Weekly Devotion

“Nothing works unless God is part of it,” he told me. “It connected me through my faith life and gave me a sense of belonging.” A friend of the family spoke with me this week about his life, his faith, his highs, and lows. This guy can quote scripture like I can baseball stats of my favorite players. More importantly, he knows how God’s words fit into his life.

Before we start following Jesus, we base our goodness on our successes. We rest assured that we’re going to Heaven because we do the right things. But then there are those claim to be Christians who live lives that say otherwise. And there are those who are living Christ-filled lives who don’t always see it in the mirror.

Yesterday, a good friend and I sat down to talk about his faith and his story. He is a poster boy for the first group of people I just mentioned. We met at our Life Group three years ago and he was one of the first to welcome my wife and me to the family. He shares a lot during our gatherings and you always know where you stand with him at all times. “I have always connected with Matthew 5:3-12, as long as I can remember,” he said.

A few weeks ago, I paddled out into a very angry ocean. It had been 10 years or longer since I had surfed in anything that big. A massive hurricane out at sea made the ocean swell with power. It wasn’t a difficult paddle and my first wave was a fantastic, really fun, long ride. After about 30 minutes or so, I realized I was alone. At my age, especially in this kind of surf, it’s not something I’m comfortable doing anymore.

“Coach was pivotal in leading me to faith,” my son’s friend said. “I never had any in-depth conversations with him about faith, I was more drawn to him by the way he communicated with people and the way he lived his life.” Midway through their senior year, their coach sponsored both kids to a “Chrysalis flight”

There’s a young man I know who has a bigger heart than many his age. Jesus said if we have even the faith of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Well, this young man has so much more faith than that. When I asked him what he loves to do more than anything else in the world he said, “Fishing and interacting with people.”

A lot of things look great on surface level. An incredible sale, “quick results,” “instant rebate,” and “no strings attached” are just a few examples. Many times, the saying too good to be true applies when something that appears so beneficial requires no payment or penalty. How can it be? In these two chapters of Acts, we find Paul appearing on trial in front of King Agrippa and Porcious Festus unpacking the reality of the Gospel of Christ.

Luke demonstrates the centrality of the resurrection to the Christian faith in both Acts 23 and 24. Paul was once again facing the heat, on trial in front of the Sadducees and Pharisees. It was partly his message and mainly because he preached the resurrection of Jesus.

Paul, despite all his flaws and his shady, violent history, was a devoted, passionate teacher of the Gospel. As a devout Jewish Pharisee he knew God’s word, but as a true believer of Jesus, he lived God’s word. The community in Ephesus meant a great deal to Paul and likewise to them. His earnest teaching came from the heart of his mission, his devotion to his Savior and nothing else.

Beginning in this chapter until the end of the Book of Acts, we find Paul in Roman custody. Other epistles in the New Testament present Paul as a free man, but in terms of Acts, this was the end of his time as a free man. Imprisoned or free, he never ended his witness to Jesus Christ or his usefulness to God and God’s people.