{"id":1565,"date":"2019-05-05T09:25:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T17:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2019-05-05T09:25:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T17:25:07","slug":"devotion-acts-81b-3-foreordained-and-sustained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1565","title":{"rendered":"Devotion       Acts 8:1b-3         Foreordained And Sustained"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"D_F ek_BB H_6D6F aw_2941hk ba_10I1Qt az_oOItw ay_Z1nkUQx I_kt4zd\">\n<div id=\"app\" class=\"D_F ek_BB H_6D6F cZ1RN91d_n s_1HCsWR aw_Z22yhkg I_kt4zd az_oOItw ba_Z2gmOa3 ay_Z1p6ctn c2hBT4u_Zm6i39 cZTwBjO_Zdogtk\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-test-id=\"mail-app\">\n<div class=\"I_ZnwrMC D_F em_N o_h W_6D6F H_6D6F\" data-test-id=\"content-area\">\n<div class=\"D_F em_N o_h s_1HCsWR\" data-test-id=\"content-below-tabs\">\n<div class=\"D_F em_N ej_eUh o_h\">\n<div id=\"mail-app-component\" class=\"em_N gl_C I_52qC j_ZlOSbd o_h p_R D_F s_e5X x_Z14vXdP\" data-yaft-module=\"norrin_main\" data-test-id=\"mail-app-component\">\n<div class=\"D_F ek_BB p_a Z_0 L_0 R_0 T_0 B_0 cZ1RN91d_GG I_ZnwrMC\" data-test-id=\"message-group-view\">\n<div class=\"iz_A em_0 Z_0\" data-test-id=\"message-group-view-scroller\">\n<div data-test-id=\"focus-group\">\n<ul class=\"hd_n M_0 X_0\" data-test-id=\"cards\">\n<li class=\"m_Z12nDQf D_F ek_BB ir_0\">\n<div class=\"p_R b_2w4l8N I_52qC em_N X_fq7 N_6LEV ir3_Z1tiXR3 it3_689y j_ZlOSbd message-view\" tabindex=\"40\" data-test-id=\"message-view\" data-test-expanded=\"true\" data-iskeynav=\"true\">\n<div data-test-id=\"message-body-container\">\n<div data-test-id=\"message-view-body\">\n<div class=\"msg-body P_wpofO iy_A\" data-test-id=\"message-view-body-content\">\n<div class=\"jb_0 X_6MGW N_6Fd5\">\n<div>\n<div id=\"yiv5311588311\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"yiv5311588311yahoo-style-wrap\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\"><b>Acts 8:1b-3a\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0<i>On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered\u00a0throughout Judea and Samaria.\u00a02\u00a0Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.3\u00a0But Saul\u00a0began to destroy the church.\u00a0Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">\u201c<i>On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered\u00a0throughout Judea and Samaria.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The day being referred to is from\u00a0<b>V1a<\/b>\u00a0in which it is stated that Saul (Paul) was approving of the murder of Stephen.\u00a0 It is pointed out that the great Apostle Paul was at the beginning, one of the propagators of the persecution of the church.\u00a0 On the specific day of Stephen\u2019s martyrdom began a great persecution of the church.\u00a0 We can rightfully say that was a very dark day.\u00a0 Yet we must not look at what the enemy has done, but what God is doing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">As a result of this great persecution all the followers of Christ began to flee out into Judea and Samaria.\u00a0 It is important to note that these did not leave behind their faith, but instead, it was living within them, and they spread their faith wherever they went.\u00a0 On every highway, at every inn and upon meeting those along the road, these lovers of Jesus told His Gospel message.\u00a0 They told about the Lover of their soul.\u00a0 They were not complaining to every one about what they had lost because of the persecution, but instead were telling all about what they had gained, eternal life with Jesus.\u00a0 They did not count the persecution as too much to bear for the sake of the Gospel, but instead a great honor to be named as one who belonged to Jesus.\u00a0 Though evil intended the persecution to destroy the memory of Jesus and thereby stop the salvation message from reaching the world, the persecution only brought about what it intended to destroy, the spreading of the Gospel throughout the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">These followers of Jesus, dispersing into surrounding nations, was not an error, but instead fulfilling God\u2019s divine will.\u00a0 The enemy had still not learned, and still has not learned, that God\u2019s will shall prevail.\u00a0 Hard times does not stop the will of God but instead can be used for quite the opposite (<b>Genesis 50:20<\/b>). It is better thought that the disciples who were fleeing were not doing so in a lack of faith, but instead very much in faith.\u00a0 They trusted God to keep them and deliver them and to find them a new home and there they would continue to share Jesus to all they met.\u00a0 God\u2019s will was not being quenched as evil hoped, but rather being fanned into surrounding and ever expanding areas to reach new people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">Notice that the Apostles did not flee into other areas.\u00a0 Family we are all called to unique and specific ministry.\u00a0 Some are called to stay and some to go.\u00a0 Some are called to preach and teach from the pulpit and some from the highways and alleys.\u00a0 Some are called to share at work, or school, or sporting events.\u00a0 We should follow where the Lord leads, or when necessary, drives us.\u00a0 Let us not be unwilling to suffer hardships for the glory of God, but be proud that we have been called to do so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">\u201c<i>Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 These Godly men took a risk.\u00a0 Not many people want to associate themselves as lovers of one who was just killed by mob violence.\u00a0 But these men did.\u00a0 They knew it could be dangerous to claim the body of Stephen and then to bury him and mourn his murder.\u00a0 They did not mourn his death, but his murder, as He was ushered to Jesus as his vision had foresaw.\u00a0 They mourned how he died and that they would no longer have him with them.\u00a0 They would miss him.\u00a0 By them burying him and displaying that they loved him, they, as they had in life, they stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the death of his earthly body.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">\u201c<i>But Saul\u00a0began to destroy the church.\u00a0Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Saul (Paul) was a man possessed in his persecution of the church of Jesus.\u00a0 He wanted every man, woman and child who confessed Jesus as Savior and Lord to be destroyed.\u00a0 He considered The Way not to be of God, but as something evil and different from what he considered to be the right and true teachings he had been taught.\u00a0 Paul was a man fully persuaded to fight for God and he wrongly believed that when he was trying to stamp out the followers of Jesus that he was doing the will of God.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">Religion does that to people.\u00a0 God does not want us to follow religion, but to live in fellowship with Him.\u00a0 God is our friend, the one who truly loves us and He wants us to be guided only by Him and His Word.\u00a0 We might say how awful Paul was by being devoted to religious teaching and not yielding to God\u2019s true guiding and teaching and yet, we must be careful with our judgements.\u00a0 Yes, Paul (Saul) was wrong, but how about us.\u00a0 We condemn one group of people for being tied to a church because of culture and tradition, and yet the church we attend can become a tradition and culture to us and to our progeny.\u00a0 We must always remember that it is to Jesus that our loyalty is demanded.\u00a0 Yet also, we must know that God has called us to love and worship God together.\u00a0 He has called us to lean first on Him and then to comfort and encourage each other.\u00a0 Therefore God will lead us to congregate in groups, small and big, at home, at work, and in school.\u00a0 Being loyal to a certain church is good and right, but not to the point that we will not follow God another place if God calls us to go.\u00a0 Let not the church we attend be a tradition that keeps us from following where God leads us.\u00a0 Family, attend the church that God has brought you to.\u00a0 Support the leadership of the church that is doing the will of God.\u00a0 Yet don\u2019t let everything you do be in the name of a denomination but rather let all things be done in the name of Christ.\u00a0 Pray for your church and follow God.\u00a0 But, God forbid, should that church fall from preaching the full Word of God, if they are unrepentant, flee to where the Word of God is fully and faithfully being taught.\u00a0 Tradition can be good, but all too often is deadly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\">Follow God!\u00a0 Trust His Holy Spirit to guide you and compare everything to the Word of God.\u00a0 If something being taught does not align with the Word of God, get away, run away.\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t let tradition and culture be an anchor that weighs us down, or kills us.\u00a0 Live for Jesus.\u00a0 Be willing to suffer in His name.\u00a0 Bear that badge with honor.\u00a0 Love God, pray for each other, and know the joy of the Lord as we rest in Him.\u00a0 God has supplied all we need, let us rest in the finished work of Christ!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fMsoNoSpacing\"><b>Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<i>Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fyiv8739318158ydp5f36d124msonospacing\"><b>Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<i>But 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<p class=\"yiv5311588311ydp501edf5fyiv8739318158ydp5f36d124msonospacing\"><b>Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<i>He 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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jb_0 X_6MGW N_6Fd5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"H_7jIs D_F ab_C Q_69H5 E_36RhU\" data-test-id=\"toolbar-hover-area\">\n<div class=\"D_F W_6D6F r_BN gl_C\" data-test-id=\"card-toolbar\">\n<div class=\"D_F 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women and put them in prison. \u201cOn that&hellip;<\/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":[82,94,17],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565","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=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1566,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions\/1566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}