Thursday Reading: 1 Corinthians 1 17-25
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1 25
25  Because the foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger than men.

Devotion:
When you were first introduced to your church in what light did you find it? Was it a church that was waiting for a sign from God or maybe a church that was built up by intelligent people; or yet still maybe it was built up by men with a passion. In what light do you now find your church? Is it a place where people come together to wait on God, a place where people come together to lift the roof off to God in praise or a place where you are taught all about the world around us? I found many different churches in my growth as a Christian with many different people who wanted their own way of worshipping God but each one I have gone to has claimed to worship the same God so far.

If you are still searching for a church then I would encourage you to not look for the ideal church but to simply find one that teaches Christ from the bible! We don’t have to find absolute wisdom nor a large enough church that will lift the roof off in song. What we need is somewhere to exercise our faith in Christ. We must never forget that our church is built on Christ and sustained by the power of God. No amount of human wisdom will ever figure out the things of God.  There is no amount of book reading or studying that will bring you to know God; yes you will know all about Him but you will not know Him personally. Just like in school we may study all about people in history but we will never truly know them unless we are able to meet them.

Christ wants each of us to put aside the world and to seek Him out personally so that we can enter into our own personal relationship with Him because without that relationship we are still lost. It’s not all about who knows best but about who knows Christ. We will never get to know all the things that God knows otherwise we would be God. We need to stop trying to figure out God and simply turn to Him as our closest friend... that is when we will get to know the one true God!

Points to Ponder:
How would you describe your church?

How would you describe your relationship with Christ?

Wednesday Reading: Acts 5 34-42
 
Key Verse: Acts 5 39
39  But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God.

Devotion:
Even amongst those that do not put their faith and trust in God there are many who will admit that there may be a God and that if there is nobody will be able to work against Him. Why would such people have these thoughts in their minds? Why do people who are not Christians always acknowledge that Christians exist and that they have something that they believe in? Surely if they thought that they knew the truth they would try to show us where we have gone wrong and pull us away from God.

Instead we see people around us who hide from the truth because they are afraid of it or because they do not want to admit to the things that they do wrong. I mean, who wants to stand up in front of everyone and tell the world that they are sinners! Well, God wants us to know that we are sinners but He does not call us forward to embarrass ourselves in front of the world; instead He shows us His love and shows us how we can come to Him in private and admit our mistakes.

God has given each one of us an in-built conscience to know the difference between right and wrong. He gave that to us so that we could seek out the truth for ourselves. He has not forced anything on us. The world and people of the world will do some pretty stupid things just to try and show us that they are in charge, but truth be told, they can and never will be able to fight against God! Just one member of the Sanhedrin stood up and stated the obvious – if this is of man it will eventually go away because man is corrupt and people eventually see through corruption... but if this is of God then it will always stand! We need to remember that we are where we are because of God. He has us firmly in His grip and we need to stand firm in His Word. We will face some pretty strange and sometimes grim things but we will always know that our God will take care of us because that is exactly what He has promised!

Points to Ponder:
Name one fad you got involved in?
 
Have you noticed that God continues on no matter what?

Tuesday Reading: Acts 2 44-47
 
Key Verse: Acts 2 45
45  And they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.

Devotion:
How many people do you know who are willing to give up their ways of life and work with or for others without concern for their own former lives? I think that that should be the attitude that any Christian should take on; as soon as they say that they want to work for God then that is what they should be doing, not working out how they can change their lives to work for God but working for Him first. God does not want a bunch of people who are willing to work but need to be told everything to do but would rather have people that are willing to set to work for Him and be guided as they do so.

If you were trying to run a business then you would want people that work for you to try their best to work from the outset. If they are doing something wrong then you can tell them so and guide them in the way they should be working – but having people that are willing and able to work is key to any business. God is about the business of saving souls and He wants people who are willing to work within His Law because they know His Law. When we are willing to step forward and work for Him then He is going to guide us in just how we should be doing that – but we need to take that first step of obedience.

When the disciples were teaching other of Christ the people that heard the truth and understood it were more than willing to give up their former lives and live for Christ. When Christ wanted the disciples to follow Him He simply said “Follow Me”! Christ has made it as simple as He can for each of us to follow Him now. It is not going to be an easy ride because we do have to work and we do have to be prepared to face the wrath of the world (which is nothing compared to God’s wrath). Christ wants us to be able to live together as one body under Him; for as long as we continue to fight each other we are certainly not working together in His truth. He wants us to be here for each other... In His Name!

Points to Ponder:
Do you still try to go it alone?

Are you working with Him yet?

Monday Reading: Acts 3 12-18
 
Key Verse: Acts 3 18
12  And seeing this, Peter answered the people, Men, Israelites, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you stare at us, as though we had made this man to walk by our own power or holiness?
 
Devotion:
When the disciples would heal someone the last thing that they would try to do was to gain any glory from the healing for themselves. They would make sure that Christ was the one glorified and they would make sure that people knew that it was Christ doing the healing and not themselves. Sadly many people out there would rather bask in the glory themselves nowadays than to acknowledge that it is God and not them doing the miracles.

So how were the disciples sure that God would do the healing when they called upon His name? The answer is through faith. In the beginning the disciples all had their moments of lack of faith when Christ died because they could see no way forward from that point. It was only after He appeared to them as risen that they realised just how awesome Christ is. It was then that their faith was realised and they no longer looked back. We are not going to see Christ like they did because He has said that the next time He comes back it will be to remove us from the world for the judgement period. What we do have is all written down so that we can believe...

Peter reminded those around him that it was they who had rejected Jesus and they who had called for Barabbas instead of Jesus to be released. He reminded them that they were the ones who had chosen sin instead of God. He did also remind them that Christ had allowed all this to happen because it is what He had told them in the beginning through the prophets. Christ knew what had to be done and accomplished it to the full even though it meant personal suffering for Himself. Christ made sure that God’s Word was upheld above all. Christ demonstrated the truth in God’s Word. Christ gave us the proof we need to have absolute faith in Him!

Points to Ponder:
What proof do you need before you believe someone?

How much more proof do you need from God?