St. Matthew Lutheran Church

Wow! What a story we read today in Acts 23-28! The story surrounding the apostle Paul includes arrest, imprisonment, assassination plans, rescue in the dark of night, soldiers, horsemen, spearmen, rides with the cavalry, travel over hundreds of miles, more ambush plans, accusations of insanity, audience with kings, house arrest, sailing, northeaster storm, shipwreck, saving of the crew, collection of firewood with islanders, snake bite, healing of the sick, and even a happy ending. All of this in a few short chapters. Can’t you just imagine the movie that Steven Spielberg could make with this?

Luke writes this story in great detail. Why? What do we learn from this besides the historical information? My overall impression of this account is Paul’s behavior. He remains steadfast throughout the hardships. He refrains from the simpering flattery that the Romans employ when speaking with their governors, he merely speaks the truth of the events with simplicity. Paul endures physical difficulties while preaching about Jesus. He shares his story without shame or embellishment – he simply speaks the truth.  He speaks with equal sincerity to kings, politicians, jailers, Jews and Gentiles.

However, while Paul is a pillar of strength, the general population is severely divided as to their beliefs regarding the resurrection. The Sadducees do not accept resurrection, the Pharisees do. They argue back and forth in the beginning of the story, leading to Paul’s arrest, imprisonment, and their plans to assassinate him. At the end of the story, after all of Paul’s preaching and speaking and all the events of the previous years, they are still arguing. Chapter 28, verses 24-25 say “Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave…”

It was not Paul’s job to stop the disagreements or to control the end result. Paul’s work from the Holy Spirit was to preach and witness. The end result was not for Paul to control, that was and is, for God.

What Biblical truths does God show us in these verses?
Ultimately, God is in control. He gives us gifts to use according to His will and we are to use them to the utmost, regardless of the consequences or results.

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will do my best to listen to God’s will for my actions and use the gifts he has given me in the best way possible. I will not worry about results, but will place my trust in God’s grace.

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As we continue working our through the New Testament we find ourselves in Paul’s third missionary journey in the book Acts. Today we read Acts 17:1-22:30.

One of the things that strikes me as we read through the book of Acts is the variety of ways in which the disciples witness to their faith. Sometimes it is through debate, sometimes through miracles, sometimes through presenting Old Testament prophecy about Jesus, sometimes through kind treatment of strangers.

In Acts 17:16-34, we see Paul share the Gospel in a unique way. He sees the many idols that the people of Athens worship, including one to an “unknown god.” He then meets the people where they are with something with which they are familiar, and then uses that as an opportunity to share the True God with them.

It would have been easy for Paul to pass on this witnessing opportunity. It would have been easy for him to look at how devoted they were to false gods, given up on them and moved on somewhere else. But he didn’t. He saw something which gave Him an opportunity to talk about Jesus and he took it, and then let the Holy Spirit do His work of making unbelievers into believers.

This is possible in our lives as well. Countless times as we go through our days, if we are watching, we have lots of opportunities to connect Jesus to something in someone’s life and share Him.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
God wants all people, no matter who or what they are worshiping, to worship Him.

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will look for opportunities to connect Jesus to something in someone’s life and share Him.

Thursday, April 5. Maundy Thursday. 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM. Maundy Thursday was the day that Jesus washed His disciples’ feet and then gave them the gift of His Holy Supper (Holy Communion). This worship service centers around the amazing Gift of the Lord’s Supper.

Friday, April 6. Good Friday.

4:45 Easter Egg Hunt and Family Good Friday Service. All children are invited to join us at 4:45 for a Jesus-themed Easter egg hunt. Following the Easter egg hunt we will have a short, family-oriented Good Friday service at 5:00.

7:00 PM. When Jesus went to the Cross to pay for the sins of the world, the world was in darkness. As a way of remembering this we have a service of darkness centered around the seven things Jesus said from the cross.

Saturday, April 7, Easter Vigil. 7:00 PM While Jesus is in the grave, the church waits anxiously for His triumphant resurrection. This is an informal service of Scripture , prayer and song as we keep our vigil of Easter.

Sunday, April 8. Easter Day. This is the High Feast Day of the Christian life.

6:30AM Sonrise Easter Service

8:00, 9:30 and 11:00 Easter Festival Worship

Pancake breakfast will be served all morning.
See Our Complete Holy Week and Easter schedule here.

Top o’ the morning to ya, this St. Patrick’s Day. We are now well into the book of Acts. Today we read Acts 11:19-16:40.

I believe there is a very appropriate lesson in Chapter 12 for us. Peter is in prison. He has been put there for teaching about Jesus. And the church is earnestly praying for him, as we can well imagine they would. We read in verse 5:

“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”

This is no surprise. This is what we would expect. The surprise comes a few verses later in verse 15-16. Peter has gotten out of prison miraculously. He goes to house where the disciples are gathered. A girl named Rhoda answers the door, sees it’s Peter and runs to tell the others. Here is their response:

“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

I wonder what exactly they had been praying for in verse 5 that they were so astonished at Peter’s release. Were they praying for the sake of praying without expecting any results?

And don’t we do the same?

I am reminded of a cute story about a church in farming country where there was a drought. The pastor called all the farmers together on a Saturday to pray for rain. When they all showed up at Church the next day, he accused them of having no faith. They were astonished and asked why he would say that. He replied, “You prayed for rain yesterday, then came to church today without your umbrellas!”

When we pray, we should be prepared for God to answer.

What Biblical truths did God show me in this passage?
God has given us the gift of prayer to use and He answers those prayers, often in miraculous ways.

Because God tells us in James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will pray expectantly and be prepared for God to answer.

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Reflection by Christine Eid

Today’s reading in Acts 7:1-11:18 covers many experiences of the early Christians.  Stephen’s message and stoning, the persecution of the church, Philip and the Ethiopian, Saul’s conversion, healings and Peter sharing the Gospel with Gentiles.  So many experiences!

While reading, Acts 8:26-40 became a focal point for me.  Philip is called upon by God to go on the road, and while there meets an Ethiopian who does not understand the scripture he is reading.  Philip takes the opportunity and the time to talk with the man, sharing the Gospel message.

I’m not sure if God has ever told me to change my plans of the day to go someplace in particular so that I can meet up with a stranger, maybe so.  But I am sure that He has placed people in my path throughout my day who I could share the Gospel with.  Sometimes I am open to looking for those opportunities and sometimes I am so focused on my own schedule and agenda that I don’t see the opportunities that God has placed before me.

God consistently puts people in our lives that we can share the Gospel with.  At times, this may make us uncomfortable.  We are afraid we are going to say the wrong thing.  In Matthew 10:19-20, Jesus speaks to His disciples in regards to speaking as a witness if arrested, but the words of 19b-20 speak to us as well, “…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.”

God will give us the words that we need to say to share His message.  He wants everyone to know about Him!  And so, as we continue on our Lenten journey, be bold!  Share the exciting message of Jesus’ love for each of us.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?

God places individuals in our lives to whom we have the opportunity to share the Gospel message, and He will give us the words to speak boldly.

Since God tells in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?

As God places individuals in my life to witness to, I need to be open to look for those opportunities and share the Gospel of Christ.  I can do so in confidence that God will give me the words to say.

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Posted by Susie Jones

Today’s reading is Acts 1:1-6:15. I will be breaking it down by Chapter as I did last time.

Chapter 1
Jesus is qualifying the disciples as eye witnesses to the resurrection by appearing to them many times. We are told he appears to them often over the period of 40 days. The Lord often uses things to qualify us too. To qualify for healing you first have to believe in things not yet seen, before you are given much you have to prove yourself with little first. The disciples are busy discussing their first order of business which was to replace Judas. They met in a second story room and the Bible says they had a single purpose in mind as they devoted themselves to prayer. We see too that about 120 men and women were present for this. The word states that in making this decision there were only two that were “qualified”. The qualification for becoming a disciple was that you had to be present for the entire time that Jesus was doing his ministry. That meant from the beginning to the end. If you were to make a list for yourself of what makes you a good disciple what would be on it? How well do you qualify?

Jesus speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit to them and tells them to stay put. This is the ultimate resource they will need. It is through this spirit baptism they will supernaturally receive the ability to work miracles and move people’s hearts to repentance through their preaching. Immediately after this command Jesus is taken to heaven and his divine presence is hidden form them by a cloud.

Chapter 2
I love this event-notice when God promises something it happens. The Word says suddenly (without warning) a sound like violent blowing wind came from the sky and filled the whole house. Tongues that looked like fire appeared and arranged themselves so that one came to rest on each believer. All those present began to speak in other languages.
What becomes evident here?
As soon as the Holy Spirit filled them they spoke in other languages.
That day the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit was speaking in other languages according to the Word. These languages were however understandable by those in the crowd that were outside the house listening.
This is different from the tongues that is mentioned in Corinthians.

Then Peter addresses the crowd and instructs them that each of them must be baptized to have their sins forgiven and after that they would receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.

Chapter 3
Daily a lame man sat begging at the temple gate expecting a handout. It was business as usual for the beggar the day that Peter and John walked by except for this one thing. The beggar asked for a handout but that’s not what he got. Peter told him through the power of Jesus Christ, walk! He reached down and helped the beggar to his feet and he was instantly healed. You can rest assured that was a “suddenly” in his day. Suddenly he went from begging to being employable and from being helpless and dependent to being independent. Suddenly he would need to work for a living as his usual means of income just came to a screeching halt. This man was over 40 years old when he was healed. He had some new learning to do you can be sure of that.

Chapter 4
Peter and John are thrown in jail for spreading the message that the dead will come back to life through Christ. They were also cross examined about the crippled man they had just healed. Scripture makes mention here that Peter and John had no formal training or education to be speaking so boldly and then they realized that these men had been with Jesus. I guess we could say the only requirement needed to testify about Jesus is having spent considerable time with Jesus. We can say too that the power for healing, performing all kinds of miracles, and doing amazing things comes through first teaching the Word and then calling upon the name of Jesus as we call down power from on high. The disciples we are told never had need of anything-they were well taken care of. People sold their land and houses and gave the money to the disciples. The gifts were a show of their appreciation for everything the Lord had done for them.

Chapter 5
Not a good idea to cheat the Lord!
Ananias and Sapphira had pledged this money to the Lord, then they wickedly agreed to hold back and turn over only part of what they pledged. We see here that not honoring your vow is called lying. God made an example of these two and their behavior that would forever remain the fore front of people’s memories, I would hope. He caused them both to drop dead immediately. I think that is even shorter notice than “suddenly”. We see too that the power of the Holy Spirit n Peter is so anointed that just his shadow alone falling on a person would bring healing. Each sick person and person troubled with evil spirits was cured while they ministered, as it was with Jesus.
As a result more men and women than ever began to believe the Lord. In chapter 4 we are told 5000 came to believe so we can assume it was more than 5000 a day coming. I often wonder what it is we lack that we don’t see these same effects today. If the Holy Spirit is still present shouldn’t we be seeing these same things?

Many movements had apparently passed in front of the council so as concerns were raised about Peter and John’s ministry we see a Pharisee advising the council to leave them alone. His basis for this was his past experiences with similar movements (people claiming to be someone of importance). He shares with others at the council that in each incidence the leader died and the followers scattered and the movement failed. He wisely says if it is of human origin it will fail but if it’s from God, you won’t be able to stop them. You may even find that you are fighting God.

Chapter 6
Everyone has a place in ministry. Those who are called to preach should not be bothered with solving every problem there is. The greatest leader of all is one that knows how to delegate responsibilities so that their gift is protected and is readily available to those they are serving. They should not be giving up God’s Word or serving in ways that are related to the Word in order to do things that other people are capable of doing. We also learn that there are those in this world that hate the gospel and the message of Christ. We can be more specific by saying it’s the spirit behind the person rather than the person themselves acting out. Here we see men bribed to lie. We know Satan is called the Father of Lies so we can clearly see the spirit behind that. But then we also see that the council stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like an angel’s face. Even the believer’s countenance has a witness and an effect on people. If God is with you let someone know it, by the joy on your face and the spring in your step.

Today we come to the end of John’s Gospel and finish up the Gospels section of the New Testament. For me this has been very helpful in getting the “Big Picture” as we move through Lent. Today’s reading is John 17:1-21:25. These readings cover for us, once again, the last week of Jesus’ life.

The entire chapter of John 17 is Jesus in prayer. This is the prayer He prays as He enters into the last few days before His death at the cross. We can learn a lot about prayer by looking at Jesus’ prayer.

Notice what He prays for:
He prays for God to be glorified in what is about to happen.
He prays for His disciples (this is the largest part of His prayer).
He prays for all believers, present and future.

Notice also that the only thing He prays for Himself is one sentence asking that He be glorified so that He can bring glory to the Father.

I have to say that this doesn’t look much like one of my prayers. My prayers tend to be much more me-centered and much more focused on earthly or physical things.

Today I wants my prayers to be much more like Jesus’.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
In prayer, God gives us a great gift–the ability to spend intimate time in His presence. We often use this gift as a time to present God our wish list, rather than connect with Him in an intimate way.

Because God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will pray that God be glorified through me. I will pray for my fellow disciples, for believers around the world, and for those who have yet to believe.

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