Acts Epilogue

To my surprise, it turns out that history isn’t very clear of what happened to Paul after Luke stops writing.  Many contest that he was martyred, a likely and inspiring way to end the story.  Some speculate he was released for a short time before dying whether by martyrdom or death in another way.  Yet […]

Acts of the Holy Spirit

The Book of Acts is probably the most telling in the bible about how “the church” should behave.  We have the four accounts of the Gospel before Acts which detail Jesus’ ministry on earth and after Acts we have the doctrinal books that detail how we should behave as a result of our conversion to […]

Repentance That Leads To Life

Acts 11:1-18 1 Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began […]

Break Free

Acts 10:39-48 39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40 “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, 41 not to all the people, […]

The Impartial God

Acts 10:34-38 34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. 36 “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus […]

Obedience

Acts 10:30-33 30 Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments, 31 and he said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 ‘Therefore send to Joppa and […]

Breaking Barriers

Acts 10:20-29 20 “But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.” 21 Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for which you have come?” 22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and […]

Clean and Unclean

Acts 10:9-19 9 On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; 11 and he saw the […]

A Living Memorial

Acts 10:1-8 1 Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. 3 About the ninth hour of the day […]

Psalm 51

In Psalm 51 we see King David’s repentant heart.  This psalm was written in response to his sinfulness with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11 & 12).  We can see as we read through the psalm a template of how to repent.  The word “repentance” on its own means a transformation of thinking or changing the […]

Psalm 29

In Psalm 29 we discover a different kind of worship from David.  Many of the psalms until now have talked about God’s love and strength during difficulties.  In this psalm, however, we see David simply worshipping God by describing (or attempting to put into words, rather) how awesome He is. The word “ascribe” which is […]

Psalm 13

Psalm 13 As a society we have grown increasingly impatient. In a world where we feel we deserve everything that we want when we want it, we become anxious when God decides to remain silent. In the book The Sensitivity of the Spirit, R. T. Kendall discusses the importance of God’ silence with us. It […]