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Acts 4:1-4: Creating a disturbance.(click for todays passage)

Have you ever been interrupted while preaching? It happened to me on one occasion when speaking at a youth meeting. The young man who began to talk back to me was either a new Christian or very close to becoming one. It threw me for a moment. I wasn’t used to that sort of thing. Hopefully I handled it okay! Frank Boreham, in his wonderful autobiography, ‘My Pilgrimage’, tells how his basic training as a preacher took place on the streets of London, as an open air preacher. If you could hold a crowd there, you could probably pull it off just about anywhere. You certainly had to be nimble on your feet in responding to hecklers etc.

Here’s another question: have you ever been interrupted by the police when preaching? Well, I can’t own up to that one, but in many parts of the world Christians still experience intimidation, arrest, imprisonment. I think every preacher should ask himself, or herself, ‘What is there about my preaching which disturbs? Is there anything at all?’ Some preaching doesn’t cause even the tiniest ripple on Lake Conscience. But one preacher said he saw it as his job to ‘comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable’. A Biblical ministry will at times profoundly disturb, and that may lead to an angry backlash, even among professing Christians.Some people get angry when their deeply-cherished prejudices are challenged. That’s how it was with the ‘’Sadducees’’ (1). They didn’t believe in the resurrection, and so were deeply upset about it being preached and believed (2).

When preaching disturbs, it may lead to an angry reaction leading to violent action (3). Yet persecution will never stop the church (4). God’s Word is not bound (2 Timothy 2:8,9). They can put the preachers of the Word behind bars, but they can’t confine the Word there. The message was already out there, doing its work in people’s hearts.

Early this morning, Jilly and I watched the day gradually dawn. But while it was still dark, just a little way across the field, we saw a light. It could not be hidden. The fact that it was dark was just no match for the light. The darkness could not overcome it. This gives me great encouragement for our witness. If we will just be who we are – be real – we will have an effect in and on the darkness. We will shine and our light will not be quenched.

 Acts 3:17-26: Brand new start.(please click for the passage)

Although you are reading these notes during the second week of the new year, I am writing them on new year’s eve. At this time, our thoughts tend to turn instinctively to new beginnings and clean starts. How many of us can remember the feel of receiving a brand new jotter at school, and the determination to look after it; to keep it clean and neat? But as with life in general, we quickly began to fall short of our best intentions.

Well, I think these words from Acts 3:19 are a wonderful text for the new year:

‘’Now it’s time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins…’’ The Message.

 The last verse in the chapter speaks about the ‘blessing’ of such repentance (26) ‘’as you turn, one by one, from your evil ways.’’ The Message. Although Peter was preaching to a great crowd, he knew that there had to be an individual, personal response, and he spelled that out. He also was quick to say that there are grave consequences for people who reject Christ (23). This must never be forgotten. We must not allow it be sieved out of our preaching. As already noted, the early sermons in ‘Acts’ share certain common characteristics. In addition to the ones previously mentioned, we also find in today’s reading the note of fulfilment. God’s great purpose to bless people with forgiveness of sins centres in Jesus; and He, in coming into the world, has brought to pass numerous prophecies. Furthermore, He will come again. We can be sure that if all the prophecies concerning His first coming have proved accurate, the remaining ones that concern His second advent will. ‘’For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again…’’ The Message. It’s only for ‘’the time being’’. It’s like you’re watching a play, and the Star has left the stage for a time. But He is still there in the wings – out of sight, but very much there – and He is preparing for the last act, when He will return to centre-stage for the blockbusting conclusion, and a tumultuous (eternal) ovation.

PRAYER: Lord, may I live this new year as a new person in you.

 Acts 3:11-16: The unvarnished truth.(please click for passage) 

It is understandable that the formerly lame man still held on to Peter and John, but he didn’t have to. Similarly, we can perhaps become too heavily dependent on people; on leaders who have had a strong influence in our conversion for example. There is, of course, a right kind of dependence on other members of the body of Christ, but it’s important to understand that we can look to and lean on people in unhealthy ways.

Certainly, Peter wouldn’t permit the crowds to think more highly of him and John than they ought. Everyone knew this man and what a total ruin he had been. There was no hope for him, humanly speaking. Now they were all witnesses to a remarkable transformation. ‘But we didn’t do this’, Peter says. ‘Let’s be clear, Jesus did it. He’s alive.’ Peter and John would not steal any of the glory – not a morsel of it.They knew it all belonged to Jesus. There are many points of similarity between this sermon and the one we’ve just read in Acts 2. One of them concerns the boldness of Peter’s preaching: ‘’You…you…You…you…You…’’ (13-15). Peter laid it on the line; he gave them the unvarnished truth; he took aim with a steady arm and his arrow did not miss the target. Although they ‘’acted in ignorance’’ (17), they had killed Jesus – ‘’killed the author of life’’ (15) – but He was now back from the dead. The formerly crippled man was exhibit A in Peter’s case. Here was the evidence – the living proof! The man’s healing was strategic and gave the apostles the opportunity to preach the gospel to many.

In evangelism, let’s talk about Jesus; keep the focus on Jesus. He is the central issue.

Acts 3:6-10: What is that in your hand? (click here for the passage)

I believe that it was reading this story that prompted me to start praying some years ago for ‘strategic’ conversions. I saw how one person can become the key to many others hearing the gospel (10). We see the same thing in the story of the woman Jesus met by the well (John 4:27-42). Many others came to believe in Him because of her testimony. When people see the ‘’used to’’ element in a life (10) it carries an impact. People cannot miss the reality of change and it causes them to question how it came about.

Whatever God gives you; whatever He entrusts to you; whatever He places in your hand, are you prepared to use it, to give it? Don’t worry about all you don’t have, but be prepared to give/share what you do have ‘’In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth…’’(6). His power accompanies the gifts He gives to us. ’Then the LORD said to him, ‘’What is that in your hand?’’ ‘’A staff,’’ he replied’ (Exodus 4:2).This extract from the call of Moses resonates with our Acts passage. God will take what is in your hand, what He placed in your hand, and use it – if you are willing.

It is said of certain people that they are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use.Peter did not fall into this category (7). He wasn’t so captivated by the miraculous power he was exercising that he forgot the practical needs of the man in front of him. I love the attentiveness; the thoughtfulness expressed in the words: ‘’Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up…’’ (7). In fact it appears that in the action of helping him the miracle occurred. As you go about your business on this ordinary day, look for the people in your path who you can ‘help up’, using the blessings God has poured into you, and relying completely on His power. Don’t live life in a closed off, isolated, disinterested kind of way. Someone said that the true measure of a life is not in its duration but its donation. Live for God and live for others. Live to serve and give.

‘The smallest parcel I ever saw was a man wrapped up in himself.’

PRAYER: Lord God, help me to have eyes to see this day the people you place in my way so that I can help them. May I not be someone who passes by on the other side.

Acts 3:1-5: A funny thing happened on the way to the prayer meeting.

It is good to pray.

It is good to establish habits of prayer.

It is good to pray with others.

As Peter and John were doing their ‘duty’ (although I’m sure it was more to them than that) they met with opportunity. The plight of the needy man they met is conveyed in two words: ‘’carried’’ and ‘’put’’ (2). Where he was placed he had to stay. He couldn’t move under his own steam. He was a congenital cripple. Begging was the only way he could ‘earn’ a crust. It is possible to be so focussed on what we are doing that we don’t see people – not really see them;

…so busy we don’t see them;

…so distracted we don’t see them. (Have you ever been more preoccupied with the screen on your phone than with the person sat opposite or next to you?)

But ‘’Peter looked straight at him, as did John’’ (4). They gave him their full attention, and they asked for his (4). (As a preacher, I think you are more likely to gain a hearing from your congregation if they know you ‘see’ them; that you love them and care about their real life circumstances). It’s good to ask boldly (3), and with faith (5). But sometimes we set our sights too low. We can think we know what we need most, but God knows best. He did far more than this man asked. As someone said, ‘He asked for alms, but got legs!’ In a sense he did get the money he asked for (because now he could earn it), but he also got something infinitely more precious – his health.

So ‘’One day’’ (1) turned into a wonderful day. Any ordinary day that you go about your business as a Christian can turn into an extraordinary day by God’s leading – and that is ‘’Beautiful’’ (2).

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, lead me today to people you want me to meet, and may I be ready to give them what you have put into my hand to share. Help me to really see the people I come across in the course of this ordinary day.

Acts 2:42-47: Together (click here for the passage)

John Stott called this short passage ‘a beautiful little cameo of the Spirit-filled church.’ All the basics of church life are found here. It’s ‘not rocket science’ as they say. You don’t need a big building, a stage, a band, or PowerPoint! It can all be worked out quite simply in homes. Admittedly, they did use the ‘’temple courts’’ (46) – probably for the larger gatherings of the whole group. But they didn’t own a building. There were no church buildings, as such, for hundreds of years. They lacked many of the attractive features we have come to think are indispensable for success, but they had Bible teaching, fellowship, prayer life, and the breaking of bread. They saw miracles, and they were a ‘’devoted’’ bunch of people (42). They were ‘sold out’. Furthermore, God gave the growth.                                                                                                  At heart, they were a true community. The word ‘’together’’ is repeated three times in (44, 46). I once heard a preacher say that in the church today we have too many meetings and not enough meeting. But that was not the case with the first Christian community. They knew what it was to sacrifice and to share, and such an authentic community will always be a sign and a wonder in itself. In our materialistic, and often quite selfish culture, we need lots of little ‘lighthouses’ such as these dotted all over the landscape. They will always prove effective in saving many from the rocks.

In an age where more and more Christians are attending church less and less, we need to face the challenge of these verses. What is it about togetherness that we want to avoid and why?

Acts 2:37-41: Revival (please click for todays passage)

By any standards, this was a ‘miraculous catch’ (41). Twice during His ministry, Jesus had shown His followers that if they trusted and obeyed Him they would bring in a huge haul of fish. But I believe that in both those cases we see a foretaste of the spectacular growth of the church in ‘Acts’ as they went fishing for men. Here, the church grew from 120 to around 3,120 in a single day. How did they absorb all that growth? We are not told. They clearly did though. Somebody said, ‘We preach three thousand sermons to get one convert, but with one sermon Peter won three thousand.’ That is rather a gross over-simplification, I know, but it helps to see that what we call ‘revival’ is an unusual work of God.

Powerful ‘conviction of sin’ is one mark of all revivals (37). Before Peter got chance to tell the people what they should do about what he was saying, they asked! They were desperate to know. Twice in his sermon, Peter had told his hearers that they bore responsibility for the death of Christ (23, 36). Evidently he got through. The people felt like they were in the dock, with the Judge delivering the guilty verdict. He then puts on his black cap, and they know they are under the sentence of death. What can they do?

How wonderful then to hear about the possibility of forgiveness of sins, and sharing the same experience they had seen and heard that very day (38, 39; see 33) –of receiving the Holy Spirit. But first they had to repent of their sins and be ‘’baptized’’ (38). There were no exceptions to this requirement. Someone wrote that ‘The idea of an unbaptised Christian is totally alien to the thought of the New Testament writers.’ Baptism is mentioned twice in the space of a few short verses (38, 41). If repentance (and faith) are the inward part of conversion, baptism is the outward aspect.Baptism on its own won’t save anyone. It is intended to be linked to repentance. But it is indispensable.

I think verse 41 indicates that not all the people in the crowd ‘’accepted’’ the message, but vast numbers did. Yet although there is a strong emphasis on the human response in these verses, the real reason for any conversion lies in the mystery of God’s sovereignty (39).

PRAYER: I pray, Lord, that you will send revival, for the glory of your Name.

Acts 2:32-36: Who done it?!(please click for todays passage)

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the work of the risen Jesus (33). In itself it points to the truth that Christ is alive.                                                                                                     The emphasis throughout the New Testament is that God raised Jesus from the dead. Although the Lord had the power to lay down His own life and take it up again (John 10:18), the clear message is that God the Father ‘done it’. The resurrection is the divine seal of approval on all the claims of Jesus, and of His saving work on the cross.

Somebody said that the resurrection is God’s reversal of the human verdict on Jesus. Someone put it this way: people said, ‘He’s too bad to live; out of the world with Him.’ God said, ‘He’s too good to stay dead; back into the world with Him.’ Jesus took His case to a higher court, and that court reversed the conviction. Jesus won the appeal.

‘’God has raised this Jesus to life…’’ (32a). Yes, this Jesus I’ve been talking about, says Peter; this Jesus who was in the grave for a very short time; this Jesus you ‘’put…to death’’ (23); ‘’whom you crucified (36)”, this Jesus whose resurrection king David prophesied (and see a further prophecy here in 34, 35 – taken from Psalm 110:1; ‘’God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact’’ (32). When Peter ‘’stood up’’ to preach this sermon, it was ‘’with the Eleven’’ (14). Peter could point to others who had seen the risen Christ. He wasn’t some maverick, going out on his own on this point. He wasn’t a spiritual ‘lone ranger’. He was dealing with a verifiable ‘’fact’’. I once heard a lovely Greek evangelist speaking. Whenever he tried to say ‘the book of Acts’ it sounded like ‘the book of facts!’ I thought his repeated, charming mispronunciation was a proclamation of truth. I was hearing what he didn’t intend to say, but what I heard was true.

We don’t know what 2017 will hold for our world, our nation, or for ourselves. But step into it holding tightly to the fact that Jesus is alive: ‘’…be assured of this’’ (36). And know that even when men do their malevolent worst (and no one will commit a worse atrocity than crucifying Jesus) God has the final say. Man did not have the last word with Jesus; nor did death;  Almighty God did. He always will. The resurrection of Jesus is the pledge of this. He turns the tables, and no-one will thwart His eternal purposes. He is on the throne. Our God reigns.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it is good to know that you live. Cause me to live with this assurance that death and evil and hell are defeated and you are ‘’both Lord and Christ.’’ Hallelujah.

 Acts 2:24-31: A hole in history.(please click for passage)

I read that someone once asked the great librettist (and wit!) William S. Gilbert, ‘Is Beethoven still composing?’ Gilbert replied, ‘No, decomposing.’ Death and ‘’decay’’ are the normal human experience. We die, and in the grave our bodies decompose. From dust we come, and to dust we return. It is sobering, and it is humbling, but it is true. It’s something we all have to face, whether we like to or not. ‘Change and decay in all around I see…’  But in the case of Jesus, although death was in His experience, decay wasn’t. A dead body would decay swiftly in that hot climate, but Jesus’ body suffered no decomposition. Furthermore, this state of affairs was predicted in Psalm 16, according to Peter. David, great king that he was, still died, and his body decayed. This was a verifiable fact. Everybody listening to him knew it. So David was not speaking about himself in that psalm. No, he was a prophet and saw, looking through the long telescope of time, the resurrection of Jesus on the far horizon. Peter had insight into David’s foresight.

It is now true for everyone who puts their trust in Jesus that they will not be ‘abandoned’ to the grave. Yes, they will still go to the grave – temporarily. Their bodies will decay. But they will not stay there rotting forever. Resurrection day is coming (John 5:28, 29). ‘The sky, not the grave, is our goal’. The grave is a waiting room, not the final destination.

It is sometimes argued that the resurrection idea gained ground because the body of Jesus had been removed, or stolen (it amounts to the same difference). But think about this, Peter was preaching this message not very far from where Jesus had been laid in the tomb. All some enemy of the disciples had to do was to parade His dead body through the streets of Jerusalem. Someone noted that they would be able to ‘smother Christianity in its cradle.’ But the big fisherman could speak ‘’confidently’’ about the resurrection as he went angling for men (29). He had seen the empty tomb; he had met, spoken with the living Christ. He had been personally commissioned by Him. He was convinced that no compelling evidence would be brought forward to contradict him (see 1:3).

Somebody once said something like this, and I’ve thought about these words often in recent days: ‘If the coming of Jesus has left a hole in history the size and shape of the resurrection, with what does the secular historian propose to fill it?’

PRAYER: I am so thankful Lord Jesus that you live!