Today's Word - "Our"

When his disciples asked Jesus how to pray, this is what He said;

"This, then, is how you should pray:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'
Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)

Today's Reflection

It is not possible to live the Christian Life apart from connection to other Christians. The Christian is built to be like Christ, in the image of God. What does the image of God look like? It looks like this:




God is singular, One. God is plural. Three in One. (see Genesis 1:26) Christians call this The Trinity. I call this a family. God is a family. God is a small group. God is never alone. God full and happy in community with the Son and the Spirit. God, They, is/are happy together. He does not need us or this planet, yet because God is so vibrantly full of life He/They cannot help but create more Life so that more abundance is enjoyed.

Here’s the bottom line for today. You can be a believer alone and miss Christian Community, but you will miss what it means to be a Christian and with that you will miss most of the abundant life for which you were created.

It takes risk, time, inconvenience and you will have to give up things to connect regularly with other Christians in a Life – sharing way. But please do it. Start with putting Sunday worship at the top of your list of weekly commitments. Then add your next step into Christian community. It is there that your real growth starts. Just do it.

Today's Prayer

“Our Father . . . . .thank you for saving me and putting me into a family where I can grow up. Really grow up. Thank for giving me brothers and sisters “in Christ”. Thank you for teaching me to begin prayer not with “my” Lord or with “my Father in Heaven” , but instead with “our”. Please show me what my next step into the deep experience of Christian community needs to be. In the Name of Jesus who is always present where “two or three are gathered in His Name. Amen”

Paul's Final Words

"Paul explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade the Roman Jews about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.  Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe."   

. . .after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet;

‘Go and say to this people:

When you hear what I say, you will not understand.
When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.
For the hearts of these people are hardened,
and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—
 so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’
 
So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”

"For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him,  boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him." Acts 28:17-31(NLT)


Today's Reflection  

Isaiah’s prophecy is repeated in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Romans and here. It is at first puzzling and also hugely important.   When Isaiah (in chapter 6 of the book of Isaiah) met God in the temple he heard God call him to spend his life calling others back to God, but that hardly anyone would listen, yet he was supposed to go anyway.

First, the great truth here is that inside every human being is a little rebel with a distaste for God. We’ve all got it. That’s why no human effort can covert us to God, only God can do that. This is what Paul ran into with his own people.

Second, the right way to read this passage is certainly not that God has set it up that the Gospel is intended to turn people away, rather that the Truth of God will always cause a reaction. The same sun (we could insert here Son) that hardens clays melts butter. It’s the same God but depending on our reaction we are hardened or melted. The passage is a Hebraic way of saying that for God to break through it requires His intervention.

Third, Paul is clear here and in Romans that God will reach his people, the Jews, by way of non Jews (gentiles) coming to Christ. They will return to the fullness of God’s love at least in part through the witness of non Jews.

Fourth, Acts ends like a book I recently read which has a number of different endings from which you can choose, or make up your own ending. “What happened next?” we all want to know (it’s actually possible Paul was released, made it to Spain, came back, was rearrested and was then beheaded in Nero persecution of 64). We don’t know for sure. Some scholars think Luke actually had the thought that the future of this brand new Jesus movement depends on the ending that each of us “writes” with our own lives.

So, the question. If your life is the sequel, Acts part 2? How does your life read? Does It look something like Acts? Blessed mightily, full of troubles but you persevere and believe and make it clear to others that your life depends on and is about Jesus raised from the dead? Is it clear that it is the cross and God’s forgiveness through which you have eternal life? And are you an optimist because the resurrection means that God is making and will one day have made all things new?

Can you choose to live from now on as an embodiment of Acts, the Sequel?


Today's Prayer

“Lord, in the book of Acts it is obvious that your greatness in and through Jesus Christ and made personal and living through the power of the Holy Spirit was front and center in thousands of people’s lives. May that be so in my life, Lord. Lord, by your Grace and Power, I invite you to make it so in my life as well. In Jesus’ Name. Amen”

Your Influence for Christ Starts With Who You Are

"Three days after Paul’s arrival in Rome, he called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, '. . . I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel—the Messiah—has already come.' They replied, '. . . .  we want to hear what you believe . . . ..'  

So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.  Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe.”     Acts 28:17-24(NLT)


Today's Reflection  

As soon as Paul got to Rome he called a meeting of all the synagogue leaders he could muster. Paul was a Jew, a Pharisee, and could “talk their language”. He told them all about what he had experienced and that it all centered on Jesus. However when he got to speak to the entire crowd the results were mixed. Some believed, some didn’t.

What else is new? In tomorrow’s reflection you will read God’s comments on this on one of the most important passages in the entire Bible, so stay tuned.

What is striking is that Paul, despite seeming to have given up on his brothers and sisters in Judaism in earlier chapters of Acts, here he is again, starting with his “family”, the Jews. He just can’t seem to allow himself to give up on anyone even though he says he does at various points. Read Romans 9 – 11 and you will see that he can’t give up on them not only because God doesn’t, but also, like God, Paul loves them!

Do you give up on people? Perhaps God wants you to repent of your having given up on someone and renew your heart attitude toward them and do whatever it takes to invest your heart and love and prayers in them again. Of course it is painful, but what is Christian love other than, like Jesus absorbing pain from another, and responding with love and forgiveness and new starts anyway?

Today's Prayer

“Lord,  thank you, thank you, thank you for the example of Paul’s persistence with those who have a history of rejecting him and You. Give me the obedience to love those whom I’ve given up on. I know that Satan’s cause is never more in danger than when a believer obeys at the moment he least wants to. In Christ’s Name. Amen”

Arrival at the Center of the World

"It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island—an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead. Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days. From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed
up the coast to Puteoli. There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God. When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier."    Acts 28:11-16





Today's Reflection

It was a wild trip from Caesarea to Rome for Paul and his companions! But they got there. The picture below shows some of the remains of the Appian Way, the first of the famous Roman roads. It was begun in 312 BC by Appius Claudius Caecus, after whom is was named. The Roman roads, the Peace of Rome (“Pax Romana”), the common language (Greek) throughout the Empire, were all orchestrated by God ahead of time to enable the Gospel to spread to the center of the most powerful empire on earth so quickly. I find it interesting that Paul’s arrival in Rome puts him immediately onto that first road of the empire, built by a pagan, but unbeknownst to them, the road’s builders were God’s unwitting servants.

So Paul got to Rome! Most of us want to get there to see the sights. Paul wanted to get there so that the world may know that there is one God and that this one God cares about every inch of the planet and every soul on it. And that He cares so much that he sent his only begotten Son, indeed Himself, to perish so that we might have everlasting life.

And yes this great God used the most powerful men in the world as his subcontractors to build the empire in such a way that the news would get out quickly.

Here’s a thought. Could it be that the degree to which you are living to get the good news out is the degree to which you will find God’s having already “built roads for you” in the most unlikely of places?

Today's Prayer

"Lord Jesus, as I think about the picture below, I know that you are right now the competent CEO of the universe, creating roads and ways for all of us follow you effectively. All circumstances and all people, even the Roman empire are being opened up by you pathways forward for each of us who submit to you. Help me to follow. Amen”

Today's Word

"Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. As it happened, Publius' father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in a prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him. Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip."    Acts 28:7-10

Today's Reflection  

Evil as represented by the sea and the snake and now sickness, has done its best work, but is nevertheless overcome. Paul is alive, Publius' father has been healed and God's power has once more been revealed.

It’s easy to think that the early church was nothing but miracle after miracle, healing after healing. And some wonder why that isn’t the case for the church today. One reason is that we in the West are skeptics. Belief in the supernatural doesn’t come easily for us who have been educated in a system that hails reason, empirical studies, and science as the paths to knowledge. Belief in the supernatural/miracles has always been difficult for me for that reason. It’s hard to break out of. Yet, oddly, it is reason that trumps relying on reason alone, because I reasonably conclude that if God is God, then nothing is off limits for him that corresponds to his character.

Another reason we view the early church as so supernatural is that we only have short summaries and brief glimpses of the history of the early church. If chapter after chapter is one miracle upon another, then it seems to us that that’s what it was like all the time.

My studied opinion tells me otherwise -  that there was a great deal of hard, persistent, persevering, difficult, painful obedience that had to be lived out in those first 30 years, and certainly thereafter. Many days, weeks, months and perhaps years for many people would go by with no supernatural sign of God’s presence, only white knuckled faith, trust and obedience in the face of hardship and persecution.

Yes, Paul cured a lot of sickness on Malta. Praise God. And yes, God has brought to me and my family that which I would describe as beyond belief supernatural blessings. Yet two things are still true. To see the blessing I must choose to have eyes that see. And I must choose to hold on and never give up when my eyes to see fail me.

Today's Prayer

"Father, thank you for your abundant blessings. Were I never to receive another evident answer to prayer, you will have given me enough and  I will know that all hopes, dreams, fears and aspirations are safe in your hands. Lord, as I live connected to you I have enough because you are enough. Amen”

"Justice" or God

"Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

 As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand.  The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, 'A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.'

But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god."
Acts 28:1-6

Reflection
 
This is it, the last chapter of Acts. The “Big Bang” of Christianity has taken place and it’s taken less than 30 years to take root from Israel to Italy. We’ve read how people repented and were radically transformed at Pentecost in the early 30’s. We’ve followed Stephen and Peter and James as they sought to bring the Gospel to Jews and non Jews alike. Some died, all were in danger. But they never denied what they knew to be true. We’ve seen how the church handled conflict and remained unified and by now we have traveled with Paul almost 30 years leaving a trail of churches behind on his way to Rome.

But now he’s shipwrecked on the Island of Malta just south of Sicily. And he’s bitten by a fatally poisonous snake. Common wisdom proclaims that “what goes around comes around”, “sooner or later everyone gets what he deserves”. Since Paul was snakebit he must have been a bad guy. But no, he doesn’t die! He must be a god.

Snakes and the sea in the ancient world were symbols for evil, chaos, and death. Paul had come through both and lived. Yet as we shall see, it is not, nor is it ever some abstract cosmic force of justice to which we are subject, but God. And this God is not subject to anything. No, Paul understood well, and from heaven would hope that we understand too, that none of us are ultimately subject to what we deserve, nor, when are blessed nevertheless, is it because we have earned it. Rather we are subject to God who gives what we do not deserve and seeks to rescue us, if we are willing, from what we do deserve.

Today's Prayer

“Lord, thank you for reminding me that you give me what I have not earned or deserved. Like Paul I deserve to have succumbed to the snake. Yet I live. Please help me more and more and more to live out of simple gratitude, with a resultant deep sense of calling and for Your pleasure. In Christ, I pray. Amen”

Today's Word

"As day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat. . . .Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it. Then everyone was encouraged and began to eat--all 276 of us who were on board." Acts 27:33-37(NLT)

Today's Reflection

Symbols matter. At best they are an outward expression of an inner reality. Christians call these symbols sacraments. Christians practice them as reminders of what’s true and real and as such they are most powerful just when circumstances are at their worst or just after an incredible rescue.

It may be that Paul served communion to all 176 people on board as a way to give credit where credit was due. Neither fate nor sailors’ skill saved them. God did.

I’m sure many on board had no idea what Paul was doing as he passed around the bread, but at least some must have.

Baseball players cross themselves before batting, families say grace at meals, other wear crosses. What habits of the Christian Life, symbols, or sacramental practices have you worked into your hour to hour, day to day life? Yes, familiarity can breed contempt, but each of us does engage in some habit that signifies who we are and what we believe (cursing?) and many of those habits point to anything but God. Better to risk potentially meaningless reminders of God rather than have no reminders at all.   

Prayer

“Lord, I fear that there are too many times when my self-talk, behaviors, attitudes, habits and behaviors contain routine behaviors which testify to anything but you. Please Lord, lead me to words, practices and symbolic acts which become habitual and remind me and others that my life is about You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen”