Category: Acts

Love.Listen.Live.

8/9/2024

The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned. With great power the apostles continued to give their testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And abundant grace was upon them all.
There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet for distribution to anyone as he had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (meaning Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Acts 4:32-37

Love.

At the end of Acts 3 we find the church, alive, thriving, growing and reproducing. It is in absolute unity. They are one in heart and soul. They are listening and actively obeying the Apostles’ teachings on the Word of God. They are in koine with one another, sharing generously all that they have because they are in common equality with one another in the gospel. Because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice to bring fallen humanity back into a loving relationship with their Creator God, the Church had become a return to the paradise of God, the Garden of Eden—the Garden of Delights. It is what God has made us for—an equality and love with one another that shares and gives out of love. Everything in this Garden is for the common good of all. Their attitude toward one another is “how can we ensure that each of us is thriving and rejoicing in God’s goodness?”
The Church was a new creation. It was a new beginning, where the old, dead, stony heart of people was replaced with a living heart: one that wanted to love and please God; one that was willing even to lay down one’s own life for one another.
While the one command in the Garden to humanity was “do not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” God knew that the very reason we chose to disobey that command was a lack of love for God. As a result, God gave a new command, the greatest command of all. It was one that would give us a reason to choose to walk in obedience: love for God.
This command the Israelites were to recite every morning and evening. It was to be their first thought before starting their day and their last upon ending it:

Listen, O Israel: The Lord our God [plural\, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your physicality [nephesh\ and with all your everything [me'od\.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Because God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are One, we are to be one in our unity and love. The Church was now obeying God’s command to love Him and love their neighbor with all their heart, all their soul and all their strength, unified in its focus. When we love, we automatically choose to do things that are in line with God’s laws and commands because genuine love comes from God and aligns with His purposes for His people. Like God, we naturally start to choose what would be good and best for others, even at our own cost.
God wants our whole, entire selves—our hearts, everything that we feel and make decisions on; our nephesh (often translated souls, it more accurately is our physical body), every part of our physical humanity, desires and appetites; and our me’od, our ability in every circumstance to be wholly and completely given back to God in complete love and trust for our Creator.
While we find ourselves drawn to stay in this delightful fellowship of the Church, into this perfect Garden we see the plot begin to thicken:

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds for himself, but brought a portion and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land? Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!”
On hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died. And great fear came over all who heard what had happened. Then the young men stepped forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
Acts 5:1-5

Listen.

Cue the villain.
Into this Garden, this New Creation, this paradise of love and goodwill and kindness, we find evil creeping in.
The Serpent is back.
The very Hebrew letters used to spell out the serpent’s name, nachash נָּחָ֑שׁ, describe the kind of adversary we face continuously:

נָּ nun: life/son/heir/seed
חָ֑ chet: divide/cut/separate
שׁ shin: teeth/two/devour/consume
"One who devours an heir in order to divide and cut off life"

his name, satan שָּׂטָ֛ן, is similar in meaning:

שָּׂ shin: teeth/two/devour/consume
טָ֛ tet: basket/surround/ensnare
ן nun: life/son/heir/seed
"One who surrounds life in order to ensnare and devour it."

The serpent's plan not a new scheme; it’s a very ancient one. In fact, he must have thought, ‘it worked last time!’

In fact, that ancient serpent has been waiting to devour life from the beginning and continues even now. But he will never win!

...And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,...Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rev. 12:4-11

Listening, as the Greatest Command says, involves more than just allowing the sound or voice or someone to enter our ears. It encompasses hearing, understanding, and taking action that follows through with the intent of the speaker.
The Bible tells us that we become slaves or servants to the one we listen to and obey:

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient servants, you are servants of the one you obey—whether you are servants to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Rom. 6:16

The serpent roams around seeking to find people to listen to his voice, to become his slaves, so that he can accuse us before God. In Acts 5, Ananias wasn’t listening to God’s command to love. His motivations for participating in the selling of his property, inaccurate donation and lies were all rooted in a desire to gain something for himself rather than serving the crucial needs of those around him. Just as Eve listened to the voice of the serpent and saw that the fruit was “good for success,” he wasn’t just withholding some of the value of the land. He was withholding himself from His Creator. What he was bringing to God was representing the value that he placed upon God and his relationship to Him. His giving was only as a show to everyone else. Barnabas had given out of the gratitude and love of his heart; Ananias was giving in order to get something out of them all. It wasn’t a gift of love.
While neither Ananias nor we have an obligation to sell all our property and give it all away, when we see people in need our Spirit-filled response should be a desire to ask the Lord how we can give out of the great abundance that He has entrusted to us. God wants our whole selves, nothing withheld. He wants us to listen and respond to Him in this love by giving Him our whole selves in every moment, obeying every Word that He speaks to us. This will often “cost” us, sometimes a great amount. But it is never even close to the incredibly abundant grace that He has given us.
In the Garden, the serpent came and deceived the woman, telling her that she would not die. When she decided to eat the fruit, her body, her nephesh, did not die immediately. Her spirit, however, did. When Adam agreed with her to eat, his spirit also passed from life into death. Into their bodies, their nephesh, however, death entered as a slow and inevitable process.
After they sinned, when they heard God’s voice in the Garden, they were no longer in loving fellowship with God. As a result, they were afraid and hid from His faces (panim).
In Hebrew, the word for “hide” is chabah חָבָא.

חָ chet: divide/cut off/wall off
בָ beit: house/household/family
א aleph: ox/strong leader/God the Father/first

In choosing to hide from God and wrapping themselves in fig leaves, trying vainly to cover up their own shame and sin, they were effectively causing themselves to be cut off and divided from the household of their loving, heavenly Father. This was exactly what the serpent had intended: to ensnare and to cut off life and the heirs from the inheritance of the Father.
However, at the voice of God, Adam and Eve together made a decision to come out of hiding. They presented themselves before God the Father and confessed to Him what they had done. The Word in Hebrew, “confess,” (todah יָדָה) means to cast or throw down something, to be lifted up to enter through the door and behold. It is an accurate accounting, a numbering of our sins according to how we have transgressed the loving commands of God. Conversely, the word also means to give thanks or praise. In essence, when we confess our sins to our Father, we are doing it in gratitude that He has provided forgiveness and justification through the Door, His Son, Jesus. We are casting away our sins, the ones that ensnare and enslave us, and throwing our thanks at His feet in humble gratitude as we are brought back into the household as a family member.
In response to Adam and Eve's confession, in His grace God provided a covering for their clothing. A blood sacrifice was made so that humanity could be covered, symbolically representing the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood that would be given to cover over our sins for all eternity.

Sadly, Ananias did not have a heart that would receive this grace.
Ananias. His name means, “Grace of God.” It is what God intended and willed for him, but not something he chose to receive for himself.
The Apostle Paul makes it clear in Romans how we should not take God’s grace lightly, as if it is not costly. It is precious and extremely valuable. It is the blood of our Savior given for the world. When we continue to live a lifestyle of practicing sin without listening and obeying God, we trample the grace of God under our feet:

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!
Romans 6:1

Or do you show contempt for the riches of God’s kind grace, forbearance and mercy, not realizing that it is his kind grace that leads to repentance?
Romans 2:4

This kind of contempt for God’s grace is the kind of evil that comes when people want the free blessings of God but are only using the Church as a way to gain for themselves selfishlessly. They think that God will not see, but He certainly does. Just as He saw Adam in the Garden, hiding, He also sees the true heart motivations of all of us. None of us can hide from the eye of His faces.
Ananias’ response to the extreme grace and kindness of God was to despise it, to withhold from God His very self, and to lie instead of to confess and thank God for His grace. As a result, he stayed hidden, separated and cut off from the family of God.

About three hours later his wife also came in, unaware of what had happened. “Tell me,” said Peter, “is this the price you and your husband got for the land?”
“Yes,” she answered, “that is the price.”
“How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter replied. “Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
Acts 5:7-10

Sapphira. In Hebrew, her name means “scribe,” or “accountant.” A saphar סָפֵר was one who would render an accurate accounting of the saphan סָפַן: the treasures that had been covered and hidden. The scribes were entrusted with the task of ensuring that the hidden, covered treasures in the storeroom or the message of the word of the king would be accurately relayed to the people.
In this part of the passage, the word “price” or “valuation” comes up repeatedly. The word is Tinos, and it means value, weight or honor. Agreeing with her husband, Sapphira purposely and inaccurately rendered an account of the value or the land. God also had given her a part, one who would accurately call to account the treasures He had entrusted to them for the benefit of His people. She, in her own turn, would choose to willfully turn away from listening and obeying God’s voice because she also lacked love for God and others.
In the advent of the Church, the spiritual rebirth and resurrection of God’s people, the deaths of both Ananias and Sapphira would represent physically the spiritual death that was already inherent inside of them. Their outward death only mirrored their inward death.
Ananias and Sapphira’s deaths were merely a physical representation of their spiritual, inward reality. They were already dead in their spirits. They had chosen to listen to the voice of the Serpent. It wasn’t about who messed up first, it wasn’t about whose idea it was. It was that they both agreed to be unified in their disobedience to God.
            In addition, God wanted to be very clear about our individual responsibility to listen and obey His voice. In the Garden, God reprimanded Adam because he “listened to the voice of [his] wife” instead of to God’s voice. To some, the curse and the fall feels like it lands unfairly on humanity because of the woman’s choice. God is setting the record straight: this time it the choice is first the husbands, followed by his wife’s agreement.
            Both of them, however, in each case, are listening to the voice of the Serpent. It goes both ways. The point of this reversal is that at the heart of it all they are listening and obeying the voice of the serpent.

Woman
Man
            Serpent
Man
Woman

They both alike despised the grace of God and refused to render a just account, a correct confession of their wrong before God. In turn, God could no longer listen to them:

Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God [plural\ and your sins have hidden His faces from you, that He will not hear. Isaiah 59:2

Rather than coming out of hiding in truth before God, they remained hidden by their own sins, remaining disconnected and divided from the family of God.
Feet. Another word that keeps coming up in this passage is feet. It the beautiful feet who are bringing the good news of the resurrection of Jesus. It is at the feet of the apostles that the Church is laying down their rights to their physical possessions. Conversely, it is at Peters’ feet that Ananias and Sapphira fall and die, and it is the feet of the young men, no longer bringing good news, that are standing at the door to take her away to her burial.
There is another who stands at the door, the door to our heart, the seat of our affections and love. He pleads to us to listen to His voice and live:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Rev. 3:20-22

While this is a sad story, it is also crucial to understand that this time the serpent loses. This time, the life of the Church remains uncorrupted. The true Church remains in completely unity and fellowship with their Creator. This time, the evil cannot destroy and ensnare the life of the Church—yes, perhaps some were choosing to listen to the voice of the serpent, but the Church, the living Church of God, cannot be overcome. Instead, glory is given to God. Instead, we conquer in Jesus’ name. Instead, there is complete oneness and unity as The Son sits on the throne of the Father and we sit with Him on the same throne. It’s about fellowship, oneness, and love.

And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and with one accord the believers gathered together in Solomon’s Colonnade. Although the people regarded them highly, no one else dared to join them. Yet more and more believers were brought to the Lord—large numbers of both men and women.
Acts 5:11-14

Live.

Fear. The Hebrew letters give us a better understanding “yarah יִרְאָה .”
יִ yod: mighty work/hand stretched out
רְ resh: head/ruler/source/Prince
אָ aleph: strong leader/God the Father
ה hey: behold/worship/revelation

The first letter is “yod,” which is a hand outstretched to do a mighty work or deed; the second is resh, which looks like a head and signifies one who is a prince or ruler, originator; the third is aleph, which refers back to the Father as our strong leader; and the fourth is hey, which looks like the figure of a person with arms and hands upraised to behold and worship, revealing something to be in awe of.
In English, we often think of fear as negative. Its synonyms are to be terrified, scared, or alarmed. However, Hebrew word describes more the feeling that we get when we behold the mighty deeds of the Prince (Jesus) who has come from the Father. When we are in fellowship with God, those feelings are awe, amazement, comfort, peace, excitement and relief, worship. We are full of wonderful feelings that we have a mighty God who comes to rescue us from our enemies.
On the other hand, when we are in disobedience to God, when we are using our words, actions and provisions to hurt and abuse others, the mightiness of God becomes a terror to us. Our feelings can be very negative as we realize that the Judge of all the earth sees and knows everything we do and think and will call us to render an accurate accounting for how we have treated others and how we have treated the grace of His Son.
The Church, instead of being overcome by terror and hiding from His presence, the kind of awe and amazement that the mighty work of God in their midst in the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira brought increased growth and a dire warning to those who would, in pretense, seek to join them for evil reasons. Those who wanted to come out of hiding and take hold of the grace of God for themselves continued to join them and the Church grew mightily.
For those who chose to be in awe and deep reference and gratitude for God’s mighty works, it created even greater unity. In a deeper effect, it created a strong purity among the believers. Though “no one else dared join them,” yet more and more people were truly becoming saved and were being accounted to their numbers.
When Adam and Eve came out of hiding, they truthfully confessed to God what they had done. As a result, they received a promise of an eternal redemption coming in the form of Jesus and a covering for their shame. They were given life for eternity.
Ananias and Sapphira lied to God. There was no more redemption. There was no life for their dead spirits. They had abused the abundant grace of God.
One day we will all give an account, a rendering to God for how we responded to His grace. Do we receive it with confession and thanksgiving? Do we abuse it, as if we can use it to keep sinning in a lifestyle that says God’s grace is cheap? Do we give the count the correct value and honor and weight to God’s grace?
The apostles were preaching the resurrection life in Jesus, both in this hour and in the one to come! There is no value on earth that can ever come close to the price that Jesus paid for us, to the value of eternal life in Him forever in Paradise!

"An hour is coming and is now here when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live!" John 5:25

This week, let’s dwell on the sh'ma—to listen to his voice out of a deep love that encompasses our entire selves. Let’s embrace the life that comes from living in unhindered unity with God through Jesus!

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Prayer Precedes Power

5/28/2024

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   She came to us in tears.
  She had just received news that she had cancer. She was scared and in pain and she brought her distress to the only place she knew might have answers or at least some comfort. We knelt with the women together and prayed over her. Knowing that God alone has the power to heal, we brought it to the church leadership. Some protested that we shouldn't pray for healing, because it would only disappoint her in her new faith in Christ. But we knew that God had the power to heal. God accompanies His word and His gospel with signs and wonders! We gathered together the leaders and prayed over her.
  A week later she walked back through the doors of the church, beaming. She gave me a hug and cried again, reporting that her doctor had no idea why, but he could no longer find any evidence of her disease. It was a powerful testimony to herself and all who witnessed the tremendous power of God and care for one, distressed woman.
Only the name of Jesus could free her from her bondage to disease!
Power is always preceded by prayer!

12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14These all continued with one unity in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. Acts 1:12-14

PRAYER UNIFIES BELIEVERS

Upper room waiting is prayer that stays in faith, waiting for God to respond. Its effect is a deep unity among believers as we join together to seek God for His glory and His kingdom above all things. Prayer calls us to lay aside everything that divides us.
Jesus said to ask and keep on asking. Upper room prayer is persistent, coming to a good, loving Father who who wants to give good gifts to His children!
In the desert the people of Israel ate manna from heaven. They simply gathered. They did not need to plant and harvest. Upon entering the promised land, however, they would co-labor with God to bring in the harvest every year. The first sheaf they would gather would be brought as an offering to God. During the Jewish Feast of the Firstfruits, which took place at the same hour of Jesus’ resurrection, they would bring in a sheaf of barley, wave it to the four corners of the earth, and declare their gratitude to the Lord of the Harvest for supplying everything they needed.
Jesus was the first sheaf of the harvest. Jesus told His disciples as they watched the people come out to hear the gospel, “look at the fields, they are white and ready to harvest! Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” There would be many, many more brothers and sisters brought as fruit of the kingdom!
This is what the disciples were doing in the upper room. Aside from praying for the power of the coming Holy Spirit, they were also praying that God would supply more workers because it was time to declare the gospel throughout the world.
But they had a problem: Jesus had chosen 12, one for each tribe of Israel, but Judas had betrayed Jesus and later killed himself. They needed another worker to complete the representatives to the 12 tribes of Israel.

15And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16“Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17for he was numbered with us and allotted a lot in this ministry.” Acts 1:15-17

PROPHECY FUELS FAITH

40 days of prophecies make 10 days of upper room waiting full of faith.

After Jesus' resurrection, He spent forty days with His disciples, men and women, revealing to them the prophecies about Himself. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Reading through the prophecies about Jesus, His coming, His death, His resurrection, the promised Holy Spirit, the victory we have in Jesus over the enemy, and the coming return of Jesus with His kingdom will help us through the difficulties that come with being ministers of the gospel.
You and I, all believers are called to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus. We are called to witness to people about Him. But we need to know God’s Word, and by prophecy wage a good warfare (1 Tim. 1:18). When we are fueled up with the Word of God, we know who we have believed. We know He is faithful to keep His promises. We can count on God to fulfill His promises because He has in the past! The Word of God gives us courage.
The people of Israel have genealogies. Their names would be written down from generation to generation. These genealogies would let people know that they belonged to the people of God. There is a Book of Life in heaven as well—where believers’ names are written.
Judas is our contrast. He was numbered at the time, but his name would be stricken from the Book of Life. He was just like the people of Israel who saw God’s power in the wilderness and refused to enter into relationship.
Judas had his name stricken because he turned to lust after the things of this earth instead of spiritual things. Just as the people of Israel complained and grumbled and lusted in the desert, Judas traded an eternal reward for an earthly one.
This was not a sudden loss of relationship, it was consistent practicing of evil and unbelief. Long before Judas betrayed Jesus to death, he was the son of a prominent pharisee and had charge of the money donated to Jesus’ ministry. He thought no one would know, so he would regularly siphon off some of the money for himself, embezzling the funds. He didn’t believe that God would see and know and judge.
He saw Jesus’ power regularly, but refused to believe. Judas chose an earthly wage rather than an eternal one. He chose an earthly field to harvest, rather than a heavenly one.

18(Now this man purchased a field with the misthos/reward/wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels [splachna\ poured out. 19And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field[place/land\ is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field[place/land\ of Blood [kinship\.)
20“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
‘Let his dwelling place be desolate,
And let no one live in it’; Acts 1:18-20

PLACES OF WITNESS MUST BE STEWARDED

Believers have an earthly allotment to oversee. We will have an eternal allotment/inheritance over which to reign!
We live in the woods in the mountains of the Cascades. We have a couple of acres with trees, lots of blackberry bines and woodsy plants. One of Jeff's first things to do when we purchased the house was to talk to the neighbors and walk the property lines, trying to establish the lot lines. He would try to part through the vines and weeds to locate the illusive iron pins sunken into the ground. There are still some we cannot find! These pins establish where our lot lines are, and whether or not our neighbors can encroach onto our property.
Owning a property gives us many rights--the right to build, the right to garden and plant, and especially the right to pass it down as an inheritance perpetually throughout our generations.
When the people of Israel entered into the promised land, God told them to divide the land among them, tribe by tribe, family by family. Each family had a share, a lot of land, which would pass down to their descendants by inheritance. Even if they sold the land for a time, it would always revert back to their family line. They would establish these lot lines through the method of the casting of "lots," which were often clay pieces or rocks with the names of tribes or family leaders written upon them. As they would pull up the randomly chosen lot, it would be ratified as God's choice of inheritance for each of His people.
In ministry, our jurisdictive spheres of leadership are also chosen for us by God. We each have places of ministry to steward for God, given temporarily into our hands to keep, build and bear fruit upon for God's kingdom. These are not only our physical resources, such as our homes, our finances and our bodies, but also groups in which we take part: our families, our workplaces, our communities, our hobbies and specific ministries. In whatever way we participate with others, we are to steward these resources and places to witness about to God and to build and edify the church. As a result, we will receive a "reward" or "wages" from God at the end of our lives--an eternal inheritance that can never be taken away.
Judas, however, chose to use his “reward” in his present time on an earthly inheritance. This inheritance would not pass down to his descendants. This passage Peter is quoting in Acts 1 is from Psalm 69:19-21, 25-28, a prophetic psalm of Jesus:

19You know my reproach, my shame and disgrace.
All my adversaries are before You.
20Insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found no one.
21They poisoned my food with gall
and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.

May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.
28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous. Psalm 69

  Judas and those crucifying Jesus shut down their compassion. They gave Jesus gall and vinegar on the cross. The word for compassion is the word in both Greek and Hebrew for the inner part of ourselves: the bowels or the womb. Judas closed up his splachna, his bowels of mercy and compassion. Instead of witnessing for Christ, he witnessed against Christ. Therefore, it was his splachna that was spilled in the field of blood. Instead of rescuing someone in need, he betrayed his own blood, his own kinsman.
In the Hebrew, the Greek word equivalent for "splachna" is רחמ (r-ch-m), and is translated both as tender love, mercy, compassion, or the womb. Both the womb and the bowels give life. Our intestines take our nutrition from our food and distribute it and its life-giving energy throughout our body.
  Mercy or compassion is an attribute of God that He displayed toward us when He sent Jesus to die to save us. When Jesus would see the crowds, the Bible tells us that He was moved in his inner being with compassion, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He longs to be their Good Shepherd and to give them under-shepherds who would care for and feed them.
Where has God called you to witness to what He has done? Where can you show life-giving compassion by being blessing to those in need according to your gifts? We are called to lay down our life for others, just Jesus, our Good Shepherd, did for us.

16By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his splachna/heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18

1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any splachna and sympathy, 2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full unity and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phil 2:1-4

Each of us have a stewardship to be like Jesus in this compassion and mercy to the world. The world is broken, in need of a Savior. When we see the lost, the broken, the blind, the hopeless—we carry with us the good news about Jesus! We have each been given an eternal allotment, and inheritance in Jesus. We must steward this inheritance by having mercy on those we encounter.
Unlike Judas, however, we have eternal reward that cannot be taken away, reserved in heaven for us. This reward is coming with Jesus. Jesus tells us in Rev. 22:12 I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me!
Now the people had come together to choose and appoint one more witness with them, one who would watch over the flock of God faithfully.

...and,
‘Let another take his overseership.’
21“Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
23And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. Acts 1:20b-23

PROPOSALS BUILD THE CHURCH

Along with the giving of the Spirit, God’s people are filled with the gifts of the Spirit: helping, serving, ministry, administration, miracles, healing, faith, wisdom, words of knowledge…among others.
Take note of others and how God might gift them. Encourage them to develop this gifting. Take opportunities to develop what God has given you by being a blessing to others. Take note of these things in others and encourage them to use whatever God has gifted them in, both naturally and supernaturally, to bless the world and build the Church God.
Why was it important to pick people who had walked with Jesus a long time? They were to choose 2 people who had walked with Jesus in companionship the entire time from Jesus’ baptism under John through to the ascension. These two were people who had walked faithfully with Jesus and could handle the weight of stewardship about to be handed over to them. When we are choosing leadership, the Bible has character qualifications we are to look for. When we are walking with God, He is trying to prepare us for works of service so that we can be a blessing to other people. We start with the small things and as we are faithful with those, God gives us bigger assignments.
God knows the hearts. He alone knows who should be doing what and why. Submission to His divine plan is the only way to accomplish the mission.

24And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen 25to take place of ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
26And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Acts 1:24-26

PRAYER BRINGS THE GIFT OF GOD

"Ask and keep on asking, and you will receive! (Luke 11:9)"
The people chose, God confirmed, and the apostles appointed.
Lots were used in ancient times to allot portions of land for inheritance. So they also chose to use the lot to divide and discern between the two people proposed. They used a divine “chance,” to understand the leading of the Spirit. This was the last recorded time. When Jesus was soon to leave His disciples, they were disappointed. Jesus explained, however, that it was so very much better for His physical presence to leave so that the Spirit of God could come and fill each of them. The Spirit was then with them, but soon He would be "in them." That is the difference of a need for a physical, external lot to decide what God wants and how the believers would soon be able to discern God's will--through the internal voice of God. As Spirit-filled believers now, we can listen to the voice of the Spirit together through sincere prayer and fasting.
Matthias means “Gift from God.” Just as God was about to give them the Helper, the Holy Spirit, so God gave them also people to bless one another with.

Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding."
Jeremiah 3:15

7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it a says:
“When he ascended on high,
Leading a host of many captives
and gave gifts to his people.” b
11So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4

The goal of the gospel includes bringing all God’s people safely to maturity in Jesus, blameless at His coming. God longs to give good gifts to His people! When we spend time in prayer together, we can count on God's good gifts to us as individuals, as well as the giving of us to one another. In this way, we equip and bless and help one another onto spiritual maturity through spiritual accountability, encouragement, teaching and discipleship.
We need to be asking ourselves these questions regularly: "How has God gifted me for works of service?" "To whom am I actively and regularly being a blessing?" When we ask these questions and listen to the inner voice of God's Spirit, we will bring in a harvest of people that is a worthy offering to the Lord of the Harvest.
As we approach Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, let’s be praying for God to gift us people who can help build His kingdom. Let’s be asking God to give us gifts and equip us to be a blessing to His church. As we grow in these areas, let’s pray that we would steward well the allotment He has given to us.

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Love.Listen.Live.

Love.

Listen, O Israel: The Lord our God [plural\, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your physicality [nephesh\ and with all your everything [me'od\.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Listen.

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient servants, you are servants of the one you obey—whether you are servants to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Rom. 6:16

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!
Romans 6:1

Or do you show contempt for the riches of God’s kind grace, forbearance and mercy, not realizing that it is his kind grace that leads to repentance?
Romans 2:4

Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God [plural\ and your sins have hidden His faces from you, that He will not hear. Isaiah 59:2

Live.

"An hour is coming and is now here when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live!" John 5:25

Prayer Precedes Power

PRAYER UNIFIES BELIEVERS

PROPHECY FUELS FAITH

PLACES OF WITNESS MUST BE STEWARDED

PROPOSALS BUILD THE CHURCH

PRAYER BRINGS THE GIFT OF GOD

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Love.Listen.Live.

Love.

Listen, O Israel: The Lord our God [plural\, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your physicality [nephesh\ and with all your everything [me'od\. ​Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Listen.

​Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient servants, you are servants of the one you obey—whether you are servants to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ​Rom. 6:16

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!Romans 6:1 ​ Or do you show contempt for the riches of God’s kind grace, forbearance and mercy, not realizing that it is his kind grace that leads to repentance? Romans 2:4

Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God [plural\ and your sins have hidden His faces from you, that He will not hear. Isaiah 59:2

Live.

"An hour is coming and is now here when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live!" John 5:25

Prayer Precedes Power

PRAYER UNIFIES BELIEVERS

PROPHECY FUELS FAITH

PLACES OF WITNESS MUST BE STEWARDED

PROPOSALS BUILD THE CHURCH

PRAYER BRINGS THE GIFT OF GOD

Author

Archives

Categories

Listen, O Israel: The Lord our God [plural\, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your physicality [nephesh\ and with all your everything [me'od\.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient servants, you are servants of the one you obey—whether you are servants to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Rom. 6:16

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!
Romans 6:1

Or do you show contempt for the riches of God’s kind grace, forbearance and mercy, not realizing that it is his kind grace that leads to repentance?
Romans 2:4