Acts 18 Live Class

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Our live class on Acts 18 actually went on longer than almost any of the other classes before that. Which is only fitting as Paul wrote more to the Corinthians than to any other church. And there’s just really a lot there, in Acts 18, in the books of Corinthians and in our live class. The audio recording of our Acts 18 live class can be heard here.

And it says Paul stayed there a year and a half, the longest he’d stayed in any one place till then. But it must have been a special time and place as the Lord did something He didn’t usually do, specifically instructed Paul to stay on there in Corinth. Act 18, verses 9 & 10 say, “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.’”

One of the things we talked about for a while is where Paul said, “Your blood be upon you, I turn to the Gentiles” (Act 18:6). This It’s a very big and sober subject about our responsibility to “deliver our souls”, something that is never taught in church but is definitely in the Bible. Paul may have been thinking or referring to something that is found in Ezekiel 3:17-19, “His blood will I require at your hand.” Paul evidently felt he had that much responsibility to deliver his soul and to preach the whole council of God to those he met.

Another aspect of Christian discipleship that we talked about was how Paul, almost more than anyone else, was able to blast off from the “gravitational pull” of his own background, his own heritage and cultural and even his own religion, to truly follow God into a new “universe”, delivered from his old “planet” and way of life.

Jesus said “If you love father or mother more than me…”(Matthew 10:37), or even “your own land” (Matthew 19:29), then He said you are not worthy of Him. Not the kind of thing you’ll hear in church on Sunday, is it?

Paul on the road to Damascus

And we talked somewhat about some strange web sites and folks who will tell you that Paul “was not really an apostle of the Lord”. Why would they say that? Well, they figure that “Paul didn’t respect the laws of Moses enough”. “He went astray from the laws of Moses. So that Light he saw on the road to Damascus?? Well, …. Maybe… “

So it’s pretty far out and delusional what some folks get into in order to preserve the necessity of keeping the old Mosaic Law. Even to the extent of sowing doubt about the Godliness of the Apostle Paul. Like we said in our class, if Paul hadn’t followed the Lord into all the world, witnessing faithfully to the Gentiles, Christianity might have been just another sect of Judaism and would have perished with the crushing of Israel and the scattering of the Jews in 70 AD.

Aquila & Priscilla with Apollos

We talked about that and if (and how much) the Early Church leaders had really obeyed the Lord to “go into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Obviously they were doing that some, as we can read about Peter witnessing to and converting the Gentiles in Acts 10. But the impression is that Paul took the whole thing much further and much more rapidly than had been happening up till that time.

And we read about Apollos in Acts 18 and how he “knew only the Baptism of John” (Act 18:25). We talked about how, when we witness, that sometimes we meet people who really love the Lord and are doing what they can to walk according to the light they have. But like Apollos in this case, they sometimes are missing some major pieces of the puzzle when it comes to the things of the Lord.

Teaching Apollos

So like the Aquila and Priscilla did here with Apollos, they built upon what was really a partial foundation in him and he became an even stronger Christian and worker for the Lord from it. It can happen that we run into similar situations in our witnessing and ministering to people.

In relation to this, I shared a personal story of a good friend of mine from 30 years ago who flew in to Moscow in the early 80’s, at a time when Russian Communism just couldn’t have been more serious, and he there just happened to met up with a strong young leader of a budding “Jesus people” movement in Moscow. My friend and this Russian hit it off completely and my friend told him and taught him everything he could in the days he was there. But this all was similar to how these ones in the book of Acts found Apollos who went on to be even much more a witness than he had been up until the time the early church brethren met him in Alexandria.

So, the Book of Acts. It’s an incredible study but many people really have almost never read it. What we see there of how the early Christians were powerfully led of the Lord, as they gave their lives to Him, should inspire us to do the same in our generation. The audio recording of our Acts 18 live class can be heard here.

Isn’t God Enough?

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Mark McMillion

There was a 7 month period of time when I strongly and sincerely believed in God, but I just didn’t know who Jesus was. I wrote about my experience in “Lucifer and the White Moths” where I very nearly died and was carried by Satan into the spirit world to be his. But by the mercy of God, I called out to Him at that time. That’s how I came to know that God was real. As the Bible says, “some saved by fire” (I Corinthians 3:15) . That was me.

But was I saved? I don’t know. I’d had an utter change in my life. I went from being a hardened, mocking atheist to being a stunned, almost speechless believer. I believed in the God of the Bible. I had personally experienced the God of the Bible and the Satan of the Bible as well. But I had no idea who Jesus was. I totally didn’t know the difference between Jesus and Moses and Paul and Abraham. A verse I read a few months later, after I became a Christian, was “God is not in all their thoughts.” (Psalms 10:4) Boy, I could relate to that verse. When I read that, I immediately felt, “That’s just the way I was before all these things happened to me”.

And yet, I didn’t know Jesus. I didn’t pray to Jesus or have any knowledge of Him. I went to a couple of churches in Austin during those months in order to try to find out from them about Jesus. But I guess I looked like a hippy at the time, although I wasn’t a hippy. And in those days, churches were not too friendly to hippies.

But I’ve often wondered, “What would have happened to me if I’d died during that time?” Would I have gone to heaven? I wasn’t a Christian. In many ways actually I was like a Muslim or Jew who believes in the God of Abraham and prays to God from their heart. That’s how I was. If I had died right then, would I go to hell? It’s actually a rather deep question and brings up a lot of pretty touchy theological questions, which can lead to some very heated debates.

For me at least, the good news was that the Lord was preparing a way for me to meet some people who could tell me about Jesus. Just after New Year of 1970, I met some Jesus People. And they really knew their stuff.

Student demonstrations, 1969

Earlier that year, the SDS, the Students for a Democratic Society, had had their national meeting in Austin. I went to that convention and also to some of their private parties afterwards. I met people informally who were part of the Weathermen who ended up on the FBI’s Top Ten wanted list. So I had been in some pretty radical and serious circles in the last months.

But those Jesus People had more certainty and just plain answers than anything I’d ever seen. They could answer me with Scriptures. I was 21 by then but a lot of them were no more than 19 or even 17 years old. But they showed me verse after verse from the Bible to answer my questions and to show me that I needed to receive Jesus and to be born again.

When I did that, after several talks with them, I didn’t suddenly have a swirling heavenly feeling and saw the gates of paradise opened. I’d already had a lot of experiences and I think the Lord figured that I just didn’t need any big emotions right then. But something really did change mightily. All during that last 7 months, I’d been reading the Bible every day. I read all the way through it from cover to cover and was on my second reading. Had I really gotten a lot out of it? No. Virtually nothing. I was convinced that God’s will was that I should be sacrificing chickens and goats since there was so much of that in the Bible and it was obvious that this was God’s will for mankind. That’s how be-darkened I was.

But the strongest thing that happened to me when I received Jesus was that it was almost like those 3-D glasses that are given to people when they see a 3-D movie. Without them the movie is all a blur. But when you put them on, it all becomes clear, in 3-D. When I was born again through receiving Jesus as my Lord and asking Him into my heart, that was when the Bible suddenly began to flood my mind and heart as it had not done at all before that time. I really fell in love with the truth that was there and that love is still with me till now.

Was God enough? For me, I can say that it wasn’t till I received Jesus that I truly was what I needed to be. Even during that 7 months when I prayed to God every day, I was still a little afraid of the Devil. I still was weak through my sins and at one point even started using some light drugs again. But when I received the Lord, I was no longer afraid of the Devil. Also like the verse says, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power…” (John 1:12) that was really, really true for me.

I had the power now to resist sin. I had experienced a change of heart and I knew that I was just not the same person or even the same thing as I’d been before. What would have happened if I’d died with only believing and praying to God? I really don’t know. But I know I was like what the Old Testament calls, “a half baked cake” (Hosea 7:8), I wasn’t fully what God wanted me to be and what God planned for me. Yes, I did believe in the God of Abraham, vehemently and sincerely. But I was not complete till I came to Jesus. That’s why the Bible says, “We are complete in Him” (Colossians 2:10) and why, if you only believe in God, there’s really more for you that you’ve not experienced yet. Just like what happened to me.

Action? Or Stillness?

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I was having my morning devotions time and one of the things I read was from “Streams in the Desert” about stillness. The thought was how that it isn’t in all our efforts or straining that God’s will is accomplished but in being still.

So I really thought about that. Like so many things, there’s a lot of truth there. At the same time, there’s plenty of room also for coming to the wrong conclusion.

Of course it’s all very true: our own feverish efforts in our own spirit to accomplish God’s will is not what’s needed or what God wants. But on the other hand, if someone comes to the conclusion that His highest and best is to attain some monastic asceticism, then they really haven’t got the picture of what God is and what He wants. God is a moving God. He’s always changing, moving, flowing and affecting change in every sphere of His creation.

Jesus didn’t command His disciples in His last day on earth, “Go off into the desert, run from the devil and perfect your own holiness.” Nope. He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

Holiness is great. But what is it? Sitting around in mediation and stillness all day? There’s certainly, definitely a time and a need for meditation, stillness and coming into the presence of the Lord; we all desperately need that.

But then what? Well, a verse that’s always pierced my heart is “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so shall you be My disciple.” (John 15:8) And of course some people don’t even know what the Lord is talking about there. Some people think Jesus is talking about “the fruit of the Spirit” that Paul talked about: love, joy, peace and things like that. Well in this case, Jesus was not talking about the fruit of the Spirit. He was talking about being fruitful the same way a tree is fruitful or a man and a woman are fruitful.

Apples are the fruit of an apple tree and other Christians are the fruit of a Christian. Did they tell you that in your church? Did you know that we are supposed to bear fruit in the form of other people that we bring to the Lord? And if we’re going to do that, then we aren’t going to be sitting around all day in stoic stillness, solitude and mediation.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m certainly not disagreeing with the admonition to get quiet before the Lord and to seek His face. It’s part of my life daily and I don’t do so well if I don’t have that time. Even Jesus had to get up before dawn and go out in nature and get alone with His Father, it says so in the Bible. “And Jesus, rising up a great while before dawn, went out into a solitary place, and there prayed.” (Mark 1:35) But He didn’t stay there all day. He was back with people, “going about everywhere, doing good“. (Acts 10:38)

I guess it’s like the verse that to me really covers a lot of things. “These ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23) Stillness? Quietness? Mediation? Sure. But then we are to come down off our mountain and to be about our Father’s business. And we will carry that serenity, that power and that blessing with us because we will be so full of Him, His love and His compassion for the lost that it won’t be self effort and our frantic frenzy in the flesh. It will be His Spirit in us, causing us to do the humanly impossible.

Paul said one time, “But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (I Corinthians 15:10) Paul said that he labored more than they all, but that it was still all only God’s grace.

If you are really coming before the Lord and receiving from Him, it will activated you and motivate you. Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opium of the people.” But true and real Christianity is anything but sleep inducing. Jesus wasn’t crucified for putting people into a drugged stupor.

So Lord help us all to “not leave the other undone”, to not overdo it in the direction of mediation and stillness, or to be so fervent in the direction of Christian action and our efforts to sow the seeds of His word and to win souls that we run outside His will and His power. “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven“. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Lord help us to know when to do what.

A tender heart

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Mark McMillion

It was a continual source of embarrassment for me, growing up, that I would from time to time cry. Young men in Texas just didn’t cry; in fact men overall just didn’t cry. It was a serious sign of weakness and a lack of manliness. But I was appalled with myself, as I became a teen, that I would still cry from time to time. There’s more to the story, I was in a situation that I won’t go into. But at the time, it just seemed like there was an overwhelming amount of cruelty and hopelessness that continually broke my heart. I was deeply embarrassed by it all.

Then in my twenties I met some people a generation older than me who were for me, at the time, a real sample of Christianity. And I strongly noticed that they cried rather easily. They cried for the heartbreak of others. They cried for the young people of that time who were lost and wandering around the nation. It was like what the Bible says about Jesus, “But when He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion upon them, for they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:26)

And having recently come to the Lord, I learned that Jesus Himself cried. It says in John 11:35, “Jesus wept”. I learned that King David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) So God does not despise a broken heart. In fact it says, “The Lord is near to them who are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) I began to feel a little better. Maybe this tendency I had to cry rather easily was, in God’s eyes, perhaps more an asset than a liability. I was beginning to think that it could be good to be tender-hearted.

Of course in the ways of the world, “the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2), nothing can be further from the truth. The only way to be is utterly and complete heartless, unmoved by anything. This is the way of “a true man”, the goal for every male on the planet. So would the godless of this world say and have it.

But not in the eyes of God. You don’t find too many times in the Bible where it specifically says that Jesus was angry. And if you know anything about the Bible, you probably know that it doesn’t say Jesus went bursting into a brothel or a bar with a whip He had made. But it does say that He did that in the temple in Jerusalem to confront the merchants who were commercializing the worship of God there. But another time it is even clearer. Here’s a passage in Mark chapter 3 which perhaps shows how He felt about having a hardened, cruel heart.

“And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And He said unto the man which had the withered hand, “Stand forth”. And He said unto them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill?” But they held their peace. And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He said unto the man, “Stretch forth your hand”. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. (Mark 3:1-5)

Jesus of Nazareth was angry at the hardness of their hearts, that they were more concerned about dutiful law-keeping than they were about the needs of the crippled man.

If you have a tender heart, if you cry easily, don’t worry about it. Maybe it’s a gift. Maybe you should thank God that you don’t have the demonically cold, compassionless heart that is the goal of so many in our world today. Maybe you should ask God to help you “keep your heart with all diligence”. (Proverbs 4:23)

We can’t just go around all the time, blubbering along in our tears and being a total basket case emotionally. But if you bring your tender heart to the Lord and ask Him to fill it with Himself, His Spirit and perhaps especially with His Word, you may be able to grow into a compassionate, healthy human being, healthy not only in the physical but also in the things of the heart as well as the mind and the spirit. He’s promised to give us a “sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7). But another great promise is, “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.” (Psalm 37:34) God bless you and keep you broken, compassionate and full of love for God and your fellow human beings.

Fear them not

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Most Christians shun pornography. They know they aren’t supposed to be alcoholics, or steal or kill. But how many Christians are violating a direct commandment of Jesus Christ every day and reveling in it? In Matthew 10:28, Jesus commanded “And fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

I’m going to be a little blunt and frank. It seems to me there are millions of Christians who are just in love with fear and are obsessed with it. But is that God’s will? For me, I would emphatically say no. I John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. Because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.”

The Bible almost strangely says, “I wisdom dwell with prudence” (Proverbs 8:12) or in another place “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:10). In the same way, fear has companions too. One of fear’s biggest companions is hatred. And sadly you hear a lot of Christians talking about, not only their fears, but their hatreds.

I should be even more plain here. Often the fear and hatred that Christians are encouraged to embrace has to do with Islam and people from the Middle East. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t see some panicked publication with the latest shrieking dread concerning how much we should be afraid of and hate Islamic people. And it seems that basically no one stands up to these things or calls them out. There’s a real thriving market for fear and hatred. And of course confusion and ignorance jump onto the wagon too.

“But Mark, they hate us! Think about 9/11! Think of the atrocities!”

What would I say to you?

“Think about Jesus Christ. Think about the Word of God. Establish your opinions and reactions on the eternal Word of God.”

It’s an outright sin, and a major one, to instigate fear, panic, and the obsessive observance of the most negative elements of anything or anyone. But how many Christians daily tune in to some news outlet or web site that is serving up a big dish of fear, hatred and prejudice, along with a supersized helping of ignorance, sprinkled with confusion? Millions are gulping this down and going right back to the serving line for more. “They love to have it so.” (Jeremiah 5:31)

But the Bible says, “Neither fear ye their fear: sanctify the Lord in your hear and let Him be your tread and let Him be your fear.” (Isiah 8:12b & 13)

“But Mark! What should be our reaction to these things? The dangers are real, Mark!”

If you are a Christian, haven’t you heard of the people of God for the last centuries who loved their enemies, whether those enemies were Godless, Christ-less communists or religious persecution that took place in Europe in past centuries? Have you heard of the ones who won their hellish enemies with the love of God?

Some Christians today are very seriously planning to take up arms against …whoever. I’ve repeatedly been in Sunday school groups where the conversation turned almost totally towards guns and preparations for armed conflict here in the States. And these are Bible believing, consecrated people.

How strongly can I say that I feel and know that this is not the way to go? You’re afraid of Islam and Muslims? How much do you really know about them, really? Not the propaganda, name calling and hyperventilating that you get daily from news channels or web sites.

If you are a Christian, you are actually commissioned by Jesus Christ to witness and win the world for Him. And yes, that includes Muslims. Could you share your faith with them, where they also really felt and knew that you loved them and had something to share with them that could change their lives, as it changed yours? Is your TV network or favorite web site instilling hatred, fear and even terror itself into your heart on this subject? Or is it teaching you how to love and win the World for Jesus through love and the power of His Word and His truth, including how to love, understand and win Muslims to the Lord?

If you’re in love with fear and stoking the fires of hatred in yourself and others, then I suggest you really take time to check out the condition of your heart. Is your hatred and fear “the fruit of the Holy Spirit”? (See Galatians 5:22 & 23). Is your “wisdom from above”? (See James 3:14-18). Our job as Christians is not to incite, promote and guzzle down fear and hatred of anyone. Our job is to love the lost and win the world to Him through His power and His truth. And we can. Because He can.

Get off the fear and hate train. It’s going to hell.

The Course of This World

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Mark McMillion

The other night just a phrase from the Bible was really speaking to me, where it talks about “the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2). Sometimes God’s Word is like a flash of lightning, illuminating the darkness of the night.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “In times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:2)

Paul was telling the Ephesians that, in their past, they walked according to the ways of this world and the ways of Satan. But he was reiterating something Jesus Himself repeatedly spoke of when He was on the earth: the subject of “the world” and our relation to it. And for most Christians, our relationship to the world is not always something we’re clear about.

But the best and first way to find answers is in the Word of God, especially in the Words of Jesus. Jesus told His own brothers in John 7, “The world cannot hate you, but Me it hates, because I testify of it that the works of it are evil.” (John 7:7) And He even said to His disciples, “If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

This all resonates with me because it was those clear distinctions, light in the darkness, absolutes and moral choices, that made the difference between life and death that first brought me to faith in God and later in Jesus.

We’re called out of the course of this world; we’re not supposed to be a part of that. That’s what happened to me and I’m so thankful for it because I never would have gone along with some kind of namby-pamby, milk-and-water Christianity; I’d seen plenty of that when I was growing up and it just wasn’t inspiring. It was weak and easy to defeat. I was an atheist and I could defeat those kinds of Christians all the time.

But the Christianity I finally found was completely different, a stronger spirit that fulfilled my heart’s desires and my needs. Real Christianity gave me the power to blast off from the gravity and evil of this world, to really break free and break out of the ways of man that are so accepted and exalted in the godless, secular society we all live in, the ways of the devil, the ways of tradition, the ways of defeat, the ways of the system worldly way of looking at things and to break into the beauty, freedom and liberty of God’s Spirit.

But so many Christians are still following the course of this world because they’re taught milk-and-water, compromised, worldly, ungodly Christianity. Their discipleship is weak; their knowledge is weak; their witness is weak and they’re not prepared for the future to come. Jesus said, “The world cannot hate you but me it hates, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil”. That’s not taught in church. They sort of, kind of, get a little close to that. Maybe they dip their toe in that but not much more.

Christianity is supposed to make a difference, being a “new creature”, being a disciple. Jesus didn’t tell Peter, “Meet me next Sunday for a little sermon.” He said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). And He did. He called Matthew out of his tax job; He called them out of the course of this world.

That’s what Christian discipleship is; it’s a break with the traditions, the ceremonies and the whole paraphernalia that goes on with the course of this world. The course of this world is not what we are supposed to be a part of. We are supposed to be “transformed” (Romans 12:2), we are supposed to be “delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God”. (Colossians 1:13) It even says of Moses, “By faith he forsook Egypt [the worldly system of his day], for he endured as seeing Him who was invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27)

If anyone in the Bible epitomized discipleship, it was Paul the apostle. Even though he wasn’t with Jesus when He was alive on earth, he seemed to understand it all better than the rest. He was the embodiment of discipleship, went further, did more and seemingly was more of a real sample than even the ones who followed Jesus in His lifetime. It seems from the book of Acts that those ones had a difficult time breaking out of their nationalism, traditions and teachings that they grew up with.

But Paul, he just let it go; he just did it. Once he was knocked off his horse and saw “The Light”, he really stayed true to “the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) and followed the Lord, rather than the ways of the world. And so many missionaries in the centuries to come modeled their discipleship, service and lives after the Apostle Paul . “You are not of the world but I have called you out of this world, therefore the world hates you.” That sure was true of Paul.

So if you’re still walking the course of this world, if you have one foot with God and one foot with the course of this world, then you’re “double minded” (James 1:8), you’re a “half baked cake.” (Hosea 7:8)

I am thankful the Lord delivered me out of that, out of the course of this world and into Christian discipleship, a wonderful, wonderful new life of spiritual reality, love and faith, completeness and “a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7), all the things that God can give.

But if you try to straddle the fence and stay somewhere in between, you may find yourself in some kind of compromiser’s limbo. That’s what most people think they’re supposed to do. They are still people of this world, people of these times, people of the culture and society they live in and then they still say they’re Christians. And when things get really rough, then they find out that this world crumbles and only the things of the Lord remain. So the goal is to not be part of the course of this world but to be a part of the eternal world and the world to come.

That’s what the Lord wants us to have, that’s discipleship, not just Sunday believers, still following the course of this world, still identifying with the beliefs, culture and motivations of this world. But to be delivered, to be disciples, to be prepared for the world to come: that’s real Christianity, not just “Church-ianity” but Christianity.

Acts 15 Live Class Audio

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Mark McMillion

After two chapters of real “action” in Acts, our chapter 15 study showed us another aspect of the Early Church, but such an important one. (You can listen to our live class on Acts 15 here.)

Acts 15 seemed a little bit to be a repeat of what happened back in Acts 11. If you read that chapter and read or listened to our live class on Acts 11, you’ll remember that the Apostle Peter basically kind of got in trouble with the brethren back in Jerusalem after he had obeyed the leading of the Holy Spirit in chapter 10 to go and witness to the large group of Roman gentiles who’d been gathered together to hear him.

From Acts 10 and 11

As Peter spoke to the friends and family of Cornelius the centurion, “the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word” (Acts 10:44) and they had a similar experience to what the first Christians had on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. But this didn’t go over well with the brethren back in Jerusalem who at that time were still more than a little conflicted about their own identity and how much they were still required to keep their Jewish traditions and customs.

I hate to say it. And some might censor me for it. But it almost seems like Peter’s following of the Holy Spirit in Acts 10 led to a case of “Old Bottle-ism” with the brethren in Jerusalem, somewhat like what I wrote about in the blog post “New Wine and Old Bottles”. God at times can be a radical God. Following Him can “break your bottle” and shake your foundations, if they are rooted in traditions of man, rather that really being founded on the Rock.

This seemed to have all gotten worked out in Acts 11. But in Acts 15 it all comes up again. This time, instead of the question being, “Do the Jewish followers of Jesus have to stay away from the Gentiles?”, the question is, “If they are to be saved and be Christians, do the Gentiles who come to Jesus have to convert to Judaism? ”

Here’s where you could think, “Who cares?! This is all just ancient history stuff and theological arguments!”

Ah, but some of you, perhaps many, know how much this whole question is still right on the front burner of millions of Christians’ hearts and minds, 2000 YEARS LATER! That’s why, in our live class, we had a major discussion about the significance of this chapter and what was disputed and discussed within the Early Church. Because, to this day, these things are disputed and millions of fundamentalist evangelical Christians are taught that their diligent observance of Jewish laws and customs will be pleasing to God.

Is it all really by grace? Don’t we have to keep the laws of Moses also? This is not ancient history; this is an acrimonious discussion that goes on daily among Christians in our times. But the answer is still the same as it was in Acts 15. Here to me are the two most important verses in Acts 15, where again the Apostle Peter is having the last word and laying down for the Early Church the facts and reality of what they had learned in Christ, regardless of how well it was received by their Jewish countrymen.

In Acts 15, verses 10 and 11 Peter said,

“Now therefore, why do you tempt God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they.”

Can it be clearer than that? Do we need to find a more trustworthy source than the Apostle Peter? This should be the end of it. Here in Acts, it was the end of it, at least for a few chapters. But it’s back; and it goes on still to this day.

Well, I could share the whole chapter here in this post but maybe that’s not necessary. The live class on Acts 15 can be heard here. You can listen to it there or download it so you can listen to it later or share it with others. Acts 15 is one of my favorite chapters in Acts. I love it when you can see brethren “earnestly contending for the faith” (Jude 3) and hearts united in really trying to “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39) and find the truth in them. I hope you enjoy the class and that you’ll find in it the things we did when we studied this chapter. God bless you.

Chastening and Judgment

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Chastening and judgment? Who wants to read about that?! Most of us would rather go eat a cookie. But… but that’s where quite a lot of things suddenly come into play. It turns out that, in life, most of us find that we end up more enhanced and matured through the experiences we learn, often from chastening and judgments, than we do from the fleeting pleasures of eating cookies.

This morning I was sitting on that park bench again. And I was thinking about a slightly complex couple of Bible verses that say, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” (I Corinthians 11:31 & 32)

What does it mean, “If we would judge ourselves…”? The idea is, I think, that if we listened to the voice of our conscience (and for those of us who are Christians, the voice of God through the Holy Spirit), quite often those still, small voices will lead and guide us to make the right decisions. Now, we may not always like the way they are leading and it’s often a real battle inside of us to obey what we know is right.

But, like the verse says, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” We can escape quite a lot of suffering in this world if we take heed to those voices of our conscience, voices of the Holy Spirit and Bible verses that come to mind which tell us something we should or shouldn’t do. This isn’t rocket science; basically everybody knows this, even if they don’t always like it or sometimes make light of it.

OK, sometimes you don’t listen to those voices and you seem to get away with it, don’t you? Ha! But then, like Moses of old said, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23) Some people don’t like Moses and the word “sin” so they opt to “karma”. I read somewhere the other day,

“Karma is only a bitch if you are.”

And that verse I was thinking about this morning also gave the alternative to the times when we properly “judge ourselves”. When we don’t, sooner or later, through one means or the other, it says “but when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” (I Corinthians 11:32)

Oh, how some people hate this concept! They love to make God out as some giant cruel monster Who’s always ready to crush us poor little righteous people. I wrote about folks how believe that recently in “God is a Monster!” he said. But we often don’t even obey our consciences, what we already know in our heart is right, much less any admonition from the Holy Spirit which tries to punch through and provide direction in our lives.

So through one means or the other, sooner or later there’s some form of suffering for our “sins”. Here are another set of very famous verses on the subject from Hebrews 12:5-11

“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, or faint when you art rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father doesn’t chasten? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they truly for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby.”

Some folks just utterly hate this passage and the concepts within it. But the reality is that for almost every person in their life, even if they hate the whole idea of what’s being talked about here, usually sooner or later they have to admit, if only to themselves and under their breath, that they did do something wrong or stupid or even evil and that they suffered because of it. And for some, they very reluctantly learned a major lesson of life through the “chastening” of their experiences. Or if you don’t like “chastening”, try “karma”

But how much better it is if we could just be like that verse says that we talked about and the many verses in the Bible which teach us to look at things so differently from the way the world does? That’s what that verse in Hebrews 12 is saying, “No chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous.”

Who likes chastening? Nobody! But the rest of the verse shows us how we can more wisely look at the thing, “Nevertheless afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

Chastening isn’t the same as being beat up and injured in some abusive circumstances. But in whatever way some form of chastening comes, the wise in heart will ask the Lord, “What can I learn from this?” “Did this happen for some reason?”

There’s so much more to all this and I don’t like to make these long. There’s the whole thing about “justifying ourselves”. (Job 9:20, Luke 10:29) That’s usually our first reaction, even to strike back at the circumstances or the one who’s being used to correct us or even chasten us. But for some wise souls, like King David when he was being exposed by the prophet Nathan, (II Samuel 12) they seem to have the honesty and humility to admit their sins and to not justify themselves. For some of us, we sometimes eventually do that. But first we have to justify ourselves for a while, Lord help us.

What’s the conclusion? “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” It’s like the verse in Proverbs, “A prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.” (Proverbs 22:3) Sometimes that “evil” a prudent man foresees is some impulse in his heart to do what he knows is wrong. But he sees it, recognizes it and turns from it. On the other hand, “the simple” (meaning in this case the unwise and hardened of heart) “pass on and are punished.” Because they didn’t listen to the voice of their conscience and the voice of the Lord. Or their friends.

Like it even says in Psalm 23, “Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me”. (Psalm 23:4) It happens to all of us. We all experience this. But if you learn from it, you can grow through the mistakes you make and you can learn to have a wiser, chastened heart which can be led by Him into “green pastures” and the “still waters” of life.(Psalm 23:2) God bless you!

“Happy Is That People”

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Jesus said, “Your joy no man takes from you.” (John 16:22) But we sure don’t feel that way all the time, do we? Happiness and joy can often seem pretty elusive. Is it confession time here? Maybe. I often have to pray against sadness. It just seems to spring up in me like some besetting sin, some old weed that keeps coming back. But I have learned by years of experiences that I can’t give place to it in the same way that the verse says, “Neither give place to the Devil.” (Ephesians 4:27)

Many would say, “But Mark, it’s not a sin to be sad! Sadness is just part of life, we’re all sad sometimes.”

little foxes Maybe so. The problem is, for someone who is trying to maintain a relationship with the Lord and to sort of keep himself in proper spiritual shape, these little things cannot be allowed to come into my mind and consciousness. There’s an obscure verse that says, “The little foxes spoil the vines”. (Song of Solomon 2:15) And the funny thing is that actually and truly, we’ve had a family of foxes in our neighborhood off and on for the last weeks. Yesterday there were three “teenager” foxes in our backyard and I told my mom about that verse, “the little foxes spoil the vines” but she didn’t understand it.

So I told her it was applied as meaning those “little sins”, things that may not seem like such a big deal. Like tolerating a little sadness to come, sit down beside you in your heart and strike up a conversation. It doesn’t seem so bad at first. There seem to be a few things to be sad about. This happened and that happened and this didn’t work out and someone said something I didn’t like.

But maybe it’s from years of experience, I’ve just come to know that this kind of thing has to be recognized and resisted just as much as if someone offered me drugs. The little foxes spoil the vines. And the rest of the verse says, “For our vines have tender grapes”. (Song of Solomon 2:15) The vines of our lives in this sense are tender. Our relationship with the Lord in some ways is tender, if it is fine tuned and is the way He wants it. And that can make it so that we can have a close relationship with Him. We can hear His voice, we are in line for His blessings, we are seeking to do His will, we are looking to experience Him each day, loving Him, loving others and pretty much abandoned to the freedom and joy of our life in Him.

But maybe it’s like the picture of the Holy Spirit being like a dove; it can be easily shooed away. And one way that can happen is by allowing ourselves to bend to moods and emotions that are not the ones He wants us to have.

There are just oodles of places in the Bible that admonish us about the benefits of cultivating a happy spirit along with warnings against falling prey to sadness and depression. “A merry heart does good like a medicine…” (Proverbs 17:22) “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”(Nehemiah 8:10b) “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.” (John 13:17)

So the same way a person with a problem with alcohol or cigarettes can’t allow themselves to have even one smoke, some of us need to treat sadness with the same intolerance. It’s like the verse, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him.” (Isiah 59:19b) That’s the kind of militant spirit and attitude we need to have if we want to “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1), or as Jesus said, to “abide in the Vine”. (John 15:4)

We just have to fight it. We have to pray, we have to quote Scriptures, claiming the promises of God that He will give us joy and peace and happiness. We have to recognize that it’s not some little innocent thing that we deserve and isn’t so bad. We don’t deserve it because we are forgiven and are aiming to walk in the light. And it is bad because it’s one of those little things that seem so innocent. But the next thing you know, you are totally and utterly defeated, bummed out, ready to give up as you are flooded with more and bigger negative thoughts about yourself, others, God or whatever.

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life“. (I Timothy 6:10) “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sins that so easily beset us.” (Hebrews 12:2) “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes (like “innocent” sadness), I hate the work of them that turn aside (people or spirits who would cause you to come down from the wall of His will and joy) it shall not cleave unto me.” (Psalm 101:3) Wow. What a statement. It’s a picture of these things almost being like some kind of evil, sticky chewing gum that wants to “cleave unto me”, wants to stick to you. Don’t let it happen. Claim His happiness and joy and walk and live in it today and every day. “Happy is that people that is in such a case, yea happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.” (Psalms 144:15)

Three Fingers

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I was in Hyderabad, India, back around 1988, teaching a home schooling class of grade school kids whose parents were doing mission and social service work in the state of Andra Pradesh. Well, like someone said onetime, “Kids say the darndest things.”

One of the boys in my class was probably around the age of 7 or 8. And I’d noticed that he had a habit of making a particular gesture with his hand when he talked. He would spread out his five fingers towards you when he got excited or animated in talking about something. It didn’t look bad, just a little different and slightly strange.

So I asked him why he pointed out his five fingers like that. His answer has strongly stuck with me since then. He said,

“Well, my mommy says that when you point a finger at someone else, you have three fingers pointing back at you!”

Boy, did I laugh at that one. He’d been pointing his 5 fingers out since he didn’t want any of them pointing back at him! Ha! Probably someone else has said that before but I’d never heard it til then.

And to this day, even when I have the live classes I’ve been having here over the last months, that phrase often comes to my mind when I’m teaching something or even exhorting or admonishing someone about something. What that little boy said to me years ago comes back: there are three fingers pointing back at me.

And of course the whole idea is very Scriptural and very Biblical. Paul said, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) That “considering yourself” part is another way of saying that we should remember that we have 3 fingers pointing at ourselves when we’re making efforts to restore others to the correct path.

So the idea isn’t that we should never admonish or caution someone who needs it. Actually, we’re our brother’s keeper and we are responsible to speak up when something needs to be said. So many people don’t even do that. But when we speak up, it should be in that “spirit of meekness”, remembering that whatever lessons or point you feel needs to be made is one that is just as much true for you as it is for the person you’re sharing it with.

The book of Hebrews says, “But exhort one another daily… lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13) Let’s face it, many people are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, right? So it is what the Lord wants us to do, to “reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine.” (II Timothy 4:2)

But for the most part, the only way that’s going to be effective is if you keep those three fingers pointing back at you as a part of your mindset and even witness when you’re sharing something that needs to be said with others. People are defensive. They don’t like to be criticized, much less lectured by someone with a self righteous “I am holier than thou” attitude. (Isaiah 65:5)

It’s been a real challenge for me in my life to try to find ways to say things to people when I feel pretty sure that the Lord wants me to say something but I’m not sure I can say it in such a way that it will be effective and bear good fruit. The idea is to help people “see the lightning without feeling the bolt”.

A verse that’s always been a goal for me is where it says, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakens morning by morning; He wakens my ear to hear as the learned.” (Isiah 50:4) That’s what I’ve often really wanted to have, “the tongue of the learned” so that I can say something to someone who needs to hear something. But they’ll probably not receive what I say unless I’m really, really wise in how I say it.

But often it seems a major ingredient in any of this is “a meek and quiet spirit”, (I Peter 3:4) one that is not self righteous and judgmental but acknowledges that those three fingers are right there, pointing at me when I’m sharing something with someone else.

Mark McMillion

Creeds and Deeds, Facts and Acts

Category Archives: Basic Christianity