Category Archives: Jesus

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 26 Almost Persuaded

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Paul was brought before King Agrippa to plead his case. He once again tells his testimony of how he had an encounter with the living, resurrected Jesus. In that encounter, Jesus told Paul what his mission in life would be when he met him on the road to Damascus.

“But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” Acts 26:16-18 ESV

He was testifying of the power of God that enables us to turn from the darkness of sin- anything we do that is against God’s laws and separates us from God. He told everyone he was in contact with about what he had both physically and spiritually experienced, a God who could take eyes that are blind- unable to see God’s ways and truth- and make them see. He spoke of forgiveness from God for the wrongs we have done and being set apart for God’s purposes through faith.

This is all still available to us today. The Holy Spirit continues to move our hearts to desire to know all of what Paul was telling King Agrippa about. We have a choice. King Agrippa did too. But his response was truly a sad one.

“And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind…In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”” Acts 26:24, 28 ESV

Paul’s desire was not simply to be free of his chains. His desire was that everyone he came in contact with would know the Jesus he knew. Paul wanted them to experience the relationship with the Holy Spirit he was experiencing. His response was this to the Kings question.

“And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”” Acts 26:29 ESV

This is why I write these things to you. I know from experience the power of God who broke off the chains of sin by which I was held captive. I can tell you the difference of walking in the darkness of my own ways as opposed to walking into the light of God’s path- His ways. Do not be “almost persuaded” to surrender your heart entirely to God! King Agrippa walked away from Paul’s testimony of Jesus that day unchanged. May we see the value of what he spoke and seek out the relationship he described. It is the only way!

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 22 Testify!

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There is power in the testimony of what Jesus had done for you. Paul was not afraid to tell the people his testimony, even though it was controversial and unacceptable to testify that Jesus, God’s son wanted Paul to go to the Gentiles to proclaim God’s favor towards them. Paul knew God had chosen him years before on the road to Damascus to do just that. Ananias told Paul shortly after his encounter with Jesus himself:

“…The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.” Acts 22:14-15 ESV

We have been called too. The Holy Spirit has been given to us as well empowers us to testify. We are to know this is His will. We are to “be a witness for him to everyone of what we have seen and heard.” Our testimony of God’s goodness in our lives will point others to the truth we have found. Lives will be changed!

Come Holy Spirit make us witnesses! Let us share our testimony!

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 20:22-38 Nothing Else

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Paul speaks the elders at the church of Ephesus that he dearly loves. He tells them that he knows the Holy Spirit is compelling him to go to Jerusalem, and he knows that hardship awaits him. Even so, Paul has set in his heart to obey and to go. His only desire was to obey God and to do exactly what God had called him to do. Paul says this:

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24 ESV

Life is not easy, and living for God with a heart that is wholly His is not normal to the world around us. Because those around us who do not know God do not value Him or His ways. But Paul had an encounter with Jesus Himself, and Paul had experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit in his life. He was forever changed and wanted to know God alone. He only wanted to please God no matter what.

Have you come to that point in your life? Have you had an experience with Jesus and found that He alone satisfies? Have you entered into fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Can you hear Him speak to you, and do you know He hears you when you pray? This is what you were created for! Nothing else matters!

My prayer is the same as Paul’s. May I testify if the grace of God in my life! God has been so very good to me! I want you to experience that same goodness! But that goodness is only experienced when you surrender your life to Him. That is when the Holy Spirit fills you to overflowing and you experience the same Jesus Paul encountered on the road to Damascus and the same Holy Spirit the disciples were filled with in the upper room at Pentecost.

May our hearts be His alone! Come Holy Spirit!

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 20:1-21 Declare Without Hesitation

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Paul went from town to town and from house to house declaring Jesus. He even stated:

“…I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,” Acts 20:20 ESV

Paul did not hesitate to preach anything that he thought would be helpful to the believers he knew. Especially the importance of faith in Jesus:

“testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21 ESV

That is how we need to live our lives. There is only one answer to the circumstances of life that we find ourselves in. There is only one truth! May we declare this to those we know. It is the only thing helpful in a world that is confusing and full of hurt!

Holy Spirit speak to us and through us!

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 12 Mind Blowing Miracle!

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I love this account of God’s power as He delivered Peter from jail. What God did was so amazing it was hard for Peter to understand and for the disciples gathered praying for Him to believe. It was mind blowing!

As the angel appears, Peter’s chains fell off and gates were opened, Peter thought he was seeing a vision. When Peter went to where the disciples were the servant Rhoda answered. The disciples thought she was “out of her mind.”

What struck me was these very disciples were praying for Peter! God loves to work amazing miracles in our lives and the lives of others! He loves to perform the kind of miracles that leave us speechless and scratching our heads. He loves to display His power and His glory!

The disciples saw what was an impossible situation and they were faithful in prayer. They could not and did not imagine the miraculous that God did to answer their prayers. God came through! Peter was freed. In the end, the one who put Peter in jail in the first place died because he failed to give glory to God. And “the word of God increased and multiplied.” (Verse 24)

God’s plan goes on! The work of the Holy Spirit through His people that was started on Pentecost continued on and it continues on today! Be faithful to pray and be assured we serve a God of mind blowing miracles!

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 9:32-43 “Get up!”

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Two major miracles! One…Peter commands a man paralyzed for eight years to get up and walk in the name of Jesus! Two… Peter commands a believer who had died to get up and she did! In both cases people heard of the miracles and “turned to the Lord.” They “believed in the Lord.”

Peter was empowered by the Holy Spirit, not only with boldness, but with the Spirit displaying signs and wonders through his commands. All of this was done in the name of Jesus! It pointed to Jesus, who was and still is alive!

The Holy Spirit wants to empower us today to see signs and wonders that bring glory to Jesus and testify of His living lordship over all. May we hunger and thirst to be full of Him so we can be a display of God’s love, His image here today! And May we see the Holy Spirit work the unimaginable through our lives so all will see and be in awe of our glorious God!

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 9:1-31 Power to Witness

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The young man Saul, who held the coats of the men who stoned Stephen, grew to be a man who was known as one who persecuted the church. Then Jesus stepped in. Jesus appeared to Saul as he walked along the road to Damascus with authority to arrest Christians when he arrived. Jesus spoke to Saul was blinded by the great light from heaven and Jesus told Him to go into the city. So he did. He waited and prayed. God appeared to a man named Ananias and sent him to Saul. Ananias went to Saul and prayed for him to receive his sight again and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

God had plans for Saul to make him a “chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles.” God has a plan and a purpose for us as well. The Holy Spirit fills us so that we can be a witness, or testify, of Jesus the Son of God. He gives us boldness to lift Jesus up to those around us so that Jesus can draw all men to Himself!

May we seek to know this fullness of the Holy Spirit so we can “Know God and Make Him Known!”

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 3:11-26 Connection Restored

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After Peter declared to the paralyzed man to get up and walk in the name of Jesus, the people around saw him jumping, running and walking and praising God. The people who saw this were utterly astounded. Peter once again preaches to the crowd that gathered. He explained how the Jesus they had handed over to be killed had risen from the grave and there is power in the name of Jesus, the risen Lord.

“And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.” Acts 3:16 ESV

And concluded that repentance, turning from their wickedness to God so that Jesus may restore all things.

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” Acts 3:19-21 ESV

Jesus came so that what was lost, our relationship with God and our original design—us as God’s image bearer—could be restored. This comes through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, uniting us with Him. Our connection to God that was lost through sin is reconnected by the Holy Spirit’s filling of us. This connection gives us power and boldness to declare Jesus name over impossible and to see God work miracles in the lives around us!

May we repent, turning from our wickedness to God, and be filled with His Holy Spirit, connected to Him, so we too may bring glory to God in the words we speak and the deeds we do!

Pentecost in Acts: Acts 3:1-10 What I Do Have

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Peter and John now full of the Holy Spirit were headed to the temple to pray. There they saw a lame man begging. Peter told the man to look at him.

“But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!””Acts 3:6 ESV

“What I do have….” As spirit-filled believers, what do we have? The name of Jesus! We have the authority He has given us in His name. It is through this name that we are assured by the words of Jesus we are able to do “greater works.”

““Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:12-13 ESV

But do we live this way? Is our communion/ connection with God so tight that we live as His visible representation to the world around us?

Peter and John were God’s representatives that day. Through the power of the Holy Spirit they were witnesses of the all powerful God to whom lame legs are meant to be a display of His healing power. They were a conduit of God’s presence that brought “wonder and amazement” to those who were near them.

We are meant for such things! May our lives be fervently HOT with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit so those around us take note that we have been with Jesus! And they would desire to KNOW Him!

Holy Spirit fill us as You did at Pentecost!

Pentecost in Acts 1:1-11: This Same Jesus

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I have to say I’m pretty excited about the direction I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to go in reading the Bible as we approach Pentecost Sunday. I’ve spent several months reflecting on the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) speaking of what Jesus said and did as he walked the earth over 2000 years ago. BUT there is more! What started then was only the beginning.

The Book of Acts is actually the sequel to the book of Luke, written by the Luke. I love what he says in Acts 1:1 : 

“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV

“…all that Jesus began to do…” The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was only the beginning of what Jesus would do and is doing today! Jesus spent forty days appearing to the disciples, giving them convincing proofs of His risen body, and teaching them about the Kingdom of God. With His final instruction, “…wait for the gift my Father promised… you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” he gave before He ascended to the Father.

Days earlier, before Jesus death on the cross and resurrection, Jesus had spoken of what was to be fulfilled in the entire book of Acts. 

““Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We will read of these greater works as we approach and celebrate one of the greatest days of history, Pentecost- the coming of Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. As we read, may we always remember the words written in Hebrews:

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“This same Jesus…” that walked our earth and spoke of God’s Kingdom and did miracles that showed us the Heavenly Father’s glory, might, love, and power has NOT changed! He assured the disciples as He was taken up to heaven The Holy Spirit would come and give them power to be His witnesses. “This same Jesus…” is most assuredly coming back as well when time is fulfilled. For now, we have only seen the beginning of what “this same Jesus” has done when we read the gospels. As we contemplate the chapters of the book of Acts, we will see that we have only seen the beginning of what “this same Jesus” will do in and through us now in our day and time through the power of the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost and still comes into a life that asks to be full of Him.

Come Holy Spirit! Fill us to overflowing with You once again!