Ref: The Next One: Autumn 2024

"There’s a reason that anytime corporate media speaks to someone about viruses, vaccines, and medicine they call on a college dropout and the guy who couldn’t keep viruses from infecting your computer software."

The article is worth reading solely for the writer's sense of humor.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

Hi family

I got a text from my friend and neighbor Lyn a little while ago.  He is back in the hospital.  His potassium (K) went up to 7, which is dangerously high for anyone.  That is indicative in most cases of his kidneys not filtering the potassium OUT of his body; could also be caused by meds.  However, since his hospital stay from last Nov thru Jan earlier this year, his kidneys have been going downhill ever since.  If someone's K gets too high in the body, it can cause very serious heart arrhythmias to the point of heart failure.  High K is known as hyperkalemia.  Although I am sorry he is back in the hospital, he is where he needs to be.  He has already had two heart attacks over the past 10 years.  He is 62 if anyone was curious.

He said his son (32 year old) is with him there.

I have been lifting him up since and ask if you all would do the same.  My heart is so sad. 

Thank you my dear family!

This blossoming congregation in the precincts of Jerusalem was becoming a nation within the nation of Judah. The first verse in our selection notes that, having been released by the Sanhedrin, Peter and John returned to their growing household. Luke chose words to paint the picture of a spiritual family, people who regarded each other as kinfolk. This was exactly what Moses commanded of Israel: This nation is your family. Israel never quite rose to that level during their history, but now the power of the Holy Spirit made it true for the nation of Christ.

Upon hearing the report of what happened to Peter and John, the household of faith prayed as one person to the Lord. Quoting from Psalm 2, they took it as prophecy fulfilled: The world system was united in one thing only -- opposing the Messiah and His mission. Both Jewish and Roman governments moved against Jesus, and now it seems the whole nation was opposed to Him. Still, the enemies cannot do anything God didn't sanction beforehand. For this cause, they asked to be made bolder, with showers of miracles in the name of Jesus.

Their presence in the city caused both literal and figurative earthquakes, shaking the very foundation of false religion and government. The Lord Himself was present in them, and they became fearless in promoting the gospel. A primary feature of this limitless spiritual power was detachment from worldly goods. This was an extended family in one household; there was no reason to withhold from each other the use of their physical property. They weren't losing property; they were gaining a treasure of more family.

This was a new tribe of the Messiah. They sold property they couldn't use and offered it to the Lord through a common treasury managed by the Apostles. Those who came into the family in poverty were raised up to the common status of the rest. It wasn't communism, but tribalism. The reputation of their Master demanded they not let anyone suffer want compared to the others.

One man in particular, a wealthy Cypriot Levite, was nicknamed by the Apostles "Barnabas" (Hebrew: bar-nabas "Son of Prophecy or Encouragement") because he sold an exceptionally large estate, and the money vastly expanded the fund. It served to encourage the Apostles to continue in their current mission; God was generously supplying their needs as they devoted themselves to the gospel message.

On the other hand, there was the couple, Ananias and Sapphira. Apparently they were envious of the attention given to this "Barnabas" and tried to get in on the trend. They sold something fairly valuable, kept some of it, and then brought the rest to the Apostles, claiming it was the whole amount.

Peter rebuked them. The other donors didn't just empty their pockets. They gave what the Lord moved them to give. Nobody said they had to give everything; this was simply the voluntary action of many up to this point. The problem was the lie this couple told to gain an unjust reputation. They falsely perceived that they could join an elite club of big givers, but there was no such club.

Peter said, "You didn't lie to mere men, but to God." The words struck Ananias to his soul, and he died. This injected a note of caution in the whole congregation. Ditch the human pride or your gifts meant nothing.

Luke notes that it was the job of young men to get themselves ritually defiled by handling dead bodies in situations like this. It was a form of noble sacrifice to volunteer on behalf the rest. The ritual of burial took a while. Three hours after Ananias died, his wife came looking for him and told the same lie about their donation. Again, the rebuke from Peter, as the young men were returning. They would have stopped outside the door to prevent defiling those inside the house, having handled a dead body, but now they had to enter again to take away her body, too.

This helped everyone to keep a proper balance of sobriety in their joyful celebration of the Lord's power moving in them.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

It didn't take long for the Jewish leadership to take offense at this explosion of faith in Jesus. Diaspora or not, the crowd of Jesus' disciples was growing, and their presence was strongly felt in the city.

Jesus had said that God really didn't care about the place people worshiped, but wanted worshipers who had a spiritual nature to meet Him in the Spirit Realm. Yet, instead of moving His followers to abandon the Temple, this breathed fresh life into what was by now empty ritual for most. With the holiday crowds mostly gone, it was very easy to draw attention to oneself in the relative sparsely attended Temple rituals.

Nobody knows where the Beautiful Gate stood, but it was a good place for customary beggars. You would have found as many there along the walls as space permitted, hoping to catch people entering the Temple in a pious mood. To keep the pretense that charitable gifts were given to God, the beggars avoided eye contact and simply called out for alms. It was late in the day. Peter and John, making their way through this gate with the cacophony of beggars calling, sensed the presence of faith in this particular fellow.

Normally, demanding the beggar give them direct attention meant a substantial gift and the recipient had better be ready to give profuse gratitude. However, Peter gave something quite different than money. He grabbed the man and pulled him to his feet, and his lame legs were healed. Being a man of faith, he would much rather have his legs than mere money. In Hebrew culture, manly men were marked by strong legs, not big arms. Peter and John restored this fellow's manhood, doing so in the name of Jesus.

The man began jumping up and down, shouting praises to God with irrepressible thanksgiving. He clung to Peter and John and celebrated that he was now whole and eligible to enter the Temple (the blind and lame were by tradition not permitted inside the gates of the Temple structure). This was his first time to formally worship the God who had just healed him, whooping and hollering, dancing and leaping during the whole service. It would be impossible to ignore such noisy joy.

As they were leaving following the service, a crowd surrounded them in the Court of Women. The regular worshipers recognized the lame man due to his constant attendance at the gate, and this was a noteworthy miracle. Even the most jaded urbanites were moved.

Peter seized the opportunity to preach. He wondered aloud at the their surprise. Was this not the Temple of the great God of Abraham, having granted so many miracles over the centuries? It was not their own power or moral uprightness that healed the man. Peter never forgot how unworthy he was, having betrayed His Lord; it was miracle enough for the rest of his life to be forgiven.

And he didn't spare their feelings at all, quickly pointing out how it was the people of this city who had called for Jesus to be crucified, when Pilate was striving to get Him released. The people had insisted on a murderous thug who had preyed on some of them, instead. Peter spoke in unmistakable terms that Jesus was the Messiah, the Holy One of God. He was one of many personal witnesses that God had raised Jesus from death, and it was His name that raised this man from lameness.

Peter of all men was able to testify of God's mercy and forgiveness. If he could find peace with God, they could, too. He invited them to repent and commit their lives to Him as their feudal Master. Yes, it was tough to serve a Lord they could not see, but He was in Heaven until the Father decided it was time to restore Eden, something promised by the prophets since the beginning of revelation.

Well, Jesus was the prophet of all prophets, and Peter quoted Moses, warning that Israel must submit to Him or perish. The people crowding around him were the heirs of the prophets, standing in the day they had testified would come. The Messiah reigned now; it was the time to declare the New Covenant to His own kin first.

The commotion brought the attention of the attending Sanhedrin and Temple Guard. Any disturbance was risky these days, so they came to see what was happening. As soon as they realized Peter was teaching that the Jesus they had recently seen executed was the Messiah, and that this Jesus had raised from the dead, they had the trio arrested. It being so close to sunset, they placed the men in prison overnight.

Meanwhile, the message brought a harvest of souls; 5000 men joined the disciples that very day. This sect was exploding.

For the Sadducees -- the secularized party of priests and Levites -- the teaching of rising from the dead was anathema. They insisted there could be no Spirit Realm, and thus, no place where the dead could exist until resurrection of any kind. For the Pharisees, Jesus was the wrong kind of Messiah, whose teaching threatened their wealth and power.

So the next day, the whole council of the ruling class assembled and called for these men to stand before them. They demanded to know what authority these men had to heal this man and stir up so much trouble. The presumption here is that this council, as the hereditary government of Israel, was the official voice of God and His Covenant. These men were obviously working outside the system, so it must be some other god.

Peter was filled with Spirit of their professed God at that moment and didn't hesitate to reply. It was impossible for anyone to debate the healing itself, a healing the men of this great council either could not or would not do for this poor victim of paralysis. The authority was Jesus of Nazareth, the man they had only recently had crucified, but whom God Himself had raised from the dead. The rulers had rejected His claims, but God was building a whole new covenant with Jesus as the foundation.

Peter had a bumpkin's accent from Galilee, no rhetorical format, and none of the educated mannerisms of rabbis. Instead, he talked pretty much the way Jesus did. It was quite perplexing to them. Nobody could dispute the miraculous healing, and they could neither produce the body of Jesus, nor even an eyewitness from among the guards keeping watch over that body.

So they had the men escorted outside the chamber while they conferred in executive session. There was nothing they could do. Here was a miracle that could not be covered up. But they could not have these crazy people running around teaching the message of Jesus, so they resolved to censure them officially. The trio were brought back in and warned not to speak in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John both replied that they were unable to obey that order. Should they obey this order, or should they obey the God who drove them to speak this message? They were determined to obey God at any cost. The council threatened again, with more specific demands and warnings, but it was pointless to detain them any further. It would surely cause a riot if they did, so the trio was released.

Luke notes that the healed man was over forty years old, and had been lame his whole life. This was not some hoax, nor simply a novel medical treatment, but a radical restoration of limbs that had never worked properly.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

The symbolism is so thick you could cut it with an ax.

The Day of Pentecost is just another name for First Fruits. In this chapter of Acts, we are about to see the first fruits of the New Covenant in Christ. This is by no means a coincidence, but was the hand of God drawing a linkage impossible to ignore. The New Covenant finished the Old, yet much of the Old still lived in the New.

It was no longer possible to confine this large body of disciples in the Upper Room where Jesus held His last Seder with the Twelve. They had taken over the whole structure, including the courtyard, and likely scattered around to other places for sleep at night. On the Day of Pentecost itself, they were packed into the house to celebrate together.

We have no record of what folks outside this home experienced, but those inside heard a very loud roaring sound coming down from the sky. It fell upon the entire structure, accompanied by a stirring of the air like a gentle breeze, but by no means matching the howling sound of wind. One of the Hebrew words used for the Spirit of God is commonly translated as "wind" or "breath" -- this was the breath of God.

With the wind came fire. Like the wind, it was not damaging, but a manifestation powerful enough to leave no doubt it was beyond human ken. Luke chose odd words to describe this glowing presence that divided and distributed itself above the heads of everyone in the building. They were all filled with the divine Presence, something that had been quite rare up to now. Instead of a miracle for a limited purpose and time, this was a permanent change in the very nature of the people there.

Luke says the primary result is that everyone was driven out of the house and into the streets, proclaiming the glory of God in different languages they had never learned. Keep in mind that a great many Diaspora Jews from all around that part of the world traveled to Jerusalem for Passover and stayed until after Pentecost. All of these Jews were fluent in different languages, representing the wide array of locations where they lived the rest of the year. The Spirit of God enabled the disciples to speak in all of these languages. Even some Gentiles in town heard their own languages from places where there were no resident Jews.

Most of these people knew little, if anything, about the rabbi that had recently been executed, and about the large number of His followers. Most of these folks from out of town had not seen the miraculous signs, so this scene really puzzled them. Meanwhile, some locals suggested cynically the whole group was drunk.

While the rest of his group were drawing the Diaspora Jews and Gentile foreigners, Peter managed get the attention of the locals, addressing them directly. He noted that such a large group was unlikely to be drunk at 9AM, especially on a day when every observant Jew was fasting until just about that hour. Besides, drunks seldom spoke eloquently at all in any language, much less to prophesy of Jehovah's mighty miracles. Peter connected this manifestation with the words of the prophet Joel (2:28-32) about the coming of the Messiah.

When Peter got to the line about calling on the Lord for redemption, Peter pointed out how Jesus had fulfilled this prophecy. He did not shrink from blaming the locals for the mistaken execution of Jesus, yet assured them that God was not caught off guard and had been ready to resurrect His Son. To make sure they understood this, Peter referred to David's prophecy in Psalms 16:8-11. There, David talked about how the final heir in his dynasty would rise from death to reign. It wasn't David himself that rose; he was still in a grave that anyone could visit right there in the city. Rather, it was a prediction of the Messiah who would not rot in any grave.

Peter boldly claims that all those from the group preaching on the streets had seen the risen Messiah first hand. Even now, said Peter, He reigns from Heaven. Then he specifically warned that those who rejected or opposed the Messiah would be crushed under His feet.

A significant portion of the crowd was struck with conviction. Peter’s words are so easily missed by modern Gentile readers, though. First, the Covenant of Moses had always demanded repentance, to turn away from sin. In this case, it would mean disavowing the crucifixion and embracing Jesus as whom He claimed to be, the Messiah. As a sign of the new loyalty to the Messiah, they should participate in the old Mosaic ritual of cleansing in water, but now in the name of Jesus the Messiah, cleansing away the old life and living in the new life of the Kingdom of Heaven. In the eyes of the Jewish leaders, this was a form of treason, had they considered what this all meant. It meant repudiating their Jewish national identity in favor of a higher claim on their loyalty. Those who were able to do such a thing would find this same power and enlightenment was theirs. Notice how Peter says no man can choose this for himself, but it is the Lord who chooses and calls, and human national identity means nothing.

The preaching continued off and on for some hours until some 3000 had joined this group, embracing the ritual baptism and committing themselves to their Lord. Over the next few days, this commitment bore fruit. The Twelve performed miracle signs and those who learned the teachings of Jesus were changed by the unanimous miracle of the Holy Spirit living within.

Many of them felt compelled to stay in the city with this growing household of faith. They executed sales of various properties, some with significant holdings back in their Diaspora homelands. Grasping the nature of their New Covenant identity, they acted as if it was their real family household and began sharing their wealth. They were one tribe, and everyone was their brother or sister. Having found a family worthy of such commitment, they never went back to their Diaspora homes, but stayed in Jerusalem. The permanent population of the city grew massively in just a few days.

Meanwhile, a significant number of locals also joined in this new life. Instead of crushing the movement, the Jewish rulers found themselves inundated with these followers of Jesus right in their own capital, swarming into the Temple daily, and running around the city streets with irrepressible joy. And their numbers just kept growing.

The mother of my best friend (I call her Mom too)has been in the Intensive Care Unit for three weeks. She has many health issues and the doctors say there is nothing further they can do for her. Mom said that she doesn't want to continue to live like this and for her kids to let her go and my friend wants to respect her wishes. However, her younger sister can't or won't and talked their mother into being intubated and then having a tracheotomy and then being transported to a facility basically to be on life support. She will probably continue to be resuscitated until she either passes away or everyone agrees to let her go.

Mom will never be able to come home. She could live on for however long under the circumstances. I feel so bad for Mom because she is suffering. I am not judging the younger sister for not being able to let go of their mother. But I will lift up prayers and ask you all to join me that Mom will not have to suffer long. I also pray that during this time the Lord will show Himself to Mom so she can find peace and learn of the promises of Jesus' return. Very sad situation where grief is put on pause indefinitely.

Thanks

(For this chapter, I can find no reason to rewrite the commentary I've already published elsewhere.)

Luke mentions that Jesus in His resurrected form remained for some 40 days on earth. During that time, He met with His disciples extensively in Galilee, after which they returned to Jerusalem. What Luke and John seem to emphasize was the critical importance of their understanding of how the Old Testament prophesied of His death, burial for three days, and His resurrection. They were taught quite a bit during this time based on their changed understanding of these things. Still, they did not have the Spirit. Jesus assured them He would come very soon, describing it as a baptism in fire.

But because they lacked that illuminating Presence, they still stumbled over their impression that the Kingdom was meant to be a human political order on earth. Was Jesus about to set Israel free from Roman domination? They had no doubt He could. Jesus had already told them repeatedly that this was not in the plans, but their minds were not ready for it. Instead, He pointed them back to the fundamental principle of believers living under various human governments. God retains full authority over such things, had long since ordained how it would all turn out and when, and seldom deemed it necessary to inform humans of his plans. Instead, they were to focus their minds on the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the mission which paid little heed to governments among men – to carry the gospel across all national borders to all men.

It almost seems as if we can see them hiking out of the northeastern gate of the city, across the Kidron, up the long sloping road to the pass between two peaks on Mount Olivet. As they crossed the zenith, they started down the slope toward Bethany, Jesus walking firmly in the lead. Except He didn't head down the road to Bethany, but simply stepped off into the air and floated away into the clouds, turning to raise His hands and bless them. As they stood there watching for one last glimpse of their Master, a voice told them that the time for such things was past. Turning to look at who spoke, they see angels. The angels promised that Jesus would someday return in pretty much the same fashion.

It was a Sabbath Day’s Journey back into the city. By that time, the Pharisees had fiddled with the meaning of the phrase until it stretched as much as 2.25 miles (3.6km). We find the disciples had moved their latest base of operations away from Bethany to the home in the Bethesda Quarter that hosted their banquet before Passover.

Luke names the eleven surviving disciples, as well as the women associated with Jesus’ ministry, but he includes the Lord’s own younger brothers. Indeed, the group had grown to some 120 members. About the only thing they could take action on at this point was replacing Judas Iscariot. Luke explains that Judas’ betrayal bribe was used to purchase the field, apparently where Judas had decided to hang himself. That was the evening before Passover Day, when no one was going to retrieve a dead body, particularly one having died so shamefully as hanging. Since he wasn’t dealt with until sometime later, his swollen body was pretty hard to handle, and may have already fallen to the ground. The easiest answer for the Sanhedrin, seeking to keep all of this secret, was buying the field where he lay and designating it as a pauper’s grave site. The money they used was Judas’ reward for betrayal, which could not be returned to the Temple treasury because it was blood money. Since the secrecy was so poor, the acreage was eventually called “Field of Blood” in honor of Judas’ death there, and the dirty money used to buy it.

It turned out there had been a handful of other men who had strung along with the Twelve pretty much the whole time they followed Jesus. While He officially called out the original group, nothing kept others from participating as volunteers. Perhaps they were younger men not yet working, or wealthy enough to afford the time. It’s typical of ancient, and particularly Eastern cultures, to pay little attention to this minor detail, since it was too common. Central figures in a narrative get named, but it was almost silly to name servants unless they took part in the action, and equally silly to assume there were none present. Jesus had a steady entourage much bigger than the Twelve, except in those places when the Gospels specifically say otherwise. At any rate, these men had experienced pretty much the same as the Twelve, so they chose one of them for the office Judas held. The method they used was a holdover from the Temple rituals. It was still appropriate because the Holy Spirit was not yet present to change the mode of operations.

There is nothing to indicate that Peter was wrong to seek fulfillment of the passages in Psalms (69:25; 109:8). Both of those were long regarded as prefiguring the trials of the Messiah, so finding in those verses a call to fill Judas’ empty place is typical of Hebrew thinking. On the other hand, we have almost nothing about this man. Luke never mentions him again, but that’s not exactly surprising, since this is mostly about Peter and Paul, and events that connect them. Further, the scraps of information we can find among the Early Church writers are contradictory. Perhaps a historian might guess he eventually went on mission to Ethiopia, but little else can be said. What matters is these people continued applying the Law of Moses as best they understood in the absence of the Holy Spirit to clarify things. It may have been a pointless gesture in the grand scheme of things, but the action was not wrong in the context. They simply did the best they knew until the one defining miracle of God changed it all.