A Devotional Study of the Living Word of God

Psalm 119:64 Within the statutes of the LORD the earth receives rain, sunshine, fertile soil and abundance, these are His storehouses of Mercy and no good thing will He withhold to those countries who worship Elohim!

Good Morning

Someone has said, “Are you saved?” and the reply of the other is; “I didn't know I was lost!” We trust that people will understand what we are talking about, but in many cases we mostly confuse them when we talk about God. We sound confusing, arrogant or wacko! This is primarily because we are not walking in the Spirit and our fleshly attempt accomplishes nothing, John 6:63. It is the Spirit that gives life and whoever shares this message must be in the Spirit to explain it. This should not seem hard for us to do, in fact; it is not difficult at all. To many times the people we share Christ with become harder to reach and colder to the gospel because we fail to be a good steward of being Spiritual. One reason for this that I would like to share with all of us is that we fail to recognize ourselves as; “Saints”. We want to say that I cannot accept the fact that I am a saint because I am sinful and if I do, then I am not being humble. Being humble has nothing to do with denying your title as saint and I would say that we would be sinfully arrogant to try and prove otherwise. Understanding and accepting what God says about you when He calls you “saint”, does not mean that you are sinless, but it does make you blameless in the sight of God. When you know who you are in Christ it is much easier to allow the Holy Spirit to work His work of redemption in the hearts of those He came to save. So good morning “Saint”.

Acts 18

Acts 18:18-25 The apostle is on the move heading back to Jerusalem, I have noticed that he seems to be in a hurry at times and at other times sort of laid back and taking time to get to know people. I also sense that he does not always react in the power of the Spirit. The problem at Antioch over John Mark on his earlier trips and now here again in Ephesus with his rapid decision to leave. He explains to the people here that he is in a hurry, but at Antioch he spent time strengthening the disciples.

Acts 18:24-25 Apollos provides us with a great understanding toward the Word of God. He is someone who was instructed in the way of the LORD! Prepared by those who believed God through the ministry of John the Baptizer, this is roughly twenty years after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. We want to think that the way, the truth and the Life is clear to all at this point but we can see from these passages that repentance without the understanding of grace misses the mark.

Acts 18:26-28 Apollos, once he understands he returns to Achaia and greatly encourages those who believed, exhorting and encouraging them through his renewed faith in Christ by grace. His understanding of the grace of God now makes him bolder and the reason is that He now speaks in the fervency of the Spirit of God and not in the fervency of his human spirit. See Acts 19:25. There is a big difference in human charisma and the Spirit filled saint.