Sunday, September 13, 2009

"Exalted - a word of action"

Today's Reading: Acts 5:27-32 (NIV)

27Having brought the apostles; they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
29Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."


The atmosphere in this scene must have been full of spiritual dimensions from both sides; good and evil. “We gave you strict orders…” sounds very authoritarian to me, something parents most likely say with teenage drivers in the house. “We must obey God rather than men!” had to be shared by every person captured before the court, all in unison because they believed it and lived it.

Then begins the storytelling of how God raised Jesus from the dead and YOU hung him from a tree. The intonation of voices could have been a grave attempt at manipulating the captors into taking responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ. The Jews had indeed crucified Christ, but they were not about to admit it, for evil was spinning around all of them.

The splendor of this story comes in the words “God exalted …” that phrase from this portion of the scripture simply jumps off of the page! When I say the word exalted out loud it reveals the power of God and I tremble at the sound of the word.

There are times in our daily routines when an extraordinary opportunity to be His vessel arrives right in front of us. When we live a life according to God’s will (His orders) so we are not in conflict with the evil forces of the world - He will exalt us to be one with him. He will ultimately give us every word that we need at any given moment. Ask and we will speak in unison with Him.

Dorothy Brucks, holding Deb in my prayers
Aldersgate UMC
Nixa, MO.

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