Author: Norm

SCRIPTURE: Acts 7 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. [John 5:45-46] In our passage, Stephen, like Jesus, is being accused of speaking against Moses, the Law and the…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 6 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. [John 15:5] It is so important that we distinguish between the root and the fruit. The root is the source of life, the…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 5 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Jesus replied, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.’ [John 8:54] Any venture undertaken without God is doomed to fail. If God is not behind Jesus, then His teaching and miracles mean nothing. If God is not behind…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 4 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. [Acts 4:13] God is turning the world upside down through ordinary people. His kingdom comes through humble servants, starting with Jesus and…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 3 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord [Acts 3:19] As long as we remain closed to God, we will experience misery. The suffering in this world, including this man’s being crippled, is the consequence of our having…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 2 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 1 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. [Acts 1:5] The book of Exodus finishes with the tabernacle being ‘baptized’ (filled, covered, anointed) by the glory cloud that represented God [Exodus 40:34-38]. God’s presence and power among them led and empowered them through the…

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 40 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. [John 14:16-17] The…

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 39 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. [Matthew 6:28-29] What a lot of attention is given in Exodus 38-39 to the temple…