Acts___5

Scripture  Acts 5:18-20 

They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.  But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.”  Observation-What does it say?  In the opening passages of Acts, the author, Luke, places an emphasis on the power that accompanied this community of Christians who were so closely knit together.  After the day of pentecost, the number of believers was growing rapidly.  As noted in Acts 2:40-47, the apostles were displaying signs and wonders of God’s power, which resulted in an overflow of generosity and love during their fellowship.  The move of God’s love and power among the new believers rubbed the Jewish leaders the wrong way, resulting in the imprisonment of Peter and other apostles twice within the first five chapters.  This second imprisonment was ordered by the high priest, who was filled with jealousy.  But, almost as soon as they were imprisoned, God sent an angel to release them.  God makes a way, when there seems to be no way. Understanding-What does it mean?   I had a pretty horrible car accident when I was 18.  It was the jaws of life and airlifted to a hospital with several specialist type of horrible.  My mom was the first one to make it to the hospital and they told her the type of news no parent would ever want to hear.  The doctors told her to make her peace and call who she needed to call, because it didn’t look good for me.  To clarify, I don’t have any memory of this, but I know from the stories of those who were there what took place over the next few hours and days.  My mom took a moment to be with me before I was wheeled into surgery, and in that time she prayed for God to heal me.  Over the next few days, people poured into the waiting room at Loma Linda Hospital to be with my mom and pray.  Since I am writing this, you could probably guess the end of the story, I came through and became physical evidence of the miraculous power of prayer. Throughout scripture, there are several examples of God’s miraculous power that moves when His people gather together to pray and worship.  The walls of Jericho came tumbling down during an intense worship service (Joshua 6).  300 men with trumpets defeated an army of armed men (Judges 7).  Through prayer and worship, Paul and Silas converted a jailer (Acts 16).  We live in a time where we need to see a miraculous move of God’s spirit.  While it seems there is no way, He can make a way.  Let us not forsake gathering together to worship and pray for a movement of His power.
Life Application 

Jesus, help me to never take for granted the life you have given me.  Help me to lay hold of every opportunity for you, encouraging those around me to call out to you.  Jesus, pour out your spirit on us and let generosity flow from your people.  

 

-Tyler Galloway

Amos_1

Scripture - What stood out?Amos 111 This is what the Lord says:“For three sins of Edom,    even for four, I will not relent.Because he pursued his brother with a sword    and slaughtered the women of the land,because his anger raged continually    and his fury flamed unchecked,12 I will send fire on Teman

    that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.” Observation - What does it say?This book is a collection of Amos’s visions, sermons, and poems, centered around the failings of the nation of Israel and its neighboring nations. Verse two is a one verse description of Israel’s impending fall, and immediately is followed up by what is about to happen to four of Israel’s neighbors. All not so good things. Understanding - What does it mean?This week, my wife and I have had some very meaningful but intense discussions about “forgive and forget” as it pertains to the bible. And inevitably these conversations lead to very fun and meaningful discussions on theology and bible semantics. Here are two things that have come up in our conversations: 

• There is a healthy tension/cohesion that exists between Father and Son. Matthew 5:17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. (NLT)
• Our understanding of the word forget is different from the biblical authors’ and God’s. Lois Tverberg in her fascinating book Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus writes: 
  • Interestingly, forget is almost never used in combination with sin. But often the Bible does say that God will “not remember” our sins.*
  • Because Hebrew focuses on the action rather than the thought, it doesn’t necessarily imply that God loses the memory of sins in his infinite mind. It simply means that he has decided to forgo prosecution.*

 So when God decides to forgive our sins, he’s not forgetting the fact that they happened, he’s just not going to punish us for them...although he should, especially for those of us that don’t repent and turn back to him. In that same way, Tverberg analogously explains, If you’ve ever been in a close relationship, you know what this is like. A wife whose feelings are hurt by her husband (or vice versa) “decides to forget”—to put the offense out of her mind even though the memory doesn’t go away. Out of love, you simply choose not to act in revenge for the sin. And once you have done this, the memory itself tends to subside.* In our discussions my wife and I are clear that judgment by God is coming and that God is not a God of just the perpetrator but also a God of the victim as well. But in the meantime we are left to figure out just exactly what we ought to do when somebody wrongs us. The bible makes it clear to forgive. That much is certain. But how do we move forward with some of the people who have hurt us so horribly. I think that is the question we are left to wonder. God’s discipline, much like his judgement is perfect. Ours is not. And we are left as imperfect people trying to deal with one another imperfectly. Life Application - How can I apply this to my life today? Lord, I have read Amos and I still have complete faith in you. I pray for a little more wisdom and understanding. Teach me to bring healing and Godly council to others that have been so hurt by some of the people that were the closest to them. Teach me how to forgive. Teach me how to teach. Teach me Father to live with those around me without a spirit of condemnation, always remembering to leave the final act of judgement up to You. In the name of Jesus do I pray, amen.-kenneth lee

 *Tverberg, Lois. Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Proverbs_8

Scripture

Proverbs 8:12 and 35-36

I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion... For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord. But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.

 

Observation

In this chapter of Proverbs wisdom is personified and somewhat lays out what following God looks like through this lens. It mentions the importance of knowledge, but also mentions the importance of prudence and discretion, which seems to contradict wisdom.

 

Understanding

When I a freshman in high school I had to read the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. I remember that I didn’t want to read “another book about racism (these were my words)” because I figured that’s all this book had to offer. My father told me to give it chance because I might like it, and this book introduced some of my favorite characters in a novel to this day. One of which was Calpurnia, the cook of the main family that the book focuses on. She one day takes the children to church with her where she has a run-in with one of the ladies there, and Cal defends the children but not herself. The main character (Scout) questions her about this and she responds: “Folks don’t like to have someone around knowing more than they do, it aggravates them. You’re not going to change anyone by talking right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves…” I remember this quote blowing my mind for one sheer reason… people don’t like a know-it-all or someone who always talks at them rather than with them.

And this Proverb and Cal perfectly capture the heart of wisdom: knowing when to speak knowledge and when to keep you mouth shut. The word prudence refers to regard for the future, so if we are to be people that love well and act well we must have a regard for others and our future with them. Jesus didn’t come into the world to only share what He knew. Instead He used wisdom and understanding to relate to those around Him, so that He could effectively love everyone. Wisdom is knowing when to hold your tongue despite knowing the answer. Wisdom coupled with prudence equals success in the eyes of God, but those who only speak for the sake of appearing a certain way.

 

Life Application

May we be people that do not detest wisdom and patience and replace it with only knowledge and haste. Cal ends with this: “and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.” I’m not saying revert to speaking their language, but rather know when to exercise wisdom. Let’s not aggravate but instead offer a safe listening environment, conscious about our future with this person.

-Allison Khan