4-3-2025 Devotion

 We have been looking at Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Today we focus on the word "called." "Called" is an adjectival noun which means it is an adjective used as a noun, i.e. the description becomes the person, place, or thing as a noun. To be called is to be invited, welcomed, or appointed. Originally it was used to designate those invited to a banquet. This word must be distinguished from those chosen. The Greek word for called is kletoi and the word for elected is eklekton. So the verse here is for the benefit of those invited or called according to His purpose (we look at this tomorrow). Have you heard the call to the Gospel? If you have, then this verse grants you all the benefits of knowing that everything is going to work together for good.

 

The Barnes New Testament Commentary explains who the "called" are: " Christians are often represented as called of God. The word (klhtoiv) is sometimes used to denote an external invitation, offer, or calling. But excepting in these places, it is used in the New Testament to denote those who had accepted the call, and were true Christians, Ro 1:6,7; 1Co 1:2,24; Re 17:14. It is evidently used in this sense here--to denote those who were true Christians. The connexion, as well as the usual meaning of the word, requires us thus to understand it. Christians are said to be called because God has invited them to be saved, and has sent into their hearts such an influence as to make the call effectual to their salvation. In this way their salvation is to be traced entirely to God."

 

Today, ask yourself: "Have I heard the call?" If the answer is "yes," then go back and reread verse 28 again and see what He has promised you. Then, no matter what occurs, it is going to be for your good. Isn't that a comfort in times of uncertainty? This verse when properly understood can be a great source of inspiration and peace. May it bless you this day.

4-2-2025 Devotion

 We have been looking at Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." This verse can provide real comfort, especially when it is fully understood. We have already looked at the first part: "all things work together for good." Today, we focus on "to them that love God." The word "love" is the Greek word agapao and it means "to esteem, love, indicating a direction of the will and finding ones joy in something or someone." The blessing found in this verse is reserved for those that find their joy in God. This is not an intellectual joy; it is a joy that finds its fulfillment in how we live our lives to the glory of God. When we can live our love for God, then the promise of this verse is real.

 

William Burkitt explains this love as follows: "The character of the persons to whom this privilege doth belong: they are described by their Christian affection, they love God, and by their effectual vocation, they are called according to his purpose. They love God, and evidence their love to him by an high estimation of him, by their delight in him, by their desires after him, by their longings for the full fruition and final enjoyment of him." When we love God, we have a confidence that everything is going to work out for the good (i.e. His good for our lives).

 

Today, focus on your love walk with God. Make sure that your life evidences love and enjoyment in Him. As you do, Romans 8:28 surrounds all you do. Everything is going to work for good because you have God's Word as a guarantee!  

4-1-2025 Devotion

 We are continuing our look at Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Yesterday we looked at the phrase "all things." Today, we are going to examine "work together for good." This can be difficult to accept while in the midst of a personal crisis. To understand this phrase we must have an understanding of God's Providence. Providence may be defined as "literally foresight, but is generally used to denote God’s preserving and governing all things by means of secondary causes." God has a perfect plan but He uses secondary causes to bring that plan about. What is a secondary cause? A secondary cause can be anything in the natural world that God chooses to use. For example, a car breaks down and creates a traffic jam. You are in a hurry to get some where. The secondary cause, i.e. the traffic delay due to a car malfunction, is used to bring about God's plan for your life for you to have more patience. 

 

Adam Clarke explained this as follows: "All these things work together; while they are working, God's providence is working, his Spirit is working, and they are working TOGETHER with him.  And whatever troubles, or afflictions, or persecutions may arise, God presses them into their service; and they make a part of the general working, and are caused to contribute to the general good of the person who now loves God, and who is working by faith and love under the influence and operation of the Holy Ghost." God uses the secondary causes in your life to work something for your good. It is good that you have patience; the problem is that you would rather just take a "patience pill" as opposed to dealing with the secondary causes used to create that patience.

 

Today as you go about your day, watch for the secondary causes. See what God is working for good in your life by looking at the secondary causes. You may just feel a little bit better about that traffic jam when you see God's hand at work for your good in your life.

3-31-2025 Devotion

 We are going to spend a few days looking at Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." When this verse is understood, it can be a great comfort to those in the midst of trials or afflictions. This verse stands as a summit for Paul's writing in chapter 8. Today, we focus on the phrase, "all things." The words "all things" includes the idea of oneness, totality or the whole. What can happen to you today that God does not either directly cause or allow to come about? The answer is nothing; He is a Sovereign God. I can take comfort in the fact that God is in control of all that occurs. I may not understand everything but my responsibility is to trust Him and lean not on my own understanding (Pro.3:5). 

 

The Barnes New Testament Commentary explains: " All our afflictions and trials; all the persecutions and calamities to which we are exposed. Though they are numerous and long-continued, yet they are among the means that are appointed for our welfare." The Teachers Commentary states concerning the extent of "all things" to include: "Earthly trials and misfortunes as well as rewards and successes." Yes, everything that occurs in your life will be used by God to shape you into His image. The pain you have suffered in the past has shaped you into the person you are today; the blessings you have received have helped mold you into exactly what He wants you to be. Now understand that He is not through with you yet. Today may hold blessing or trial, but they both are His tool to shape you.

 

With this understanding, you may approach this day with confidence that you are safely in His hand. Walk in obedience to His will and you will find that whatever occurs, it will work for your good.

I Don’t Think You Know What That Means Part 3

 https://pathwaytopurityandpower.podbean.com/e/unpacking-misinterpreted-scriptures-finding-true-righteousness/

Bible Study Acts 7: 1-30

 

Commentary of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles

By Dr. Barry L. Jenkins

Text Used: Legacy Standard Bible

Bible Study Acts 7: 1-30

Text:

Stephen’s Defense

7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

2 And he said, “Hear me, brothers and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in [a]Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in [b]Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5 But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him, even when he had no child. 6 But God spoke in this way, that his seed would be sojourners in a foreign land, and that they would [c]be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7 ‘And I Myself will judge the nation to which they will be enslaved,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and [d]serve Me in this place.’ 8 And He gave him [e]the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham was the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, becoming jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt and all his household.

11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers [f]could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 And on the second visit Joseph [g]made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five [h]persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. 16 And from there they were removed to [i]Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of [j]Hamor in [k]Shechem.

17 “But as the time of the promise was drawing near which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until another king arose over Egypt who did not know about Joseph. 19 It was he who deceitfully took advantage of our family and mistreated our fathers to [l]set their infants outside so that they would not survive. 20 It was at this time that Moses was born, and he was lovely [m]in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. 21 And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter [n]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and deeds. 23 But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took justice for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he supposed that his brothers understood that God was granting them salvation [o]through him, but they did not understand. 26 On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you treating one another unjustly?’ 27 But the one who was treating his neighbor unjustly pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this remark, Moses fled and became a sojourner in the land of [p]Midian, where he was the father of two sons.

30 “And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 

Verse by verse commentary:

Verse 1: “And the high priest said, ‘Are these things so?’”

“Are these things so?” would be the modern day equivalent of “how do you plead?”

Verse 2: “And he said, “Hear me, brothers and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,”

“The God of glory” refers to how God revealed Himself to the children of Israel during the time of Moses: the pillar of fire, pillar of a cloud, glory on the mountaintop, and glory on the tabernacle. 

Verse 3: “and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’”

This is a quote from Genesis 12: 1. Abram was being asked to leave the life he knew and was comfortable with, to go to a strange land with no guarantees except he was being obedient to the God of all creation. 

Verse 4: “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.”

The “land of the Chaldeans” was Babylonia, which is in modern day Iraq.

Verse 5: “But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him, even when he had no child.”

This is quoted from Genesis 17: 8 and 48: 4. Abraham believed God and walked in obedience.

Verse 6: “But God spoke in this way, that his seed would be sojourners in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.”

Exodus 12: 40 states the period would be 430 years. This is not a contradiction. Stephen is speaking in generalities so he rounded down to 400.

Verse 7: “ ‘And I Myself will judge the nation to which they will be enslaved,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’”

This is a quote from Exodus 3: 12. Stephen is building his defense around the Word of God. 

Verse 8: “And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham was the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.”

God established the covenant with Abram. God then changed his name to Abraham (“father of multitudes”).  He was the father of all Israel but lived centuries before Moses did. Moses instituted the customs that Stephen’s adversaries were trying to protect.

Verse 9: “And the patriarchs, becoming jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,”

Now, Stephen moves to another period in Jewish history. He is going to remind his accusers of the deliverance out of Egypt. God made Moses the deliverer. And he shows that at first the children of Israel refused to follow Moses and that Moses had trouble with them all the way. Stephen’s current opposition were from the same mold as the detractors in Joseph’s day. Stephen preaches that God never left Joseph. 

Verse 10: “and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt and all his household.”

 Stephen gives a masterful, detailed defense of the Christian faith from the Old Testament. There was deliverance for Joseph “from all his afflictions,"  and God gave him great wisdom and favor leading to his appointment as governor of all Egypt. Joseph was Providentially exactly where God wanted him to be. 

Verse 11: ““Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food.”

When I read these verses I think about the Providence and Sovereignty of God. The fathers could not food, but God’s plan was on schedule and fulfilling His Perfect Will. God had sent Joseph ahead to Egypt and placed him in a position to provide for Jacob and his family. 

Verse 12: “But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.”

No accident that Jacob heard there was food in Egypt. No accident that Egypt had food. No accident that Joseph was in charge of the food. God was 100% in charge.

Verse 13: “And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh.”

The perfection of God’s plan is revealed to those involved. Jacob thought Joseph was dead, but he wasn’t. Jacob thought they all might starve, but they were never in any danger. God’s plan is perfect, even if you can’t see it, even if you are about to be stoned.

Verse 14: “Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five [a]persons in all.”

The Hebrew text in Exodus 1: 5  has “seventy.” However, the Greek translation of the Old Testament text, which this sermon is essentially following read “seventy-five.” The additional five are Joseph’s descendants born in Egypt.

Verse 15: “And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died.”

Stephen is laying the foundation of his defense that shows God’s plan in what has taken place. The new nation of Israel would enter Egypt and become a multitude as God promised Abraham. The original fathers died there.

Verse 16: “And from there they were removed to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.”

Stephen is not trying to provide a historically accurate account of the burials.  He is condensing the events regarding the patriarchs’ burial purchases. Stephen’s audience would have known that Jacob and his sons were buried in two different places (Hebron and Shechem). 

Verse 17: “‘But as the time of the promise was drawing near which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,’”

God’s plan was unfolding to His Sovereignty and Providence. There was a limit to the slavery the Hebrews would experience, and as God had planned, it was coming to an end. The increase in numbers led to the events that would result in their release from slavery.

Verse 18: “until another king arose over Egypt who did not know about Joseph.”

The new king did not know about Joseph and how his planning made Egypt both rich and powerful. 

Verse 19: “It was he who deceitfully took advantage of our family and mistreated our fathers to set their infants outside so that they would not survive.”

Pharoah sought to drown all the Hebrew boys at birth for fear that one would be the deliverer. Yet, it was Pharoah’s army that drowned, not Moses the deliverer. I read a message from an old Church of the Nazarene evangelist named “Uncle Bud” Robinson. He called it: “When Chickens Come Home to Roost.” The idea is that the evil you plan for others might be yours one day. 

Verse 20: “It was at this time that Moses was born, and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home.”

God’s Providential plan could not be stopped by mere man. Moses did not drown. In God’s providence, he was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter. He was the one chosen by God to lead the Hebrew children out of Egyptian captivity. 

Verse 21: “And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son.”

If Pharoah had no sons, Moses could have been the next in line. Pharaoh’s daughter brought him up as her own son. 

Verse 22: “And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and deeds.”

Since Moses was raised in the royal household, he would have been given a full Egyptian education. Two first-century scholars, the historian Josephus and Philo the philosopher, write of the extensive education of Moses.

Verse 23: “But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.”

The life of Moses can be divided into three forty year periods: the first forty years in Pharoah’s household, forty years in Midian, and forty years starting with the Exodus and concluding in the wilderness wanderings of Israel.

Verse 24: “And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took justice for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.”

Notice that Moses did what he considered to be a very noble act. He intended to protect and deliver his brethren. However, they didn’t understand his actions.

Verse 25: “And he supposed that his brothers understood that God was granting them salvation through him, but they did not understand.”

The theme of Stephen’s defense concerns Israel’s repeated rejection of God’s messengers, despite God’s grace. In the same way, the Israelites were rejecting Moses’ defending one of the brethren. While God’s Plan was in operation, they didn’t know it yet.

Verse 26: “On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you treating one another unjustly?’”

I can only assume that Moses went the next day looking for more opportunities to protect his brethren. He certainly felt no need to hide, at least at that point. In his heart, he believed he had done nothing wrong.

Verse 27: “But the one who was treating his neighbor unjustly pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?”

This is a quote from Exodus 2: 14. Stephen is making a case of Israel’s continual rejection of God’s chosen vessel to accomplish His purposes. 

Verse 28: “‘Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’”

This completes the quote from Exodus 2: 14. At this point, Moses most likely felt fear over the situation.

Verse 29: “At this remark, Moses fled and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he was the father of two sons.”

Moses feared Pharaoh would hear of his killing the Egyptian and see him as the deliverer of the Jewish people. It was time to leave because the Hebrews rejected him and he had no where to go except to depart from the region.

Verse 30: “And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.”

“An angel” is literally “messenger of Yahweh” who, in context, turns out to be the LORD Himself talking to Moses. Yahweh is the covenant name of God. Better understood as “I will be what I will be.” This is the Supreme Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.