30th Sept 2010

Acts 15:36-41– Disagreement between Paul and Barnabas.

• “Who should you take on your journey with you?”
• My Pastor used to say that the thing he loved about the Bible was that it showed its hero’s ‘warts and all’ – in other words it never photoshop’s its great characters.
• Here two great leaders disagree – enough to have to go there separate ways.
• Later on they were reconciled and used - at Paul’s imprisonment (Col 4, Philippians 2) sent for him in 2 Tim 4:11).
• This passage makes me ask; who should I take on the journey with me?
• Whether it is choosing a colleague or a spouse, a church family or a friend, it is a very important question as it will significantly influence every step I take.
• This passage makes me reflect on the four principles I use when choosing someone to work with me but also subconsciously I think they were definitely in my mind when I proposed to my wife.
• They are partly based on three things from a Bill Hybels book but with added twists.
• 1. Character: Kind of obvious. Character the Bible says brings hope; why? Because people of character fulfill what they say they will do. I’ve never met anyone more reliable than Lynn.
• 2. Commitment: But not any kind of commitment. Commitment to the whole thing not just their thing. Not like the worship leader who works with youth because it gives him a chance to do the thing he loves but the worship leader who does it because he is committed to the whole vision of reaching youth, on stage or off. Lynn and I are committed to the same bigger picture.
• 3. Chemistry: I’m in this for the long haul; if I don’t enjoy the people I journey with I may be tempted to get off the road. So I would rather train someone I get on with really well than hire a skilled person who does not really fit but takes less effort. I love for instance working with Lynn; she’s foxy!
• 4. Competence: Not necessary someone who is immediately competent but someone who is committed to becoming competent. Someone who loves enough to keep on trying and keep on learning. This is important in work, friendship and marriage. If you’ve never tasted Lynn’s roasted spuds you’ve never tasted the kingdom of heaven.
• BUT: here is my challenge: do I display the things I look for in others?
• AND here’s my question: would Paul have took me?
• Praying to be who I want to be with.

28th Sept 2010

Acts 15:22-35 – The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers.

• “Why I can eat Black pudding”
• So why can I eat black pudding?
• The Council after yesterday’s debate decides on four very simple instructions to give to the new Gentile believers.
• It seems they refer somewhat back to elements of what is called the ‘Noahide Law’. This was the simple law that Gentiles needed to adhere to ‘in order to enter the world to come’ [Kingdom of Heaven]. The Jews had a higher standard to live at because they had a special calling [see my blog on 8th Sept 2010 - “Spirit trumps System pt 1”].
• They give four instructions:
• To abstain from food sacrificed to idols,
• From blood,
• From the meat of strangled animals
• From sexual immorality.
• Why these four?
• The first makes total sense; the next three seem a little random when you consider all the other Jewish customs that are left out.
• Also…
• Why don’t most Christians adhere to the last three now?
• Hint: What is God?
• Yes: Love.
• The last three were in order that the new Gentile believers could sit down with the Jews to have a meal. They could fellowship together. Without this compromise on the part of the Gentiles, the Jews would be bound by their understanding of the law not to have fellowship or break bread with their spiritual brothers.
• This fellowship was vital to display the Kingdom!
• You cannot display God, His love or the Kingdom as an individual.
• It is only really as a community.
• In a world that was [and still is] marked by race, class and color; this unity of different ethnic groups banded around Jesus made a huge statement.
• That is why I guess many of those who follow Jesus nowadays do not adhere particularly to the last three.
• The first instruction on sexual immorality is there for the same reason by the way.
• Think about it.
• Where else, however, should this principle apply in my life?
• It is therefore a sad d irony that have the arguments we often do about our different religious ‘laws’, when the vast majority of them are there to bind us together in such as way as to demonstrate heaven on earth.
• Praying on this principle today.

27th Sept 2010

Acts 15:1-21 – The Council at Jerusalem

• “How Right do you have to be to be a Christian?”
• Just a question.
• This passage records perhaps the most important day in church history after the resurrection of Jesus; the council of Jerusalem.
• Essentially many Jews began to kick off because the gentiles were following God and were able to do it with a kind of ‘easy religion’ as they saw it.
• So Paul and Barnabas are sent to the council to help decide what to do about this. What instructions and laws should they pass on to the new gentile converts?
• Firstly to note: Jesus had not really told them.
• He had instead empowered them to make these halakhic [religious legal] decisions by giving them authority to bind [forbid] and loosen [permit] things.
• They chat through this stuff and in making the most important decision they will ever make as a group, sum it up by simply saying “it seemed right to us and the Holy Spirit”.
• It brings up the question; how right to you have to be a Christian?
• Over the last few years I have felt a sense that some leaders doubt your salvation unless you believe specifically what they believe on some fairly fringe issues.
• This passage helps us answer that question.
• Firstly; I noticed that it says that some of the Pharisees who were believers stood up and argued that the gentiles should be circumcised.

• It turned out that the Holy Spirit thought they were wrong.
• But they were still believers.
• They were Pharisees. They were not former Pharisees, ex-Pharisees or fully made up members of the P.A. [Pharisees Anonymous] – they were practicing Pharisees.
• But they were still believers.
• Can you be wrong and still be a believer?

• Secondly; in verse 2 it says there was sharp dispute and debate.
• One Bile in its notes essentially suggests that this debate was in the form of the 400 year old practice of ‘Rhetoric’ an intellectual form of debate.
• Rhetoric had been invented in the latter half of 400-500bc.
• It was the art of convincing someone by a certain type of logical argument. The Sophists has adopted it and hired themselves our to teach people how to use this discipline. They made a lot of money from it.
• One of the key issues with this is that they prided themselves in the ability to argue convincingly from either point of view. So over time the discipline became less about truth and more about convincing others you were right.
• Plato hated the Sophists for this.
• Aristotle also sought to correct this by teaching that Rhetoric should involve three elements: logic, emotional appeal and etho; virtue.
• Rhetoric should be less about being right and more about finding truth.
• It seems that although these particular Pharisees were proven wrong, they remained believers. To their credit there is no reason to believe that these particular men disassociated themselves from the believers or were excluded.
• There were others of course, who continued to follow the Apostles around trying to convert the new gentile believers to their particular brand of religion.
• They were not believers.
• Who knows what it was that motivated them? The need for control? They jealousy of people experiencing god without paying their dues?
• All I know is this.
• You don’t have to be always have to right to be a believer.
• But seeking truth is commendable
• And avoiding that search in order to concentrate on being right is not.
• Praying I will notice Peter’s hint to the group of what helps you see the truth [see verse 8].
• P.S. In church yesterday while I was preaching a lady shouted out a question: it felt like the Bible.

24th Sept 2010

Acts 14:21-28 – The Return to Antioch in Syria

• “A Thought on Gifting”
• Just a thought.
• Paul after doing the work of teaching and preaching now shows a huge sense of responsibility by revisiting the Churches.
• Even in places he was driven out of.
• This involves an amount of pastoral work – not his favourite thing from the little we know.
• Makes me think about gifting.
• There is a lot of talk about the thing we most like doing being our gifting and hinting at our calling.
• BUT.
• Is our gifting/calling really to be based on one of our gifts?
• For me; the most successful people I know are usually doing something that blends two gifts together.
• Like Rachel; a dramatic actor but also [unlike many artists] a great organizer of people – she ran theatre companies for Pais sharing their faith in countless schools and now continues to teach others her skills in collages..
• Like Andy; a great speaker but also a business leader who has used both skills to raise a huge amount of financial backing to impact the youth of Manchester.
• Lots of people have the same one thing.
• But far less have the exact same combination of two of more skills.
• It is this 'blend' that makes us uniquely gifted.
• What if…
• Our calling is tied to the spark caused by our two [or more] gifts colliding?
• What if it is not the one thing we love doing, but the one thing that we love doing and the one thing we do well but don’t enjoy, what if it is when these two things collide that leads us to a unique calling?
• Is it this second gift that separates those in it for themselves and those in it for the Kingdom?
• Everyone is happy to just do the one thing they like to do; the challenge is also doing the one thing that gets results but we don’t enjoy.
• Just a thought.
• It would not be popular but that does not make it untrue.
• Praying today for more thoughts on and like this.

23rd Sept 2010

Acts 14:8-27 – In Lystra and Derbe

• “It takes conviction to convince”
• Fairly straightforward story but the background helps me understand Paul’s new challenge.
• The ancient legend in that city was that Zeus and Hermes had once visited disguised as ordinary men. Everyone had rejected them apart from one seemingly insignificant home. The gods had made that home their temple and destroyed every other home in the area.
• So you can see why it was so hard to stop the people showing their worship to Paul and Barnabas.
• Paul needed to work extra hard to convince them of the truth of God in 3 ways;
1. Firstly: teaching - the NT Greek word for faith used here when Paul looks at the crippled man and sees he has faith to be healed is Pistis - meaning persuasion  from Pitho - meaning to convince or “to be convinced”. It was Paul’s teaching that gave the man the faith! He was so learned and convincing that he helped raise the man’s faith. See my blog on 17^th Sept “if only I could see a miracle”.
2. Secondly: sacrifice - the apostles tore their clothes! This was a huge gesture on their part. For the Jews to tear their clothes was a sigh of incredibly anguish! It was also very costly to them. Clothes were a prized possession; you would only voluntarily destroy them in great distress.
3. Thirdly: courage – after being stoned and left for dead, Paul returns to the city. Why? A day later and he leaves. So why go back for such a short time when you are planning to leave anyway? Because he wanted to show he was not intimidated! He wanted to physically demonstrate that he really did believe that “greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world”
• Want to test whether you can convince others of your beliefs and vision?
• Then look at yourself and see if:
• You learn and speak with conviction.
• You are moved to sacrifice because of your conviction
• You demonstrate that you have been empower to be brave by your conviction.

22nd Sept 2010

Matthew 26:36-55 - Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

§ "A Question to Provoke thought" - NB: ill today and so this blog is from March.

§Gethhsemane means oil press and of course is full of olive trees.Both in the Old and New Testament the place is associated with crisis and judgment. Is that why Jesus chose to go there to go through this agony? Was there something about this place that helped Him connect with what He was going through?

1.    Zechariah 14 – the Mount of Olives is prophesied about – it will spilt and in the valley that God creates the people use as an escape route from being attacked, their houses ransacked, women raped, capture, siege and possibly death.

2.    2 Sam 15 – it is here that Samuel constructs shrines to Pagan Gods.

3.    Luke 19 – it is here Jesus wept over the city’s coming destruction.

4.    Matt 21 – it is here Jesus curses the fig tree – a symbol of judgment on Israel.

5.    Matt 24 – it is here that Jesus delivers His Olivet discourse a prophecy of judgment.

6.    Matt 26 – it is here Jesus asks to be delivered, sweats tears of blood and is betrayed by Judas.

§ Was Jesus associating this place of a future divinely provided escape route?

§ Note He had just quoted from Zechariah! So He was very aware of the prophecy.

§ Was it here that Jesus was going hoping to escape if God willed it?

§ He knew this was one day to a divinely created escape route.

§ Was He reminding the Father by being there?

§ This is a good thought regarding God’s will when it is very hard. I need to understand just how cognizant Jesus was of what was about to happen to Him. The fact that Jesus I believe really was asking a genuine question shows me how much He really did not want to go through what He was about to go through.

§ The fact that He willing did this therefore shows His love for me.

§ Was this the first time Jesus expressed His will was different from His Father’s will?

21th Sept 2010

Acts 14:1-7 – In Iconium

• “History Repeats”
• My brain just got hijacked.
• A small side note I just read took me on a totally different track and now I am wrestling with a new idea about how our vision is defined somewhat by our gifts.
• What if it is not the way we traditionally see it.
• What if our strongest gift is not simply a hint of what our vision is?
• Feel like I just had a bit of a blinding light and can’t understand why it did not hit me before.
• Got an alternative to the traditional; fill in the sheet to find your gifting idea.
• Will probably spend much of the day thinking about that.
• Back to the passage though, simply put;
• History repeats.
• The author is revealing to us a pattern in Paul’s ministry. Almost the exact thing that happened in yesterday’s reading, happens again in today’s story.
• The missional strategy that Jesus passed on to His disciples carries on.
• I think I will leave that there. I need to think about this other thing that is rattling around my head.
• Praying today for clear revelation.

21th Sept 2010

Acts 14:1-7 – In Iconium

• “History Repeats”
• My brain just got hijacked.
• A small side note I just read took me on a totally different track and now I am wrestling with a new idea about how our vision is defined somewhat by our gifts.
• What if it is not the way we traditionally see it.
• What if our strongest gift is not simply a hint of what our vision is?
• Feel like I just had a bit of a blinding light and can’t understand why it did not hit me before.
• Got an alternative to the traditional; fill in the sheet to find your gifting idea.
• Will probably spend much of the day thinking about that.
• Back to the passage though, simply put;
• History repeats.
• The author is revealing to us a pattern in Paul’s ministry. Almost the exact thing that happened in yesterday’s reading, happens again in today’s story.
• The missional strategy that Jesus passed on to His disciples carries on.
• I think I will leave that there. I need to think about this other thing that is rattling around my head.
• Praying today for clear revelation.

20th Sept 2010

Acts 13:13-52 – In Pisidian Antioch

• “Spread, Spot, Stay, Send”
• Paul here demonstrates just how much he had learnt from the first disciples.
• In Luke 10 Jesus sends out his new Sanhedrin with this commission;
• Spread the word to everyone.
• Spot the people of peace.
• Stay with them, invest in them, don’t go looking for a better deal.
• Send them into the world to repeat the process.
• Paul clearly follows this pattern.
• He goes to the synagogue, not because he has forgotten his mission to the gentiles but because he fully understands that the people of peace will be at the synagogue.
• It has been suggested by Crossan/Read that Paul’s target audience throughout his ministry were the ‘god-fearers’ – those gentile converts to Judaism that had not become Jews themselves but loved the God of the Jews.
• Turning up at the synagogue was a strategic move.
• Paul knew that as a visiting teacher he would be given an opportunity to share his message because of the hospitality etiquette of the synagogues.
• He also knew that that is where he’d find those gentiles and Jews who were leaning forward.
• I sometimes hear people say that if Jesus turned up he would go to the pubs and not to the churches. That is nonsense.
• Jesus went preaching and teaching in the synagogues and then if rejected went to the ‘pubs’. He also followed up as Paul does, wherever people sought Him.
• Paul continues in this Jesus pattern in verse 42 & 43 where he ‘stays’ with the people of peace.
• It works.
• The next Sabbath the whole city has become infected by those Paul invested his time in. He has effectively ‘sent’ them back into their community.
• Almost the entire city it seems comes out to hear more.
• At this point the opposition comes. He is not opposed because of the content of his message but because it works.
• Jealously disguised as theology raises its ugly head.
• Paul eventually leaves, leaving behind a verbal sword that separated the ‘have’s’ from the ‘have not’s.
• What can I learn from this?
• Invest in those leaning forward no matter what their label, background, religion, experience, philosophy.
• Don’t chase those who don’t want to know about the kingdom and are only interested in having their personal needs met.
• I wonder how many leaders don’t learn the lesson that Paul learnt from Jesus?

17th Sept 2010

Acts 13:4-12 – On Cyprus

• “If only I could see a miracle”
• Saul and Barnabas set off and immediately meet their first challenge.
• The place is full of sorcerers and magicians.
• In this place is a high ranking gentile whose life God wants to touch.
• What happens next seems simple, but if you read closely you realize you can come away with the wrong impression.
• Elymas the sorcerer tries to oppose what God is doing.
• So Paul essential does a miracle. He blinds Elymas before the eyes of the proconsul.
• The impression I first get because of the words;
•  “when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed,”
• is wrong.
• Why? Because my initial impression is that the proconsul believed because he simply saw the miracle.
• But that is not the whole story. The verse carries on;
• “…for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”
• It was not simply the miracle but the teaching that gave him the faith to believe.
• I have often heard it said by the lips of unbelievers that if they could just see a miracle they would believe. And I believe that they think that this is true.
• I have seen two miracles.
• On both occasions I was with a friend. A different friend on each occasion.
• On both occasions; the person I was with who saw the miracle with me, walked away from God some time later.
• I don’t think it is just non-believers that this applies to.
• I think there are Christians out there who are also hoping to see a miracle because it will in some way sure up their faith.
• It’s a mis-conception.
• Miracles are simply an object lesson.
• They are an object lesson about different aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven.
• What helps us believe is the understanding of God’s Word.
• Miracles help us in this, but if we do not accept His teaching – then no miracle will save us from doubt and unbelief.
• It is an understanding of the Word that transforms us. A deeper understanding brings a deeper transformation. A shallow understanding brings a shallow, flaky faith.
• Believe and you will see miracles.
• See miracles and you may believe.
• See only a miracle and you may believe and only for a moment.
• Praying today for a deeper understanding that leads to long-term miracles.

16th Sept 2010

Acts 13:1-3 – Paul and Barnabas Sent off

• “Labels must be our Servants; we must not become their Slaves”
• As the church was developing in Antioch it attracted and grew some very gifted people.
• This first verse teaches us some profound truths about God’s Kingdom.
• In Jesus’ day there were many Jewish sects or sub-groups but 4 stood out.
• The Pharisees
• The Zealots
• The Essences
• The Sadducees
• In this short list there are two Christian leaders from two different sects.
• Manaen was an Essene.
• Depending on which historian you read he was either;
• The prophet Manean son – adopted by Herod
• Or the Prophet Manean himself.
• History records that Manean prophesied to Herod and slapped him on his bottom saying that he would one day be King, that he would be successful but ultimately his life would end in tragedy;
• This man once saw Herod when he was a child, and going to school, and saluted him as king of the Jews; but he, thinking that either he did not know him, or that he was in jest, put him in mind that he was but a private man; but Manahem [Manaen] smiled to himself, and clapped him on his backside with his hand, and said," However that be, thou wilt be king, and wilt begin thy reign happily, for God finds thee worthy of it.
• Antiquities of the Jews 15:10:5
• Either way, he was born and perhaps grew up as an Essene. The Essenes were a hippy like community whom Jesus had a lot in common with when it came to the way they treated the poor and organized their community.
• NB: A few say John the Baptist was an Essene for some of his life.
• Paul was a Pharisee. Nothing shocking about that. Except that most people do not realize that he remained a Pharisees. Paul never stopped being a Pharisee when he followed Jesus.
• He did not have to.
• Jesus said to his disciples “do what the Pharisees teach you”.
• Paul did not change his denominational label to follow Jesus.
• Paul did however use his other name. Saul was his Jewish name and denoted his Jewish background. Paul was his Roman name and denoted his Roman citizenship. He used his Roman name to reach the gentiles.
• Labels must become our servant; we must not be their slaves!
• I sometimes wonder if in the modern Christian church we spend far too much time ‘releasing and healing’ people of their past.
• I sometimes wonder if our emphasis should not be on helping people understand the purpose of their past?
• I've noticed how rarely God seemed to heal people's past and yet how often He used it for His purpose.
• Praying today I will learn from Paul, Manaen and the rest; we may all have a different label but it should not make me its slave but should become my servant.

15th Sept 2010

Acts 12:19-25 – Herod’s Death

• “It is what you don’t say that will get you”
• Here is a great example of how the Bible records a historic event.
• The writers give the basic facts but emphasize the main point they are trying to get across. They leave out the facts that are unnecessary and simply include enough information to help me learn the lesson.
• History’s recording of the event gives me more information:
• On the second day of the festival, Herod put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a truly wonderful contexture, and came into the theater early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment was illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun's rays upon it. It shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him. At that moment, his flatterers cried out [...] that he was a god; .. Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up, he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings .. After he said this, his pain was become violent…. And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign." (Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 19.343-350).
• I edited out even more facts.
• The Bible simply summarizes this by telling me he dies immediately and was ate by worms.
• ‘Immediately’ explains that this happened pretty much straight away [5 days].

• Ate my worms being a metaphor.
• They are not suggesting he dropped to the ground and was attacked by killer worms.
• Again it is important that I understand the cultural context of the writers. Hebraic descriptions are primarily functional and secondarily decorative.
• So what is the point of the story?
• It is what you don’t say that will get you. By not denying the crowds ‘impious flattery’ Agrippa implied that he was indeed God.
• I must learn as a leader to correct others even if I like what they say but it is untrue. I am not being humble or modest when I am doing this. I am simply being truthful.
• Truth sets us free.
• It is not simply words that are the overflow of the heart must sometimes silence can be as well.
• Herod’s silence gives us another indication of his major struggle… pride.
• Josephus also stated that Herod was so concerned that no one would mourn his death, that he commanded a large group of distinguished men to come to Jericho, and he gave order that they should be killed at the time of his death so that the displays of grief that he craved would take place. Fortunately for them, Herod's son Archilaus and sister Salome did not carry out this wish.
• When am I silent when I should not be?
• What does it tell me about myself?
• What might the consequences be?
• Praying today for courage to tell the truth.

14th Sept 2010

Acts 12:1-19 – Peter's Miraculous Escape From Prison

• “5 thoughts on prayer”
• Here is a story that has some many facets I could probably think about it for a couple of weeks.
• For now – here are 5 things it teaches me about miraculous prayer:
1. Prayer that leads to miracles is intense not casual
2. Prayer that leads to miracles in ongoing, it is not a one off.
3. Prayer that leads to miracles feels like relationship; not wishful thinking.
4. Prayer that leads to miracles is specific not vague.
5. Prayer that leads to miracles is communal and agreed upon.
• How much real faith was in the room?
• I doubt there was more than a mustard seed’s worth.
• Why was their first reaction to think it was Peter’s guardian angel?
• Well this possibly helps us understand their state of mind. It may be that they were afraid but not sure exactly what of.
• Jewish teaching has speculated that guardian angels of the loyal, can see things that those they guard cannot. They say that this is why someone can be terrified but they don’t know why; it’s because their guardian angel can see the threat.
• I doubt that this is true but maybe this gives us a possible context and understanding of what was going on in the group.
• They were afraid but they prayed. The reality of their situation was incredibly real to them and because of this they did not pray the casual prayers that we might in response to a facebook or email request.
• No. There was concentrated, continuing, connected and clear prayer with a strong sense of community agreement. These things it seems made up for their lack of expectation and small faith.
• Praying today for a miracle!

13th Sept 2010

Acts 11:19-30 – The Church in Antioch

• “Tips to Playing Catch Up”
• The movement begins to form organically
• The growth of the Church was not a pre-planned organized event.
• It is a story of the followers of God desperately trying to catch up with what God’s Spirit is doing. It is a story of the leaders quick response to seeing the new things God was doing.
• After the small story of Cornelius, suddenly the Gospel spreads to the wider Gentile world.
• This is not planned: it is the result of Stephen’s persecution.
• Apostles are sent out to find out and help the new churches to grow.
• This was not planned: it is the result of new sparks of God’s move catching amongst seemingly random groups of people.
• The people of the movement are given a name: ‘Christians’
• This was not planned: Jesus never instigated it, neither did the newly named Christians. It was given to them by non-believers and was meant to be derogatory. Christian means ‘little messiah’ or ‘little Christ’. It was meant as an insulted but was adopted by us because it made sense.
• [Interesting how the world can sometimes summaries who we are better than we can – maybe we need to realize that the truth is sometimes best represented by what they see and less by what we want to present.]
• Bill Gates in his book ‘The Speed of Thought’ prophesied that as the key to success in the 80’s was quality and the key in the 90’s was innovation/re-engineering, so the key to the naughties would be velocity. How quickly a business could react.
• Amazing how quickly the world can want to react to the Holy Customer and how slowly we can react to the Holy Spirit.
• What does a move of God in my life look like?
• It is not planned by me because it will look different from what I expect.
• It can happen at any time.
• It needs my quick response and participation.

·  Praying that I will be sensitive to the Spirit and try to respond quickly to Him.

10th Sept 2010

Acts 11:1-18 – Peter explains his actions

• “Which one are you?”
• This passage encourages me as someone who wants to bring change.
• This devotional blog is called ‘a missionary maker’ for a reason – it hopes to encourage those wanting to live a missional & influential life.
• After Peter’s major paradigm shift in understanding, he now has to go back to those he is closely associated with and essentially tell them that he has changed his mind.
• He returns to a group who I am sure he had previously had many a discussion on the importance of being torah-true and observing the various food laws etc. In the past as any group of closely aligned friends might have done, Peter would have bonded with them as they corporately criticized those doing things different. They would have told stories together of compromised Jews and weak followers of the Law. Those who had associated with sinners and ate with gentiles.
• Now he has to go and tell them that he – and therefore they – had got it wrong.
• How much does pride and cowardice stop us changing our minds when God shows us that we have misunderstood something?
• When he first faced his companions they immediately go on the offensive, accusing him of breaking their laws.
• At this point I have already written them off.
• Yet after Peter tells his story, he tells it simply and although counter his culture, it of course fits in to Jesus teaching – they too are completely changed around and actually start praising God!
• That alone is encouraging.
• But what comes to my mind is something Jesus told His disciples much earlier.
• Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
• Here are a group of people who had not seen the Gentiles filled with the Spirit and yet they had believed.
• It leaves me this question: Do I have to see to believe?
• Do I have so much pride that I have be the one who experiences a trance & then the transformation to believe?
• Or could I be humble enough to be convinced by a story or explanation that is true?
• Praying for a humility that keeps me open to God’s ways.

9th Sept 2010

Acts 10:1-23-48 – Peter at Cornelius’ House

• “Spirit trumps System pt 2”.
• When does the Spirit turn into a system?
• This passage, following on from yesterday, teaches me the importance of discerning between the Spirit’s intention and a system’s instigation.
• Through the Holy Spirit the Jews had been warned to keep themselves somewhat separate from the gentiles in order to avoid the temptation of idolatry which had traditionally been their biggest weakness.
• Therefore some divine wisdom was required from them regarding to what extent they should connect to the gentiles. For instance marrying an unbeliever would be foolish because it would limit one’s ability to follow God and create all manner of tension, temptation and trials that would be unfair to both husband and wife.
• Eventually these divine commands led to human systems being put in place. The oral law or as Jesus called them the ‘traditions of men’ instigated a much deeper rift between the Jews and gentiles than Jesus ever wanted. The mishna commanded things like;
1. Jews cannot remain alone with a gentile
2. Leave cattle at their inns
3. Assist them in child birth
4. Suckle their children
5. Travel with the to certain festivals
6. etc.
• Peter had to be set free from a typical human tendency; when someone is associated with something unclean we start seeing them as unclean. When someone does something we should not touch; we start seeing them as someone we should not touch.
• But Jesus wants us to touch everybody!
• As I mentioned yesterday, the Jews were to live above the line, living in community in such  way as to be a light to the gentiles, a model of heaven on earth. The gentiles did not have to convert to Judaism but could still have ‘a place in the world to come’.
• I have to be careful not to fall into the same human trap. I must not move from Spirit to system. I have to be careful of this in two ways:
1. I must not avoid people who touch things I should not touch
2. I must not label things sin that are not.
• This second point also creates ungodly rifts and separations. It is bad enough that Christians avoid sinners because of their sin but we make it even harder to establish God’s Kingdom by avoiding other Christians because of the things that our systems label sin.
• Our separate systems label separate things as sin.
• It was hard for me to believe that those who went to church in Texas and hunted animals for sport could be truly Christians. But that was more to do with my culture than scripture.
• It is hard for some American Christians to believe that a European person who goes to church and consumes alcohol for pleasure can be truly a Christian. But again that is more to do with their culture than scripture.
• When the Spirit is replaced by Systems; Scripture tends to be used and misused.
• Or a as a friend staying with me right now [Ian Green] reports;
• When the Dutch Christians found out that the German Christians drank beer, they we so shocked their cigarettes fell out of their mouths!
• Peter, set free from this, experienced God pouring out His spirit on a people he would previously have avoided – avoiding them would have led to avoiding God.
• Praying today to be led by the Spirit through Scripture in order that I don’t replace it with a system.

8th Sept 2010

Acts 10:1-23 – Cornelius calls for Peter/Peter’s vision

• “Spirit trumps System pt 1”.
• In some ways just as the four gospels are the story of Jesus’ work, so Acts is the story of the Holy Spirits’.
• He is the central character whose nature is communicated through the stories of how He connects with the people He meets.
• Cornelius is a centurion. A noble soldier and God-fearer.
• The Jews believed that God-fearers had a place in the world to come. They need not become Jews but must only abide by what was sometimes called the Noahide Laws. This meant that they need not obey the traditions and commands that the Jews lived by such as circumcision etc.
• The reason the Jews must obey these laws was to help them be an example of God’s community. They were meant to be a shining light, a nation that lived above the line. This however is not what happened and instead these traditions and religious systems often led them to become poor examples of God’s ideals.
• God is still looking for a people who will live above the line.
• Cornelius is given a vision and sends people to a place that would have seen strange to him. The home of Simon the Tanner.
• A tanner was someone who worked with the skin of dead animals. His home would have stunk and would have been seen by many Jews as an unclean place. His occupation would have made him despised by many.
• Yet Cornelius obeys without question.
• In the Planet of the Apes - Cornelius is the name given to the Chimpanzee who first opens his heart, home and mind to the ostracized human being.
• Peter the next day receives a vision as well.
• God is preparing him with what some see as metaphor… God is showing him not to call any man too unclean or impure to have a relationship with.
• When the men turn up; Peter invites them to be his guests.
• Although at the time of their arrival Peter still does not fully understand the vision, he realizes God is teaching him something;
• The world you cannot enter is the world you cannot reach.
• It is an important lesson for anyone trying to live above the line.
1. Sometimes it is wrong for me to enter into a sinful environment. Not because there is sin in that environment, if that were true, I would be condemning Jesus.
2. It is wrong for be to enter because of the sin in me looking to connect with the sin in the environment.
3. Only God knows the true reason why I want to enter a sinful environment.
4. At the same time, only God knows the reasons why we won’t enter a sinful environment.
• Sometimes our systems protect us from what we know the Spirit wants us to do.
• Peter, to his credit, does not allow this to happen to him in this situation and the benefits are clear to see in tomorrow’s passage.
• Praying today for an honest heart.

7th Sept 2010

Acts 9:32-43 – Aeneas and Dorcas

• “A Key to Powerful Prayer”.
• There are no FYI’s in the Bible.
• Every detail has significance, it is telling us something. The Holy Spirit, inspiring the author, has left clues in these little seemingly insignificant details.
• These clues are often overlooked. They are subtle and yet profound.
• It is one of these little details that can perhaps teach us more about prayer than anything else in this passage apart from the fact that the miracles being done are in Jesus’ name.
• Peter first heals Aeneas whose is named after a Trojan Hero in Greek and Roman mythology.
• Then he is asked to come to where Dorcas’ dead body is lying. Upon arrival he hears of this woman’s good deeds. Those she has blessed present their clothes to him to demonstrate to him how kind she was. It is almost as if they are trying to convince him to pray for her, pleading her case to him. “She deserves your prayers” they seem to be saying.
• Then Peter, learning from Jesus’ example in Mt. 9:25, gets rid of the crowds.
• He then gets down on His knees and begins to pray.
• Then it happens – a little clue is dropped… “Turning towards the dead woman…”
• What is significant about this statement?
• Just this; he must have been praying turned away from the woman.
• When I pray for someone, I’m usually turned towards them, but Peter was not.
• Why?
• In those days it was not customary for people to close their eyes when praying as it is now. And so it seems Peter did not want to look at the dead body while summoning up the faith to pray for a miracle.
• Instead, after He has spiritually prepared himself, he suddenly turns towards Dorcas and rather than praying, issues a command.
• ‘Tabitha get up’.
• I can learn a lot from this.
• When needing a miracle; I must not concentrate on the problem of mine. Instead I must concentrate on the power of God.
• I must not feed my doubt; I must feed my expectation.
• I must not listen to, look at, and meditate upon what needs to change. Instead I must listen to, look at and meditate upon God.
• If I am wiser in my prayer life; perhaps I will find that I pray less and command more.
• Praying today for wisdom in my prayer.

3rd Sept 2010

Acts 9:19-31 – Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem

• “Peace always follows War”.
• Saul [Paul] becomes a follower of Jesus and immediately begins to share his new faith.
• Wherever Paul goes there seems to be trouble and conflict and here again the same thing erupts. The Jews plot against him.
• He escapes and arrives in Jerusalem.
• Here he faces another conflict but this time with the disciples who simply cannot believe he is the real deal.
• It is Barnabas who recognizes what God has done in him and that he is being used by God to help advance the Kingdom. He convinces the disciples to accept Paul.
• Then another conflict with the Grecian Jews who again try to kill him.
• The disciples take Paul as one of their own, and send him to Tarsus for a while.
• Then the whole of Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoy peace and grow.
• Peace always follows war!
• When God moves in a very real and radical way it always first creates conflict.
• It is hard to build anything in a time of war as all our efforts are spent on the battle. But after the war and because of the battle; peace is won.
• In times of peace that we can on concentrate and put our resources into growth.
• Here are things I need to learn from this principle:
1. Be like Barnabas; embrace trouble if God is in it.
2. Don’t reject the one who brings conflict because they may be God’s catalyst in my life.
3. Handle trouble wisely. Think how to use it.
4. Commit to win the battle trusting in the peace it will eventually bring.
• A complete rejection of Paul would have meant the church may have lost much of the New Testament’s wisdom, insight and ideas.
• I don’t want to lose out on any of these things.
• Praying today for peace but embracing conflict.

2nd Sept 2010

Acts 9:1-19 – Saul’s Conversion

• “Where Vision comes from really"
• So this morning I am again reminded of one of the key things I teach:
• Vision comes from a conversation of awkward questions.
• This passage alone does not teach that but blended with so many other stories from the Bible; it helps to give another facet of that principle.
• Saul asks the High Priest if he can go and take prisoner the followers of Jesus outside of those in Jerusalem.
• On the way, He receives not his vision, but a lack of vision.
• His blindness is used to get his attention. He gets a vision of God before He gets a vision of what to do for God.
• After he is made blind, God asks him some awkward questions.
• He asks God one or two back [also see other retellings later in Acts]
• At the same time; Ananias is in Damascus and also receives a ‘vision’. I’m not sure what that looked like but again he argued a little with God – or at least protested.
• In both cases I am sure that we are just reading the ‘minutes’ of their discussions.
• Here is the process that we usually receive vision from God;
1. Something gets our attention [sometimes it is a complaint we have]. Or similarly, we have some kind of encounter with God.
2. We ask God an awkward question.
3. He asks us an awkward in return.
4. As the conversation of awkward questions progresses over time His vision for our lives becomes clearer in our minds.
5. The minute we stop asking the awkward questions or the minute we stop allowing God to ask us His… the conversation stops.
6. When the conversation stops, our vision runs out or stalls.
• I need to keep that conversation going.
1. When was the last time the Holy Spirit asked me an awkward question?
2. Did I pursue it?
3. Did I ask any back?
• We need to be encouraged that God has no problem being asked. It seems he desires it. It’s part of our relationship. It allows Him to reveal His purposes for us.
• I’ll pray today for more awkward questions to ask God.
• Because I love Him.