August 18, 2013
Scripture:
Hymn 350 - I will make you fishers of men,
Prayer
Last time we started to look at some of the kings of Judah. We have looked at King Abijah and how he trusted in the Lord through a battle. Today’s story is quite similar, but with King Asa.
2 Chronicles 14:1 – 15
Asa did that which was right before the Lord. He got rid of all the idols that previous kings had setup. Would it make sense to take out your Lego, build something, and call it your god? That doesn’t make sense; but remember, an idol is anything that takes the place of the Lord in our lives: it could be money, work and so on.
For ten years, Judah was blessed with peace on every side; they had no battles. During this time, Judah strengthened their cities, built more cities, and made the terrain around them harder for anyone to get over. In our lives, we have spiritual battles. Like Judah, we don’t battle all the time, but during peaceful times, we can do things to strengthen ourselves. We can read our Bibles, pray, and memorize verses. Asa’s army had 580,000 soldiers. Each soldier had a shield to protect himself and a weapon for attacking. In the armour of God, there is the shield of faith and sword of the Spirit, the word of God. We use these is our spiritual battles.
The ten years of peace came to the end for Judah. An Ethiopian came with his army of 1,000,000 men; that was practically double Asa’s army. Asa cried to the Lord for help. The Lord heard Asa’s prayer and they won the battle. Judah was able to bring back much spoil (animals and belongings) from the battle. When we get in a tough situation, we can trust the Lord for help.
Asa had more battles; unfortunately he didn’t always look to the Lord for help. Read 2 Chronicles 16:9. This story is a great lesson for us. We need to remember to look to Lord in our troubles.
Acts 1:9-26
The disciples are still in Bethany, having just been told to wait for the Holy Spirit—the other comforter mentioned in John—and that once He was given, they would be witnesses for Christ.
Some people suggest that the cloud that received Jesus was a special cloud—maybe the same one that covered Him at the transfiguration. The disciples had the joy of seeing Jesus rise from the dead, but they couldn’t keep Him on earth. As they stared after Him, two angels appeared and told them that “this same Jesus”—the Man with the glorified body—would someday return. They were referring to His appearing, which is still to come. John tells us of the rapture, where we will go to be with Christ; but at His appearing He will come to rule on earth. He longs to be together with His followers again. It’s blessed to have the Spirit, but Jesus is focused on the end result of His work: His people, a Bride for Himself.
Back in Jerusalem, the disciples had a place to live and they and others continued there in prayer. They continued in unity. May we be kept in unity today! As a side note, Mary was there praying with them; they were not praying to her. Jesus’ brethren were there too, which is surprising, seeing that back in John 7 they didn’t believe on Him! Now they also waited for His coming, or the coming of the Spirit. Altogether, there were a hundred and twenty people there.
Peter—restored from his humiliating fall—lead the group in the replacement of Judas, which shows an understanding of the scriptures. Judas, interestingly, had helped in Christ’s ministry, and yet wasn’t saved. He had played the traitor.
It’s interesting to see the scriptures cross-reference themselves. The disciples believed that David, writing the Psalms, was inspired by the Holy Spirit; and Peter quotes from a couple of them. Peter hadn’t had any special revelation: he was just acting on the scriptures. He didn’t have the power of the Spirit, but Jesus had given them the understanding of the word through the Spirit. Because they didn’t have the power, they cast lots to make decisions as opposed to prayer and fasting as they do later in Acts.
We find here that there were people other than the twelve disciples that followed Jesus constantly. Not just anyone could replace Judas, it had to be someone who had been with Christ from the beginning to the end of His ministry. Barsabas and Matthias were nominated, and by prayer and lot Matthias was chosen.
This is the end of the first section of Acts; it now moves on to the arrival of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
Hymn 366 - We are little children, very young indeed
Prayer