Read Ps. 19 and Acts 11
S.O.A.P.
S:
Psalm 19 is so poetic! I
especially love verses 3 and 4 speaking of the stars and the sunrise and sunset:
“Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.”
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.”
And then speaking of God’s Word the
Psalmist pens these words in verses 7-9:
“The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes.”
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes.”
The Message
I also like how plainly The Message reads
verse 12, “Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work …”
Peter puts it this way in Acts 11:17, “who
was I and what power or authority had I to interfere or hinder or forbid or
withstand God?” Words like these quieted
people up in a hurry! (vs 18)
O:
As I read the accounts in Acts 11 I am reminded of my New Testament
Survey Class I took this past semester.
Acts is like a history book of the early church. What is cool about it is you can take each epistle
that was written and sort of place it into the book of Acts. Acts 11 takes place in about 43 AD at about
the same time the Book of Matthew was written.
As we get into the next few chapters we will begin to see Paul’s
missionary journeys. The letters of Paul
fit right into the book of Acts written by Luke from this point forward.
|
Matthew
|
40-55 AD
|
|
James
|
45 AD
|
|
Galatians
|
48-49 AD
|
Much of Galatians ties into Acts 11. The revelation mentioned (Gal 2:2)
corresponds with the prophecy of Agabus in verse 27-28. Paul exhortation to remember the poor (Gal.
2: 10) fits with the purpose of the Acts 11.
When studying this last semester I found this all to be very insightful
and it helped me to get a better view of the Bible as a whole and the living
history of the early church.
A:
The application for me today is first to thank Him for his handiwork
that we see day in and day out. Take
special notice of the skies and how their “unspoken truth” is everywhere. Not to worship the creation, but the Creator
who make all of those beautiful things and keeps it running day in and day
out. Secondly as we said yesterday to share
with others the message of salvation and to encourage present day believers as
well.
1 comment:
In my Christian Doctrine class today we are talking about "THE DOCTRINE OF REVELATION" or how God reveals Himself to us. He reveals Himself in two ways, special and general revelation. General revelation is what we talked about when we read Psalms 19. I thought I would briefly share the five verses from my lecture that talks about how God reveals Himself to us in a general way or through nature:
The Key Biblical Passages that support the doctrine of general revelation:
1. Psalms 19:1-4 – the heavens declare the glory of God; the works of God are His autograph
2. Romans 1:18-20 – The pagans are without excuse because God has made Himself known through the beauty of His creation
3. Romans 2:14-16 – God has planted in every human heart the requirements of the Law, in the hearts of humanity. This is the moral quality, the sense of right and wrong.
4. Acts 14:15-17 – God has shown himself to all people through his general benevolence and provision through rain and food, etc. for all people. These are through nature general manifestations of God’s revelation.
5. Acts 17:22-31 – The Athenian philosophers that Paul addressed knew there was some kind of God that they were worshipping called “the unknown God” and Paul talked to them about who this “unknown God” was. This was something in them that God planted within their hearts.
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