Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from Acts 23:12-22.

“12  When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

13  There were more than forty who formed this plot.

14  They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

15  Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation;  and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

Proverbs 14:25
“A truthful witness saves lives, But he who utters lies is treacherous.”

Proverbs 19:5
“A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape.”

Proverbs 19:9
“A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will perish.”

Proverbs 19:28
“A rascally witness makes a mockery of justice, And the mouth of the wicked spreads iniquity.”

Proverbs 21:28
“A false witness will perish, But the man who listens to the truth will speak forever.”

Proverbs 24:28
“Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, And do not deceive with your lips.

Proverbs 25:18
Like a club and a sword and a sharp arrow Is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.”

Matthew 15:19
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

We are called to be witnesses.  “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;  and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

Let us be truthful.  Let us be trustworthy. 

Do not tell someone else’s story.  Do not elaborate or “puff up” your own testimony. 

Psalm 141:3
“Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;  Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Today’s devotion comes from Acts 22:30 through Acts 23:11.

“30  But on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

1  Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”

2  The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.

3  Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!  Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”

4  But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”

5  And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest;  for it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.’”

Today’s devotion comes from Acts 22:22-29.

“22  They listened to him up to this  statement, and then they raised their
voices and said, “Away with such a fellow  from the earth, for he should
not be allowed to live!”

23  And as  they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing
dust into the  air,

24  the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks,  stating
that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the  reason
why they were shouting against him that way.

25  But when  they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the
centurion who was standing  by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a
Roman and uncondemned?” 

26  When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and  told him,
saying, “What are you about to do?  For this man is a Roman.” 

27  The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a  Roman?”  And
he said, “Yes.”

28  The commander answered, “I  acquired this citizenship with a large sum
of money.”  And Paul said, “But  I was actually born a citizen.”

29  Therefore those who were about  to examine him immediately let go of
him;  and the commander also was  afraid when he found out that he was a
Roman, and because he had put him in  chains.”  Acts 22:22-29.

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Citizenship has its privileges.  Paul understood, and he raised his Roman citizenship as a defense against scourging.   The commander understood, and he paid a large sum of money to acquire a Roman citizenship.  If Roman citizenship was so valuable, how highly should we value our heavenly citizenship in comparison?

Psalm 87 speaks about the joy and privileges of citizenship in Zion, the city of God.

“1 His foundation is in the holy mountains. 
2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
More than all the other dwelling places of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God.  Selah.

4 “I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me;
Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia:
‘This one was born there.’”
5 But of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in  her”;
And the Most High Himself will establish her.
6 The LORD will count when He registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.”   Selah.

7 Then those who sing as well as those who play the flutes shall  say,
“All my springs of joy are in you.”  Psalm 87:1-7.

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the  Lord Jesus Christ;  who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”  Philippians 3:20-21.

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”  Ephesians 2:19-22.

Today’s devotion covers Acts 21:27 through Acts 22:21 which is much more
Scripture than I usually cover in these daily  devotions.  We read about the
Jews seizing Paul in the temple and dragging  him out and beating him.  The
commander of the Roman cohort with his  soldiers rescued Paul from the mob,
bound him, and brought him into the  barracks.  Paul was given permission to
stand on the stairs of the barracks  and address the people to give his defense.  Paul gave his testimony as to  his strict upbringing, his early persecution of the Christians, his conversion,  and his calling to go to the Gentiles to present the Gospel to them.

We  focus on the following concluding verses of this text, verses 17 through  21.

“17  “It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying  in the
temple, that I fell into a trance,

18  and I saw Him saying  to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem
quickly, because they will not  accept your testimony about Me.’

19  And I said, ‘Lord, they  themselves understand that in one synagogue
after another I used to imprison and  beat those who believed in You.

20  And when the blood of Your  witness Stephen was being shed, I also was
standing by approving, and watching  out for the coats of those who were
slaying him.’

21  And He said  to me, ‘Go!  For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”  Acts  22:17-22.

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There may be  those of us who are called to stay and minister in our own
“Jerusalem”, but  there are others called to go elsewhere and minister. 

But, whether  we stay in “Jerusalem” or go elsewhere, we may face persecution.  We may face living among the ungodly.  We need patience and endurance.  Consider God’s patience and endurance. 

“22  What if God,  although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make
His power known, endured  with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction?

23   And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of
mercy, which  He prepared beforehand for glory,

24  even us, whom He also called,  not from among Jews only, but also from
among Gentiles.

25 As He says  also in Hosea,
“I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY  PEOPLE,’
AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’”

26  “AND IT SHALL  BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ 
THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”  Romans  9:22-26.

So, through God’s grace, we persevere (the “P” of  “TULIP”).

Along with Paul, we can state:  “I have fought the good fight, I  have
finished the course, I have kept the faith;  in the future there is  laid up for
me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,  will
award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved 
His appearing.”  2 Timothy 4:7-8.

Today’s devotion comes from Acts  21:15-26.  We will focus on the following
verses 17 though  26.

“17  After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethern received us  gladly.

18  And the following day Paul went in with us to James,  and all the
elders were present.

19  After he had greeted them, he  began to relate one by one the things
which God had done among the Gentiles  through his ministry.  

20  And when they heard it they  began glorifying God;  and they said to
him, “You see, brother how  many  thousands there are among the Jews of those
who have believed, and  they are all zealous for the Law;

21  and they have been told about  you, that you are teaching all the Jews
who are among the Gentiles  to  forsake Moses, telling them not to
circumcise their children nor to walk  according to the customs.

22  What, then, is to be done?  They  will certainly hear that you have
come.

23  Therefore do this that  we tell you.  We have four men who are under a
vow;

24  take  them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses
so that they  may shave their heads;  and all will know that there is
nothing to the  things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk  orderly, keeping the Law.

25  But concerning the Gentiles who have  believed, we wrote, having
decided that they should abstain from meant  sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from  fornication.”

26  Then Paul took the men, and the next day,  purifying himself along with
them, went into the temple giving notice of the  completion of the days of
purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each  one of them.”   
Acts  21:17-26.

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Paul may be thinking  of this experience when he wrote in 1 Corinthians
9:20-22:  “To the Jews I  became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews;  to those
who are under the Law,  as under the Law though not being myself under the
Law, so that I might win  those who are under the Law;  to those who are
without law, as without law,  though not being without the law of God but under
the law of Christ, so that I  might win those who are without law.  To the
weak I became weak, that I  might win the weak;  I have become all things to
all men, so that I may by  all means save some.”

Paul was not primarily motivated by his  safety.  We read earlier the words
of Paul in this very same chapter.   “Then Paul answered, “What are you
doing, weeping and breaking my heart?   For I am ready not only to be bound,
but even to die at Jerusalem for the name  of the Lord Jesus.”  Acts 21:13.

Paul was primarily motivated by  preaching the gospel.

Who can be like Paul?

But, there is  hope!

“For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am  under
compulsion;  for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.”  1  Corinthians
9:16.

We can trust God to work within us, including to give  us the will to do
His will.  “for it is God who is at work in you, both to  will and to work for
His good pleasure.”  Philippians 2:13.   

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,  which
God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  Ephesians  2:10.

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My  statutes, and
you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  Ezekiel  36:27.

We can take comfort in the fact that God so makes us so willing,  ready,
and able to serve Him according to His will.  The Heidelberg  Catechism
Question and Answer 1 states:  “…  by his Holy Spirit, he  also assures me of
eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready,  henceforth, to live
unto him.”

Today’s devotion comes from Acts 21:1-14.  Here is a link to the full text

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It is difficult to read about Paul’s past and future tears, trials, and troubles.  We think about our own past and future tears, trials, and troubles. 

It is difficult to read about Paul wanting to finish his course and his ministry.  We think about our own course and ministry. 

We get anxious and fear. 

But, there is hope!  

There is that “gospel of the grace of God”!  That grace is sufficient to preserve you through those past and future tears, trials and troubles.  That grace is sufficient to cause you to finish your course and ministry.

That is the “P” of “TULIP”, the gospel of the grace of God.  “P” represents “Perseverance of the Saints” better known as “Preservation of the Saints”.  That is our hope!

2 Corinthians 12:9
“And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

1 Peter 5:10
“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

Philippians 1:6
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;  and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish;  and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”  John 10:27-30.