True Disciples - March 1, 2014

Scripture: Acts 19-20

13 A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. 15 But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered. - Acts 19
33 “I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes. 34 You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me. 35 And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” - Acts 20

Message:
Knowing GOD is more important than knowing about GOD. The truth lies in your heart.

Observation/Promise:

There are many religious people in this world. And Religion can be an act that can be played upon. But GOD knows the truth, the truth lies in your heart. People can be religious, act faithful, pretend to be spiritual gurus. But the True disciples of Yeshua are known by their fruits. Yeshua says in Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ 
True Disciples of GOD do not depend on others to supply their needs. Like Paul he worked hard on his own to be a blessing to the ones he shares the good news with, not to be a burden to them. 

Command/Application:

Be Real. Be true to yourself, to your frustrations, to the things you don't understand and carry them all to GOD. Do not pretend to be strong if you know you are weak, but be confident that even in your weakness GOD is holding you up never leaving you. For those also that try to please GOD, be careful that you do not end up pleasing people instead. There is a thin line between a follower of Yeshua and being a people pleaser in church. Sometimes when we follow Yeshua, we disappoint others especially those that has confined us to be what they think we should be. But GOD wants us to be more that what we think we are and what others expects of us. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Do not let the opinion of others affect you but let GOD and His will transform you. Work hard to supply your needs. Do not depend on others, depend on the provisions of GOD. For when we bless others whom we are also sharing our faith with, we become credible and even more believable. We are not sharing our faith because we need something from them, we share our faith because we want to bless them. 

Faith = Trust

3 For it is not merely the hearers of Torah whom God considers righteous; rather, it is the doers of what Torah says who will be made righteous in God’s sight. 14 For whenever Gentiles, who have no Torah, do naturally what the Torah requires, then these, even though they don’t have Torah, for themselves are Torah!15 For their lives show that the conduct the Torah dictates is written in their hearts. Their consciences also bear witness to this, for their conflicting thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them 16 on a day when God passes judgment on people’s inmost secrets.

- Romans 2

We can look but not see, we can listen but not really understand, we can act out something but we are not really doing it. It is the same with religion, we can call ourselves members of a certain religion, Christians, Jews, Muslims but we are not really fully and whole heartedly as we are. For it is not those who go to church or synagogues or mosques that are saved. It is not those who know or listen to what the Torah or the Bible says that are righteous in His sight, but those who are doing and following what the Torah or the Bible says! Faith, Belief, is nothing without actions. Our faith comes from what we believe is true, our actions comes from that trusting what we believe in. What do you believe in?

Gentiles, there are some people who never had the Torah, never had the Bible, but somehow their lives reflect that they are following it. How could this be? For GOD is not merely found in the Bible, but GOD's Spirit lives inside of men and His Word is written in the hearts of man, that is why when we do a certain sin we are convicted of it, we are disturbed by something prompting us that it is wrong, we do not have peace... This is the Holy Spirit working within all of us. The conscience we have in all of us reminds us of what is right or wrong but the conscience is not always right, because the devil can play the conscience condemning us of our sins but if we belong to Jesus, we are no longer condemned because although we still make mistakes, we rely on GOD's grace and power to make us right with HIM and it is in trusting HIM that we are saved.

Lifestyle

4 Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5 “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6 When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds. 7 And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’
8 “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.
9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ 10 This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven
- Acts 11: 4-9

GOD is not a religion. GOD is a person, three persons as one being. Religion tell us about GOD but religion cannot fully explain the greatness of GOD. Religion gives us a set of tradition, rules, do's and don'ts. But it takes faith to know GOD. Faith cannot be measured by a set of do's and dont's. Faith are a strong conviction of GOD's leading in one's life. You will know GOD when you have faith and believe that He exists. There are many times that GOD does things which are not usual or traditional. But just because it's unusual, it doesn't mean it's wrong. GOD has set apart the Jewish people for Himself, chosing this kind of people to reveal Himself to the world. Jewish people are therefore set apart, more restricted of their lifestyle than that of a non-jewish person. They can only eat certain food, because GOD has taught them in the days of Moses what to eat, what feasts to celebrate and basically how a Chosen people should live. It is a lifestyle, not a choice. Faith is a lifestyle of knowing GOD, a daily choice to walk in His ways.

But Peter, a devoted man of GOD, Jewish and a disciple of Jesus Christ, has always followed the Jewish ways of living. That includes not eating certain kinds of animals for they were unclean before GOD. But GOD who is above the highest laws HE gave to man kind, gave Peter a vision, commanding him to eat that which was not a jewish person was not supposed to eat. At first, it was hard for Peter to accept because raised as a jew never questioned the ways GOD had commanded a jewish person should live. But now having received a completely different way of what he knew and was taught, he was confused whether the vision was really from GOD or not. GOD had to show him the vision thrice before he was finally convinced that it had been GOD speaking to him. But after obeying, Peter was blessed to find the Holy Spirit being poured out into the Gentiles as GOD has poured out HIS Spirit to the jewish people.

We should not question GOD's ways, no matter how unbelievable it is, the more we should all the more believe that such great things are from GOD. GOD cannot be put in a box, HE cannot be constricted or limited into a set of tradition or ways. HE will always be the highest law. What HE says is. When you receive something from GOD that is too great to comprehend, something unbelievable, unimaginible, then ask again. Don't close your mind because frail human minds cannot comprehend the greatness of this big creator of the Universe. Even the Universe, the vast space, cannot contain GOD how much more can our finite minds contain and understand the ways of GOD. It will take eternity to know GOD. Let everyday be a day to know GOD, a lifestyle of faith.