WHEN PERSECUTION SERVES TO GROW THE CHURCH After Stephen was stoned to death in Jerusalem for preaching the risen Christ, a “severe persecution broke out against the church.” As a result, all but the apostles fled Jerusalem and were “scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.” Surely, the enemies of the church meant this
WHERE GOD DWELLS Stephen reminded the Jewish rulers that even though God allowed Solomon to build Him a Temple, He had no need for a man-made dwelling. Sinful man always prefers his man-made religion with his man-made gods and man-made temples. Didn’t the Israelites reject Moses and ask his brother, Aaron, to make them “some
WHO IS BUILDING YOUR HOUSE? This psalm of Solomon is apt for today’s One Year Bible reading as the Old Testament reading is about the building of the Temple. Yet although God had given Solomon such amazing wisdom, he failed to apply it to his own house. Isn’t this often the case? We know more
BLESSED ARE THE HUNGRY A wise observation by King Solomon: Hunger motivates work. In other words, hunger can act as an incentive for one to labor for himself. Self-employment is hard, but often the most rewarding, for both the stomach and for one’s self-respect. Of course, the opposite must also be true: Full stomachs inspire
CHRIST’S FELLOWSHIP OF SUFFERING Peter and some of the apostles were put in the common prison by the high priest for continuing to preach in the name of Jesus. That night, an angel set them free from the prison and instructed them to go and preach in the Temple courts. When the high priest brought
CAN PEOPLE TELL YOU’VE BEEN WITH JESUS? Something extraordinary happens to ordinary people when they spend time with Jesus. When the former fisherman Peter stood to speak to the illustrious gathering of Jewish priests and rabbis they were shocked at his bold eloquence. So much so, that they asked Peter and John to leave the
GIVE THEM JESUS Peter and John encountered a cripple asking for money on their way to afternoon prayers at the Temple. While many worshipers passed by the invalid without looking at him, probably even avoiding eye contact, Peter and John looked at him intently, “fixing” their eyes on him. They weren’t afraid of his need.
LET US GO TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD! One of David’s fifteen “Psalms of Ascent,” to be sung while climbing the steps up to the Temple Mount. It begins by expressing David’s “gladness” at the invitation to go up to the house of the Lord. Such joy for corporate worship should be on every
WRITTEN TO THOSE LOVED BY GOD The book called the Acts of the Apostles was the second New Testament work written by Luke. It picks up where Luke’s gospel left off. Luke was a physician and a traveling companion of the apostle Paul. In his “first narrative,” he wrote an “orderly account” (Luke 1:3) of
THE LOVE THAT WILL NOT BE DENIED The night Jesus was betrayed, Peter denied Him three times before the rooster crowed, just as Jesus had warned. Surely Peter, the “Rock,” was still struggling with his personal failure when the Lord appeared to His disciples for the third time after His resurrection. Indeed, Peter had become