Acts 8:26-40 ~ Go over

 

Acts 8:26-40

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went.

Pompeii has a relief of a Chariot

during this time frame

With an intact Chariot

of this art

 And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 

29 And the Spirit said to Philip, 

“Go over and join this chariot.” 

30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 

31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 

32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

    so he opens not his mouth.

33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.

    Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the Good News about Jesus. 

36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 

38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 

39 And when they came up out of the water, 

The Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away

And the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 

40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the Gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Are we sure Philip experienced the Power of God's Word to suddenly find he is in Azotus?

Not really. But there is an expectation of God for us to live in each moment of our lives! Today!

Luke 1:45-51

45 “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat

46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

48 For He has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for He who is mighty has done great things for me,

    and Holy is His Name.

50 And His mercy is for those who fear Him

    from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with His arm;

    He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

Verse 51 suggests God does not want us just wandering about. Or texting and driving a car.  This doesn't suggest God is overly thrilled if Phillip was la la la la

for miracles near him.

 And gives us the opportunity, because this is placed before us, to keep our minds intact until the day we enter Heaven Triumphant. In the Highest Name of Jesus, we pray! Amen!  Blessings are marvelous and to be expected in faith. 

When we pray,

 thinking of the 

Height of the clouds,

God's Steadfast Love

And the depth of the Universe.

We give our faith to Jesus Christ. 

Peter gives us an example of

being tossed into the deep waters of faith.

And swimming like 

we are in the flow

of God's Idea

of Living Today.

Acts 12:5-17

5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, 

Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.

 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 

9 And he went out and followed him. 

He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. 

11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 

15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” 

16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

 And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

Peter is so living in the moment, he realizes he is not staying where the Roman officials will knock on the door.

Rome, Mamertine Prison

where records record both

Peter

and Paul at separate times.

Giving us an idea

of prison during this time frame.

Abba, Father,

Very much a work of the Lord.

When the 

Events of

Easter

coincide

We remember

John Wesley said, “The Work of God 

continues 

His workers go home”

Coinciding

John Wesley never left the Anglican Church

and The Anglican Church

never left

The Roman Catholic Church.

One God,

One Plan

As we think of the Sacrifice

of Jesus Christ

His Love

as He Forgave

We realize 

a Thousand Years 

are a Day to You.

And Give You Thanks

for

our

Salvation.

God of Light

You are in all things

You are Light of the world

Light of mankind

Light of Heaven

In all Things, You Create

You have given us Jesus Christ

Holy is

the Highest Name

Above

all others

Your Kingdom come

Your Good Will be done

we pray for more

on earth

just as it is in Heaven.

Give us This Day

Our Daily Bread.

Jesus the Living Bread.

Forgive us our Trespasses

as

we forgive those

who Trespass 

Against us.

Lead us not into temptation

Deliver us from Evil. 

For Thine

is the

Kingdom

and 

the Power

and 

the Glory.

Amen in Jesus Christ 

John 21

Thank you, Jesus our Lord Christ

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Yes Bless the Lord Jesus

Thank You Jesus

John 6:1-21 ~ Immediately †

John 6:1-21

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 

2 And a large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, 

“Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

 7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 

8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” 

Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, 

“Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 

13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him King, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

16 When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 

20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 

21 Then they were glad to take Him into the boat, 

and 

immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

There is a verse in Psalms, and this verse tells us, He can throw a troop over a wall. 

What did Jesus do here? According to Einstein, what Jesus did moving the boat miles, immediately, was Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, comprising special (1905) and general (1915) theories, fundamentally redefined physics, showing time and space are linked (spacetime) and not absolute. The speed of light is constant, while time and space change relative to an observer's speed and gravity.

And this is more easily explained by saying if we fold a paper in half, we now have two edges as the beginning of the paper and the paper edges meet.  Jesus has moved time and space explaining to the disciples why the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see and the poor have Good News preached to them.  

And actually, when the lame walk, and deaf ears hear, just exactly like the multiplication of the tiny amount of loaves and fish, God is making a solution without the ingredients. He is saying His Word creates Life. Light. God. Physical existence.  God calls this the Light of mankind. 

Jesus is explaining much more than these 2 paragraphs. He explains this:

Luke 1

“To give knowledge of salvation to His people

 in the forgiveness of their sins,

78 because 

of the tender mercy of our God,

    whereby 

The Sunrise shall visit us

 from on high

79 to give Light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

 to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

    for 

He has visited and redeemed His people”

Would we say Jesus flew the boat and the disciples? No, we would say

Jesus upholds the universe with the power of His Word. 

And this brings us to the Scriptures repeat time and again!

Ascension and John sitting on Patmos Island, exiled because John did not boil to death in a vat of oil by order of Emperor Domitian. 

John arrived on Patmos after surviving an event recorded on papyrus fragments and also a complete history. This papyrus (interpreted by Victor of Capua) might very well have originally been written by Polycarp, the disciple of John.  According to Dr. Bob Thiel, of the Washington Post, these fragments are John's disciple Polycarp - recording the cruel boiling oil as an historical event from John to Polycarp as John's own account.

A Historian, lawyer and married to a Christian wife - Tertullian disliked mysticism and wrote this was fact that John was boiled in oil and unharmed by Emperor Domitian intended the death of a man worshiping Jesus as God. Tertullian's book is The Prescription of Heretics. The precise written event - John was banished to Patmos after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. Tertullian wrote the whole audience of the smaller games area than the Colosseum was converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. The smaller arena was used because, first, the dogs refused to attack John in the larger Colosseum.  Dogs were deemed less grand than lions. The smaller arena was packed for the second oil boiling event.  This event would have occurred in the late 1st century.

John would have been very old when Domitian wanted a theater event of his death. Twice. Then, putting John's cave at the top of the Patmos hills, Romans would have to hope just going to the village to sustain his life would kill him. Instead, John outlived them all and died in Ephesus.  Polycarp recorded a vision of John's death, 2 priest saw, saying John died and was dressed as a High Priest going into the Kingdom of God. And going on with this written history, John died at the same age as Moses.  Because several historians wrote of John having an all-out theological authority fight with much younger believers over the physical humanity of Jesus and not as if he was a Holy Spirit only. This disagreement began starting in Patmos and continued into the second decade from Ephesus, where John had lived many years with Mary as his Mother.

View of Patmos from John's cave

Revelation 1

John was sitting, one Sunday at home. John had not seen Jesus in about 62 years based upon the time frame of his exile and Domitian. He was living in the cave the exile provided at the top of Patmos hills.  And suddenly, the walls of the cave fell away and John was seeing Jesus again in His Kingdom.

The walls fell away, and today people who have returned from life after death say, The walls fell away.    The Kingdom of Heaven     is    at hand. 

Jesus moved time and space with the power of His Word. John was alive as he visited Jesus in His Kingdom.

The Ascension

Surely the atmosphere surrounding earth could not contain Jesus Christ, Almighty, Savior of the world.  Death could not contain Jesus. 

Jesus in John's Gospel in the 6th Chapter explains the might of God's blessings. His ability to move all. The incredible swiftness of God Himself.

The Ascension explains, not just where Jesus went, not roaming the earth. The Ascension explains God can move all time, space and layers to His Purpose.

Romans 13:1-5

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. 

Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? 

Then do what is good, and you will receive His approval, for he is God's servant for your good. 

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

Jesus Christ, Almighty, Savior of the world, clearly is the Authority. 

Abba, Father,

Our heart hears the call from You.

Scriptures call this

our hearts were warmed.

We know to have held Jesus to

trial and death as a false prophet 

would incur 

egregious error.

And we see in Scripture 

the Mercy of the Merciful.

On earth as it is

in

Heaven

What we would 

Ask of You, Father,

What could be

accomplished

And how to do this.

Only Jesus Christ,

Son of The Father

and His Holy Spirit!

For the Many Needs

to

be

Met

Gracious Father.

In Jesus

AMEN.

Dwell in us, Father,

Dwell fully in those we love,

Help us to seek You first

and we will finish well in Jesus Christ.

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You, You Love us and hear our prayers

with all earnestness.

You Bless Me.

You Bless Your earth

and the fulfillment of the earth.

All Nations come to Jesus Christ.

Thank You.

Our God is working. His Son, 

Jesus is working.

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Thank You Lord Jesus 

†