Devotion Acts 4:1-4 Standing With God And So Opposed
Acts 4:1-4 – The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
John 16:33 – I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
1 Peter 4:12 – Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
“The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.” When we speak the Word of God, when we talk about Jesus with joy and without shame, people will notice. As we share the Word of God there are shock waves sent out into the spiritual world. Isaiah 55:11 states that the Word of God when sent forth, always accomplishes what God has sent it to do. When we speak the Word of God to each other, and also to non-believers, it is released into the spiritual world and the physical world. In this world that is so dark spiritually it is a flaming arrow that awakes the dead and brings the hisses of evil. Since the world is dark the released Word of God changes the very nature of what it passes through. Dark becomes light. This happens most notably in the spirit, but also in our world as the evidence of what happens in the spirit is evidenced in this world. As evil has strongholds in the world, often in the form of laws forbidding God’s righteous Word, when the Word is released the evil in the spirit and in the world is affected. If we speak the Word of God in the workplace there will be an immediate reaction that the Word of God is not welcome there. Evil will rise up against the Word and is at the same time rising up against God Himself. Like those who rejected the incarnate Word of God, those who reject the written Word of God also reject God Himself.
Peter and John spoke a message from God to the World and those who oppose God immediately came slithering out. Yet, not only those who oppose, but also those who from the dark saw the light and with honest curiosity came to seek. Those who oppose the work of God will include those who teach a false message, especially where money is concerned. So it was at this time that those who perpetuate evil (a false message) came running out to attempt to put out the light. But the light was seen. The wild fire of the Holy Spirit had drawn in the genuinely curious. The opposition can only distract those who genuinely were not drawn because of the hardness of their hearts. The true seekers are drawn in and they see and understand and they stay. The Author of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, knows the hearts of people and knows what the response to the Word will be. We, let the blazing arrow go and are witnesses to the work of God. Set the Word free and we see the response of the hungry and the response of evil. We must be careful how we consider what we see and hear because not all that don’t respond are evil, they are not ready yet. All we know is that they have not responded and beyond that, only God knows.
Some of the response from doing the will of God and speaking His Word will cause us trouble and some of it will bless us. We are not surprised by opposition (1 Peter 4:12). Neither are we frightened because Jesus has warned us that with doing God’s will opposition comes. But we need not fear because Jesus has overcome the world and therefore the victory that He had is shared with us (Romans 8:11). We rejoice not in the journey, but that our eternal address has been secured by the King of kings and Lord of lords. Because of the great miracle that the Lord used Peter and John to do, both the true seekers and the hateful and fearing came running. Again, God used a miracle to draw people to Him. Peter and John will face a challenge, but God will see them through it. Family, let us not shrink from what the Lord will have us do, but excitedly launch into the adventure, with eyes wide open, as we see God’s will jump from the oceans. Let us release the power of God to the world and watch God work. Praise our God! Oh yes, praise our God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion 1 Timothy 1:17 Let Glory And Praise Find Its True Home
1 Timothy 1:17 – All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Luke 14:11 – For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Ephesians 3:20-21 – Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Galatians 1:10 – Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
John 15:16 – You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
I consider myself of no consequence and of no influence. Though Satan would buffet me and earthly pride would be his ally, what people think of me carries no weight against the eyes of the Lord that are always upon us all (Proverbs 15:3). Better said, I refuse to assess any value to my life. If I’m used of God, the only judgement that matters is what God Himself decides. Why should I dwell on any value I may have? It is better to live to please God. Besides, if God works through me we know that I am only a tool used by the Master. When an artist paints beauty, are the paint and the instruments praised? No, we know that the paint and the tools are nothing if the artist had not used them. What is for me to consider is what is it that the Lord would have me do, and where He would have me do it. Someone may ask “Why leave where you are at when the Lord is blessing? Because the servant goes where the Master directs. If God uses us at one place for a time, and then another, the second is no less important than the first. The work belongs to God. Our part is to obey God and to do the His work in expressing our love and gratitude to Him. What the Lord has us do is what He gave us life to do. We are only a brush of the Great Artist and will be used on earth until what we are called to do is done. Then we will be gone. In this is beauty and inspiration. When the Lord is done with us we will not be discarded as refuse, but we then will receive our great hope, to be with Lord Jesus forever. Therefore we recognize that, as the brush without the artist, we have no value and can do nothing of beauty. But in the hands of God, Him flowing through us and using us as He desires, then marvelous beauty can be produced. Not produced by us, but by God. No credit goes to us, it all belongs to God.
When we say that we are of no consequence and no influence, it is only an acknowledgement of the fact that all blessings come from God (James 1:16-17). All credit and glory, all the time, belongs to God. Considering all this, we want no credit. We need no acknowledgment from man about our calling from God but rather we need only the firm assurance that the work we do is only done as we are called by Him to do. To do His bidding is our greatest honor and blessing. It is best for us to follow Micah’s advice in Micah 6:8. Having done that, the joy of the Lord will fill and overflow out of us continuously as in Psalm 150:6. My life is to be lived as Micah 7:7 shouts out “But as for me, I watch and hope in the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me!” Family and friends, let us love and serve the Lord with the honest best effort we can. Let us do it because we love and appreciate God. Let us do it because we trust Him. We trust Him because we know Him. Let us seek God’s approval. In humility before God, in all things and in all ways, let us praise the Lord and enjoy His favor and His peace. Praise God! Yes, praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Psalm 150:6 The One and Only
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Oh Lord God, I love You and will adore and praise You all of my days. I look up to the skies, knowing that You are above and beyond the view of my physical eyes, still I look for You. Every day my spiritual eyes are rewarded. I praise You not for what I want but because of who You have revealed to me that You are. Lord God, I love You simply for who You are. Therefore, ever I will make my bed at Your feet to hear Your every Word and Your every breath! Forever will I praise You and Adore You! I Worship You! I adore You! I praise You! For all of eternity, Praise You!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God.
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Devotion 1 Peter 1:4-10 Uncovered
1 Peter 1:4-10 – For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
2 Corinthians 5:20 – We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Matthew 5:16 – In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Family, let us not share to the world what does not belong to them. Let us give to God what belongs to God and let us share with the world what God would have us share with them. We are ambassadors of the Most High God. Ambassadors do not share their personal messages with whom they were sent to. Ambassadors are called to live and speak as the authority they represent has sent them to do. Let us share our hurts and concerns firstly with and God and with our countryman. Let us share the Good News and our faith to each the world. For truly the Good News and our faith is what is most important about us. It is what is most important to the world. Will we bleed onto those we call to a better life? Is that attractive?
Do we hurt, let us speak first to God and then to each other. How do we help any in the world if focus on our wounds rather than on grace and hope that defines us? It does define us, right?
Praise God and let hope abound. Share our hope with others because to us our hope, God’s thoughts and message, is much more important than any of our thoughts. Let’s uncover the light. The world has enough darkness. They, like us, need the Light of God. Let us carry the flame and keep it bright. The Lord has entrusted us to do that. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 3:24-26 One Truth And One Way For All
Acts 3:24-26 – “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.
“Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days.” Samuel and all the prophets spoke truths and promises for their present time and also for the future. Behind the promises of God is the Truth of God that withstands all of eternity. There are truths about God and His ways that we learn from in every revelation from the prophets of God. Truths that remain and are often mentioned in the New Testament. One example of this is when Jesus said “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31) Let’s compare that with Deuteronomy 6:4-5“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Also let us compare Leviticus 19:18b “but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” with these verses in Mark. We see that these most holy verses from Mark expressing the highest commands from God have also been related to us in the Old Testament. Jesus said that He did not come to “abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:18). In Galatians 5:14 repeats the importance of the Word from Leviticus and Mark concerning the entire law is hinged upon love. If we but love each other, as God loves, not how the world loves, then there would be no sin committed against each other or against God. All sin is rebellion against God (Acts 5:4). Jesus said the He was the Truth, not a Truth, but the one and the only Truth (Acts 14:6). Family God is the originator of Truth and so all Truth, eternal and pure Truth finds its origins in God. Anything that disagrees with what God has expressed is not truth. What is Truth, or what is the Truth? God is truth and all that He says is Truth. Thus our dependency on God to learn and cling to the Word of God and thereby, Truth. Pure Truth is a river that finds its source solely in God. All the true prophets of God speak truth that is from God and speaks of God. Therefore it speaks of Jesus who is God the Son and is identified as living Word of God (John 1:1-4).
“And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’” The mouthpiece of God has largely been the Jews (Romans 3:2). He revealed Himself to them by His words expressed to them and they recorded what God said and we know learn and cherish what God expressed through them. God said that the world would be blessed through the people of Abraham. Through Abraham we first know that it is through faith that we please God and that is confirmed to us in the New Testament (Hebrews 11:6). The blessings begin with God’s beloved Abraham and from there flow first to the Jew and then to us.
“26 When God raised up his servant, He sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” Once again it is confirmed that the Gospel’s first intended target was the Jew (Romans 1:16) and then the blessing was to flow to us Gentiles (Romans 1:16). God still loves the Jew as Peter is pushing the message to them that though they missed the mark by killing their Messiah, the very one they killed still holds His hand of mercy out to them, and also, in equal measure to us (Romans 2:10-11). Praise our God who loves all of us equally by offering all of us a way back to Him from the path of destruction. Praise God! Yes, let us think about the love and greatness of God! Let us fully and continuously put our minds on Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life! Let us keep our focus on Jesus. Let us love Jesus! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob with
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Devotion Revelation 19:16 Whose Birthday Do We Celebrate?
Revelation 17:14 – They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.
A very brief summation of the life of the most important being to ever walk the earth – Jesus Christ.
He was born in an obscure village (Matthew 2:2), the child of a virgin girl (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:26-38). Until He was thirty (Luke 3:23), His “father” was a carpenter and so before His ministry He also worked as one. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He wrote no books. He held no office. He never owned a home (Matthew 8:20). He was never in a big city. He never traveled more two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. He was not an “accredited” preacher approved by men. The authorities condemned His teachings. His friends deserted Him (Mark 14:50, Matthew 26:56, Mark 14:27, Zechariah 13:7). One betrayed Him to His enemies for money (Matthew 26:15, Zechariah 11:12-13). One denied Him (John 18:15-18, 25-27, Luke 22:60-62). He went through the mockery of an illegal Jewish trial. He was nailed on a cross between two thieves (Luke 23:32). While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He owned on earth: His clothing (Psalm 22:18, Matthew 27:35). Before He breathed His last breath He promised an also dying repentant thief a home in paradise (Luke 23:40-43). When He was dead He was taken down and placed in a borrowed grave (Matthew 27:57-61). Twenty centuries have come and gone, yet today He is the crowning glory of the human race, the adored leader of hundreds of millions of the earth`s inhabitants. All the armies that ever marched and all the Navies that were ever assembled and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the rulers that ever reigned – combined – have not affected the life of man upon this earth so profoundly as that one solitary Life.
Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, lived as a simple man who during His ministry and whose only earthly possessions were His clothes. He loved all of humanity and came to pull them all from the lost path they are on (Luke 19:10). Being God, He stepped down from His throne in Heaven to be a lowly man, to live the inferior life of a man, to suffer and die for mankind. He, being God, could not be contained by the grave and rose from the dead. After reassuring His disciples and making sure that there could be no doubt of His resurrection (hundreds saw Him) He ascended to Heaven to be at the right hand of the Father and there He remains until the time for His return comes. Then He will raise from the dead those who are His, conquer the enemies of God and usher in a thousand year time of peace and joy as God had meant for us to live in. This all happened because of the nature of God. The whole Gospel is based on the nature of God: He is righteous and He is love. Therefore it is no surprise that for us to be most like God we will love. To be most like God we will love Him who first loved us and we will love each other (Mark 12:29-31), just as He loves all of us. Jesus came because of love. He suffered and died because of love. God offered grace to all through Jesus because of love. Family, we who serve the Lord serve God because of His love. As His children, we will show who we are by His love being in us and by His love flowing through us to the world around us. For God so loved the world…that is the meaning of why we celebrate the birth of Christ. Those who love Jesus, who belong to Him, celebrate it every day. Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Zechariah 9:9 Just Maybe
Zechariah 9:9 – Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Matthew 16:24-26 – Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Did you know that almost all donkeys have a cross on their back? Here is an endearing tale about why donkeys have crosses on their backs. I hope you enjoy it as I have.
A poor farmer near Jerusalem owned a donkey far too small to do much work at all. He felt that he couldn’t afford to feed a worthless animal like this, one that could do him no good whatsoever, so at the supper table he told his family that he was going to kill the donkey. His children, who loved the little donkey, begged him to sell it rather than harm it. But the farmer said, “It’s wrong to sell an animal that can’t do a good day’s work.”
The donkey so loved his gentle master that he later followed him to Calvary. Grief-stricken by the sight of Jesus on the cross, the donkey turned away but couldn’t leave. It was then that the shadow of the cross fell upon the shoulders and back of the donkey, and there it stayed. All donkeys have borne the sign of the cross on their backs since that very day.
See also Matthew 21:1-11. I hope you and perhaps your children will enjoy this story. God has lovingly marked us as His own (Ephesians 1:13). Praise our God and Savior! Praise our Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 10:9-16 What Is Truly Valued
Acts 20:24 – However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Truly I have a deep desire to be doing the works that God has for me to do (Ephesians 2:10, Luke 2:49). We people of the earth wonder what the purpose of our lives are. Perhaps I did in the past before coming to the Lord? However I truly began wondering what the purpose of my life is after becoming born again through faith in Jesus our Savior and Lord. I had been saved and then what? Being a new babe in Christ I knew what I wanted. I wanted every bit of God that was available to me. Anything He would give me is what I wanted. I wanted to pray and to hear the response of God. Crying I pleaded to have God live in me and change me. To let His Spirit flow into and through me and to be used of God as He has used so many believers before me was huge. As I realized that we walk in a dark world I sought to be a little lamp that draws people the Light of the World (John 8:12, Matthew 5:16). My goal in life was to never leave the presence of God and to never stop doing His will. I’m sure that most of us thought and felt the same. I am quick to state that I still think and feel the same way. Doing the work of God is what foremost that matters to me. The particulars about life I leave up to God that I may serve Him in faith without worry in my heart and mind.
Am I able to truly profess that my life is worth nothing to me and that my only goal is to faithfully do what God has for me to do. Yes, and no. Yes, because serving God truly is what I most love to do. But no because I am weak. Like the Apostles who slept when they should have been alert due to imminent danger, I really want to always do well, I really want to always be a blessing to all, but my flesh is weak (Mark 14:38). They faltered in work God had for them to then do. Sometimes I also do. Yes, my flesh is weak, or perhaps my flesh remains too strong within me and sometimes overtakes what my heart craves and knows what is best. I do desire to do well, but I too often fall short. Paul wrote “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15) A mortal wound against my flesh was struck in the Garden of Eden and it does cling to me as it dies. Yet, my spirit is born again, revived, through Jesus Christ. (John 3:3). So my flesh belongs to the world, but my spirit to God. The war between the two is constant.
Though the war between the two is constant, the victor has already been declared. The victor is my spirit that belongs to God through the grace He has provided. My heart continuously pursues God as it is encouraged and guided by the Holy Spirit who has sealed me to God. I thank God that He values what my heart desires more than what by flesh does, just as He did with King David (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22, Jeremiah 17:10). Not that God is indifferent to what is the product of the flesh, but He judges it against the heart and intent in our minds (Revelation 2:23). We know that Jesus said “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21). We know that if our hearts and minds are fixed on evil, then evil will flow from us and if the things of God, then that will flow from us. (Luke 6:45, Ezekiel 11:21).
It is true that I value pleasing God and being with Him more than I value the life of my flesh. Sadly, sometimes the flesh wins. Sometimes I selfishly do what I desire to do rather than what I know the Lord would have me do. Pleasing God is always better than doing what the flesh wants to do. Praise God for His love that has given us His grace that is extended to all through Jesus Christ. I am not devaluing the life God has given me. I am devaluing what my will is versus what God’s will is. I have learned that God’s will is where the best and eternal blessing is. I love God and I want to please Him so I want to do what He wants me to do. Most of the time. Praise God who loves and keeps me in spite of me. Praise God!
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 – May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. Oh yes, thank you Jesus! Thank you God Almighty.! Thank you!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 10:9-16 Missing The Beauty
Acts 10:9-16 – About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” 14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. 15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.”
In a storm a large branch was broken off from a tree. Two hiking men found the branch. One man said to the other “What do you see?”
The Second Man said “I see a branch from that tree lying on the ground. Good thing it didn’t fall on anyone and hurt or kill them.”
“Indeed, what you have said is true,” replied the First Man, “it is indeed a broken off branch and because of its size, it could have hurt or killed someone. But I see something that could be shaped and used to bring beauty that many will enjoy.”
“Bah, it’s something that could have hurt or killed someone,” the Second Man replied. It is a dangerous piece of that tree that was weak and broke off. If it was too weak to stay on the tree, then it is probably so diseased it is of no earthly good. I hope you don’t try to make something of it that people will use to support themselves. This ugly branch is bad through and through and is good only for firewood.”
“I will come back and fetch it. I will make something that will help people who will find it a blessing,” responded the First Man.
“Well, do so if you want to waste your time,” said the Second Man.
With the help of his horse the first man brought the branch home. He stopped and studied the branch. Certainly his friend was right, the branch as it was seemed to be good for nothing but firewood. He then received inspiration and began to turn this fallen branch into something so beautiful that none will recognize what it formerly was.
When the First man was done He called upon His friend to walk with Him along a long and tiring country public trail. When the men got to the top of a long and tiresome climb they were both breathing very hard. They sat upon a beautiful bench that was ornately carved and easily large enough for four adults to sit upon. As the breathing of the two men returned to normal, they sat silently and enjoyed the great view of the valley below and also enjoyed the beautiful morning songs of some very cheerful bird.
After a time the Second Man said to the first “I have never been on this trail before. It is a great walk and the view and singing of the birds are quite refreshing and beautiful. Also, I am thankful for this bench to sit upon and rest while enjoying nature.”
“Friend, you have seen this bench before,” said the First Man. This is the branch we came upon on our previous walk. What it once was is no longer and now is this beautiful bench. As I said then, what seemed ugly and dangerous has become beautiful and comforting.”
Jumping up from the bench the Second Man angrily protested “Why have you tricked me into sitting on that diseased branch and putting me at risk of falling and injury? You are no friend to me! The Second Man then stormed off and left the First Man behind.
The First Man sat and sadly considering the Second Man’s inability to see how something that had been deemed useless and dangerous was now something useful and beautiful. As the First Man rose from the bench he observed a few young hikers that had reached the top of the trail. They too were breathing hard as he had been. When he rose and walked from the bench he overheard them remarking how beautiful the bench was and how wonderful it was that they had found it. The sought the comfort of it. They did not know what it once was, they only appreciated what it now is.
Family, our God can transform what was evil or useless and make it blessed and a tool of His. God is able. Let us find the good and the usefulness in things that others can only remember an ugly past. Let us look for the good in people whom God has transformed lest Titus 1:15 be our description “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.”
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 3:17-23 The Unlimited and Eternal Love Of God Part 2
Acts 3:17-23 – “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that He may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.21 Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything He tells you.23 Anyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from their people.’
“Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through his holy prophets.” Jesus is no longer physically with us, but of course He is spiritually with us, and we know that He watches over us and is Lord over all, whether physical or spiritual, and that means that He is able to keep our eternity, and our here and now, always safe with Him. The time will come, and only the Father knows the exact day, when Jesus will return to bring us home (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32). For now, Jesus is seated with the Father in Heaven (Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 1:3, Mark 16:19). This should surprise no-one. Daniel had prophesied over 500 years before the birth of the Messiah, who was Jesus, that the Messiah would be put to death (Daniel 9:26). Jesus was crucified just as God had been predicted. He was also resurrected just as predicted (Psalm 16:10). He ascended to Heaven as predicted (Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:8-10). And the return of Messiah Jesus is a prophecy of the Messiah still to be fulfilled (Zechariah 12:10-13, John 14:1-3, Revelation 1:7). Jesus came the first time to pay the price for our sins. He comes the second time to redeem all that are His and restore the world to pre-curse conditions (Isaiah 11). Praise God!
“For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.” The great leader and prophet Moses said of the coming Messiah that He would be raised up from the Jews and that they must listen to Him (Deuteronomy 18:15). Peter is telling them that Jesus is the one Moses was speaking of.
“Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.” They are cut off because they refuse to believe in the Messiah, who is Jesus. There is only one Savior (Isaiah 43:11). For those Jews who reject Jesus as that Savior, and for all others also, there is only one Savior and that Savior is Jesus (John 14:6, Act 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 John 2:12, John 17:13, Roman 3:22, John 6:68-69). All must enter Heaven through Jesus or they will not enter into Heaven. This is the only true paradise.
Peter is saying to the Jews, come to the grace of God. The Gospel is for all, Jew and Gentile, who will believe that Jesus is the one and only way to Heaven. He alone is Savior and Lord. But the Jews are again the example that God is willing to forgive all sins, except the rejection of Jesus as Savior and Lord. Family, we have received Jesus as such and so we live with hope in our hearts that though suffering in this life is sure to happen, our eternity will be in peace and joy as we are eternally with God. Praise our God! Praise God who makes the way where there is no way. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob with
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