Tagged: Bible Reading & Meditation

“The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were surprised that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, whom they could hear speaking in tongues and glorifying God.” –Acts 10:45-46 We are two weeks away from Pentecost, a world-changing, life-changing outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God wants to pour out His Spirit on “all flesh” (see Jl 3:1), including on those like Cornelius who have never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. If we refuse to receive the Holy Spirit in our churches, Jesus will still pour out the Spirit on the...

“Through all this, the congregations grew stronger in faith.” –Acts 16:5 There is a form of exercise called resistance training. Physical endurance and muscle tone is built through encountering resistance and persevering in the exercise despite that resistance. When the person finds it easier to do the exercise, the amount of resistance is then increased until the person can overcome that level as well. Just as exercises build strength through overcoming resistance, so the resistance of persecution can make us stronger disciples of Christ. As the kingdom of darkness increases its resistance to our discipleship efforts, we ask the Lord...

“I no longer speak of you as slaves.” – John 15:15 Jesus calls us, His disciples, “slaves.” Later, He may call us “friends.” To be a friend of Jesus, we must first be His slave. To know what Jesus is doing, we must first obey without knowing what He is doing (Jn 15:15). To be aware of Jesus as Love (1 Jn 4:16), we must first know Him as Lord. God’s Word commands us to “be slaves of Christ the Lord” (Col 3:24). The idea of being anyone’s slave is disturbing to us. We want to keep our independence. However,...

“At that the whole assembly fell silent.” –Acts 15:12 After St. Peter talked, the whole assembly was silent. This was probably a “dead silence.” Peter had just dropped a bombshell on them, and they were shocked. Peter declared that God no longer made any distinction between Jews and Gentiles (Acts 15:9), that Gentiles were also included in God’s chosen people, and that they didn’t even need to be circumcised. Jesus had clearly made a distinction between Jews and Gentiles (see Mt 7:6; 10:5; 15:24), but said that this would change (see Mt 28:19). Peter stated that the time for the...

“The apostles and presbyters accordingly convened to look into the matter.” –Acts 15:6 What did you eat for breakfast this morning? What did you eat for supper last night? Had the outcome of the meeting between St. Paul, St. Barnabas, and the church in Jerusalem gone differently, you might not be eating bacon or ham in your meals (see Acts 15:29). Your life could be quite different, and perhaps you might not even be a Christian at present, if the Christian leaders in Jerusalem had not followed the Holy Spirit. The discernment of the early Christians was marvelous to behold....