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Today’s Bible study is from Acts 16-19.

After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Acts 16:23

Often times, we think of any suffering we have to endure as something that will eventually benefit us. We know that it builds character and that all things work together for good, etc., etc., etc. In this case, though, Paul and Silas suffered so that someone else could be blessed.

Chew on that for a moment.

Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison for driving the demon out of a poor slave girl.. because her owners couldn’t exploit her ‘talent’ anymore. (Something about that smacks of Anna Nicole, but I digress) In the middle of the night, they’re singing songs of praise and a great earthquake blows the prison doors wide open.

Now in many other instances, we see God’s people escaping this way. It happened to Peter just a few chapters earlier. Paul and Silas elected, however, to stay. They knew the jailer would have surely been put to death (again, see Peter’s tale) if they had escaped. Instead, he and his whole household were saved.

Paul and Silas got their wounds cleaned, a hot meal and set free the next day with much fanfare. But did they gain anything? No. They were right back in the same place they started. The jailer and his family, however, would never be the same.

Today’s Prayer
God help me to be willing to sacrifice my own comfort so that someone else may benefit.

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Today’s Bible study is from Acts 13-15.

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.”

Acts 15:19-20

The early church was initially made up of converted Jews. That quickly changed however, when God poured out the Holy Spirit on new Gentile believers. Suddenly a question arose. Should we force the Gentiles to behave like Jews to receive salvation?

Many who come (or don’t come) to the church today feel like those Gentiles. “I can’t go to church while I’m still an addict.” “I could never set foot in a church with the stuff I’ve been looking at online.” “Let me get _____ taken care of. Then I can go back to church.”

This is not the way it should work. The reality is that none of us will ever be good enough to come to God on our own. It’s when we come to Him in our filth that He wipes away the dirt and changes our lives. The church is designed to be a safe haven where people can harbor their world-weary souls and be refitted for the journey on.

Today’s Prayer
God help to to view people as perfect no matter where they are in their growth experience.

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Today’s Bible study is from Acts 4-6.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. -Acts 4:13

About three months prior to this incident, Peter was busy pretending he didn’t even know Jesus and John was still jockeying for a position at his right hand. Fast forward to a post-Pentecost encounter with these men and there was no denying it. They’ve been with Jesus.

There was power in their actions and authority in their speech. They went about boldly proclaiming the very things the ruling authorities told them not to and were proud of the beatings they took for it. This kind of change could not be overlooked, swept under a rug or stamped out.

Today’s Prayer
God fill me with Your Spirit daily. Let my conversations, actions and relationships bear witness that I have been with Jesus.

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The Flood is a New Community effort to read through the New Testament in 40 days. To learn more about it, visit CentralChurchHHI.com. A devotional journal accompanies each reading, but I thought it would be a good idea to post my thoughts here.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. “Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out”

Acts 3:13-19 (NIV)

There’s so much action in the first three chapters of Acts that it’s easy to miss the recurring theme of God’s forgiveness. The first people he reached out to on the day of Pentecost were the very people who nailed him to the cross.

Today’s Prayer:
God help me to be grateful always that you took a lonely boy intent on cursing your name and loved him in spite of himself. Help me to love others and view them as innocent no matter what.

That last part gave me pause. Do I really mean “no matter what?” God work in me.

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Just a quick note.? Check out the new Internet Radio page in my links directory.? Some great online radio stations, podcasts and free media downloads in there.? Click to to go.

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Take a good look at this picture. If ever there was an example of how a person can gain the whole world and lose their soul, it’s in the cold, dead face of Anna Nicole Smith.

She had everything this world could offer. Sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll, booze, money, tv cameras and an adoring fan base of masturbating young men. She evolved past the level of sex symbol to become a pop-culture icon. She used her blonde and bombshells to attain more than most people could ever dream.

Still, we write her life off as a tragedy.

For all the glitz and ditz, she never found joy. She never found love.

You think any of those bottom-feeders in the Broward County (don’t get me started) courtroom circus care one bit about Anna Nicole or little Dannielynn? I think it’s more a case of whoever gets the baby will wind up with the money. That poor kid is probably doomed to the same fate of her older brother, or worse, her mother.

So, no, I don’t think she ever found anybody who loved her. Just an endless stream of leaches after money and (ahem) bombshells.

I wonder if anybody ever told her about Jesus.

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