Bible League: Living His Word "Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead."— Acts 4:10 NLT Believers often do not bear the fruit of joy because they're reading the Bible for "revelation" to pass onto others in ministry. However, we must read to absorb the truth about who God is and who we are in Christ. This will lead us to be joyful ministers. Peter learned who God was through free grace in Matthew 16:17 (ERV); "Jesus answered, 'You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah. No one taught you that. My Father in heaven showed you who I am.'" Peter also absorbed who he was from the Lord; "Now I say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it" (Matthew 16:18). So, Peter could later write that the Ephesians were chosen, in love, by God before the world began; "This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure" (Ephesians 1:5). It gave God "great pleasure" to choose you; you are loved. That is cause for joy! In today's verse, the healed man spoken of was once a disabled beggar. He had wanted money, yet Peter told him to get up and walk (Acts 3:4-6). Peter's perspective of God and himself led to his joyful, effective ministry to the crowd that had gathered as well as the opposing temple council: "Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd" (Acts 3:12-13). Peter joyfully turned his fame toward God. The healed man literally "held tightly to Peter and John" after the miracle of healing at the temple gate; but Peter reiterated that God healed the man to bring glory to Jesus. Peter spoke, "Friends, what you did to Jesus was done in ignorance." Peter joyfully extended grace to the crowd. This made for an attractive delivery of the Gospel and repentance, leading to 5,000 persons being saved (Acts 3:17; 4:4). Peter declared, "There is salvation in no one else" (Acts 4:12-13). Peter joyfully countered heresy with relationship rather than religion. The members of the council knew that God had empowered him because he and John were "ordinary" men with no special training in the scriptures. Peter spouted, "Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him?" (Acts 4:19). Peter joyfully trusted God instead of fearing man. The council threatened them against speaking the name of Jesus, but then they let Peter and John go, because the crowd was praising God. Peter prayed, "And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your Word." Peter joyfully depended on God through prayer. As a result, the "meeting place shook," and the believers were all filled with the Holy Spirit; then they spoke the Word of God with boldness (Acts 4:29-31). Seek to know God and your identity in Christ so that you exude joy, which will lead to effective ministry today. By Jenny Laux, Bible League International contributor, Wisconsin U.S. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJoshua 1, 2, 3 Joshua 1 -- God Commissions Joshua NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Joshua 2 -- Rahab Welcomes the Spies NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Joshua 3 -- Israel Crosses the Jordan NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 1:57-80 Luke 1 -- Introduction; John's and Jesus' Birth Foretold; Mary's Song; Zachariah's Prophecy NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion This is the day the LORD has made.We will rejoice and be glad in it. Insight There are days when the last thing we want to do is rejoice. Our mood is down, our situation is out of hand, and our sorrow or guilt is overwhelming. We can relate to the writers of the psalms who often felt this way. But no matter how low the psalmists felt, they were always honest with God. And as they talked to God, their prayers ended in praise. Challenge When you don't feel like rejoicing, tell God how you truly feel. You will find that God will give you a reason to rejoice. God has given you this day to live and to serve him—be glad! Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Songs 2:8 My beloved.This was a golden name which the ancient Church in her most joyous moments was wont to give to the Anointed of the Lord. When the time of the singing of birds was come, and the voice of the turtle was heard in her land, her love-note was sweeter than either, as she sang, "My beloved is mine and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies." Ever in her song of songs doth she call him by that delightful name, "My beloved!" Even in the long winter, when idolatry had withered the garden of the Lord, her prophets found space to lay aside the burden of the Lord for a little season, and to say, as Esaias did, "Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard." Though the saints had never seen his face, though as yet he was not made flesh, nor had dwelt among us, nor had man beheld his glory, yet he was the consolation of Israel, the hope and joy of all the chosen, the "beloved" of all those who were upright before the Most High. We, in the summer days of the Church, are also wont to speak of Christ as the best beloved of our soul, and to feel that he is very precious, the "chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely." So true is it that the Church loves Jesus, and claims him as her beloved, that the apostle dares to defy the whole universe to separate her from the love of Christ, and declares that neither persecutions, distress, affliction, peril, or the sword have been able to do it; nay, he joyously boasts, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." O that we knew more of thee, thou ever precious one! "My sole possession is thy love; In earth beneath, or heaven above, I have no other store; And though with fervent suit I pray, And importune thee day by day, I ask thee nothing more." Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. John 1:1,4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. • In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. Psalm 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. John 15:3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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