The ministry of Jesus gets going strong without a long ramping up period. Once the door opens Jesus is on a full out pace to get the Good News among the people. One of the early activities is to gather around him the people who will continue the mission after his death and resurrection. There is not room for negotiations, Jesus asks you to follow, you either go or stay on the fishing boat. Peter, Andrew, James and John decide to follow. From there Jesus jumps in, preaching, teaching and healing. It seems as though the healing attracts many people who were in need of the healing touch of God. Often it is wondered if God still does these things, the simple answer is yes. The more complicated answer is Jesus longs to have that presence in our lives, yet we often do not leave enough room for the Spirit of God to work.
Acts 5:17-42
Peter is going about the plan of God to bring Good News to the people and the religious people of the day get upset and have him and other disciples arrested. The Lord lets the out of prison and the go right back to their work. The religious leaders of the day are not real thrilled with all this and they decide the must do something. Peter and the gang have them pretty stirred up. At the edge of death a voice of reason steps in and reminds the religious people, if this is of God, then we do not want to fight it, if it is of human origin then it will die on its own. The disciple continue the work of Jesus in many ways, including stirring the pot.
Psalm 9
This is one of the longer of the earlier psalms, yet its message is pretty basic. No matter what happens we praise God. Not only that we praise God, that we do it with our whole heart. When we are ready to take matters into our own hands, we must simply turn to God in praise.
Genesis 24
Here we have one of the great stories of the Bible. Abraham realizes he is nearing death and wants to make sure his son Isaac is all set to have a wife and continue the family. The long trek is made back to the home lands of Abraham to find a bride from among the people. Through some pretty amazing circumstances Rebekah is raised up by God. It is like a love story we could find in theaters today. They never knew each other, yet from the moment they set eyes on each other they know that is the person God has selected for them. As the story continues they live the life together and from the couple comes Jacob who would be named Israel, form who all the tribes of Israel would come. Not only was this a storybook romance, it has the hand print of God all over it.
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