God’s Power in Bad Moments - Acts 19-20

Acts 20:7-12 (ESV)

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

When we come across stories like this in the Bible we have to ask, “why is this story here.”   This story is like a story in the Old Testament about Elisha and the floating axe head (2 Kings 6:5-7).   That story, and this one, seem to be recorded and told simply to show us the power of God.   There was little doctrinally truth about a prophet who borrowed an axe from a friend, only to have the head of the axe fly off and land in the water and sink to the bottom.   The prophet Elisha had just taken over from Elijah.  In that transfer of role and power, Elisha asked God for a double portion of Elijah’s power.   Causing the iron axe to float in water was a demonstration of that power.   The above story takes on a similar purpose.   Paul is now being raised in influence in Luke’s account in Acts.  Note what was just written a few verses back:

Acts 19:11-12 (ESV)

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

This story is to demonstrate the power God has given to Paul during this moment of the early church.  The setting is similar to any service we might have today.   They were in a building with at least three stories.   The service was probably on a Saturday night into Sunday morning (remember, they counted the sunset of a day to start the next day).   It was late in the evening and this young man, Eutychus, was in attendance. He was probably in his early teen years.   As Paul waxed eloquent, Eutychus slept deeper.   This subsequent fall from an open window must have been a shock to everyone.  Luke leaves out any part his parents played (or didn’t play) in this story.   This is supposed to be a normal church service and a teen dies by falling out a window.   Imagine our society today with this story.   Yet, God uses this moment to encourage the saints and move the church forward.   Eutychus now has a story to tell for the rest of his life.   Would his story be about falling asleep and falling out a window, or would it be the glorious act of God’s grace to bring him back to life.  Or, would be about this amazing church leader, Paul.   The story is here for us to see that God can work miracles in any circumstance.  His power is demonstrated in these early church days to show the legitimacy of the church.   Miracles in the Bible are always to show both God’s power and the legitimacy of His plans (Moses in Egypt; Joshua in the promise land; the prophets in captivity; Jesus introducing His ministry; Peter and Paul introducing the Church).  The church was comforted by this miracle.  No doctrine is taught.   But it does show that even in the smallest moments, that can create the greatest need, God is present to show His power.  

Malachi - Why Was it Written?

 MALACHI

(Means: My Messenger)  Some debate that this was just a general term and not a person named Malachi

Prophecy Against

This is a prophecy to encourage the nation Israel now that the temple was built to continue in the walk with God.  There was a need to match their belief by faith with the performance of faith. 

Historical Setting

1. Ezra had rebuilt the temple and worship was restored. 
2. Nehemiah had returned to start the rebuild of Jerusalem and made a 2nd return to finish it. 

Time Period

1. Very post exilic.  Since there is not a lot of biographical data it is hard to date the writings.
2. Because of the sin that is mentioned it seems that Malachi was a contemporary of Nehemiah so they dated around 435 B.C.

Historical Theme - What did it mean then?

1. Even though the "form" of worship was returned with the re-building of the temple, it was not matched with the re-building of the heart of worship.   Malachi was sent to re-rebuild the heart. 
2. Once they had safety and the form of worship restored the people became bored and fell into sin (think about Aaron's day and the making of the golden calf)
3. Ezra rebuilt the temple; Nehemiah rebuilt the city; Malachi rebuilt the heart

Outline of the Book

(Five indictments of a life not focused on God)

1. Do you love Me the way I love you?  1:1-5
2. Do you offer Me the sacrifice I deserve? 1:6-14
3. Does your priest speak the truth in My name? 2:1-9
4. Do your actions within the family honor Me? 2:10-17 
5. Why do you rob me? 3:9-15

(There is an Interlude between #4 and #5: The messenger preparing the way to righteousness

Response and conclusion:  God blesses and restores

Future Theme - What's it mean in future?

1. Talks about the concept of “righteousness” in light of the character of God.   The book shows us what practical love for God looks like. 
2. Talks about the future “messenger” from God that will proceed Christ (John the Baptist) - Chapter 3

Reasons to read it:

1. When you think God isn’t watching anymore.
2. When you wonder what God thinks of disobedience. 
3. When you doubt that God is concerned about our lives ... the very practical aspects of our lives. 

Practical Theme 

What does it mean for me today?

1. The answer to spiritual immaturity is the preaching of the deep doctrines of God (1:1-6)  (God chooses us - we don’t choose Him)
2. God expects our best in our worship and sacrifice to Him.  He would prefer we just don't worship if the worship is less than our best (1:7-14)
3. The spiritual leadership of God’s people are responsible to speak truth and practice truth. 
4. The family, like the church, is a key picture of how God’s love and God’s truth is practiced
5. God doesn’t need our money or possessions but He is sure interested in what we do with it in that it shows the character of our hearts. 

Make The Best Out of Every Opportunity- Ecclesiastes 11-12

Ecclesiastes 11:4

He who observes the wind will not sow,

and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

Truth: By waiting for the perfect time we may miss our only chance. 

In this book, Solomon continues to give us insight and understanding about how to live life. At the end of the book he will tell us that the summary of the whole book is to live in the fear of God. 

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (ESV)

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

He wants us to live in reverence of God. In the above verse he is giving us insight as to how we fear God in our practical day-to-day life.  The above verse is written in an agricultural setting.  When a farmer goes out to sow seed they would love to have the optimal conditions for that activity to happen. The same is true when they go out and reap from their field. Sowing seed on a calm day would be the most favorable conditions.  Reaping the harvest on a dry and cool day would be the most optimal.  If a farmer sits around and waits for these types of conditions, he may never sow and he may never reap.  We all would like to have the best conditions to perform our work, our play, our activity. But if we wait for the optimal moment, we may miss THE moment. Solomon is telling us to live in reverence for God. To live in reverence we must trust Him no matter the circumstance.  In order to accomplish the task that He gives us, we might have to endure poor timing.  But God's timing is never poor. If we sit back and wait for our perfect time, we may miss our only chance.   Use your time wisely when you can use it, even if the opportunity does not, yet, look like THE opportunity. 

God Resists the Proud - Psalms 137-139

Psalms 138:4-6 (ESV)

All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,

for they have heard the words of your mouth,

and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,

for great is the glory of the LORD.

For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,

but the haughty he knows from afar.

The above lines come from this hymn of King David.   He wishes and prays that the highest of the land (the kings) would realize they are really the lowly of the land.  God is the one that is high and it is those who are lowly that receive His grace.  Even though God is high he stoops to us and gives us His grace and steadfast love.  However, the haughty God does not bend down to meet.  He keeps them afar.  David states that these kings do sing the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the LORD.  David is probably referring to those kings who came to visit him.  They would be compelled to worship God in their desire to be engaged with God’s earthly king.   That, to David, was a form of worship.  But he wanted more for them.  When they came to engage with him, David would speak the words of God to them.   He wanted them to lose their haughty spirits and become lowly in heart to receive God’s grace.    Yet, kings don’t typically bend the knee to others since they are constantly having others bend the knee toward them.  The corruption and pride that comes to those in authority often prevents them from stopping low to God so that God can stoop low to them with His grace.  Their haughty spirits make it impossible for them to experience God’s grace.    Why:

James 4:6 (ESV)

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Humility is the avenue by which we see His glory.  

What To Do When We Are Discouraged - Nehemiah 1-4

Nehemiah 4:10-14 (ESV)

In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

Nehemiah had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city.  In captivity he had heard it was in ruble and the people in trouble:

Nehemiah 1:2-3 (ESV)

... that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

As a result he asked the foreign king to give him permission to go back to the Israel capital city, with money and permission to rebuild it.   As the reconstruction started to unfold, however, Nehemiah encountered three problems. 

Problem #1 - the people living in the land at the time opposed them.  We must recall that they were in captivity in that foreign land for 70 years.   During that time non-Jews began to occupy the villages and towns around Jerusalem.   To them, this was THEIR land.   They had made a plot to attack those who came back with Nehemiah and stop the construction project.  

Problem #2 - the people doing the work began to fail in strength.  We read in chapter three about all those who did the work. It was a daunting project.  It is doubtful they had many tools. It is questionable some of them even knew what they were doing.  We read that the priest, perfumers, goldsmiths and merchants did the work.   They weren’t professional construction workers from the nearby union shop.   Their energy was slipping. 

Problem #3 - their own neighboring Jews were encouraging them to stop the work and come to their already built towns and homes.   There is one thing to have the work tire you out.  It is another thing to have the enemy threaten you.  But to have your own blood dissuade you from doing the work would be a morale killer.   

What was Nehemiah’s solution to these problems? 

1. Look upward!   He caused them to quit looking at their own brothers, their enemies and the work.  Instead he caused them to look up and not out.  He told them to cast their eyes on the Lord, who is great and awesome.  

2.  Look outward! He had them look to their left and their right to see their brothers, their sons, their daughters and their wives and their homes.   Instead of looking within he wanted them to see that this fight was not about them, but for others.   

What was the result of Nehemiah’s inspirational words?   

Nehemiah 4:15 (ESV)

When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.

When we focus on God’s power and those we love we have motivation to do the work we might loath.  

Capital Punishment for Sexual Immorality? Deuteronomy 20-22

Deuteronomy 22:13-24 (ESV)

Laws Concerning Sexual Immorality

13 “If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her 14 and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 16 And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; 17 and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. 20 But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

23 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

This is a longer passage than usual but it is needed to catch a pattern.  There are many laws in the book of Deuteronomy.  Many are centered around food.  Much are regarding worship practices and procedures.   The majority of the laws in the book are about interpersonal relationships.  God is concerned about how we treat one another.  (It shouldn’t surprise us, therefore, that there are almost 50 verses in the New Testament with the phrase one another.).  In the above passages we read about how we are to care for others regarding sexual immorality.   For those of this age who that state that God is not concerned about what you do in your bedroom, the above passage teaches us that such a thought is not true.   We, personally, might not be concerned about it, but God is.   Here He instructs Moses write almost an entire chapter on this subject.   In the above passages we read about sexual relationship with a man and his new wife regarding his truthfulness and her faithfulness (vss 13-21).  In the above text we have a paragraph about adultery (vs 22).   In the next paragraph we have instructions of what to do in the case of a rape where the victim is also held responsible for not crying for help even though it was available (vss 23-24).  The last paragraph, above, is about rape in the open field where there would be no help available to the victim, no matter if she screamed out, or not (vss 23-24).  The entire point of all these instruction is stated multiple times:  So you shall purge the evil from your midst.   God is concerned about evil in the midst of the nation that may not be dealt with properly.   In each of the above cases a stoning or hanging took place.   God issue commands for capital punishment for sexual immorality because He feared that such activities would lead to unholy practices. If it was not dealt with judicially it would lead them astray.  And in fact, as we read later the prophets of Israel, we will see that the one of the downfalls of the nation was their unchecked and unbridled sexual promiscuity.   Today we are so casual with sexual immorality.  We even bring it into our homes via many channels of entertainment in movie form.   The world continues to normalize what God has condemned.  We not only don’t discipline it from our midst, we invite it into our minds.   God wanted the nation of Israel to purge the evil from their midst.  They did not and lost their nation.   What course are we on for our families, our church, our country.  Pornography is one of the main challenges of today’s church.   We are certainly not purging it from our midst.  

How to Avoid False Teachers - 2 Peter

2 Peter 3:17-18 (ESV)

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Peter has spent most of this last letter he wrote to warn the church about false teachers.  In these last verses he gives us seven areas to make sure we are not swayed by those teachers:

1. We are to take care that you are carried away with the error of lawless people.  The words take care mean to stand guard.  To stand against false teachers we must be vigilant. 
2. We are to be careful that we don’t lose your own stability.  We are to make sure that what we had learned in the past will still be with us to keep us strong in the present.  To stand against false teachers we must rely on what is permanent.  
3. We are to grow.   Growth is the perfect antidote to false teachers. It is the foolish and ignorant that are often lead astray by false teaching.  To stand against false teachers we are to be in a state of advancement.  
4. We are to particular grow in grace.  Understanding the power of grace will enable us to avoid the false teachers who are mostly based upon law.   God’s grace sets us free from the law of man’s sinful nature.  To stand against false teachers we are to live in God’s benevolence.  
5. We are to also grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Having more and more understanding and knowledge about Christ enables us to resist the false teaching about Christ.   To stand against false teachers we are to increase our intelligence. 
6. We are to bring Christ glory now.  When we are attempting to bring glory to Jesus right now we will not be caught up in false teachers now.   To stand against false teachers we are to live in reverence. 
7. We are to bring Christ glory to the day of eternity.  We can’t just live for today.  We must always be living for eternity.   If we want to stand against false teachers we must live a life of expectance. 

We are to make sure we are not carried away by lawless people.  Through Jesus Christ, God equips us.  

We Have a Reasonable Faith - Acts 18-19

Acts 18:4 (ESV)

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Acts 17:2 (ESV)

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

Acts 17:17 (ESV)

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Acts 18:19 (ESV)

And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

Paul had a style.   Having been taught at the highest levels of Pharisaical methods, he was not afraid to open the Old Testament and explain that Jesus was the Christ (the Messiah).   The way he explained the Gospel was through the thought of reasoning.  The word used in these passages for reasoned is explained as follows in Vine’s Dictionary: 

(Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary) dialegomai (διαλέγομαι, 1256) primarily denotes “to ponder, resolve in one’s mind” (dia, “through,” lego, “to say”); then, “to converse, dispute, discuss, discourse with”; most frequently, “to reason or dispute with.”

We often think of the Gospel and faith in it as simply a blind belief.   We don’t typically think of it as a reasoning approach.   Most rational thinking people often reject the Gospel because they don’t see how a faith in something you can’t see or prove sounds rational, reasonable, or logical.   Paul was able to use the objective nature of the Old Testament prophets and writers to show them, from documents, written hundreds of years prior, that Jesus fulfilled all the requirements stated by these writers about the Messiah, the Savior of the world.   We do ourselves much harm when we, too, fall into the elementary thought that faith in Christ is simply a blind religious feel good faith.  It is not!   We can, like any other truth, show people the objective nature of our evidence and that we trust in God and His Son based upon sound reasoning.  In order to accept anything you must have faith in something.  It might be the evidence you see right in front of you (like creation).  It might be evidence shown to you (like documents written in history).   But we must present the Gospel without fear of using our reasoning to show that Jesus is the savior of the world.  The writer of Acts (Luke) uses this word several more times in Acts. 

• Acts 19:8

• Acts 20:7

• Acts 20:9

• Acts 24:12

• Acts 24:25

Paul’s style was to put faith in Jesus for His salivation.  But that didn’t mean he left his logic in the church parking lot, or, in this case, the Synagogue.