Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Acts 15:1-21
Set – Leviticus 9; Acts 15
Go! – Leviticus 7-9; Acts 15
Acts 15:1-21
1Their peace was disturbed, however, when certain Judeans came with this teaching: “Unless you are circumcised according to Mosaic custom, you cannot be saved.” 2 Paul and Barnabas argued against this teaching and debated with the Judeans vehemently, so the church selected several people—including Paul and Barnabas—to travel to Jerusalem to dialogue about this issue with the apostles and elders there. 3 The church sent them on their way. They passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, stopping to report to the groups of believers there that outsiders were now being converted. This brought great joy to them all. 4 Upon arrival in Jerusalem, the church, the apostles, and the elders welcomed them warmly; and they reported all they had seen God do. 5 But there were some believers present who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees. They stood up and asserted,Pharisees: No, this is not acceptable. These people must be circumcised, and we must require them to keep the whole Mosaic law.
6 The apostles and elders met privately to discuss how this issue should be resolved. 7 There was a lot of debate, and finally Peter stood up.
Peter: My brothers, you all know that in the early days of our movement, God decided that I should be the one through whom the first outsiders would hear the good news and become believers. 8 God knows the human heart, and He showed approval of their hearts by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did for us. 9 In cleansing their hearts by faith, God has made no distinction between them and us. 10 So it makes no sense to me that some of you are testing God by burdening His disciples with a load that neither our forefathers nor we have been able to carry. 11 No, we all believe that we will be liberated through the grace of the Lord Jesus—they also will be rescued in the same way.
12 There was silence among them while Barnabas and Paul reported all the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among outsiders. 13 When they finished, James spoke.
James: My brothers, hear me. 14 Simon Peter reminded us how God first included outsiders in His favor, taking people from among them for His name. 15 This resonates with the words of the prophets:
16 “After this, I will return
and rebuild the house of David, which has fallen into ruins.
From its wreckage I will rebuild it;
17 So all the nations may seek the Eternal One—
including every person among the outsiders who has been called by My name.”
This is the word of the Lord, 18 who has been revealing these things since ancient times.
19 So here is my counsel: we should not burden these outsiders who are turning to God. 20 We should instead write a letter, instructing them to abstain from four things: first, things associated with idol worship; second, sexual immorality; third, food killed by strangling; and fourth, blood. 21 My reason for these four exceptions is that in every city there are Jewish communities where, for generations, the laws of Moses have been proclaimed; and on every Sabbath, Moses is read in synagogues everywhere.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
It is so easy to get caught up in religion and forget the true meaning of what it’s all about. Matt Redman’s lyrics begin to get what I want from you when he wrote the words to “The Heart of Worship”:
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come…
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about you,
It’s all about you, Jesus
Listen to his words the next time you hear Michael Smith sing the song. There is nothing more important to all the remembrances, practices, and rituals performed in your churches, your homes, your everyday lives than the words Matt expresses in those verses. You see worship happens every all the time. Wherever you are, worship should take place because I’m everywhere.
You can’t get away from Me no matter how hard you try. I’m in your workplace. I’m in your home. I’m with you at your parties and places of recreation. I’m wherever you go because I want to build a relationship with you that is the closest relationship you’ve ever known. I want to become the director of your life, your every action, and your every thought. I want you to worship and honor Me with your life. I want you to become a living sacrifice to Me. Driven let Me direct your paths, as David put it in his songs to Me.
It’s easy to get caught up in the ritual, the sameness, of church. Even when the “service” is filled with emotion and excitement, it’s easy to forget why everyone assembles together. It’s easy to pour into a building and get hyped up on the music and forget about the people around you that need more than a smile, a hug, and “we’re glad you’re here” as a matter of routine. I want you to give yourself as a living sacrifice to Me.
Paul and Barnabas found out ministry is messy. They had to give up their preconceived notions about what was important to Me. It took a dream for Me to teach Peter that lesson. It took Paul some hard lumps to learn what was really important, but he learned and he wasn’t going to let others impose the unimportant on My new followers. The debates in Jerusalem certainly raised a lot of My followers’ blood pressure and created quite a stir among those who came to listen to them. I’m glad James had the forethought to keep the most heated parts behind closed doors.
I’m also glad they went to their knees and asked Me about what I thought instead of relying on their own devices to make such an important decision about their next steps. I’d tell you the same as you minister to those around you. Read My Word carefully. My rules are not burdensome. Remember what I told people? “Swap your burdens for Mine because Mine are light and I’ll take your heavy burdens that you cannot bear yourself.” Well, don’t add burdens to those new converts. Listen to what James and the leaders of the new church decided.
James said the four rules were because Jews were in those cities and not living by those four rules would greatly offend them. I had a greater reason I bent that group toward those rules, just to let you know. The first, idols will trap you into worshiping something other than Me. Don’t! The second, sexual immorality doesn’t affect just you or you and your partner. It affects whole families. It affects your co-workers and neighbors. It affects every area of your life and every person you touch. Sexual immorality works through every person you touch just like yeast works through dough. The third and fourth rules deal with a covenant I made with Adam pointing forward to My perfect sacrifice for sin. As I told Adam, life is in the blood, whether physical or spiritual, it is blood that saves.
Don’t get tangled up in rituals and unnecessary practices. Just worship Me. Listen to Matt Redman’s song again. The heart of worship is all about Me. If anything else creeps into your demands for others, check what you’re doing, you might just be getting off track. Let Me worry about getting My children in line. You just worship Me.
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