Passage of the Day - February 12, 2011

After an extraordinarily busy week at work, Passage of the Day is back in full swing.  This passage was one of those random open the Bible, point, and read passages I did this evening with my baby.  It fits for me in so many ways these days.

Psalm 67

¹God be gracious to us and bless us,
         And cause His face to shine upon us-- Selah. 
    ²That Your way may be known on the earth,
         Your salvation among all nations. 
    ³Let the peoples praise You, O God;
         Let all the peoples praise You. 
    ⁴Let the nations be glad and sing for joy;
         For You will judge the peoples with uprightness
         And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. 
    ⁵Let the peoples praise You, O God;
         Let all the peoples praise You. 
    ⁶The earth has yielded its produce;
         God, our God, blesses us. 
    ⁷God blesses us,
         That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.


As John Piper explains in his famous work "Let the Nations Be Glad", the point of missions and evangelism is to bring God glory in all places and by all people groups.  Bringing people to a saving faith is a subset of this supreme purpose.  Feeding the hungry, binding the wounds of the injured, ministering to the widows and orphans are all great subsets of this supreme purpose as well.  This purpose is grand and amazing, but also very freeing as well.  We are responsible for being a part of the grand design of the Church to be led by its King, our Lord and Master Jesus Christ and by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit to bring God the Father glory.  We are to do our part.  We are to produce fruit.  However, we can't be guilted into feelings of failure over the seed of our fruit not always germinating.  That is up to God.


The reason bringing God glory in all places and by all people groups is, as John Piper explains, is that God is fully worthy.  We must have a greater understanding of how worthy God is to demand our focus, our heart, our mind, our strength, our time, and our very soul.


Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - February 8, 2011

Acts 23:23-35

 ²³And he called to him two of the centurions and said, "Get two hundred soldiers ready by the third hour of the night to proceed to Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen."

 ²⁴They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor.

 ²⁵And he wrote a letter having this form:

 ²⁶"Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings.

 ²⁷"When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.

 ²⁸"And wanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their Council;

 ²⁹and I found him to be accused over questions about their Law, but under no accusation deserving death or imprisonment.

 ³⁰"When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to bring charges against him before you."

 ³¹So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

 ³²But the next day, leaving the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to the barracks.

 ³³When these had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.

 ³⁴When he had read it, he asked from what province he was, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

 ³⁵he said, "I will give you a hearing after your accusers arrive also," giving orders for him to be kept in Herod's Praetorium.

Paul was born a Roman citizen.  This fact provided him with extra protections and advantages.  These include getting a fair hearing and being protected from angry mobs.  If he wasn’t born a Roman citizen, he would have been allowed to be killed.  Not only is God paving our path, he has given most of us a great starting point.  Most people reading this live in freedom and prosperity.  We have been given so much for a purpose.  What is that purpose?  We will never know unless we walk with Christ down the path God is paving for us.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - February 7, 2011

Acts 23:12-22

 ¹²When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

 ¹³There were more than forty who formed this plot.

 ¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

 ¹⁵"Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place."

 ¹⁶But the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul.

 ¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, "Lead this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him."

 ¹⁸So he took him and led him to the commander and said, "Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you."

 ¹⁹The commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, "What is it that you have to report to me?"

 ²⁰And he said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.

 ²¹"So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you."

 ²²So the commander let the young man go, instructing him, "Tell no one that you have notified me of these things."

Paul’s nephew was placed by God in the right place at the right time in order to help protect Paul until his mission was completed.  Mere coincidence?  I think not.  Have things like this happened to us?  Have you been on the receiving end of fortunate circumstances that have protected you from some form of harm?  Instead of chalking it up to coincidence or a benevolent act of our guardian angel, we should view it as an act of God for a purpose.  We must always remember that God has a purpose for our lives and he paves the path for us to follow even if we don’t know the destination.  Let us be thankful and remain faithful to this truth and ask forgiveness if we haven’t.  This is a great passage for me to bring back Passage of the Day after a short hiatus.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - February 1, 2011

Acts 23:6-11

⁶But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!"

 ⁷As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

 ⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

 ⁹And there occurred a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, "We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"

 ¹⁰And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

 ¹¹But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, "Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also."

God sometimes lays out tasks for us in order for us to become fully grafted into His Son.  Paul was to witness to Christ’s cause at Jerusalem, and that was all.  He was not asked to win them to Christ.  Now that Paul completed his task, he is now being sent to fulfill his purpose in Rome.

In addition, through this episode, the Pharisees and the Sadducees showed that they were, just like the Jewish nation, were more concerned about their status than their purpose.  Paul threw in a simple distraction that irritated how they defined themselves to take attention away from himself.  The council was there to examine Paul and his standing under the law.  They put their status above their purpose.  How often do we do that?  Let us strive to NEVER put our status above our purpose for it is our purpose that God gave us our status.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - January 31, 2011

Acts 23:1-5

 ¹Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day."

 ²The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.

 ³Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"

 ⁴But the bystanders said, "Do you revile God's high priest?"

 ⁵And Paul said, "I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.'"

How does the Law of God jive with our American revolutionist patriot traditions? Do we speak evil against our rulers?  Where is that line between our civic duty to question our leaders and our Christian duty to not speak evil of our leaders?  Some things to ponder.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - January 30, 2011

Acts 22:25-30

 ²⁵But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?"

 ²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman."

 ²⁷The commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And he said, "Yes."

 ²⁸The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen."

 ²⁹Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately let go of him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.

 ³⁰But on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

The centurion was fearful because he was being unjust to a person of stature within the society he chose to be a part of.  He had no fear when he was being unjust to a person who had no stature within the centurion's society.  How differently would we treat people we interacted with on a daily basis if we knew them or if we knew that they knew our friends or family?

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - January 29, 2011

Acts 22:17-24

¹⁷"It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,

 ¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.'

 ¹⁹"And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.

 ²⁰'And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'

 ²¹"And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

 ²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!"

 ²³And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air,

 ²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

It was all fun and games until Paul put Gentiles on even spiritual footing as the Jews.  We can have the same attitudes in a way.  We can view our ministries as helping the less fortunate, sharing the gospel with the people of different nations, or nurturing children.  But do we view these people as our equals?  Would we treat them as friends?  Invite them into our homes?  Have a meal with them and not merely provide them a meal?  How much better than the Jews of that day are we really?

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)