Month: March 2020

The apostles in the early Body of Christ, returning to a church near you!

Acts 15 develops around a confrontation between two groups from two different church areas and cultures (Jerusalem/Judea and Antioch). They gathered to settle  the fundamental question of what was required of new Gentile Christians for salvation (freedom versus religion). Some heavy hitters were in contention, the Phariseeical Group versus the apostles, Peter, Paul and Barnabas.

The apostles and elders (lawmakers for the church, not just saints) in Jerusalem, met to consider the question of circumcision for all new believers. Peter reminded them that some time ago the Holy Spirit had sent him to speak with Cornelius. “God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Acts 15:8,9

Next up were Barnabas and Paul, they told of all the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. All three apostles emphasised that the Holy Spirit had confirmed the preaching to the Gentiles with supernatural acts.

Lastly James, the half brother of Jesus, addressed the meeting and said that Peter’s testimony agreed with the words of the prophets:

V16 “After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent.

It’s ruins I will rebuild and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear My Name, says the Lord who does these things”. Amos 9:11,12

James concluded, “It is my judgement, therefore, that we should not make it difficult(good point) for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should tell them( four simple things ), abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from meat of strangled animals and from blood”. The apostles and elders with the whole church( now brought in to ratify the decision ) sent a letter with their own messengers to the Church in Antioch with their decision.

Many Christians in many churches today face difficult decisions, but the early church turned to their apostles and the word of the prophets for their decision and got it right. I see and hear today that diverse Christians are saying that the apostles are coming back, the last of the fivefold ministries to be restored. Eph 4:11.

Apostles carry a leadership anointing to set things in place in the church. The Lord is raising them up again to guide the church in the days ahead. The saints in the church in Jerusalem accepted the judgement of the apostles and elders, men with that distinctive calling on their lives. Look out for people called to this office in the body today, they carry authority and bring order.

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God bless you and keep you.

 

 

Choose LIFE!

What is God’s word of LIFE to you today?

Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you rejected it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles ”. Luke 13:46.

The people in the synagogue at Psidian Antioch received two messengers who brought them a choice, a decision. Paul said they had to bring the word to them first, the Jews and God fearing Gentiles. God wasn’t unjust, He sent the word or message to the people who’d been worshipping Him under the Old Covenant, the Old way, but some couldn’t or wouldn’t receive it.

Every decision takes us closer to God or away from Him!

We need to be asking ourselves, where is God in this decision? Is there LIFE in it? The world system is a system tainted with death, that’s why we need to be looking for way that takes us toward God.

“When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed”. Luke 13:48

Even Jesus couldn’t minister where He wasn’t received, in Nazareth, His home town. The people who had the greatest access to Him, rejected Him. Similarly with Paul and Barnabas, the people in the synagogue heard the word first, but they didn’t receive it.

It sounds so simple to say, CHOOSE LIFE. We are all faced with many decisions, but our flesh(Old nature), the world system and the devil, all oppose the will of God for our lives. It takes conscious decision and determination to go against the flow and keep moving towards God. Sometimes the opposition is subtle and sometimes it’s aggressive, but there is often pressure to compromise.

Joshua at the end of his life gathered the people of Israel and presented them with a choice. “Choose for yourselves this day(make a choice NOW and you won’t have to think about it later when opposition comes) whom you will serve… but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”. Joshua 24:15.

Choose LIFE, Choose to continue walking on with God, make the decision today.

God bless you and keep you.

 

 

 

Look for the doors opening!

We should expect that God will open doors for us, if we’re seeking to be obedient to Him. He wants to bless us and that’s why it’s so important to cultivate a thankful heart.

“When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues….”. Acts 13:5 Nothing else is recorded for the time in Salamis. They went there and faithfully proclaimed the message but nothing opened up for them there.

“They travelled through the whole island until they came to Paphos”.  Something happened in Paphos, direct opposition in the form of a sorcerer. Strangely, opposition can be a sign that we are moving towards something or someone that the enemy doesn’t want us to meet.

‘The proconsul sent for them because he wanted to hear the word of God’. A power encounter followed and the sorcerer was struck blind. “When the proconsul saw what had happened he believed…”.

From Perga they went on to Psidian Antioch…and entered the synagogue and sat down(they sat down and waited to see what would happen). …the synagogue rulers sent word to them saying, “Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak”.

Paul and Barnabas went to the place where they needed the door to open, initially the synagogue. They didn’t labour endlessly where nothing was happening. They were seeking to cooperate with God’s Spirit and find the places where their work would be fruitful.

But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a GREAT DOOR for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me. 1 Cor 16:8

Paul needed doors to open for ministry, we may need doors to open for healing, for finances, for jobs or many other things. I prophesy that God will open doors in our lives this day, just as He opened doors for Paul and Barnabas. Lord give us eyes to see these ‘open doors’ and to walk through them in Jesus Name.

May God bless you today.

 

Staying with the Divine Flow, staying in the Divine Order.

Acts 13, begins with the naming of five specific prophets and teachers, Barnabas the first and Saul, last of the five.     “While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. Acts 13:1,2. The Holy Spirit called out Barnabas and Saul for His work, a God appointed work. The story doesn’t end there, “So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed her hands on them and sent them off”. They ratified and blessed the decision of the Spirit, by further prayer and fasting for Barnabas and Saul (the Church implementing the decision of the Spirit).

So we might think that would be everything necessary for the success of the mission, but other notable things take place in Acts 13. John Mark goes with them as their helper, V5, but leaves them in Perga, V13 and this later became a real point of disagreement (Barnabas and Saul/Paul parted company and Barnabas leaves the Bible account).

Then Saul, Hebrew Sha’ul, meaning ‘prayed for/asked for’, began to be known as Paul, Latin/Roman variant of his name, meaning ‘small or humble’.

V8, “Then Saul, who was also called Paul…”.  A name change occurs in the Biblical narrative, right in the middle of the mission. We might say that because Paul was ministering more to the Gentiles, that his Latin name worked better but name changes always carried significance in the Bible.

Furthermore, the order of the apostles names change. The Holy Spirit said, ‘set apart for me Barnabas and Saul’, so that was the Divine Order. But later in the same chapter we see the order has changed, three times it’s given as ‘PAUL and  Barnabas’, verses 42, 46 and 50. These men were on an important, God appointed mission, but during the course of their work, change was also happening in their relationship and their standing to one another.

A short time ago I shared in an earlier blog along a theme that the ‘main thing was not the main thing’. In this chapter we see that God is working powerfully through the apostles, but much change is also at work in them. God is working at different levels and on different character traits and ministry callings simultaneously. We truly don’t understand God’s ways and we like things to stay as they are, but God is always at work to release His Spirit through us and to create more of ‘Jesus’ in us.

May God bless us and keep us as we walk out His callings on our lives.

Acts 12 begins with the imprisonment and death of James, the brother of John. One of Jesus earliest disciples had run his course and gone to glory with his Lord. King Herod saw that this pleased the Jews(man pleaser) and seized Peter and put him in prison, during the Feast of Unlevened Bread. He intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover(around Easter time), however an angel thwarted his plans.

V5,6,7 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was ‘earnestly praying’ to God for him.  The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with chains and sentries stood guard at the entrance.  Suddenly and the angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell, he struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!”  he said and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

V11  then Peter CAME TO HIMSELF and said, “now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent His angel and rescued me”.

So at the last minute God sent His angel to open the prison doors in the cell in Jerusalem. One apostle had already gone home but the prayers of the Church were answered (Heaven seems to leave ‘some’ answers to the last moment, but never too late). In the early part of the story the angel told Peter to, “Put on your clothes and sandals”, but ‘he had no idea what the angel was doing was really happening’.

Peter didn’t understand what was actually happening to him, that God was releasing him. He followed instruction blindly and came out of the cell. I believe God is still in the business of releasing people from prison today, perhaps prisons of their own making, or prisons conspired by the enemy. In any event, through earnest prayer the doors opened and Peter walked free. In V11 it says ‘he came to himself’, he understood he was free and decided to get away.

There follows the funny incident where Peter knocks on the door of the house where the disciples were gathered and though the servant Rhoda knew his voice, she left him at the door. Peter kept knocking until they let him in, told them what had happened and then left. It’s always a good idea to testify(speak out what God has done for us, go public) and reinforce our freedom.

God wants to help us and deliver us, it may take the earnest prayers of others but at some point we ‘have to come to ourselves’ and walk away from what has been holding us!

God bless you and help you this day to walk away from all your prison chains.

We saw yesterday that Antioch was a place of special spiritual significance. According to the account in Acts it moved from being a rapidly growing, newly formed church to becoming a resource base in its own right. It had become so fruitful that it was able to give of its abundance to the work of the Kingdom in other places. The Council in Jerusalem was still the Governmental Headquarters(Acts 15), with Peter and others who had been with the Lord but Antioch was a Gentile Church, preaching the Good News.

The founding of the church in Antioch was first introduced in Acts 11:19-30 and the last two verses record the new disciples’ gift to the brothers living in Judea. The foundations had already been laid and built upon by Barnabas and Saul, also the prophets who had come down from Jerusalem. Yet the book of Acts records this gift sent to the parent church in Judea. The question is why? Why did the Holy Spirit want this in God’s Word for such a significant Gentile Church. Yes it is good to honour and love spiritual parents, those who helped us grow and develop in our own walk.

I have used the phrase before, ‘you’re going where you’re giving’. Did this voluntary gift by those early believers seal something of the future destiny for the Church in Antioch? Did it confirm them as a resource Church for the Kingdom of God? I believe the gift had importance beyond what may be immediately apparent, in any event it’s the final thing mentioned regarding this powerful new church.

In the 1990s I was part of a ministry team in China and saw some amazing things take place in that land. We visited a museum in the city of Xi’an, previous capital city and saw the Nestorian Stele, a pillar of stone over 9 feet tall documenting the existence of early Christian Communities(erected 781, gives 150 years of their history). Xi’an lies at the start of the Silk Road and some of the travellers and merchants on that route brought the Gospel to China. I shared this with a young Chinese student at the University in Belfast, who at first didn’t believe me but checked photos they had of the Stele and confirmed the history(His-story). It is believed that the Church in Antioch sent out believers along the Silk Road with the Gospel and the Tang Emperor Taizong recognised and accepted the Gospel. Unfortunately China lost the Gospel until the coming of Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission.

Before the return of the Lord the whole earth will be filled with His Glory. We don’t know all that He has for us, but I do believe that giving to the work of His Spirit(where the Spirit is moving, not religious ritual) unites our own hearts to the work today.

Give and it shall be given unto you, spiritual as well as physical.

God bless you and encourage you as you serve Him today.

 

Antioch was a place of special spiritual significance.

Acts 11:20,21 Following Stephen’s death and subsequent persecution, ‘men went to Antioch and told the Greeks the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord’. From the beginning Antioch was a rich field for the Gospel, many Greeks believed! Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem and once again, ‘a great number of people were brought to the Lord’. Barnabas went and brought Saul from Tarsus and they ministered to the Church in Antioch for a whole year. They taught ‘great numbers of people’(third time this phrase is used). The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch( a ‘first’ recorded for us in the Bible by the Holy Spirit).

Prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and Agabus prophesied a famine for the whole Roman Empire. The Jews were uniquely used to prophesying by the Spirit of God and it carried on into the new body of Christ, another reason to be grateful for our Jewish heritage. So the church in Antioch was enriched by Barnabas and Saul’s teaching and by the visiting prophets. Acts 13:1, ‘In the church in Antioch there were prophets and teachers…’ The ministries they’d been exposed to had taken root in the body.

Finally Acts 11 ends with the church ‘sending help for the brothers living in Judea, to the elders by Barnabas and Saul’. They gave in return to those who’d blessed them spiritually from Jerusalem.

The church in Antioch itself, quickly moved from being a young receiving body to a sending base for the Gospel, they had grown rapidly in numbers and maturity. It was from Antioch, not Jerusalem, that the Holy Spirit launched Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary journey.

The Spirit of God directed the rapid growth and expansion of the believers in Antioch. What plans does He have for the areas where you live? To pray continually for your own area, asking God to reveal and activate His purposes will bring powerful change. I believe we have to pray for God’s will for the area and not just our individual churches. Clare, a visitor to our home was praying along these lines last night and some people received powerful pictures and words.

May God bless you and greatly enrich you as you seek His plans for your ‘Antioch’.

God is committed to using ‘fallen man’ to bring about His purposes in the earth.

I’ve been reading about Peter, Acts 10, 11 and his visit by the servants of Cornelius. Cornelius had the visitation to send for Peter, including his address, Simon’s house by the sea.

Peter had a vision while praying on the roof of the house, preparing him for the three men’s visit. He was told by the Spirit to go to the house of Cornelius, gentile Roman centurion, forbidden by Jewish Law(he was later accused in Jerusalem of breaking the Law). They left next day, Peter and six believers from Joppa, seven in total(Acts 11:12), represents completion or perfection. On arrival at Cornelius’ house they witnessed the outpouring of the Spirit, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE”, Acts 11:18.

It was a seismic change for the Jewish world that some people were now believing that Jesus was the way of salvation, confirmed by miraculous signs and wonders. While they were still grappling with that, the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. God’s new plan for salvation to all nations, not just the Jewish people had been initiated.

His chosen instrument to bring about this new phase of His world wide Kingdom was Peter, the man who’d fallen so badly at the crucifixion. Jesus had to reinstate Peter three times. It may be that Peter was more ready to not trust in himself and his own views after the crucifixion, though he did balk at the message of the vision from heaven.

Paul preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, even to the heart of Rome. Peter, the Rock, but had been impulsive, became the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. God restored a man and used him mightily to lead His people in His new vessel on earth.

We have all fallen in various ways, but the same God who restored Peter is more than able to restore us and use us for His plans and purposes. Get back up and go on again with whatever your hand finds to do.

God is with us, Immanuel.