Passage of the Day - October 26, 2010

Acts 4:5-12

⁵On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem;

 ⁶and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent.

 ⁷When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?"

 ⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people,

 ⁹if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well,

 ¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

 ¹¹"He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.

 ¹²"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

The Jewish rulers and elders, the “BUIILDERS”, rejected the cornerstone of Christ.  How interesting things would have been if the Jewish leaders, the most educated and theological among all the people, would have embraced the Cornerstone and Christ’s Church and Kingdom were established with the Jewish leaders overseeing.  Instead they rejected it and Christ used other Jews (the disciples and eventually Paul) to embrace and oversee Christ’s Church.  For you see, when God chooses to do something, it will get done whether you are on board or not.

Passage of the Day - October 25, 2010

Acts 4:1-4

 ¹As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them,

 ²being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

 ³And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.

 ⁴But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

Two problems with what Peter was teaching:  the resurrection from the dead – which the Sadducees didn’t believe in, and the resurrection being through the crucified blaspheming heretic Jesus Christ.  Peter spoke boldly enough of the gospel of Christ to earn a night in jail.  As we can see from this passage, boldly speaking the Truth can produce great fruit and severe consequences.

Passage of the Day - October 24, 2010

Acts 3:24-26

24"And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.

 25"It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.'

 26"For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways."

God's chosen people were given first rights to the Messiah.  However, they rejected Him.  I wonder how many blessings of God I forsake for my own agenda and interpretation of Scripture.

Passage of the Day - October 23, 2010

Acts 3:19-24

19"Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

 20and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,

 21whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.

 22"Moses said, 'THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you.

 23'And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'

 24"And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.

This passage points to the exclusivity of Christ.  Those who do not follow the appointed Prophet Jesus Christ, will be utterly destroyed.  If we aren't following the express image of God, then we aren't following God at all.  If we don't obey the Son of God who is perfectly obedient to the Father God, then we aren't obeying our Father God.

Passage of the Day - October 22, 2010

Acts 3:17-18

 ¹⁷"And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.

 ¹⁸"But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

Isn’t it good to know that no matter how much we screw up, we can never screw up God’s plans?

Passage of the Day - October 21, 2010

Acts 3:13-16

¹³"The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

 ¹⁴"But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

 ¹⁵but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.

 ¹⁶"And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

There is that word again – faith.  Humility, boldness, and sacrifice are useless without faith.  Faith in Christ gives us what is more important – a focus.  Not overvaluing ourselves is not as important as properly valuing God and His Son Jesus.  Being bold to get our message across is self glorifying; being bold to get God’s message of redemption across without fear is God glorifying.  Sacrificing ourselves for anything or anyone besides God and His glory is foolishness; sacrificing ourselves for the sake of the Name of Christ is the pinnacle of wisdom.

Passage of the Day - October 20, 2010

Acts 3:11-12

¹¹While he was clinging to ^(L)Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called ^(M)portico of Solomon, full of amazement.

 ¹²But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

Continuing from yesterday, Peter expresses his humility.  Not only does Peter denounce the idea that he has some special power, he also denounces the idea that he is such a great Christian that he was able to do this.  The people in the crowd didn’t know Peter as well as we do.  We know that Peter denied Jesus three times when He was arrested.  That isn’t a sign of piety or power.  We know that only the Holy Spirit working through Peter was able to accomplish this, and Peter, having a proper understanding, knew that as well.  It doesn’t take a super-religious person to have the Holy Spirit work through him, but rather one willing to stop and yield to the Holy Spirit and obey.

Passage of the Day - October 19, 2010

Acts 3:2-10

²And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.

 ³When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.

 ⁴But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!"

 ⁵And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

 ⁶But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!"

 ⁷And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

 ⁸With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

 ⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God;

 ¹⁰and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Why doesn’t this happen more?  Why can’t we witness God healing the sick through us?  Well, until we are willing to yield to what the Holy Spirit did through Peter in the rest of chapter 3 only to be rewarded by what happens to Peter and John in the beginning of chapter 4, we will likely not witness God healing the sick through us.  Before we make supernatural healing normative, we need to make humility, boldness, and sacrifice normative.

Passage of the Day - October 18, 2010

Acts 3:1

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.

The Jews had times of prayer during the day, morning prayer (3^rd hour - 9am), afternoon prayer (9^th hour – 3pm), and at sunset.  Peter and John went to these hours of prayer.  Whatever happened to these in the Christian church?  Why do we have nothing like it?  Is it religious tradition?  Is it cultural?  Imagine having three prayer services daily with four on the Sabbath and five on Yom Kippur.  Outside of thanking God for our meals, I’m willing to bet that we don’t have three set times of prayer in our personal lives, much less three hour long sessions with fellow believers.  And yet, we feel disconnected from God and are dissatisfied with our prayer life.  Perhaps we could move toward something like this in our personal/family life.

Passage of the Day - October 17, 2010

  Acts 2:42-47

42They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

43Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

44And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;

45and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

46Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

47praising God and having favor with all the people And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

This is a difficult passage. This goes against Americanism and American Evangelicalism. Communal living, how is that even possible? Is that the format for church? Is that the format for living? Any style is possible when the Church has one mind perfectly united with Christ. Are we focused on the good of all church members, thankful to God always, and devoting ourselves to teaching and prayer? Or are our churches filled with various people (including us on Passage) who are trying to push our own agenda, our own visions of church?

Passage of the Day - October 16, 2010

Acts 2:37-41

 37Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"
 38Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 39"For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."

 40And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!"

 41So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

It all starts with repentance.  No matter what we do, we cannot glorify God if we do not repent of the sin we have committed.  We must continually remember this for ourselves.  We also must remember this for those we witness to.  Witnessing to the Truth of God in Jesus Christ is not about winning a theological debate.  We are called to help guide others to give God the glory He is due.  Since glory can't start until repentance, repentance is priority one

Passage of the Day - October 15, 2010

Acts 2:22-36

²²"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--

 ²³this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

 ²⁴"But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

 ²⁵"For David says of Him,
         'I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE;
         FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.
    ²⁶'THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED;
         MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;
    ²⁷BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES,
         NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.
    ²⁸'YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE;
         YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.'

 ²⁹"Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

 ³⁰"And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE,

 ³¹he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.

 ³²"This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.

 ³³"Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

 ³⁴"For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:
         'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
         "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
    ³⁵UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."'

 ³⁶"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."

I know I have often thought, “How could they be so dumb?  How could they not of realized who this was?  How could they turn on Him so drastically in just a week?”  Well, look at how we treat those who become celebrities.  The more popular they become, the more we enjoy watching them come crashing down.  Usually they are taken down because their sin gets revealed or because they speak their mind and aren’t politically correct.  True followers of Christ could never survive as a celebrity because the world, at heart, hates the true God.  The world has rebelled against Him and are His enemies.  So were we, but God sent Christ to die for us and to raise Him up!  We have been saved to serve Him.  We are to serve Him by being hated by the world.  If the world is the enemy of Christ and we are His, then the world makes itself the enemy of us as well.

Passage of the Day - October 14, 2010

Acts 2:14-21

¹⁴But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: "Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.

 ¹⁵"For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;

 ¹⁶but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
    ¹⁷'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says,
         'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND;
         AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,
         AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,
         AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;
    ¹⁸EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN,
         I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT
         And they shall prophesy.
    ¹⁹'AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE
         AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW,
         BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.
    ²⁰'THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS
         AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD,
         BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.
    ²¹'AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.'

The page has turned in history and a new chapter has begun.  The chapter begins with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and ends with the “great and glorious Day of the LORD”.  The Levite priests and the occasional prophet were the only channels God would use; the priests to sacrifice for Man to God and the prophet to speak for God to Man.  Well, Jesus made the once and for all sacrifice to God for Man, so the Levitical priesthood is obsolete.  The Holy Spirit now doesn’t only work through the occasional male prophet, He is at work in and through all servants of Christ.  We are God’s ambassadors now.

Passage of the Day - October 13, 2010

Acts 2:1-11

 ¹When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

 ²And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

 ³And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

 ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

 ⁵Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

 ⁶And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.

 ⁷They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

 ⁸"And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?

 ⁹"Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

 ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

 ¹¹Cretans and Arabs--we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God."

 ¹²And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

 ¹³But others were mocking and saying, "They are full of sweet wine."

Ah, this is interesting.  I have not noticed the word “devout” in verse five.  God knows the hearts of men and God knew that the devout Jews were ready to hear the gospel.  God did not give the disciples the ability to speak in tongues because Jews from many nations were in Jerusalem for the Pentecost; He gave the disciples the ability to speak in tongues because DEVOUT Jews from many nations were Jerusalem for the Pentecost (festival commemorating God giving Israel the Ten Commandments).  You will notice the words “each one” in verse 6 and “all” in verse 12.  It appears all of the “devout” responded, but the non-devout mocked.

Sometimes we stress about the responses of those we are close to that are not ready for the gospel and neglect those we don’t know as well who are.  Part of the problem is that if God does not deem them ready for the gospel, the Holy Spirit may not be the one doing the talking, but rather us.  The Holy Spirit will ALWAYS speak when the servant is yielding and the recipient is ready to hear the gospel.

Passage of the Day - October 12, 2010

Acts 1:15-26

¹⁵At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,

 ¹⁶"Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

 ¹⁷"For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry."

 ¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.

 ¹⁹And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

 ²⁰"For it is written in the book of Psalms,
         'LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE,
         AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT';
         and,
         'LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS OFFICE.'

 ²¹"Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--

 ²²beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."

 ²³So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

 ²⁴And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen

 ²⁵to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place."

 ²⁶And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

You are in the middle of a huge decision making process.  Through investigation and insight you have narrowed your choices between two equitable options.  How do you choose one over the other?  Roll the dice and let God decide.  It is interesting how this is the system used throughout the Bible and it never came up with the wrong answer, but we would never dare use it.  We focus more on consensus.  However, consensus can be yielded or coerced.  Perhaps having a consensus to allow God decide once the filtering process has been completed would be the optimal way of making decisions between two apparent viable options.  God sees things man can’t (the hearts of the individuals and the future).  Of course, that takes faith.  That word just keeps popping up.

Passage of the Day - October 11, 2010

Acts 1:12-14

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

 ¹³When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

 ¹⁴These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

This is the only time in Church history that the Church was truly of one mind.  When Christ returns, we will once again be of one mind.  You will also note that they were continually devoting themselves to prayer.  Is there a link between continual prayer and being of one mind?  Hmmm.

Passage of the Day - October 10, 2010

Acts 1:9-11

 ⁹And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

 ¹⁰And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.

 ¹¹They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

Don’t get caught up in looking for Christ to return; we have a job to do.

Passage of the Day - October 9, 2010

Acts 1:6-8

6So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"
 7He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
 8but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Jesus does not call us to have all the answers.  Jesus calls us to submit to the Holy Spirit, be led by Him, and be witnesses to the Truth; the Truth of Christ resurrected.

Passage of the Day - October 8, 2010

Acts 1:3

 ³To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

 ⁴Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;

 ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

It was only six weeks ago that Peter denied knowing Jesus.  In of himself, Peter could have great zeal, but when the chips were down he failed.  That is true of us as well.  We will see throughout the first portion of Acts that the Holy Spirit worked through Peter to spread the gospel with enduring boldness and clarity.  Jesus prepared Peter through discipleship, but head knowledge wasn’t enough.  Peter, as with the rest of us, needed the Holy Spirit to be effective in glorifying God through sharing the Good News of Christ resurrected.

Passage of the Day - October 7, 2010

Acts 1:1-2

1The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

Our King, Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit has given orders. The Book of Acts shows what His apostles did with their orders. He has given us orders too. Sit back and really reflect on His Word and the Holy Spirit’s leadings. What are His orders, and are we going to obey Him in faith?

Passage of the Day Introduction

Perhaps you are familiar with Passage of the Day on Facebook.  I will now be posting it to this blog to reach more people.  Each day I post a Bible passage and write a little blurb on the passage.  I am not a theologian, nor do I pretend to be.  I am a student of the Word, and adhere to conservative born-again Christian theology and view the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God without apology.  I have been doing this on Facebook for a year and a half.  We are starting a walk through the Book of Acts.  Enjoy and feast on the Word of God.