VIDEO God Will Appear

Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Acts 12:5

 

How would you have felt if you had been Peter? King Herod began a persecution of the church in Jerusalem, highlighting it with the murder of the apostle James, the brother of John. When he saw that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he seized Peter also and put him in jail. If you had been Peter, wouldn’t you have thought that Herod planned to murder you as well? How alone would you have felt?

The church prayed diligently that night for Peter who was chained to two Roman soldiers, and there were guards at the doors of the jail too. Talk about lonely! Bound in chains through the night with the prospect of meeting a sword in the morning. But suddenly the church’s prayers were answered as an angel appeared to Peter and set him free. When Peter realized that God had appeared, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord…has delivered me” (Acts 12:11). You may not find yourself chained and condemned to die for Jesus. (Or you might.) But whatever your predicament, if you will wait, God will come to you with peace, protection, or a promise.

It is not a question of whether God will appear when you are in trouble, but how.

When Jesus is present, all is well, and nothing seems difficult. Thomas à Kempis

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Acts 12 – One Martyred, One Rescued

Impromptu Praise

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. Acts 16:25

During a short-term missions trip to Ethiopia, our team accompanied another team from a local ministry on an outreach to a group of young men who’d hit hard times and were living in shacks in a literal junkyard. They were such a delight to meet! We shared testimonies, encouraging words, and prayers together. One of my favorite moments that evening was when a local team member played his guitar and we got to worship with our new friends under the radiant moon. What a sacred moment! Despite their desperate situation, these men had hope and joy that can only be found in Jesus.

In Acts 16, we read about another impromptu praise time. This one broke out in a jail in the city of Philippi. Paul and Silas had been arrested, beaten, flogged, and imprisoned while serving Jesus. Instead of giving in to despair, they worshiped God by “praying and singing” in their jail cell. “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose” (vv. 25-26).

The jailer’s first thought was to end his life, but when he realized the prisoners hadn’t escaped, he was in awe of God, and salvation came to his family (vv. 27-34).

God delights in hearing us praise Him. Let’s worship Him during both the highs and lows of life.

By:  Nancy Gavilanes

Reflect & Pray

How has God enabled you to praise and worship Him even in the bad times? How has He revealed Himself in remarkable ways when you’ve done so?

Dear God, please help me to praise You no matter what I’m facing.

The Sacrificial Lamb

All of our wrongs—past, present, and future—are forgiven when we accept the gift Jesus died to give us Hebrews 10:1-14

God’s grace has no limits. His mercy can reach the darkest part of our heart. Christ not only erased our past, present, and future sin; He also paid for the wrongs of every generation. When the ancient Israelites brought a goat or a lamb to the temple for a sacrifice, they placed their hands on its head and confessed their sins. The priest then killed the animal and sprinkled some of its blood on the altar of atonement. The ritual symbolized a confessor’s payment for sin. 

But the lamb could not actually take on the sin and die in place of the Israelite (Heb. 10:4). If an animal’s blood could actually erase a sin debt, then Jesus’ death would have been unnecessary. The ritual of sacrificing a lamb was the Father’s idea (Leviticus 4:1-35), though the act itself was symbolic. God established such offerings as an illustration of the seriousness of sin. The practice also pointed to Christ’s perfect sacrificial death on our behalf and the salvation He brings.

Like the Israelites, we must also look to a lamb—the Lamb of God (John 1:29). When we receive Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, we are forgiven forever.

Every Creature Under Heaven

“If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” (Colossians 1:23)

Before the Lord ascended back to heaven, He commanded His disciples to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), and one might receive the impression from the words of our text that this had already been accomplished, just 30 years after the command was given.

Yet, it is hardly plausible to infer from this that Christian missionaries had already reached the entire globe. The problem may be our far-too-limited appreciation of God’s witness in the creation. The phrase “to every creature” in our text could better be read “in everything created.” That is, the gospel that was now being brought in explicit terms to the Colossians was consistent with what they already should have known from God’s great witness in the very structure and behavior of everything He had created.

This is the testimony of such familiar verses as Psalm 19:1 (“the heavens declare…”); Romans 1:20 (“the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen”); Acts 14:17 (“he left not himself without witness”); and Acts 17:28 (“in him we live, and move, and have our being”). In the verses just preceding our text (Colossians 1:16-22), Paul had defined this universal gospel as embracing the creation, salvation, and consummation of “all things” by Christ (vv. 16-17, 20). The essence of this truth can be seen (if one’s eyes are willing to see it) in “all the world” (v. 6) in the beauty, complexity, unity in diversity, purposefulness, continuance of energy, and process as found in “every creature which is under heaven.” Every aspect of God’s creation has been designed to reveal Christ as Maker and Savior. HMM

We All Admire The Guy Who “Makes It”

We’re talking about that “Fortune 500” type who grabs the brass ring and makes things happen!

Here’s the brief autobiography of one such man:

“I built…

“I made…

“I bought…

“I owned…

“I amassed…

“I acquired… “

And finally:

“I BECAME… “

In other words, he arrived, having achieved affluence. Visibility. Status. Perhaps even respect.

And then he indulged! “I denied myself nothing… “(Ecclesiastes 2:1-10)

But here is the kicker: According to his autobiography:

“When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.“(Ecclesiastes 2:11)

How is this possible? Had he not achieved it all? The answer is, “No, he had not.” And the reason?

• None of his achievements could fill his inner emptiness. As Pascal sagaciously observed, “Inside of every man there is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill.“
• Jesus Christ cautioned, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?… A man‘s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.“(Matthew 16:26; Luke 12:15)

How tragic it would be to have climbed the ladder of success, only to realize too late (as did Solomon) that you had leaned it against the wrong wall.

SO THE QUESTION IS: “Which wall is your ladder leaning against?”

“I know My sheep, and am known of Mine.”

John 10:1-18

John 10:1

Those pretended shepherds who came not as the Scriptures had appointed were robbers seeking only their own advantage.

John 10:2

Jesus came according to prophecy, in the right and ordained manner.

John 10:3

John the Baptist knew him and opened the door for him.

John 10:3

Outside an eastern village there was a stone enclosure, within which the flocks of the inhabitants were penned at night. When the owner of any one of the flocks desired to lead forth his sheep the porter admitted him, and he soon separated his own sheep from the rest

John 10:4, 5

The shepherd has only to call his own sheep, and they rise and follow. No one can deceive them; if a stranger were dressed in their shepherd’s clothes, they would detect him by his voice.

John 10:6-8

The elect of God were not duped, but waited till the true Christ came.

John 10:9-11

Best token of goodness! Noblest deed of love!

The false shepherds were all for gain, but Jesus loved us, and gave himself for its.

John 10:14

Mutual knowledge exists between Jesus and his people. He never mistakes one of them, neither do they follow a pretender under the supposition that he is their Lord. Grace bestows discernment upon the saints, and they know their leader from all others.

John 10:16

The Gentiles were not folded, and were like stray sheep. They are now by grace united with the chosen Jews in one flock.

John 10:17, 18

As God, our Lord Jesus held his life absolutely at his own disposal, and no power could compel him to die, but he became our sin-bearer, and for our sake the servant of the Father, and therefore, to carry out his office, he even laid down his life for us. Blessed be his glorious name for evermore.

Loving Shepherd of thy sheep,

Keep me, Lord, in safety keep;

Nothing can thy power withstand,

None can pluck me from thy hand.

Loving Shepherd, thou didst give

Thine own life that I might live;

May I love thee day by day,

Gladly thy sweet will obey.

Where thou leadest me I go,

Walking in thy steps below;

Then before thy Father’s throne,

Jesu, claim me for thy own.

Ashamed of Sin

Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity… Surely every man walketh in a vain shew. (Psalm 39:5-6)

Brethren, I am not ashamed of this world God created—I am only ashamed of man’s sin!

If you could take all of man’s sin out of this world, there would be nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be afraid of.

Our apologies must be for humanity—and for our sins. I keep repeating that we have no business making excuses for God.

It is popular now to talk about Christ being a guest here. I dare to tell people that they should stop patronizing Jesus Christ!

He is not the guest here—He is the Host!

We have apologists who write books and give lectures—apologizing for the person of Christ, trying to “explain” to our generation that the Bible does not really mean “exactly” what it says. But God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ and thus we know where we stand, believing that all things were made by Him and “without Him was not anything made that was made.”