Acts 2:42- 47

I write this not as one pointing fingers but as one that wants whoever is reading this to take a step back and examine what is going on around them.

In acts 2:42-47, people respond to Peter's charge in response to the question "Brothers, what shall we do?" (v37)

v42 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer.
These believers were devoted to
1) The apostles' teaching (remember the apostles' were charged by Jesus to go and make disciples. These teachings ultimately stem from Christ)
2) Fellowship
3) Communion and prayer

v44 - 47 - "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

You read this passage and one thing in particular sticks out: Unity in the body of Christ. In this passage, there are no accounts of gossiping, slander, factions, or self interest. This picture of the early church is something that all churches should strive for. Notice that this church wasn't a building but a body of believers. People came freely to worship and fellowship. People came with their needs and the people of the church provided for them out of love (v45). This group of people honored the Lord through their actions and were clearly blessed by the presence of the Lord. In the end (v47), their numbers grew. Now, numbers are no indication of how healthy a church is but this much I will say. A healthy church will grow in numbers. It will attract people in the community.

As you look at your respective fellowships, do your fellowships reflect this? Are they places where people can come freely to worship and fellowship with other believers? Are they places in which the body is unified in the Lord's name? Are they places full of the love and grace that our Christ showed us? Do you see or witness other people caring for not only the spiritual needs but the physical needs of their brothers and sisters? Just something to think about.

Acts 2:14-40

I'm having a hard time connecting all the dots in this passage so I will just note what I found interesting.

+Peter was preaching and was well versed in his scripture. He recited and relied upon scripture to make the main points of his speech.

+v 21 "And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved"

+In verse 21, Peter notes that David spoke about the resurrection of Christ. "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope because you will not abandon me to the grace, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence" BEFORE the resurrection even occured, David found strength and refuge in it. He spoke words of joy and gladness. Having knowledge of the resurrection now, why is it that many of us don't display a similar joy? Jesus has not abandoned us to the grace but has been resurrection. Why isn't this hope and gladness in the resurrection manifesting itself in our actions and words?

+v37 "Brothers, what shall we do?" Good question. When face to face with the truth, what shall we do? We have the truth right in front of us. We are called to repent (turn from sin and towards the Lord) and be baptized (a sign of faith)(v38). This is what we are called to do. Will we do it?

Acts 2:1-13

The Holy Spirit is rarely mentioned in the Bible and this is one of the few places where it shows up. In this passage, the holy spirit comes into the house as "a violent wind" and "tongues of fire". Our God is strong enough and powerful for us to communicate in this way. I remember the last time I read about strong winds and fire was in Elijah when Elijah fled from the Lord. Elijah was surrounded by a strong wind, fire, and other natural phenomena but God was not in any of those things. God came to Elijah as a gentle whisper.

God can be loud and bold in His commands and presence. He can also be subtle and gentle. Either way, our job is to listen and to be obedient.

Common Sense But...

So I've never read the book of Acts in its entirety before. My knowledge of the ministry of the apostles post Jesus is very limited. In Acts 1, the disciples (now apostles) look to replace Judas. In making their criteria, they did the following

1) Examined scripture (v20)
2) Set up criteria based upon scripture that did not violate scripture (v21)
It should be noted that some of the criteria in for leadership here isn't explicitly stated in the bible. One requirement is that the man was with Jesus the whole time and must be a witness of the resurrection. This is contextual given the circumstance of the early church. However, in no way, shape, or form, does this violate biblical principles.
3) Proposed options and alternatives (Justus and Matthias, v23)
4) Prayed (24-25)

Clearly, both men were qualified to be leaders based upon their spiritual walks. Both men walked with Jesus through the thick and thin and were eye witnesses to His life, ministry, death, and resurrection. And while this was so, they still prayed about it. Duh. With that said, I am guilty of not praying enough for next years leaders at Cornerstone.

Ephesians 4:1-6

1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Trials, Faith, and Inheritance

1 Peter 1:3-9

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I've been pretty down lately. A certain set of circumstances related to ministry has worn out my spirit. Quite bluntly, I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of running the race. I'm not about to quit. I'm just tired. I've grown up hearing all the church/Sunday school answers so when people use it as encouragement, it honestly doesn't hold a lot of weight. We all know what we should do. Doing those actions is not always the easiest. "Oh just rely on God and everything will be okay." While true, there are times in which I do not know what that looks like.

I recently read a friend's blog (thanks Gracie) and talked about 1 Peter 1. And this I know to be true from this passage.

+I have hope in the resurrection of Christ.
+I have an inheritance that will never spoil or fade as a result of my faith.
+Even though I'm going through trials, these trials are refining my faith.
+This faith and hope combines and yields a joy greater than anything I could have sought for myself.

God is good.

Psalm 36

1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: [a]
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.

2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.

3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course
and does not reject what is wrong.

5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find [b] refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!

I read my Bible today. That's the honest truth. However, I can't write this blog because a lot of negative feelings and thoughts have the potential to be spilled. If you read this, just pray for the state of my heart that in all things, Christ may dwell in me and that through my actions, He will be glorified.

Does This Offend You?

Wow, I've been terrible about doing my blog. Anyway...

John 6:60-70

In this passage, some disciples (of whom are unnamed) begin to desert Jesus.

Disiple:(v60) This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?
Jesus:(v61-63) Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that I am offended by Jesus' teachings but there are times that I complain because they are hard. There are times where I quite frankly don't feel like following because it requires sacrifice on my part. Jesus' answer is really convicting. Does this offend you? Does it bother you that it's hard? Does it bother you that you have to give things up? I give you life. Flesh means nothing. Why are you living for flesh?

So, does this offend you?

Jesus, the Bread of Life

JOhn 6:35-59

I don't think I could go a day without eating grain-based food. It's such an integral part of my diet. In the same sense, spending time with the Lord should be a daily thing as well. Jesus is the bread of life, the one that nourishes our eternal souls and gives us something better than the temporary bread that we eat.

It is just interesting to think that despite all of this, I can go a day without spending time with the Lord but I cannot go a day without bread. If I fail to eat physical food, I feel the consequences almost immediately. If I fail to spend time in the Word, I don't feel the consequences even though they are much greater than that of skipping a meal. With that said, I hope to try something new. I hope spend time with the Lord and eat the bread that is eternal before I eat physical bread.

From the Father

John 6:32-33

This is in the middle of Jesus preaching that He is the bread of life. I hope to blog on that tomorrow but this especially stood out to me.

"Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.""

This story took place almost immediately after Jesus fed the five thousand. The people are asking Jesus logical and successive questions based upon Jesus' response to the first. The people ask how to gain the seal of approval from the Lord in which Jesus replies "believe in the one he has sent".

The people ask for a sign from God much like the time when Moses gave the Israelites manna. Jesus replied with what is said in John 6:32-33. This is important to note. Many times, when we do good things or have success, we claim that such things are from us. Jesus quickly squashes the mentality that Moses gave the people the bread and replaces it with the notion that it was God that provided. In our success, we ought not to pound our chests in pride but to bow down and to praise God for His provision.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

John 6:1-15

The Bible doesn't say anything about this but it is a question that came up while I was reading this passage: After Jesus fed the five thousands, was there a single person in the crowd that did not believe in Jesus? It says at the end of this passage that the people acknowledged Jesus for who he is and wanted to make him king. With that said, I still wonder if people denied Jesus for who He is in His very presence and having witnessed this miracle.

This brings me to our response in the presence of God. We see His miracles each and every day. We see His hand and provision every moment of our lives. In response to such things, we have two options: to praise Him as the people did in this passage or to dishonor Him with the condition of our heart.

Closing Thoughts, Pt 1.

Through the years, I have become increasingly confident in my own abilities - maybe even to the point of arrogance at times. I came into this year with my head held high, confident and ready to endure the daunting tasks associated with the second year of pre-pharmacy here at Purdue University. I envisioned myself leaving Purdue in May 2009, head held high, as a member the Purdue School of Pharmacy's 2014 graduating class. As I am down to my final 25 days, I am prepared to leave Purdue with my head held high but not because I am a member of Purdue's pharmacy school and not because I fought an uphill battle to get into Midwestern University's Chicago College of Pharmacy. By all means, I am blessed and thankful to be in the position I am in but my accomplishments are no longer the source of my confidence. To put confidence in the things of this world is foolish. We see how quickly the things of this world fade. I am leaving Purdue not in the confidence of who I am or who God made me to be, but rather in full confidence of the sovereignty of God.

Paul's Charge to Timothy

2 Timothy 3:10-17
10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The reason why I didn't post yesterday was because I was struggling. I was struggling to find something to blog about that came from reading John. It would have been easy for me to put my own thoughts as to what the scriptures were saying but that would have been solely to fulfill this blog requirement. I will endure the punishment knowing full-well that in the process, I honored the Lord by keeping it real.

Today, I struggled again to find truth. Struggling is good but at the same time, I'm hungry to be fed. I opened up my now seldom used devotional book and the passage was on 2 Timothy 3:10-17.

To note
+ Paul endured many hardships. God delivered Paul in every situation. When we are stressed, we must remember that God promises never to leave us or forsake us. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It may not be close. It may not be an easy path to that point, but know that it is there.

+Paul notes that anyone who follows Christ will be persecuted. Definitely heard this one before but in the context of Paul, he wasn't kidding about the persecution part as he referenced the suffering and persecution that he received in three different cities while pushing the gospel forward. Anyone who follows Christ will be in conflict with the world based upon the lifestyle that we are called to live. We are in the world but ought not to be of the world.

+The last part that stuck out to me was Paul's list of the purposes of scripture: teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. A few things regarding this: what's the difference between rebuking and correcting? In my head, they're similar if not the same but if they were the same, they wouldn't both be listed. I regularly use scripture to teach, rebuke, and correct but seldom do I use it to train myself in righteousness. Through scripture, I learn of God's will for me and I try to apply it to my life. I wouldn't say that I train, however. As an athlete, training usually entails the following: hard work, sacrifice, commitment, pain, goals, consistency, and results. I cannot say that studying scripture entails all of these things. How exactly do I use scripture to train myself in righteousness?

John 4:1-26 - Jesus Talks to a Woman at the Well

It is interesting to note who Jesus had a conversation with in this passage. I did not realize the significance behind it until I read the commentary in my bible. Jesus is a Jew, this woman was a Samaritan. Jesus could have taken a longer route to his destination and avoided the Samaritans but chose to cut through Samaria. In itself, that was a display of love as the Jews and Samaritans had this grudge match going on. I get that. There are more clues than that as to who this woman was. Traditionally, women went to get water from the well in the morning and evening, not at noon like this woman. The only reason why a person would go at noon is to avoid people. This speaks volumes about the woman's reputation. With this in mind, no ordinary Jew would have talked to this woman. Not only was she a Samaritan but one with a terrible reputation for doing wrong as well. Jesus did so anyway.

v13-14 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
We all know we need water to survive. I usually drink water shortly after I wake up each day. It's a necessary part of our lives. Jesus likens spiritual food to physical water. We know we ought to depend upon His word. It's something that many of us learned back in kindergarten. I just want to put things into context. Suppose the living water was physical water. Now look at my blogs for the last two weeks. There were days that I did my devotionals and didn't post but for the most part, it is an accurate reflection of how much time I've spent with God lately. In other words, I would be close to dying if not already dead

I like how Jesus finishes this conversation off. Jesus and the woman talk about worship and the location of worship. Samaritans had a separate place to worship the Lord. Immediately after talking about the need to worship by drinking the living water, Jesus stated that it's not the physical location that matters but the heart behind it. We are called to worship in spirit and in truth. So not only are we to depend on His word and turn to it like a man in need of water but we are to do it with the right heart and attitude.

John 3:22-36

In summary: People are distraught. John the Baptist baptized Jesus and yet people are beginning to follow Jesus. John's followers were probably thinking "Man, no servant is greater than his master. Why are people following Jesus and not John?" I love John's reply: [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less.

This reminds me of a passage that I read awhile in 1 Corinthians 1. As Paul was doing ministry in Corinth, people were beginning to take sides with the teachers. Essentially, that would be the same on a micro-scale as the people of Cornerstone saying "I follow Joe" while others are saying "I follow Aaron" while another group of people say "I follow Daehwan". In a macro-sale, it would look something like this:

Person 1:I follow Cornerstone.
Person 2: Well, I follow Campus Crusade.
Person 3: You two are both wrong. I follow Intervarsity.

John's response? I must become less so Jesus may become greater. We ought to respect our leaders and invest in our communities but when it is all said and done, we follow Christ, not the things or people of this earth.

As followers of Christ and leaders of our respective fellowships, we need to be wary of this. It would be easy to become conceited, placing high value on our own actions and using them as a source of pride and accomplishment. Success and actions mean everything in the world but to Christ, they mean nothing. It's all about the heart. Be wary of thinking "As a leader, I must become greater" but rather, think "Jesus must become greater". I would venture to say that the two are mutually exclusive. If you are seeking to become greater, then Christ isn't given all the glory.

This is also a call for unity in the body of Christ. We have many churches. Within those churches, we have many leaders. Despite all of the leaders, we have but one God, one savior, one Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Ephesians 4:3-6
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.