March 2, 2014
Ministry:
Let’s first read to Genesis 4:3 & 4. Now lets turn to Hebrews 1:3a. Here it is speaking of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and what God thought of it. Read vv. 3b & 4. We find here another sacrifice: how did God respect this one? He glorified and honoured the Son for completing the work.
Hymn 329 – A little lamb went straying
Prayer
I like to say that in Luke 15 there is one parable with three parts. In each part, something gets lost, and then found, and finally there is joy since the lost thing gets found.
Here’s a nice summary of the chapter:
Today we will look at the first part.
Luke 15:1-7
Jesus was telling this parable to publicans and sinner. The scribes and Pharisees were listening in. A shepherd had one hundred sheep. That’s a lot of sheep, but what we find out is that one goes missing. So what? He still had ninety-nine, we might say. Our shepherd didn’t have that attitude: he left his ninety-nine in the wilderness to go and find the one lost sheep. The ninety-nine sheep were a picture of the scribes and Pharisees, and the one sheep pictures the sinners and publicans. We are each like the sheep. In Isaiah 53, it says, “all we like sheep have gone astray.” Why did Jesus use sheep in his example? Couldn’t He have used cows or something else? When I was young, there was a man in town who raised homing pigeons. He would load his pigeons into a crate and send them to another city by train. When they arrived at the city, the station master would let the pigeons loose. The pigeons would fly into the sky and go back home. They could get home without any directions; many animals are like this. Sheep, on the other hand, when they get lost, can’t find their own way home. The shepherd needs to go and find the sheep. Jesus is our good shepherd. He came where we were and died so that we could go with Him rejoicing.
Repentance is being sorry enough to quit. The first part of the parable is a beautiful picture of repentance. Jesus rejoiced more over one sinner that repented than ninety-nine that didn’t need to repent, as they thought.
Acts 9:23-43
After his conversion, Saul preached in Damascus, convincing people that Jesus was Christ. Not too surprisingly, the Jews wanted to kill him. Paul recounts this time in Galatians 1:15-19. The Jews plotted to catch and kill him, but Saul was one of God’s chosen vessels, and so the Lord protected him and had people help him. 2 Corinthians 11:31-33. The saints helped him escape over the wall in a basket.
Saul later went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples, but they were afraid of him as may well be imagined. Barnabas, always friendly, however, brought him to the apostles. Vv.27-28. While there in Jerusalem, Saul disputed with the Grecians—Greek Jews, possibly—but they, too, wanted to kill him, so the brethren sent him to Tarsus.
For a while at this point, the church had rest from persecution, and a few things happened because of this rest. First, the church was edified. Edified means ‘built-up’. We are to build ourselves up in the faith (Jude 1:20); we are to grow in it. Second, the saints walked in the fear of the Lord. That’s not a ‘scared’ sort of fear but rather a ‘reverence’ sort of fear. We should walk and live as if before the Lord. We are built up through meetings, conferences, ministry, etc; and we then need to put it into practice in our daily walk. Third, the brethren walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. In John, the Lord promised to send the disciples “another Comforter”, and providing that comfort is one part of the Holy Spirit’s work. He helps us build ourselves up in the faith, and then put what we’ve gathered during that time of edification into practice.
We now leave Saul and look again at Peter’s activities. We get his work leading up to his opening the door of the Kingdom of God for the Gentiles. While visiting the saints in Lydda, he found Aeneas, who was sick and had kept his bed for eight years. Peter healed him, and Aeneas became a trophy for the Lord. His healing manifested the power of God, and people saw it and turned to the Lord. He was a testimony to Peter’s words.
We then get the story of Dorcas. Dorcas was a lady in the city of Joppa who did much good, but unfortunately died. They got her body ready for burial, and then, hearing that Peter was nearby, sent for him. When he came, the widows showed him the clothes that Dorcas had made for them. Peter put them out of the room, prayed, turned to Dorcas and said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes. It was a marvelous miracle. The Holy Spirit was very active during this period of the Church Age. Peter called the people, and presented Dorcas alive. Once again, many people believed on the Lord because of it.
Peter stayed in Joppa, with Simon the tanner. This sets the stage for his ministry among the Gentiles.
Hymn 294 – Around the throne of God in heaven
Prayer