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Acts Pentecost
Week 31 Day 1
Reading: Acts 2:2-5 "And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." ESV Thought: Jesus ascended into heaven having been with the apostles for about 40 days. He left them one command, "stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Luk24:49) "you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Act1:5). Tradition tells us they waited about a week, united in prayer, when the Spirit came. A gale and then fire as the Spirit fell upon them all. These signs are common in the OT to indicate the presence of God, the Israelites were led by cloud and fire in the desert. So God rested upon them, filling them with the Spirit, and they spoke in other tongues as the Spirit intervened. In these ways the words of Jesus, and the prophet Joel were fulfilled, they were filled with "power from on high". The Holy Spirit is spoken of as such, the personified power of God, for wherever God is working, there the Spirit is present, manifested in different ways, hence the many titles for Him, i.e. Comforter, Helper etc. It is the Spirit who gives to each the gifts allotted to them, and who goes to people whilst they still do not know Christ to convict them of sin, and grant them the gift of faith by the grace found in Christ Jesus. Therefore we must never think that the ability of the Spirit is limited to the confines of man's imagination, for the Spirit works in ways far more mysterious than we can reckon. Therefore pray constantly for the Spirit to bring about all manner of righteousness. Prayer: Lord, It was within Your plan of grace to give us Your Spirit that we should draw near to You and so become Your sons & daughters. Let the Spirit now flare up in me, lead me to Your people, guide me in Your ways and give me utterance of groanings too deep for words. The First Appeal Day 2 Reading: Acts 2:37-39; 41 "When they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "what shall we do?" And Peter said, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for‌, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." ESV Thought: Following the first evangelistic appeal ever, a miraculous response follows, those who hear and listen intently are "cut to the heart" for whilst they were not baptized in the Spirit, He was at work in them through the words Peter had spoken to them, bringing about a great humbling amongst them to bring about the first fruits of the Spirit, repentance, for the Spirit laid a heavy burden upon their hearts, calling them to repentance. Then having completed this through the words of Peter, the Spirit led them to ask the apostles what they
should do, that they should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and so receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In this manner the power of God is working, for without Him, no person could be saved. Therefore the Spirit was found in: the words of Peter - given to Him by the Spirit, the hearts of the listeners - weighing upon them, and in the actions of the apostles. Do not be afraid by afraid to speak of Jesus, be at peace, for the Spirit is with you and will give you all the words you need to say. Do not be confined to strategies and tactics, but be confident in the Spirit to provide and to speak or your behalf. For thus you speak with the words of God, and they will not put you to shame. Prayer: Lord, be with me as I speak out boldly for You. Fill my mouth with Your words, and let them pierce the heart of all those You are calling to Yourself. Spirit, be with me and give me utterance in accordance with Your ways, and may a gift of faith be given to those Your people. Save we pray. Worthy to Suffer Day 3 Reading: Acts 5:41; Acts 14:19-20 "They left the… council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name." "they stoned Paul…, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on" ESV Thought: All who proclaim the name of Christ are set to suffer, because we are not a part of the world and so we are rejected by it. But in our suffering at the hands of the world Christ's glory is magnified as our witness is shared with the world. For in times of Christian persecution the most effective and rapidly spread message is proclaimed, "We love Jesus, and though you may kill us we will not stop from proclaiming His name!" For all Christians will face times of tribulation, do not think that you will escape, for the Rapture must come after the Great Tribulation. Pray for those found in that time, for they will need the strength of God. But for now "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom5:3-5). Rejoice therefore that you have been counted worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ, being not disheartened or concerned for your life, and thus you shall earn your reward in heaven. For Jesus spoke, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Mat5:10-12). Prayer: Lord, thank You that we should be counted worthy to share in Your sufferings, give us strength and boldness in those times to stand and be counted for Your name. Receive us into Your kingdom when these things to completed and let us be comforted at Your side. Paul’s Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ Day 4 Reading: Acts 9:3-5; 20 "Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." "And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." ESV Thought: Paul's meeting with Jesus is one of the most direct revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ we see and also, the most intriguing one; for in Paul's revelation great understanding
is given. We know that Paul was a Pharisee; trained to have memorized the Old Testament, there was little he did not know when it came to the Law, though this likely would have been twisted. Yet on receiving his sight, Paul does not question theology, but goes out sharing the whole of the Gospel. Even as the high priest’s agent it is unlikely that Paul understood the Gospel yet goes out to teach it. In Galatians Paul states he went to those in Jerusalem twice, to check their teaching! They who had been with Jesus, Paul corrected! On the road to Damascus Paul gained this: all understanding that it was good for man to know, and Paul speaks of it like this: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2Ti3:16-17), this is the reason why the writings of Paul are so important for this is what God wants us to know, there are still things hidden, but everything Paul wrote of we need to appreciate, understand and accept like children and not be conceited as to ignore any of the words of Paul or to derive our own understandings from them but accept them at face value. Cling therefore always to this truth, that the Bible is the Word of God given to us. Prayer: Lord, thank You that You entrusted to us Your Word, that we should have available to us all Your commands since You first spoke to us. Let Your Word never diminish from our attentions or our regards, let it be the first place we go to when we are seeking Your wisdom, for from it flows Your whole truth. Give us revelation as we read of it every day. Staying Relevant in Truthless Times Day 5 Reading: Acts 17:22-31 "Men of Athens, I perceive that… you are very religious… I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.'… The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because… he will judge the world in righteousness by a man…; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." ESV Thought: We live in a postmodern culture with no definite truth. Does this affect how we preach the Gospel? Greece at this time was very postmodern; embracing spiritualistic philosophy much like our culture. They had no definitive answer for God, erecting an altar to an unknown god. Did Paul change the Gospel for the Greeks? No. Similar topics are found in his letter to the Romans and before the council, yet Rome was very modernist. Paul covers: God as creator of the world, not needing anything, but gives to man everything, even meaning to live within His predetermined allocations and relations with Him. We are His children, so idol worship is sin. He was patient but He commands all to repent before He sends His man to judge the world, this we know since He was raised from the dead. The Gospel does not change; Paul convicts people he has just met, declaring the desire and plan of God. Paul does not talk directly about Jesus as Christ, since the Greeks do not know the Jewish implications. He does not speak of atonement but repentance and relationship with God, since they do not have the Law. But taking interested people, He would teach these later. The Gospel was not changed but was made relevant to the people he was speaking with, not seeking to appeal to all present but to those God was calling to Himself. With regard the message: we are called to live in the world, not of the world, and thus our teaching and preaching must match this, the message does not change, just as God doesn’t. Prayer: Lord, thank You that to us; Your people who You called out of this world, You have given a message of hope, light and truth to extend to the whole world. Preserve this culture I pray, do not allow it to continue to fall into ignorance any longer, but may Your name be known up and down this country, that all who are called would glorify Your holy name.
The Other Fold
Day 6
Reading: Acts 10:30-33 "And Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard… before God. Send… to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter." ESV Thought: In Acts we see the fulfilment of Jesus' words, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also" (Joh10:16). Cornelius, a Roman centurion, was the first Gentile to receive the Gospel from Peter. The Jews thought the Gentiles unclean; unworthy of the Christ, and held aggression against the Romans, so when Jesus told Peter to go with the servants of Cornelius, with the sheet coming down with all kinds of animals, saying, "What God has made clean, do not call common" (Acts 10:15). If not for the vision and the Holy Spirit upon the house of Cornelius, Peter would not have reported that God was calling Gentiles also. This is significant because we are Gentiles, non-Hebrew men and women, for we do not have Abraham as our father, yet we are his offspring being named through Isaac (Rom9:7), part of the new Israel. For the Gospel was to the "Jews first and also to the Gentiles" (Rom1:16), for to the Jews "belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all" (Rom9:4-5), yet though they were born of Israel do not belong to Israel for "it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring" (Rom9:8). Be convinced that if you have been called by God to believe that you too are also of Israel then Jesus has indeed already prepared a room for you in His Father's house (Joh14:2). Prayer: Lord, thank You that it pleased You to choose us from among the nations, having called to You the Gentiles also, giving revelation to bring us to salvation. Therefore call more to Yourself, overcoming their sin to bring them to adoption, use us to complete Your will. A Church United in Prayer Day 7 Reading: Acts 1:14; 12:5; 13:3 "All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer" "Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church." "Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off." "And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord” ESV Thought: There are no less than thirty references to prayer being made in the book of Acts, each telling a similar story: a united church is so in prayer at every occasion. When Jesus had left and they were waiting, they prayed. When Peter was in prison, they prayed. When sending people out, they prayed. When choosing elders, they prayed. When in prison, they prayed. In every circumstance and every occasion, they prayed. Well did Paul write when he said "praying at all times in the Spirit" (Eph6:18). Paul did not write to pray occasionally, not frequently, but at all times. For the disciples had on their hearts Jesus’ words, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do" (Joh14:13), knowing that prayer is relationship with God. Therefore never cease praying, even when you do not have the words to speak, but let the Spirit groan for you. And when a brother or sister has a problem or any worry, together pray about it that your petition should reach up to the heavens and grace come down. Prayer: Lord, You gave us prayer that we should be joined with You in fellowship through it. You pray for us even now, making intercession for each of Your saints. Therefore bring us together in prayer as one body united in fellowship with You.