A Net in Time

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Devotional

Acts 1:1-5

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Okay, for a while I’ve been feeling pulled to study the book of Acts, so here goes.  I’ll read in how my bible divides into section.  Today we are starting with Acts 1:1-5, which reads as follows in the ESV. 

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts 1:1-5

The author of the book of Acts is believed to be Luke.  He never really identifies himself beyond saying he is a companion of Paul throughout this book.  I won’t go into all the reasons why he’s believed to be the author.  You can find out more about the reasoning at Christianity.com. It all made sense to me.  🙂   

So that makes the first book that Luke wrote, the book of Luke, where indeed, the did deal with what Jesus did and taught. 

Who is Theophilus?   

His name means friend of God or (be)loved by God or loving God.   Some think that he was a Roman dignitary of some sort as Luke addresses him as “Most Excellent” in the book of Luke.    Be the said, most Christian scholars think he was a Gentile, but  Jewish Scholars think he was a high priest. Just exactly who he was has been lost to history.  

So basically the book of Acts is Luke continuing his conversation with Theophilus.  Explaining to him the things of Christ and then working with him through how God worked in the early Church.   But here in the first part of Acts, we find Luke giving a short synopsis of the book of Luke and Jesus’ last instruction to them. 

The Synopsis of Luke

I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

A Promise of the Story Continuing

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Do you see it?  The promise?  Jesus is going away, but …  but …  but…. A promise… you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit soon! 

This is how the book of Luke ended.   Luke 24:44-49

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Isn’t it so similar to how Acts starts?  But here, that promise of the Father is linked with being clothed with power from on high.

So often I forget the power that is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is POWER FROM ON HIGH!  And in the book of Acts we’ll get to see the results of that power.  The birth of the early church, Christ in action.   I’m kinda looking forward to slowly going through Acts and seeing that, aren’t’ you? 

God’s Awesome Deeds

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Consider if you would for a moment what the word Awesome means.  Originally the word awesome was associated with terror.   Nowadays it’s more associated with wonder.   Like something is so fantastic or great.  It’s been watered down.  Something that is awesome should also be somewhat terrifying.   So God’s awesome deeds are deeds that we can’t quite get, they have an aspect that is a bit scary when we really think about them.  Let’s look into this more yes?

Psalm 65:5-8
5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas;
6 the one who by his strength established the mountains,
being girded with might;
7 who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,
8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

mountain range with text overlaid God's Awesome deeds

God’s Awesome Deeds

In this passage the author tells us that God’s awesome deeds are an answer to us.   He tells us “by awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness”.   We see throughout the Old Testament how often we turn away from God, seeking after our own solutions.  And yet God’s answer to that… righteousness.  

Can you make sense of that?  Would that be your response? God is so much greater then we are.  More caring, more loving, more capable of wrath, and just so much MORE.  When you stop to think about that, aren’t you just a wee bit terrified?

If not consider this

God is the one who established the mountains by his own strength.

He is the one that is the hope of the ends of the earth. 

Stiller of roaring seas, and waves, the the noise of people. 

The Tumult of the Peoples

When I read the words the tumult of the peoples in my mind I picture a mighty throng of people milling about in a noisy confusion.  Not a happy throng by any means, but one that’s just “too peopley” for lack of a better term.  Sometimes we are just too much even for ourselves.  And God, God himself, can still all the angry muttering, and confused words, and milling about.  He settles us. 

THAT blows my mind when I stop and think about it.  Thinking of people as a wild rushing uncontrolled wave of a ocean or lake… and God saying, hey, settle down.  It’s all good now, settle settle.  God can do that so quickly. 

I can well understand now the disciples amazement at Jesus calming the storms.  They were rightfully in awe of him, holding a terrified wonder of his abilities.  

Be Joyful!

If God can build mountains, and settle wild waves, and calm the tumult of people….. it’s no small wonder that in our awe of him we are joyful.  Am I wrong?   The very fact that we have morning and evening should make us shout for joy too!   Consider what all it takes for the world to turn in it’s orbit smoothly.  God, who established the mountain and calms seas and people, you think he doesn’t rule the skies and the rotation of the earth?

Think about all he does.

Does it not just fill you with joy at how he works?   How he keeps everything operating smoothly?   I know, I know.  I often don’t even give a thought to it.  My life has it’s routines of I go to bed, the sun comes up, I rise and go about my life.  The moon does it’s thing and I simply pay it no mind.  But if I stopped to think it… and these verses are making me think about it… God built mountains!  He quiets the noisy and restless!  He keeps everything going that is going.   Without him…. the world, that I so much take for granted, would fall apart!   So will I make more of an effort to be joyful!   Join me won’t you? 

Let us covenant together to remember the awesome deeds of God!

Beloved Let us Love One Another

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I’m looking forward to the next 7 weeks.  I get to be loved by a friend as she drives me back from Bible study.  Being somewhat older now, I get so tired after work that driving home at 9 at night, when honestly I’d rather be sleeping… can be a tad bit dangerous.   I enjoy the bible study, but if I had to drive myself back and forth I probably wouldn’t attend.  But my friend loves me enough to drive me home.  🙂 We have the best conversations sometimes on the way home.  

Why do I tell you this?  Because when I read the verses for the day… that’s what immediately popped into my head.  The tangible love demonstrated to me for 8 weeks a couple times a year.  It is fantastic! 

1 John 4:7-12
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Beloved, let us love one another

Everytime I read this verse I remember a friend who believed that God is love and love is God.   She always kept flipping it like that.  But that is NOT what this passage is saying.

This passage tells us where love comes from.   FROM GOD.  

True love comes from God and only those who know God can truly love each other. 

You know, it’s not easy to love the people around us.  I struggle mightily with it at times.  Some people it’s hard to love them, or to look past their foibles, to the person behind them. 

But God’s love is what draws us together, helping us to look past the difficulties we might have, helping us to seek out ways to reconcile, and truly be the family he has called us to be. 

spark of the knowledge of God

As I’ve pondered this passage, I’ve considered this fact.  You know how every person has a spark of the knowledge of God in them?  If wonder if that spark is our ability to love others even if we don’t have a relationship with God?  That, God’s care for his people, not just his faithful followers, but for people in general, is that he gives us an ability to love, even when we won’t acknowledge that it comes from God.  

John is clear with us.  Love is FROM God.  Not from ourselves, not from some evolutionary building up, or learned behaviour, but FROM God himself. 

God loved us and sent his Son

John is again clear to his writers.  God loved us enough that he sent his Son, his very deeply loved Son, to be a propitiation for our sins.  What does propitiation mean?  Propitiation is the act of gaining the favor of or making things right with someone, especially after having done something wrong.   In other words, Jesus is God’s way of helping us to make things right with him.   He’s the only one who could do it. 

Through Christ we live.  It’s the only way we can truly have life.   The more we know Christ which is God’s love made real for us, the more we truly live. 

So why wouldn’t we want to share that with others?   Love each other well, and you will show God’s love to them and those around them.  Isn’t it good to copy God?   Loving each other and living out life truly to the best. 

God abides in us

Catch this “if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

Do you see it?

Do you see God at work?   

As we love each other, as we practice loving each other, copying God’s love for us, he abides with us.  Abiding is patient being with someone.  It’s more than just living with someone, it holds the connotation of one a patient and steadfast companion.   Our love shows God’s faithfulness in being in relationship with us.  And…. as we love, his love is perfected in us.  Isn’t that amazing?  Oh, to be able to love in a glimpse of the way that God loves. 

An example

I remember reading a book as a teen about a guy who was missionary in a rough and tumble neighbourhood.  He was threatened with death, which he didn’t flinch from. He told the gang’s leader that yes, he could kill him and cut him apart bit by bit, but every bit would say “I love you”.   The depth this missionary was able to display to that hard gang leader is what I imagine when I think about God’s love being perfected in us.  That solid determination to show love to a people fighting against it. 

It’s exactly what God does with us isn’t it? So Beloved Let us Love One Another.  Let us show God in action won’t we? 

People Gathered

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WSo as I’ve pondered this passage from Mark 6:53-56 I thought about how people gathered whenever they recognized Jesus.   In this story they landed at Gennesaret and as soon as they saw him they recognized him.  And when they did… they acted.   Let’s take a moment to ponder that eh? 

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was… Wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
Mark 6:53‭-‬56 ESV

people gathered, a devotional on Mark 6

People Gathered

Jesus traveling in a boat with his people, they land, and then people recognize him.  But this story goes beyond mere recognition.   
 
They saw Jesus and recognized him and didn’t just go sit down to wait for him to teach or do something.  They ran around the WHOLE region.  Their purpose?   To bring in the sick and needy to wherever Jesus was.   They didn’t just run around and gather up their sick kin, they went through the whole region bringing folks to him. 
 
It didn’t matter where Jesus turned up, people brought the sick to him, all they wanted to do was touch the fringe of his clothes. 
 
Can you imagine the faith they possessed?
 
They weren’t dependent upon his words or his touch or his spoken prayers for them.  Their faith was so profound that ALL they wanted was for the sick person/people to touch his clothes… and not those solid body protecting clothes but the fringe.  You know that embellishment which helps pull the garment together, but isn’t really important to the function of the garment.  It’s rather an unimportant part if you stopped to think about it right? 
 
And yet… and yet the faith of the people was strong enough that they just wanted to touch it. 
 
If they touch it… they would be made well.  
 
AND JESUS LET THEM!   If he hadn’t do you think Mark would have written the words “and as many as touched it were made well”.  
 
Jesus honoured their faith. 
 
Healing happened. 
 
I read those words and wonder…  what is my faith in comparison to that?  When sometimes I let my skepticism of God’s actions influence my prayer life and my attitude about the things he does.   I know better.  I’ve seen God in action in ways that still, when I think of them, surprise me. 
 
And yet I wonder… would I have been willing to touch the fringe of his clothes?  Would my faith have been sufficient just for that? 
 
I need the faith of those fringe touchers.   I so need to believe that he can and will make me better… make me the person he wants me to be. 

Gentle and Lowly

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It has been a while since I finished the Gentle and Lowly, and since I’ve been trying to share with you some of the books that I’m reading, I thought I must tell you about this book.   READ this book if you are faith-based person.  READ this book even if you aren’t a faith-based person, and catch a glimpse (or five) of the heart of Jesus and stretch your understanding. And just perhaps your heart will be impacted.  I know that my heart was very much impacted. 

Gentle and Lowly - dane c ortlund

The Basic Details of The Gentle and Lowly

Title: The Gentle and Lowly: the heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers
Author: Dane C. Ortlund
Publisher: Crossway
Pages: 224
Intended Audience: Adults, Young Adults
Genre: Christian Discipleship, Christian Counseling, Christian Spiritual Growth
Formats Available: Hardcover, Kindle, and Audio.

Affiliate links will be used in this post through Amazon. 

Author and Book

Dane Ortlund is a pastor at Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois.  A father of five children, and married to Stacey.  He has written several books and has edited a couple of series: Knowing the Bible  and the Short Studies in Biblical Theology. 

The book:

This book draws us to Matthew 11, where Jesus describes himself as “gentle and lowly in heart,” longing for his people to find rest in him. The gospel flows from God’s deepest heart for his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering. 

These chapters take us into the depths of Christ’s very heart for sinners, diving deep into Bible passages that speak of who Christ is and encouraging readers with the affections of Christ for his people. His longing heart for sinners comforts and sustains readers in their up-and-down lives.

Looking More Closely

Twenty Three Chapters fill the pages with titles such as His Very Heart, What our Sins Evoke, A Tender Friend, and Rich in Mercy.  Each chapter draws us in deeper to more fully understand the character and depth of Christ’s heart.  None of the chapters are overly long, easily read for a devotional period or over a lunch break. 

Easy to read, you’ll find the essential nature of who Christ is throughout Ortlund’s writing.  I rarely, if ever, struggled with any of the language used.  This held true even when he drew from the Puritans as well.  By the time you are finished reading you will have a better understanding of Matthew 11:28-30. ” 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””   

Should you read it?

Of all the books I’ve read over this past year…. The Gentle and Lowly is BY FAR the most heart-impactful book I’ve read.  GO READ IT!   Seriously.  

Dig into the heart of Christ for his people.   See his tender regard. See Christ more deeply and clearly than you ever thought you would.  It’s important. It’s just so important to see his heart. You won’t regret it.  🙂 

Keep The Commands

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Seems like a pretty easy injunction doesn’t it… Keep the Commands of the Lord God.   So why then does Moses have to add this: Do not add it to it, do not take away from it.  The reason?  So that we can keep the commands of God.

Deuteronomy 4:1-2
“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

keep the commands, devotional on Deuteronomy 4

What’s involved to keep the commands?

Moses is clear. To keep the commands of God the first thing we need to do is LISTEN.   Moses has presented the commands of God to the Israelites. 
 
All they need to do in this first part is listen while he TEACHES them.  So to be taught by someone speaking to you, a person needs to be ACTIVELY listening.  Otherwise how will you retain the information being presented?
 
So that of course begs the question: When reading or listening to God’s word do I really focus on what I am hearing or reading? How can I do a better job?  I know that for me taking notes helps me a whole ton when it comes to focus and attention.  What do you find helps you? 
 
So let’s say we’ve listened well to the teaching given to us… now we have to DO them.  To put into practice what we have learned.   So we’re not to be hearers only, but doers of the word.  Putting things into practice is the best way to cement new teaching into our lives isn’t it? 
 
The reason we are to do this?  Moses told the Israelites that obedience to God’s commands meant they may live and take possession of the land God is giving to them.   I’m not an Israelite, so I have to wonder, how does this correlate to me?   Obedience to God does help me to live.  It does.  It gives me a better life even when things are tough. Doesn’t mean everything is always sunshine and roses because stuff… it happens you know?   But God, he helps make it doable.   But I just realized something, the text says, “MAY live”.  Not that living is guaranteed.   
 
But what land?    I dunno about that.  Part of me wants to say heaven waits, but I don’t know that the text suggests it.   But I don’t know if it’s so much about the land, as more so that God has a plan in place for his people.  Do his will, make his commands something to live by, and God’s plans will come to pass. 

Rules to follow

Moses follows up his reasoning with some additional rules to keep. 
 
1. do not add to the word
2. do not take anything from it.
 
Just leave God’s word to stand to it’s own merit.   
 
 

The Lord is an Everlasting God

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What do you think when you hear the phrase the Lord is an Everlasting God. In today’s passage we’ll see what Isaiah had to say about it.

Isaiah 40:27-31

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

The Lord is an everlasting God. Devotional isaiah 40

The Lord is an Everlasting God

I don’t know what you think of when you hear the phrase The Lord is an everlasting God, but my thoughts immediately go to God being the God of forever and a day.   I don’t generally think of the minutiae of what that means, I just look at the big picture.  God is simply there always.   Could I paint you a broader picture of that if push came to shove?  For sure.  But Isaiah’s words…they help you know?

What does Isaiah say?

This Lord, the everlasting God

  • creator of the ends of the earth
  • does not faint
  • does not grow weary
  • his understanding is unsearchable
  • gives power to the faint
  • increases strength to those who have no might
  • those that wait for him find their strength renewed

Doesn’t that add some depth to your understanding of God as everlasting?

Can you fathom never running out of energy?  Honestly, I can’t.  BUT I do know how God can strengthen the weary.   Do you?  People calling upon the Lord when they are at their end and then finding the strength to carry on. 

So we know God can give people strength, to the extent that 

  • who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
    they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Mount up with Wings like eagles

Can you see it?  That soaring like eagles?   Eagles soar effortlessly when up on the wind currents, all they have to do is shift their feathers and wings and just let the wind carry them.  This is the everlasting God at work.  Can you see how he puts systems in place to help his people? 

This shows how we will never really understand God.  He understands his people and their needs in ways we can’t even fathom.  Can you think of the forethought demanded for God to provide current for eagles?   And he values us so much more than the birds around us.    Let that sink in… I have to let that sink in.

This everlasting God provides the energy and support we need that we can do so much more than we can anticipate.   This is what Isaiah is telling us about that Lord is an Everlasting God!

Puts his mindfulness of me in much greater light don’t you think?

How about you?  Can you see God a bit more clearly like I just did?