{"id":1600,"date":"2019-05-24T05:23:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T13:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1600"},"modified":"2019-05-24T05:23:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T13:23:14","slug":"devotion-acts-926-31-spots-be-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1600","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 9:26-31 Spots Be Gone!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 9:26-31\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0When he came to Jerusalem,\u00a0he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.<\/i><\/span>\u00a027\u00a0But Barnabas\u00a0took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him,\u00a0and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28\u00a0So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.<\/span>\u00a029\u00a0He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,\u00a0but they tried to kill him.<\/span>\u00a030\u00a0When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea\u00a0and sent him off to Tarsus.\u00a0 31\u00a0Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria\u00a0enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he came to Jerusalem,\u00a0he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 It is understandable that non-believers will not accept that the Lord Jesus Christ will save us and make us new.\u00a0 We know that many people believe sayings such as \u201ca leopard does not change its spots.\u201d\u00a0 Behind that thinking is the thought that a man is who he is and is powerless to change himself.\u00a0 And they are, for the most part, right. Changes to the heart are a difficult task for a person to do oneself.\u00a0 However, with Jesus all things are possible (Matthew 19:26<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a02 Corinthians 5:17<\/b>\u00a0clearly states \u201c<\/span>Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,\u00a0the new creation\u00a0has come:\u00a0The old has gone, the new is here!<\/i>\u201d Of all the verses in the Bible I wonder if this one is not the most challenged, the hardest to believe, even for those who claim to embrace the inerrancy and infallibility of the scriptures.\u00a0 However we must be quick to agree that it is true that it takes time for us to learn to yield to God and so become what God has for us to be.\u00a0 So yes, we all are new creatures.\u00a0 We are instantly new in the spirit, however, the flesh resists and slowly is changed. Yes, they were afraid of Saul, after all, he had been a fierce and hateful enemy of all believers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Barnabas\u00a0took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him,\u00a0and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Barnabas believed and advocated for Saul.\u00a0 He was a lover of souls.\u00a0 He was an encourager.\u00a0 He saw the good in people.\u00a0 Praise God for people like Barnabas!\u00a0 When one of us is grumpy, or perhaps too often difficult, the Barnabas\u2019s of the world tell us to love, accept and pray for the person.\u00a0 The love of God flows through them.\u00a0 They trust and may be taken advantage of, but they do not regret.\u00a0 Actually they can never be taken advantage of because they love and accept as servants of Jesus, and do so unto Him, so they are never taken advantage of because their dedication and obedience belongs to God.\u00a0\u00a0 So they love, accept and encourage even when others find it hard to do so.\u00a0 We need more more people like Barnabas.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.<\/i><\/span>\u00a029\u00a0He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,\u00a0but they tried to kill him.<\/span><\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Believing their brother Barnabas, the disciples accepted Saul.<\/p>\n

Saul again went forthwith to preach Jesus to the Jews.\u00a0 This notes him speaking to the same Hellenistic (Greek) Jews that he had formerly associated with and had approved of their stoning of Stephen.\u00a0 As they had not accepted the Truth of Jesus which Stephen had preached to them they did not accept the same that Saul would preach to them.\u00a0 As they murdered Stephen, so they planned to murder Saul.\u00a0 Here we see that when the leopard has no desire to change his spots they remain the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea\u00a0and sent him off to Tarsus.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 We see that the believers took care of Saul.\u00a0 As believers had done in Damascus, they again do here.\u00a0 Family, we take care of each other.\u00a0 They took care of Saul.\u00a0 We take care of each other and we put up with each other for two reasons.\u00a0 The first is because we love and serve Jesus.\u00a0 That is all the reason we should need.\u00a0 Still, the second reason is that the love of God lives within us and so we love God with all that we are and the same love means that we love each other.\u00a0 We take care of each other.\u00a0 God is our refuge and the church is the body of Christ.\u00a0 God has given us to each other to be a comfort and safe haven for us to be loved, and when necessary, to be emotionally and spiritually healed as the Holy Spirit moves amongst us.\u00a0 Let us be the body of Christ not only in name, but also in reality.\u00a0 Let\u2019s accept each other, overlook the differences and annoyances, and just love each other.\u00a0 Let\u2019s protect each other.\u00a0 As we do this, we show the love of God and we increasingly reveal the love of God to each other and to the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s God\u2019s plan for us all, to love Him and love each other.\u00a0 What a great plan!\u00a0 Praise our God!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria\u00a0enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Jesus took away the early great adversary of His church by converting Him.\u00a0 The adversary became an apostle and a brother and perhaps the greatest (certainly the most active) apostle of them all.\u00a0 Let\u2019s love and encourage each other.\u00a0 The one we encourage may turn out to be another Paul.\u00a0 Only God knows.\u00a0 We just keep loving.\u00a0 How wonderful!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/span><\/p>\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 9:26-31\u00a0\u2013\u00a0When he came to Jerusalem,\u00a0he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.\u00a027\u00a0But Barnabas\u00a0took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him,\u00a0and how…<\/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":[82,129,101,94,17],"class_list":["post-1600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600","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=1600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1601,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions\/1601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}