Element Church Insider

Hey Element Church.  Day 23 coming at ya.  Our prayer today is “Lord, make us powerful!”.  Please pray for the churches listed on your calendar as well.  We’ll be reading from Acts 23 today. You can read it online HERE.  Here are my thoughts:

Acts 23:1-3 — WOW, Paul just gave it to him man. “God will slap you”?  That dude had no fear man.

Acts 23:4-11 — Paul was smart.  He used his Roman citizenship before to his advantage in a tight squeeze, now he uses the fact that he was a Pharisee.

Acts 23:11-22 — God keeps his promise to Paul.  He told him he needed to preach in Rome, and here he protects Paul from an ambush by alerting the commander through Paul’s nephew.

Acts 23:29 — Even the pagan Romans could see that Paul was not being held on anything worthy of imprisonment.  The same was said of Jesus.  Pilate said “I find nothing wrong with this man”.  The Jews were still clouded by their laws, traditions and customs.

Alright, nothing major today huh?  Apologize for that.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Hey Element Church!  Just one week left of our one prayer journey.  I hope this has been beneficial for you.  Today is day 22 in One Prayer.  Our prayer today is “Lord, make us fearless!”  There is a GREAT Building 429 song out there called “Fearless”.  Should check it out sometime.  Our reading today is Acts 22.  You can read it HERE online.  Here are my thoughts:

Sunday I didn’t get up any thoughts on chapter 21, but this one line jumps out at me.  Acts 21:13 Paul says “I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”  I want that attitude all the time!

Ok, you need to read chapters 21 and 22.  I’m amazed by the story.  I love the Bible.  lol  In Acts 21 Paul is in the temple, most likely teaching, when a mob rises against him and he is arrested.   He then is dragged away and beaten.  Crowds are yelling “KILL HIM! KILL HIM!”  At one point the soldiers have to lift Paul on their shoulders to protect him from the crowd.  The commander has Paul taken to the fortress and on the steps Paul asks if he can address the crowd.  He gets permission and speaks.

Acts 22 is basically Paul sharing his testimony with the crowd that just tried to murder him.  From the steps of the fortress he recounts the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus.  How he was a devout Jew who lead the charge in persecution of believers.  Ananias told him “Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.”  How Jesus commissioned Paul to go preach the Word of God.  When the crowd heard Paul say that Jesus sent him to the Gentiles they basically lost their minds.  You need to read it!

“I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”  That is the ONLY way Paul could do and say such things.  He was ABSOLUTELY sold out to Jesus.  No questions.  Wow!

Challenged,

Jeff

Hey Element Church!  Today is Day #20 in our One Prayer together.  Our prayer today is “Lord, make us unshakable!”  Please pray for the churches that are listed on the Calendar as well.  Our reading is from Acts 20.  You can read it online HERE.  Here are my thoughts:

Acts 20:7-12  — And you thought I preached long.  This story cracks me up every time I read it.  The dude falls asleep and plummets to his death.  Paul raises him from the dead and you’d think the service would be over.  BUT NO, they go back upstairs and Paul continues speaking until dawn.  I have to wonder, did the guy that fell sit back in the windowsill again?

Acts 20:16  — How much more meaningful was the festival of Pentecost to the believers early on?  The stories they must of shared, FIRST HAND, of how the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them.  Can you imagine?  Paul was hurrying to get back to Jerusalem for the festival.  I wonder if he had plans to meet with Peter?  Timothy?  Just wondering.

Acts 20:18-21 — We must NEVER shrink back from telling people what they need to hear.  EVER!  Repentance from sin!

Acts 20:22-27 — I want that attitude.  My life is worth nothing UNLESS I use it to finish the work assigned to me by Jesus.  I, like Paul, don’t want anyone I am able to minister to to have an excuse that I didn’t preach what they needed.  As Paul said “If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault.”  The reason he could say that is because he preached WHATEVER God told him to, did WHATEVER God told him to, and went WHEREVER God told him to.

Acts 20:28-32 — I think this warning still holds true today.  We must guard ourselves AND our churches from wolves who want to destroy the church.  Every church will have them.  ESPECIALLY a church that is bent on preaching the Kingdom of God boldly.

Warned and watching,

Jeff

Hey Element Church!  Day #19 of One Prayer.  Our prayer today is “Lord, make us bold!”  That’s a common theme through the book of Acts.  If you didn’t see, you can read HERE about a great serving opportunity we have to partner with another church and great organization in town.  Today we are reading Acts 19.  You can read it online HERE.  Here are my thoughts:

Acts 19:1-5  — Here we see the importance again of a life filled with the Holy Spirit.  Regardless of what you believe about being filled with the Holy Spirit I don’t think you can escape this.  WITHOUT THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT WE CAN DO NOTHING!  Can we agree on that?  There is GREAT emphasis on the Spirit in Acts.  I don’t think we can ignore that.  It’s like the whole issue of the end times.  I think we should study it.  I think we should read Revelation.  I think we should have healthy debates on it.  About the end times, this is what we can’t disagree on.  JESUS IS COMING BACK!  I think Christ, more than anything, wants us to be ready REGARDLESS of when it happens.  If I’m ready, it doesn’t matter when He comes back.  Same here with the Holy Spirit.  I NEED HIM.  Plain and simple.

Acts 19:8-10 — Talked of this yesterday.  If the listeners remain obstinate to the Word of God, God will move us on.  Paul left the synagogue to teach in the lecture hall.

Acts 19:13-16  — Demonic activity and spiritual warfare aint no joke!  This is a topic for an entire sermon series or series of blog posts.  Do I believe in demonic activity today?  You better believe it! The spiritual world is alive and well.  It isn’t to be trifled with.

Acts 19:19 — Renounce sin, REGARDLESS of what it costs you!

Acts 19:23-41  — Nothing stood out to me here.  Just reminded of the fact that there is GREAT opposition to the Gospel.  When we confront the gods of this world, it will NOT go unnoticed.  How blessed we are to live in a country of freedom.  To proclaim the Truth of God’s Word without fear of opposition.  May we take our freedom and boldly declare God’s Word.  Amen?

Following,

Jeff

Hey Element Church! This is day # 18 in One Prayer. Today’s prayer is “Lord, make us evangelistic!” Please lift up the churches on the Calendar as well. You can read Acts 18 online HERE if you’d like. Here are my thoughts:

Acts 18:1-6 — Sad state of affairs. Paul was continuing his intentional ministry in Corinth going to the Synagogue and “trying to convince the Jews” that Jesus was the Messiah. He spent ALL his time preaching once Timothy and Silas rejoined his journey. Here is what is sad. THEY DIDN’T GET IT! God moved him on. He would now preach to the Gentiles of the area. I truly believe there have been pastors that God moves on because the church wouldn’t receive his word. I believe churches, missionaries, lay people who were ministering, etc. have been moved on because their target wouldn’t accept the word. Sometimes God moves us on. But notice, He ALWAYS moves us on to a new listener. Our job is never done. NEVER! Like Perry said Sunday. If you’re still alive God still has a purpose for you. We can’t make our audience accept the message, we can only offer what God tells us to do. And in this case, Paul stayed in the city for another year and a half preaching to his new audience.

Acts 18:7-17 — God blessed Paul’s new direction. Fruit came from the ministry. God does not call us to be successful, He calls us to be faithful, and when we are faithful we have success. If God chooses to provide fruit, as in this case, that is HIS call, no ours! God even used the governor of Achaia to protect and bless Paul. As far as I know Gallio was not a believer.

Acts 18:19 — Paul tries in Ephesus to go to the Synagogue and reason with the Jews. Here they are more accepting of His word.

Acts 18:26 — Ahhh, the proper confrontation. Priscilla and Aquila had a legitimate problem with Apollos teaching. He was bold, eloquent, and enthusiastic and knew and taught of Jesus. HOWEVER, he was off in a little of his teaching. He only knew of John’s baptism. So Priscilla and Aquila wrote a blog about Apollos and their dislike of his ministry right? Or they wrote in to the Ephesus Herald letter to the editor to talk about Apollos’ ministry. Maybe they went to the people listening to Apollos and said “You know that he doesn’t…” “Are you sure you want to be going to his…” NO NO NO! No picket signs.  No yelling and screaming.  No talking around town about him.  They personally took him aside, and explained to him the way of God even more accurately.

Acts 18:27-28 — WOW! And it worked! Whouda thunk? Maybe we should take note of this.

Taking note,

Jeff