Acts 21:39 – Acts 22:21″Paul answered, ‘I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.’ Having received the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic: ‘Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.’Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’  When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking. ‘Quick!’ he said to me. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’  ’Lord,’ I replied, ‘these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ “

2 Peter 1:3-4
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by the Holy Spirit. We are also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to others—tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted.

1 John 2:1-11
“1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”

John is encouraging us not to sin. But he assures us that when we do miss the mark that God has set for us, Jesus is there to go before God on our behalf. Praise God!

This part of 1 John, especially verses 3-6, hits pretty hard. John lays is out pretty bluntly. If you claim to know God, you will obey his commands. Not just the easy ones, not just half of the time, not just when it’s convenient or when you’re reminded to. Walk as Jesus walked.

Matthew 20:12
“Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.”

Five different groups of workers are hired in this parable of the vineyard workers. The first group complains when those who work only the last hour get paid the same wages as themselves, who’ve been working all day. These are performance-base believers. They think that God is getting a great deal on them because of the number of hours they put in as a Christian, how many good things they accomplish, and how many sins they avoid. Instead of rejoicing with those who accept Jesus later in life, they are resentful.

These people are pretty easy to spot because they have 3 obvious characteristics:

1.) They have a complaining spirit. They overlook the good and magnify the bad and seek out people who agree with them. A complaining spirit is deadly; killing hearts and relationships and churches. The CURE is to develop a spirit of continual gratitude for what God has done and still doing. When your attitude in angry and not rejoiceful for someone who has lived in sin for so long and finally accepts Jesus as Lord late in their life, you are missing the point of the Gospel. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

2.) They have a resentful spirit. Instead of rejoicing and living in God’s grace, they act like duty-bound soldiers instead of loving volunteers, behaving as though everything is a chore. They struggle constantly for God’s approval through the things they “have” to do. The CURE is to reflect on God’s love and grace, it is very hard to feel love and resentment at the same time. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

3.) They have a judgmental spirit. They walk around sizing everyone up, always comparing others to themselves. They don’t understand that God dispenses gifts, not wages. The CURE is to realize that God doesn’t repay us according to our iniquities, but lavishes us with love and mercy. (Psalm 103:10)

Philippians 4:13
“Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”

Self confidence had Paul write, “I can make it through anything.”

God confidence had Paul add, “in the One who makes me who I am.”

Combining these two is the way to an adventurous Christian life; the secret to reckless faith. When Paul wrote this, he was telling the Philippians that, through God, he was able to live in any circumstance; either in great need or in great abundance. Paul says he has learned to be content in any circumstance. Just think about that for a bit. How great and how freeing would it be to truly live in complete contentment no matter what your life circumstances are. It’s like the hymn . . . “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”

Paul had his priorities in order and he knew that spreading the gospel was so much more important that his comfort. Remember, Paul was they guy who was praising God, writing letters, and advancing God’s Kingdom.

To live in the strength and joy that Jesus gives us, realize that:
1.) God’s Kingdom must be our first pursuit. Matthew 6:33
2.) God responds to our faith. Begin to trust God and exercise your faith, even if it’s small things at first.
3.) God can use every gift and experience He gives us.
4.) We need to take a personal inventory and open our eyes to what God has given us; our gifts, our talents, our personalities, all the things that make us are who we are can be used to make an impact for God if we are willing.
5.) It is not enough to know what our gifts and talents are; we must make them available to God to be used where He needs us.
6.) God deserves all the glory. When praise comes your way, deflect it all to God.

Related Text:
Matthew 6:25-26
“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.”

Matthew 6:34
“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Joel 2:28
“…Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.”

God is the giver of dreams and visions in our life and the mender of broken ones. You remember dreaming big don’t you? Those times when picture doing something HUGE wit your life and you’re not worried about all the possibilities of failure.

God loves dreams and He wants us to THINK BIG when it comes to trusting Him, spreading the Gospel, and advancing His kingdom. Trusting God with our lives and following His direction will always be “dreaming big”.

When we dream, we move closer to the way God sees things because we are no longer limited by our faults, our shortcomings, or our past. When we dream, we catch a glimpse of our goals in their completed state.

Dreaming is great, but to see our dreams through to fulfillment takes action. The Student Minister at our church is in the middle of a lesson series entitled “Direction, not Intention determines our Destination.” We can have all of the best intentions in the world, but if we never take a step towards our intentions, they remain only ideas. If faith without works is dead, then a dream without diligence is dead too. It’s not just enough to dream, we have to wake up and do something about it.

Here’s what we’ll learn as we journey to accomplish our dreams:
1.) trust God daily for what we need
2.) discover God’s power to deliver us from obstacles and enemies
3.) receive God’s wisdom to know the direction
4.) keep our eyes on our destination and move steadily forward
5.) refuse to be complainers or quitters

Related Text:
James 1:4-8
“Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”

Matthew 13:3
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. . .”

The Sower (the Lord) never deviates from His job and the seed (God’s Word) is always alive. The only variable is the soil (us). The soil ultimately determines if the see will be productive. In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Jesus describes 3 types of soil.

1.) Hard: In Bible times, hard-packed paths ran alongside the farmers’ fields. An seed falling on those paths merely shriveled up and died. Usually, “hard-soil” people have been walked on way too much and disappointed along the way. Hardened hearts develop a tough, impenetrable shield on the soil that makes it easy for Satan to come along and redirect your life.

2.) Shallow: In Jesus’ day, most farmland in the Holy Land was just a few inches of topsoil over rock, with nothing to sustain the roots. Richard Foster writes, ” Superficiality if the curse of the age. We live in a world of shallow relationships, superficial conversations, and hurried moments of prayer. We bounce from one spiritual activity to another without any real root system.” Are you living your life with God just on the surface?

3.) Overgrown: Untended soil soon is so overgrown with weeds and other life-stealing plants that there is no room for the sower’s crop to grow. The soil’s nutrients are being used up by the weeds, leaving nothing left for what the sower had intended. Overgrown-soil people have their eyes on God (or they did at one point in their lives) but they have things in their lives that are taking their focus away from Him. These things may be simple life-clutter that simply leave no time for God, or they can be habitual sin that keeps the person from freedom in Jesus. Our society bombards us with promises and guarantees about “things” that will give us happiness and contentment. Most of the tie, however, more stuff makes us want more stuff. Is your life filled with everything except God’s Word?

If one of these unproductive soils describes your heart, the good news is that you can still become fertile soil that the Sower wants to plant in. If your hard is a hard path, ask God to till it and make it tender. If your heart is shallow soil, ask God to deepen it and develop deep roots. If your life is overgrown with nutrient-stealing weeds, ask God to simplify your life so you can focus on Him. Do a “soil analysis” of your heart today and ask God to help you weed out whatever may be hindering your spiritual growth.

Matthew 13:8-9
“Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

The following story by James Dobson reminds us that life is not built on things, but on relationships:

‘Some time ago, a friend of mine punished his three year old daughter for wasting a roll of wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became upset when she tried to wrap a box to put it under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you daddy.” He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction. But his anger flared again when he opened the box and found that it was empty. He yelled at her, “Don’t you know that when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?” The little girl looked up to him with tears and said, “Oh daddy, it’s not empty, I blew kisses in it, I filled it with my love, and I wrapped it up just for you.” He was crushed and he wrapped his arms around her and pleaded for her forgiveness.

My friend said that for years, he kept that box next to his bed and , whenever he got discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of his child who put it there.”

Unconditional love is the greatest gift we can ever give or receive.

Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

click the shirt to see a larger image…………….

Devotional

Overthrow the Impact: In Romans 12, Paul encourages us to rise above the world’s impact on us and to live for God; offering our lives to God as a “living sacrifice”.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)

Go read Acts 17:6-7 and Colossians 3:10

Become a revolutionary for God. Turn your world upside down in the name of Jesus. Don’t just go with the flow around you, be different, let God’s glory be seen in your life. Stand firm against the walls of the world and sinful nature that seem to crash in on us and try to destroy us. Arm yourself with God’s Word. Overthrow the world’s impact and become a passionate, dedicated follower of Jesus. One who will flip this world on its head and turn its attention back to the One!

** I encourage you to use these passages from God’s word as a resource in your daily life. Don’t let this truth just rest on this tag or on this shirt. Use it! Let it become a part of you, let the scripture be written on your heart and move you to live your life in obedience to God out of love. Dive into God’s Word, spend time with Him in prayer, connect with other believers, live for Jesus who died for your sins and rose again! **

FYI – We have a Bible Study on Facebook.com and invite you to join. New Scripture is added daily. If you don’t have a Facebook Account, then you will need to create one to join the Bible Study. So, if you’re interested, sign into your Facebook Account and search “Facebook Bible Study – yes you can join!”

John 15:1-13
1″I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Obey, it’s a big time word! In order to keep God’s commands, you must obey God’s ways and follow how He instructs you to live. Just showing up to church doesn’t make you obedient in everything. Church doesn’t give you an “obedience card” that you get to flash around. How do you learn about God’s commands and His instructions? Not by only listening to a preacher once or twice a week, but by opening our Bible and spending personal time with God reading and studying His word. Don’t rely on someone else to read your Bible for you. When you read your Bible, when you dive into God’s word, you not only find out how God wants you to live, but you find encouragement from others who have been obedient, even in the face of persecution.

The Bible is filled with incredible examples of people who obeyed God. Abraham obeyed God and as a result the Israelites, as unfaithful as they were, were chosen as God’s special nation. All because Abraham obeyed – he wasn’t perfect, but he sought after obedience.

God loves obedience. Obedience is living according to God’s plans. God is delighted when you choose to obey Him, and obedience is more than just studying and knowing the Bible, it’s living it out every day, living by faith that God is ultimately in control and knows exactly what’s best for your life.

So, I’m not harping on church or saying it’s a waste of time. By no means! Going to church, being an active part in the body of Christ, being involved in corporate worship with fellow believers is paramount to our faith, our growth, our strength, and our encouragement as Christians. Just be careful that you don’t get stuck in a rut and lean on church as your only spiritual activity.

Related Text:
Psalm 80:8-19
Isaiah 5:1-7
Isaiah 27:2-6
Luke 6:43-45
Galatians 5:22-23
Colossians 1:3-12