At the Laurel fellowship, we are still studying the book of Acts, and as indicated in the last edition of this newsletter where we shared what we learned from chapters 1 to 11.<\/p>\n
Our goal still remains the same as listed below;<\/p>\n
Summarized below are some of the lessons and observations from chapters 12-14;<\/p>\n
In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, the writer of Hebrew shed some light on the walk of faith of believers in verse 37;<\/p>\n
\u201ct<\/b><\/i><\/span>hey were put to death by stoning<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated\u2014<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>38<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Believers are encouraged throughout the bible that our eternal destination is much more glorious that this physical life we live and this is our consolation in HIM.<\/p>\n It seems Peter wasn\u2019t expecting to be saved from Herod, maybe based on the fact that James was just executed. The death of James did not make him question the Lord but they seem to be concerned not about this life but the life in eternity.<\/p>\n As believers, we ought to acknowledge the Lord\u2019s sovereignty that he is able to save and if He decides not to, it doesn\u2019t change who He is which a mindset of the Hebrew brothers during the time of Daniel as well.<\/p>\n Paul and Barnabas were worshipping the Lord with the other brethren when the Lord called them to a special mission in Acts 13 v2;<\/p>\n \u201cWhile they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, \u201cSet apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>3<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> Even though we might have various desires to serve the Lord in specific capacities, our prayer should be that we would be found faithful in areas the Lord has called us to.<\/p>\n In Acts 4, the Lord performed the miracle of healing a man that has been lame from birth at Lystra and as usual it caught the attention of those around to the extent that they thought Paul and Barnabas were their gods that have come down in human form;<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, \u201cThe gods have come down to us in human form!\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>12<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>13<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Now there are several ways that the apostle could have reacted to this \u201chonor\u201d they were accorded. They could have just enjoyed the fame of a miracle worker, deny the \u201cownership\u201d of the miracle in a subtle way or deny the \u201cownership\u201d of the miracle vehemently. To the glory of God, they held the latter position and then used the opportunity to share the gospel and glorify our Lord;<\/p>\n \u201c14<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>15<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u201cFriends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>16<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>In the past, he let all nations go their own way.<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>17<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s all remember that the miraculous working of our Lord is to confirm His word and point people\u2019s attention to Himself. Mark 16v20: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen\u201d So, are we surprised in our generation why signs and wonders are scarce now? Could it be because men now want to share His glory with Him? Men sees outwardly but the Lord sees the heart. May the Lord find us faithful in His vineyard as we honor him with our lives. Amen.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the Laurel fellowship, we are still studying the book of Acts, and as indicated in the last edition of this newsletter where we shared what we learned from chapters 1 to 11. Our goal still remains the same as listed below; Understand how the Apostles lived their lives. Understand what they experienced from their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,26],"tags":[27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837,"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions\/837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newcovenantchurch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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