Compelled by the Spirit
Acts 20:22-27 22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
Acts 20:36-38 36 When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again.
For those who have been in churches where the same pastor has led the congregation for years, you can appreciate more fully Paul’s announcement that he was leaving and they would never see his face again. We often form close ties with those who lead our churches, and their absence leaves us heartbroken and despondent.
But Paul knew that his focus had to be on fulfilling the mission for which he had been called, that is to preach Jesus and Him crucified for our sins and resurrected into eternal life. There was no other pursuit that could supercede God’s direction for his life.
When we give ourselves completely to God, there is a peace that settles upon us that defies human emotions. The transformational power of salvation is only the beginning and Paul recognized that his life was no longer his own.
May we be willing to give our lives in service to others and fully commit to supporting those who have been called to lead us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Third Sunday of Advent, 2025
Psalms 145:1-3
A psalm of praise. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
Luke 1:46-55 46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.
In today’s Advent reading we find both Mary’s Magnificat and David’s psalm of never-ending praise. While David penned his psalm near the end of his life, Mary was a young teenager, just beginning her life. Yet, the wisdom and eloquence found in Mary’s words are in every way as powerful David’s.
Mary’s praise is both personal and universal. She recognizes what carrying the Son of God means both to her and to her people. She understands by elevating a young girl of no social significance that God has begun a new work in mankind, and she is in awe.
May we be in awe today as we approach another Christmas celebration of God’s goodness in in sending His Son into our midst at just the right time, and may we continue to look forward to His Second coming which will likewise be at just the right time.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Family OF BELIEVERS GROWS
Acts 18:1-6 1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
As we continue to read about the Acts of the Apostles, we learn more about Paul’s friends and acquaintances. Paul’s hope was always in God, but his personal connection with other Christ followers was vital in spreading the gospel.
Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tent makers, provided Paul with a means to support himself as well as a place to live. Home churches were one method to plant God’s Word, and the couple was well known as leaders in this movement.
Today it is not uncommon for a mega-church to employ satellite churches to reach unchurched areas. Some churches teach discipling courses to train people to effectively witness, and Food Pantries are increasingly becoming a part of the church landscape.
May we remain vigilant as we go through our daily routines to share Christ with those who have a spiritual hunger, and to share our resources with those who have a financial need.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
L
Lift High the Cross
Acts 17:22-31 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship —and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
When I read of Paul’s exploits in spreading the gospel to those who still lived in the darkness of their unbelief, I am reminded that there is an innate need in each of us to worship. The people of Athens displayed many objects of reverence, with one even being dedicated to an unknown God in the event there was a deity that had been overlooked.
But rather than being comforted by this approach, Paul used it as a teaching moment to illuminate the hopelessness of worshipping a man-made object as though it was holy. In the 21st century we can read this account and recognize the desperation in assigning god-like qualities to an inanimate object, but such an act seemed entirely plausible at the time. Until, that is, they heard of the risen Savior.
May we be vigilant in identifying those items of our own making that we have used to replace genuine worship, and may we instead lift high the cross of Jesus that the world may be transformed by His resurrection power.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And the Gospel Message Continues
Acts 16:16-21 16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
These scriptures are packed full of experiences that shaped the church. First, if you go back to Acts 15:36 you will see a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas where Barnabas and John Mark went one direction and Paul and Silas went another.
Paul also met Timothy who later joined him on his missionary journey, he became acquainted with Lydia who was able to support the church with finances and prayer, and he had a vision that is known as “The Macedonian Call.” Ultimately, Paul and Silas ended up in jail, and around thirty years ago I wrote this little song about Paul’s experience.
When Paul and Silas were in that old jail, Beaten and bruised it seemed all hope had failed,
But Paul said to Silas, in spite of everything, sometimes you just have to sing
And they sang praises, praises when life gets you down you just have to stand and sing praises, praises, praises to the great I am.
I have found that praising God in the midst of trials is one of the best ways to overcome the enemy. Whether we are quoting a well memorized scripture or reading the Word out loud, singing a hymn of the church or one of our own making, we are, as an old preacher used to say, “giving the devil a black eye!”
May we purpose in our hearts to face each day with a song in our heart and praise on our lips.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, snd of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Seeking Holiness 