THE RESULTS OF LETTING GOD HAVE CONTROL
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
The first church was just as unsure as we are today about what they should do next, but they had a much better reason to be unsure...they were the first. With the church of today the reasons for not being certain if we are right or not stems from not reading what actually happened to the church or what they really did about it.
As I began to study the book of acts and really got into what those words and sentences meant I found myself stopping and going back over some of those phrases used over and over again. The reason for that is there is much said in a very few words that today is missed. Unfortunately those who have been teaching and preaching have usually skipped over these things because they become harder teachings. Acts 1:4 " on one occasion while he was eating with them , He gave them a command " do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about". There is much within this verse...first of all Jesus had given them a command to stay where they were and wait for the gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were obviously not to do anything until they had received that gift and yet in that period of time they waited while they prayed Peter once again felt the need to make some kind of progress by doing the first corporate church decision about replacing Judas...which turned out to be wrong of course.
Although Matthias was probably as good a choice as any man they could have chosen as a replacement in the eyes of men; he was not the replacement that Jesus had in mind...who turned out to be Saul of Tarsus or {Paul}. What this shows me from the very beginning is that when ever we take control and decision making away from God it may look good in our own eyes, and it may not even be harmful in the long run, but it will never be the kind of thing that God can do through His own choice made.
From the very beginning of the church we see small and yet potentially serious things done through actions taken by leadership of the body of Christ that have changed the course of what God had intended. Another sighting of this was when Peter acted in indignant judgment instead of loving teaching with Ananias in Acts 5: by loosing the wrath of God on this man..."Remember that anything that he loosed in Earth would be loosed in Heaven", and so it meant a great deal for those who served with Peter to stay in his good graces. After that episode people were too fearful to continue the practice that clearly God had been blessing fell to the way side. I can't help but wonder just how powerful that kind of unity within the body would have made the church, and just how much this world could have learned from God's people in the process of continuing to bless one another in this way?
I find that the human side of control within the church has been at best sketchy, and we need a complete control of God's Spirit over what we do and say before we do and say anything at all. We will find within the body of Christ many things that have either been written to make a point within doctrines and creeds or to help others around their problems with the harder teachings of Christ. This year our own choices will be to listen very closely to God's voice in the study of this series in Acts. I pray that you will join us on Thursday Nights at the Senior Center in Two Rivers if you can. If you cannot and would like the course information each week to follow what we are doing please send me your request and e-mail address. I will see you get it. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
The first church was just as unsure as we are today about what they should do next, but they had a much better reason to be unsure...they were the first. With the church of today the reasons for not being certain if we are right or not stems from not reading what actually happened to the church or what they really did about it.
As I began to study the book of acts and really got into what those words and sentences meant I found myself stopping and going back over some of those phrases used over and over again. The reason for that is there is much said in a very few words that today is missed. Unfortunately those who have been teaching and preaching have usually skipped over these things because they become harder teachings. Acts 1:4 " on one occasion while he was eating with them , He gave them a command " do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about". There is much within this verse...first of all Jesus had given them a command to stay where they were and wait for the gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were obviously not to do anything until they had received that gift and yet in that period of time they waited while they prayed Peter once again felt the need to make some kind of progress by doing the first corporate church decision about replacing Judas...which turned out to be wrong of course.
Although Matthias was probably as good a choice as any man they could have chosen as a replacement in the eyes of men; he was not the replacement that Jesus had in mind...who turned out to be Saul of Tarsus or {Paul}. What this shows me from the very beginning is that when ever we take control and decision making away from God it may look good in our own eyes, and it may not even be harmful in the long run, but it will never be the kind of thing that God can do through His own choice made.
From the very beginning of the church we see small and yet potentially serious things done through actions taken by leadership of the body of Christ that have changed the course of what God had intended. Another sighting of this was when Peter acted in indignant judgment instead of loving teaching with Ananias in Acts 5: by loosing the wrath of God on this man..."Remember that anything that he loosed in Earth would be loosed in Heaven", and so it meant a great deal for those who served with Peter to stay in his good graces. After that episode people were too fearful to continue the practice that clearly God had been blessing fell to the way side. I can't help but wonder just how powerful that kind of unity within the body would have made the church, and just how much this world could have learned from God's people in the process of continuing to bless one another in this way?
I find that the human side of control within the church has been at best sketchy, and we need a complete control of God's Spirit over what we do and say before we do and say anything at all. We will find within the body of Christ many things that have either been written to make a point within doctrines and creeds or to help others around their problems with the harder teachings of Christ. This year our own choices will be to listen very closely to God's voice in the study of this series in Acts. I pray that you will join us on Thursday Nights at the Senior Center in Two Rivers if you can. If you cannot and would like the course information each week to follow what we are doing please send me your request and e-mail address. I will see you get it. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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