May 27, 2007
Scripture:
Ministry:
I just want to connect two scriptures, if I may. Turn to Exodus 24:1: “And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.” Let’s go back to Hebrews, this time chapter 10 verse 22: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” The verse in Exodus speaks of distance; the verse in Hebrews speaks of nearness. No doubt these words describe the before and after of the cross of Calvary. How precious, beloved, that the Lord has allowed our lot to be cast in the time of nearness, where we have access to Him. In Ephesians, we read that we, “are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ch. 2:13). How precious that we can draw nigh. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). What nearness, dearness, and blessing we have today!
EG Hymn 366 – We are little children, very young indeed Prayer Last time we talked about the lame man in Acts 3. In ch. 4, the story continues; it’s rather long, so I’m just going to paraphrase it and then we’ll go over some important verses. Remember how in ch. 2 the Holy Spirit had come upon the disciples; this was causing quite a bit of excitement among the people. But the chief priests and rulers did not like it, so they put Peter and John in ward for healing the lame man. In v.5, they came out of prison to stand before the rulers; Peter began to speak to them in v. 8. After he finished, the rulers decided that, since they couldn’t punish these men for doing a miracle, they would tell them not to preach anymore. When they were let go, Peter and John went back to the disciples and had a prayer meeting. Then the place they were praying was shaken, and they were strengthened. We can see clearly how the Christians were being persecuted here. Let’s go back and look at a few verses about the disciples and how they lived the Christian path against such odds. Before we go into that, though, look at v. 12. Peter was speaking to the leaders about salvation; that is the beginning of the Christian path. Read John 14:6. There is only one way to Heaven, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Going on, read v. 13. These leaders knew that Peter and John were unlearned fishermen. They could tell that they had been with Jesus because of what they said. In Luke 10:39, Mary was at Jesus’ feet, hearing what He had to say. We have the Bible, God’s word, which we can read and learn about Jesus and His way. So #2 in our list would be Communion with Jesus. Now look at v. 19. After Peter and John were told not to preach, this is what they replied. They were going to obey the Lord over the rulers. He had died for them, so how could they not obey Him. #3 will be Obedience. Obedience to God’s word is most important. Maybe you will be asked to do something you know is wrong; Peter and John say here that’s it’s better to obey God. Read v. 23. After they were let go, they went to the other disciples. They had fellowship with other Christians, another item on our list. In Hebrews we read about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. We should get together with other Christians that talk about the Lord. Then, in v. 24, they all joined in prayer. Prayer is another important thing for the Christian pathway. Then, in v. 31, the place was shaken. So did they listen to the leaders and stop preaching? No, the end of the verse tells us they “spake the word with boldness.” Finally, the chapter ends by telling us about how the Christians gave what they had to the Lord’s work. We could add this to our list as Stewardship. That’s a list of six things in connection with the disciples that can strengthen us in our Christian walk. I trust we can use them in our daily lives.
I Peter 1:3–9 In v. 5, “kept” can also be translated as “guarded” or “preserved.” It is precious to know that nothing can come between us and our inheritance. We remarked that the salvation in this verse is the final salvation of our body. It is interesting that this is through faith. We say that salvation is by God’s grace and our faith. Here, our faith gives us the power of God. Read John 10:27; we find that there is a double-grasp around us as part of our preservation: this is the power of God. That power keeps us from losing our salvation; yet we have a responsibility with the salvation of our life: we so easily lose communion and wander away. We need to be kept in this evil world. We need the power of God for help here too, because we can either waste our lives or we can invest them. For example, you have a coin. You can spend it however you like, but you can only spend it once. The same is true for our lives. It takes faith to invest our lives for the Lord; it takes what we learned about in children’s meeting. But why does it say that our salvation is “ready to be revealed”? This revealing is our being shown to the world when the Lord appears. This is important to remember because soon we will be talking about trials; trials always bring rewards if we are faithful. But it is ready to be revealed, so what are we waiting for? The last soul to come in; it is the longsuffering of God that keeps the door open. So how should all this affect us? We should greatly rejoice, the next verse tells us. Romans 5:2 tells us to rejoice in our hope, which recalls v. 4 in our chapter. So if the apostle is speaking about a future time in v. 5, he pulls us back to “now” in v. 6, where we must be for a season. Read I Peter 5:10; our suffering is only for “a while.” If we refuse to follow the Lord and go for the pleasures of sin, that too is only for a season. I Corinthians 10:13 is a reminder that even though we have trials, we are able to overcome them. In giving us trials, the Lord’s motive is always love and His purpose is always blessing. There are purposes behind trials, and the Lord will not give us one for no reason at all. It has been said that the peace of God is not the absence of trials, but the presence of God within a trial. EG Hymn 228 – In heavenly love abiding, Prayer The Christian Path