts this scene by coming to Peter in his cell.  The angel is on a time schedule for he tells Peter to get up quickly.  We do not see God stopping time, changing the mode of reality in this cell; instead, we hear the angel say, “Quick, get up!”  He does not wake Peter up gradually, helping Peter understand the situation.  Rather, He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.  No sweet talk whispered in Peter’s ear to wake him up.  No, the angel strikes him, for the angel’s intervention is on a time schedule.  In this scene, nothing is done nonchalantly or slowly.  Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.”  And Peter did so.  “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him.  Even though this is a supernatural event, the angel is in a hurry, functioning within the reality of the natural world.  We see this same situation of an angel functioning in the order of physical realities when he tells Joseph to flee with the baby Jesus to Egypt.  When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”  (Matthew 2:13)  Again later when Joseph and his family return to Judea, God does not disturb the realities of the natural world.  After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”  (Matthew 2:19-20)  As we see in the above focus, God does send an angel to rescue Peter from being beheaded the next day.  However, he functions in a time element that requires everything be done quickly.  Peter is told to do things that are very ordinary, part of the routine of getting up such as dressing himself.  We do not see the clothes and sandals being put on Peter in a supernatural way; no, it is Peter’s responsibility to prepare himself.  Then Peter is told to follow the angel, follow me.   Peter followed him out of the prison.  Peter is not in some sort of transcendental state, floating along behind the angel.  No, he walks out of prison, using his own legs, walking by the guard stations and through an open gate.  A supernatural event, but not a metaphysical one.  Peter’s faculties were engaged in this whole scene, plus, all completed within a certain time schedule.  We see in this focus, Pete is obedient, willing to put on his clothes and sandals, willing to follow the angel.  Whether being in a dream or not his obedience to the angel’s words are absolutely necessary for his escape.

Experiencing supernatural events does not always lead to obedience.  We see the children of Israel in the wilderness, saturated with supernatural events.  Their whole journey was one of God’s intervention in their lives, a cloud led them and protected them during the day, and a pillar of fire was with them at night.  They had been led out of slavery; they had experienced the crossing of the Red Sea on dry land.  They saw their enemy Pharaoh and his army swallowed up by the Red Sea.  They experienced being fed supernaturally by manna and quail; they drank water from the rock.  Their clothes and sandals did not wear out.  Yet, when it comes for them to move into Canaan, they rebelled and refused to cross the river Jordan and take possession of Canaan.  They feared the strength of the inhabitants of Canaan.  They questioned the strength of God and his faithfulness to them.  Their faithlessness in God and his strength angered God.  The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt?  How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”  (Numbers 14:11-12)  In today’s focus, we see Peter obeying the commands of the angel.  He was willing to follow the angel and then after they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.  Up to that time, he was being led by the angel, as the children of Israel in the wilderness.  He then completed the task of deliverance by going to a place where believers were praying for his freedom.  The children of Israel had no story to tell when they refused to enter into Canaan.  They had no story to tell about settling into Canaan, the land of rest, milk, and honey.  Instead, God made them go back and journey in the wilderness until the first generation died out.  Now we see Peter, a member of the first generation of the redeemed, freed from the devil’s clutches, going to other believers to tell of his deliverance from imprisonment.  His story would be one of victory, a story about a faithful and powerful God.  However, the people praying for his release did not believe there was such a victory to be won.  When Peter goes to the house where they are praying for his deliverance from prison, their unbelief was so great that they refused to believe Rhoda, the servant girl’s announcement, Peter is at the door!  Instead of believing her, they told her she is out of her mind.  But she persisted in her claim that Peter was at the door, so they then said, It must be his angel.  Their prayers for Peter contained little faith.  Faith is the essential ingredient in knowing God or to seeing his hand involved in lives.  In Lystra, Paul perceives that a man who was lame from birth possessed faith in God.   He listened to Paul as he was speaking.  Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!”  At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.  (Acts 14:8-10)  Now in Peter’s situation, we see a house full of Christians with little faith, mouthing words, but not really believing that the reality of God can change the intractable, the impossible.  But God is a good God who answers prayers for those who have little faith.

Peter is delivered from jail and the guards pay the price for his escape.  Herod Agrippa had them executed.   We see in Joseph and Mary’s escape to Egypt with their child, Jesus, cost some little boys their lives.  When Herod the Great realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under.  (Matthew 2:16)  The natural order of events were not altered because of God’s intervention into the lives of Jesus and Peter.  Guards were killed; little boys were murdered.  The Herods' wickedness prevailed in these two events.  However, God’s will was to be done.  He preserved Jesus and Peter; the Good News of being born again would be proclaimed to the whole world.  A Savior, the Son of God, has come to the world to redeem all men and women from their captivity to sin.  Jesus, the Seed of redemption, has been given to mankind.  From now on, all who place their trust in Jesus’ work can become children of the Most High.  Peter’s deliverance from prison was a very serious event; a necessary situation, for the Good News needed to be spread throughout the world.  Peter would soon realize that Jesus is Good News for the Gentile world too.  God makes known to Peter through another dream that the Gentile world should hear the Good News of redemption because they too can become children of the Living God.  Therefore it was necessary that Peter escape imprisonment, for God had great plans for Peter.  Peter escapes death, but others will face the consequences of his escape with their lives.  Jesus is brought to Egypt safely, but young boys will experience death.  The war between good and evil is real, and it goes on today.  God is asking his people to obey his commands, to carry out his will regardless of the consequences.  We see later on in Peter’s life his willingness to lay down his life for Jesus.  In Jesus’ life, we see him willing to give his life for his Father God.  The struggle between good and evil is a constant battle, but the Bible says that we are more than conquerors.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:35-39)  To be more than conquerors, we must understand fully where our strength comes from.  We must realize real life is within us.  As with  Peter, the Holy Spirit was resident in him so he could follow the angel’s voice without any hesitation.  The angel knew his time of intervention was short, so he ordered Peter to do everything quickly.  Peter obeyed.  The cry is always the same in our lives, what must I do to be saved?”  And in every situation the same answer is necessary in our souls, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.  (Acts 16)  Will we escape all of our predicaments in life?  Maybe not.  But the answer to our lives is always believe in the Lord Jesus and his work of redemption.  Peter escaped certain death this day, but later through tradition, we learn of Peter dying upside down on a cruel cross.  What was the cry he championed throughout his life: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.  Peter was more than a conqueror.  He knew nothing would separate him from the love of God.  Dear friends around this breakfast table, nothing will separate you from the love of God.  No trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword will ever separate you from God, for you are his child.  If it seems as if imprisonment today is your condition, thank God for He loves you.  If you are free from the entanglements of this world, no worries at all, thank God.  In or out of prison we are CHILDREN OF THE LIVING GOD forever.     

      

      

  

    

Acts 12-1-7 Listen and Rest!

Acts 12-1-7  It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.  He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.  When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.  After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each.  Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.  So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.  The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.  “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

In the above focus we see something that challenges our own belief in God, for we see Peter in prison under the guard of 16 soldiers.  These soldiers knew their own lives were at risk if they allowed Peter to escape from prison, so they were alert, ready to turn away anyone who would try to interfere with Peter’s  imprisonment.  However, in this horrific, challenging time for Peter, we see him asleep: Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains.  How many of us would be asleep before the day of our execution?  Peter knew already that one of the Sons of Thunder, a nickname given to them by Jesus, had already been beheaded by Herod.  James and John were aggressive men.  When a Samaritan town would not welcome them for the night, they asked Jesus to destroy the village.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”  But Jesus turned and rebuked them.  Then he and his disciples went to another village.  (Luke 9:55-56)  James had just been beheaded by Herod, a type of Lucifer.  Now Herod desired to behead Peter also because Jame’s beheading pleased the Jewish elite.  However, Herod did not want to contaminate the Passover celebration by killing Peter during that week, so Peter’s beheading would happen the day after the celebration of the Passover.  In the above focus we see Peter asleep, not praying, not filled with anxiety, but asleep.  Peter knew Jesus had promised his disciples that their lives would be filled with troubles, trials and persecutions.  For them, the championing of the cause of Christ might even mean death.  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  (Matthew 16:24-26)  Now Peter was about to lose his life.  If James would be beheaded, who was one of Jesus’ dearest disciples, a disciple who even was present on the Mount of Transfiguration, why not him.  But rather than stew about his precarious position of being killed the next day, he rested in sleep.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.  Maybe Peter went to sleep with the words of Jesus in his mind: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”  (John 14:1-4)   After the resurrection, Peter knew the place where Jesus had gone; He went back to his Father in heaven.  Before the resurrection, Peter recanted his belief in Jesus; he told others that he did not even know this man Jesus.  But after the resurrection, he was completely onboard to the reality that salvation, eternal life, comes only through Jesus the Son of God, SO PETER SLEPT, CHAINED BETWEEN TWO GUARDS.

Our minds in times of trouble sometimes have great difficulty in accepting the words in Psalm 23.  The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.  Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  (Psalm 23:1-6)  In times of smooth water we read these words and stake our lives on them, claiming great faith in them.  However for some of us, there is not rest in our souls because of these words, for we see our problems as intractable, without any solution.  All doors seem to be closed to any escape from our problem.  How can what we face be considered anything good?  How can the love of God be seen in these trials?  No way can this be good for us.  But Peter knew where Jesus went.  He knew Jesus loved James.  He knew the purposes of God are designed for eternal life, not the temporary life we live in the flesh, so he trusted the words of Psalm 23, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  As Paul discovered in his life of trials and persecutions, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.   (Romans 8:28)  Peter was asleep the night before his execution; he was at rest. The man who had denied Jesus before men because of his fear of them, thought maybe they would arrest him too and whip him, spit upon him, tear his beard out.  Maybe he would suffer like Jesus was suffering.  No, that was too much for him to face.  So he swears before heaven, including God in his fear, that he knew not this man, Jesus.  But now we see him asleep, with the knowledge in his mind that tomorrow he will be beheaded.  Do we really believe what Paul wrote in Romans 8: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword (beheaded)?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.  No, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:35-39)  Peter lay asleep with that assurance in his mind.  He was so asleep that the angel had to strike him on his side.  We do not know if he kicked Peter or hit him, but we do know he STRUCK Peter to wake him up.  

How much of the world is in us?  Are we like John’s warning, living so much in the world that the love of God is not in us.  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)  Are we trying to win the world for some good purpose or for some selfish reason?  Are we obeying Jesus’ teaching or our own rational thinking?  Jesus said of himself: I am the way and the truth and the life.  (John 14:6)  What is the truth, the way and real life; all of that encompasses Jesus.  It is interesting to know that as we read the New Testament we see not the world dying and being persecuted, but we see Christians dying and being persecuted.  We see the lion devouring others, and the sheep of God dying for the cause of Christ.  As people of the flesh, we want the tables turned.  We devour others, not them devouring us.  We do not like the fact we are sheep in the lion’s den.  We do not necessarily accept the fact that there is a third person in that den, Jesus.  Peter accepted that fact.  He was willing to be a front man for Jesus.  He was willing to work in the lion’s den for the cause of Christ.  Now we see him in the hands of sixteen soldiers, bound for death.  The Christians outside of that prison were praying for Peter.  The church was earnestly praying to God for him.   In rational thinking maybe the Christians would be better off by organizing a mob to attack the prison, to set Peter free.  Maybe that would be a better decision.  We are tired of being the sheep; we want to be the lion.  We will use force, but that was not the way of the cross.  “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.  These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  (John 14:23-24)  As Jesus, the Lamb of God, we are to emulate the Father’s will.  Our hearts are to remain soft to God’s will.  The Spirit of God has been given to each Christian.  We are to take on God’s will for us, which Paul describes so beautifully in Galatians:  love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  The Spirit says to us in times of trial, discouragement, and desperation, do not harden your hearts as the Israelites did in rebellion during their time of testing in the wilderness.  (Hebrews 3:7)  One of the times the Israelites' faith and dedication to God was tested was at Marah.  After three days without water, the Israelites were led by God to Marah, but the water there was undrinkable; it was bitter, useless for drinking.  The meaning of Marah is a place of bitterness; grief; misfortune, calamity.  Of course the Israelites were desperate and their cry against God and Moses was great.  Why did you lead us here where there is no water for us to drink after being without water for three days?  What kind of God is this: definitely not a good God?  God does sweeten the water for them, so that they might drink and survive.  Peter’s survival is on the line, but he was sleeping under the wings of a good God.  He knew the God of the universe.  He knew the love of Christ for him.  Therefore, he would rest in the hands of God.  Dear friends around this breakfast table, we need each other to know God and his rest.  Some of us are at Marah, trying to figure out why we are there.  But God is saying to our spirits: rest, I am with you.  I will never leave you or abandon you in this desert.  Listen friends to the soft voice of God, that is who He is, A GOOD GOD!   

 

Acts 11:25-29. Give Gifts!

 (Acts 11:25-29)  Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.  Acts 11:25-29  The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.   During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.  One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.  (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)  The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.  This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

In the above focus we see followers of Christ now being called Christians.  This label refers to people who profess belief in the teachings of Jesus.  For the world, they are followers of a man who was crucified by the Romans in Jerusalem.  The world knows that their zeal for Jesus is so great that they have forsaken everything in this world: their heritage, reputations, relationships, fortunes and societal norms to follow the one they call the Messiah, Lord.  Jesus had told them that if they want to be known as his followers, they must lose their old lives for him.  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  (Matthew 16:24-25)  We see in today's focus that Barnabas who was actively ministering in Antioch called Saul to help him.  Barnabas was the point man in Jerusalem to accept Saul’s conversion as valid.  When Saul came to Jerusalem to introduce himself as a Christian to the elders of the church, the leaders of the church were afraid of him.  They probably suspected his conversion as false, impossible for Saul one of their chief persecutors to change into a follower of Christ.  But Barnabas understood Saul’s conversion was real.  He knew that Saul had already risked his life by ministering the Good News to people in Damascus.  There was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan.  Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him.  But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.  (Acts 9:23-25)  Saul barely escaped Damascus with his life.  Because Saul’s presence in Jerusalem riled up the unbelieving Jews so much, the church sent Saul back to his home in Tarsus.  Now we see Barnabas going to Tarsus, bringing Saul to Antioch, to help him minister the Good News to the Greeks in Antioch.  Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.  Both of these men had surrendered their lives to Christ.  These Jewish men were once faithful followers of Judaism, now they were sold out to Christ.  As Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”  (Galatians 2:20–21)   Barnabas and Saul were brothers IN CHRIST, and they would face great persecution because of preaching the Good News.  Often they were figuratively in the dens of fierce lions, preaching the Good News to those who wanted to tear them apart.  However in all those dens there was always a third person who protected them from death.  These two men as lights in a dark, heathen world carried the power of God to people, healing them, saving them, restoring them to eternal life.  Now in Antioch before their missionary journeys, they were learning to work together as instruments of God, calling a dark world to the Heavenly Father.

Suffering would be an integral part of Saul and Barnabas’ lives.  They forsook their former lives, putting aside their affections and possessions of their former lives.  God was defining a new way of living for them.  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 2:16-17)  For Paul and Barnabas to face the daily threats on their lives, they needed a new focus in their lives and that was Jesus’ life.  Jesus faced the constant danger of death as He ministered to the Jews.  The elite of Israel hated him; He was threatening their place of deference with the people.  Jesus was drawing huge crowds to himself.  The people saw his miracles and heard his teachings that were powerful.  He spoke as no other man had spoken to them.  The people were so enamored with Jesus that they pushed and shoved to get near him.  The elite, the priests, the teachers of the law saw this affection for Jesus; consequently, they harbored death for Jesus in their hearts.  And eventually they convinced the Romans to crucify Jesus.  Barnabas and Saul, later named Paul, knew Jesus lived with constant threats on his life, and they understood, the servant is not greater than his master, so they lived as Jesus, under the the daily threat of death by the hands of evil men and women.  When Saul was called personally by Jesus, He made Saul cognizant that he would suffer much by following Jesus.  This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  (Acts 9:15-16)  Jesus told his disciples that things would get so bad for them that their persecutors will think that they are doing God’s work by killing them.  They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.  (John 16:2)  Of course, this prophetic word of Jesus happened to Paul.  He was thrown out of synagogues, and he was chased from city to city by religious zealots who wanted to kill him for God’s sake.  In Antioch among the Greeks and their Jewish enemies, they understood well the forces of evil against them, but they were children of the light.  They were followers of Jesus Christ's mercy and grace by faith.  This message of the Good News was uniting former enemies, the Jews and the Gentiles.  The Good News they spoke of had the basic belief that God loved all the people in the world.  The Antioch Christians, Gentiles and Jews, were being exposed to the light of God’s love, delivering them from their former thinking, embedded in darkness.  God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:5-7)  To be God’s children, to be called Christians, they must walk in the light; they must express love towards all people, Gentile and Jew alike.  They must be willing to fellowship with one another.  If they harbor hate towards others, then the love of God is not in them. 

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.  They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.  (1 John 2:9-11)  Hate and dislike of others will cause a person to stumble and walk in darkness, for God is love.  In Antioch we have former enemies living together in God’s light.  In an active church, there are many gifts, and one of them is the gift of prophesy.  We see a prophet from Jerusalem coming to Antioch to give a word from the Lord.  Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.  (Acts 11:28)  His prophesy activated the believers in Antioch to help the Jerusalem church.  They decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.  (29)  The Christian Jews in Jerusalem had lost everything; for the persecution against them was very great.  For many of them, they lost their inheritance, their families, their jobs, their homes, their positions in Jerusalem.  We know the majority of the church in Antioch were Gentiles.  Before their conversions they would not have ever thought about taking care of Jewish people in times of draught, but now we see them send money with Barnabas and Saul to the church in Jerusalem.  Their compassion and concern about the Jerusalem church reveals a wonderful transformation that has taken place in the  hearts of the Gentile Christians in Antioch.  They were not fixated on the division between the Jews and the Gentiles, but were focused on the unity of all people IN CHRIST.  Nothing in the scriptures is not inspired by the Holy Spirit.  In the above passage we see the Holy Spirit tell the church, all barriers should be broken down between Christians in the church of the living God.  Brothers and sisters should not be associated with hurt and anger towards other Christians, but instead should be in unity with love and caring for others.  How great it is to read about Gentiles considering the Jews before themselves.  A draught would put pressure on their lives too, but instead of considering only themselves, they were looking after people who were once considered their enemies.  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)  As we see in all of scripture, the same scripture Jesus uses in his ministry that we are to take care of those who are struggling in society: the needy, the poor, the widows, the orphans, the immigrants.  In Antioch, the Christians’ hearts were open to the needs of the Jewish church in Jerusalem.  They sent Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem to help the Christians there to survive the draught.  We who are in the church of the living God now should stress unity in the church.  As with the Gentile church in Antioch, we should be concerned about others, and we should express the love of God to all brothers and sisters who dwell IN CHRIST, the body of the living God.  This is our privilege and our responsibility as members of the living church of Jesus Christ our Lord.    

Acts 11:19-24 Fill Your Life with Love!

Acts 11:19-24  Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.  Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.  News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.  He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

In the above focus, we see in Antioch the beginning of an active ministry to the Gentile world.  Jesus in his life primarily ministered to the Jews, healing and doing wonderful miracles.  However, He did interact with the Gentiles at times.  He told a Canaanite woman that his ministry was to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, those who are outside of God’s law and regulations.  “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”  He did deliver the woman’s daughter from demon possession because of her statement to him that even the dogs eat the scraps from the table.  Also we find Jesus healing a Centurion’s young servant who is paralyzed.  Jesus healed this Gentile's servant because Jesus was amazed by the strength of the Centurion's faith.  I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  (Matthew 8:10)  Jesus then told his listeners that many Gentiles would be in the kingdom of God.  I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 8:11)  In this morning’s focus we see Jesus’ words being fulfilled in Antioch.  The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.  These Gentiles were no longer dogs, a derogatory description, but now people by the grace of God transformed into a new people, forever known as children of the living God.  Jesus said you must be born again to be right with God.  When right with God, Gentile and Jews will occupy the Kingdom of God, for all born-again people are God’s children.  No longer are they separate, but in the house of the Lord, they are one people.  After Stephen’s martyrdom, the Jewish Christians did not have this vision of the oneness of both Jews and Gentiles in Christ.  The Jewish Christians were spreading the Good News of Jesus being the Messiah only to other Jews.  For them the Good News had restrictions, for Jesus came to them, not to the Gentile world.  He was their Savior, not the Savior of the outsiders.  However, Peter in a trance received an expanded vision of God’s grace.  Christ's death and resurrection was for all humankind.  God told him in his trance not to call anything unclean if God has made it clean.  The Gentiles were no longer to be considered unclean dogs, scavengers, but people who God desired as his own.  When Cornelius’ household was baptized by the Holy Spirit, Peter had to accept the truth that the Good News was for the Gentiles too.  But many Jewish Christians were reluctant to believe faith alone in Christ’ work on the cross would bring complete acceptance by God.  For a while they held onto a belief that faith in Christ plus the law brings righteousness to people, but now we see in Antioch the uncircumcised coming to the Good News with glad hearts.   

As with the introduction of the Good News to the Jewish people, healing and miracles accompanied the ministry.  Paul’s ministry was so powerful that even aprons and handkerchieves that touched his body brought healing and deliverance to the Gentiles.  This reminds us of Jesus’ ministry; people gathered around him, pushing and shoving to get close to him.  The woman with the issue of blood for many years found healing by touching Jesus’ garment.  Jesus radiated power from his being, so did the disciples.  The Spirit of God was actively supporting the Good News with supernatural happenings.  In Jesus’ life God was doing marvelous deeds, beyond what any man could do.  By and through these works, God was validating Jesus as being the Messiah, sent from above to give life to anyone who believed In Jesus and his works.  Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.  Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.  (John 5:19-21)  In Antioch and throughout the Gentile world, disciples of Jesus were ministering the Good News with power, the same power that Jesus manifested, given to him from his Father.  The disciples were displaying the power Jesus had to a dark and dying world.  To open the eyes of the blind, the world had to see miraculous deeds done in the name of Jesus.  People had to know that God sent these disciples to them.  They had to realize the voice of God was being heard from these followers of Jesus, that they spoke words empowered by the Spirit of God.  Jesus had castigated the leaders of the Jewish society because they ignored the works of God manifested through him, choosing to have their fleshly ears stopped to the Good News of the Messiah in their midst.  By not accepting Jesus as the Messiah, they were deaf to God’s voice and blind to his deeds.  The Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.  You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.  (John 5:37-38)  In the above focus, we see the Gentiles' ears being opened.  They are seeing the nature of God through the miraculous deeds performed in their midst.  They see lives transformed from darkness to light; all of this accomplished by faith in Jesus Christ.  The persecution of the church in Jerusalem spawned the ministry to the Gentile world.  Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.  Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  At the end of Stephen’s life, we see Stephen asking the Lord to forgive those who killed him.  Stephen’s request was probably honored, but the Lord had greater plans than just to forgive his killers; he would use this killing as an avenue to reach the Gentile world. 

These new believers in Antioch, Jews and Greeks alike, would spread the Good News to the world.  They would be imitators of God, displaying the nature of God to the whole world--a new people had been born.  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.  He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.  (Ephesians 5:1-2)  A new people had to be born, for the nature of men and women since the fall has not been pleasing to God.  Before Noah’s time, the nature of people had become so much unlike God, that He repented of creating humans.  The earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  (Genesis 6:11-12)  Violence and corruption had permeated men and women completely.  To the Christians in Ephesus, Paul tells them to discard their old nature.   Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  (Ephesians 4:21).  Instead, clothe yourselves with the nature of God: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22)  Jesus understood well the nature of flesh so He said, You must be born again.  Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.  (Ephesians 4:24)  Of course the new nature comes only through the presence of the Holy Spirit in lives.  Human's volition is never taken away, but faith in Christ’s work on the cross brings the Holy Spirit to us.  With the Holy Spirit’s residence, we have the ability to be kind and gentle, even to our enemies.  The Ephesian Greeks were learning to take on the likeness of God, jettisoning their old nature of darkness and death.  All humans without God in their lives live in ignorance to God’s light and life.  But even the light of the law did not deliver the Jews out of their fleshly darkness.  They chose to reject the goodness of God, serving the wickedness of their neighbors' gods.  In Zechariah 7:8-10 we hear the prophet revealing the evilness of the Jewish society.  The Jews were violating the likeness of God by not administering true justice, by not showing mercy and compassion to one another, oppressing the widows and the orphans, the foreigners and the poor.  All of these attitudes and actions God hates, so judgment rained down on them.  They finally were dispersed to other lands, once again slaves to foreigners.  But now in the above focus, we see Good News has come to all people, whosoever will is the call to all people.  All who come to the Lord in faith will find the God of mercy: the God who transforms the very nature of human beings.  These Antioch Christians discovered a new way to live: lives of blessing and love to all people, the poor, the orphans, the widows, the foreigners.  No longer would despicable actions and attitudes of hate and anger fill their hearts, for the Holy Spirit has come to them to teach them of a new way to know God.  However, even in Christians, volition is never taken from people, but Paul encourages all Christians to keep in step with the Holy Spirit.  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.  He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.  (Ephesians 5:1-2).  Let us be a sweet aroma to God, not a sour and distasteful smell to God and to the world.  Each day provides a new opportunity to show forth the love of God and the fruit of the Spirit to a hurting world.  Bless you today!