Highlight: 

Acts 12:4-5 – “And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.”

Explain: 

Herod was seeking to stop the apostles and those spreading the gospel.  He had James killed, and he arrested Peter.  Peter was kept in prison, but the church began to pray earnestly for Peter.  Peter was being watched by many guards, but an angel came and rescued Peter from prison.  The earnest prayers from the church were answered! 

Apply:

This was very convicting because question I have for myself is “What am I earnestly praying about?”  Often my prayers are routine and rushed, and would not be categorized as earnest.  Are my prayers not being answered because there is no earnestness with them? I need to pray with confidence and believe that God can do anything.

Respond:

Lord, specifically at this time, help me to earnestly pray for Mitchell and the Tippett family. My heart is hurting with Brian, Kimberly, Jessica, Abigail, and Mike as they walk through this with Mitchell.

Brad Perry

H.E.A.R. Journal for 5/8/19

5/8/19

Acts 11 (CSB)

H

Acts 11:17 – “If then God gave them the same gift He also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”

E

This verse is Peter explaining his vision to the church. In chapter 10 Peter was given a vision from God and told to eat unclean animals.  At the same time, a Gentile man who was seeking God was told to send for Peter, so he did.  Peter was able to share the Gospel with Cornelius, a Gentile, and God saved Cornelius and gave him the Holy Spirit.  Peter is telling the church this in chapter 11, and was admitting he struggled to receive the vision because as a Jew it was difficult to accept non-Jewish food, much less to think God would pour out His Spirit on Gentiles just like He would Jews. This verse shows that Peter recognized that if God was giving the same gift and salvation to Gentiles as Jews, why would anyone want to stand in the way of that?

A

Sometimes God’s truth and work will confront my own cultural understandings of things or even my own biases.  I must be willing to look past what I think culturally normal and be willing to embrace the fact God is for people of all ethnicities and cultures. Not only must I embrace that fact, but I must never think my own cultural and ethnic way of doing things is the only way or best way.  I should realize God works through all cultures and should do whatever I can not to hinder His work and strive to have my ministry reflect those principles as well. 

R

Prayer: “God, help me move past my own biased way of thinking or wrongful attitudes towards those that are different than me so that I can better be used by You and be a servant of the Gospel.  Help me to see how big You are just by the way You work in all people no matter how different they are and help me never to stand in the way of that.” 

Aaron Pierce 

Scripture: Acts 10

Highlight(Highlighted verses are with each point of application below)

Explain: Cornelius, a Roman centurion who has been seeking God, sends for Peter at God’s direction. Simultaneously, Peter receives a vision teaching him that he should not reject as unclean whatever God has made clean. When the messengers from Cornelius show up, Peter goes with them and preaches the gospel to the household of Cornelius. All receive the Holy Spirit and are baptized. This is the first entry of the Spirit into the hearts of Gentiles.

Apply  – There is an outline in this chapter of the process of conversion. (I am not saying that God always has to work this way. I am saying that this is the way He worked with Cornelius and that he may use some of these steps to bring to Himself those to whom we witness).  Observation: At some point, Cornelius encountered God through other Jews that he met. Vv1-2“At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man” Usually a person will need to observe the lives of other believers before they commit to follow Christ. Conviction: God began to work in his heart. V2 “. . . who feared God . . . ” Out of their observation of God’s work through others, conviction begins. Search: Cornelius began to pray regularly and give alms. I believe he was responding to the light that he had received. v2 “ . . . gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.” As a person receives conviction, they will either resist it, or begin to respond by seeking. Intervention: God sent an angel to supernaturally direct him to send for Peter. At the same time God was working on Peter. V3 “ . . . About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in . . .” v 19-20“. . . And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.’” God usually intervenes supernaturally in the life of someone who seeks for Him. Obedience: Both Cornelius and Peter obey. They both do what God directs them to do. V8 “. . .  he sent them to Joppa.” V23 “ . . . The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him . . .” At that point, both the seeker and the witness have to be obedient to what the Spirit is prompting them to do. Witness: Peter shares the gospel with Cornelius. V37-43: “you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name”. At some point, then, the gospel must be shared. Conversion: The Holy Spirit comes. V44: “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” During that gospel presentation, the Spirit must bring final conviction and the person must respond. Confirmation: They are baptized. V48: And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Confirmation of that decision occurs through discipleship and baptism. This now becomes the new paradigm for conversion (not the precise steps in every case). Instead of being Jewish, it is by profession, the presence of the Spirit, and baptism that people are saved, not by first being Jewish or circumcised.

Respond I will try to evaluate where the people I am sharing Christ with are in this process.

Rusty Russell

Scripture: Acts 9:26–31 (NKJV)

Highlight  26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28 So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. 29And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. 30When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. 31Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

Explain    Saul is converted by a powerful encounter with the risen Christ. He is changed from a Jewish terrorist to a Christian apologist. The only problem is that the people he was terrorizing do not trust him. In his zeal to preach the gospel he brings great danger to himself (and probably to the very people of gospel he sought to help). Finally, v30 says that the brothers send him away to Tarsus. The result is v 31: Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

Apply  Sometimes our efforts to preach or serve are blocked by the Holy Spirit at every turn, it seems. In those moments we may get frustrated with God or with one another. I am sure that Paul was probably frustrated that people were turning on him and, in many cases, rejecting his message. I am also sure that the other Christ-followers may have resented this former persecutor turned preacher. Yet, I believe God was at work through ALL of these circumstances to achieve His purpose. He was also moving Paul out of the limelight until He could teach him the powerful gospel message he would write in the 13 letters of the New Testament He authored. My job as a disciple is not to succeed it is to obey, no matter how unorthodox God’s leading may seem.

Respond I will seek to follow Christ today!

Rusty Russell

Scripture:  Acts 8:31 (NIV)

Highlight: 

”How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?”  So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.  

Explain: 

An angel of the Lord had commanded Philip to travel in a certain direction. As he was traveling, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in that area.  The man was reading from the prophet of Isaiah.  Philip heard the man as he was reading, and he asked him did he understand what he was reading.  The eunuch responded with the highlighted verse.  

Apply: 

There are many people that we come in contact today that may have the same response as the Ethiopian eunuch.  How many people that we come in contact with really know the true meaning of what Jesus did for them on the cross?  How many of these co-workers, friends, parents of kids on our kids’ soccer or dance teams, or random people that we meet in a Walmart or Panera Bread may just need someone to “sit down” with them to explain God’s love for them?

Respond:  Lord, please help me to be conscious of the needs around me. Please allow me to have opportunities with people that I come in contact with to “sit down” and share with them what you have done for them and for me.  Please help me not to be so busy that I miss the opportunities that you may provide to me.  

Carl Bradshaw

Scripture: Acts 7:48–54 (NKJV)

Highlight   48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest? 50 Has My hand notmade all these things?’ 51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their  teeth.

Explain     At this time in Jerusalem it was the Temple which was revered and to speak against it was blasphemy because it was in the Temple that the presence of God was to be found. Jesus equates Himself with the Temple because He was the true way to God. He said, “Destroy this Temple (speaking of Himself) and in three days I will rebuild it.” He is the Temple because He, Himself, is the way to God. Through His death and resurrection, we can come into God’s presence.  With powerful confrontation, Stephen is preaching Jesus—the very one they had crucified— AS the temple. This is a message they cannot bear and their reaction is an uncontrollable rage that causes them to kill him.

Apply   Our generation is much like the Sanhedrin: They will not endure messages that confront them with truth. The tendency we have when we face our culture is to so nuance our message that it becomes less confrontational. Instead of viewing the culture through the lens of Scripture, we view Scripture through the lens of culture. Let’s be honest: We are often afraid to simply speak the truth. Doing that robs our message of its impact. I am not, here, lobbying for cultural condemnation for its own sake; I am arguing for confronting the culture with the gospel. I am arguing for confronting the culture at the very points where its message contradicts scripture. Anything less nuances our message to a pablum which has no impact.

Respond  I will, in love, speak truth to those who are lost and to those spiritual leaders who have abandoned truth.

Scripture: Acts 5:5–16 (NKJV)

Highlight   5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried himout, and buried him. 7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” 9Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying herout, buried her by her husband. 11So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. 12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Explain  Ananias and Saphira want to use their giving as a means of enhancing their reputation while still keeping some of their money, so they lie. They evidently say a piece of property sold for a certain price when it really sold for more. This really seems like a small thing. Surely there were other believers who were committing other sins, but this dishonest couple is judged by God in a very final, immediate way. Following this, there is an awesome display of God’s power. While some are afraid to join the group because of fear, still their number dramatically increased. Even the shadow of Peter passing on the sick brought healing.

Apply  We might be tempted to argue the “why” of this judgment, but, other than it being a direct judgment on sin, we will simply be speculating if we do. I think it is more important to note its impact on the church. Consider the following:   Desire (for undeserved praise/reputation) brings sin (lying about the property);  Sin brings judgment (Ananias and Saphira die) Judgment brings reverence (great fear comes on all the people)Reverence brings power (great miracles follow);  Power brings harvest (multitudes are added) Perhaps the take-away is this: The net result of this judgment was an attitude of reverence and seriousness that led to the power of God. What would this judgment, reverence, and seriousness look like in today’s church? I am not sure about the answer to that question, but I am sure that a reverence for God and an experience of His power is lacking. May we not have to suffer judgment in order to experience it!

Respond  I will pray about the answer to that question.

Scripture: Acts 4:13-14

Highlight  The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.

Explain  Peter and John, having healed the lame man, are called on the carpet for doing it in the name of Jesus. The people are praising God for what has been done and Peter is telling them that it was done in the name of Jesus. This is a dilemma for the leaders. If they admit to the miracle, they have to admit to Christ’s identity. If they admit to Christ’s identity, they have to admit to their own part in having Him killed. If they admit that they crucified their Messiah, they will be disqualified to lead. You would think that these leaders would have shut up these pesky disciples, but there is one thing that kept them from doing that: The man was obviously healed and they could not deny it.

Apply  This is missing in our witness today, so often. We lack the power of God and how we need that. I am not necessarily saying that we have to see people healed, but I am saying that we need God to miraculously confirm the message we are preaching. How can this happen today? Well, in some cases it happens in miracles that we may not even recognize. It certainly happens through changed lives and the witness of God’s power in the lives of believers. Here’s the take-away from this passage: Without a display of God’s power the message of Christ’s identity is simply another religious claim.

Respond O God reveal to me how to see more of Your power displayed so that your message will be believed.