Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 8:14-25.  Let’s go!

Acts 8:14-17 (NIV)
14  When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
15  When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
16  because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
17  Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
 
On verses 14-17:  At THRIVE and the great majority of Christian churches around the world that I know of, it is routinely taught that the Holy Spirit begins to dwell in us from the moment that we believe and trust Jesus as our Saviour.  So why is it that in Acts 8:14-17, the Samaritan Christians already believed in Jesus and had already been baptized, but that “the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them” (v16)? 
 
One possible explanation is that verse 16 is not referring to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but the filling of the Holy Spirit.  What is the difference?  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the idea that when a person receives Jesus into their life, the Holy Spirit begins to live inside that person’s heart, whether that person feels anything or not (1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19).  In contrast, the filling of the Holy Spirit is an experience where the Spirit of God fills you with His power in a way that can be felt (Acts 1:8).  As Christians we were made to have the Holy Spirit not just dwell in us, but to continually fill us (Ephesians 5:18).  So one possible explanation of Acts 8:14-17 is that these Samaritan Christians already had the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, but Acts 8:17 is when they first experience the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 7:44-60.  Let’s go!

Acts 7:44-50 (NIV)
44  “Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
45  Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,
46  who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47  But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
48  “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
49  “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?
50  Has not my hand made all these things?’
 
On verses 44-50:  After talking about how the Israelites rejected Moses’ leadership and worshiped idols instead (v30-43), Stephen turns his attention to the way the temple in Jerusalem was built.  Stephen recounts how God originally gave Moses specific designs for a tabernacle, which was a portable tent where His people could worship Him as they journeyed from place to place (v44).  The Israelites would use this portable tabernacle to worship Him throughout the days of Joshua until the reign of King David (v45-46).  After that, it was King David who initiated and his son King Solomon who completed the construction of what was meant to be a permanent temple (v46-47).  But Stephen reminds his audience that God never asked for or required His people to build Him a permanent standing temple (v48).  He quotes Isaiah the prophet (in Isaiah 66:1-2) to show how silly it is for people to think that they could keep God inside the man-made buildings that they build.    

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 7:17-29.  Let’s go!
 
Acts 7:17-29 (NIV)
17  “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.
18  Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.
19  He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20  “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house.
21  When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
22  Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
23  “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.
24  He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.
25  Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.
26  The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
27  “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?
28  Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29  When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
 
On verses 17-29:  Continuing his dramatic recounting of Israel’s history, Stephen talks about the life of Moses before Moses’ burning bush experience, essentially summarizing Exodus 1-2.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 6:1-15.  Let’s go! 

Acts 6:1 (NIV)
1  In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
 
On verse 1:  In the Old Testament God shows His heart to care for orphans and widows (see for example Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; and Psalm 146:9).  This concern for orphans and widows is also found in the New Testament in verses like James 1:27, 1 Timothy 5, and here in Acts 6 where the growing Christian community has a ministry to care for widows in Jerusalem. 
 
Who were the “Grecian Jews” and the “Hebraic Jews” and why does it matter?  In Jerusalem there were many Jews who had moved into Jerusalem from “Grecian” or Hellenistic regions (see Acts 1:5), that is, from countries where the dominant culture was Greek.  These “Grecian Jews” grew up being influenced as much by Greek culture as their Jewish heritage and had moved to Jerusalem where they now were living amongst “Hebraic Jews” who grew up in Jerusalem speaking Hebrew all their lives.   That would be similar to me, a Chinese boy who grew up in Canada speaking English, loving hockey and listening to the Beatles, moving to China to live amongst Chinese people who had spent all their lives speaking Mandarin and living in a more traditionally Chinese culture. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 5:17-32.  Let’s go! 

Acts 5:17-25 (NIV)
17  Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
18  They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
19  But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
20  “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
21  At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin–the full assembly of the elders of Israel–and sent to the jail for the apostles.
22  But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported,
23  “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”
24  On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
25  Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”
 
On verses 17-25:  The high priest is jealous of the apostles and the positive attention they were getting from the miracles God had enabled them to perform.  The high priest throws the apostles in jail.  Yet miraculously God sends an angel to deliver the apostles, taking them out of jail without being noticed.  At daybreak the next morning, the high priest finds the apostles in the temple courts telling people “the full message of this life” (v20).