{"id":1453,"date":"2019-02-22T08:09:12","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T16:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1453"},"modified":"2019-02-22T08:09:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T16:09:12","slug":"devotion-acts-521b-25-is-you-is-or-is-you-not-his-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1453","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 5:21b-25 Is You Is, Or Is You Not, His Baby?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 5:21b-25<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0When the high priest and his associates\u00a0arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin\u2014the full assembly of the elders of Israel\u2014and sent to the jail for the apostles.<\/i><\/span>\u00a022\u00a0But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there.\u00a0So they went back and reported,<\/span>\u00a023\u00a0\u201cWe found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.\u201d<\/span>\u00a024\u00a0On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests\u00a0were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>25\u00a0Then someone came and said, \u201cLook! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

After an angel of the Lord freed the Apostles, they were back at the break of day to again proclaim the Gospel. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and filled with love for their Savior and Lord Jesus.\u00a0 They had been watching God do amazing miracles and healings and touching people\u2019s hearts and saving their souls.\u00a0 The Apostles were humbled and delighted to be used of God.\u00a0 They were not only willing to return to the steps where the Sanhedrin held power, but they looked forward to it.\u00a0 God was their Provider, Protector and Savior and every day they saw the evidence of it.\u00a0 How could they not remember back to when Jesus said \u201cCome follow me and I will send you out to fish for people!<\/i>\u201d (Matthew 4:19<\/b>)\u00a0 If they had wondered before what He had meant by that they certainly no longer did.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Another thing the Apostles didn\u2019t do was procrastinate in getting out to share the Word.\u00a0 The sun was up and they were champing at the bit to get started.\u00a0 God had plans for them and they were excited to see what God, not themselves, would do.\u00a0 Family, if we want to be used of God in small and big ways, then we need to be like a racehorse at the gate, straining forward to get the race going.\u00a0 We need to not only desire to be used, but we need to be pushing on the door and spilling out into the world when it is opened.\u00a0 We need to be ready, willing and have enough faith in God to do what He wants us to do when He wants us to do it.\u00a0\u00a0Too often we use grace against the will of God for our lives.<\/i>\u00a0 We are lazy, or selfish, or procrastinate and figure that if we do something wrong then \u201cOh well, God will forgive me.\u201d\u00a0 God forbid, and yet I confess to this weakness also.\u00a0\u00a0God didn\u2019t give us grace to use against His will, but to free us to do it<\/i>, and thereby bring joy to our souls.\u00a0 Of course that has the prerequisite of loving Him more than self.\u00a0 From our couch we can watch the television and see the great things God is doing.\u00a0 Or we can hike a trail to an epic view and wonder at the beauty of God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 We can thank God before and after the game of tennis.\u00a0 We can give time to these things, nothing inherently wrong with these, unless God really wants us doing something else.\u00a0 Are we giving time to what He really wants us to do?\u00a0 Family,\u00a0being a Christian is being a participant, not an observer<\/i>.<\/p>\n

When the Sanhedrin got around to assembling they sent for the Apostles to be brought from jail to them.\u00a0 The report came back that the Apostles were not in their cells.\u00a0 The doors were securely locked just as when the Apostles were put inside them, but the cells were empty!\u00a0 The Sanhedrin \u201cwere at a loss.\u201d\u00a0 They were completely discombobulated. None of them could explain what had happened or how it had happened.\u00a0 Also they did not know what it meant.\u00a0 They were so overwhelmingly at a loss that they didn\u2019t know what was coming next or what they should do next.\u00a0 After all that was going on, all the miracles and proofs of God surrounding the Apostles, they didn\u2019t stop to think that maybe, just maybe, God had something to do with this?\u00a0 How much in denial does one have to be in to not at least consider God has something to do with it?\u00a0 Of my goodness, what a sad state they were in.\u00a0 They were nonplussed!\u00a0 They were so hard hearted that they didn\u2019t even consider what should have been their first thought \u201cGod has done another miracle on their behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally someone came and reported that the Apostles were teaching the people in the temple courts.\u00a0 Not court, courts.\u00a0 They had spread out and were telling everyone they could of the Messiah of Israel, that He is Jesus. My how the Sanhedrin\u2019s jaws must have dropped!\u00a0 Family, we serve a jaw-dropping, awe inspiring God who will do the expected and the unexpected to express His love and grace to us.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be lovers of Jesus who strain every morning to be released to run the course set for us while being fully expectant that God will use those who love Him and are obedient to Him.\u00a0 Family, God can use us with or against our will and understanding.\u00a0 Being used by God because we want to be is so much better than being used by Him without understanding or the joy of it.\u00a0 We are created to do His handiworks (Ephesians 2:10<\/b>), let us be about doing them.\u00a0 They are not onerous (Matthew 11:28-30<\/b>).\u00a0 \u201cAnd whatever you do, whether in word of deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him<\/i>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 5:21b-25\u00a0–\u00a0When the high priest and his associates\u00a0arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin\u2014the full assembly of the elders of Israel\u2014and sent to the jail for the apostles.\u00a022\u00a0But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there.\u00a0So they went back and reported,\u00a023\u00a0\u201cWe found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1841,101,94,17],"class_list":["post-1453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-ephesians","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1454,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions\/1454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}