Category: Acts
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Receive the Holy Spirit
(Acts 8:14-25 – Receive the Holy Spirit) One of the most frequent questions I receive by email has to do with receiving the Holy Spirit. The questions usually go along the lines of how do you know if you have the Holy Spirit? Or, how do you receive this gift of God? There is a…
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Contrasting Gospels
(Acts 8:9-13) This little piece of scripture shows us a great contrast between those who are preaching the truth from those who are not. It is worth looking at and thinking about for a few minutes because it will help us to see the wolves in sheeps clothing and to recognise the works of those…
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Spreading The Word
(Acts 8:4-8) It’s ironic how the actions of a few to stop something often leads to an expansion and growth of the very thing they tried to stop. Think about the actions of the Jewish elders and especially Saul who became Paul. Before coming to Christ he persecuted and harassed the early church, even going…
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Leopard Spots
(Acts 8:1-3) There are some old sayings that say you can’t change something or someone. For example, a leopard can’t change it’s spots. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Once a (fill in the blank) always a (fill in the blank). But while these sayings may have some truth for…
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In His Violent Death He Loved
(Acts 7:54-60) Any Christians reading the title of this post may probably think this post is talking about Jesus. I mean what human apart from Christ would even think about love when they are suffering a violent death apart from Jesus. And He was the Son of God. And non-Christians who may be reading this…
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Implications of Stephens Defence
(Acts 7:1-53) Stephen was dragged before the rulers of the Jews, falsely accused of many things by men incited to stand against him and put on trial. But The Lord was with Stephen and his defence was quite remarkable in many ways. Not only did he condemn the religious leaders of his time for their…
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Stephen! Murdered! Martyred!
(Acts 6:8-15) Stephen was the first of the martyrs for Jesus Christ as far as we know. He was put to death for his beliefs and for preaching the gospel. Now you would have to REALLY upset someone for them to go to such extremes. What I mean is that Stephen was a God fearing…
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Sharing the Load
(Acts 6:1-7) You don’t have to do everything you know! In fact if you try to do everything you are more likely to do everything mediocre and nothing well. I mean, how many balls can you juggle in the air before you start dropping them? Well, the rapid expansion and growth in the early church…
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Wisdom of Gamaliel
(Acts 5:33-42) As humans we frequently generalize about all kinds of things. We make broad sweeping statements and too often it is wrong to do so. Paul pointed this out in the Bible when writing to Titus in Titus 1:12 saying, One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil…
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Who Should You Listen To
(Acts 5:27-32) The apostles had been imprisoned for the sake of the word of God and their testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But the lord sent His angel to release them and tell them to continue to teach and proclaim God’s message. When the leaders sought to examine them they did not find…
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The Lords work WILL Be Done
(Acts 5:21-26) Think about Jonah. He tried to escape from doing the work of The Lord by running away to sea. Did he get very far? Nope! The Lord brought a storm down, threatening to sink the boat Jonah was on until the sailors threw him overboard to be swallowed by the great fish. The…
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This Life
(Acts 5:17-20) These scriptures hold a few interesting teachings that bear thinking about. They firstly show the nature of man and the opposition that those who follow Jesus will receive. Then they go on to identify what it is that causes the people of the world to oppose the words of The Lord. We see…
