Listening

Acts 16:13–15 (NRSV)

“On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.”

The book of Acts is also called the Acts of the Apostles, Acts of Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. We can see that played out in this passage. Lydia was from Thyatira and made purple dye for the fezzes and prayer shawls. Thyatira was known for producing quality purple dye.   

Holy Spirit showed me that the importance of the color purple lies in how it was acquired. Purple, ar-gaw-mawn, in Hebrew, por-foo-rah, in Greek, was produced from the secretion of the murex shellfish. “Tyrian Purple,” was a high-priced dye produced from the mucus of small gland (hypobranchial) (hy po bran kial) found in the neck of the mollusk marine mulex trunculus. The shellfish were opened, and the glands were removed and crushed, producing a liquid that turned purple when exposed to the air. It took 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of pure dye. Purple was an expensive color to produce. So she was a great business woman.

Thyatira was also know for its spiritual formication. Yet, Lydia was a worshipper of God, and God had moved her from Thyatira to Philippi. Holy Spirit blocked Paul from going into Asia. Thyatira was in Asia. But Paul had a vision of a man asking to come to Macedonia to help him. Paul went to Philippi and went to the river to meet. You see, whenever there were ten males of households a synagogue could be formed. If there was no building, they would always meet by the river. So Paul expected to meet the men but found women worshipping. And Lydia was there. She and her family were baptized and the first church of Philippi was started. She was the overseer, or pastor. All because she was listening. Paul was listening. We have to listen to Holy Spirit, and obey. Can you see how God will move us into where he wants us for his purpose for us? More later

Peace in Unity

Psalm 133:1-3 NRSV

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, 

running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, 

running down over the collar of his robes. 

It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore.”

The blessing of unity is indeed powerful. While the original hearers would have understood the imagery. We see that the anointing oil used for priest was not to be duplicated. It was special. In fellowship with one another it is a special moment and never the same. 

Mt Hermon stands 10,000 feet above sea level and is snow capped 2/3 times of the year. Although in Syria, it can be seen 120 miles away. It is indeed majestic. The precipitation from Mt Hermon feeds many different canals. It flows into the Sea of Galilee, on into the Jordan River, and down to the Dead Sea. Just as the lands needs water we cannot live without it. It refreshes, restores. 

Fellowship- unity among kindred hearts refreshes, restores. We can’t live without that unity. 

Just as I’m writing this a lizard ran behind my stove. I don’t need to be unified with him. There is no peace, as I keep looking up to see where he is. When we have no peace with some we may “fellowship”with, we need to rethink it. Peace is important. Blessings of unity. more later

Already Done

Luke 24:1-8 NRSV

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words.”

Here we are Resurrection Day. We all know it and celebrate it now. While Jesus’ crucifixion and burial was public, his resurrection was private. But because of the public and private we have life. Because of what has already been done for us we can live victoriously. 

Sometimes we don’t, and I hear the angels’ question to the women: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” The dead things in our mind -we can’t listen, we can’t hear, we can’t follow. The dead things in our heart- we harbor grudges, unforgiveness, we live in bitterness. The dead things in our will- we don’t want to give up our way to follow God’s way. But we don’t have to look for life among the dead things, because he has already freed us to live fully.

“Then they remembered his words.” The women had a close relationship with Jesus and he had already prepared them. He has give us himself in our relationship with him, and we can remember his words to us. And when we remember we can do as the women, and go tell. You see, someone needs to hear our witness. And we need to share it. We do all of that because it has already been done for us. Francis Frangipane says, “We don’t fight for the victory, but we fight from the victory already won byJesus.” It’s already done- we win, because he got up! more later

Tell It

Luke 19:40

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 

Twas during Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to quiet his disciples. Go back and read verses28-40. But you see the disciples recognized who Jesus was, they rejoiced, and they responded to Jesus. 

Heres the thing. When we recognize who Jesus is for ourselves (This is personal) then we can celebrate all that we know of him. And our response is to tell it. Tell the story, tell our story. God will always have a witness to his works. We know who we are and what God has done. We cannot be quiet as we have witnessed marvelous works of God. No - no rock can tell our story. As we celebrate Palm Sunday celebrate all that God has done. Celebrate all that God is doing. Celebrate all that God will do. More later.

Where Are You

Acts 3:1-8 NRSV

“One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

Too often we find ourselves like the man lame from birth-Being in the Wrong Place, Looking to the Wrong People, Asking for the Wrong Thing. 

He was outside the gate begging, he couldn’t get inside because he was disabled. Sometimes we are outside of communion with God disabled only by our sin issues, yet our healing is in communication with God.

The people that took him there probably should have taken him to the early one service where there were more people as the second service had less people, and at least he had twice the chance to beg.Some people can mess us up as they don’t have our best interest at heart, or they want to keep us caught in our mess. 

Too often we are asking God for one thing, and he has more, and he has to get our attention. So we want to be in communion with him, (in the right place), looking to him only, and asking and being ready to receive from him. more later.

Make a Stand

Matthew 16:13-19 NRSV

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

The church has power and authority to stand against anything not of God. The church on earth carries out heaven’s decisions; not heaven consenting to earth’s decisions. Can you see how messed up we would be if we controlled heaven? What is forbidden on earth is already forbidden in heaven. What is permitted on earth is already permitted in heaven. We have power and authority, but we must speak up, as Peter. We must know what we believe. We must stand with that power and on that authority from God. We can make a difference. We will make a difference.

That’s Where We Live

Psalm 91:1&2,15 NRSV

“You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” 

“When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.”

We must recognize where we live- in the shelter of the Most High. Some people misuse this psalm. They leave it open on a table in the bedroom, put it under a guest chair, placing it open in the car, one guy even had it in his right shoe. (I’ve seen some things) but the Lord told me “No, that means nothing. Hold in your heart what the words mean. I am your shelter, I am your keeper.”

We must know that he is our shelter, and then to know to come on in the house. To be sheltered from the storms of life as they will happen. To have peace in the. midst, knowing we are safe in God’s protection.

When we were young my mother would take my sister and me downtown in the summer. As we waited on the bus the hot sun would beat down unmercifully. But I found refuge in Momma’s shadow.  Can you even imagine being in God’s shadow? My my.

In the shelter, safe in the shadow- but there’s more. When we call on him, he will answer. That’s it right there. We are never alone in any situation. Even when we can’t think it out- he has us. That’s where we live! more later