Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. So everyone was glad to see people being healed, right? But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates that is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with jealousy. That’s like a Pastor being upset because a different church is growing with God doing wonders there, and his is declining. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail. The same thing happened to Peter again later; but apparently he forgot about this situation. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison and taking them out he said, go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life. Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest and his associates came, they called the council together, even all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought. Surprise! But the officers who came did not find them in the pr...

  Good morning. At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. It does not say whether the signs and wonders were helping God’s people, or if they were helping nonbelievers, and that brought them to Jesus. My guess is that it was both. You don’t need a great health insurance, if you have God healing you. Notice that they were all with one accord. Sadly that is not the case in today’s churches. But probably as a result of the death of Ananias and his wife, none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. Forget about sending in money for a prayer cloth; it o...

  Good morning. I pray that everything is all right with your family. And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it – ya think? Based on Peter’s words to the wife later, I don’t think Peter was expecting this to happen. If that happened today, a lot of congregations would be shrinking. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. Notice that there was no ceremony, and no one gave a eulogy. I don’t know if that was the custom or if it was because of the way he died – probably the custom. They needed to bury people right away because there was no embalming. Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. What, no one cell phoned her? Notice that it took three hours. Whether that is because it was a long way off, or it took a long time to dig a grave we don’t know. Responding to her, Peter said, tell me whether you sold ...

  Good morning. There was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. I don’t know if these were houses that they currently lived in or if they were investment homes. Now Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), who was called that by the apostles, and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. He was born on the island of Cyprus, which will come into play later. He was probably mentioned because he would later be a companion of Paul, and as a contrast to what was to follow. But a man named Ananias, with his wife, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. He knew that everyone would think that he had given all of the money to help the poo...

  Good morning. In the prayer that they just finished, they were not pleading for mercy or asking God to remove all conflict from them. They were placing their trust in God, and asking that they might speak His word with confidence. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. How about them apples? That must’ve been some prayer meeting for the place to be shaken! Here is another instance where after being filled with the Holy Spirit people began to say something. And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul. If only we had that today. And not one of them claimed that anything belong to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. Now that is something that won’t happen in America under the current circumstances. It probably occurs in other countries where Christians do not have anything. We are too “things“ o...

  Good morning. So what happened when Peter and John returned to their companions? For truly in the city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. They thought they were in control of the situation, but they were not – God was. There is a lot of controversy about the term predestination; however, predestination is a part of God’s plan. As individuals, were some predestined to be saved, and some pre-destined to not be saved? If it is totally predestination, then where is the free will? The different ones just mentioned were all free to choose whether or not to crucify Jesus; however, God predestined before the creation that Jesus would be crucified in the manner in which He was. Each person made choices prior to this instance that pre-determined that they would be a part of the story and behave the way they di...

  Good morning.  And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; but we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. These do not sound like the words of some poor fisherman. That’s because they are the words of the Holy Spirit, since Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit before he spoke. We should have the same attitude, as long as we are filled with the Spirit. When they had threatened them further (they were afraid to do anything more), they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened; for the man was more than 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. Have you ever thought about that? Supposed today a 40-year-old person who had never walked had some...

  Good morning. Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. Of course they didn’t have schools like we do. The average person did not need to know a lot of things; especially women. John probably had more than most since his father was well enough off to hire workers to fish for him, and John was known by the high priest’s servant. They were probably talking about untrained in the rabbinical school concerning Scriptures. Notice that they recognized them as having been with Jesus. Can people say that about us? And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. How could they? It was impossible to argue with success! But when they had ordered them to leave the council, they began to confer with one another, saying, what shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place ...

  Good morning. So Peter and John are standing before the high priests. When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, by what power, or in what name, have you done this? In other words, who said you could? They did not really care that a man was made whole. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them (remember that I said that when the Bible says someone was filled with the Holy Spirit that they usually said something afterwards), Rulers and elders of the people. If we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health. In other words, you might’ve thought “you done away with Him”, but He is still on the scene and very active! He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which bec...

  Good morning. Not everyone was happy because of the lame man getting healed, especially since they were talking about Jesus and the resurrection. As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees (The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection – that was why they were so sad, you see) came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Isn’t that the first amendment to the constitution – oh that’s right, they didn’t have a constitution. By the way, the first amendment was not written to protect speech you agree with – it was to protect speech you disagree with. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about 5000. That’s even more than on the day of Pentecost, which was about 3000. On the next day, ...

  Good morning. Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. One of the things that the people asked John the Baptist was, are you the Prophet? This quote of Moses is why they were asking that. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. You don’t usually think of Samuel as being a prophet. However, it says that God did not let any of his words fail. It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Of course it is referring to Jesus as being the seed of Abraham. For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways....

  Good morning. And I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. The gospel always emphasizes that repentance must come first. It is not just saying a prayer in church. Sometimes preachers seem to make it too easy to get saved. If there is no repentance, there will be no fruit. Whether or not anyone admits it, they are weighed down by their sins. Repenting and returning to God and His wiping away of your sins will be a refreshing experience. Jesus will only return when it is time for the resto...

  Good morning. While this man who had been lame and healed was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. I just realized, here we have Peter and John together and they were also together running to Jesus' grave. But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, The one you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which ...

  Good morning. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. My Bible says that they were three times of the day for prayer. One of these was the ninth hour, which is 3 PM. Another was the third hour, 9 AM – which is when the Holy Spirit came into the upper room. The fact that 9 AM was one of the hours of prayer means it could’ve been the temple and not the upper room; however they were still afraid of the Jews, so they may have been afraid to go to the temple - instead stayed in the upper room to pray. And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, look at us! And he began to give them his attention, expecting to recei...

  Good morning. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together (they are the same Greek words that were translated together on the day of Pentecost - it does not mean that they were all living under one roof) and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. I don’t think there would be too many people who want to go back to the good ole early days of the church that would like this to happen to them. If the church had taken care of its own, we would not need the giant government welfare to take care of them. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart. This was true unity. We don’t even come close today. They were praising God and having favor with all the people. The ...

  Good Sunday morning. So Peter just told them that basically they were responsible for the death of Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we will see much later, it seems that at this point in time they believed that you could not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit without first being baptized in water. It appears that that idea did not change until chapter 10 after God baptized Cornelius and his family in the Holy Spirit before they were water baptized. Now lest someone think that this was just for the people in the first century Peter then says, for the promise (of the Father - baptism in the Holy Spirit) is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. That means us...

  Good morning. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. David wrote, “You will not abandon My soul to Hades, nor allow Your holy one to undergo decay.“ I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (in other words this was not about David). And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Luke in his gospel quotes Jesus as saying I’m sending forth the promise of My Father u...

  Good morning. Peter explains what really happened: this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel – and it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This quotation is really remarkable given that Peter was not considered to be a learned man. The average man would not have been able to make the connection between the scripture and what happened; so it had to be the Holy Spirit. Jesus the Nazarene, a ...

  Good morning. And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others were mocking and saying, they are full of sweet wine. But Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice and declared to them: men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. Notice that it only talks about the 12 apostles; it does not mention the rest of the 120. That does not mean that the rest of the 120 were not in the house when the baptism of the Holy Spirit came. It may be that they were still in the house, and only the apostles went outside where the people were. It is an indication that it could’ve been just the apostles in the room when the Holy Spirit fell. What would speak against it is that there were more than 12 languages mentioned just prior to this that were being heard. So unless the apostles were speaking in more than one language, then that would mean that there was more than 1...

  Good morning. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. And so all, whether just the 12 apostles or the 120, were filled with the Holy Spirit. There are some Pentecostal denominations that believe that not only here, but also today, is when a person receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I believe they received it in John chapter 20. One thing is for certain – whenever in the book of Acts you see that someone is filled with the Holy Spirit, immediately thereafter they say something – here they spoke in tongues. Were these known or unknown tongues? It does not say. We do know that shortly they would be speaking in known tongues. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred (The sound of a violent rushing wind), The crowd...

  Good morning. Now we have come to the day of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. First of all, we do not know how long it had been since they cast lots for the replacement apostle. It could not have been too long because it was only 10 days from the day that Jesus ascended, to the day of Pentecost. My Bible says that it literally means when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled. Jesus dying on the cross was the fulfillment of Passover - His blood saving us like the blood of the Passover lambs on the first Passover. Pentecost is also called the feast of weeks, the feast of the harvest, and the day of first fruits. All of these came about on this day. Now it does not say that it was the upper room – just that they were in one place. Most people agree that it was the upper room – I’m not sure that it makes any difference. It also does not say who “they“ were. Most people believe that it was the 120. The only ones that we know for su...

  Good morning. Peter is speaking in the presence of about 120 people: The scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry. Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. Judas did not personally buy the field; but the money that was given to him for betraying Jesus which he threw into the temple was used to buy the field. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that that field was known as the field of blood. It is written: let his homestead be made desolate, and let no one dwell in it; and let another man take his office. Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us – beginning with the baptism of John until the day...

  Good morning. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold two men in white clothing stood beside them. I wonder if these were the same two angels that were inside the tomb when Mary came. They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. This is a direct declaration that Jesus will come again. He did not leave earth forever, but will return one day – in just the same way. We have no way of knowing what the disciples were thinking. Were they thinking that He would return before they died? I seriously doubt that they believed that it would be 2000 years before He returned. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey aw...

  Good morning. Now to Luke’s version of the great commission: but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. Notice that it says when the Holy Spirit has come upon not within you. Some Pentecostals do not believe that anyone has the Holy Spirit within them until they receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I believe that when Jesus breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit”, that is when the disciples received the Holy Spirit within them. However, they were not empowered by the Holy Spirit until the day of Pentecost. In the great commission in Matthew, Jesus told them to make disciples of all the nations. Here He gives the pattern – first in Jerusalem where you are right now; then you branch out to the areas close to you in Judea and Samaria; and finally you go into all the world. For us that would be like Lakeland; Polk County; Fl...

  Good morning. Today we start the book of Acts. As you know, Luke also wrote this book. The first account I composed, “Theo”, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. At the end of Luke, he wrote that Jesus led the disciples as far as Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them; and while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Back to Acts: to these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Remember that the day of Pentecost is 50 days after Passover; so they only had to wait a few days after He left. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, He said, you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, b...

  Good morning. Now Jesus tells Peter: truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go. Of course that happens to elderly people today; that is not what He was talking about. Many believe that Jesus was saying that Peter would be imprisoned and led to crucifixion. Tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down; that he said he was not worthy to be crucified right side up like his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken thus, He said to him; follow Me! Of course Peter said, thanks for the info Jesus – not! He did exactly like we would do if someone told us we would have a horrible future. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. So Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord, what abo...

  Good morning. After Peter said, you know that I love You, Jesus said tend My lambs. He then said to Peter a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? This time He did not say “more than these”. He did again use the word for love of God. Peter answered exactly the same way, yes, Lord; You know that I (brotherly) love You. He said to him, shepherd My sheep. He said the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? This time He used the word for brotherly love. Some people make this out to be a stylistic change of the word for love for variety; but it seems strange that out of the six times that the word love was used, this is the only time that either Jesus or Peter varied their particular use of it. I believe that Jesus did it intentionally. Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, do you (brotherly) love Me? Some people say that because Peter denied Jesus three times, that Jesus asked Peter three times do you love Me? But it does not say that Peter was gr...

  Good morning. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples ventured to question Him, who are You? Knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead. By the way, there was nothing that indicated how long it was between the time that Jesus appeared to them and showed them His hands and side and this instance at the sea of Galilee. Have you ever thought about where was Jesus between the time He rose from the dead, then appeared to Mary, later to the disciples, and then until the Sea? Where would you be during all this time? Remember the scene at the cross; and then you have been dead three days; the moment you arise, where would you go? I don’t know where Jesus was, but if it had been I who had been raised from the dead, I would’ve immediately gone and let my mother and family know that I was alive. Now w...

  Good morning. So Peter swam to the shore. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about 100 yards away, dragging the net full of fish. So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread. Have you ever thought about this scene? When it says charcoal fire, it does not mean Kingsford charcoal. It is just wood that has burned down to coals. OK, so it is easy to believe that Jesus gathered some wood for a fire; but where did He get the fire? There are numerous instances in the Old Testament where an angel produced fire; so it is not improbable that Jesus did the same thing. What about the fish? You can envision Jesus walking to the edge of the water and saying, here fishy fishy fishy; and they swam to the shore. But the real question is, where did the bread come from? Yes, Jesus did multiply bread twice; but He had something to work with – where did He get the bread to work with thi...

  Good morning. After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias (or Galilee), and He manifested Himself in this way. Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, the sons of Zebedee (James and John) and two others of the disciples were together. It does not say where they were. They may or may not have been in the upper room. Peter said, I am going fishing. They said, we will also come with you. We know that Peter, James, and John were fishermen for a living. We do not know about the others. It is normal when something climatic happens for one to revert to past activities, which are reassuring. They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. This is reminiscent of a previous encounter of Peter and Jesus; one which John does not mention. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Children, you do not have any fish, do you? They answered Him, no. Just like Mary, they di...

  Good morning. Now we come to “doubting Thomas“. He was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples were saying to him, we have seen the Lord! But he said to them, unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. It is easy to put him down for saying this – and we do - but in truth would we do any better? In the world, seeing is believing; but in Christianity believing is seeing. After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, peace be with you. This is the same thing that Jesus said the first time He came into the room. He said to Thomas, reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; do not be unbelieving, but believing. (One of the characterizations of Jesus in Christian songs today is that of His scars.  But does Jesus ...