Author: Norm

SCRIPTURE: Acts 19:23-41 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: The message of Jesus can be very disruptive to a community, as many missionaries have discovered. Fortunately the city clerk spoke with a voice of reason. This is a “God-moment”, where God speaks through an unsuspecting servant (who thinks he’s speaking for Artermis). God doesn’t always work things out this way, but…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 19:1-22 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Here we see the mysterious way the word of the Lord (ie message of good news, not the Bible which was not written yet) moved: baptism of the Holy Spirit, tongues and prophecying, handkerchiefs and aprons healing people, casting out demons (and demons beating up fakes). The results were powerful, dramatic conversions…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 18:18-28 OBSERVATION: It is amazing to me that in a time with so little information available (no “Christian” books, bookstores, seminaries, catechisms, etc), the Lord still got His message out, even through Apollos, who was a follower of John the Baptist, yet taught about Jesus in a remarkably accurate way. This passage shows how…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 18:1-17 OBSERVATION: Paul’s preaching inspires faith and provokes conflict. Regardless of the response, the Lord wants us to declare the message. If people reject it, or refuse to listen, that is their decision. We do not force people to believe (or not believe) something, like the Jews did, but respectfully allow people to make…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 17:16-34 OBSERVATION: Paul starts with the “faith” of non-Christians, and builds his message on what they already believe, expanding their present “faith” with what God is like (not a statue!), and how God is ultimately revealed in Jesus. The resurrection is too much for these philosophers, as it still is for many today. And…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 17:1-15 OBSERVATION: There are a variety of responses to the message, and this passage suggests that the response reveals something of the person’s character (v.5, rounded up some bad characters, v.11, the Bereans of more noble character). APPLICATION: An interesting thought, that our response to the message of Jesus will reveal something about our…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 16:16-40 OBSERVATION: This passage suggests that some people can do supernatural things because of the (evil) spirits at work in them, still happens today! Why didn’t Paul deal with the spirit right away? Stripped, beaten, severely flogged, thrown into prison, feet fastened in stocks… praying and singing hymns to God… how is this possible?…

SCRIPTURE: Acts 16:6-15 OBSERVATION: Why would the Lord (by His Spirit) keep Paul from preaching the message in Asia, or from entering Bithynia? The answer lies in the next vision, because He wanted Paul to go to Macedonia (v.10). No synagogue in Philippi, he goes to riverside to find religious people worshiping (Jews, God-fearing Gentiles, or…

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 9:20-27 OBSERVATION: God sends the angel Gabriel to Daniel after he prays… must be nice! The “insight and understanding” is mysterious, yet the gist of the prophecy is clear: a time of restoration is coming when the messiah will come, but he will be cut off and the city and temple destroyed (AD 70)….

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 9:1-19 OBSERVATION: Daniel has read Jeremiah’s words about Israel’s exile (Jeremiah 25:11-12), and is praying for the end of the exile. The right response before God is always humility and repentance, and Daniel demonstrates this. Honesty about our failures is hard, we usually minimize or justify our failures, yet Daniel is very explicit about their…