Acts 3: 10-26

v. 12 “When Peter saw this, he said to them: ‘Men of Israel, why does this surprise you?  Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?”

Andy highlighted this question in his sermon on Acts 3 and proposed the same question to us today: Why are we surprised by God? Why are we surprised that God would do amazing things for his glory?

I had a short, interesting conversation with my sisters in a taxi after church about how even though we ought to expect God to do great things, we never cease to be surprised when he does them.  Is it wrong to be surprised by God’s works?  We are often amazed at his goodness and surprised by his methods.  In his sermon, Andy juxtaposed the surprised reactions of the believers at Pentecost with the non-believers at the Beautiful gate and showed us that the difference between the two was a difference of faith versus skepticism.

Peter seems to rebuke the men of Israel on account of their skepticism.  Instead of trusting in the Lord’s wondrous works, they were choosing to attribute the miracle to men like Peter and John.  Peter says, “Why do you stare at us as by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?”  Then he reminds them that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is always glorifying himself and glorified himself through Jesus. God was reconciling the world to himself through his work in the crippled man.

While God’s methods sometimes surprise us, we shouldn’t be surprised to see evidence that God is good.

Just as God’s goodness shouldn’t surprise us, our sinfulness shouldn’t come as a shock either.  We shouldn’t be surprised to find that we, just like the killers of Christ, tend to choose life over death.  Peter said, “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.”

I realized this week how I often make choices that favor death over life.  I complain at work instead of thanking God for my job and breathing words of encouragement to those around me.  I choose to spend hours on trite entertainment when I haven’t yet spoken to my Creator for the day.

Later, I realize that these actions favor cheap pleasure or true riches that we can have by obeying Jesus.  In v. 19, Peter says to repent and turn to God–to wipe out sin, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Though we chose the murderer instead, the author of life could not be killed.  God raised him back up!  Isn’t that sweet?

Having a lot of changes thrown my way this past year has made me even more phlegmatic than I usually am, but I still have my own few preferences of what I want in my life. I’ve also surprised myself by how demanding my spirit can be at times when I think I don’t care that much about something I may desire. Over a year ago in my hometown, Flint, Michigan I was becoming fairly miserable around Christmas time. I was bored, hated my job (even though I was focused in my field of study), and wasn’t sure what I wanted. I tried so hard to establish myself back home as an experienced Graphic Designer and Illustrator. I tried to find comfort in taking responsibility for paying my bills; phone, car, car insurance, and those dreaded, monstrously large college loans! But there was still something lacking. I felt like an American zombie and pretty useless. I get a text one day “dude, wanna go 2 korea with me” – TIPTON. I text back “Probably” – BRANDON. I was at a crossroads in life with really nothing to lose.
So here I am in the “land of the morning calm” for a year already going into a second. Willingly I gave up my life back home for a new experience, new opportunities, try out teaching (English of all things..) and blah blah blah.. To take a run-down of my 2009 adventure: spent a lot of time downtown, met a bunch of cool new people, became involved in Dongshin, and branched outside of my ‘bubble’ when it was uncomfortable for me to do so. Many of these experiences and changes I owe to God because it has built my character and I’ve begun to understand who I am a little more each time. I’ve begun to identify better with Christ during the easy times as well as the rough times in these new experiences.
I may not have completely grasped Andy’s main idea from the sermon last Sunday, but the one thing that stuck out to me was he pointed out that the crippled man sitting outside the temple begging for money only thought he knew what he needed (Acts 3:1-11). When Peter saw him, he said “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus the Nazarene, get up and walk!”. The man freaked out from pure joy that he could finally walk again and began to run, jump, and dance around the temple.
My story isn’t nearly as rad, but back in the States I was seeking something that I thought I needed to be or act when my heart was screaming for something else, and God knew it. I just chose to ignore it. I’m not saying that my life in Daegu has been a savior to me necessarily because I still don’t have my ducks in a row quite yet, and I know God works no matter where I am in the world. However, it was a step God showed me to help me realize my potential in Him. Mainly because of the pursuit of my potential within the needs of Dongshin. He has found ways for me to be a servant in ways I didn’t ever expect. It continues to be a daily struggle to see the way He sees. I had also become so selfish and angry with God by not receiving what I thought I needed. In the same way humanity presents ill requests to the Father like spoiled children. Sometimes He’s gracious enough to let us be spoiled, other times He makes us learn the hard way. I’m grateful for either, and I may never figure out what I truly want or need in this life, but I know that a life without my Father is definitely something I don’t need. Without God – without being His son – I can never stand up straight, I can never walk, run, jump, or dance.  –Insights from Brandon Inman

Stick around on Sunday for some seriously, super board games! (Yes, alliteration intended.)

Who: Anyone!

What: Game Night

Where: Dongshin Church (English Service), Room 501

When: 4:30 p.m. after service

Why: Because we love games, and we love each other!

Bring: 10,000 won for dinner and your own board games to add to the mix!

I’ve always thought that Peter was a bit of a wishy-washy character.  Super bold sometimes, but weak at other times.  Jesus calls Simon during the early parts of his ministry, and Peter walks out of his workplace to follow the teacher (Matthew 4: 18-19.) In some of Peter’s bolder moments, he walks on water (Matthew 14:29,) confesses Jesus as Lord (Matthew 16:16,)  and promises to die for Him (John 13: 37.)  At his weaker moments, he falls in the water (Matthew 14:30,) rebukes Jesus (Mark 8:32,) and of course, publicly denies Jesus on the night of his death.  Yet despite Peter’s weaker moments, the Lord chose to make Peter a leader of his people.

In Acts 2, Peter, filled with the spirit, rises to publicly defend the work of the Lord at Pentecost.  It’s appropriate that God chose Peter to speak the words that “cut” 3,000 people “to the heart” and brought them into the kingdom because Peter himself was a living, breathing example of the gospel he proclaimed.

The gospel of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection for the salvation of the world is not a story of sugar and spice and everything nice.  Instead, Peter’s introduction included a sharp rebuke.  It included “blood and fire and billows of smoke” (Acts 2:19) and an murderous accusation (v. 23.) Peter was a good choice for this job because he knew that he, too, was guilty of killing the Lord.  And we, too, are guilty of putting Christ to death.  Every time we put the things of man ahead of the things of God (Mark 8:33) and every time we take our eyes off the Lord or blatantly deny or relationship with him, then we give evidence to the human stain called sin that nailed Christ to the cross.

However, to suggest human will alone was at play that day would be to overestimate our power as humans and to ignore the sovereign will of God.  Peter does not stop short of acknowledging the divine purposes.  He says that Jesus handed over “by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge” (v. 23.)

Peter fully proclaimed the truth of the gospel.  The gospel wouldn’t be good news if it were a tragedy about innocent blood.  It would not be good news if it were not for this fact:  God sent his son, knowing full well that our sin would send him to the cross, but in the act of death, He would provide redemption for the same wicked men who killed him.  He provided redemption through through repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.

Peter shared the full gospel because he knew the gospel.  He’d lived the gospel.  God saves wishy-washy people like Peter and like you and I.  Furthermore, God uses wishy-washy people like us to bring his promise of salvation to all–even those “who are far off.”

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4: 7 : “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”  We are ordinary and flawed bearers of an extraordinary treasure–the gospel of Jesus.

–Insights from Sally Calcara

In Ken’s message this past Sunday he talked about two things concerning the Spirit: living by it (Gal. 5:16 and being led by it (Gal. 5:18). The verses that caught me, though, in the passage of Galatians that he was going over was v. 22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” This caught my attention because some passages that God has been put on my heart as I’ve been going through the book of Matthew share this “fruit” theme.

This issue of “fruit” comes up twice in Matthew, as far as I’ve gotten into it. First, John the Baptist warns of the ax being “at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 3:10). Second, Jesus reiterates this warning in the context of watching out for false prophets (Matt. 7:15-20). He says that, “…by their fruit you will recognize them.” To me, the passage in Galatians 5:16-26 gives clarification of what John the Baptist and Jesus were saying, especially vs. 22-23.

Now, as I have reflected on these passages I’ve also reflected on who I was before I accepted Christ and received the Holy Spirit and who I am now. I marvel at how much God and His Spirit has transformed my life. He has transformed a man whose acts reflected several things of the sinful nature talked about in Galatians 5:19-21, into someone who detests those things and strives to let the Spirit produce in him its fruit. May God be praised!!!

God really is amazing to be able to transform us as we live by His Spirit. It just blows me away. What blows me away even more is that the Holy Spirit is still working on me to produce more of its fruit. There is always room to grow. I know that I learn more and more about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as I spend time getting to know God through prayer, meditation on His word and interacting with His creation. I know I don’t produce this fruit all the time, none of us do, but as the closer I grow to Jesus, the easier it seems to be to produce Spiritual fruit. And when I’m not working on my relationship with Jesus, the fruit seems to be less appealing and more burdensome, even if I know that’s not the case.

So, to me it seems that if a person is living by the Spirit then the fruit of the Spirit is evident in that person’s life. And my thought on being led by the Spirit in context of the passage is that when a person is led to do something what motivates that person is one or more of the fruits of the Spirit. I can only think this is possible if a person is investing time into his/her relationship with Jesus. It causes me to go back and invest even more time into that relationship, because I really want the fruit of the Spirit. How about you?

–Insights from Rob Scott

Acts 2: 1-8

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a loud sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the spirit enabled them….Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?…”

Two things from this passage and the sermon on Sunday strike me as both amazing and perplexing:

One of them is that God is able to cross language barriers that His name may be known throughout all nations.  On the day of Pentecost,  the first church we read about in chapter one gets together in Jerusalem to commemorate the God’s gift of the ten commandments when all of the sudden a giant and powerful gust of wind sweeps into the house.  Maybe they thought they were having a tornado or something.  Then fire-shaped tongues emerge and rest on each member, filling them with the supernatural power to speak different languages.  Jews from every nation under heaven were able to hear about the wonders of God spoken in their own language.  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, Pontus, Asians, Phrygians, Pamphylians, Egyptions, Libyans, Romans, Cretans and Arabs….both Jews by blood and those who’d converted…all of these people were able to hear about their Creator.  And this was made possible because our great God, who speaks all languages, decided to dwell in his people.

How great is our God that he makes his glory known across culture and language!  That’s certainly a reason to worship him!

The second thing that really struck me was Andy’s observation and emphasis that “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus promised to send his Spirit, and Peter promises in verse 38 that those who are baptized for the forgiveness of sins will receive the spirit.   Now, I trusted Jesus some time ago, but I have to admit that a small wave of fear flashed over me on Sunday afternoon.  Because I’ve never seen anything like what the disciples experience on the day of Pentecost.  While I’ve attributed some of my life experiences to the spirit, it’s been a little while since I’d really felt the spirit.

I’ve never seen the spirit in the form of fire, wind or a dove.  So do I even have the spirit? I wondered.  Last night, I prayed that God would bring clarity to my confusion about this.   At some point this morning, I mysteriously felt a heart of gratefulness wash over me.  I began to think about all of the people who’ve taken care of me in Korea in various ways, and I wondered how I might express my thanks to them.  Ultimately, I felt thankful to God for being my caretaker.  I realized that this heart was the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in me.

The Holy Spirit, which took the forms of wind and fire on the day of Pentecost, can take on the form of many things in our lives.  The Holy Spirit promotes a heart of thanksgiving.  It can take the form of a righteous anger, a patient trust in God, and a passion to share with others.  Though I worried He was absent from my heart, I realized that He is everywhere in my life.  He tells me when to wait and trust when my instinct is to seize control.  He gives me insight into the perspectives of others.  The Holy Spirit fosters self-examination, which leads to repentance and prudence.  He puts God’s words on my tongue when I least expect it, gives me strength when I feel powerless, and grace when I’m downcast.  He gives individuals gifts that they may proclaim the name of Jesus.

One cannot follow Jesus without the Spirit, and everyone with the Spirit follows Christ.

“…After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.  On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about’….’It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.'”  Acts: 1: 3-7

I admitted to myself a few weeks ago that the main reason I made the hour trek out to Dongshin English Service on Sunday had much less to do with worshipping God and much more to do with seeing people.  Though a true believer in Christ, as a churchgoer, I regret to admit I fall into the category of people who attend to find a “social network  of people with similar opinions about the world.”  Church attendance exists for reasons such as family routine, appeasing a “good Christian” complex, a genuine desire to worship the Father in community or any combination of these factors.

The clarity brought by Acts 1: 1-8 more than blows that category out of the water.  Though Christ’s work on the cross is fully finished, as living members of his body, the Church, Jesus invites us to join in the continuing work of building His Kingdom.  In Acts 1:1-8, we realize that God has provided everything we need to do his work, but He has wisely kept everything we do not need.

What an awesome promise to trust in!  God has provided all that you and I need to do the works that he’s prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10).  Our Lord Jesus knew and still knows all that we need.

He knew the disciples then and the disciples of today would need to be fully convinced that their Savior was no martyr but was and is alive.  If our Savior is dead, then we’re still dead in our transgressions.  He’s alive, and we need to believe it in order to work unto the glory of His Kingdom.

Our Lord Jesus knew we would need instruction through the Holy Spirit and about the Kingdom of God.  Many followers today do not “study to show thyself approved” like Paul commanded Timothy, but the church needs such instruction through the Spirit and the word to keep from going astray.  Jesus knew we would need to be certain of God’s Kingship in our lives, so He spent his last days teaching about the Kingdom of God and reminding the disciples about the promised gift.  Jesus’ instruction about the Kingdom, the Holy Spirit and our assurance of salvation are all we need to live as slaves to the King, and thus, members of the church.

Then, the same God who provides for all we need also conceals all that we don’t need to know.  We don’t need to know the day or time of His return.  Jesus, Lord and Savior, assured us that we didn’t need to know.  Dates and times belong to the Father.  We don’t need to know when God will provide a new job direction, a beautiful spouse or when that lost family member will finally cross the line of faith.  The knowledge of these things would only make us arrogant, distract us, and detract from the King’s glory in His Kingdom.

I’m amazed to discover God’s wisdom is providing for our needs and in concealing our wants.  How great is our God in providing and concealing!

Jesus’ instruction about the Kingdom should put a flame to the fire of Dongshin English service.  I’m a fan of social networking, but Jesus brought us together for a greater purpose:  the ongoing work of his Kingdom.