Be Still And Know

Acts 14.2-3 NLT 'Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas. But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord.' Paul and Barnabas were having an amazing time on their first missionary journey. A large number of people were accepting their message and becoming followers of Jesus. At the same time they were meeting fierce opposition. At Iconium, in central Turkey, the mob was stirred up against them and after a while the situation became so dangerous that they fled the city. There was every possibility that they were going to be stoned to death. But I love the fact that, amidst the intensity of the opposition, their message was one of grace. It must have been very tempting for them to turn on the crowd and to speak out a message of judgement and condemnation. But they chose to speak about the grace of the Lord. Grace was a dominant theme in Paul’s ministry. In Ephesians 2.8 he wrote, “God saved you

Acts 13.5 NLT 'There, in the town of Salamis, they went to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. John Mark went with them as their assistant.' This is the start of the first missionary journey. It was an incredibly important moment for the Christian gospel and it started on the island of Cyprus. Saul (who suddenly becomes known as Paul) was happy to preach about Jesus anywhere, but it was his usual custom to start in the synagogue and work out from there. I find it fascinating that on this most sensitive of missions he and Barnabas took young John Mark with them. We have already met John Mark in the previous chapter. He was clearly well known to Paul and Barnabas, but it was a major initiative to take him on this strategically important missionary journey. You can think of many reasons why it might not be wise to take a young and inexperienced person on such a crucial mission. But they were convinced that his presence was important. It’s impossible to know exactly why they took him, but it i

Acts 13.2-3 NLT One day as these men were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way. This book of the Bible is often referred to as the Acts of the Apostles. A much better title for it would be the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Important as the apostles undoubtedly were, they were powerless without the Spirit. Nothing got going until the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost and as history unfolds the power, wisdom and guidance of the Spirit shaped every step of the journey. Here in chapter 13, we come to a decisive moment as the Spirit tells the church to set Barnabas and Saul apart for a new ministry. Nothing has changed. The church today still relies upon the Spirit but his guidance isn’t automatic. It is perfectly possible for the church to be driven by tradition, human plans or budgets. It is only as a church deliberately

Acts 12.14-15 NLT When she recognised Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!” “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.” What do you expect to happen when you pray? Does it occur to you that God might dramatically and immediately answer your prayer? Clearly, that thought hadn’t occurred to this fervent group of prayers! Peter, the leader of the church, had been imprisoned by King Herod and the church was understandably scared. It is not surprising that they met together for a time of worship and you can imagine their impassioned prayers for Peter’s release. But when Peter turned up at their front door, they were quite sure that it couldn’t possibly have happened. Rhoda, the servant girl, who had answered his knock at the door, clearly fully grasped the situation and was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the door!! You couldn’t make it up! When she in

Acts 12.11 NLT Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!” At this time the early church was growing fast and this was making King Herod increasingly nervous. He was determined to tighten the screws and so he arranged for the killing of James, the brother of John. This went down very well with the Jews and so he decided to arrest Peter, the leader of the church, and kept him under the closest possible surveillance. He was guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, and that night he was chained as he slept between two of the guards. King Herod must have assumed that nothing could possibly go wrong but he hadn’t taken God into account! That night, an angel woke Peter up and led him out of the prison. I love the next bit. Having been miraculously set free, Peter suddenly realised, as our text reveals, that it was all true. Not unreasonably, he had assumed that it was a

Acts 11.25-26 NLT 'Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)' Barnabas’ famous gift of encouragement was not only expressed in words. He also took action. He could see that the church in Antioch desperately needed a good leader and he was convinced that he knew the right man. Antioch, in Syria, was a busy commercial centre and it had a very mixed population. There were many Jews in the city and an increasing number of people from a non-Jewish background who were following Christ. It was crucial that a good appointment was made and Barnabas was sure that Saul had exactly the right qualifications. So he set off to search for him in his hometown of Tarsus in Southern Turkey, as it’s known today. It was now 14 years since Saul’s conversion and so he had had a long period in which to grow as a follower of Christ, and to develop his teaching ministry. Having tracked down Saul, Barn

Acts 11.22-23 NLT 'When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.' When the church leaders in Jerusalem heard about the rapid growth of the church in Antioch they had lots of questions. Because the church in Jerusalem was strongly Jewish in character there were some who were deeply suspicious of what was going on in Antioch. Their concern was that the followers of Jesus should follow the Old Testament law. Others were excited to hear the news but wanted to know exactly what was going on so they sent a representative and their choice was a crucial one. They needed to choose someone who would be able to understand the non-Jewish background of most of the new converts in Antioch and who could give them plenty of encouragement. They made a very good choice when they selected Barnabas. Barnabas came from Cyprus. He had a much wider unde

Acts 11.2-3 NLT When Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticised him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said. Criticism always stings. It must have been so hard for Peter to face a barrage of criticism when he returned home to Jerusalem. God had given him a vision and opened his eyes to a new world in which God was wanting to welcome everyone to himself, whether or not they were Jews. This turned all Peter’s previous thinking on its head and this discovery clearly excited him. How discouraging it must have been to face up to his critics, but we can learn a lot from the way that he did so. He would have fully understood where his critics were coming from because, before his recent revelation, he would have been saying exactly the same things. So he patiently went through his testimony. He told them about the remarkable vision and the way in which the Gentile visitors from Caesarea had come and received the gift of salvation. Peter’s hearers in Jerusalem we

Acts 10.44-45 NLT 'Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.' This has often been described as the Gentile Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Jerusalem it was on the occasion of a major Jewish festival. But Jesus made it clear that the Good News belonged to the world and so it was necessary for it to be firmly established that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon non-Jews. And that’s exactly what happened here, to the great astonishment of the Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter. Peter, himself, had already learnt that God has no favourites and that the doors had been flung open to non- Jews. However, there were many Jews who still struggled to believe that God would do such a thing. The book of Acts tells us how the Good News of Jesus moved from its Jewish beginnings in Jerusalem al

Acts 10.34-36 NLT Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favouritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” This might not sound revolutionary but you need to understand that Peter’s world had just been turned upside down. He had been brought up with the Old Testament law and he knew that there were very clear rules about what a Jew should and shouldn’t eat. However, he had just had a vision in which he had been told to do the unthinkable. He had seen a large sheet containing four-footed animals, reptiles and birds and told to eat them. His response was exactly the right one for any Jew. He said no. But then the voice said to him, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times and then the penny dropped. God was telling him that the Good of News of Jesus was no longer limited to the Jews. The door

Acts 10.1-2 NLT 'In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household.' He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. Cornelius is a fascinating character. He wasn’t a Jew and neither was he a follower of Jesus. He was a God-fearer and the most positive things are said about him. He was generous, prayerful and willing that God should use him on this crucial mission to meet up with Peter. Peter was a faithful Jew and struggled to imagine that God could work outside the Jewish nation. Cornelius was going to be the means of helping Peter to see God’s greater plans. Centurions were immensely powerful army officers and by this time they normally had command of eighty legionaries. It is interesting that centurions played a significant part in Jesus’ ministry. On one occasion a centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant and had complete confidence that if Jesus only said the word, t

Acts 9.27 NLT 'Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.' Friends are a precious gift and we all need them. Saul found himself in a delicate position when he visited Jerusalem for the first time after his conversion and he desperately needed a really good friend. His visit came a couple of years after his encounter with Christ on the Road to Damascus, and there is no doubt that many people in Jerusalem would have remembered what kind of man he used to be. They would have heard stories about his preaching ministry, but they were deeply suspicious. Maybe it was all an elaborate trap. Saul needed a good friend and he had one in Barnabas, who took it upon himself to introduce Saul to the apostles. Barnabas believed in Saul and was able to speak warmly of his powerful preaching ministry. This was a crucial moment and Barnabas, whose na

Acts 9.17 NLT Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” I find this declaration from Ananias one of the most moving sentences in the whole of the Bible. He had been asked by God to go and meet Saul. Ananias was fully aware of Saul’s reputation and that he was on a mission to arrest the followers of Jesus. He was bound to think that there must be some mistake. But the Lord informed him that Saul had been appointed to take the Gospel to the non-Jewish world. In obedience to the Lord and, with considerable courage, Ananias headed off to the house in Straight Street placed his hands on Saul and called him brother. How amazing! This man, who had been doing everything possible to ensure the destruction of the church, had changed so completely that he was now part of the family. He was a brother. The story of Saul’s conversion should be a warning t

Acts 9.3 NLT 'As Saul was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.' Saul was a deeply committed Jew and his mission was to destroy the church. He was acting with the authority of the High Priest in Jerusalem and his task was to search out any followers of Jesus and take them as prisoners. But suddenly everything changed as he travelled on the road to Damascus. A brilliant light flashed around him and he heard a voice asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul knew the Scriptures well enough to know that this must be God and he asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply was not the one he wanted to hear. He was sure that there was nothing in this new-fangled Jesus religion. How shocked he must have been to hear the voice saying, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” We know the rest. We know that this moment changed everything. Saul’s life was turned upside down and inside out. He would never be the same again and neither would the church. But let’s

Nehemiah 12.27 NLT 'For the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem, the Levites throughout the land were asked to come to Jerusalem to assist in the ceremonies. They were to take part in the joyous occasion with their songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps, and lyres.' God’s people have always loved celebrating! The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was an incredibly significant moment and we are given a wonderful picture of the people’s celebrations. The Levites had the leading responsibility for worship and so they were brought into Jerusalem from all over the country for this special moment. There was a wide range of musical instruments from trumpets and harps to lyres and cymbals, and Nehemiah organised the singers into two choirs who walked in different directions around the walls of the city. Nobody was left out. It must have been a great deal of fun. The whole Bible is punctuated with times of exuberant worship. It is no surprise that when John received his vision of heaven

Nehemiah 9.5 NLT Then the leaders of the Levites called out to the people: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, for he lives from everlasting to everlasting!” Time defines our lives so completely that it is very hard to understand eternity. I recall hearing about heaven when I was a child and finding it a very unattractive idea. I assumed that there must be a lot of worship going on in heaven and so I built up a picture of it being like a never- ending church service. The service I had in mind started with a brilliant presentation by the angelic choir who sang beautifully for 650 years. This was followed by a welcome and some notices which were relatively brief at only 200 years. And then there was an absolutely amazing sermon that had 1,400 extremely good points and went on for 2,000 years. I decided that heaven probably wasn’t for me! If you have such visions of heaven then I would like to set you free! Heaven will be nothing like that. Heaven is beyond time, just like God. Whenever the Bible tal

Nehemiah 9.3 NLT 'They remained standing in place for three hours while the Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read aloud to them. Then for three more hours they confessed their sins and worshipped the Lord their God.' This was the start of a new chapter for God’s people. It was a time for them to reassess their lives in the light of the Law of Moses. This was an occasion for encouragement because they were reminding themselves of the love and faithfulness of their God who wanted to live in covenant partnership with them. But it was also a time of deep pain as they were reminded that the people of Israel had a long history of rebellion against God. Worship should always contains these two elements. As we declare the greatness of God and celebrate his love for us, we are bound also to own up to our failures. God doesn’t call us to wallow in our sins and to exaggerate them. He wants to set us free from our failures and shortcomings, but that cannot happen unless we are honest with him. It is, the

Nehemiah 8.10 NLT “This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” When the people heard Ezra reading the Law of Moses they burst out crying. Presumably they did so because they were reflecting on how far they had fallen as a nation. There was a huge gulf between what God had intended and the present reality. Nehemiah and Ezra were as aware as anyone of these things but they saw this day as one for celebration and rejoicing, not for sorrow. They encouraged the people to bring together the best food and drink and to have an enormous party to celebrate what God had done. The celebrations were a recognition of the fact that the joy of the Lord was their strength. Everybody knows what joy is and it always enhances life. The joy of birth, seeing a toddler take their first step, watching children playing happily, smelling a flower or seeing a majestic landscape, success in sport or work or the joy of finishing a jigsaw puzzle. We all know what joy

Nehemiah 8.6 NLT Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days was an amazing achievement. But Nehemiah was quite clear that there was something that was even more important and that was to ensure that God was at the centre of the city’s life. In this chapter, Ezra the priest addressed all the people and brought out the Book of the Law of Moses. This may refer to the whole of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) or perhaps just the Book of Deuteronomy. What we know for certain is that Ezra read for six hours, from daybreak to noon! This was quite a marathon, but it is recorded that the “people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.” We read that Ezra stood above the people and as he opened the Book the people all stood up and praised God. What an amazing moment that must have been as the

Nehemiah 6.9 NLT 'They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.' I have read the book of Nehemiah many times over the years but what has struck me with special force this time is his amazing resilience. Almost anyone can lead an organisation when the circumstances are easy and the sun is shining. The real test of leadership is what happens when you are living with constant pressure and an endless supply of discouragements. The only way to get through is with resilience and that’s what Nehemiah had to a remarkable degree. From the very beginning of his heroic rebuilding operation, he had been mocked and threatened. The opposition intensified with time. No one would have blamed Nehemiah if he had thrown in the towel, complaining about the unfair way in which he had been treated. But he didn’t. He not only hung in there but continued the work with even greater determination. Whatever you do in li