The Spirit’s KO {Acts 4-6}

May 11, 2012 in Acts, Bible Study, Blog Series with 0 Comments

You are reading a Bible Study on the Book of Acts. To read more of the series check out Bible Study on Acts, Holy Spirit Time {Acts 1-3}, and The Spirits KO {Acts 4-6}.

This section of Acts seems to be the Holy Spirit’s initial fight. When a boxer goes professional they are measured by their first few fights. In Acts 4-6 The Spirit is a knockout!

From the very beginning of chapter 4 the Spirit humbles even Peter, who is on its side. From the very coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 until now in chapter 4 Peter has been talking. The Spirit seems to have had enough with Peter’s talking so he is sent to jail along with his corner, John. The Spirit humbles Peter first. It wants the readers to see that this match is about the Spirit, not about its workers.

Immediately after this is a series of interactions where we see that anyone opposed to the Holy Spirit’s work will get knocked aside as well. Imprisonment gets knocked out when the rulers and elders of the Sanhedrin have to release Peter and John. They don’t release them because of what the men do though, but because, “they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men” and were “astonished.” (Acts 4:13) It wasn’t Peter and John that won the fight against prison, it was the Spirit doing work through them.

After Peter and John leave prison they go to pray with the other apostles where the Holy Spirit knocks out the ground. As the apostles are worshipping the very way the Spirit told them, “The place where they were meeting was shaken.” (4:31) Not even the ground is stable against the mighty Spirit.

The apostles continue to do what the Spirit ordains and contain to see blessings as they share their possessions. In the middle of all this sharing another competitor emerges. Two of the apostles decide to keep some of their wealth to themselves rather than sharing EVERYTHING. The Spirit literally knocks these two out for good (5:5 & 10). It will not stand for people taking credit for its achievements.

The apostles are apparently unphased by the Spirits tyranny because the go on to healings and wonders (5:12-16). Yet shortly after another adversary emerges when the apostles are persecuted again. The Sadducees got jealous of the fame that the apostles were receiving because of how miraculous the Spirit was working through them. The Sadducees threw them into jail. Just like the last time, the Spirit released the apostles from jail to prove that no enemy of the Spirit will win.
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Holy Spirit Time {Acts 1-3}

May 9, 2012 in Acts, Bible Study, Blog Series, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

You are reading a Bible Study on the Book of Acts. To read more of the series check out Bible Study on Acts, Holy Spirit Time {Acts 1-3}, and The Spirits KO {Acts 4-6}.

The first three chapters of Acts makes me laugh. Not in a “oh, this is so funny!” way, but in a “there’s so much going on, and things keep happening!” way. In just three chapters, there’s Jesus promising the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ ascension to heaven, Matthias replacing Judas as one of the apostles, Pentecost—when the apostles receive the Holy Spirit, Peter’s explanation to the crowd, the baptism of 3,000 converts, a description of the believers’ community, Peter healing a beggar, and Peter’s explanation of the healing. Whew! And things just pick up from there.

Luke, the writer of the Gospel of the same name, is also the author of Acts– and there is not much time for breathing from the end of the Gospel of Luke to the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. It’s like Luke was on a role with inspiration from the Holy Spirit, and he just HAD to keep writing.

The first few chapters of Acts certainly support this renaming. The book starts with Jesus telling the disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father has promised: the Holy Spirit (1:4-5). After Jesus’ ascension and even before Pentecost, God guides the choosing of Matthias (1:24-26). Right away, we see the apostle’s insistence that prayer and God’s actions be the basis for all they do.

And then Pentecost happens. The passage that’s read on every Pentecost Sunday, that we’ll read on May 27th this year. The disciples are gathered together. Suddenly, there’s a rush of violent wind. Tongues of fire appear over the disciples’ heads. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit gives them the ability to speak in different languages. And some of the Jews that are gathered in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost crowd around, amazed that these disciples from Galilee are speaking in the different dialects and languages that the other Jews speak. And not just speaking, but telling about God and God’s powerful actions. Some of the crowd wonder what it all means, while others dismiss it all saying that the disciples are drunk. (2:1-13)

But Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, explains what has happened, using words from the Prophets—God has promised to pour out the Holy Spirit on all people, and that has happened. And Jesus, who was crucified and rose from the dead, is the Messiah, the one everyone has been waiting for. After Peter speaks, about 3,000 hearers are “cut to the heart” and become baptized, and then live in a community together in harmony. (2:14-47)

So, what does chapter 2 of Acts mean for us today?
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Tuesday Thoughts

May 8, 2012 in Blog Series, God Moments, Instagram with 0 Comments

 

{This is a part of a series called Tuesday Thoughts}

 

  •  I have mowed our lawn twice now (all 2 acres of it).   Summer is pretty much here.  There is nothing better than sitting on my deck with a cold beer and admire my accomplishment.
  • I have a few new projects that I am working on.  I am excited to share them, but  I can’t really talk about them right now.  I shall reveal some of them soon!!
  • This past weekend my son received his first communion.  I am so proud of him.  This is one of my kids first real church milestone since I have been a pastor (they both were baptized before I was a pastor).
  • I have a trial version of Hulu Plus.  We are getting close to the summer which means we are going to suspend our cable for the summer.  Our hope is to never turn it back on.  If you are interested in Hulu Plus Click here and get two weeks for free.
  • Jeremy Britt won the Biggest loser.  On the season finale it always amazes me how good they all look.  He looked great and I hope that he continues on his journey and does what he can to help people.
  • We have had some great worship experiences at St. Mark’s recently.  I will be posting about them on the St. Mark’s website very soon.
  • I designed the picture for this post (and future Tuesday Thoughts post).  I made it with photoshop – I really liked it and hope to learn more how to use photo shop and do more design work.  Anyone have photoshop for dummies?
  • I have been in lots of prayer and discernment about how involved or not involved I am going to be with some ministries.  I know have I have committed to many things, especially in leadership of certain ministries.  My priorities are changing and I ask for prayer ask I make some difficult decisions.  In the future I want to be involved more with young adult ministries and I can’t do that plus what I am doing right now outside of ministry at St. Mark’s.  I really want St. Mark’s to be the hub of young adult ministry for our conference.  I am just asking if that’s what God wants too.

Bible Study on Acts

May 3, 2012 in Blog Series, Faith, Receptivity of God with 0 Comments

 

Each book of the Bible has its own personality. Each book tells its own story and each book allows us to see another side of who God is and how God is active in the world. Over the next several weeks we will be having a good, old fashioned Bible study here on Lutheran Grilled Cheese. We will be working our way through the Book of Acts.

There is enough evidence to support that Acts was written by the Gospel writer Luke. Acts is the second part of a two-volume work. I guess if I was to write a few books of the Bible I would of taken the same route as Luke. The first book (the Gospel of Luke) describes Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. The second book (Acts) describes events following the ascension of Jesus and the start of the Christian Church.

Acts begins with a summary of the previous volume, the Gospel of Luke, and then introduces the second volume. In Acts 1:1-5, Luke writes:

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me;for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

This quote also tells me that the intended reader of the Book of Acts was Theophilus.  However, like Luke’s Gospel I am sure that he also had a larger readership in mind.  Scholars are not sure when the book was actually written.  At the earliest,  Acts was written two years after Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, c. 62.
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What Do You Mean “Where Have I Seen God?”?

April 4, 2012 in Faith, God Moments, Receptivity of God with 0 Comments

Recently I heard a quote attributed to Albert Einstein

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

I think the same can be true about seeing God. There are some people who see God everywhere – in everything that they do, in nature, in others, in their actions, the actions of strangers, in animals, in quiet, in loud voice. These people are a huge blessing to have in congregations but often they have the greatest problem with being asked “Where have you seen God?” because they do not know how to answer a question for which the answer is always “everywhere.” Unfortunately, in my experience at least, these people are rare.

There are for more people who do not see God active in their daily lives and therefore when asked “where have you seen God?” their response is more often “nowhere.” Or maybe occasionally they can name that great miracle that happened – but those events don’t come around that often. Fortunately if you are one of these people, you can learn to start seeing God everywhere.
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Holy Week

April 3, 2012 in Blog Series, God Moments with 0 Comments

 

{This is a part of a series called Tuesday Thoughts}

  • As much as I LOVE the stories of Holy Week and the significance it has on my faith.  Being a Pastor during Holy Week is TOUGH.
  • We got a major upgrade in computers at the office.  Two new desktops (main office and my office), a new monitor, and an iPad 2.  Thank you to Best Buy for working with me to make this happen!
  • Had my 50th training session at No Mercy Fitness. Since starting on this journey in October I have lost close to 30 pounds and several inches.  It feels so good to have success, when for so long I have failed.
  • I created my first Facebook ad.  I made it for St. Mark’s for the Easter Season.  It has been up for about 3 days.  We have had about 20 hits so far.  It leads people to this page.  I am not sure how that compares but it is a good first try!

Losing weight with my iPhone

April 2, 2012 in Health with 2 Comments

This weekend I finished my 50th workout session with my trainer.  I really enjoy working out and I have learned a lot during my time at No Mercy Fitness.  I have learned more about myself and my relationship with food and exercise.  I have lied to myself SO many times over the last 33 years of my life.  I have told myself that it doesn’t matter what I eat as long as I take the stairs instead of the elevator, as long as I go for a walk, as long as I do…….whatever…..

So I would end up eating most likely 3000-4000 calories a day…..take that and then I don’t do the stuff I say I am going to do when it comes to exercise – which has lead me to where I am right now.

But now I have someone keeping me accountable.  It has not always been easy and I am far from being perfect, but during the last 50 sessions I have lost close to 30 pounds and I feel more in control of what I am eating.  Instead of not knowing what my next meal is going to be, I have a plan  for my meals.  If I eat something that is not good for me that is a choice and I have to live with the consequences.

Right now those bad choices are becoming less and less.

Part of the training is the exercise-  I am moving my body on a consistant basis and I am feeling like I am getting stronger and stronger.  The other part of my success has come from nutrition.  I need to know what is going into my body and why I am putting in there.

No Mercy has some food journal pages that they give me to help keep track of the food, calories, fats, proteins, and carbs.  This a great resource for many people.  But I know this does not work for me.  I have never been able to keep a notebook like that.  There were many times that I did not have the book with me and I would not write down what I had for a meal that day and then I would forget and I would get to the end of the day and only record  800 calories — I knew that was not right…..

So I went from the papers to a notebook which was better, but again – if I did not have it with me I would not record something or I would not be able to find it the morning of my next workout.  So I racked my brain to figure out a solution.

So I did a search in the app store and I found many, many apps to use for recording food choices.  So I started using some of those apps on my iphone to record what I was eating.

I evaluated many apps but I have settled on two that have really helped me.
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New ELCA Camp Opens This Summer

April 1, 2012 in Community, Fun, Holy Humor with 0 Comments

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will be announcing the opening of another outdoor ministry site later this week, in central Maine.  ”This is the most excited I have been in all of my years of involvement in outdoor ministry.”  Mark D. Burkhardt Director for ELCA  Outdoor Ministry said earlier this week.  ”Not only will people be able to experience the beauty that Maine has to offer, but we expect that people from all around the United States will come and experience this place.”

The new camp is called Camp Wobegone (pronounced ”woe-be-gone”) — the name is inspired by the popular fictional town created by radio personality and storyteller Garrison Keillor.  ”I think this is a wonderful idea” Keillor said about the camp. “The people of Lake Wobegon have always enjoyed the outdoors.  At first we were wondering why the Lutheran Church chose to open the camp in Maine instead of Minnesota.  We were informed that there was a smudge on the paperwork and the clerk thought it was an ME instead of a MN…..Mistakes happen.”

Camp Wobegone is located on a beautiful lake in central Maine.  ”We have found a place in central Maine that we really think is going to work.  Out of the 35,000 square miles of Maine, including the 3,500 miles of tidal coastline we believe this site is going to have a large draw for people.   Continue Reading…

Lenten Pictures

February 29, 2012 in Community, Faith, Sermons with 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Johanna Johnson. She is a newly ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She currently serves St. Martin Lutheran Church and Bethlehem Lutheran Church in the Upstate New York Synod. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

When I arrived at my current call, there was a huge painting hanging over my office in the hall – a shame, I thought, because in this hall, no one could get its full impact! When I mentioned my dismay about this to people, I got some pretty strong reactions. Turns out that for some, even that hallway was too exposed. It would be better if this were hidden away somewhere no one could see it! I was surprised by this, because I thought it was really neat! But, being fairly new, I let it lie, and put my thoughts about hanging it in the sanctuary during Lent out of my head.

But as Lent approached, I couldn’t stop thinking about this painting. Why did people hate it so much? I wondered. Maybe it’s the colors – they aren’t particularly pleasing colors, I guess? Sort of retro, a very specific style. Maybe it’s too modern – people’s dislike was simply a matter of taste. Scenes of Jesus’ passion, that gruesome story, are not a problem. It’s just too… too modern. Maybe it’s simply too big. I will give it that – it is big! Too imposing? Does it draw too much attention to this difficult story of Jesus’ suffering? The way the different scenes overlap really does add to the intensity of an already intense story. I fear we lose the impact of the story, hearing it as frequently as we do, but this painting brings that back into sharp focus.

Yes, I suppose there are lots of things about this painting that are challenging. I suppose I can see why people would not want it in plain sight.
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Tuesday Thoughts

February 28, 2012 in Blog Series, God Moments with 0 Comments

{This is a part of a series called Tuesday Thoughts}

  • Last week my website got hacked.  Or should I say — ALL my websites got hacked.  With some patience and lots of phone calls I got everything cleaned out.  This site was built up from nothing.  I also got another site up and running again and the church website.
  • Because of that I have made some enhancements to this site.  What do you think?
  • I just heard about some Biggest Loser contestants quitting.  If this is true I am VERY disappointed.  You can see how these people have a golden ticket to saving their life in their hands and they are going to give that up?!?! Are you kidding me?!
  • I continue to train at No Mercy Fitness and it is going well.  I feel myself getting stronger everyday and I feel my clothes getting loser.
  • Both of my children are a year older.  As much as I love their birthday’s I am glad it is over.
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