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Rejoicing At Encouragement (Acts 15:31)

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  Saturday, July 5, 2025 Psalms 15; 16 1 Samuel 25:2-23 Acts 15:22-35 Rejoicing At Encouragement (Acts 15:31) And when [the church] had read [the letter], they rejoiced because of its encouragement. Who doesn’t love a bit of encouragement? Have you ever been going through a tough stretch and perhaps read a certain passage of scripture, or had a particularly spiritual moment of prayer, or had someone say some uplifting words, and found the difficulty decrease and your heart lighten? I personally have found myself in several occasions where the Lord has put a word of encouragement in just the right place at just the right time to keep me going. And where it says in today’s reading from Acts that the church rejoiced as a result of their encouragement, I found myself nodding along, because that’s what encouragement does: it brings joy. Dear Christian, I want to encourage you. I am just reading out some words that I have typed up, but the Lord has done more ...
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Not Trouble Them (Acts 15:19)

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  Friday, July 4, 2025 Psalms 11; 12 1 Samuel 24:8-25:1 Acts 15:12-21 Not Trouble Them (Acts 15:19) [James said] “ Therefore my judgement is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,” After all this drama about the Law of Moses, of circumcision and all the rest of it, the council at Jerusalem has made their decision. Do not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, and everyone stood up and clapped. But – and here it might get confusing. Is St James picking and choosing which laws to follow and which ones to ignore? Surely it should be a blanket command; either all or nothing. Let’s just have a closer look at which laws get included, though, and see if we can’t make sense of the apostles thinking. We are to abstain anything polluted by idols. We are to remember whose universe we live in; we are to remember to whom we belong. We are to abstain from sexual immorality; and if the Song of Songs has anything to teach us, it is that...
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The Grace Of The Lord Jesus (Acts 15:11)

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  Thursday, July 3, 2025 Psalm 9 1 Samuel 23:19-24:7 Acts 15:1-11 Observance: Thomas, apostle and martyr [ if not observed on December 21 ] The Grace Of The Lord Jesus (Acts 15:11) [Peter said] “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” We say it all the time – but what do we mean when we talk about “grace”? We could mean it in the usual way, such as when someone is elegant we might say they hold themselves with a graceful deportment. This I like, because I think it adds an extra dimension to our understanding of the Lord, who is full of grace. The more usual way we use the word when considering the things of God is to describe an unmerited and free gift. This would seem more appropriate the specific text in front us from Acts, where St Peter speaks about the circumcisers as wanting to place a yoke on people’s neck that they themselves cannot bear. If a perfect life according to God’s la...
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Strengthening The Soul (Acts 14:22)

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  Wednesday, July 2, 2025 Psalms 5; 6 1 Samuel 23:1-18 Acts 14:19-28 Strengthening The Soul (Acts 14:22) [Paul and Barnabas spent their time] strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. If you have ever interacted with an advocacy groups, you may have noticed that usually their leaders are personally involved with the issue in some way. Cancer support organisations are run by people who have cancer, or their families. Domestic and family violence groups are filled with people affected by that. Even community sports groups often have retired professionals involved in some leadership capacity. It seems that if one experiences a momentous life event, positive or negative, that event drives one to encourage others with similar experiences. St Paul certainly experienced several momentous life events. Today we read about the time he w...
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Not Without Witness (Acts 14:17)

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  Tuesday, July 1, 2025 Psalms 1; 2 1 Samuel 22:6-23 Acts 14:8-18 Observance: Coming Of The Light, first missionaries to the Torres Strait (1871) Not Without Witness (Acts 14:17) [Paul and Barnabas said to the crowds] “Yet God did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” I must admit that it is difficult to try and figure out what the ancient pagans thought about their false gods. When reading through the ancient epics, the way the gods are described makes it almost sound like they are poetic devices used to describe human activity. For example, during a great battle, Ares the god of war might appear in the form of a certain human warrior. Is this to say that they actually believed Ares came down and shape-shifted into this person everyone knew? Where was that person when Ares was around – were there two of them walking around the battlefie...
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Everyone Who Was In Distress (1 Samuel 22:2)

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  Monday, June 30, 2025 Psalms 148; 149 1 Samuel 21:8-22:5 Acts 14:1-7 Everyone Who Was In Distress (1 Samuel 22:2)   And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to David. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. Being on the receiving end of harsh criticism is tough. We all like to think we are doing the right thing, all the time. But being on the receiving end of a compliment is often more difficult. Particularly if you have spent some time sitting with Jesus’ teachings about humility and self-emptying. But sometimes (well, more often than we would like) we are actually the right man for the job, as it were. Being a Christian in a world of confusion means we often have that needed word of encouragement, or a greater degree of wisdom than our peers, or find ourselves as the one person in the group with the most generous and patient heart. Ha...
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Begging To Be Told (Acts 13:42)

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  Saturday, June 28, 2025 Psalms 143; 146 1 Samuel 20:35-21:7 Acts 13:42-52 Observance: Irenaeus of Lyons, bishop and teacher (d. c. 200) Begging To Be Told (Acts 13:42) As [Paul and his companions] went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. There is a line from an Anglican priest, I cannot remember, who complained that whenever St Paul preached there was either a riot or a revival. Yet whenever he preached, he got served tea. When I first heard that it cut me deep – the worst response I ever got from a sermon was that it was “a lovely speech”. These are important things for every Christian to bear in mind when labouring as members of Christ’s body to bring in his lost sheep. What works? What doesn’t? What is the best way to make more Christians? What will make people sit up and listen to us? Some preachers will go into the depth of human sin and depravity, hoping that the Holy Spirit will convi...
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