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May 20: Acts 18:22-28
Key Verse: Acts 18:28
For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.
Devotion:
If you, like I did once, think people can only preach the gospel if they have had years of experience and went to big colleges, then you are mistaken; it takes all sorts of people in all manner of positions to effectively convey the truth of the gospel to others. Here we have a brief account of how Apollos came to be a very useful person in teaching the gospel, especially when it came to teaching the Jews.
Apollos was a Jew who had studied the scriptures and would normally have upheld the Jewish laws and religion, but he had learned how John had taught the gospel. He must have studied it all further because he was able to link the scriptures to the gospel to prove Jesus was their Messiah – something many Jews did not want to believe because Jesus was a simple man.
When we want to tell other about the gospel we will probably find it more comfortable to tell people who have a similar outlook in life to what we had before getting to know Christ – because we can guide them in the way we asked Christ into our lives. Similarly we need people like Apollos who are very learned to be able to reach the other learned people in society.
The community you live in probably has a wide range of people from different backgrounds. This surely means we need a team of people from a wide range of backgrounds to teach people in our communities. Don’t give up because you think you have not got the qualifications to share the gospel with others. Jesus chose a variety of people to be His disciples!
Points to Ponder:
What is stopping you from sharing the gospel?
Will you try to share what you know as a start?
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May 19: Acts 18:9-17
Key Verse: Acts 18:10
For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.
Devotion:
Paul went through many trials as he continued to tell people the gospel truth and this is just one of many he had to face. Every time you step out and tell people the truth you will get people who stop and listen, people who ignore you and people who object and try to stop you. Listening to God to find out where He wants you to be is the first step in your journey as a disciple. He wants to protect you and care for you so as long as you continue to stay close to where God wants you to be, you will get the best protection possible.
I think of this like going into a game reserve where the animals are able to roam wild. If you stay on the roads and keep in your car you will be as safe as possible on your journey. Once you start straying off the road you will find out there are more obstacles you have to overcome; some of them may well stop you in your tracks and force you to get out of the car. Once out of the car you are no longer protected and may end up face to face with a dangerous animal.
The world revolves around laws and rules. Without them we would be in chaos as each person wanted to do their own thing. The chaos would make for very uncomfortable times as well as very exciting time, much more of a roller-coaster ride through life than in a normal semi-controlled society.
God does not want you to be so limited by human rules and regulations that you cannot follow Him; but He does want you to obey the local rules so you are kept relatively safe. It is the greed and pride of some people which spoil life for the rest of us, the ones who corrupt the laws and force new rules on people just because they are in a position of power or have the money to do so. God wants you to find and follow the truth.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find people stop you talking about God?
Are you sure you are where God wants you to be?
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May 18: Luke 24:44-53
Key Verse: Luke 24:52
Then they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
Devotion:
Today we celebrate the ascension of Jesus! As much as He had taught the disciples about what would happen to Him, how He would die, be buried, rise again and ascend into Heaven, I think this would have been the moment when it all started to make sense to the disciples! As much as we read about what Christ has done for us and what our future holds with Him, we too have to get over our doubts and listen to what Jesus is saying to each one of us!
All this has happened because of God’s great love toward all of us and when we get our heads around this, around the human limitations and look at the possibilities which are before us, then we too will be able to continue celebrating and worshipping Christ all the time.
We come together on our appointed days to worship Christ together in our churches and we feel refreshed and ready to face the world again. How long that refreshed feeling lasts will be entirely on how much you continue to trust Christ outside of your church meetings!
Just because Jesus is in Heaven does not mean we are not in touch with Him or He not in touch with us. We have the Holy Spirit who is ever present who has taken on the task of continuing to teach us and allow our minds to be opened just as the disciples minds were on this day many years ago. What I love about our local church is how people always spend time after our services to talk and be with each other – that goes a long way to building us up to be ready for the week ahead!
Points to Ponder:
How much time do you spend worshipping Christ?
How much time do you spend being a disciple?
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May 17: John 16:12-15
Key Verse: John 16:12
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
Devotion:
When was the last time you had so much good news to tell someone and not enough time to say what you wanted – or maybe you were cut off before you got to the interesting part because they did not want to listen? When people start talking and they have things to say they will try to talk as much as possible even if it means they talk over someone else speaking...
Why! Well this seems to be the way we have been brought up because I can remember times when I was a small child and people would stop what they were doing to listen to others! The more society bloats peoples’ egos, the less people are going to listen and the more they will want to talk instead.
When Jesus was with the disciples they wanted to listen to what He was teaching them, but they were also stuck between listening and living in this world even at that stage. Jesus knew He had so much to teach them and knew there was not enough time to teach them everything while He was with them. So He made plans for the Holy Spirit to be with them and us after He went back to Heaven. His words here are chosen carefully to encourage the disciples to listen to the Holy Spirit.
I fear we do not do that enough in our modern lives because of all the distractions and the encouragement by others to move on and gain ground in whatever manner is current at the time. Jesus wants us to stop and listen. Take time out from our busy schedules and listen. It may be hard to do that where you are but after a short while of making time to listen, you will get to hear more from God through the Holy Spirit.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you stop and listen to others?
How often do you stop and listen to God?
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May 16: John 16:5-11
Key Verse: John 16:8
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement:
Devotion:
I’m not quite sure what I would have been thinking if I were in the place of the disciples when Jesus first said this. When Jesus first told them He was going to be betrayed, taken away and then leave them, they must have thought all manner of things. Why would their Messiah have to leave them! But when they thought about what the scriptures had been telling them for so long already, their minds must have been in turmoil!
Ours is not to wander why Jesus left the disciples, but to wander why this had to be done in the first place. That is when we should be looking back on ourselves and this world we live in. The three points Jesus raises need to be remembered by us to make sense of what happened so many years ago with the disciples.
The outcome of this all was to make people see the real sin is not believing in Christ. Because of what He has already done for us, there is no other sin which is too great to be forgiven by Him! As much as people tried to be righteous, they failed and changed the rules to suit themselves. God does not change the rules and only righteous people get to go to heaven. And finally, the god of this world, Satan, has already been defeated!
When we put that all together we begin to realise we have to believe in Christ because that is the only way we will be permanently forgive of our sins. When we are forgiven, we are counted as righteous. The judgement for our righteousness comes from Christ alone, the one who stands as judge over us all from the beginning of time to the end!
Points to Ponder:
Do you share your beliefs with others?
How will others get to heaven without knowing these things?
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May 15: Isaiah 22:15-19
Key Verse: Isaiah 22:17
Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man.
Devotion:
I can’t think of anything worse than a person of God coming to me and saying God is not pleased with what I am doing or have done! At this time when Isaiah was prophet for Israel, the palace administrator had taken it upon himself to change things around to try and shore up the defences of Jerusalem. In doing so he order many of the things God put in place to be taken down and the earthly worth of those things to be used for the defence of the city.
None of this was asked for by God and none of it was sanctioned by any godly people; instead the person was abusing their position of power to take things away from people who probably could not afford to do anything about it and bolster up his own position – all in the name of the palace.
We have seen a few instances recently where people have abused their position of power to accomplish something which adversely affects poorer people. We see this actively happening in our governments around the world as the rich get richer and become more fearful of losing the earthly riches they have gained.
God is not too concerned about earthly riches unless it is adversely affecting the poor; when this happens you can be sure God is going to step in and make changes which will affect the arrogant people who are taking things away from the poor. God is very concerned about our souls and what is going to happen to them when this earthly existence expires. Don’t be too concerned about the earthly riches which cannot and do not affect your place in Heaven!
Points to Ponder:
Do you fear loosing earthly things?
Will you listen to God to find out what Heavenly things are important?
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May 14: Acts 17:22-31
Key Verse: Acts 17:29
Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by human design and skill.
Devotion:
I find it interesting to see the different ways in which stories are told in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Some are told as if they happened many years ago and brief outlines are told whilst others, like this seem to be a recollection which is as vivid as the day it happened. Paul was speaking to the people of Athens at the Areopagus, a meeting place for the leaders – whether it was the rocky outcrop we know today or just a prominent meeting place, we can’t speculate.
His declaration of the people being very religious is one which is as valid today as it was then. Many people tend to stick to the religious events, ceremonies and objects rather than pursuing a personal relationship with Christ. Paul was trying to get people to leave their worldly views of religion behind and be closer to God. He picked on one inscription on an altar he saw which was to the “unknown god” because that no longer made sense to him. He knew God to be real just as Christ was real. He knew there was no missing or unknown gods who were anything other than what people thought up from their own imaginations.
But when we stand up and break down people’s beliefs, we need to remain firmly footed in the truth otherwise we will fall flat on our faces and everything we try to say from that point on will be as if we were flat on our faces already.
Stand firm in Christ and remember to base everything you say on what you have learned from your bible or from people you know who are firmly footed in Christ. Paul knew he would be able to continue talking about Christ for as long as the people would be willing to listen. He had learned so much from the Holy Spirit and continued to share those beliefs with everyone he met.
Points to Ponder:
What do you like telling people about?
Will you try to base what you say on the truth?
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May 13: Acts 15:36-41
Key Verse: Acts 15:39
They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus
Devotion:
Up until this point Paul and Barnabas had been a duo doing many things together and taking the gospel to as many people as they could. Paul now wanted to go back to all the places they had preached and make sure they were all doing well and keeping close to God. Barnabas wanted John to come along as well but Paul disagreed; so much so they must have had a very big argument and fell out with each other! Welcome to the world of human emotions and fickleness!
The apostles had done so much to try and quell arguments, spread the truth and teach people to live with Christ in their hearts, but they still succumbed to personal feelings. It is something we will always have to face because we are human and we have feelings. Should they have done anything different? Well, that is very subjective and we only hear one side of the story from the writer here…
What can we take away from this? Despite all the good we do in life, we are always going to get something wrong some of the time. That means we have to be able to survive from our mistakes and move on with Christ still in our hearts and not take hatred or jealousy with us instead. God has given us emotions and souls so we can make choices in our lives, choices which affect others as well as ourselves.
And that, I think, should be the point we look at here. Not to put blame onto one party or another but to rather think about the choices we make and how they will affect the people around us. Being a disciple of God means we are always on show and people are always going to react based on our actions!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know what affect you have on the people around you?
Will you stop to think before embarking on your next change?
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May 12: John 15:12-17
Key Verse: John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Devotion:
Jesus shows the disciples they mean a whole lot more than just pupils or servants; He calls them friends. The difference He states here is they have been given privy to all of the things God has disclosed to Jesus as a man and not just what the hierarchy want them to know. The Pharisees maintained their power by making sure people knew just enough to keep them in line and not enough to pick faults in the leaders!
Jesus disclosed everything because he wanted them and us to know the whole truth. This is the special relationship we have with Christ – not be be mere servants, slaves, disciples or sheep, but friends of God! Why does He want them to know this much – to show how special and needed love is in any relationship.
Yes we could have a very good working relationship with God if we listened to Him and obeyed Him, but if we want to be in that good relationship with Him, then we have to go as far as being friends with God and loving Him with everything we have!
Love is the cornerstone of any relationship; upon that is built trust, respect, honesty and every other attribute a good relationship requires to work. Without love that relationship is going to break down before it blossoms. The same can be said for human relationships but we have problems trying to understand what this love is and instead we follow desires and lusts. God just wants to love us and for us to love Him.
Points to Ponder:
Do you have love in your relationship with God?
Will you try to understand how much he loves you?
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May 11: John 15:9-11
Key Verse: John 15:9
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
Devotion:
This continues to be another of my favourite passages but as I was reading it today I couldn’t help think of the difference between Jesus and us. Here Jesus is telling the disciples how He loves them with the same love God loves Him – as the Son of God. He continues to say this is partly because He has kept God’s commands. This is where the big difference raises it’s ugly head… We will always struggle to keep God’s commands because of the lives we live.
Jesus came to live amongst us as a human being to show that anything is possible with God. He came and lives a sinless life as a human and followed the will of His Father in heaven. How was that possible? By dedicating His entire life to God and not just a day a week or now and again!
Yes, this is a big ask from us because we are born into a sinful world and we live amongst sinful people. We are stained by the evil which surrounds us and we give in to some of it some of the time because it seems easier to do this when we think it does not affect anyone else – but it does affect God!
Christ must have had so many wonderful experiences of people coming to have this personal relationship with God through His teachings and His actions. People would always crowd around Jesus to see what He would do next or to get some sort of blessing or healing from Him. Christ gave out that teaching and healing with love and joy – how are we treating the people around us?
Points to Ponder:
Do you give to everyone around you?
Will you try to be more like Jesus today?