Guided by Faith: Unity, Prayer, and Decision-Making
Devotional
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"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." [00:00:40]
"Here we have this interesting period from the time after Jesus ascended into heaven. That's what we saw last week in the first 11 verses of Acts chapter 1, where Jesus ascended into heaven and what a mind-blowing experience that must have been for the disciples. But a very important experience because it really gave them a dividing line to say that the earthly presence of Jesus, his earthly physically present ministry was over." [00:01:19]
"I find it very interesting to notice that I believe at this point that the disciples were born again, that they had the Spirit of God. We find that in the Gospel of John chapter 20, that Jesus met with his disciples and it says he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' Now I know about you, but I think that if Jesus breathes on you and says receive the Holy Spirit, you receive the Holy Spirit." [00:02:07]
"Now in this period that we find, they're going to have a decision to make, and that's what we're going to take a look at together this morning, is the rest of Acts chapter 1 describes us a critical decision that the disciples had to make. And to me, this starts spinning the wheels in my mind about decisions." [00:03:17]
"They were obeying Jesus right there, were they not? What did Jesus tell them to do before he ascended into heaven? He said return to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. Stay there and wait for it. So what did they do? They returned to Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives wasn't very far from the city of Jerusalem." [00:04:41]
"Isn't that beautiful? Now there is some notable unity. It's a notable fellowship. You know, in the Gospels, it seemed like the disciples were always fighting and always bickering, right? And what had changed? You know, in some ways, those guys hadn't changed at all, but Peter still had his history of denying the Lord." [00:08:06]
"Peter stands up and says, 'Guys, I judge from the word of God that we should replace him, and this is why based on this psalm and based on this psalm, I think it's telling us that we should replace him.' Matter of fact, these are the psalms that he quotes from. First of all, he says in verse 20, 'Let his habitation be desolate.'" [00:15:29]
"Even if you don't have a special leading or anointing or something like that from the Holy Spirit, you can still know what to do. And how do you know what to do? You'll know it from the word of God. God, how are you going to guide me in your word? What are the principles? How can I obey you and give you glory in this decision?" [00:22:15]
"Sanctified common sense, where you just actually just sort of think through a thing logically according to the scriptures. You don't have a specific leading from the word of God, but they're just thinking, you know what, man, if we're gonna pick somebody to replace Judas, why not one of the guys who's been with us from their very beginning?" [00:22:15]
"Now listen, I know it's easy for us to stand back and say, listen, what are we going to do, start rolling dice for our decisions before the Lord? Is that what we should do? Well, let me tell you this, rolling dice would actually be a superior way than the way many Christians discern God's will." [00:28:14]
"Friends, let me put it this way. We wouldn't make many wrong decisions if we did all the things that the disciples did before they made this decision. What did they do? Were they obeyed? They were in unity, they were in fellowship, they were in prayer, they were in the scriptures, they wanted to do God's will, they used their sanctified common sense." [00:39:38]
"Now a big part of this is to get your life in alignment with his, right? One thing that frightens me is to see Christians making big life decisions when, well, to just put it bluntly, they're walking in the flesh. There's areas of glaring disobedience in their life, they're not in the word of God, they're not in prayer." [00:39:38]
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"Here we have this interesting period from the time after Jesus ascended into heaven. That's what we saw last week in the first 11 verses of Acts chapter 1, where Jesus ascended into heaven and what a mind-blowing experience that must have been for the disciples. But a very important experience because it really gave them a dividing line to say that the earthly presence of Jesus, his earthly physically present ministry was over." [00:01:19]
"I find it very interesting to notice that I believe at this point that the disciples were born again, that they had the Spirit of God. We find that in the Gospel of John chapter 20, that Jesus met with his disciples and it says he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' Now I know about you, but I think that if Jesus breathes on you and says receive the Holy Spirit, you receive the Holy Spirit." [00:02:07]
"Now in this period that we find, they're going to have a decision to make, and that's what we're going to take a look at together this morning, is the rest of Acts chapter 1 describes us a critical decision that the disciples had to make. And to me, this starts spinning the wheels in my mind about decisions." [00:03:17]
"They were obeying Jesus right there, were they not? What did Jesus tell them to do before he ascended into heaven? He said return to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. Stay there and wait for it. So what did they do? They returned to Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives wasn't very far from the city of Jerusalem." [00:04:41]
"Isn't that beautiful? Now there is some notable unity. It's a notable fellowship. You know, in the Gospels, it seemed like the disciples were always fighting and always bickering, right? And what had changed? You know, in some ways, those guys hadn't changed at all, but Peter still had his history of denying the Lord." [00:08:06]
"Peter stands up and says, 'Guys, I judge from the word of God that we should replace him, and this is why based on this psalm and based on this psalm, I think it's telling us that we should replace him.' Matter of fact, these are the psalms that he quotes from. First of all, he says in verse 20, 'Let his habitation be desolate.'" [00:15:29]
"Even if you don't have a special leading or anointing or something like that from the Holy Spirit, you can still know what to do. And how do you know what to do? You'll know it from the word of God. God, how are you going to guide me in your word? What are the principles? How can I obey you and give you glory in this decision?" [00:22:15]
"Sanctified common sense, where you just actually just sort of think through a thing logically according to the scriptures. You don't have a specific leading from the word of God, but they're just thinking, you know what, man, if we're gonna pick somebody to replace Judas, why not one of the guys who's been with us from their very beginning?" [00:22:15]
"Now listen, I know it's easy for us to stand back and say, listen, what are we going to do, start rolling dice for our decisions before the Lord? Is that what we should do? Well, let me tell you this, rolling dice would actually be a superior way than the way many Christians discern God's will." [00:28:14]
"Friends, let me put it this way. We wouldn't make many wrong decisions if we did all the things that the disciples did before they made this decision. What did they do? Were they obeyed? They were in unity, they were in fellowship, they were in prayer, they were in the scriptures, they wanted to do God's will, they used their sanctified common sense." [00:39:38]
"Now a big part of this is to get your life in alignment with his, right? One thing that frightens me is to see Christians making big life decisions when, well, to just put it bluntly, they're walking in the flesh. There's areas of glaring disobedience in their life, they're not in the word of God, they're not in prayer." [00:39:38]
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