Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of the Maranatha Singers singing… Jesus, You Are My Life, … declaring truth of surrender to Jesus, the Son of God, as our Lord and Savior.
Highlight Passage: Acts 4: 18-20 [NKJV] …
18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
… Peter and John, ordered by the Sanhedrin not to speak of Jesus, refused and went forth to share Jesus, … the Truth they knew would transform the world.
============
Highlight Context – Acts 4: 5-20 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter and John, believed in the Lordship of Christ, and would not be silenced by Jewish leaders of speaking of Him to others.
============
Reference Passage #1 - Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] …
23 Then He said to them all (i.e, Jesus’ followers), “if anyone would desire to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
… Jesus declares what His calling to discipleship is all about; and His inner Disciples, such as Peter and John, were totally surrendered, in faith, to THE ONE they knew was The Messiah.
Reference Passage #2 - John 14: 1, 10 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus, prior to His passion on the cross, taught His inner Disciples of His divine authority/nature; and after the resurrection, these Disciples believed Him TOTALLY.
Reference Passage #3 - Philippians 2: 5-7 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul came to believe - and share everywhere He went - the Gospel truth about Jesus, as the Son of God
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Lawrence Darmani, used a personal to illustrate his teaching. He writes, A church group invited a speaker to address their meeting. “Talk about God,” the group leader told him, “but leave out Jesus.” … “Why?” the man asked, taken aback. … “Well,” the leader explained, “some of our prominent members feel uncomfortable with Jesus. Just use God and we’ll be fine.” … Accepting such instructions, however, was a problem for the speaker who said later, “Without Jesus, I have no message.”
Then Darmani reminded his readers (me) of the incident when Peter and John were ordered by the Sanhedrin to silence their preaching and mention of Jesus [see the linked passage in Luke 4 above]; but Jesus’ close disciples refused to be silenced because they truly believed that Jesus was truly the Son of God and their Messiah.
Jesus had declared such in His “upper-room discourse” (see John 14 passages linked above), and the remaining inner core of Disciples were sold-out and surrendered to Jesus as their Messiah after the resurrection; and they would not be silenced in sharing the Gospel message anywhere and everywhere they went. And, as a later Apostle, Paul, having encountered the risen Christ post-resurrection, was the same way [see Phil. 2: 5-7 above].
The question from this ODB entry today is … Are we totally sold-out disciples of the living Lord … our Messiah? Use the song link above and hear the Maranatha Singers singing that Jesus is their everything in life; and then ask that same question as we move about encountering others who need Christ as their Lord/Savior. Will we be willing to share our Lord, the Son of God, with them today?
My Prayer Today: Yes, Lord, … Give me an opportunity to share You with someone in my life, … maybe even today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment