Acts 2

It is important to look into the lives of the faithful men and women in the Bible,as well as those that have had the same faith over the last couple thousand years,if we are to learn how to have our lives shaped and prepared according to what God only knows as BEST for our lives,instead of our lives being “misshaped” by other worldly influences.ONLY God knows THE PLAN for me that INCLUDES the infinitely broad scope including Eternity.No other SOURCE can be trusted with such...all other PLANS will shape my life for “short term dividends” with no Eternal Security!God’s plan for my life includes joys that will give me the encouragement needed through the deepest valleys of life,and a sense of purposes fulfilled that no amount of worldly,nor even pious achievement can satisfy.Therefore,if I desire to have my life shaped in ways that have the BROADER SCOPE of “benefits”,then learning from the truly faithful men & women that have proven lives of these “benefits” is imperative!Shortly after Jesus ascends to Heaven,Peter gives the Sermon at Pentecost,immediately referring to the Old Testament 3 times-from Joel once, and from 2 different Psalms.Over the last 3 years of following Jesus,Peter has obviously become a diligent student of Scripture!Peter(&the other apostles)learned this by seeing how Jesus referred to Scripture over and over during His Life/Ministry!Jesus taught by example how important it is to have an intimate appreciation for God’s Word!So it is not surprising that the 1st sermon after Jesus’ ascension is weaved w scripture,as Peter’s life had become weaved w God’s Word.Over centuries this has proven true!During The Reformation,it was men & women who hungered to personally “know” God’s Word that brought lives back to knowing God’s Amazing Grace,& His Amazing Love!N 1911,Oswald Chambers saw despair overcoming many missionaries, to the point that many were leaving not only their ministries,but drifting away from their relationship w The Lord.Chambers realized this was because of these men&women having a mediocre knowledge&appreciation of God’s Word,so he founded the Bible Training College in England,becoming the primary teacher&mentor at the college.These faithful men & women over the centuries have been very different,& have done a myriad of different things in their lives.BUT,a common thread is their hunger to know God’s Word,& have the Holy Spirit lead them into an intimate relationship w The Lord through their pursuit of God’s character and His promises n the Bible...having their lives weaved with threads of God’s Word.Dear Lord,looking into my life I realize that my life has far to few threads of Your Word weaved into my life&heart.Thank You for using the lives of faithful men&women to reveal the significance of having Your Word increasingly weaved into every aspect of my life.Awaken in me the same hunger&devotion given&stirred n the lives of these faithful,so I will also know the joys that will give me the encouragement needed through the deepest valleys of life,and a sense of purposes fulfilled that no amount of worldly,nor even pious achievement can satisfy.

Acts 1

I always want to know when “what I want” is finally going to come about;when is The Lord going to “come through” with what I have been praying for/waiting for?The apostles had this same “want to know” when they came together in Acts1:6->and they ask Jesus,”Lord,will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel”?The apostles were probably a little excited about what they thought were the next things to come.After all,they had just been through 3 years of many ups and downs as they followed Christ.Additionally, they not only witnessed Jesus perform miracles,but at times they personally were the conduit of the Power of Jesus as they were sent out by Jesus.When they gather around Jesus n the 1st chapter of Acts,they must have been thinking(with all the miraculous things they had seen,especially the last 40 days after Jesus raised from the tomb and walked about to the astonishment of all who saw and heard Him)that NOW was the time that Jesus would set up His Kingdom and they would all have “sweet jobs” as part of Jesus’ inner circle.As Christians,we tend to have the same preconceived notions & expectations because of our ideas about our “personal faithfulness”->just like what might’ve been what prompted the question,”Lord,at this time...?”(Acts1:6).We allow ourselves to be “set up” for “let downs” because of our expectations that are rooted n somewhat of a entitlement attitude.And attitude that because of “MY struggles & MY faithfulness....when is Jesus going to come through with the “dividends” of MY faithfulness”?Jesus addresses this by what He says,& by what happens in Acts1:7-11.1st,Jesus says,”It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,& you will be my witnesses n Jerusalem & n Judea & Samaria,& to the end of the earth.”Jesus tells them to b careful about taking their eye off the ball,because of their expectations!Actually,Jesus is telling them that all they have been through (all they have experienced & all they have done) has been preparation for the mission ahead,& that each of their “missions” will expose needs in their lives that only The Holy Spirit can help with(Acts1:8,”But u will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon u..”).Up until this time,each of the apostles probably had a more temporal perspective for life than an eternal one.Jesus knew this,and timed his statements n Acts1:7-8 perfectly,so there would be no doubt about which perspective was the only one to have for life!Jesus sets the stage perfectly for His apostles to have what He just said to them be referenced to the RIGHT PERSPECTIVE,leaving no doubt about how their lives needed to be taken from a temporal paradigm of thinking/living,to one that was far far beyond the temporal and into the Eternal ways of Thinking&Living!Acts1:9-11 says,”And when he had said these things,as they were looking on,he was lifted up,and a cloud took him out of their sight.And while they were gazing into Heaven as he went,behold,two men stood by them in white robes,and said,’Men of Galilee,why do you stand looking into Heaven?This Jesus,who was taken up from you into heaven,will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven”.When they saw and heard these things,each of them must of had “their worlds shaken”...their ways of thinking about life and what in life is important!They saw into ETERNITY,when they witnessed the ascension of Jesus.And then they saw and heard angels point to the promises of the Bible about Eternity when the angels said that Jesus would return in the same way that he left.All of the sudden,what Jesus had been teaching,and what Jesus had been referring to in the Old Testament began to come to life in their hearts/minds/lives,in ways that made them each become “Eternally Perspective” about life!They knew that their life n the here and now had purposes that rippled into Eternity! And that the here and now is fleeting,with eternal reason&purpose for their lives->REASONS & PURPOSES that would be realized in Eternity,& not in the here and now!This turned their paradigm for life and their expectations inside out & upside down!Their lives would never b the same!They would have joys in the middle of the most severe of earthly challenges because of their ultimate HOPE being in the TRUTHS of Eternity!They would have confidences and power that were supernatural because these confidences and power were “reinforced” by God’s Word & The Holy Spirit!Dear Lord,I suffer from a temporal perspective of life that ultimately yield disappointments and emptiness no matter what.I know better than this...but need Your help to draw me away from the strong pull of temporal things.I pray for You to use Your Word and Your Spirit in mighty ways to restore in me the Hope and the Eternal Purposes that You want to give me through Your Mercy &Grace.

John 20

Toward the end of the book that John wrote of his personal experiences with&about Jesus,he says n John20:30-31,”And truly Jesus did many other things n the presence of His disciples,which r not written n this book;but these r written that u may believe that Jesus is the Christ,the Son of God,& that believing u may have life n His name”.John’s HOPE is that we will not JUST believe,but that by believing Jesus is the Christ,the Son of God,that we will become living “representatives” of The Glory of His Holiness;His Righteousness;His Grace;His Mercy;His Word;& His Spirit...by living our lives through TRUSTING in Jesus for HOW we live!In essence,John is saying that “just believing” these things about Jesus does not result in us having the “life” John is talking about!After all,Satan himself believe these things about Jesus through personal experiences he had w Jesus,including when he was banished from heaven by The Lord(Isaiah14:12-15;Revelation12:7-12);when Satan tried to tempt Jesus(Matthew4:1-11;Mark1:12-13Luke4:1-13),and when Jesus destroys Satan’s plans to take away all hope mankind could ever have of redemption(Hebrews2:14-15).In other-words,Satan absolutely believes that Jesus is The Christ;is The Son of God!BUT,Satan rejects giving Jesus the Honor&Praise for WHO Jesus is & rebels against the Love of God for his own rebellious&selfish desires/having life that he trusts into hands other than the Loving Arms of Jesus.In a way Satan is much like the younger son n the parable Jesus tells about the prodigal son that decides to leave the love of his father to have what he thought was a better life,a “more free” life of deciding his own pleasures.The difference with the prodigal is that he is humbled by what his decisions have brought into his life,& n his “pit” turns back toward the love of his father!When Satan finds himself n his “pit”,he grows ever more arrogant and turns further away from the Love of God n all he does and all he thinks!And the rebellion of Satan gets worse&worse,making him so full of rebellion that he is forever an enemy of The Lord and those The Lord has called to Himself!This is why John says,”...but these r written that u may believe that Jesus is the Christ,the Son of God,& that believing u may have life n His name”!!!!!There is a growing crescendo n these words as the final plea is made->”that by believing u may have life in His name”->that our hearts/minds/lives will be so impacted by the TRUTHS of Christ that we will be compelled(by His great expressions of love for us)to trust Him with our lives...to seek and follow Him only!Dear Lord,forgive me for letting my life b “in my name” so many times....please help me to b increasingly aware of the ways that You reveal Your Glory;Your Holiness;Your Grace;You Mercy;Your Love...to me,and may my life b so overwhelming impacted by these TRUTHS that my life always turn to You,& that I seek and follow You only....to live in Your Name.

John 18:28-John 19

TRUTH is an integral part of the Power of Creation,and a significant part of the Foundation of THE LOVE that is ETERNALLY AUTHENTIC.TRUTH is part of the fabric of God’s Character,and a major means that God leverages to express His Awesome Love,His Loving desire for us to have the Eternal Benefits of True Wisdom->TRUTH!Yet,there is something about TRUTH that can make us uncomfortable & cause us to turn away from it.This happens to Pilate when he is questioning Jesus n John18:28-John19:1.Pilate is asking Jesus questions about who He is,& what He is.Pilate is probably curious because of the miracles that he(and everyone else)has heard about Jesus performing;&Pilate has heard what Jesus has been teaching about The Kingdom of God.So Pilate is sincerely curious!Jesus knows what Pilate is most curious about!The same thing that is at the core of ever human being-> there is a CORE CURIOSITY about->WHAT IS TRUTH/WHAT ARE THE TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE?!N John18:37 Jesus addresses this when He says,”You are right n saying I am a king.N fact,for this very reason I was born,& came n2 the world,2 testify 2 the TRUTH.Everyone on the side of TRUTH listens to me”.Jesus offers at the very least a conversation about TRUTH...& something makes Pilate so uncomfortable/uneasy that he says,”What is truth?”,& then turns away from Jesus & goes back to the angry crowd of those wanting to put Jesus to death!Pilat asked the question,but didn’t truly want to hear The Answer(He was not really on the “side of truth”)!Pilate has already framed n his own heart&mind what he WANTED to hear about truth...and didn’t want anything to threaten what might b UNtrue n his paradigms about truth.Pilate’s unwillingness to have his own ideas challenged by TRUTH identified him as one NOT being on the “side of truth”(not sincerely wanting to know what TRUTH really is,if IT might threaten any of his preformed desires&notions).N fact this made Pilate angry enough that he had Jesus flogged...nstead of listening to THE ONE w the TRUE answers about TRUTH,Pilate had Him flogged(John19:1,”Then Pilate had Him flogged.”).I do the same thing n my life when I let my preconceived notions and desires draw me away from seeking to know what Jesus has to say about the things that are AUTHENTIC about “why I am here?”,”what is the purpose for my life”?,”what is TRUE LOVE”?,etc.I become very uncomfortable when I begin to think that some of THE ANSWERS may not agree w MY desires&notions! The SAME PROBLEM Pilate had that made him turn away from THE SOURCE of TRUTH,& even flog Him!Dear Jesus,forgive me from turning away from YOUR LOVE/Your desire for my life to be forever blessed by what is TRUE,and not continue n the direction of deceptive desires&notions that get me lost n a sea of things that are far from TRUTH.Dear Lord,make my heart to b one that will always be on “the side of TRUTH”!

John 18

N the 1st verses of John18,a detachment of soldiers have come w Judas 2 apprehend Jesus.Knowing this was happening,Jesus didn’t wait for this group to reach Him,Jesus went out to them and asked,”Who is it you want?”They respond,”Jesus of Nazareth.”Something happens then that is Jesus personally giving everyone n this scene an opportunity 2 know for certain that He is God!Jesus answers by identifying Himself n the same way that Almighty God gave Moses to identify HIMSELF to the Israelites when n Exodus3:14 God says,”I AM WHO I AM!”Jesus says “I am He”,using the same word/name used n Exodus3:14!By responding to the group this way,they were given an AWESOME MINUSCULE PEEK at the Glory of God through Christ when He reveals His FULL IDENTITY to them,and they were knocked down by a the tiniest of tiny minuscule peek at The Glory of God(John:18:6,”When Jesus said to them,’I am He,’they drew back and fell to the ground.”)They each had a personal experience of being “knocked down” by the knowledge that Jesus IS The Son of God...nothing less than The Incarnate God!Jesus personally made Himself known n a way that they had very opportunity to receive Him.Yet,they denied what had just been made overwhelmingly TRUTH!OH Lord,I shutter to think of the times You have n so many ways revealed Your Glory/Love/Mercy/Grace,&Your Truth to me as You did w these soldiers,& I have quickly forgotten “what just happened” just like this crowd n the Garden of Gethsemane.Whatever it is that makes me oblivious to Your Presence n my life,please help me to address these things so that I may never more b oblivious to the WONDERS of WHO YOU ARE,WHAT YOU HAVE DONE,& The Promises You have for me n Your Word.