Author: BTP

“And Moses called…. every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it” (Exodus 36:2).

This verse is referring to the children of Israel, at the time the Lord had given to them the plans for building the tabernacle. The jobs were not likely going to be very exciting. Many were going to sit for hours embroidering cloth. Others were spinning, and still others molding silver and cutting stones. They were all to sit under the instruction of a man named Bezaleel to whom God had given wisdom in all these things.

Would you like to do something for the Lord? Ask Him for a willing heart. Ask Him to “stir you up”! And then do not be surprised if the job He leads you to seems a bit mundane. Maybe the meeting room needs cleaning, or someone just needs a helping hand. Do what the Lord puts right in front of you, and when that is well done, He will show you what to do next.

In the previous chapter, we read about “every man and woman whose heart made them willing” (Exodus 35:29). Let’s ask the Lord for willing hearts!

“With desire I [the Lord Jesus] have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15).

“For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

The Passover was instituted almost 1500 years before the Lord Jesus was born, but it is one of the most beautiful types of His suffering, death, and blood-shedding. The Lord Jesus valued the Passover, and what thoughts must have filled His soul as He ate that Passover, just before He went to the cross!

He was the true Passover, and it was really the last Passover that God could honor until the millennium. Once Christ, the true Passover, had been sacrificed, there was no more need to keep it. Today you and I, as Christians, do not keep the Passover; rather we remember the Lord Jesus with a loaf and a cup. However, Paul reminds those in Corinth that the Lord Jesus was the true Passover, and that He was sacrificed for us.

“But the centurion…commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship… And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land” (Acts 27:43-44).

This is an interesting story of how a ship was wrecked, but no one drowned. But God does not tell us this story for nothing. It is really a picture of what has happened to the profession of Christianity down through the ages. The ship represents the outward testimony of the church, while the people on it represent the true Christians. The ship broke up, just as the outward testimony of the church is all broken up today. Believers are split up into hundreds of different denominations.

Yet every true believer will make it safely home to be with Christ. Those who could swim would perhaps represent stronger Christians, who are able to manage themselves in the difficulties of the way. Others, who could not swim, needed the help of a board or a broken piece of the ship. But all of them made it safe to land.

Sometimes it can be discouraging to see how broken up the church has become, but we can take courage in the assurance that no true believer will ever be lost. All will make it safely home to be with Christ!

“And these signs shall follow them that believe…they shall take up serpents” (Mark 16:17-18).

“And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks…there came a viper [poisonous snake] out of the heat, and fastened on his hand…And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm” (Acts 28:3,5).

When the Lord Jesus was ready to ascend back to heaven after His resurrection, He told His disciples that miraculous signs would follow those that believed. These signs would show that their message was from God. One of these signs was that the followers of Jesus would be able to take up serpents.

Here in Acts 28, we see Paul collecting some sticks for the fire, when a poisonous snake bit him. But Paul simply shook it off into the fire, and its bite did not harm him. Later Paul also worked miracles of healing among those who lived on the island of Melita (Malta).

This does not mean that you and I should deliberately pick up a rattlesnake or a cobra, and expect that we will not be harmed. God does not encourage us to do something foolish. Also, God does not work these same miracles today in the way that He did at the beginning of Christianity. But He used these signs in the beginning to show that this new message of the gospel was from Him, and those miracles encouraged people to listen to the message, and receive it.

“And as the shipmen [sailors] were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 27:30-31).

In Acts 27, we have a very interesting account of how the Apostle Paul went by ship from Caesarea to Rome. The details show us how sailing ships operated in the Roman Empire. But in our verses today, we see something important for all of us.

Paul had already been told by an angel of God that no one in the ship would lose his life, but that the ship would be lost. However, that did not prevent Paul from using common sense. The sailors were trying to abandon the ship, and leave everyone to fend for themselves. Paul knew that they needed those sailors with their sailing expertise, and that if they left, the rest of the company could not handle the ship. For this reason, Paul alerted the centurion and the soldiers, who cut the boat loose and prevented the sailors’ escape.

In our own lives we can trust the Lord for His protection, but He also intends us to use our common sense. We are not to tempt the Lord by being foolish, and doing something that we know is dangerous.

“Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction; but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored” (Proverbs 13:18 JND).

There are many people today who greatly resent being corrected, even if they are wrong. In fact, we all naturally want to defend ourselves when we are wrong. But the only way to learn is to listen to those who know more than we do, and then, according to our verse today, we “shall be honored.”

Even though many people do not want to listen to correction, yet they appreciate others who are willing to learn, and want to be straightened out if they are wrong. Each one of us needs to remember this. Instead of “firing up” and getting angry if we are corrected, let us stop and listen. Perhaps we can learn something from that person, even if they correct us a little harshly, and in the wrong way. It is worthwhile listening, if we can learn how to do something a better way, or get a wrong idea out of our minds.

“Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds” (Acts 26:28-29).

When Paul (then Saul of Tarsus) was first saved, the Lord predicted through His servant Ananias that Paul would “bear My name before the Gentiles, and before kings” (Acts 9:15). Here in Acts 26, Paul was privileged to address some of the “higher ups” in the Roman Empire, and he gave a magnificent testimony. Although he was a prisoner and in chains, he did not envy any of them. When King Agrippa (who was a great-grandson of Herod the Great) mockingly said that Paul was almost persuading him to be a Christian, Paul confidently replied that he wished that all of them had what he had.

He did not, of course, want them to be in chains as prisoners, but he wished that all of them knew the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. As a believer in the Lord Jesus, he was richer than any of them.

Did any of them get saved as a result of Paul’s preaching? We do not know, but we do know that God’s word will “not return unto [Him] void” (Isaiah 55:11). It will have its effect, and we hope that some of those men took to heart what Paul said.

“In the latter times some shall depart from the faith…speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2).

Paul warned Timothy that in the “latter times” (after the apostles had been taken home to be with the Lord), some would depart from the faith. Most of these would be unbelievers who professed to be Christians, although some might not have given up Christianity, but rather had departed from some of the truth of Christianity. The result of this would be that they would tell lies and have their consciences dulled, so that it did not bother them the way that it should, when they did wrong.

This can happen to us too, even though we are true believers. When you get a severe burn somewhere on your body, it heals with scar tissue, and this scar tissue is not nearly as sensitive to touch as normal tissue. This is what can happen to our consciences when we are constantly exposed to evil, and are not careful to maintain a good conscience. It is important for each of us to be like Paul, and to “exercise ourselves” always to have a good conscience. Do not let your conscience become seared (scarred). Someone with a good conscience is not afraid before God, or before other people.

“When he [Pilate] was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him” (Matthew 27:19).

The Lord sometimes uses dreams to speak to people, and God chose to give Pilate’s wife a solemn warning about the Lord Jesus. She knew that He was a just man, and she warned her husband to have nothing to do with Him. But Pilate could not avoid the Lord Jesus; he had to decide what to do with Him. However, God had given him a warning through his wife, and thus Pilate was thoroughly guilty when he condemned the Lord Jesus to death, for Pilate knew that He was innocent.

It was all predetermined by God that the Lord Jesus should suffer and die for sin, but that did not excuse the people who were responsible. God will hold Pilate responsible when he has to stand before Him in a coming day to answer for the way he treated His Son.

In the same way, if you are not saved, you cannot avoid facing who the Lord Jesus is. You must make a decision about what you will do about Him. He wants you to accept Him as your Savior today!

“And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16).

This is something that is very important for each of us as Christians. When we know we have done wrong, our conscience bothers us, and our souls are not free to enjoy the Lord. Also, we will lack that freedom and boldness that we should have before the world. The Apostle Paul had a tender conscience, and was bold before men like Felix, the Roman governor, and before the Jews too. He lived and acted before God, and because his conscience was clear before God, he was bold to speak and to preach the gospel.

Those around him—the Jews, Felix, and the other Roman authorities, did not have a clear conscience. They were corrupt, they told lies, they acted in their own interests, and did wrong things just to preserve the peace and protect themselves. Because of this, we read that “Felix trembled” when he heard Paul speak (Acts 24:25). On Monday we will see what happens when we are not careful to have a good conscience.