Tagged: Daily Reflection

“The word of God continued to spread, while at the same time the number of the disciples in Jerusalem enormously increased.” –Acts 6:7 The early Church needed more workers for the harvest (Mt 9:37). The believers were feeding hundreds of people in their community meal and a whole group was overlooked (Acts 6:1). More workers were needed. They brought this to the attention of the community, which selected “seven men acknowledged to be deeply spiritual and prudent” (Acts 6:3). Can your church community do the same? Can you raise up seven deeply spiritual men for full-time service? Most church communities...

“If their purpose or activity is human in its origins, it will destroy itself.” –Acts 5:38 If you play your cards right, compromise your principles, and do whatever it takes, you can be successful by worldly standards, pass yourself off “as someone of importance,” and build up “quite a following” (Acts 5:36-37). Of course, in the end your life will come to nothing and destroy itself (Acts 5:36, 38; see also Lk 9:24). If you decide to follow Jesus, deny your very self, and take up the cross daily (Lk 9:23), your life will seem to be a joke, an...

“He Whom God has exalted at His right hand as Ruler and Savior is to bring repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We testify to this. So too does the Holy Spirit, Whom God has given to those that obey Him.” –Acts 5:31-32 To have Easter, we must have Pentecost. Only by the Holy Spirit can we recognize the risen Christ. To receive the Holy Spirit and to live our new life in the Spirit, we must obey God (Acts 5:32). The Greek word translated “obey” in Acts 5:29, 32 is not the common Greek word for obedience. It...

“The judgment of condemnation is this: the Light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were wicked.” –John 3:19 Darkness is the absence of light. You can make a dark room light by turning on a flashlight. However, you can’t make a light room dark by turning on a “flashdark.” By definition, no one can invent a machine that shines darkness which overpowers light. You can only make a room dark by extinguishing the source of the light. Jesus came to the world as its Light (Jn 12:46). However, men hated the light...

“You must all be begotten from above.” –John 3:7 One simple test of whether or not you’re living the radically different risen life is your attitude toward money. If you live the risen life, you aren’t preoccupied with money. Like Barnabas and other disciples in the early Church, you’d gladly sell your “property or houses” for the Lord (Acts 4:34). It isn’t a problem to tithe and give alms, for you’re more concerned with the welfare of the needy than with possessions (Acts 4:34). Risen life is completely different than life before the resurrection. The difference is even more striking...