The healing of a crippled man in Acts 3 became a cause of trouble for the fledgling Christian church. The authorities were telling the apostles to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. They did what Christians should always do when trouble comes - they prayed. Here is part of their prayer from Acts 4:29-31: "And now, Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak the word. By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."
What really impressed me in this text at this time was not what was prayed, but what was not prayed. They asked for boldness and for God to act with power, but they did not pray, "Keep us safe while we do it." One would think with the threat as immediate as it was that the apostles would have asked to be kept safe. We want to serve and please God, but we don't really want to have to make sacrifices to do it. Frankly, I have to deal with this in my own prayer life and in my own Christian service. Christians all over this world are serving without a "safety net." Last year I heard an international missionary say that "persecution is the norm for most of the world's Christians." To the apostles, boldness in the power of God was enough. I will pray that this will be enough for us. I am convinced that the days are coming when we will have to have boldness without a safety net. It was a powerful prayer because the place was shaken where they were, and they spoke with boldness. They got in some trouble, but they did what God wanted them to do. Let's pray for boldness to speak up for Christ - regardless. This will take some good old New Testament praying. Bro. Joe
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"Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. He drew His bow and made me the target of His arrows. He pierced my heart with arrows from His quiver." (NIV)
These words are from Lamentations 3:10-13, written by Jeremiah. This reads like Jeremiah is put out with God. It was written when Babylon was tearing Jerusalem down bit-by-bit. Before I go further, have you wondered why God does what He does and why He allows what He allows? Be honest. You have probably never used words as harsh as Jeremiah's but you still wondered why? It appeared to you that God could have done something differently. We could be saying, "If God would listen to me, we could get this whole thing straightened out." The problem with this thinking, of which I have also been guilty, is that God is all-knowing and sovereign. Jeremiah was really down.as we often are. Think of watching your people being killed, houses burned, the wall torn down and the temple torn down. He was sad and hurt. But later when he thought about it, Jeremiah realized that he was looking at God out of darkness. In Lamentations 3:22-24, Jeremiah gave us a different, more realistic outlook: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for Him." This statement comes from realistic faith instead of from darkness. It does not kill God when we are negative about things. He simply wants us to accept His will. "All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) When you can't make sense of what God is doing, remember Romans 8:28. God knows best! Bro. Joe “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
1 Corinthians 15 is the greatest chapter on the resurrection, outside of the gospels, in the New Testament. Verse 19 was written in reference to the hope that we have in Christ’s resurrection, and in our resurrection. The New Testament is clear that Christ arose from the grave and that believers will be resurrected. I can’t imagine having any joy in life if what this life offers is all that we have. The New Testament not only teaches that believers will be raised, but that when they die they go immediately to Jesus. The same Paul who wrote this verse also wrote that when we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8) What would be the result if “in this life only we have hope in Christ”? If this life is the only hope that we have, the whole Bible is proved to be wrong. I know that the Old Testament does not put as much stress on life after death as the New Testament, although there is evidence of it in various texts. But the New Testament is rife with the teaching that we will live on after we die. In John 11:26 Jesus said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus: “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die…” This is a plain and simple statement from the mouth of Jesus – believers never die. (Unbelievers have after life too, but that is spent in eternal death.) If we believe in the teachings of the Bible, we believe that there is life after this life. If this life is the only hope that we have, we don’t have a great deal to look forward to. Someone once said to me that it would be great to just go to sleep (die) and sleep forever. I love to sleep as much as the next person, but I sure don’t want to spend eternity sleeping. I would hate to think that all of the preaching that I have heard in my life, and all of the preaching that I have done that promises eternal life with Jesus was all for naught. I am looking forward to spending eternity with Jesus, and with all of the believers of all the ages. I know that there is disagreement on this, but I believe that we will know one another in heaven. I don’t know what our eternal relationship will be with each other, but we will know each other. I am looking forward to eternal fellowship with Abraham, David, Peter, Paul, and a host of other great saints of the ages. But as the song says, most of all "I want to See Jesus." If this life is the only hope that we have there is no real joy in this life. The wonderful thing about being a Christian is that when we receive Christ into our lives, we begin eternal life then. In other words, we are living eternally here and now. Jesus brings eternity into our lives. This is one reason that I feel sorry for unbelievers. They would say that their unbelief does not make them miserable, but that is because they do not know the joy of being a believer. Part of the joy that we have in this present life as Christians is that we have fellowship with each other, and can believe that this fellowship will continue into eternity. This thought brings joy to my life here and now, and I hope it is bringing joy to your life here and now. Bro. Joe "Come, Wait, Go" (Three Important Biblical Verbs) Matthew 11:28; Isaiah 40:13a; Matthew 28:193/28/2021 Matthew 11:28; Isaiah 40:13a; Matthew 28:19
Verbs are action words. They are important in the Bible, for the Bible is a book of action. The Bible not only tells us about God, it tells us to be active for Him. There are certainly more than three verbs in the Bible, but three of its more important verbs are found in the three text listed above. Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The first important use of the verb “come” is that we come to Jesus for salvation. According to the Bible, Jesus is the only source of salvation, so people must come to Him to be saved. Matthew 11:28 tells us that we come to Jesus for rest. This does not mean that when we come to Jesus for rest that we will be able to sit and do nothing. Matthew 11:29 says, “Take my yoke upon you.” Yokes are used for work. This means that our work for Jesus will not be a burden. We can enjoy serving Jesus and be rested while we do it. In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”Jesus came to us in order to give us abundant life, and we must come to Him in order to have the abundant life that He promised. What did Jesus mean by “abundance”? Among other things, He meant that through Him, we have the abundance of God’s blessings in our lives. I know that I can attest to that, and I hope that you can too. Isaiah 40:13a: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” The promise of Isaiah 40:13a is that when we wait upon the Lord, He will renew our strength. We get tired and irritable when we impatiently try to do God’s work in our own time. The main point here is that God strengthens us while we wait. Psalm 27:14 also tells us about the importance of waiting upon God: “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord.” While we wait on God He is giving us the inner strength that we will need to serve Him. When we wait upon the Lord, we learn to live by His timing. It is difficult for us to understand, but God’s timing is not our timing. We must learn to wait on the Lord and He will bring to pass what will be best for us in our lives and in our service for Him. A salient point to make here is that when we wait on the Lord, we are equipped to serve Him. Jesus promised this in Luke 24:49: “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry (wait) in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Christ’s disciples were to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit, and He would equip them to do what they had been called to do. It was important that they wait for God to act. If they hadn’t waited, we might not have had the great movement of the Spirit at Pentecost. Matthew 28:19a tells us to, “Go ye therefore into all the world…” As it is important to wait on God and His timing, it is equally important for us to go when He tells us to go. He told His disciples, and us, to go into all the world. Jesus has called all believers to be missionaries where they are and in all the world. We cannot personally be missionaries in all the world, but we can witness where we are and give in order for others to go “unto the uttermost part of the earth.” We are to also go where people are hurting. Isn’t this what Jesus did in His earthly ministry? If we really want to be like Jesus, we must get out of our comfort zones and go where the needs are. It is also important that we go to God in prayer. This is where we get the strength to go into all the world and to those who are hurting. We should constantly go to God in prayer in order to be ready to go and do His bidding. We need to take these three verbs personally. Come to Jesus; wait for His timing and go when He calls. Bro. Joe Hebrews 12:25-29: "See to it that you do not refuse Him Who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven? 26. At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. 27. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29. for our God is a consuming fire."
We are caught in the tension between "things," which we need, and eternal things which we need even more. If we are not careful, we will put too much emphasis on earthly things instead of eternal things. We need to remember that there is nothing on this earth that is eternal. (I am referring to "created things.") We are proud of our stately buildings and great institutions, but they will all vanish when God removes the "things that can be shaken." We are proud of our possessions, e.g., cars, houses, jewelry, etc., but they will vanish too. We think that there are things that we cannot do without, but that is not true. We are warned not to be possessed by our possessions. That was the problem with the "rich young ruler" in the New Testament. He wanted eternity, but he wanted to hold onto that which was not eternal. Jesus was trying to teach the young man, and us, that the greatest thing that we can do is to serve God, even if it costs everything that we have. There is nothing that we possess that can save our souls. There is nothing that we possess that can take us to heaven. It is only through the unseen God that we can be saved and go to heaven. I'm not saying that our possessions do not count. In fact, we are told to be good stewards of what we possess. We are not to keep them only to ourselves merely for our own selfish use, but to share them as best we can. What I am saying is that our possessions are not eternal, and will vanish. Let me use the example of trading cars. We get "trading fever" and that car seems to be the greatest thing in all of the world and we just have to have it. We buy it, drive it and smell it's newness. Before we know it, time has gone by and we relegate that treasured possession to the used car lot, or the junkyard. The joy that it brought was only temporary. Everything on this earth is only temporary. One day God will "shake" the heavens and the earth, and only what is eternal will remain. We have a difficult time convincing ourselves that everything on this earth is temporary. In affluent America, we seem to think that things will go on as they always have, and that we will always have the things that we want. It is almost as if people will sell their souls to have more and more. I am certainly not against people having things and getting ahead in life. I’m grateful for that part of our lives in America. What concerns me is that we increasingly seem to be ignoring the things that are eternal. For example, the Bible is a perennial best seller, but it is definitely not the most read. It has not been my intention in this article to make you feel guilty for owning “things.” I mainly want to remind you, as well as myself, that we should not be owned by what we own. I want to hitch my star to that which will not fade away. I have done that by trusting Jesus as my Savior. I hope that you have too. Bro. Joe “When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted we endure it; 13. When we are slandered we answer kindly….” NIV
Corinthian Christians had become proud and vain, and considered themselves to be superior because of their faith in Christ. Paul is reminding them here what it means to really live the Christian life. He explained to them how he and the other apostles were living. They were not vain and proud, but lived Christ like lives. The three things mentioned in our text can give us some guidance in how we are to live. It will not be easy, but what is written here was what Christ demanded of His followers. If we want to live like apostles of Christ, we will heed these things, no matter how difficult they are. “When we are cursed, we bless.” In Matthew 5:44 Jesus said: “Bless those who curse you…” Paul and the apostles were living up to what Jesus commanded of His followers. Paul did not say this was easy, and he made no promise that it would be easy for us. We encounter people in our lives who strike us the wrong way, or vice-versa, and “bless” is not what we think when they “curse” us. It is a natural human tendency to retaliate. But as Christians, we are told to bless those who curse us, and to “turn the other cheek.” I can’t say that after all of these years of living for Jesus that I have fully mastered this, but I remember that this is what I am supposed to do. Frankly, some people make it difficult to “bless” them. This is one of the real tests of our faith. Jesus did not promise us that living the Christian life would be easy. We need to remember that not retaliating is part of our witness, and people really pay attention when we fail to live up to our profession of faith. Let this become a part of your mindset and your conscience and when you are cursed, bless. “When we are persecuted we endure.” In Matthew 5:10-12 Jesus said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for they so persecuted prophets which were before you.” When we are “persecuted for righteousness sake” we join an illustrious company of God's servants. The prophets were persecuted and the apostles were persecuted, but they endured. To endure means to maintain Christian integrity through all of the trials that life brings our way. We do not yet know persecution as the prophets and apostles did, but we need to endure, keep on keeping on, when the world goes against us today – and they are and it will increase. When people dislike you because of your faith in Jesus, endure it and rejoice that your faith is so obvious that it makes unbelievers uncomfortable. Endurance in persecution is part of our witness to the world. “When we are slandered we answer kindly.” The spirit of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is to not retaliate, as mentioned above, but to be kind, even to those who would call themselves our “enemies.” When we are slandered it means that someone has told something negative about us that is not true. Paul certainly knew something about this, for he was gossiped about unmercifully. When people gossip about us we are not to go and give them a “piece of our minds,” but we are to “answer kindly.” This too is part of our witness. It is very difficult to do this, for gossip, or slander, can cause a lot of difficulty in our lives. It just comes down to whether or not we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. Living like an apostle is not easy, but it is rewarding. We need to at least take these three admonitions seriously and take them to heart and really endeavor to be the effective witnesses for Christ that we can be. Bro. Joe “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me.”
In Leviticus 25 the Lord established what was called a “year of Jubilee.” Every fifty years the land sold by the Israelites was to be return to their particular tribe. In other words, when land was sold, it was sold based on how many years it was sold before Jubilee. This is strange to us, because when we buy land we expect to keep it until we sell it or until we die. I discovered at least two reasons for the importance of the Jubilee, and what it was to teach the Israelites and us. The first discovery I made was that the Jubilee would teach the Israelites, and us, that all that we have really belongs to the Lord. This is actually the first order for what we call stewardship. Everything that we have belongs to God. We put a high priority on the ownership of things. We have a philosophy of “what is mine is mine.” To a certain extent this is true, because if someone takes what is ours without our permission it is called stealing. But in our hearts and minds, we are to understand that what we have ultimately belongs to God. If we realize this we will not be selfish with what is ours. Furthermore, if we realize that what we have belongs to God, we will want what we have to be used for His glory and for His kingdom’s work. For example, we have a bank account that has our names on it. It is ours and no one has a right to it except us. But if we realize that what we have in that bank account ultimately belongs to God, we won’t mind sharing at least a tenth of it for His kingdom’s work. It is also true that if we know that God owns that bank account, we will not be selfish with helping those less fortunate than ourselves. That’s why God also established the law of gleaning in the Old Testament. Israelites were to leave part of the crop in the field in order for the poor to have some means of sustenance. There is a parable in Luke 12 about a farmer who had a bumper crop one year. Here is how he handled the situation: “And he said, This will I do; I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul thou has much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat drink and be merry.” (Luke 12:18-19) He was condemned because his good fortune was only to benefit himself. He completely disregarded the law of gleaning. In the ensuing verse he was told that he would die, and “then whose will these things be, which thou hast provided?” He forgot one of the greatest teachings of Jubilee, i.e., what we have ultimately belongs to God and is to be used not just for ourselves, but to be used as God sees fit. The second discovery that I made from Jubilee, and from the law of letting the land rest every seventh year, was that it would teach the Israelites and us to trust our welfare to God. The problem for the Isralites was: “If we let the land lie fallow, this will mean that we will not have crops for three years.” God’s answer to them was: “I will be a blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years….you will be eating this until the ninth year when the harvest comes in.” Jesus said something similar to us: “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? ……..For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33) We have the promise of provision straight from the lips of Jesus. I pray that you will benefit today from the two lessons that I learned in my reading in Leviticus. There are many more lessons in Leviticus 25, but these are the two that stood out today. Believe that they are true for you as well. Be blessed! Bro. Joe “And she (Martha) had a sister named Mary, which also sat at the feet of Jesus, and heard His word. 42. But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Mary and Martha both loved Jesus, and Jesus, evidently, considered them to be good friends. He seemed to be comfortable in their home. The problem arose when Martha became irate with Mary because she sat at the feet of Jesus and was not helping her with the work that had to be done. Mary’s response to Jesus impressed Him more than Martha’s. Mary sat at His feet. Martha was concerned about preparations for the important guest, but Mary chose to take advantage of His presence to sit at His feet. We need to follow Mary’s example. To see why we should follow Mary’s example, let’s look at what took place between Mary and Jesus as she sat at His feet. The first thing that took place was worship. Mary forgot about everything but Jesus. This is the essence of worship. Worship doesn’t occur just because we say that we are at worship. No matter where we are, at home, at church, or anywhere else, worship takes place when we give Jesus our complete attention. Mary worshiped Jesus because she knew that He was more than a mere man. Her conversation with Jesus in John 11 reveals that she knew that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He was the Son of God. She knew that Jesus was worthy of worship. What we know about Jesus should cause us to sit at His feet in worship as well. With this in mind, how much time do you spend at the feet of Jesus. Who Jesus is and what He did for you at Calvary should teach you that worshiping Him is important. The second thing that took place between Mary and Jesus was teaching. Mary “heard His word….” What took place was not just idle chit chat. Jesus shared His word with Mary. We can compare this to Jesus sharing His word with the men on the Emmaus Road. Jesus taught those men about Himself from scripture. This is possibly what took place with Mary. Sitting at Jesus’ feet and worshiping Him, Mary learned about the scriptures that referred to Jesus. Mary heard Jesus’ word because she knew what He said was important. Mary knew that she needed to grow in her knowledge of Jesus. We can grow in our knowledge of Him if we will take the time to sit at His feet in prayer and in study of His word. The third thing that took place between Mary and Jesus was that she was commended for sitting at His feet worshiping Him. This was the “one needful thing” at that moment. Jesus did not love Mary more than He loved Martha. He commended Mary because she chose “the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” The meal that Martha was preparing would be eaten and be over, but what Mary received from Jesus could never be taken away from her. Temporal things can be taken away from us, but time spent with Jesus has eternal meaning and can never be taken away. Mary chose what was best. Spending time at Jesus’ feet is an urgent matter, and worshiping Him and learning His word is always the best thing to do. Could Jesus commend you for sitting at His feet and hearing His word? Could Jesus commend you for choosing the most important over the least important? Learn from Mary’s experience. Spend more time worshiping Jesus and hearing His word. Do not let the distractions of the world keep you from Him. Bro.Joe "And there came a leper to (Jesus), beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto Him, If you will (if you are willing), you can make me clean. 41. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched him, and said unto him, I will (I am willing), be thou clean. 42. And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.”
In this passage the leper came to Jesus to be healed, and he wondered if Jesus would be willing to rid him of his leprosy. Leprosy was, and still is in some places, a terrible thing to have, because one had to isolate himself from the rest of the world. People were deathly afraid of getting leprosy. At any rate, Jesus reached out and touched the leper and he was healed - Jesus was willing. There are some lessons here for us that could help us in our relationship with Jesus. First, Jesus is never reluctant to meet the needs that we bring to Him. Throughout the gospels we see the willingness of Jesus to intervene in people’s lives and make life better for them. You might be thinking that you went to Jesus for healing and you did not get healed. Some would say that it was your lack of faith that caused Jesus to not heal you. You need to understand that Jesus’ willingness to help us is not based on His giving us what we want, but His willingness to give us what we need. I know that I have referred to my bout with cancer a lot, and I am certainly not bragging about it. You must know that when I got the word that I had cancer; I went immediately to Jesus with it and asked Him to heal me. The amazing thing is that He did not heal my body, but in the process of my suffering He healed my soul. During the time that I was fighting with cancer, I grew more spiritually than I ever have in my life. I learned the importance of depending on Him for every breath that I take. I learned that His willingness to heal me was based on what my greatest needs were. The bottom line was that I needed to draw closer to Jesus, and to learn to depend totally upon Him. Second, Jesus is willing to heal whatever needs healing in your life. You might have an attitude problem. You might have a relationship problem. You might have a problem with a bad habit that you can’t seem to break. It could be that you have a physical problem that is weighting you down. There is no end to the possibilities of what you need to bring to Jesus to heal. Just remember this: Jesus is willing to heal you and help you with whatever it is that you need to have healed. Third, it might be that you feel that you are just unworthy to seek the healing power of Jesus. I want you to notice something in this text. Verse 41 tells us: “And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand and touched him, and said unto him, I will be thou clean.” You need to know that when you take your need to Jesus, whether it is physical or otherwise, you find that He has compassion for you. That is to say that He cares about what you are going through and that He loves you. Notice also that Jesus reached out and touched the leper. People just did not do that in that day. As aforementioned, people were deathly afraid of catching leprosy and would not dare touch a leper. But Jesus was not reluctant at all to touch him. I think that one of the reasons that Jesus touched him was that the man had not felt a personal touch for a long time. People would do anything to stay away from him. You might think that what you bring to Jesus iis unforgiveable, and that you need a touch from someone who understands. Whatever your sin, it is not unforgiveable and you can know that Jesus understands and is willing to forgive you, heal your soul, and help you make the changes that you need to make to make your life better. In other words, Jesus will reach out and touch you as He did the leper. Bro. Joe "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God."
What does "from everlasting to everlasting mean"? It means that with God it is impossible to put a date on a beginning or an end. He has existed from one end of eternity to the other. Then consider that there is no place in the universe where God is not present. It will almost blow your mind. To some people God is incomprehensible, so they just deny His existence. That's where the Bible comes in. If we didn't have God's revelation of Himself in scripture, we could could never understand Him. For example, Psalm 97:6 tells us that "the heavens declare His righteousness and all the people see His glory." We can look into the sky and see the evidence of God's existence. The Bible tells us that we can find Him in the heavens. Ancient people saw the stars and moon and worshipped them. Scripture tells us that He created it and that we are to worship Him, not His creation. Another text that makes God comprehensible is Hebrews 1:1-3: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholds all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." In the final analysis, Jesus makes God comprehensible to us. He tells us that not only is God real, but that He loves us and wants to be involved in our lives. The God who is "from everlasting to everlasting" enters into time with us and becomes a part of our lives. His presence and reality in our lives through the Holy Spirit brings Him alive in our lives. He is not just comprehensible; He is necessary. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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