All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others

Drumroll please ... the final one

Drumroll please…tne big takeaway.

Acts, that’s a wrap.

Acts 28.16-31

Listen to this podcast here: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/2b288efb/drumroll-pleas...

Have you ever been in "a moment' and you have this sense that THIS, THIS VERY MOMENT is sacred, and you don't want it to end? Then you have a taste of Heaven, a glimpse of eternity with God.

Have you ever thought now THIS, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!?

That is how it is when the Holy Spirit fills your soul. . . nigh, full unto overflowing.

I hope that the pages of Acts have spurred your desire to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. . .

that you have had your appetite whetted in such a way that you will purpose to stay in the center of His will for you, staying vital in your faith in God, strong in your relationship with him - though it will require your courage, tenacity and some daily spiritual disciplines.

Acts comes to a conclusion after 28 chapters, and while Paul has reached the end of the line at Rome, the story of Acts is far from over. The Gospel continues to spin out from there; the church has gone on to this day through you, me and believers around the world. Aye, the story of Acts is still being written today.

"How do we keep what we have learned from the book of Acts from the lives of Peter, Stephen and Paul alive, Lord? How do we love like they loved and took care of each other? "You will do that through worshiping Me with all that you are."

And so I now ask you, "Are you a worshiper?" "Maybe. . . what do you mean by that?" Not wanting to be tied to any weird stuff of course.” Well. . . a worshiper is someone who lives life with the purpose of honoring God, lifting the work of his hands, the resting of his cause, all as a sacrifice of praise to the living God. Oh, not just Sunday mornings, but he lives his life as one continuous piece, an offering to God of all He has placed in his hands. She doesn't look at worship as something she does in a building on Sunday and leave it at that. Worship is more than a set of activities like singing and going to church! Rather, we live life fully, striving to honor God. . . this is worship, and it involves the connectivity of all things.

The 'players' in Acts knew how to pour out their lives as an overflowing expression of their love for Christ. They left nothing on the table. When the Holy Spirit came and infused the church with power from on high, Acts 2, the believers were never the same. This is what we want to take and embody from our study of Acts. . . whether or not these are familiar words, at our core we want to be sold-out worshipers, seeing our lives as all one piece that we offer up to God. Paul "got" this. He wrote to the church at Rome, "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship." Read it again, won't you? Romans 12.1. Individually, we offer the sacrifice of praise with our whole selves.

A prayer for today:

Lord, thank you for the Word of God which tells the story of your love for humanity.

Thank you for the book of Acts which shows me how Jesus changed the world forever.

From what I have learned, teach me the right way to live in freedom~

not freedom to do whatever I choose,

but freedom to live the way You have always wanted me to live.

You have set me free from sin; now teach me to flee from sin.

Teach me to walk in the new way of the Spirit. I want to know You more...

Help me to love You better and as a result,

to love others better.

May I not bring shame or disgrace to You, but rather, may I point the way for others to meet You and

receive Your gift of grace as well.