It takes time, but we need to keep growing.

S: Acts 15

O: A lot of Pharisees actually believed in Jesus. They were already primed to believe in Jesus because of their belief in the resurrection of the dead, unlike the Sadducees. Unfortunately, most of them, unlike Saul/Paul, did not then realise that they did not need those strict interpretations of the Mosaic Law any more, which is why they became the Judaisers who dogged Paul and the early church.

After a person gets saved, a lot of their ways of thinking do change, but not everything. People still retain their pre-Christian beliefs, and it takes time for the Holy Spirit to work through them.

Fortunately, the apostles and elders realised that they should not be imposing Mosaic Law on the new Gentile believers, and just asked them to observe a few basic rules that were seen as particularly important for maintaining fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers.

The prohibitions on eating meat sacrificed to idols, consuming blood, and eating animals that had been strangled (which likely made the blood harder to drain) were likely aimed at maintaining harmony between Gentile and Jewish Christians. These practices were a significant part of Jewish dietary laws, and avoiding them helped prevent unnecessary friction between the two groups.

While these rules were important for the early church’s unity, especially given the cultural and religious differences between Jewish and Gentile believers, most theologians agree that they were not meant as permanent, universal injunctions for all Christians throughout history. They were situational, tied to the specific issues of the early church, and were primarily intended to ensure that Gentile believers respected Jewish customs, particularly as those customs related to idolatry and ritual purity.

Therefore, while these practices were important at the time, many Christians today do not view them as binding in the same way as other parts of the moral law, such as prohibitions against sexual immorality.

A: As the Holy Spirit brings up areas that we need to improve on, we need to revise our practices that we may have continued from our old lives. So we need to be open to that, as Psalm 139:23-24 says:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

P: Father, grow the fruit of the Spirit in me as I walk with you – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Jesus’ name, amen.

There was another in the fire standing next to me. There was another in the waters holding back the seas.

S: Acts 14

O: In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas did not take credit for healing the lame man, and did not accept worship as Zeus and Hermes. As a result of this, and of Jews from Antioch and Iconium, the crowd turned against them and stoned Paul. In spite of the persecution, they were not deterred and continued preaching in Derbe, and even returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch to encourage the believers there.

A: Persecution and opposition didn’t stop Paul and Barnabas, and it shouldn’t stop us, either. God is more powerful than the forces of darkness. The people who hurt us are also victims of the Enemy, so we need to follow Jesus’ example (and, as we saw earlier in Acts, Stephen’s example) and forgive them, though it is hard. But the Holy Spirit strengthens and empowers us.

P: Father, help me to forgive and to persist in the face of trials and tribulations, and to always remember that I am your ambassador and need to represent you to the world. In Jesus’ name, amen.

We need to tell the world that Jesus loves them.

Our God is a miracle-working God and He can empower us.

In the face of persecution, trials and tribulations, Jesus is with us.

To serve God’s purpose in our own generation.

S:	Acts 13 2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, after they had fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them, they sent them off. ... 9 But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight[ah] at him 10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness—will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand. ... 22 After removing him, God[ raised up David their king. He testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who will accomplish everything I want him to do. ... 36 For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died, was buried with his ancestors, and experienced decay, 37 but the one whom God raised up did not experience decay.
O:	God, through the Holy Spirit, was the one who directed them to send Barnabas and Saul off on their first missionary journey. The Lord blinded Elymas bar Jesus when he opposed Barnabas and Saul sharing the Gospel with Sergius Paulus. As a result, Sergius Paulus became a Christian, and from this point onwards, Saul is known as Paul.  I suspect this indicates that Sergius Paulus adopted Saul as a result of this. Adult adoptions were common in that culture, as we saw in Ben Hur, and this practice is also well-documented in the historical record. However, the biblical account is silent on whether this happened here or not. So, it could also be that Saul already had the Roman name Paul before this (as he was born a Roman citizen) but he chose to use it more from this point onwards because he was now mainly reaching out to non-Jews. Different biblical scholars have different interpretations. In any case, this event again illustrates how God is more powerful than evil spirits or magic. As Paul preached to the Psidians, he noted that David died after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation. That’s what Paul and Barnabas did as well, and what we should all aspire to do – to serve God’s purpose in our generation. David, in spite of his many mess-ups, was called a man after God’s own heart, because. Let us not be discouraged that we mess up. We must repent when we do, and get back up and keep following the Lord.
A:	Let us serve the purpose of God in our generation!
P:	I Want To Serve The Purpose Of God In My Generation I Want To Serve The Purpose Of God While I Am Alive I Want To Give My Life For Something That Will Last Forever Oh, I Delight, I Delight To Do Your Will What Is On Your Heart? Show Me What To Do Let Me Know Your Will And I Will Follow You   I admit that the above is an aspirational prayer. I know that I mess up so many times when I know your will and yet I did’t do it. But I want to do it. Forgive me when I fail, and I repent and get back up and follow you again. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Simple prayer, Eliezer's faithfulness

This morning, I read in the Lectio 365 app:

Matthew 6:7-8
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

I have seen prayer become unnecessarily complicated, cluttered with fancy phrases and formality. Strange words can at times feel disconnected from real life. But when I pray, Jesus reminds me, do not heap up empty phrases with many words. Bestselling author Anne Lamott says that all of prayer can be summed up in these three words:
- Help
- Thanks
- Wow.

Holy Spirit, will you simplify my prayers? Teach me to long for you in sincere and ordinary language.
- For my pain, help!
- For your gifts, thanks.
- For your love, wow.
Show me how to pray from my gut without empty words.

Then I read Genesis 24, and noticed this:

Genesis 24:2-3
2 Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. 3 I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. 

I suspect this guy is Eliezer from Genesis 15:2
Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

If so, see how faithful Eliezer was. He clearly knew Yahweh, praying to Him and referring to Him by name in Genesis 24:12:
He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

He served Abraham and his family faithfully, knowing that in finding a wife for Isaac, it means that he definitely won't inherit. I am sure Yahweh blessed his faithfulness.

God knows best

S: Acts 12  

1 About that time King Herod laid hands on some from the church to harm them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword. 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too. 

...

11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting to happen.”

O: God allowed James to be martyred but saved Peter. God doesn’t explain why he answered the prayer for Peter but not for James. We just have to trust that God knows best. And in fact, later on, God allows Peter to be martyred, as predicted at the end of the Gospel according to John. God has his plans and his timing, and we know he loves us, so we may not understand, but we can trust him.

A: We know God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving, so we need to keep trusting him even when things don’t go as we would like.

P: Father, help us to trust you even when “bad things” happen, knowing that everything is still under your control. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

Admitting and changing your mind when you’re wrong

S: Acts 11

2 When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him, 3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!”

[Peter tells them about the vision and what happened at Cornelius’s house.]

18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!”

19 They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

O: Praise the Lord, “those of the circumcision” acknowledged and changed their minds and praised the Lord this time, instead of persisting in criticising Peter for reaching out to the Gentiles like that.
There were others as well who only reached out to Jews, but others who also reached out the Greeks, and many were saved.

This did not mean the 100% of the Jewish believers accepted Gentile believers – as later, we see that Paul had to deal with the Judaizers.in Galatians 1:6-9, 2:3-5, 3:1-5, 5:1-12, Acts 15:1-21, Philippians 3:2-3, Colossians 2:16-23. And even Peter himself backslided on this issue when pressured by “the circumcision group” (Galatians 2:11-14).

But eventually the church did become fully open to all races, and not just Jews, just as God had intended.

A: We humans often have great difficulty owning up and changing our minds when we are wrong. I, for one, tend to dig in my heels and defend my earlier position, though thankfully, I have changed my mind on various matters and have apologised when I realised I was wrong sometimes… but it’s hard to do. But we need to do that. Otherwise, we end up on the wrong side of what God wants.

P: Father, help me to have the humility to admit it when I am wrong and repent. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

God’s grace trumps religious fear or fastidiousness

S: Acts 10

O: Simon Peter had observed kosher (Jewish version of halal) all his life, so it must have been quite shocking for him that God is telling him to break that. But God wasn’t so concerned about the food part – he was more concerned about the people part. The Jews were so fastidious about kosher that they would even refuse to enter a Gentile’s house – see how the Jewish leaders refused to enter Pontius Pilate’s house in John 18:28. 

The vision of the sheet with non-kosher animals was not primarily about food, but rather, people. And indeed, that was the point. Because soon after that, Cornelius’ emissaries came and Simon Peter was able to enter his house with a clear conscience to share the Gospel with them. We find out later (Acts 11:3) that Jewish believers then confronted him about his violating this interpretation of kosher, and the vision of the sheet was pivotal in showing them that, as Peter had realised shortly before, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”

A: Sometimes, we Christians in our religious fear or fastidiousness push people away from Christ. People feel rejected because Christians would not eat their food, go to their weddings and funerals, etc. because of fear of being contaminated by non-Christian spiritual influences. We forget that “greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world” and let our fear or fastidiousness put them off. 

Yes, we must be careful not to worship any other gods, but we can still show our support by our presence. Even the matter of eating food offered to idols, 1 Corinthians 8:4-13 and 1 Corinthians 10:27-31 make it clear that it’s not so much about the act of eating itself, but about how one’s actions affect others. The underlying principle is love—prioritising others’ well-being over personal freedoms.

So, instead of applying blanket legalistic rules, we should thoughtfully and prayerfully evaluate each situation and see what would be the most in line with what Jesus wants. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

P: Father, lead and guide us with your wisdom. Help us to not apply cookie-cutter rules, but evaluate each situation with your Spirit’s guidance, and to always be good ambassadors for Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.