Acts 3:11-26

A great reminder of how God should be given glory. Peter is quickly learning that what is his is not really his. It's a good reminder that what is ours is not really ours to begin with. How foolish of us to think we have the ability to do everything on our own. How foolish of us to think we are the ones that make ourselves succeed. We are but flesh and bones. No way could we design something so intricate as a human body or nature or life's happenings. When we create things, we get things like stick figures and Mr. Potato Head. Pretty sad. So why is it so natural for us to think we do what we do. Oh hubris, hubris..why are you so tantalizing.

I'm glad Peter had a straight head when he preached to the crowd. It's a great encouragement to see people give God the glory, whether it's the big things or the littlest of things. In the end, all things should glorify God. And when that day comes, there will be great joy and great celebration in Christ's return. Peter not only gives God glory, but he spurs us into action. To turn away and to be refreshed by the presence of the Lord. I could definitely go for a refreshment of God. It'd be like a spa treatment..times holiness and awesomeness. I'm pretty sure it'd be amazing. I'm in need of a detox. God, please detox away.

Acts 3:1-10

The lame beggar at the gate of the temple. Everyday he would be carried to the steps of the temple so he could beg for alms. Most likely, people carried him out of pity. Most likely, people gave him things out of pity. Maybe even so that they might be seen as being loving and generous if others say. Makes me think of all the times I feed my pride when I try to love others. It's pretty pathetic the more I think about it as I sit here. I love the times when God challenges me to do things without thinking. The situations that happen out of nowhere so I might see where my heart is it. At times, I do things with a good heart. At other times, I just ignore things and have to reflect on how indifferent my heart was. Dealing with the poor has definitely been something that has tugged on my heart these last years. Being in a college city filled with the impoverish, you have to deal with it. It has to affect you. You'd be a fool to just walk by the homeless, ignore the homeless, not even consider the homeless. I don't care if they were crazy looking, crazy talking, crazy acting. There is definitely a brokenness in the homeless and lame. There's a void. There's a gap. There's a need. And you read in Acts 3 where this man who has been lame his whole life. He only knows how to do one thing in life...beg infront of the temple. Nothing more. Nothing less. His joy is other people's pity. As sad as that is...that's something more than nothing, right? And I love what Peter and John have to offer. "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you." The lame man is anticipating their pity of silver or gold, but they offer something even greater. Something that's life changing. What a greater joy than all the joys the man has ever gotten. His reaction is priceless too. He leaped up and joined them in the temple, leaping and praising God. That's someone who knows how to celebrate something life-changing. So how then do we respond to life-changing joy? Because..let's be real with it..we are just like the lame begger. We might not be physically lame, but there's definitely voids we have in our hearts and minds. There's definitely gaps that we try to fill with material things, temporary happiness, mindless work, etc. When will be satisfied by more than these things? But more importantly, how will we respond when we find that overwhelming joy? I'd like to think im a leaper and praiser. But maybe it's more like a little hop and skip. I want to be that crazy guy leaping all about it. But the Bible is pretty clear..if you aren't leaping and praising God from this life-changing joy, then you haven't experienced it yet.

Acts 2:42-47

The church model at its finest. Acts 2:42 is a verse used a lot to describe what fellowship and community looks like. It paints a great picture of what a body of believers can achieve when their hearts are set for things above. They come together everyday, day after day. They don't care for their possessions or money or really themselves. They live for God and they live for their fellow brothers and sister. They receive what they get with "glad and generous" hearts. Something that modern-day society lacks. We are selfish in what we have and we are greedy in what we don't have. We believe everything is deserved and we are never satisfied. But the Acts community is glad. They are more than content. And even more, they are generous. That means they give freely and willingly. This pleases God. How could it not. Harmonious living done the right way. "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." It's a beautiful thing. Who wouldn't want to live in a community like that? Modern day Americans. Let's not conform to that culture. Let's be a revolution of Acts 2:42.

Acts 2:14-41

This passage is Peter's sermon at Pentecost. It's his encouragement to his fellow apostle brothers to have hope and be steadfast to the faith of knowing who Jesus is because everything that was prophesied before their time has been true. So he speaks of the past, present, and future and invites the Spirit to be with them as they journey forth.

Man, I think it'd be cool to meet Peter and just listen to his testimony. A man that once denied Jesus on many occasions, yet a brother who was amped for the Gospel. How opposite of stances to have, yet he was a man just like many men today. I see myself denying Christ so many times. Stubborn to my own ways. Stubborn in succumbing to life's tempting pleasures. To think of it...I'm probably consistently denying Christ in my walk. Yet, I call myself a firm believer. I think one of the scariest things is the fraud in me. When I read in verse 19-21 where it talks about Jesus returning and how they'll be blood, fire, and vapor of smoke...or how the sun will be turned into darkness and only those who call on the Lord shall be saved....I wonder how my heart will be. Will I be so foolish in denial or will I be charged to follow?

This journey has been tough. This journey will continue to be tough. But what if we got a better glimpse like King David? It says in verse 26-28 "therefore my heart was glad (when he saw the Lord), and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence." I'm desperately wanting that to be my psalm. May my heart be glad and may my tongue rejoice. May God's presence be my full gladness.

Acts 2:1-13

The Holy Spirit has arrived! The Trinity has been fulfilled, and the Church is born. I love verse 5 where it says "now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven." One day, every tongue will confess He is God. One day, every knee shall bow. One day, all of the nations will be united. What great hope it is that when the Spirit came down, each one of them heard of the mighty works of God in their own tongue. They were in tune with the same Spirit. They all recognized the mighty works of God. That paints a great picture of hope. I know it seems far from it now. The world is a broken world. The people are a broken people. But if there are stories of the near impossible each and every day, what makes this hope so farfetched? The Apostles prayed and patiently waited for the Spirit. And God delivered. Maybe it's time we took a page out of their playbook.

Acts 1:12-26

"And when they entered, they went up to the upper room...All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer..." How fitting that the passage of the early church starts with something that resonates so close to my life right now. With all the trials and struggles of this life, community has never ceased to encourage and sharpen my life towards walking obediently with God. In this passage the Apostles are gathered together in the "upper room" to pray for the Spirit to lead them in filling Judas' once apostleship role. They stayed there fervently praying for God to reveal Himself so that they might start building the church. What would that look like in my community at church? We call ourselves "Upper Room" for reasons I never knew til now. Maybe it's the "upper room" of Jesus' Last Supper. Most likely..yeah, that's what the idea might have been geared towards initially. But when I read these verses, I clearly fixated on how they all gathered in hopes of the Holy Spirit to reveal itself. Too many times we just ask for the Spirit in a rush of hope. But how many times will we be obedient and patiently wait for the Spirit to come? I hope that's what my community will look one day. May it be a community where we would gather and just pray for the Spirit to lead and that God would reveal his guidance to us. We're all in different spiritual places right now. Shoot...there's almost a decade in gap between some of our members. But as we grow together, I hope we can really see that our gathering is more than a gathering. It's for an anticipation. An anticipation of direction and a charge to move forth and to build a church, just like what happened to the 12 Apostles in Acts. May that be our prayer and hope.

Acts 1:1-11

I've decided to start the book of Acts. It's about the early Church after Jesus ascends up to Heaven. I think right now God has been starting to move in the community of believers to take hold the opportunity to further the kingdom in His church. So it'd definitely be fitting to see how the Apostles really engage this task of building the Church.

This passage deals with the affirmation of the Holy Trinity. Throughout most of the Gospels, the writers explicitly speak of the Father and the Son and their relationship. How the Father knows the Son completely and how to know the Father was through the Son. Now comes the last musketeer, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes me think of a closer, someone who comes and seals the deal. A closer is someone will an effective punch to reinforce everything that was done before him. I think many times people forget about the Holy Spirit when it comes to our faith and supreme power of God. Maybe it's hard to imagine a "spirit?" Maybe it's because the accounts of the Spirit aren't wham-blam-in-your-face like Jesus? Or simply...maybe people just don't recognize the Trinity has 3-in-1? I think as this year has progressed, I've definitely seen myself asking for the Spirit to lead. Do I know what that really looks like...well...no. But does that mean I don't yearn and long for it everyday? Well, course it doesn't. Jesus reinforces that we will "receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you..." I've definitely neglected what that power could look like. It could be something simple like a 1-on-1 conversation to something moving within me of a conviction or a prayer. But just as I believe in the all-knowing, powerful Creator, God, and His Son, Jesus, I do know that the Holy Spirit impacts and moves me in a way where I'm left speechless. When I recount powerful moments of thoughts and actions where I just end up shaking my head and wondering..."where did that come from?" How I'm starting to realize that it was not me who moved, but it was something supernatural. Skeptics will always be skeptics, but one who lives by faith will always have a hope to pursue.