Responses to the Gospel - 31 Days in Acts

Welcome to my 8th Day of 31 Days in Acts.

We are continuing on from the previous post.


Verses 5-12 of chapter 4 are very encouraging and should stand as a good example for us to follow.

First chance to speak and the Gospel is the first thing to be shared.

Why?

Because The Gospel is the most important thing.

The Gospel is the key point of everything we as Christians are called to say and do.

Everything should point us and others to Jesus.


Do we fail in this?

This is probably one of the hardest things for any of us to do but how do we get past that and learn how to share the Gospel in as many situations as we can?

We may not all be natural preachers but we don't need to be to tell others of Jesus.  We can use other people that are more gifted in that way or we can use videos, booklets, songs, poems to introduce the grace and mercy of God to others and to the Bible.

We can also make it a goal in our lives to learn from others how to present the Gospel in a conversation.

The Gospel is what the whole Bible points to & the Gospel is Jesus!

In my sidebar I have a short video called 3,2,1 and it is one way to help us 

to share the Gospel.  

Please click on the video and investigate the simple method shown there.

Verses 13 - 22

The rulers, elders & scribes saw from the way Peter & John talked that they were men who had been with Jesus.

They marvelled at the boldness of Peter & John.

They saw the healed man

They could not deny the miracle

They worried that word would spread


The response of the rulers, elders & scribes:

They commanded Peter & John not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus


The response of the people:

They glorified God


The response of Peter and John:

They could not keep silent.

verses  23 - 31

After being set free Peter & John went to join other companions (other followers of Jesus) and tell them of the day's event.


The response of their companions:

Prayer for more boldness to speak God's Word and to be used in more healings.

Prayer for signs and wonders be done in the Name of Jesus.


God's Response:

Immediate filling of the Holy Spirit.

Do we have a positive or negative response to the message of the Bible?

You can find all the other posts in this series at

The Book of Acts Page

Who Complains About Good Things? - 31 Days in Acts

This is our seventh day in the Book of Acts and we are starting

Chapter 4

Immediately there are different questions forming as I read the first few verses.


          The first question that comes to mind here is

Who were they speaking to?

Chapter 4 v 1 - 4

"Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand."    NKJV

It is always important to know the context of the passage we are reading.

They were speaking to The people who were the people at the temple after the lame man was healed because this passage is continuing on from the section of chapter 3 that was covered in the  

 previous post.


The priests, Captain of the Temple Guard and the Sadducees are all mentioned here but did they come as a group with the same agenda or individually with the same agenda or individually with different agendas? 
Even if they came with different agendas the result may have profited them all in the end.


It says they came abruptly so does this mean quickly, or that there manner was abrupt and they just had to get saying what was in their mind.  Oh how this happens so often with us.
We need to say the thing quickly because

•   we might forget exactly what our argument is and not be able to articulate it exactly as we would desire to later.
•   we are in such a frame of mind that we cannot let the situation pass without addressing it.

Maybe a little patience and further thought and prayer on the matter in this type of situation might be the best turn and of course we are exhorted to be quick to listen but slow to speak.  Sometimes when we speak too soon, we later have to find other ways to get ourselves out of the situation we should not have put ourselves into and that can entail adding to things and even lying because of course we have to be right don't we!


Had they gathered together and discussed what to do before they came to him?
Seems likely at least a short dialogue took place if they came together.


What were their complaints?

•   Peter & John had taught the people
•   Peter & John had preached the Gospel

Seems strange to us that they should complain about good things, things that would benefit the people.   To them however, they were not good things.  Two perspectives of the same thing are never exactly the same.

Where they arrested suddenly?

It was already evening (what time had passed)?

Does this make it seem as if they had talked together first for a considerable time?


Also more than 5,000 had believed by this stage so it must have taken some time as to have that many people around the Temple would have meant people coming and going and telling others to come, because there would not have been enough room for them all there at the one time.

Often I have questions that I can't answer.

When this happens I need to seek out someone who is more knowledgeable than I am or accept that an event is never completely explained and I will never know all the details.

The most important thing here is not knowing all the exact details.

The most important thing here is the result of preaching the Gospel

which is

 the Salvation of souls.

The most important thing is always pointing people to Jesus the Saviour.

You can find all the other posts in this series at

The Book of Acts Page

Have We Got Your Attention? - 31 Days in Acts

After the first 10 verses of chapter 3 can there be anything now in 

verses 11 - 26

       to
              catch our attention,

                         speak the truth

                                      or

                                   leave us in wonder and amazement?

Well YES

 immediately everyone's attention is definitely got in verse 11

which gives Peter a perfect opportunity in verse 12

to start to link the God the Jews served with Jesus the Messiah whom they had rejected and killed,   and on to the Good News that God raised Him from the dead in verses 13 - 15.

verse 16
Linking this miracle to the Name of Jesus and the faith we can have in His Name in verse 16.

verses 17 - 19
Showing them that it is not too late because even though they made a mistake in their treatment of the Lord Jesus they can still repent, be converted and have their sins forgiven.

The gospel in a concise manner you might say but truthfully the Gospel clearly presented and the name of Jesus glorified.

Could Peter do anything better than to point people to Jesus
and honour His Name?

Can we do anything better than to point people to Jesus and honour His Name?

verses 20 - 26
Throughout their history the plan was always for Jesus to bless them in making the way for them to turn from their sins and be truly united with God.

I believe from this example and other passages of scripture that we know Peter & John never missed an opportunity to draw the attention of people to Jesus whether by words or by deeds.
Often today we miss the opportunities God brings our way and do not bring Jesus in as the focus of attention.

Let's be encouraged by this passage and be ready to get the attention of others and direct it to Jesus.

Can we do anything better than to point people to Jesus and honour His Name?

If you feel unsure about how to share the Gospel have a look at the 3 2 1 video on my sidebar.

You can find all the other posts in this series at

The Book of Acts Page

What Happened at the Gate? Day 5 - The Book of Acts

In the previous post we finished chapter 2 and today we are looking at the first 10 verses of Chapter 3.


This is one of the most well-known parts of the book of Acts especially by children as we often cover this story in Sunday School and other kids events and use the song

"Silver and Gold have I None"

to help the children remember the event.

I love how learning a song that is based on Bible verses can help us to learn God's Word and this is a great example.

Each verse in this section has something important to highlight.

1.   Going Together to Pray
2.   A Beautiful Gate
3.   A Simple Request
4.   An Attention Getter
5.   Expectancy
6.   The Truth is Spoken
7.   Needs are Met
8.   Joyful Praise
9.   A Miraculous Work of God
10. Wonder and Amazement


Even though I know this passage so well I still can get the happiness of this event and the joy of this event.

Happiness and joy are not the same and here I think we have a good example of the difference.

The people were glad for the man but the man himself was full of joy.

I'm sure he was happy too but only he could know the real joy because this miracle had happened to him, and changed his life forever.

It is such a good example of the change in our lives when we accept God's salvation: it brings us happiness and real joy and changes our lives forever because of an encounter with Jesus.

Happiness and joy are not the same and here I think we have a good example of the difference.

There are lots of things we can learn about salvation here but also lots of things to learn about how Christians can witness to others.  Just look at those verses again and see it from those two points of view and be encouraged.

You can find all the other posts in this series at

The Book of Acts Page

Is there Strength in the Promise? - 31 Days in Acts

I hope you read the previous blog post because this one is the continuation of Acts ch 2


The 120 waiting in the Upper Room received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But that wasn't the end of it.

The Promise of God was not just for the 120 who had been waiting 

but for all that were there.

Yes the 120 received the blessing but because of them others were now being given the chance to have their lives changed as well.

The 120 spoke in other languages and received boldness to witness.

When they spoke in all those other languages, that the foreign visitors to the city could understand, they gained the attention of so many people from near and far.

Peter then was able to use that opportunity to speak out for God.

Verses 14 - 39  had covered his sermon

Verses 40 - 47 now show the result of Peter's boldness through the Holy Spirit.

He had preached the Word of God from the scriptures they knew well and 3,000 people responded.

This was 25 times the 120 that had waited in the Upper Room.

This was 250 times the number of the disciples.

All those people had their lives changed in that day.

A church was the result and it continued to grow.

Why?

Because they were still in one accord.

They must have been still in agreement because verse 42 tells us

steadfastly:

fixed in intensity or direction; steady; 

unwavering or determined in purpose or loyalty

If they were not in one accord they would not have continued to do what they had been doing before but they knew the instructions Jesus had given them and they were guided by the Holy Spirit and they were wise to obey.

We can see 10 reasons for the preservation and growth of the church here too.

1.  They were steadfast people.
2.  They knew the doctrine/scriptures were very important.
3.  They knew Godly fellowship was important.
4.  They kept the command of communion that Jesus had given them.
5.  They were faithful to pray.
6.  They were in awe of God.
7.  They were used in the miraculous.
8.  They stayed together.
9.  They shared with each other and were not selfish.
10.  They took care of each other.

These are not just things that affect the people of a church, these are the things that strengthen the people of the church to face the world and spread the gospel and that hasn't changed today.

Yes there is strength in the promise!

Do you need strength to face the world and spread the Gospel?

Do you need strength to face the world and spread the gospel?

Then follow the example set in verse 42 and be in one accord in worshipping the Lord.

You can find the other blog posts in this series at

The Book of Acts 

All Together Now? - 31 Days in Acts

This is Day 3 of our 31 Days in Acts Series for this month and if you would like to read the previous posts please click here first and then come back again.


Years ago as a teenager I had to take a group of young girls at a camp for morning and evening devotions.

This was the first time I had ever had to look at passages of scripture and make decisions as to what I should help to focus someone else's mind on.

The thing I have always remembered out of those weekly devotions was one from Acts ch. 2 which I based around

All together, all in one accord.

But the all in one accord didn't start there at the start of chapter 2, it was already mentioned in v 14 of chapter 1.

Not only did this refer to the 12 disciples being in one accord which would be a great feat in itself but it also included the brothers of Jesus and His mother Mary and other women.

Right so women and men all in one accord?

This is not something we see all the time!

What were they in agreement over?

We read that it was agreement in prayer and supplication, so yes maybe we have seen groups of people able to come together to prayer in total agreement about certain things but would their agreement then continue into other aspects?

In Acts ch.1 v.15-26 we already see that the number of people together were now 120 which is 10 times the number of the disciples. 

Could this size of group stay in agreement?

Yes they were definitely in agreement in following the scriptures because they took instruction and acted upon Psalm 109 v 8 to choose someone to take the place of Judas.

Looking at the first 4 verses of Acts ch. 2 we see some more things to do with them all being in agreement.

verse 1     all with one accord in one place

verse 2     sound of a rushing mighty wind filled the whole house

verse 3     sight of a tongue of fire resting on each person

verse 4     all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other languages

After reading these last two sections I do have two things that I am pondering:

If they had voted for a replacement for Judas would some disagreement have entered the group?

If they had not been all in one accord would the Holy Spirit have filled them all?

So far it's all been about agreement or in one accord and involving all the group but there was another group of people affected by this situation but things were not the same for them.

Acts ch.2 verses 5 - 15 show us the Crowd's Response to what had happened that day.

Here there were two sides

1. Some were amazed and marvelled at how they could hear about the wonderful works of God.
2. The others mocked and blamed it on drunkenness.

The first side ended up wanting to know more, the second dismissed it.

No agreement here!

But Peter now had the attention of many people.

And he used that to proclaim Jesus.

Verses 14 - 39 show the wise use of time and attention and a clear presentation of the Gospel in a way that the crowd were focused now on Jesus and not on the mystery of what was going on around them.

Peter called them to repentance, water baptism and to receive the Holy Spirit - he left nothing out!

The Promise of God was not just for the 120 who had been waiting but for all that were there.

But that wasn't the end of it.

See you tomorrow for the continuation.

You can find the other blog posts in this series at

The Book of Acts 

Who is your Attention on? - 31 Days in Acts

Yesterday we said Thank You to Luke.

If you missed it please take a little time to click over to DAY 1 to see how our introduction to this great book of the Bible led us to be thankful and to consider how we tackle things for God.


Today is Day 2 and you will probably be hoping I get through more than 3 verses this time.  Me too!

I'm focusing in on a message in the next part of Acts chapter 1, the little message that the 2 angels gave to the followers of Jesus who were with Him up to His last moments on earth.

But before I go on to that there are also words of Jesus in this section that are very encouraging and important.

So Let's pick out some verses along the way from Acts ch.1 v.4-11


From verse 7 we know that it is not for any of us to know times that God has decided upon, so I was struck by how important and special it must have been for those with Him to hear Jesus Himself say

 "not so many days from now" in verse 5.

Jesus was saying soon, very soon, something was going to happen.

What was Jesus talking about in verse 5?

The Promise of the Father which is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

How exciting and maybe even a bit terrifying for the believers because they could not imagine what it would entail but if Jesus said it they would trust it because they trusted Him.

Verses 9 & 10  are all about the attention of the followers and what it was centred upon.

Firstly their attention was all on Jesus as He spoke to them so this means they clearly heard Him promise that very soon (a matter of days) they would have the presence of the Third Person of the Trinity with them.

Then their attention was all on Him as He ascended.

In fact all of their attention had been on Jesus during that time. They probably didn't want to give their attention to anything else just after that; who would want to miss out on anything that might happen then?

They may have missed things before during the three years with Jesus because they couldn't keep their attention continually upon Him for all of that time.  But this was now surely a different situation with the resurrected Lord.

The two angels who suddenly appeared in verse 10 reassure them that Jesus will come back again - reiterating what Jesus Himself had already told them but they weren't all like Luke (taking a note of everything Jesus said and did from Day 1) so they could well have forgotten He said it or had not been paying proper attention that day and didn't even hear it.

The Special Little Message these two angels gave them covered 4 things:

1. Jesus went to Heaven.
2. Jesus will return from Heaven.
3. Jesus will come back in the same way as He went.
4. He will be the same Jesus  -  He will be unmistakable. 

All of this vital information in one verse.

I had to give all of my attention to this special little message because that is what was expected of me as well as the disciples. 

Are you giving your full attention to the Special little message?

It is expected of all of us because we need to know the truth of what God has planned for Christ's return and for the comfort, teaching and miracles of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives until He does return.

You can find the other blog posts in this series at

The Book of Acts 

Do you read everything in a Book? - Day 1 in the Book of Acts

Well do you?

Do you read everything in a Book?



I read many books but I have to admit I do not read every single word in each book.

I also do not read every single page in the book.

And I also do not read every single section of the book.

Yes along with many other readers I usually jump right in at the start of the first chapter.
I ignore the acknowledgements, prefaces, table of contents etc. and head in to want I really desire to do which is to read the story.

But do I miss out on something important if I do this?

Well in my son's book (which is just published and sitting on our kitchen table as I write this) I would have missed out on a short, touching message if I had not read the dedication page.
Yes he mentions his mum and dad!!!

Then in a few other books I have had to go back and read the preface because I discovered I needed to have a bit of information from that section to actually know why something was specifically being handled in the books.

"So what about the book of Acts then?"

When I started reading the first chapter today I was tempted to skim over the first few verses - you know that bit where Luke is addressing Theophilus.

I was ready to treat it like it was just a necessary, polite greeting to someone and the important stuff would appear in the next section.

Oh how wrong I was and have been in the past because I have done exactly that before several times.

Today I really didn't get much further than the prologue, preface, greeting or whatever you want to call that first 3 verses because I did read them carefully and I learnt a few things from them.

You see I often plan to take notes and document pictures when I'm on a holiday and I start off well but never have I ever finished the task.

LUKE DID!

The evidence is in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of The Acts of the Apostles

3 years of documenting the ministry of Jesus and then many years of documenting the work of the Apostles and the early church.

We have a lot to learn from Luke.
And we have a lot to be thankful to Luke for.

Luke did not start well and then get bored, tired, lazy and not complete the task but instead he kept on faithfully working on this job God had brought him to.

Oh that we would start well and finish well as Luke did!

Then I have to wonder did he realize how important this recording of events and words and feelings would be down through the centuries for others like us?
He would not live to receive our thanks or acknowledgement of the time, effort and thought he put into this.

Oh that we would be willing to do our tasks without the need of recognition and thanks or any accolade for whatever we do for the Kingdom of God.

So why did I find those 3 verses so interesting?

Luke brings out 2 important points about Jesus in these first 3 verses.

1. Jesus gave commands before His Ascension.
2. Jesus revealed Himself after the resurrection to speak of the truths of the Kingdom of God.

Luke is pointing these facts out to his friend at the very start to introduce the importance of them, and of course Luke was there so He knows first-hand how important they were.

"Makes you think even before you start reading the story!"

So whether we call these 3 verses an introduction, a prologue or a preface maybe I / We need to rethink how we approach the things we read if the first 3 verses of Acts 1 is indicative of a good prologue.

Makes you think even before you start reading the story.

You can find the other blog posts in this series at

The Book of Acts 

She Burnt Them Again! - A Dose of Encouragement

Do you ever ask your kids for the password?


Do your kids think you are mad?


We had a little password in our family which I would often ask for as any of our kids were coming into the house.   And they all knew what it was - Sausages.  


You may ask:  What does this have to do with Encouragement?

But as often happens here at Sandra's Ark - Let me tell you a little story about us.

So we had this little password in our family and everyone knew what it was - Sausages. 

They would humour me and say it as they were coming into the house

And I would then repeat it in a silly bass voice and kind of draw out the word

A silly little thing that as the kids got older they would frown at.

There was never anyone else around when I would ask for it so why would they be embarrassed by it?


They also frowned and muttered at the fact that whenever I would grill sausages I would burn them.
Well they and their dad would say I had burned them but I would just cut off the really hard bits and eat away quite happily.

But I have to tell the truth - I had burned them!

I burned them because I could never have enough patience to wait for them to cook nicely but always went off to work on the computer or to read a book or even do some housework (ok not too often for that last one) and then - well - the sausages just got burned because I would forget about them.


I tried baking them in the oven too but even then I would forget about them and burn them.

You see I'm always looking for shortcuts to things because I don't have enough patience, or because I get bored doing any one thing for too long.

I love to make nice meals if there is someone else around to help or talk to me while I do it but when I'm preparing & cooking on my own - no!

I want the quickest way to provide the meals.

I have been known to make easier, quicker versions of meals like the 10 Minute Chicken Korma
and sometimes I have even made the desserts so easy that they hardly even really qualify as desserts such as my Ginger & Pineapple Log (Super Short Version) which basically is not a log!

I promise you I really do know that microwaves are not just for reheating coffee  -  oh yes this is another one of my little quirks or one of the "Oh No Mum!" things that the kids would frown at but I see nothing wrong with reheating my mug of coffee two or three times during the day.

I Love Coffee!

I really Love Coffee!

and

I Love my Coffee Mug!

I Love my Other Coffee Mug!

I really Love my Coffee Mugs!



And then we come to the big, big, bad thing that I did to our middle child

Fred & I went to live in Belgium and left him behind in Northern Ireland 

because he had started university there.

I know this is something that people outside the family probably found more strange than the family did.  I felt I could sense people saying:  "What kind of a mother would leave her child on his own?"

So there you have it I am not perfect and never have been a perfect mother.

I would rather read a book than do the ironing.

I would rather do a word puzzle than clean the oven.

I would rather write my blog than hoover the house.

I would rather write a list than actually do the things on the list.

I would rather go sit watch a dvd 
than 
finish up the mess I made because I had started to try to organise the study 
& 
boy can I make a mess while trying to organise things.

I am not perfect and never have been a perfect mother!

But Mostly

I would rather have a coffee and sit & chat with my now grown up kids about how 

Jesus has worked in our lives.

He has redeemed us, healed us, kept us safe, 

answered our prayers, never left us alone, helped us in everything

 and 

we are all thankful that He is still doing so 

no matter what country we may have lived in 

or are in at the moment

because 

He is the Perfect One.

You see I can't be perfect because I am human but thankfully with Jesus I have the help to do all the things He has planned for me.

If you like you can visit my about me section and see the poor hubby and kids who had to put up with me not being a perfect mum - oh and the middle child is the tallest one with his arms around us all in the snow.