Acts 8

I am studying Acts 8 and enjoying watching Acts 1:8 happen!  Believers are witnesses in Jerusalem-Judea-and-Samaria-then later comes the utter most part of the world.  Those of us who embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior know the joy of what it means for the witness of Him to reach us!  

What is this witness:

1.   God is Holy and righteous and created us for His glory to shine with His righteousness.  (Genesis 1)

2.  Man has rejected their creator and has become sinful by nature.  We are in rebellion against God.  We deserve His punishment. (Genesis 3; Rom. 3:10-17;23; Romans 6:23)

3.  God has provided Salvation from sin and God's punishment for sin is in Christ alone.

a.  Jesus is God (John 1:1)

b.  He became a man  (John 1:14; Luke 2)

c.  He is sinless (2 Cor. 5:21)

d. He died to pay for our sin.  (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Titus 3:5-6)

e.  He rose from the dead and returned to the Father.  God accepted His righteous life and His sacrificial death as a substitute for those who turn to Him.  (Romans 1:4)

4.  If we turn away from our sin and turn in faith to trust in Him (His person and work on the cross) God forgives us and covers us with the righteousness of His Son.  We become His true children.  (John 1:12; Romans 10:9-10;13; Acts 16:31).  We recognize that we could never be good enough for God, but Christ is good enough for Him and we become good in Christ.  (Eph. 2:8-9)

5.   Those who turn to Him embrace a knew master and have a new heart to live for Him.  We look forward to eternal life with Him in the new heavens and earth.  We are witnesses of Him.  (1 John 2:3-6; 2 Cor. 5:17; Acts 1:8; Revelation 21)

Have you responded to the good news of Christ in faith?

Acts 16:31 “...Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  (NASB)

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip 

preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

(NASB)

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Literally Critical

I have been preparing for a teaching on taking scripture literally and the importance of the words of scripture having a single meaning.  I am reminded again how important it is for us to take God's word in its plain and literal sense.  God wants to communicate with us and it is our job to understand what He says through the power of the illumination of the Spirit of God.  (2 Tim 2:15) 

God does not like to be misquoted!

Jeremiah 23:31–39 (NASB95)

31 “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’

32 “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lord?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ The Lord declares, ‘I will abandon you.’

34 “Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household.

35 “Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’

36 “For you will no longer remember the oracle of the Lord, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.

37 “Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’

38 “For if you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ surely thus says the Lord, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ’

39 “Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. 

If churches today pervert His word God's also loathes their claim to be proclaiming His word!

May we seek to understand His Word and act upon it!  And may we not twist His word to our own ends.  

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Thoughts for the Lawn Mower

Well, today is my day off and it always goes fast spending time with the family and just getting things done around the house.  The grass is about 6 inches long, so I will soon be on the mower.  This morning I read from 2 Corinthians 3.  Paul was talking about the glory of the new covenant.  I was struck again by the amazing privilege that it is to have the veil of the old testament removed through Christ.  To see the brightness of Christ's glory as the one who fulfilled all of God's promises as Savior and Lord!  When we minister in the confidence of the Spirit of Christ through the word of Christ, the people whose lives are transformed through this ministry are our letter of commendation from the Lord!  As we see Christ face to face in His word we are being transformed to be more like Him, so that we can shine His glory to the world!  Awesome!

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB95)

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

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