Preaching the Good News

Posted on October 30, 2017 by jwfisch

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A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1

But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. Acts 8:4

When Jesus told the early believers that they would be His witnesses in Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, He didn’t mean that they were to create a strategy to do that. He already had a strategy.

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Rejecting your salvation

Posted on October 27, 2017 by jwfisch

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The stone that the builders rejected

    has now become the cornerstone. Psalm 18:22

‘The stone that you builders rejected

    has now become the cornerstone.’

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:11

Peter had just been arrested by the temple guard and taken before the highest council of religious leaders in the land. This was not just the local church board of elders, it was the center of power and control of the Jewish nation in its headquarters in Jerusalem in the temple that Solomon built. These were the guys in charge of the scriptures — the oracles of God — and the interpretation of those scriptures to the people. They were also the highest court in the land; they judged all factors related to the Jewish people. They were, therefore, speaking for God to the people. They were the voice of God. And Peter had the nerve to tell them they had just rejected the most important Jew in the history of the world — the very one they and their ancestors had been waiting for for generations. This was the Holy One, the Promised One, the One who was going to save them from Roman rule and establish His eternal kingdom, and Peter was announcing that they had not only rejected this Holy One, they had killed Him. 

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HE>i

Posted on October 26, 2017 by jwfisch
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Anne brought me this t-shirt.

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. – John the Baptist (John 3:30)

My daughter came home from Hawaii where she’s been for the last two and a half years, and all I got was this T-shirt. That’s a joke, because we received a lot more than T-shirts from Anne. We received her love, her energy, her intensity, her care for her family, and yes, plenty of stories. Anne makes loyal friends wherever she goes and they don’t go away. And as soon as the word got out that she was here, it seemed they all showed up, including old boyfriends who still hold a candle. For Anne’s old boyfriends, the baseball cliche holds true: “Hope springs eternal.”

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Miracle-minded

Posted on October 25, 2017 by jwfisch

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I think a lot of people avoid the book of Acts because they might think it’s kind of creepy. Think of it. A mighty rushing wind, fire settling on people’s heads, everyone speaking in tongues, angelic visitations, visions from God, people being struck down dead for telling a lie, Peter and the other apostles with the power to heal and cast out demons, sorcerers and magicians wanting to follow the apostles because they want some of the power, and the list goes on. Acts somehow seems like the book to be studying in the month of October. What’s creepy about it is that there are a number of things happening in the Book of Acts that don’t generally happen in our world, and we don’t know what to do with those things.

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Acts, Chapter 2017

Posted on October 23, 2017 by jwfisch

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Here’s how I’d like you to think of the Book of Acts: as if it were written yesterday, and by that I mean yesterday, October 22, 2017. Read it not only as if it were written yesterday, but as if it were still being written today. It’s being written every day by you and by me. (That’s why we call it Acts, chapter 2017). Think of it, in other words, more like a newspaper than a book in the Bible.

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The Acts of the Holy Spirit Through Anybody Who Believes and Is Available

Posted on October 20, 2017 by jwfisch

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What we’re about to read about and study in the Book of Acts, from the coming of the Spirit of God upon all the believers from Pentecost on, is a name changer. I’m going to suggest that it is no longer the Acts of the Apostles; it’s really: The Acts of the Holy Spirit Through Anybody Who Believes and Is Available.

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Out of the shadows

Posted on October 18, 2017 by jwfisch

These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Colossians 2:17

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.  Hebrews 10:1

Jesus dispelled the shadows. He did away with shadows because He is light. There can be no shadow in Him at all.

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The key to transformation

Posted on October 16, 2017 by jwfisch

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“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11)

The stories that unfold in the Book of Acts come from the most transformative period and place in history. This is when the Holy Spirit comes and first dwells in the heart of all believers in Christ gathered in Jerusalem, thus initiating an entirely new era where the Holy Spirit now dwells as a permanent possession in the heart of anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus as the Christ and trusts Him for the forgiveness of their sins. We divide human history into before and after Christ. We could also divide human history into before and after the Holy Spirit. Prior to the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowered certain leaders, prophets and judges of the children of Israel (and even pagans as well, to accomplish His purposes) for specific tasks, but then the Spirit would leave. Now we possess the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God possesses us, and it’s a permanent relationship.

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Don’t look now but you’re on fire!

Posted on October 13, 2017 by jwfisch
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John & Jerald

[Unlike the California fires that lick their tongues with devastation in fast and furious ways, the fire of the Holy Spirit spreads life and requires to be known as something other than us. It is powerful and gives everlasting life and never ever destroys.]

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. (Acts 2:1-4)

They were all wondering how they would know when the Holy Spirit came. Well, it was pretty easy to tell. If you were on fire — literally — you had the Holy Spirit. Now today, we don’t explode into flames when we receive the Holy Spirit, but God does give us each a special gift, and when we use it, it’s like being on fire. The fire is symbolic of the gift and the energy to use it that comes from the Spirit.

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Go to your room!

Posted on October 12, 2017 by jwfisch

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Once when [Jesus] was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)

My wife, Marti, likes to call this the “Go to your room” command. Jesus made it very clear that after He ascended, His disciples and followers were not to do anything but wait in Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. This must have been a somewhat anxious time. The risen Christ had ascended to heaven in a cloud; they would not see Him any more; and they were supposed to go to their room — the upstairs room of the house where they we’re staying, possibly the same room they had shared their last supper with Jesus — and wait to receive the Holy Spirit. They were to be baptized, or “placed into” the Holy Spirit. Problem was: no one knew what this was. No one knew what they were waiting for.

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