Acts – "Crucified, Hidden, Seated"

An Acts-ive Faith (Part 17a)

Acts 17: What’s the Latest? (And why it may not matter . . . )

Acts 17:21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.

Oops — sorry I’ll have to blog later — the latest post just came in on my cell phone . . . after that I’ll have to play the latest version of my favorite game that comes through my phone. And I haven’t checked up on all my Facebook friends yet today . . . After that, I may have to go shopping to make sure I have the latest trend in my wardrobe. (Okay, I’ll write my blog, but I was making a point — LOL).

The latest — are we more concerned about knowing the latest or about walking in truth? I accepted Jesus Christ when I was 14, which was many years ago. I also gave my life to Christ during my last year of high school — I had a more adult understanding of what I was dong at that time. When I accepted Christ, I was not following the latest trend: I was dong something that had been done by my parents, grandparents and great grandparents. I am grateful for my spiritual heritage of serving Jesus and his church. My father was a church elder, my mother was the Sunday school superintendent and secretary-treasurer of the ladies group; my Mother’s dad was a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher, my Father’s dad was a church treasurer. My Father’s grandfather (his Mother’s dad) was a Methodist minister in the 1930s.

The Methodists were on fire for God in the 1930s. My aunt ended up taking some of her schooling in the States, boarding with her grandparents. She has described what part the church played in her life at that time.

She wrote: “My grandparents . . . were very strict. They would allow no dancing or card playing. There were regular evening prayers. Sunday mornings we attended Sunday School and church, and in the evenings, Epworth League, church again, followed by a fellowship hour for teenagers. Wednesday evening we attended prayer meetings. Revival services were held periodically.”

When my husband and I attend prayer meetings in the evening we are not doing anything new. Some of the prayer meetings we attend are on zoom, so the technology we are using is fairly new. But the need to cry out to God was not only around in my grandparents time: it pre-dated Paul’s trip to Athens.

I don’t need to focus on hearing the latest. I need to focus on hearing and applying truth. I need to focus on developing a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

When Paul spoke to the Athenians, he spoke truth, not the latest new things. People reacted in three ways. Some mocked him because he spoke of the resurrection of the dead, some wanted to hear more and some believed. As I speak/write about my experiences of God, and how His Word is affecting me, may many of you readers come to a saving knowledge of Christ if you do not already know Him. May those who know Him, grow closer to Him.

Prayer for those who want to begin a walk with Jesus: Confessing to God that I am a sinner, repenting of my sins (turning from them) and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins on the cross and was raised for my justification, I do now receive and confess Him as my personal Saviour. Amen.

Prayer for those walking with Christ: Lord Jesus, help me to always be more concerned with truth than with the latest trends. Amen.

Note: My aunt’s identity is not mentioned and the book her story is published in is not identified on the internet to protect family privacy.

CC: K Carswell 2022

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by Permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

An Acts-ive Faith (Part 14)

Acts 14: Gods — or Otherwise

Acts 14:8 -10 In Lystra a man without strength in his feet, lame from birth, and who had never walked, sat and heard Paul speaking. After observing him closely and seeing that he had faith to be healed, Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” And he jumped up and started to walk around.

Paul and Barnabas were on a missionary journey, and had arrived in Lystra, after fleeing from Iconium. There had been signs and wonders in Iconium, but non-believers had stirred up people so that they wanted to stone Paul and Barnabas. The two left, going to another town to tell people about Jesus.

This story reminds me of the story in Acts chapter 3, in which Peter tells a lame man who is over 40 years old “In the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” (part of Acts 3:6). Some Jewish leaders ordered Peter and John to stop preaching about Jesus and healing in his name. Peter and John ignored them, and kept on preaching.

Peter and John were threatened by the Jewish leaders. Paul and Barnabas faced opposition of a different kind: the people of Lystra mistook them for the gods Zeus and Hermes and a priest of Zeus prepared to offer sacrifices to them! Paul and Barnabas had to try to convince the people that they were mortals, but they had a hard time stopping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

The crowd saw the miracle — and responded to it, but did not respond correctly to the message that went with it: the need to repent of sin and believe in Jesus. What happened next is sooooo interesting . . .

Acts 14:19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they had won over the crowds and stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city thinking he was dead.

What ???? Several verses before this, the crowd had wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and now they are helping to stone him or at least allowing the Jews to stone him? Remind me to never trust emotional crowds . . .

A good plan for my life would be to be very careful which ‘crowd’ I hang around with — and see if my crowd can change direction in a very short time.

The reaction of Paul is even more telling. He wasn’t dead — after the disciples surrounded him, he got up and walked back into the town (verse 20). I’m not sure I would have been brave enough to go back into town. Barnabas and Paul left for Derbe the next day.

I want to be brave enough to speak for Jesus more. If people do not listen, I do not have to be offended. I just need to move on to the next opportunity to tell of His love.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for all the times I have not spoken about your son Jesus when I should have spoken up. Help me to be willing to testify more. Jesus has done much for me. And, Father, help me not to worry about the consequences when I do testify about Jesus and his love for me. The consequences are in your mighty hands. Amen.

CC: K Carswell 2022

An Acts-ive Faith (Part 12)

Acts 12 Rescued! (Prayer is the key)

Acts 12:17 Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

King Herod had attacked some who belonged to the church and had James, John’s brother put to death (Acts 12:1). This made some of the Jews happy, so Herod had Peter arrested and put in prison.

The church did not want to lose Peter. Herod was going to execute him the next day. The church prayed earnestly — and one of the places they prayed was a house prayer meeting at the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark.

Peter thought he was dreaming while he was being rescued. It wasn’t until he was on a city street, that he realized he was saved. He then went to Mary’s house. When Peter knocked on the door, Rhoda was so excited she forgot to let him in! The church did not believe that Peter could be at the door — and yet he was.

The power of prayer — how many times have you experienced it? One of my most memorable times was when my husband was very ill during our first year of marriage. He worked in a hospital at the time, and because we were married so late in life, I had been introduced to most of his co-workers. Our church, churches we had been associated with and many of his co-workers were praying for him. the doctor was very happy he recovered, because recovery was not a sure thing. I can attest to the fact that prayer works!

Thought for the day: Who do I need to be praying for? Am I in a community that prays?

Prayer: Lord, I pray for those readers who need to be rescued in any way: from imprisonment, from sickness, for loneliness. Lord, please open the prison doors and help them, like Peter, find a praying community to belong to. Amen.

CC: K Carswell 2022