I use the King James version of this Scripture today… because it states that it was the Church that God was adding to daily…(other versions say – God added to their numbers). So what was so different about this particular group of people? What we saw was unity and mutual care for one another. There was fellowship, prayer, and the breaking of bread among them…but there was also evangelism outside the four walls. The early Church was a delicate balance of both inward and outward focus…and God added to their numbers daily.
Tag: Acts
Acts 6:1 “…there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.”
Nothing divides a workplace or a Church more than grumbling, complaining, and gossip spreading. Suddenly you have one side pitted against another…flamed by second-hand information, false assumptions, and passive-aggressive behavior. My mantra during all the years I managed large medical staffs used to be, ” I will act, but I refuse to react to you running in my office tattling on someone else.” Satan loves to divide and wound groups of people who were once one happy family. So ask yourself the next time someone grumbles and murmurs against another to you, “Do I want to be part of the problem, or part of the solution?” For it’s so much easier to talk about a person than to talk directly to them.
Acts 16: 25-26 ” About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.”
Earlier in the day, Paul and Silas had been stripped, severely flogged and then thrown into prison. So we now find them hours later holding their own praise and worship service to a rather captive audience of fellow prisoners and guards. They could have wallowed in their sorrow and pain, but instead chose to worship God. When we praise God in the midst of impossible situations, the atmosphere changes and with it, our attitude. Our eyes are taken off the incurable, the grief-stricken, the hopeless dilemma…and allows God to work in miraculous ways. It says here that the earthquake caused all the prison doors to open…not just the one to Paul and Silas’s cell, and that everybody’s chains came off…not just theirs. When our focus is on praise rather than on self-pity, everyone around us will be blessed.
Acts 8:36 ” As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?’ “
Philip, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, had found a Ethiopian eunuch traveling the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. The eunuch was reading the book of Isaiah, but was perplexed, so Philip started with that scripture, (Isaiah 53:7-8) and explained to the eunuch the good news of Jesus. Later as they traveled together, they came upon some water and it’s here the eunuch asks, “Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” Now in some late manuscripts verse 37 is added which says, “Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ The eunuch answered, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ ” Baptism is the public demonstration of a personal decision…it symbolizes spiritual renewal, forgiveness of sins, adoption by God and eternal life. If you are a Believer but have never been baptized…ask yourself the same question the eunuch did, “Why shouldn’t I be baptized?”
Acts 4:29 ” Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak Your Word with great boldness.”
Telling others about Jesus should come easy for the Believer. Declaring the Gospel to those we come in contact with should be as natural as asking, “How you doing today?” So why do we freeze up when it comes to talking about our faith? What exactly are we afraid of? For there is no fear in the Gospel…only freedom. So we should make the same request that the Apostle Paul made in Ephesians 6:19, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel…” Paul was confidently relying on the Holy Spirit to give him the words to speak…he just had to open his mouth in obedience.
Acts 4:12 ” Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
There’s no other name, but Jesus. There’s no other way, but through Him. There’s no other person, thing or place that can give you eternal deliverance from God’s wrath and hell. I Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all men -” Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the price for your sins… in order that you may have eternal life. Yes, there’s no other name, but Jesus.
Acts 5: 18-20 ” They arrested the Apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. ‘Go, stand in the Temple courts,’ he said, ‘and tell the people the full message of this new life.’ “
Even though the Disciples had lived, traveled, and witnessed miracles by Jesus – this was now becoming tough times. Jesus was gone, they were on their own, and preaching the Good News was becoming more and more difficult. They had been thrown into jail…again, when an angel broke them out. But rather than telling them to flee for their lives, he commanded them to go right back to the Temple and speak. How many of us would have the same kind of boldness and courage to go right back into enemy territory? They realized the life-giving Word they preached overshadowed the momentary fear they felt.
Acts 28:31 ” Boldly and without hindrance he preached the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul was under house arrest in Rome and confined for 2 years in a little house under constant guard by the Roman soldiers. He could have had quite a pity party…but he instead chose to use his situation for good. Yes, he was confined in one spot…but his spirit was free, for the Kingdom of God was within his heart. He could have been intimidated by the soldiers, but he chose not to have restrictions and limitations placed on God’s Word that he preached. Paul’s fearless teaching to all who wandered into that house…including the soldiers listening, was a way of him saying, “What can man do to me? My physical body may be incarcerated, but my soul is free.”
Acts 18: 9-10 ” One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘ Do not be afraid; Keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’ “
Satan would like us to think we’re out there working for the Lord alone…like the Lone Ranger, isolated and unaided by others. Satan would like us to be fearful in talking to others about the Lord…not wanting to offend…wanting rather, to be “politically correct”, even if it goes against the Word of God. Satan would like us to keep quiet, not rocking the boat of this modern liberal society. Satan doesn’t care if we read the Bible or pray…just as long as we don’t do it in public. But Satan also knows the power of the spoken Word, and what a transformation could take place… if Christians weren’t silent.
Safetypinlove 