The Carpenter's Chapel

Thursday, March 4, 2004

Acts 12: 5

“Peter therefore was kept in prison: BUT prayer was made without ceasing of the
church unto God for him.”

Stephen was stoned for his beliefs and faith in God. The world gathered more
courage to attack the people who dared to be different. The world killed James the
brother of John, and the world wanted Peter also. Peter was taken captive and
thrown into prison. He was guarded carefully. There were four shifts of four
soldiers guarding one man. Two men on either side of Peter, and I suppose two men
at the door. To further keep Peter, he was chained. Religion saved Peter from
immediate death. It was the Passover, and the world wanted to celebrate a religion,
and so they held Peter’s execution until after the Passover.

One would assume that with this captivity there would be no escape. Here we have
the largest BUT of the church. There “BUT” for the grace of God, go I. There,
“BUT” for this or that we would do this or the other. Oh how often the “BUT”
comes into play and not always in good light. I would give you the world, “BUT”. I
would serve in the church, “BUT”. I would teach a Sunday School class, “BUT.”
Have you ever noticed that good intention always preceeds the bad news ? It is
always an equation, I would, BUT.

We have another BUT here.”Peter therefore was kept in prison: BUT....” Are we
waiting for the rest of the equation? Are we waiting for the bad news? Well, my
friends, this is the BUT of great force. “BUT prayer was made without ceasing of
the church unto God for him”

We have the greatest force at our finger tips, Prayer. How many times have we
heard someone say, “I’ll pray for you” and then think nothing more of it? How
many times have we heard, “I’ll pray” and you know in your own mind that it ends
there? I fear too often we are neglectful often in our good intentions. Here the
church church prayed without ceasing.” As the prison had its guards, so the church
had its watchmen. They set up a prayer chain, and prayed without ceasing. In one
church, we planned an evangelistic week. In preparation we assigned a given hour
for two men to be at the church and pray about this mission. If the week of
preaching did nothing else, it taught the men of the church how to pray. That
church experienced great things for God, and I often reflected and wished I had
done more to keep up the practice of all night prayer sessions. I often think about
the results of this passage in Acts when the church prayed without ceasing. It was
not a solo act, but the act of the church. What if we had continued this practice. We
would have seen men’s chains which bound them in sin fall to the ground. We
would have accomplished far more in mission and missionary support. Oh what a
force for God it would have been.

But the church prayed without ceasing. Peter’s chains were loosed, his guards were
put off and Peter was delivered from their captivity right under their noses. This is
the power of prayer. This can be the power of prayer to-day, IF we are prepared to
commit ourselves to continuous, fervent prayer as the body of Christ.

Lord, teach us to pray. We do not want to walk about with glazed trance-like eyes,
so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly value, BUT as men filled with the
Holy Spirit and power of God that the world will see Jesus in us “without ceasing.”

Cheers,

Jim

 

If God could equivocate on truth, we would be in dire straights. Thankfully, His word is true because He said it is, and we can rest on that.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Monday, March 8, 2004

Acts 13: 11

“And now, behold, that hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not
seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell upon him a mist and a
darkness; and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand.”

This verse is referring to Elymas the magician. He did all he could to dissuade
others from receiving the gospel, the message of God, in Christ Jesus. There are
many to-day who do much the same. They use their office of power and persuasion
to lead the sheep astray. God has other designs. God has separated His servants, His
messengers, to deliver the gospel and whoa betide those who would hinder the work
of God There will be dire consequences. We may not see the immediate results
to-day, but they are there. Inside the soul of these people is discontent and unrest.
They are always anxious souls. One does not have to serve in ministry long before
you meet them. Yes, some are even inside the church, and they walk in the right
clothing, but lack the inner grace. The heart remains hardened to the things of God.
Beware dear brethren that we do not grieve the Holy Spirit by our behaviour. God
will act harshly and He will act quickly.

I am reminded of the story of the atheist who went about challenging the existence
of God. I cannot verify that this story is true, but it establishes a point. When he
gathered a crowd, he pointed to heaven, shook his fist, and said, “God, if there be a
God, If you exist I challenge you to strike me dead.” He looked to heaven, then he
looked about the crowd, and drew jeers and jocularity about his boastings. “There”,
he said, “There is no God.” He walked away. Whilst walking home through the
wooded path, a great flash of lightning struck him and killed him instantly. God
does not want an audience. Indeed, God does not need a witness. His hand is swift
and it is sure. He answers even the requests of the unsaved.

This man, Elymas, or Bar-Jesus claimed the name the son of Jesus, but Paul calls
him the son of the devil, he calls himself one of wisdom and knowledge, but is
reduced to beggar status. He once misled the people and now must find someone to
take him by the hand to find his way in the world.

We may think we are the wise ones, but God will reduce us to nothing. In this
instance, the Lord’s quick hand upon the magician has good results. The proconsul
believes the message that the missionaries had brought them. Verse 12 “Then the
deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of
the Lord.” This shows the importance of those times in church when we give time
for personal testimonies. Often people asked me how to witness to this cult or that
religion. They think I will give them great knowledge about what practices these
other religions follow. My answer is always the same. Tell them about Jesus, and
what He has done in your life. It is the best witness one can give. It is
demonstrating the sure hand of God upon a life, which was once adorned in filthy
rags, and now in the robes of the Kingdom.

Lord, help us to always be prepared to have an answer for the hope that is within
us. Help us to tell about Jesus, and His redeeming grace.

Cheers,

Jim

 

On the other hand, what good are we if we don't work?

Cheers,

Jim

 

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Acts 13: 43

“Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious
proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to
continue in the grace of God.”

Every preachers dream. The potential believers want to hear more about God’s
grace. Would to God, that we to-day, should be so compelling in our preaching and
witness, that the listeners crave to hear more. The first disciples had limited much
of their work among the Jews. They were building a Jewish Church. This was not
the intention of God, and God showed them by opening doors of opportunity among
the Gentiles. In verses 46, 47 “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was
necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you...” It was
God’s design to reveal the plan of salvation through the nation Israel. Proselytes
were received, but they had to convert. So it is in the church to-day. Those who
would enter must convert. They must become Christians. They must be born again.
There is no such thing as a hyphenated Christian. It is all or nothing. Now then”
“but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set
thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth.”

It is then that we experience the great doctrines of predestination and election:
Verse 48: “...and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” The action of
God came upon their lives. They were first ordained to eternal life, and then they
believed. They believed because they were drawn of God unto eternal life. Like the
hymnwriter, “We love Thee because Thou first loved us...”

We also learn the lesson of opportunity here. When the gospel is rejected by some,
we move on because God has another willing audience somewhere, and it is our
duty to find them. How? By being faithful in the preaching of the word to the ends
of the earth. When one door closes, God graciously opens another door.

Verse 50 tells us that the trouble makers stirred up the women...”But the Jews
stirred up the devout and honourable women and the chief men of the city,,,,” They
knew how to reach the husbands. The apostles were telling these devout and
honourable women that it was not enough, and they took it personally. They failed
to see the gospel and understood it as an attack on their character. It was once said,
If we cannot reply to his philosophy, attack him personally. Against that there is no
answer. Here is a good example for keeping ourselves pure before God and before
men. If they attack our message, we have an answer. If they attack us personally,
there is nothing more to say. Far too many people go on the defensive when
attacked personally. Forget it! Get on with the task at hand, and preach the truth. All
the while one is defending his own character, he is losing valuable time preaching
the truth. The most important thing in our Christian lives is that we stand tall in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. As frail men, we will always fall personally. We will
never satisfy everyone, but the clothes of Jesus are always pure, whilst our best
finery is but rags and filth.

Lord, help us to see Jesus afresh and realize His righteousness is the key to life.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Friday, March 12, 2004

Acts 14: 8

“And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his
mother’s womb, who never had walked.”

In this verse we see the impotence of the natural man to the word of God. He cannot
respond, he will not respond to the clarion clear call of God to repentance. When we
were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly.

When this man, crippled from birth, heard the word of the Lord, he stood up and
realizing his feet were holding him, walked. Unlike modern times where we have
fancy scooters and walkers to assist us in walking, these people had to beither
carried to a spot, or drag their bodies along the ground. If only many realized his
lost estate and how poorly he looks, struggling step by step just to take the next step.
Wen Jesus comes into the equation things begin to balance out. Instantly we can
stand and walk. We garner a cursory knowledge of God, but still have a host to
learn. This is the most dangerous stage of the Christian walk. The new convert has
enough knowledge to enter the Kingdom, but not enough to facilitate navigation.
This is the period when some fall away. Thus we learn the importance of discipling
soon upon conversion. Far too often we supply the new Christian with a bus ticket
to heaven, but we neglect to give directions on how to get there.

An interesting note about this passage is this. The apostles never complained when
the crowd talking about killing them. They didn’t hang about either, but they didn’t
complain. Here we have the crowd essentially elevating the apostles to divine status,
and they object strenulously. “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of
men.” Verse 11, And then in verse 14 “ Which when the apostles, Barnabas and
Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people...”

There is only one message to proclaim, and there is only one Saviour to be
worshipped. How often does a people lift up a man, pour praise upon him and then
turnabout and pull him down? He should not have been elevated in the first place.
Here Barnabas and Paul are instantly putting everything in proper persepctive.
“Sirs, Why do ye do these things? We also are men...” We need always to be ready
to give God the fully glory and divesting ourselves of any pride whatever.
Cheers,

Jim