Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. Jesus’ reply to Ananias: go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name‘s sake. He doesn’t say when He was going to show Paul what he would suffer. Was it before he started or during his accomplishments? If God told us that we were going to do something great for Him, but along with that would come very great suffering, would we still accept the assignment? Ananias went to the house, and after laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is one of the few places where someone was filled with the Holy Spirit, but does not say that they said something immediately afterwards. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was bapti...

  Good morning. The last we saw of Saul/Paul was in conjunction with the stoning of Stephen. I  don’t know how much later this was. Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was approaching the city, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, why are you persecuting Me? Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do. The men with him heard the voice but did not see anyone. He could not see, and the men with him led him by hand into the city. He was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. There was a disciple in the city named Ananias; The Lord said to him get up and go to the street called Straight (it went s...

  Good morning. When the eunuch asked Philip of whom does The Prophet say this – of himself or of someone else, it was the perfect opening to witness. Beginning from this scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water. Remember when we started this passage that we said this was a desert road. There just “happened“ to be some water available exactly when it was needed. What prevents me from being baptized? This next verse is not in the earliest manuscripts; the King James version did not use the earliest; it used what was available. Phillip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found...

  Good morning. When the apostles had finished their task in Samaria (the city), they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. One would think that after the great revival that Philip had in Samaria that he would’ve made camp there for years; but God had another idea. An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. (this is a desert road). So he complained about having to give up his successful ministry – wrong! He got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. What is really interesting about this is that there was an Ethiopian eunuch who helped the prophet Jeremiah when he was imprisoned in a deep hole in the ground. It was almost like God ...

  Good morning. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. It does not say that they spoke with other tongues, but how else would he know that they had received the Holy Spirit? Remember that I said he did not ask for the ability to perform miracles which he saw Philip do; but he is wanting the ability to impart the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues. But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity. But Simon answered and said, pray to...

  Good morning. Well, what happened in Samaria, did not stay in Samaria 🙃 . When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Two things here: first, is it saying they did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, or that they had not been baptized in the Holy Spirit? Unless someone has a dramatic change in their lives, it is impossible to tell whether or not the Holy Spirit dwells in them. The baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues would be evidence that they had received Holy Spirit. The second thing is; why didn’t Philip pray for them to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit? It is possible that at that time they did not realize that a “layman“ could pray for people to receive. Remember that they were probably skeptical that Samaritans could be saved. This way the apostles would see that it did happen. For He had not fallen upon any o...

  Good morning. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. This is the area where Jesus had the discussion with the woman at the well. Remember from Acts 1:8 that after Jerusalem, Samaria was mentioned. Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews and considered more or less half Jews. A lot of the Jews of the northern kingdom were taken away and replaced by others who were not Jews. They intermingled with the Jews that were living in the northern kingdom. Even though Samaria was not far away, the disciples had not come there to preach the word before this. The disciples may have even thought that it was impossible for them to get saved, just like the Gentiles. The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. Even though he was “just a deacon”, God worked throug...

  Good morning. Remember that Stephen had said that he had seen Jesus standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Lord, do not hold this sin against them! That’s not what most people would say – they would say get them Lord! Having said this, he fell asleep. That is how the Bible describes Christians dying – falling asleep. Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. On that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And so finally they began doing what Jesus told them to do in Acts 1:8 - they became witnesses in Judea and Samaria. Until thi...

  Good morning. Stephen continues for a long time telling the story of Moses. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. (remember that the people asked John the Baptist if he were The Prophet). He continues on to David and Solomon and the building of the temple. Throughout all of the history of Israel that Stephen just talked about, the people did not fully follow God for very long. You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Come on Stephen – enough of this warm and fuzzy talk. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it. (in other words he’s talking about good Friday and Easter). When they heard thi...

  Good morning. They couldn’t refute what Stephen was saying so they did what people do today when they have no good response to the truth – they secretly induced men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. If you have no answer against the truth, you bring in a great lie to oppose it. And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to Stephen and dragged him away and brought him before the council. They put forth false witnesses who said, this man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us. And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council saw his face like the face of an angel. The high priest said, are these things so? He was probably expecting a simple yes or no; but what he got was an earful. He begins with Abraham when he was first called by God to go ...

  Good morning. The congregation selected seven men to be what we now call deacons. My Bible says that they all had Greek names. Remember that they were to take care of the Greek widows. One of them was Stephen, who would soon be martyred. Another was from Antioch, which is the city from which Paul and Barnabas were sent out. A third one of the seven was Philip, through whom later great signs and wonders would be performed in Samaria. They didn’t just vote for them and immediately put them into office. They brought them before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them. The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. As a deacon, he wasn’t just a glorified janitor. But some rose up and argued with Steven. When you’re doing God’s work, it b...

  Good morning. When we think about the early church, we tend to think that everybody was perfect; they knew all there was to know about the Christian life; and everything was love and harmony. But in reality that was not the case – it was O.J.T. Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews (they were born outside of Israel and spoke the Greek language) against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. In the Christian life, this is where the rubber meets the road. It’s easy to be spiritual when miracles are happening daily. It’s much harder to be spiritual when we have to interact with other believers. Of course today they would be accused of being racist. So the 12 summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, it is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.  Just like in churches today, especially smaller ones, the...

  Good morning. OK so everybody was upset. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel (Paul’s mentor), a  teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up in the council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. He then gives two instances of men who had followers. When they died, their followers dispersed. So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God. They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. In other words, this is a warning of what will happen to you if you don’t listen to us. And so the apostles went away bawling and squalling – not! So they went on their way from the presence of the c...

  Good morning. So what did they do now? After all, they had told the apostles to not preach any longer in the name of Jesus, but they had done so. Then the captain along with the officers proceeded to bring them back without violence ( for they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned). When they had brought them, they stood them before the council. The high priest questioned them, we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. You got that right, Bo. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. That is so very true, but sometimes it’s hard to tell when it’s really God and not just our own desires. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a prince and a savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we ar...

  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 p...

  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 cellphoned 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 whet...

   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 t...

  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“ or...

  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 sort ...

  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 beca...

  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...