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April 14: Romans 1:14-17
Key Verse: Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Devotion:
Ok, so now we know God wants us to go out and tell people the truth about Jesus and to help others to get to know Him better, what are we going to do about it? How many of you slipped lower into your seats as you read that line? Many of us are certainly not ready to tell the world about Jesus because we are not all disposed to being some sort of evangelist!
Paul had no issues with going out to tell others about Jesus because He knew that is what Jesus had told him to do – to go out and tell others about Jesus, not just the Jews. Each one of us are given someone to tell about Jesus – whether it is standing up in front of some people and talking about what you know about Jesus, or whether it is simply sitting and talking to a single friend... we have our tasks to do.
Paul knew he had to go out to all the people where he was before going on a round trip of the Mediterranean! He knew God was calling him to spread the Good News to many more people who had not been focused on by the disciples. The disciples themselves had been given the difficult task of talking to the Jews to try and bring them round to knowing the full truth about Jesus.
Paul had a fairly clean sheet of going out to other people to tell them of all the things which had been happening over the past few years in and around Jerusalem. There were many witnesses to what Jesus did and a whole lot of opposition from the Jews... But, the Gentiles, on the other hand did not have these pre-conceived ideas and they could listen to this fresh Good News and be encouraged by it. It’s always easier to learn from the mistakes of others rather than your own mistakes!
Points to Ponder:
Are you ready to talk to someone about Jesus?
How about just telling someone why you love Jesus?
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April 13: Acts 7:39-41
Key Verse: Acts 7:40
They told Aaron, “Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt – we don’t know what has happened to him!”
Devotion:
When Stephen was pulled up in front of the Sanhedrin, it was because some thought he was taking away from the words they had learned all their lives. They had the written words of Moses which had been passed down over centuries, and they were not going to let them get changed by any man.
What Stephen reminded them of was their own history and how mankind had continued to want to live according to their own rules rather than by being guided by God. He reminded them of the time Moses was at the top of the mountain with God and how the people lost faith and patience in waiting. They wanted a god they could see which could lead them to their new home – so they assumed the only way would be to build their own!
It may sound silly when we look at it afterward, but this is the type of thing we continue to get involved with every day in our modern lives. We like to get technology and use it to produce something special (or at least that is what we look at it as being) which can be used to promote God and spread the word. Yes, it is helpful to have aids which help us to see and remember God, but nothing should ever replace God!
This is the mistake they made – they wanted something to replace the unseen God! That is taking God completely out of the equation and saying we have no faith in Him. So, instead of trying to make something to follow, let's use technology to highlight where God is and to allow people to follow God and not technology itself.
Points to Ponder:
Do you like old fashioned churched or new churches?
Where is God in your church?
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April 12: Acts 6:1-7
Key Verse: Acts 6:3
Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
Devotion:
I think one of the most important things in ministry is to not try and do everything yourself. The temptation is always there to go and do things yourself because it is easier to just do something rather than teach someone else – and you know you can do it better... Well, how is anyone else going to grow in Christ if you are taking things away from them all the time?
The disciples faced this as their numbers grew, and more people wanted to focus on spreading the gospel... It appears the work which was being carried out previously dwindled as people wanted to do different things... This is always a problem as the church grows, because everyone is tempted to seek the top positions, the positions where they seem to get the greatest glory for themselves... Yes, that is a big problem in modern churches, but seems like it has always been a problem!
God has given each of us different skills and attributes which He knows we are going to excel with. If we are willing to use those skills instead of focusing on skills which get all the glory, the whole church will be better off! We are working as a team of people trying to spread the gospel. But, just because we are trying to spread the gospel, does not mean we can ignore the people who need help and support. It does not mean we can ignore the hard work which goes on behind the scenes and gets no glory...
God wants us to be willing to trust Him and live according to His will. This is going to be the best outlook for the church as a whole – if we are willing to trust and obey our God!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do in church?
Are you neglecting the less glamorous jobs?
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April 11: Acts 4:32-35
Key Verse: Acts 4:32
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
Devotion:
As our country continues to mourn the passing of our Queen’s Husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, we can take away the great support his role within the Royal Family played. A role which not just defined him as a man but defined how one person can do so much from a position of support. No greater role model of support has this country had than His Royal Highness The Prince Philip.
As the disciples and followers of Jesus grew in faith and in number in the early days after Jesus’ resurrection, they too learned they could do so much in their roles as humble servants of Christ. They set aside their differences and lived as a common people, all serving Christ and sharing the gospel. Through this new-found strength of working as humble people, they expanded in numbers and no person was left in need amongst them.
As God’s children, we all need to take account of the things we have in our lives and how we can use our qualities to the betterment of others. It is not our task to do all we can to become “top dog” in society or wealth, but our task to look out for God’s children in all ways we can. The more we live as one people, the more we will be able to achieve.
Yes, we do need people who are in charge, people who stand up for we are, people who are ambassadors, but we also need to remember we are one people under God. I salute the Queen and Price Philip for all they did to ensure we remember we live under one God, no matter our stature in life.
Points to Ponder:
Are you a willing and humble servant?
Lord, please take great care of our Queen and her family.
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April 10: Mark 16:9-15
Key Verse: Mark 16:15
He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Devotion:
When you read of all the occurrences of Jesus being seen by people and interacting with them after His death and resurrection, we see a common theme developing. The people who got to know Jesus wanted to talk about Him and tell others about Him. This is exactly what Christ wants us to do – not to keep it quiet, but to tell more people so they too can believe in what has happened.
The Apostles knew Him well and knew what they had to do – to go out into the rest of the world and preach the gospel... to tell people the truth. The Apostles were confronted by priests and scribes who told them not to go round speaking of Jesus as being anything more than a man; but they could not hold back the truth and told the people in charge this is what they would continue to do – because they had witnessed the truth and had to tell people the truth!
When we get to know Jesus nowadays, we get to know the love and mercy He has for each of us. This is a very tangible truth we get to know! It is something we could just say, but people would be sceptical of what we say. But when they too get to know Christ personally, they too want to share this love, peace and mercy with others.
We will all have our doubts about what has happened and even why it happened, but the more we open our hearts and minds to the truth, the more we will recognise it as the truth and the more we will want to share this truth as well. God wants us to share this love, not just with our friends and families, but with everyone we meet, and everything we see too. God is the God of everything, not just people!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do with good news?
Will you share God’s Good News with everything?
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April 9: Acts 4:1-4
Key Verse: Acts 4:3
They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
Devotion:
There are so many accounts of what we may look at as being rough justice for the disciples as they spread the gospel message to everyone they came into contact with. This sort of history can be off-putting for us – why should we have to go through rough justice just to tell people about Jesus? Well, have a think about how much Jesus did for you...
Every instance of the Apostles being attacked, imprisoned, hunted down or otherwise persecuted, has a persecutor behind it. And behind that persecutor is a feeling or emotion – normally pride or greed! The Apostles were persecuted because of the pride and greed of other people, not because they were telling the truth. This is going to be the case no matter what truth we are telling in our lives. If you stand up and tell the truth, there will probably be someone who wants that truth hidden and will do anything to hide it...
Jesus sees directly into our hearts and knows why we do the things we do. He knew what would happen when He stood up and told the truth. He could see the corruption of the people in charge of the country or religion at the time, just as He sees into our hearts right now. What He is asking us to do, and has been asking mankind forever, is to try and tell the truth and share the truth about God... What could be better than a world where we all know about God, about Jesus and work with the Holy Spirit at all times? Alas, sin is always going to be in our lives until we get to Heaven; so we need to be ready to put up with the consequences of sin...
Points to Ponder:
Are you afraid to tell the truth?
What would happen if people found out you were telling lies?
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April 8: Luke 24:36-43
Key Verse: Luke 24:41
And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’
Devotion:
I wonder how much joy Jesus got out of appearing in amongst the disciples after His resurrection! From this account we can see how the disciples could still not believe Jesus was back from the dead – they are the ones who had witnessed all Christ went through, the death and the burial! Jesus wanted them to know He was fully raised from the dead and was once again in human form; He asked them for something to eat and joined them in eating some fish.
We are brought up to know the gift of life is very special and the closer we get to death, be it our own or friends and family around us, we begin to know how final it may seem. Yet Christ was giving the disciples, and us, hope there is something more after our physical death – even life eternal!
Here Jesus was asking the disciples to extend their faith from what He had told them during their ministry together, to the reality of what God can and will do. This was the physical proof they needed to have absolute faith in everything Jesus had taught them. This is now all written down for us to read and digest over time so we too can bolster our faith in Christ.
In everything we read about the life of Jesus whilst here on earth in human form, we read a set of deliberate events all to achieve the ultimate goal of being our Saviour because of His great love for us. The more we read, the more we should realise this was all deliberate and aimed at saving us from ourselves. This is the basis of our faith.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you meditate over what Christ has done for you?
Will you accept what Christ has done and share it with others?
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April 7: Acts 3:1-10
Key Verse: Acts 3:6
Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’
Devotion:
When I read this story, I always think of the modern professional beggars who are always in prominent places around cities, where they know they either have a captive audience, or they know the people are kind. This man had learned of the kindness of the people who came to the temple, but I’m sure he was not expecting a gift of this magnitude when he was there this day!
I also think of the saying my grandmother used to say to me when I was young - “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” This man had learned to ask for help and in those times, it was looked at as a humiliating act which he had been forced to do every day for as long as he had been lame. There was no other way he could make a living...
Peter and John stopped when the man asked them for a bit of spare change. Peter admitted to the man he did not have any money because they had learned it was not good to save up their money when it could be used for greater good. But just because they did not have any money on them this time, did not stop them from doing the greater good!
This time they relied on what Jesus had taught them and what Jesus had blessed them with because of their faith. Peter told the man to get up and walk in Jesus' name! He did not tell him to get up and walk because he was now a healer but relied on what Christ could do when he said something in Christ’s name. And Christ made sure the man was healed and was able to spread the good news to more people!
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever tried to do something and failed?
Will you invite Christ to do it with you next time?
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April 6: Acts 2:36-41
Key Verse: Acts 2:37
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’
Devotion:
When the people listening to the disciples realised what Peter was saying and how much they had ignored, they were cut to the heart. They wanted to know how they could put things right after supporting the crucifixion or at the least ignoring it... Nowadays we have films and many stories about what happened, some very graphic and terrible to watch... we do need to know the truth!
But we also need to remember why Christ did this and what we have to look forward to now it has been done! Christ did this all because of His love for us and because He wants us to be free from the death we often look at in our lives. I know many people around the world are still in mourning for losing friends and family to this virus or other causes, and it is at these times when we search for answers to “why!”
Far too long we have ignored the “why” by passing the blame on to others or not wanting to hear the truth. We may, one day, find out exactly where this virus came from, but even when we do – can we blame someone? Which one of us is without blame? Which one of us has not broken the rules and done something they shouldn’t have? Which one of us is without sin?
What we can do, though, is take the example from Christ and show forgiveness and mercy. He came to show us how it can be done on a grand scale – we can copy that example and do it on a smaller scale to and for the people around us. We can spread this Good News by example and leave the evil scattering, trying to find a hole to hide in. Expose the truth and put it behind you to move on with Christ!
Points to Ponder:
How many things have you done wrong already today?
Will you ask Christ for forgiveness and show Him you mean it?
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April 5: Acts 2:22-32
Key Verse: Acts 2:32
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
Devotion:
After the disciples had had time to think about what Christ had done and how much it meant to them, they made sure they went out and told other people just how special that first Easter was and is! We can now read about their reactions to what happened and we can made informed decisions about it... but still many choose to put Christ aside and ignore the Easter story.
We need to be more like the disciples and face up to people who make excuses about what Christ means to them. I know I have been there and made excuses so I would not have to go to church, or made excuses so I would not have to tell others about Christ... but as time goes by I see just how important it is to not just know the Easter story, but to re-tell it!
We have many writings from before Christ even came to earth to tell us about the things which would come to pass. Many people either ignored those writings or refused to believe Jesus could come to earth as a mere human being! This is exactly what He did – to make sure we understood this can happen for us too!
I have just listened to a wonderful talk about how we could be like a train going through a tunnel. Christ is the engine and made it through the tunnel to be raised from the dead. We are like the coaches, without an engine, we will not make it through the tunnel, but linked up to Christ, He will pull us through and make sure we too are raised from the dead to eternal life with Him!
Points to Ponder:
How many people did you wish a happy Easter?
How many of those people know the truth about Christ?