The Holy Spirit Hand-Selects Those He Uses - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 21:8-11, “Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, ‘The Holy Spirit says, “In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.” We find that after leaving Ptolemais, Paul and company stayed at Philip’s home in Caesarea. We earlier met Philip in Acts 6 where he was chosen to help oversee the distribution of food to widows in the church. He later was instrumental in taking the gospel to Samaria in Acts 8. Here we read that he had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses and presumably lived with him, as they were unmarried, in the same house Paul was staying in. In this passage we also read of another prophet, Agabus, who came to Caesarea from Judea. It was this prophet who was used by the Holy Spirit to warn Paul of his impending arrest. Paul had previously been warned of this but at this time I note that rather than one of Philip’s daughters prophesying to Paul about it, or the Holy Spirit telling Paul directly, it was this man, Agabus, who prophesied to Paul about the matter. Why did the Holy Spirit send someone from Judea with this message? Why not just use someone already there in the house? I’m sure there are details that are not provided in Luke’s account, but one thing stands out to me: the Holy Spirit doesn’t just use anybody. He hand-selects certain individuals for specific tasks and uses them. I certainly can’t tell from the text why Agabus was used to bring the message to Paul, but I note that others, already there in the house, were available but not used. It brings to my mind that the Holy Spirit not only enables us to carry on his work through his special gifting, but he hand-selects specific individuals for specific tasks. And, it certainly doesn’t appear that efficiency or cost-savings are the top priority: the Holy Spirit has his reasons… Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God's Word Can Provide An Inheritance - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 20:32, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” As Paul met with the Ephesian elders and let them know that he would not be seeing them again - this side of heaven - he committed them “to God and to the word of his grace”. Because he knows he is passing from the scene and will no longer be available as a resource for them as they face the “savage wolves” that will “come in among you and will not spare the flock” he commits them to what will be an even bigger resource for them: God and the word of his grace. Paul points out that the “word of his grace” can provide two things. It can give an inheritance and build up. In an earlier letter Paul had written to this church, he pointed out something wonderful about God’s word, “You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14. God’s word provides the opportunity for salvation into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, 1 Peter 1:4. God’s word can also build up believers, bringing them to maturity and keeping them from the damage of “savage wolves” that would seek to devour the flock of God. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We, as these Ephesian elders eventually did, live apart from the leadership of an apostle like Paul within our midst. And just as these Ephesians needed to be committed to God’s word, we do as well today. A too high estimation can never be placed on the role the Scriptures need to play in our lives today. In both bringing us to salvation and then for building us up in him, the Scriptures need to find their rightful place in our lives, in our schedules, in our priorities. How wonderful our God of grace has provided us with the “word of his grace”! May it be met with the enthusiasm and attention it rightly deserves in our lives today! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Gives Us His Word - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 20:32, "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” When Paul met with the elders from Ephesus in Miletus, he encouraged them and made this statement in his closing remarks to them. He committed them to God and his word. Paul comments that God’s word, “the word of his grace”, had the capability to build them up and bring them into an inheritance as heirs of God, Romans 8:17. Elsewhere in Romans Paul says he wasn’t ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe, Romans 1:16 He also told Timothy that Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that we might be fully equipped for every good work. God’s word is an amazing thing! In Isaiah 55:10-11 God says that his word will not return to him empty but accomplish what he desires and achieve the purpose for which he sent it. That God has given us his word, his powerful, effective, life-changing word is such a wonderful thing! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Reveals Himself - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 20:25-27, “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.” As Paul met with the Ephesian elders for the last time, he reminded them he had proclaimed to them “the whole will of God.” Paul wanted to ensure that the church in Ephesus would have its very best prospect of success as he would no longer be available to them when he left. I suspect I shouldn’t make too much out of Paul’s phrase, “the whole will of God”, but I can’t help seeing in his choice of words that Paul did not hold back when he taught the church at Ephesus. Just as we do today, the early church in Ephesus needed the whole counsel of God. Enough can not be said about the need we have to be aware of who God is, what he is like, what his intentions are and what he is doing in the world. Amazing to me is that God has provided all of this for us. Every one of the sixty-six books in our Bibles are God-breathed, inspired by him, and contain within them all he intends for us to know about who he is, what he is like, his intentions toward us and what he is doing in the world. He has seen fit to inform us about himself. We find there, in pages of our Bibles, who God is (the Eternal One, Creator of heaven and earth) and what he is like (loving and just: both the Savior and the Judge of all humanity). He tells us what his disposition is (love and grace) for us today and what his intentions are (to save sinners and condemn those who reject him.) He tells us what he is doing (carrying out his program of redemption in a lost world through the church). What an opportunity we have to get to know God! As Paul taught the Ephesians “the whole will of God”, we receive that same education as we spend time in the pages of the Bible! What a wonderful God we have who has revealed himself in its pages! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God's Choice: It Is By Faith - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 20:20-21, “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” Paul recounts for the Ephesian elders his ministry among them. This will be his last meeting with them in this life and as he knows he is facing death he reminds them of his message to both Jews and Gentiles, to all men. All men must repent (have a change of heart, mind) from the current direction of their lives and “have faith in our Lord Jesus.” The issue of faith is strikingly clear in the pages of Scripture. God has made the effort in his revelation to us to tell us that it is faith he has decided will be the determining factor for anyone to come to him. God chose before the ages began that it will be those who embrace him in faith who will have an inheritance in him. When Adam and Eve capitulated to the temptation of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, it was a clear lack of faith in what God had told them that resulted in their fall. Conversely, God introduces us to a man named Abraham who exhibited the kind of faith that will bring salvation. Abraham’s faith, which earned him a covenant with God, is that faith which, if we follow in his footsteps of faith, will bring us into a covenant relationship with God. “He [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’ The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” Romans 4:20-24. Jesus Christ took our punishment for sin on himself but it is only “credited” to us when we embrace him in faith. It will not be by works, it will not be by comporting oneself in accord with an established set of moral standards and it will not be by the exercise of religious acts of piety that bring salvation. It is faith and faith alone. “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. How wonderful God has decided our salvation will be based on faith and not performance. If it depended on my behavior, I wouldn’t make it. If it depended on my observance of religious disciplines and piety I wouldn’t make it. What he has asked of me is that I simply embrace him in faith! How wonderful is that? It is truly a gift from him, a gift that came by the heavy lifting Jesus Christ did for me when he died that horrible death on that cross! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Has Invited Us Out Of This World Into His Kingdom! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 20:2-3, “He [Paul] traveled through that area [Macedonia], speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.” The world is a hostile place toward God and those who are his. Here we read of Jews plotting against Paul in Greece. Later in the chapter, Paul reminds the Ephesian elders of the plots of the Jews against him in that city. He also tells them that the Holy Spirit had warned him that prison and hardships faced him in Jerusalem where he was headed. Paul faced hostility where he had been, where he was and where he was going. Throughout the book of Acts we see hostility toward God’s people from Jews and Gentiles alike. In Paul’s previous life he participated in this hostility himself prior to his conversion to “the Way”. In Stephen’s words, just before he was stoned, “Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him”. Acts 7:52. Jesus taught, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15:18-19. Those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ belong to God and as such we are hated by those who do not belong to him. They have made their choice and resent those of us who have embraced God. Many of us today may never face hostility as Paul did, but nonetheless we are despised because of our choice to join God’s kingdom, leaving them and the world behind. The reality is that those of us who have embraced God wish the others - who are hostile toward us - would embrace God as well. Of people of faith, the writer of Hebrews says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:13-16. How wonderful the future we have in our Lord Jesus Christ! How wonderful he invited us to join him and leave the world behind! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Authenticates The Gospel - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 19:11-12, “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” How wonderful that God provided authenticity and authority to the message that Paul took to Ephesus (and the many other places as well). The veracity of Paul’s message was confirmed in so many ways by God. Did God have to provide this additional stamp of authenticity to Paul’s message through various miracles as Paul helped to lay a foundation for the expansion of the church? For those folks with thick-headed skulls like mine over the ages, God demonstrates an undeserved compassion for those of us who are a little “slow”. And look at the stamp of authenticity he provides… compassion itself! Folks cured of illnesses and relieved of evil spirits! What a wonderful God! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.