Why the book of Acts?

The book of Acts (of the Apostles) is a record of the transition from the age of the Law, to the age of Grace. Not that all rules went away, but actually a higher code where LOVE is the core. True Love is more than a feeling. It shapes everything into expression for the other and not centered on self. It demands REAL commitment.

When baking a cake, is it important if you use baking soda or baking power? They look essentially the same. Why should it matter? For those experienced in baking, they might be very aware, especially if they made such a mistake.

Getting into the book of Acts, we will find a time frame where the new order is mixed and confusing for some. There will be errors made, some small, some very large with catastrophic results. In reality, this was the arrival of a “New Age”. It might be like putting an assemble-yourself car together before anyone knew what a car was. Like unto the first cake ever baked. All the parts/ingredients are there, but it is all new with no example to follow.

The understanding of the book of Acts will invariably guide to what a present church should be and do. The mission and priorities of the Church as a local assembly (if it should be looked at, in that manner) and the Church as a total of all Christ followers (if it should be looked at, in that manner) has foundations in the book of Acts.

The question has been asked, “Have we faithfully modeled the design handed down to us by the Apostles, handed down to them by Christ Himself?” Many have answered, “No”, and created entities that are referred to as cults. A schism exists between large groups that say, “elements of Scripture: A, B, F, and L, are required to be defined as Church”. Another will demand A, B, G, E, and O, to be properly defined. Lively debate over the crucial elements have been going on for two centuries.

“Can we really know what is the truth?” Join in for the next quarter as we delve into the book of Acts, for an honest search of where we come from, why we are here, and where are we going?

Why do the heathen rage.

How many of us remember Salmon Rushdie and The Satanic Verses? His book caused so much uproar, that there were death contracts (not just threats) on his life forcing him to go into hiding. What deep, dark, heinous crime did he commit? His text suggested that the Koran was not absolute, that it might in fact have untruths in its pages. For that, the followers of Mohammed could not contain themselves, they cried out in “righteous indignation” for the blood of Rushdie.

Why are Christians less offended when the Bible is questioned? Are we cowards not to take up arms, or to charge the “infidel” screaming at the top of our lungs? The reasons for our restraint are in the character of our God and the instruction to the Church.

I have to start with who our God is and demonstrations of His nature. We are told in Exodus 33:19,

“And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

Bottom In Deuteronomy 32:35,

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.”

He will bring greater destruction than is possible by us. He is watching and will mete out His fire on those who turn their backs to Him. Job 21:18,

“It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let Him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!”

Jehovah is distinct from Allah (in so, so many ways) in that He owns vengeance but can show mercy to someone like Saul of Tarsus, who was not seeking Him, was cursing Him, and yet was found of Him.

The justice of Adonai is longsuffering. 2Peter 3:8-10,

“ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”

The argument for righteous wrath could be made from the case of Elijah and the five hundred prophets of Baal. Elijah personally delivered the deathblow to that crowd, should we not also be so bold? The difference is Elijah was acting on the rule of law that Israel was living under. Israel was to be an earthly kingdom, the commands were literally written in stone. The full Law of Moses called for the death penalty to those who go after other gods. Deuteronomy 18:20,

“But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

And Leviticus 24:14-16,

“Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.’ ”

Today Israel exists and they should hold the Law of Moses as their mandate. I am not Jewish, nor am I living in Israel. Those who are Jewish and live in Israel, aught to live by Moses Law. I myself, and most of my acquaintances, are Christians living in the United States of America. We live under the laws of this land, established by The Declaration of Independence, and The U.S. Constitution. Looking back on Lev. 24, note that the judgment is upon those within the congregation. Not for those who are without.

Jesus laid out the pattern for us in the current age. We will be brought before judges and councils for our Faith, as in Matthew 10:16-20,

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you,”

Mark 13:9, has the same message. We are to allow ourselves to be quietly brought before evil rulers, but not retaliate. BottoRomans 14:11,

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

And Philippians 2:11,

“And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We can rest assured that the day will come when ALL will stand before His Throne!

What if the tree fell the other way?

In a dream the other night, I was having some friends over to my house. Being a dream, some odd people were at this party. They were both former co-workers, but one is dead, and the other moved off to another part of the state. "M" is the one who died but was alive in the dream. "P" was the one who moved away.
"M" and I were pulling on some dead branches on a living tree. The branches broke off and fell but were logs instead of branches, they fell on "P"s car. "P" was sitting on the hood of the car, so the dead logs crushed the bumper...and "P's toes. For some reason, "P" got angry and pulled a revolver out of his boot holster. His intentions were clear that he wanted both "M" and I dead.

It wasn't about old grudges or past hurts, just a crisis brought on by my impetuous and not well thought out actions.

I woke up in a cold sweat, heart pounding. What came to mind were flashes of events that started by my foolishness, but had by grace fallen the other way. The tree in the dream fell the wrong way, crunching a car and nearly killed a man. Without revealing some past antics specifically (I plead the 5th), there were a number of situations where my initiation or complicity could ... well I knew guys in prison, who had done something that resembled my loonacy, but theirs went bad enough to have a Judge give them 5-7 years.

Please understand I did not always have malicious intent, however when the snowball starts rolling, it can go beyond the first action and end up catastrophic. I won't put any specifics in this paper, because (1) in the event that it involves others, I need to go to them and resolve face to face. Also (2) the statutes of limitations may not have expired.

Psalm 103:8-14, "The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor his anger forever;
He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.

So many times I did not get what I deserved. Knowing this, I should make every comment, evaluation, and correction, knowing full well, I might be as guilty as any common criminal (in the thought process, if not in actuality). IT IS THE HOLY "BEER LAHAI ROI" (Gen 16) that sees our needs, and forgives our fault.

Also He has promised, Psalm 19:13, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."

I know that there were times when it was Heavenly guardians, that prevented my movement toward sin, and they cut me off. I had the desire for evil, but thankfully, things were not where they were supposed to be, or that quiet place suddenly had crowds.

Some day when the saints of God surround His throne, we may find out how MANY-MANY times Jehovah comes to protect us from our foolishness, when we never knew. I was/am a foolish person that the True and Living God answered my prayers to keep me away from presumptuous sins.

I pray that you will not pursue foolishness, or if you do, God will send angels for our own good, just like Baalim riding his donkey met a flaming sword. By grace, he was allowed to see the weapon of death, before it fell on him.