Miles & Missions - Week 3

This week we departed with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. We see that their journeys were anything but easy.  They came up against the schemes of the devil, they extend grace to those who were charged with executing the Messiah only to be thrown out of the city, they ran for their lives as the Jews and Gentiles joined sides against them, they set the records straight when the people of Lystra honored them as gods and Paul was stoned so severely they dragged him out of the city thinking he was dead, and just as they return home for a much needed rest they have to run out and fix a dispute among a group of believers. (Acts 13-15)

If I had to go on a journey like that I think I'd pass.  Thankfully, when the Holy Spirit sends, He also equips. 

At times Paul and Barnabas must have thought that their work was all in vein yet "The word of the Lord spread through the whole region." (Acts 13:49)  We learn that the Truth had been told, the seeds planted and the results were up to God.

The Holy Spirit delivered them from danger when they ran from the city of Iconium and we learned that even though God could have stepped in and removed the danger, he instead delivered them by using their heads and feet by giving them the wisdom to know when to run.  And we learn that whether God uses natural means or supernatural means to deliver us from danger, both are divine provisions.

Beth states: "God was not only interested in drawing Paul out of difficulty or danger.  He wanted to draw Paul closer to Himself.  Every thime God delivers us , the point is ultimately to draw us closer to Himself.  Whether we get to avoid pain and suffering or we must persevere in the midst of it, our deliverance comes when we're dragged from the enemy of our sould to the heart of God.  We excape from the clutches of evil every time we draw near to the embrace of God. Delivered from evil. Drawn to God. The rescue has not reaped its ultimate work until we're under His wing."

On the return trip they passed through all the cities they had preached at on the way and we see their obedience to the great commission:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:19-20)

They were careful not to neglect evangelism or discipleship.  They encouraged the churches that when we are going through difficulties we need to remember that the eternal glory outweighs them all.  Hardships are inevitable for us all because God wants to give us eternal victory by working His glory in and through them and Satan wants to bring us defeat by causing us to struggle and fall. Once we accept the inevitability of hardship, we can redirect our focus from fear of tirals to getting to know Him and love Him through His Word we can be equipped for anything.  We can also be encouraged when we realize that ALL go through hardships, even those who don't believe, the difference is that ours are never in vain...God will use it somehow if we let Him.

And just as they think they can relax at home they have to settle the issue of legalism.  Legalism usually:

1. draws a universal standard from a personal experience...If God worked one way in my life, any other way must be invalid.
2. tries to make salvation harder than it is...Salvation requires nothing more than childlike faith--believing that Jesus Christ died for my sins and accepting His gift of salvation. "We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." (Acts 15:19)
3. expects of other what they themselves can not deliver...Do we have almost impossible expectations of other people?  "Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?" (Acts 15:10)

We ended the week with a video session on Galatians 5:16-26

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

When we receive Christ as our Saviour the God allows us to share in the personality of Christ. We are given the supernatural ability to:

1. Love - to demostrate God's love. (Rom. 5:8)
2. Joy - to discover joy even in difficulty. (Matt. 13:44)
3. Peace - to have peace when our worlds are shaken. (Ps. 46:1-4; Heb. 12:26-29; Col. 3:15)
4. Patience - to bear up with difficult people.
5. Kindness - to remain warm and tender-hearted in an uncaring world.
6. Goodness - to be genuinely beneficial to this world.
7. Faithfulness - to believe God and to act on our belief.
8. Gentleness - to surrender and submit to God's will.
9. Self-Control - to exercise restraint. (2 Tim. 1:7)

To Live in the Spirit we need to daily surrender to His authoritry, ask for His cleansing from sin, and daily desire the filling of the Spirit.

Finding the Way - Week 2

We started off the week by studying a man named Stephen in Acts 6 and 7.  In a world full of people who feel such emptiness, Stephen was full - not just because he accepted Jesus as Saviour, but because he surrendered his whole life to Christ's will and purpose.  The more Stephen poured out his life for Christ, the more Christ poured His life into Stephen.  He was a man full of faith, full of God's grace and power.  Only a person who is full of the Holy Spirit can possess the kind of power Stephen displayed and yet remain full of God's grace.  Only in Christ can a man or woman become an instrument of impressive, unquestionable might - yet remain a vessel of humility, an object of grace.  A person full of the Holy Spirit cannot be full of self.  Pride never accompanies power in the fully yielded life.

Stephen was the first Christian martyr.  We so often think to to survive is victory.  But Stephen received the most awesome calling of all: he was counted worthy to die for the sake of Christ.

Rev 2:10
"Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life."

And Saul was there giving his approval of Stephen's death and cheering on every blow. 

In Acts 9 we watch God strike Saul blind.  We see a God who loves all, including the worst of sinners.

Romans 5:8
God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Christ met Saul on the path to his darkest, most devious sin.  For that very moment, for all of Sauls' sins, Christ had already died. Christ "took hold" (Phil 3:12) of Saul and called him to open the eyes of many and turn them from darkness to light so they could receive forgiveness of sins.  No one can teach forgiveness life the forgive. Beth concluded: "Having searched the life of Saul, how can we every doubt that Christ can save?  Is any too wicked? Any too murderous? Grace never draws a line with a willing soul.  His arm is never too short to save."

After his conversion and a brief exile to get to know his Father, Saul goes back to Damascus to preach the good news that he has discovered.  But he goes completely alone.  He no longer fits with the Pharisees's and the Apostles were all afraid of him, not believing in his change.  And in steps Barnabas who reached out a helping hand of acceptance to Saul.  He encouraged the apostles to accept a new brother.  Beth stated: "Many probably criticized Barnabas for being gullible concerning Saul.  Barnabas was willing to give people a chance even when others didn't.  How many people have returned to former lifestyles because no on believed and accepted them when they attempted to change?  If we end up being duped, better to have erred on the side of belief!"  And because Barnabas believed, the most powerful preacher in all of history was set loose.

In Acts 11 we see the persecution of Saul and the church.  Satan was working hard to stop the growing number of believers. But because of the persecution many believers fled and scatter His seeds all over the world.  Satan cannot do anything to us God cannot use through us!  No matter what gains the enemy has had in your life, if you will cooperate with God and allow Him to direct your life, God will turn defeat into victory!

Acts 20:11
The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

This verse shows us 2 things.  First that many believed and second that they also turned to to the Lord.  The people did not simply believe. James 2:19 tells us even the demons believe.  "We can believe Christ is the Son of God, be convinced he died and rose again for the sins of mankind, and still be lost.  That's head knowledge.  When we personalize Christ's gift of grace on the cross, we are saved.  That's heart knowledge."

Finally, I found it interesting that the word Christian was a label coined by unbelievers as a form of "ridicule" and this term was first used in Acts 11:26.  Peter addressed this insult by saying, "if you suffer as a christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear his name." (1 Peter 4:16)

The First Footprints - Week 1

This week we study the background and upbringing of Paul. We learned that his name was Saul and that as a child he grew up in a home where they followed the Jewish law to the letter. We learned that his father was a pharisee who at that time was a Jewish man who stood for a strict religious life. The Jewish parents considered children the utmost blessing from God. So although he grew up in a strict home, he also enjoyed the utmost devotion of his father to his godly upbringing. As a 13 year old boy, Saul could not even get out of bed in the morning without remembering to whom he belonged. As he tied on the cubes with passages from the Torah on his arm and forehead, he was reminded of his binding relationship to his Creator. The law of the Lord was his life.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

This passage got me thinking...do we do this? Do we talk about it when we sit and walk and lie down and get up? Or do we put God into a situational box and only talk about him when we need something? I think often that is the case. It's easy to go about a whole day and not have a conversation or hear a word about God. How do we change this? How do we make this a part of our everyday life? How do we teach this to our kids?

The Jewish people had all these laws they had to follow that were supposed to remind them about God constantly. I am so thankful that we have been freed from these laws but at the same time I think we have become so scared of tradition and rituals that we are missing out on some good reminders. Rituals aren't bad if we can remember why we do them. What makes them wrong is that they so often become just something we do or something we "have" to do to receive God's grace. Where is the balance? Or is there no balance and we have to find different ways to remind us of our Heavenly Father on a daily basis.

We have a responsibility to make an invisible God, visible. So how do we do this? Beth gave us some suggestions in the Group Session 1.

1. By learning to recognize Him ourselves (John 14:19-23; 5:17)
2. By exerting primary influence while you can (Prov. 4:1-4, 20-21)
3. By personally demonstrating the relevance of God's Word (Prov. 3:5-6)
4. By seizing opportunities to teach about God (Deut. 6:4-9)
5. By growing with them (1 Cor. 13:11)
6. By dedicating them to God (Prov. 22:6) - God's promise, His truths can not be turned off.

As we continued on in the week we saw how strict Saul's life was and how he was an exceptional student. We saw him go to Jerusalem where he was taught by Gamaliel, a very esteemed rabbi. None of his childhood was a waste. Galatians 1:15-16 tells us that he was set apart by God for his service at birth. So all this training had a purpose. Saul became the perfect Pharisee. He became the model for Isaiah 29:13: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is...rules taught by men."

Saul's time in Jerusalem came to an end as he headed back to Tarsus just as John and Jesus came onto the scene. Jesus came and exposed the Pharisees for what they really were and by doing so brought on their anger and just as they hoped the Lamb of God was nailed to a cross.

But the Lord was not finished.

I want to quote what was written in the last paragraphs of this weeks studies because it rings true.

The very thing He finished we can't seem to leave alone and the very thing He hasn't finished, we try to halt. The work of Calvary is finished. No more payment for sin is necessary. He did it all by Himself on the Cross. we can't earn it. We can't add to it. It is finished. Yet we try to add our good works to his Salvation.

However, the work He is doing on everyone who has accepted Christ as saviour is not finished. Salvation is finished. Sanctification is not. Completion is not. Philippians 1:6 promises that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Yet we wish He'd stop picking on us the moment we are saved and let us be the boss. Like the Pharisees, we wish He'd stop interfering...sometimes more effort is required to keep rolling the stone back over the tomb than simply to cooperate with the work He seeks to finish in us.

Do we just want the cross without the resurrection? Are we trying to stuff the living, working Christ back into the tomb so He'll just save us, and then let us alone? Or do we want to know "the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings"?