Acts 27 - A Storm at Sea...there was a storm in my heart last night being stuck in an elevator in a Jerusalem hotel for 10 minutes too long...alone. Paul said: "Acts 27:22 I urge you to keep up your courage...on the fourteenth night they were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea."
Larry spoke tonight about: Living the Managed Life. I wonder if God brought me here for a forming experience like being stuck in a hotel elevator for 10 minutes alone. Do I manage my wounds or am I glorifying God? There is something underneath the pain. Where sin abounds, Grace abounds.
Recognize and radically repent. I long to more search the center of my soul---our desire for God---even though it feels like terror and better learn to persevere and not be controlled by it. Have mercy on us, O God. Fill us with hope to lead the resurrected life. Give us courage.
Acts 28:20 - It is because of hope that I am bound with this chain. Here for hope, not for doom.
What lingers as we close the pages of Acts?
"One day on my way to Damascus,"
ReplyDeleteOne day as I was listening in the pew...
One day as I was sitting in the hospital...
One day as I sat in the crowd listening to him read the Bible...
God's Spirit moves in mysterious ways. The groaning in our hearts when confronted with the reality of being lost for eternity causes us to move out of our darkness and into the brilliance of Jesus Christ.
The cross of Jesus.
We are all equal at the cross of Jesus.
No one can save themselves.
No good work.
No earned eternity in bliss.
No unbelief receiving a mansion.
It is by the blood of Jesus Christ shed for the remission of sins...that we are saved.
What a hard TRUTH to those who were self-righteous, and perfect by their own preening in front of those considered unworthy.
Saul was welcome to join in their continual persecution of those who threatened their power.
But not Paul, this Grace revealer. Grace alone? Raised from the dead? Born of a virgin? God in a body?
Oh, yes, Paul was definitely guilty of disturbing their peace. Their false peace.
Paul laid before them the Prince of Peace. The Risen King. The Messiah promised and delivered, wrapped in swaddling clothes...then wrapped in borrowed strips of linen and placed in a borrowed tomb. Until Amazing Grace broke through the darkness of sin and death was overcome by the Overcomer.
Crazy? They could only wish that.
Disturbing the peace? More like he was bringing True Peace.
When I reflect on Acts, I see pages of fire.
Acts 28:20-- "I'm a hostage here for hope, not doom."
ReplyDeleteSo often we feel like hostages to our lives. Our families demand our time, our homes demand upkeep. Our schedules are overcrowded, especially at this time of year.
Let's not let our lives keep us hostage, let our hope in the Master Jesus give us freedom. We don't have to fear gloom and doom; our faith frees us as we serve our Master Jesus.
I went into the tomb today. He was not there!
ReplyDeleteAs we wrap up Acts, I am left with a longing. The early Church looked so different than our churches today, the disciples so radically sold out, despite the worst of earthly fates. They understood the freedom from slavery to demands of self, as Dr. Crabb noted. Paul and Silas, Stephen, Dr. Luke all prayed not for protection from suffering but for "boldness to testify." And they experienced freedom even in jail to sing, to soar, to dance, despite every physical challenge. What lingers--is their spirit of invincibility to know wholeness when broken, to know peace in the middle of storms, to preach new life even at the time of being stoned to death.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't our churches look like that today? Is it, as Crabb says, that we're looking for the experience and blessing instead of fulfilling our "purpose till we die to reveal a new attitude in suffering, and a new agenda in prayer that flows out of our new purpose in life that only makes sense if we claim our new hope in resurrection?"
Longing for more...Truth, let us go deeper, not as the chess player making sense out of each step but as the poet who actually drinks the Living Water.