Acts 4
Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin
1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
5The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.[a]'[b] 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
21After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
The Believers' Prayer
23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
" 'Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.[c]'[d] 27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people[e] of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
The Believers Share Their Possessions
32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 78
A maskil of Asaph. [a]
1 O my people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old-
3 what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their forefathers—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
May 12, 2008
A Child’s Wonder
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READ: Psalm 78:1-8
That they may arise and declare [God’s law] to their children, that they may set their hope in God. —Psalm 78:6-7
In 19th-century Scotland, a young mother observed her 3-year-old son’s inquisitive nature. It seemed he was curious about everything that moved or made a noise. James Clerk Maxwell would carry his boyhood wonder with him into a remarkable career in science. He went on to do groundbreaking work in electricity and magnetism. Years later, Albert Einstein would say of Maxwell’s work that it was “the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.”
From early childhood, religion touched all aspects of Maxwell’s life. As a committed Christian, he prayed: “Teach us to study the works of Thy hands . . . and strengthen our reason for Thy service.” The boyhood cultivation of Maxwell’s spiritual life and curiosity resulted in a lifetime of using science in service to the Creator.
The community of faith has always had the responsibility to nurture the talent of the younger generation and to orient their lives to the Lord, “that they may arise and declare [God’s law] to their children, that they may set their hope in God” (Ps. 78:6-7).
Finding ways to encourage children’s love for learning while establishing them in the faith is an important investment in the future.
— Dennis Fisher
Our children are a gift from God
On loan from heaven above,
To train and nourish in the Lord,
And show to them His love. —Sper
We shape tomorrow’s world by what we teach our children today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 12, 2008
The Habit of Having No Habits
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READ:
If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . —2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.
Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, "I can’t do that right now; this is my time alone with God." No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.
Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things— things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
Getting Passengers Off the Fatal Flight
Monday, May 12, 2008
Over the years when people ask me where I live, I sometimes have answered with the name of an airline that I have flown a lot. Actually, a significant part of my life has been spent on airplanes, or in airports. And when there's a disaster in the air, you know, or an airplane problem, for those of us who fly a lot, it makes us think a little bit. And for all of us, whether we are flyers or not, there are some images of certain airline tragedies that I guess will be forever imprinted on our memories. One of those was that jet airline crash in the Everglades where the entire plane and all its passengers just vanished in that swamp. But for one man, there's another image related to that crash. According to one news report, he had used his identification to help his friend purchase a ticket for that flight. The friend didn't have sufficient ID with him at the time. So, the man who bought the ticket watched his friend and all those passengers boarding, and he said, "I cannot forget their faces." And then he was quoted as saying, "If only there had been some sign given of what was going to happen. If only I had known to warn them."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Getting Passengers Off the Fatal Flight."
Now, obviously if anyone had advance warning of the outcome of a fatal flight they would do everything possible to keep the passengers from going. Seldom do we have such a warning. But when it comes to where people around us will go for eternity, we have all the signs and all the warnings we need. God tells us, for example, in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, that those who have not obeyed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus will, "Be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord."
You see, without the Savior, no one we know can get to heaven, and the only alternative is hell. Our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 24:11, "Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering towards slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what He has done?" If you know people who are on a flight that leads to death, your responsibility is so obvious. You rescue them! If you look around at most of Jesus' followers today, we're not in rescue mode! There's very little sense of a life-or-death urgency about introducing those around us to Jesus. Which leads us to ask, do we really think that people we know will be lost forever if they don't know Christ? Do we really believe that they're spiritually dying?
Someone suggested to me recently that most Christians are practical universalists. In theological circles a universalist is someone who believes that everyone will eventually make it with God somehow. Practical universalists probably don't believe that; they believe that people must have the Savior to go to heaven, they just don't act like it. They act like the people they know will somehow make it without Him. So what about the people you live with, you live close to, the people you work with, the people you go to school with? The Bible clearly teaches that sin has a death penalty, that Jesus died to pay that penalty, and that we will pay the death penalty for our sins if we don't accept the payment Jesus made in His love for us.
The people around you are on a flight that ends in eternal death and we have the information that could save them! Isn't our responsibility very clear? Rescue those being led away to death; begin to pray daily by name with life or death passion for the people around you. Ask God for the words; ask Him for the opportunity to tell them about your Jesus. You know where their Christless flight is headed. You can see their faces. Be the one who gets them off that fatal flight and on the one that will take them to eternal life.
It could be as we've talked about this today you've realized in your own heart that you may very well have never gotten on the flight that goes to God's heaven. Maybe this could be your day to do what the Bible says, "Cross over from death to life." You just say, "Jesus, I have no hope but you. I've never really acted on this, but I am yours beginning right now. I've believed in you before, but I don't belong to you. I want to beginning today." We'd love to help you cross from death to life and into His waiting arms, if you'll just go to our website. It's yoursforlife.net. I hope you'll go there today, because Jesus gave His life to save yours.