oRead Acts 7:17-43. 7:17: "when the time of the promise drew near."

God is simply and supremely faithful.  He had promised Abraham (v5) a land after a period of bondage (v7).  The Egyptians would not stop God.  But neither would Moses.  At age 40 Moses went out in the flesh and botched any opportunity to lead Israel.  Most of us would have given up at that time, just as Moses did.  But not God, for God was now in a position to receive the glory for fulfilling the promise.  Ministry is like that.  It needs to fail until there is no room for our pride and only room for God's glory.

oRead Acts 7:1-16. 7:9: "God was with him."

Abraham is defined by "promises" (v5) and "covenant" (v8).  Joseph is defined by God's active and powerful presence in time of trouble.  Joseph gave great testimony to Paul's words: "If God be for us, who can stand against us" (Rom. 8:31).  It is high time for Christians to stop emphasizing their problems, their poor childhood, or ungodly spouse, or meager provisions!  For Joseph it was all against him.  And every time it looked like he was going to get up and out of trouble, the pit just got deeper.  But God was always with him.  We have a promise of "God at home in us" as we obey Him (Jn. 14:23).  We have the promise of the Almighty Son of God with us in power as we serve Him (Mt. 28:19-20).

oRead Acts 6:1-15. 6:3: "seek out from among you seven men of good reputation."

Numerous principles are seen here.  1) The Church didn't create more structure until there was a need (v1).  2) Leadership depends on character, not skill (v3).  3) The ministry of the Word and prayer is an essential ministry in every church (v4).  4) Effective leadership is shared leadership (v6).  5) Effective organization must allow for the work of the Spirit to continue, and not be stifled (v7).  6) In the Church, where love of brother is the basic command, good problem solving is based in humility and unselfishness, as seen by the 7 Greek names of the 1st Deacons.  (In other words, all 7 of them were drawn from that part of the church body that felt like they were being treated unfairly.)  With all this, it is worth noting that the Apostles didn't set out with a book on organization; rather they were faithful in the Word and prayer.  Like Stephen (v5,8,10) they were controlled by the Spirit.

oRead Acts 5:33-42. 5:41: "counted worthy to suffer shame."

The principle is simple.  Jesus said: "they persecuted Me; they will persecute you."  In other words there is a direct link between our likeness to Christ and the worthiness to suffer shame for Him.  If you keep living a soft Christianity. He will not bless you with the happiness of suffering for the Name (Mt. 5:10-12).

oRead 5:12-32. 5:29: "we ought to obey God rather than men."

What bold words.  What confrontational courage by the one who had denied his Lord thrice.  But note: this is not a mere argument from Peter.  These are words that ring true because since the coming of the Holy Spirit he has lived this obedience.  He preached, was thrown in jail, released by an angel, told to preach again, and he did it!  After being thrown in jail most would have been thinking of ways to make peace, go underground, or modify the message.  But these are men who have died to self and live for God.  They cannot be quiet (4:20).  They won't be quiet (5:29).

Psalm 15

 

Psalm 15 and 16 have a common theme of security.  One ends, “He who does these things shall never be moved;” the other begins, “Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.”  It illustrates 2 Timothy 2:19 where the “solid foundation of God” is two-fold: “The Lord knows those who are His” (i.e. the Lord preserves, Psa. 16); and “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (i.e. he who does these things shall never be moved, Psa. 15).

Let us avoid the confusion of those who are ignorant of Scripture.  Psalm 15 is not saying that we “earn” a relationship with God by a righteousness of our own.  This is never the case, whether under the Law (Old Testament) or under grace (New Testament).  It is true that we cannot dwell in God’s presence without a change so profound that Jesus referred to it as being “born again” (John 3).  But that righteousness is first “accounted” to the believer (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4; Phil. 3:9).  And then that righteousness is worked out in the day-to-day life of the believer as he is transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).  This is the one who “walks uprightly and works righteousness.”  It is never the product of the flesh (i.e. the personal effort of the man); it is always God who works in and through the man (Phil. 2:13). 

The joys of this great hymn are bound up in a good understanding of the opening verse.  Verses 2-5 are quite understandable and should be the object of meditation, allowing the Spirit of God to convict and encourage us in our walk.  But what is David’s question?

Both key verbs “abide” and “dwell” have to do with being settled down.  The first means to sojourn, to seek hospitality.  It emphasizes being in a place not necessarily our own but in which we find a real welcome.  The latter term means to reside, to make our home there.  The emphasis takes us beyond being a welcome guest to making the place our actual home. 

The “place” we are talking about is the LORDs “tabernacle” and “holy hill”.   The former term refers to a tent, the place where nomadic people would live or people like shepherds whose work moves them to different places.  In other words, it is a place that we have no matter where we happen to be at the time.  It was the term used for the tent of God’s dwelling in the wilderness, and then the place David built was a tent in which the Ark of the Covenant was placed (1 Chron. 16:1). 

This tent erected by David was in Jerusalem which sat on the upslope of what is today the southern upslope of Mt. Moriah.  However the city was called by the name of the larger hill to the west, Mt. Zion.  Thus in David’s day a reference to God’s holy hill was appropriate.  It is the hill of God’s apartness or separation.  This is the reason the answer to the question (vs.2-5) is what it is.  We cannot enjoy God’s presence and enjoy sin at the same time.

Thus David’s question asks who may be at home in the welcoming-home of the God who is to be revered as totally set apart from us.  Ponder this thought!  There are believers who err on both sides of the blessed relationship we have with God.  Some stress familiarity with God, a friendship similar to that which we have with our hunting buddies or shopping pals.  Others hold the holy God at such a distance that He cannot be enjoyed; they struggle to be “settled down” with Him.  Still others come along and say “it’s both.” 

I would suggest to you, NONE OF THIS IS CORRECT!  Yes, sometimes in His presence we are rejoicing, other times we are burdened.  But ALWAYS we come in uprightness, confessing our sins and acknowledging the atoning sacrifice of Christ.  Always we come, welcomed by grace, without forgetting the holiness of the One in whose presence we live. 

Now let us remind ourselves of one final thought.  The “holy hill” of the LORD today is not in Jerusalem.  Neither is it in the New Jerusalem, the heaven we long for.  For believers in Jesus Christ the temple of God is within, by the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  1 Cor. 6:18-20 is the New Testament version of Psalm 15, if you will.  Since our bodies are the temple of God, the movable dwelling place (tabernacle), the hill of His separateness, let us glorify Him with our bodies as well as in our “spirit”.  It is all His.

What a glorious blessing that God bids us come into His presence.  Let us enjoy that Presence.  Let us not visit occasionally; let us dwell there, let us be at home there!  In that “place” you will never be moved!

oRead Acts 5:1-11. 5:5,11: "great fear came upon all."

Lying Christians dropping dead and people being healed when someone's shadow passes nearby is not the norm for the Church nor is it the point here.  Rather for us there is presented an awesomeness about the people called "the Body of Christ."  What a marvelous thing to be called "the people of God", to be His family.  God will not always grant the Church high esteem from the world; the norm is to be persecuted (v17-18).  But He will fulfill His promises to His Church, granting them His presence (Mt. 28:19-20), power (Acts 1:8), provision (Phil. 4:19) and protection (Jn 16:33).  Count it all joy to belong to God's Church.

 

oRead 4:23-37. 4:31: "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."

I hope we do not sell short the significance of a Spirit-filled local Church.  What does it say about the importance of the body of Christ that upon release Peter and John first found their church family?  These people had denied self, not only to exalt Christ but also to honor each other.  With one accord they prayed (v24).  They had all things in common (v32).  It is not without good reason that the Lord moves Dr. Luke to relate these truths for out of this the apostles gave witness to the resurrection with great power (v33).  This is the unselfish church of Philippi (Phil. 2:1-4), the loving church of Thessalonica (1 Th. 4:9-10), and the open door church of Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13).

oRead 4:13-22. 4:13: "they realized they had been with Jesus."

What is better than that for an epitaph.  This is the mission of believers in this age: to let your light so shine that they may see your good works and glorify God in Heaven (Mt. 5:16).  Even these unbelieving Jews glorify God because they see no other explanation for the effectiveness of these uneducated men than that they had been with Jesus!  It's interesting that publicly the world will lay our Christian testimony at the feet of Satan (Mt. 9:34) or a drunken stupor (Ac. 2:13).  But in private they know that proximity to Christ is the only explanation.  Have I learned this?  The key to fruitful living is not my education or experience or evolution.  If I am with Jesus all these things can be overcome.

 

 

o Read Acts 4:1-12. 4:2: "they preached in Jesus the resurrection of the dead."

You have to hand it to the priests, and especially the Sadducees (who did not believe in the resurrection at all).  At least they could recognize the most critical truth to confront.  It is not the message of the cross by itself.  Many men died on  crosses in Roman times, thousands.  And some of them claimed to be "the Christ", the One to be anointed King (Acts 5:36-37).  But only One ever, ever was resurrected.  Only One!  It was Jesus!!  This message had to be stopped because anyone who believed Jesus was raised from the dead must bow before Him as Lord.  There can be salvation in no One else (v12).

o Read Acts 3:11-26. 3:13,26: "His servant Jesus."

There is a principle in the Bible: God humbles the exalted and exalts the humble.  This principle is in operation in this gospel sermon.  It was the Holy One and the Just Who was denied (v14), the Prince of Life Who was killed (v15), and the Christ Who suffered (v18).  The Mighty One is humbled, supremely at the cross.  But then He is exalted, yet not the Mighty One but the Humble One.  God glorified His Servant Jesus (v13), He raised up His Servant Jesus (v26).  In our moments of greatness we must be humble; in our humility God will exalt.  This is the mind of the Lord (Phil. 2:5).  It is our "self esteem" (James 1:9-11).

o Read Acts 3:1-10. 3:6: "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."

Is this an illustration of our ability to do the miraculous if we would but trust God?  Absolutely not!  Peter, and the other apostles, were given authority to perform the signs to confirm their message.  The one who thinks he is blessed by God with power to perform miracles ought to be ashamed of every broken and suffering body left in every hospital.  It is not always to the glory of God for a person to be healed.  So what is this?  It is an illustration of the use of the name of Christ, granted to all of us (Jn. 14:13-14).  If it glorifies God then He enables us to pray "in Jesus’ name", meaning "by faith" because it is in His will.  We must learn to pray in His name.  It's not that we have not because we lack power; rather we have not because we ask not!

Psalm 14

 

Psalm 1 tells us God’s eyes are on the righteous and the way of the ungodly will perish.  Psalm 14 tells us God’s eyes are on mankind and the way of the righteous will be blessed.

Psalm 14 is interesting in that it is duplicated in Psalm 53.  One wonders why, and it would seem there is no answer except that the Spirit of God desired it for some profit to those who would read.  All Scripture is profitable!  But with that obvious answer, one wonders still why this song that so strongly emphasizes the sinfulness of man.  After all, the Apostle Paul drew heavily on this in Rom. 3:9-18 when he was declaring the depravity of mankind.  Rom. 3:10-12 (quoting Psalm 14:1-3/53:1-3) stress the depravity of man’s character before speaking of the depravity of his words and deeds. 

So again, why duplicate this song?  Is it because we will tend to forget how sinful we are and need the reminder?  Perhaps.  But actually this Psalm is meant to be encouragement to God’s people.  It ends with a prayer (v7) for God’s salvation from the workers of iniquity around them.  So perhaps it is repeated because God’s people often find them in this situation, where they are in the minority.  That is the world today, where Christ has left His church until He comes for them.  And it was the world in which the righteous of Israel found themselves.  We may forget our depravity; so let us be reminded that apart from the grace of God these Psalms describe us!  But also, we may lose hope, forgetting the promised refuge of God as we frequently fret about the evil that surrounds us.  Let us be encouraged!

Let us note a few things from this Psalm.  Verse 1 (“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’”) speaks of practical atheism more than intellectual atheism (using intellectual rather loosely).  In the end, what the fool does is to doubt God’s faithfulness to His people.  In that sense he says, “NO GOD!  I can get away with taking advantage of these do-gooders.”  He is indeed a fool.  In fact, God is not absent.  He is actually in heaven looking down upon mankind looking to see if there is anyone who seeks Him.  He finds there are NONE that do God, a phrase repeated with emphasis in v6. 

In vs. 7 there is a question as to what is meant by “captivity”.  This is said to be “of David” (although the inscriptions are not part of the inspired text).  What captivity was he talking about?  1) Egypt?  No, of course not.  That is long past.  2) Babylon?  Not likely.  David knew nothing of that.  3) Some captive situation in David’s day?  Again, not likely.  We know nothing of that kind of event in the stories of the Writings.  4) Some symbolic situation that seemed like captivity?  Some hold to this idea and it could be the case, though if there is a literal captivity we are better to lean that way.  The application to our own lives is symbolically presented for we certainly depend on God’s providential care as have His people in every age.  He is always with “the generation of the righteous” (v5).  Though the earth shames God, “the counsel of the poor,” yet He is ever their refuge.

May I suggest one other possibility?  Perhaps David knew Deut. 32.  As I read the Prophets it appears to me we often underestimate how well they knew the books of Moses, especially Deuteronomy.  Moses was told by God that Israel would certainly be rebellious to the point of God removing them from the land and casting them to the nations.  But then He promised, not to destroy them completely, but to bring them back.  Could it be that this prayer for salvation from captivity has in mind the ultimate salvation of God’s people?  In that case what he would be praying for is the work of God that revolves around the greater Son of David, the Messiah.  And it will happen at a time when the workers of iniquity will be at their strongest in attacking God’s people as if they had no Refuge!

Let us not be shocked by the wickedness of the wicked.  When we are it is an indication we have forgotten the depth of our own sinfulness.  And when we forget that, we cannot begin to fathom the awesomeness of God’s grace.  But not only that, let us not be dismayed by the wickedness of the wicked.  Let us cry out to God to save us. 

o Read Acts 2:40-47. 2:46: "simplicity of heart."

This is the only use of this term in the New Testament.  It has the raw idea of being "free from rocks."  So there was nothing in their hearts to hold them back from their fellowship.  Oh for that to be true here, Lord, to be free of rocks, of stumbling stones.  Rocks like pride, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy, judgmentalism, and selfish ambition just destroy fellowship.  Help me Lord to be Christ in the office, the pulpit, the home, everywhere; to have "simplicity of heart."

oRead Acts 2:34-39. 2:36: "both Lord and Christ."

Peter has learned well from his teacher.  He deals with the right issue: "Who do you say that I am" (Mt. 16:15)?  And he uses the same "proof" text Jesus used in His passion week arguments (Ps. 110:1; Mt. 22:44).  Oh that I could learn like that instead of thinking I always have to invent some new approach.  Not only was Peter's preaching of the gospel like that of Christ's; it was like that of the others in Acts (Stephen, Paul, etc).  1) He preached Christ, speaking of His life, death and resurrection.  2) He stated the conclusion, not in terms of an altar call but in terms of Who Jesus is.  3) He then told responders what to do.  What is important is what happened between #2 and #3: people asked Peter what they should do.  And why did they do that?  Why did Peter not have to beg for response?  It is because the Holy Spirit was doing His work of conviction all the time Peter was preaching.  So we must preach Christ; the Spirit will draw men to God.

oRead Acts 2:22-33. 2:22: "hear these words."

Peter is about to preach a marvelous sermon, a clear gospel.  He is filled with the Spirit.  The result is "they were cut to the heart" (v37).  But for this to happen there must not only be Spirit-led preaching; there must be Spirit-led hearing as well.  God did get their attention (2:5-13), but even then they were admonished to hear.  We must pray for a hearing as we pray for ourselves in teaching.  God will grant it as He did for Nehemiah who asked for a good hearing before the King (Neh. 1:11).  In ministry pray that you teach clearly; and pray that others hear accurately and without the blinding effect of Satan (2 Cor. 3;14).

oRead Acts 2:5-21. 2:13: "they are full of new wine."

It is interesting that the disciples should be confused with drunks, especially in light of Eph. 5:18.  The similarities between wine and the Holy Spirit are many.  Both influence the mind, the mouth, the walk, the outlook.  Both produce a "lifestyle" vastly different than when we are without wine or the Spirit.  And that is the point here: the crowds saw something they could not explain, but rather than relate it to God preferred to relate it to wine.  The life produced by the Spirit defies a normal explanation.

oRead Acts 2:1-4. 2:1: "in one accord."

Not a Honda, of course, but a state of mind, purpose, heart, soul (1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:1-4); a state into which the Spirit comes.  This is a blessed situation and not impossible to experience as is seen here, especially given the divisions the 12 had previously experienced over who was the greatest.  It is a state that seems to elude many of us in leadership.  And if that is the case, how can we expect to see it in the Church.  The unity in decision making here certainly stems from the unity in prayer experienced by the group in the previous chapter.

oRead Acts 1:15-26. 1:18: "all his entrails gushed out."

That's pretty gross.  But twice in the Bible it is recorded as happening: Judas and Jehoram (2 Chr. 21:18-19).  Both were judgments for sin.  So it's not pretty; but when is death ever pretty.  Hospice seeks to bring dignity to death and dying, and they certainly are a help.  But death itself is the ugliest of events, contrary to the God who made us to glorify Him!  May I serve him well with this body of death (Phil. 1:20).  And may I not wait until death to glorify Him.

Psalm 13

 

Jesus called those who labor and are heavy with care to come to Him so He could give them rest (Matt. 11:28).  God bids us come into His very throne room, through the priestly work of Christ, to find grace and mercy in time of need (Heb. 4:14-16).  These kinds of invitations assume two things at least: 1) there are needy people; and 2) God cares for them.  

You may think the Psalmist is out of place to accuse God of “unkindness” (as Matthew Henry puts it), to be too late with His help, and in fact to be an absent Partner in their relationship.  But in fact this is God’s servant expressing his heart, the starting place in approaching God.  He FEELS this way.  But if you read the entirety of this short hymn, you know it is not the ending place.  He will go out of his secret place rejoicing and trusting God’s mercy.

The fact that he is in God’s presence with this matter is quite possibly the result of having no one else to turn to.  He has been reduced to taking “counsel in my soul” (v2).  When he seeks this advice from within himself he finds only sorrow or discouragement.  But he will not walk “in the counsel of the ungodly” (Ps. 1:1).  The “counsel of the nations” is ineffective (Ps. 33:10).  Only the counsel of the LORD will stand (Ps. 33:11).  Even if there are godly people around us, who will accept us in our pain and will compassionately pray for us and, yes, counsel us, we will still be wise to follow David into the sanctuary.  For in order to have victory against the enemy (v2,4) we not only need God’s word; we need God’s mercy and salvation (v5).

Perhaps we should remind ourselves of one more thing about God, so that we will not hesitate to come to Him in every situation we face.  When we come to Him He will deal with us “without reproach” (James 1:5).  He will not make light of our need.  He will not criticize us for not coming up with the answer on our own.  James says in the same verse, He is the God “who gives to all liberally,” echoing David’s conclusion at the end of the Psalm: “I will sing to the LORD because He has dealt bountifully with me”.

Let nothing keep you from the prayer room today and every day.  Not only does the Son long to give you rest, not only is the Father ready to grant grace and mercy; you will also find the Spirit ready to join you in prayer when you do not know what to say (Rom. 8:26).  How blessed to have this Trinity of invitations.  RSVP now.  And then show up early!