Daily Encouragement

March 22, 2009 - God Shows No Partiality

Meditation on Acts 10

The fact that an Italian soldier, Cornelius and his house hold came to know the Lord showed that there is no favoritism allowed in God's kingdom. Peter was their messenger who visited their home after God had given him a vision to eat the animals which the Jews considered unclean. The vision caused Peter to realize that he should not call any man common or unclean because they had been cleansed by God. (v. 15, 28) He confessed to Cornelius that "In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. (v. 34-35 NKJV)

Deep in many cultures, there is prejudice against other people. Like the Jews in Peter's time, they thought that they were a better race before God. We all need to learn that God treats everyone the same and that we should imitate Him to do the same. Let us not only share the Gospel to those who may be different from us but also treat them as equal with us in the eyes of our Savior. The Holy Spirit filled the Gentiles just like the Spirit filled the Jews. (v. 44-46) God has given spiritual gifts to all believers just the same.

March 23, 2009 - The First Movement To Reach The World

Meditation on Acts 11

Dr. Luke has used the entire chapter ten and eighteen verses of chapter eleven to record the conversion of Cornelius. It showed the significance of a major development of the history of salvation. Through Peter's vision and outreach experience, the whole church in Jerusalem now began to understand that God has granted to Gentiles repentance to life. (v. 18)

Then the focus moved to Antioch, a city of about half a million population. When the saints who fled from persecution landed there, they led a great numbers of the people to Christ. This cosmopolitan city had people of various cultures and ethnic backgrounds including people from Persia, India, and even China. Therefore many people there would have heard the Gospel and in turn these people of diverse culture would likely bring the message of Jesus to their home land. Luke mentioned that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. (v. 26)

The first pastor of this great church that began to reach the whole world was Barnabas, the son of encouragement. This pastor took special effort to find an associate to help him. His name was Saul, who later on became Paul the first missionary of Christian church. (v. 22-25)

March 24, 2009 - Humor Or Sorrow

Meditation on Acts 12

While the church was praying for him earnestly, Peter was miraculously delivered by an angel from the prison. (v. 5-10) He went to John Mark's place where the believers were praying and knocked at the door. Rhoda came to answer the door and recognized Peter. She was so overwhelmed with joy that she forgot to open the gate but ran in to announce Peter's presence at the gate!

Guess what? No body believed this girl. They thought that she was crazy or had seen Peter's angel. Poor Peter had to keep on knocking. They finally opened the gate and were astonished to see him.

Some people called this incidence humorous. But I considered this a sad reality of human nature in the last days. Jesus said it long ago, "...When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8 NIV)

We have witnessed that God has done great things in our churches and the world. But many faithful Christians are only searching for physical answers or human rationalization for what had happened that was totally unexpected. We don't seem to expect much when we pray. In fact we simply dictate to God what we normally think how things should happen and tell Him to do it. But God is all sovereign and powerful. He loves to surprise us as He did for the first church of Jerusalem.

March 25, 2009 - Some Pointers For Mission Work

Meditation on Acts 13

It would do well for us to follow the model of mission from the first church at Antioch who sent out missionaries. We can observe the following principles for a mission minded church.

Before a church engages in sending out missionaries, they should be fasting and praying in seeking the Holy Spirit's direction. (v. 2)

Missionaries should be sent by a church and not individuals or just some agency. (v. 1-3)

Missionaries should be sent out as a team, at least two. (Barnabas and Paul, v. 2) Jesus sent out His disciples two by two. Therefore for a husband and wife team, they should be supporting each other as both should be clear of God's calling.

The message of the missionaries should contain a clear salvation history as Paul's message was. (v. 16-25)

Their message must include Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. (v. 26-38)

Every listener should understand that one can only be justified before God by faith and nothing else. (v. 39-41)

The missionaries should expect that there will always be those who oppose the preaching of the gospel as well those who are jealous of their success. (v. 6-12, 44-46)

The role of the leadership may switch as the circumstance demands. Up to verse 2, Luke still mentioned Barnabas before Saul in his narrative. But beginning verse 13, Luke said, "Now, when Paul and his party set sail..." And in verse 43, he mentioned Paul before Barnabas.

Though missionaries may be rejected by a certain city, they can still be filled by the Holy Spirit and full of joy. (v. 52)

March 26, 2009 - God's Protection For Missionaries

Meditation on Acts 14

God protected His own workers before their job were finished. In this first missionary journey of Paul, he had escaped from mistreatment and stoning of the crowd. (v. 5) But when he and Barnabas got to Lystra, he really got stoned and was dragged out of the city supposing he was dead.

What happened was that he had healed a lame man in that city. The heathen there thought that he and Barnabas were gods coming to visit them. They were led by their priests to come to worship Paul and Barnabas who barely stopped them from doing so. But later the Jews from the surrounding cities came over to persuade the crowd and spoke evil about them. It was such an irony that the crowd would turn around to stone Paul instead. A popular opinion could easily change indeed.

But praise God, Paul did not die. Dr. Luke said, "But while the disciples stood around him, he arose and entered the city. And the next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe." (v. 20 NASB) Indeed God's word indicated that He had protected His servant and restored his health.

I believe God has continued to do that for missionaries throughout the centuries. We have known stories of God's protection upon David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor and others. My maternal grandfather, Tai-Cho Tse was the first in his village to become a Christian after he heard a similar message to the one in this chapter by Paul from a missionary in the city of Zengcheng (增城), Guangdong (廣東), China. He went back to his village to share his new found faith. But he was spit upon and stoned by some. But praise the Lord, later he was able to help the villagers in some great project and gained the trust of the elders. He got to preach in their temple of ancestors. Eventually he was able to lead the whole village to the Lord. He built the first church there. Today there is a public building at the village in honor of him with his name on the post at the top of the front door even though there is no worship under the government rule. Please pray that there will be a worship there restored one day.

March 27, 2009 - How To Resolve Conflict At Church

Meditation on Acts 15

Church is made up of people with diverse opinions. Some Jews of the early churches insisted that Christians ought to be circumcised according to the custom of Moses in order to be saved. But of course Paul and Barnabas disputed with them and insisted that everyone is saved by grace only and not by keeping the law. This issue is so serious that the whole congregation in Jerusalem came together to discuss this matter with the presence of the apostles and elders. We can find a few principles in solving conflict in the church through their model.

1. The congregation needs to get together to discuss the whole matter.

2. All sides should have the opportunity to share their view point openly.

3. Everyone should listen carefully the discussion and testimonies.

4. No one in the church should put burden on other Christians than they could bear.

5. Everyone should follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

6. Everyone should respect the culture of other person in the church.

7. The leaders and the congregation should all have consensus and be united.

8. The decision should be clearly published so there should be no misunderstanding.

9. All people whether Jews or Gentiles are saved through the grace of God in the same manner. (v. 11)

May God help all churches to resolve any conflict that may arise.

March 28, 2009 - The Power Of Christian Praise

Meditate on Acts 16

It seemed that Paul and company wanted to go East in their missionary journey, yet God directed them to go West and ended up in the city of Philippi. (v. 6-12) In that vicinity, they planted the Philippians church in Lydia's home who came to know the Lord through a prayer meeting at the riverside. But Paul and Silas ended up in jail after Paul cast out a demon from a fortune teller who could not be profitable for her master any more.

They were also beaten severely by rods and had their legs spread and locked up. Imagine in such pain, Paul and Silas started singing and praising God in the middle of the night.

As a result, several things happened:

There was a great earthquake and their chains were loosed and all the jail doors opened. The prisoners who listened to their singing did not escape. The jailer asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (v. 30 NIV) He and his household believed in the Lord Jesus and were saved and baptized. These were the effect and ministry of praising and singing of hymns.

We must engage in more hearty singing and praising today whether at home or at church.