Acts

I love to read.  Usually I read books that have no value, just a good way to get my mind off of the mess of my life.  Sometimes I will read books that will teach me something.  Very rarely do I read the Bible.  I have vowed to change that.  In one of my counseling appointments a goal that I set for myself was to include more of the Written Word in my blog.  I have included a verse here and a verse there.  Part of the reason that this has never been a priority, is that I am no scholar.  I usually second guess everything I think I understand when I read the Bible.  So this blog is a huge step in faith for me.  Like massive.  Because I have been reading the book of Acts.  I started here because it is one that I have never read.  I usually skip over if for the "Go Eat Pop Corn"  books.  In my small mind those books have more life applications than a book about how the church started.  I have only read 7 books, and I have had my mind racing with all sorts of ideas that I did not get when I read my Pop Corn books (not that there is anything wrong with those)

So once again I am no scholar.  I am just a girl.  I am just a girl trying to find her place in this church.  And these thoughts I have about this book may seem trivial to those who have studied this book many times.  I am not a theologian.  I have no formal education on how to write about what I read.  I am probably the last person who should be writing this blog.  But I can not deny the excitement about what "trivial" things I have read.  And if you know me, you know when I get excited about something I like to write about it :)

So here you go! (in no specific order).

1)  Two times in the first 7 chapters it talks about the Holy Spirit coming onto a group of people.  In both of those instances, the earth shook.  Now I do not know about you, but I do not remember the ground shaking when I fully accepted Christ.  Sure, My ground was shaken, but not the actual earth.  Can you imagine the power behind that?  Maybe it was because it was the first few times that it happened, the earth was just not prepared for it, or maybe it was because the multitude of people that were receiving the Holy Spirit all at the same time.  I know there are times where we can say that we "feel" the Holy Spirit's presence.  But that is usually subjective: emotions, feelings, or reactions that we have.  Not a documented earthquake!  It also makes me wonder if where there are people who are being persecuted where there is a very tangible and noticeable move of the Holy Spirit.  We, in our very easy non-threatening existence here in the US, have not really been in a situation where as a community we had a major, multitude, life altering revival.  Yes we have revival but nothing like in those first years of our faith.

2)  The husband and wife who lied about their offering to the church.  This was not an easy part for me to read.  I did not like to read this and actually comprehend what was being said.  As someone once told me, just because I do not like the idea of what is being said in the Word, does not mean that it is still not truth.  So once I wrapped my head around the fact that I did not like what I was reading but it still had application, I was pretty amazed by this little idea.  So what happened was these two lied about what they were offering, they tried to hide some of their belongings from the church.
             A:  I loved the discernment shown here.  He knew they were lying, because the Holy Spirit was showing him that.  That tells me that if we are truly seeking to know Him and do His bidding, we can tell lies from truth (kinda goes back to all those times my ex's lied to me and I knew it.)  Or in an even bigger scheme of things false teachings.  If you are truly seeking to know Him and seek His word, you will know the truth!!
            B:  Even after Christ came and died and we changed from law to grace the wages of sin is still death.  That is the hard part.  These two both sinned.  Nat a major sin. Just a lie right?  It was not like they killed anyone, or committed adultery.  They did give MOST  of their belongings to their church.  So hiding this little bit was not going to harm anyone.  First of all, I do not think it was an requirement to give everything you have the church.  Maybe it was an expectation, but I did not see where it was required.  So even if the did not give anything and were still honest about it I do not think the outcome would have been the same.  BUT, they lied.  And they died.  Kinda crazy.  It is easy to speculate on this.  Maybe they both had some heart condition and when they realized their folly they were so torn with guilt their heart stopped, or maybe out of fear they both had massive heart attacks?  But that is not what was written.  What was written was that they lied and they died.  So, first of all I do not think you are going to die if you tell a lie.  I do not think that if you sin you will loose the Grace and Salvation of Jesus.  But, I do think the church needed to know that even after Christ rose again and "death was defeated" the "wages of sin is still death".  That did not change.  That will never change.  We are still separated by the our Heavenly Father because of our sin and that, in and of itself, is the worst death possible.  But what has changed with the resurrection of Christ is how we atone for that sin.  We do not nor can we do anything to take away our sin because He did it on the cross.

3) One of the first documented miracles after Christ's ascension into heave was on a man well known to those who frequented the temple.  This to me is a no brainer but also kinda awesome.  Everyone who was anyone went to the temple.  At some point they had to see this man.  And it states that he went every day.  Now, that is dedication!  But it is also setting up this miracle perfectly.  His deformity and disability was visible to all who saw him.  There was no denying he could not walk.  The "higher-ups" could not deny it.  Nor could they lie about it because everyone knew.  So when he walked because someone said "In the Name of Jesus" they could not deny that he did indeed walk when he once could not.  Now they did try to deny the power by which he did walk but anyone who saw and heard this man "leap and praise" would have a hard time denying where that power came from.  I believe that is why this man was chosen to be one of the first "after Jesus miracles" to be documented.  Because #1 the circumstances led to little doubt of the actual source of it and #2 because while Peter and John were proclaiming the name of Jesus in leu of this miracle it was the first time the apostles where actually arrested for their proclamations.

4) During of the meetings the apostles prayed for boldness to proclaim Jesus.  And it was granted.  Not only was it granted but once again the earth was shaken!  They did not pray for protection.  They did not pray for food because they have no income.  They did not pray for their families.  They did not pray for their kids.  They did not pray in any way for themselves or for their own comfort.  They prayed for boldness to proclaim The Good News.  How often do we find ourselves trapped in this winey "God please give me this or give me that."  I am constantly praying for something that I want. A husband, a job, financial security.  But what if I changed my prayer from furthering my own comfort to furthering His Kingdom?  I do not think I would get as many unanswered prayers as I do now!

Trivial I know.  But kinda awesome ;)