Such As I Have Give I Thee!

There was great excitement at the Temple on the morning of the day of Pentecost in 3 BC. Jesus Christ had recently died, but was raised from death and had just ascended to his rightful position at God's right hand to be Lord of the church that was being raised and continues to be raised today on this earth. 

The events of that day are recorded in Acts 2. Peter and the apostles sat in the temple and received the gift of holy spirit.  Peter delivered the first sermon explaining the significance of the day to all that were there. He invited all who were in the temple to join in:        

38 Then Peter said unto them, "Repent (change your mind), and be baptized (immersed in the gift of holy spirit) every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Acts 2:38-47

Well, we still have an untoward generation, but we who were afar off from this scene in both time and distance were invited in to look away from untowardness too and receive the same grace from God. The people were excited and gladly wanted to know more:

41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized (immersed in holy spirit): and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

People were brought into the family of God and started immediately seeing grace (God's favor):

43 And fear (awe and respect) came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Of course signs and wonders popped up all over their community.  There is no formula or 'how to' to get this to happen.  God WANTS to shower us with grace . We just have to receive his love gladly:

46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,47 PRAISING GOD, and having favour (sharing their power of God) with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved (made whole).

A couple of days later Peter and John went back to the temple for prayer and a lame man asked them for help. Peter made it clear that what he himself had could be shared. Peter shared the love, grace and power of God.!!:

3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 

6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.  Acts 3:3-8 

This got a lot of attention round about and many people had a lot of questions and marveled at what was going on:

12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; Acts 3:12-13a

The Seal of Ephesians

An incident popped into my mind that happened many years ago. I was walking through a dark thick woods very late at night. It was difficult to see since there were no street lights  in the area. The path that I was walking on was overgrown with bushes. Suddenly, in the quiet night, I heard a crunch and a snap, that sounded like the sound of a snap of a branch or twig.  My heart  jumped and seemed to skipped several beats. It was so-o-o dark, damp and chilly! I wondered what was behind me, in front of me or beside me as I could not tell from which direction the sound was coming from. Immediately I stepped up my pace, haphazardly pushing away branches and bushes, unsure of my footing.  Finally I reached the front door of our cottage and slipped inside. With the door shut and locked, I was immediately sealed off from the outside.  The darkness and the unknown slipped out of my view and was replaced by the comfort, warmth and safety of our living room and was thankful to be with my family.

In Ephesians 1:13 Paul writes about us being sealed with the holy spirit of promise.  In the Word of God, the word 'sealed' is basically used for 4 things. First, it is used to represent security like the seal in a tomb (Matthew 27:66), The Christ inside of us is not a dead body, but a living reality because we have been sealed, secure and enclosed in the living room of God's love.

Second, it is to hide and preserve the contents of a letter.  (Revelations 5:1)

Third, it confirms or establishes the presence of the holy spirit (II Corinthians 1:22 )

Finally, it indicates ownership. (Ephesians 4:30, Ephesians 1:13)

The book of Ephesians completely expounds on the love of our father God for his family. Our job is to bring our minds to what has made given to us. We have been locked in the comfort and warmth of the security of God's love. We have been hidden, enveloped and encased in that love. We have been established and confirmed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Finally, we were bought with a price. We are purchase possession and Gods kids. We got the whole ball of wax. Knowing all this and renewing our minds to our rights and privileges as sons of God we rest safely in God's love.

We can be so thankful to God for everything he has  done for us:

20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. NASB

Freedom to Believe

Romans 1 is officially the opening of the 7 church epistles specifically to people of this time In this chapter God explains that the creation is design to show forth who he is. We can study the structure and functions of a tree and learn great lessons about God. It has always impressed me how the leaves of a tree are flat and set up so they can receive the light of the sun to carry on photosynthesis. When the sun isn't out the flat bottom of the leaves have openings that let carbon dioxide and water out. When the sun is out these pores provide oxygen to the atmosphere for us to breathe in.

The human body is 'magnificently and wonderfully made' (Psalm 139:14). God's design of the body is purposeful and provides for the greatest maximum care.  I majored in Biology in college and developed an even greater thankfulness to God as I continued to study. My favorite system, at the present time during the corona virus onslaught, to take a good look at, is the immune system. The body is designed to defend itself at many levels. We have T-cells that defend and develop memory for pathogens that attack the body. There are other types of related cells that come on the scene and work to rid the body of undesirable invaders. Other bodies are produced that are called antibodies that fight off germs at the time they arrive. 

The immune system is quite a complex system and quite remarkable. The human cell itself is quite complex and you need a microscope to see all the fascinating structures and types of cells. There are many different shapes and functions in cell. I pictured to the right are red blood cells with a white blood cell moving among them. Below is a body cell. 

Man has invented medicines and many times God has inspired those remedies. Often, in the name of science, man, has worked to fight off invaders by other means using drugs and therapies which have deleterious side effects. Man also uses and abuses the human body in ways that are detrimental.

I am thankful to the God I know for what he has provided.  I am thankful for doctors and researchers who are specifically tuned in to the way God's  human protection system is to work. When someone takes aim at God's creation design in a detrimental way, it is difficult to understand. 

So does the constitution of this country support my freedom of belief? It most certainly does! The first amendment guarantees it and also guarantees the same freedom to people who don't agree. A very loving God gave us all freedom of choice to either believe and know him or choose not to.