Romans 12:10

10: Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Proverbs 18:24 "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer then a brother."  I think that by saying brotherly affection Paul means being brothers in Christ which is much closer then I often think of when we think of our actual brothers and sisters.  John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Jesus loved us by not only giving up His life but doing it in a horribly graphic way. Beat to the point of not even being able to tell that He was a man. Not only that but he had the weight of all of our sins on his soldiers. Jesus didn't have a bad mind set about this instead he asked the Father to forgive us. All through out the new testament Jesus talks about the importance of loving people even to the point of saying it is the second greatest commandment. On the outside I can do this well, but once I realize what I actually think about people I realize how I do not have the same mind set of Christ. I was a middle school leader this last year and one of my favorite parts was watching how innocent they were. These kids get alog so well because they are not picking apart everything about each other.

Application: I have come to realize that I can catch my thoughts but that is about the extent of what I can do. All of these thoughts come from a heart problem. I pray that I can have a heart like Christ, loving every person for who they are.

Mark 8:38

38: For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the Holy angels.

This verse says a couple different things to me. The first thing that sticks out is the fact that he talks about how he is coming back and this gives me hope because it reminds me of Revelation 21:1-7. The second thing that stands out is how I am no longer ashamed of Him but that is not by my own doing it is because He has called and shown Himself to me. It amazes me that we serve a God who wants to help me come to Him. The application today is a little different, it is in fact to keep in mind that we win in the end but also to remember that all the Glory belongs to him because it is not my own doing.

Mark 8:37

37: For what can a man give in return for his soul?

When I first look at this verse my first reaction is that there is nothing that I can give in return. All I can do is "deny myself." This phrase however is becoming christianese to me. As soon as people asking me what I am learning I say how to deny myself. This is kind of an easy way out and I am not a fan of that so I must practically ask myself what I can do to deny myself. There are of course a lot of things I could do but the thing that sticks out the most is praying more. I need to set aside time each day to pray for others and for myself. This is not it though I need to set aside my doubts and trust that I have a faithful God who will answer.

Mark 8:36

36: For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

It looks here like Jesus is asking a rhetorical question. Obviously there is not profit if you forfeit your soul, in other words forfeit eternal life for the things of this world. It seems simple when we are asked this question straight forward. Although we are asked this question daily even in the little things and I so often choose to forfeit my soul. This is a verse that I should ask myself with each step of the day, asking myself if I am going the way of Jesus or trying to gain the world piece by piece.

Mark 8:35

35: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

Jesus in the last verse talked about denying yourself and picking up your cross and it would seem that in this verse he is doing the same thing. He is further building on the point that if we pick up our crosses for His sake and the gospels that our life will be saved. Here I see Jesus looking at our heart, he is saying that picking up your cross is not enough but we should be doing it for a purpose, which is to Glorify Him and the gospel with our lives.

Application: To look at my heart and see if I am losing my life to follow after Christ for the gospels sake.

Mark 8:34

34:  And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, "if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

At first this is a real shocking comment. Jesus just got done telling the disciples about the fact that he will be killed, then he tells everyone to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him. The thing that I am learning about this is that it is not a one time thing but a daily thing. Now I am not sure about everyone else but this is a scary thought to me because I know how I tend to get worn out and eventually give up. I so often think about this verse and think "okay now today I have to deny myself, I have to do a better job this time." It turns out that this is the wrong approach because I am following after a God who has not only been there but feels my pain and wants to help.
Application: Today and from now on I want to remember that not only iis the Holy Spirit here to help me but he wants to help me, because His way is better. All I have to do is deny myself.

Acts 12:9

Peter is now dressed awake and ready to escape the prison. We see here an answer to prayer. All it is taking is for Peter to follow the angel and then he will be out safely. This is a lesson that I have been learning this week which is not to worry about the little things but instead just to follow. Peter is not worrying about whether the guards will see him or if he is making to much noise but just going where the angel goes. In my life I often worry about a lot of things. This verse to me means that I should not worry about these things but instead just follow after Christs example. The perfect verse for this is Acts 2:42 "And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers." This is the early church dedicating themselves to what Christ has taught them, and this is what I should do without worrying about all the little things.

Acts 12:8

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."

Peter is woken up by an angel striking him on the side. The angel then tells Peter to dress himself and to put on his sandals. Peter does this obediently without a question. I am not sure about other people but I know that when I get woken up in a way that is not overly nice I get in a bad mood. In fact sometimes just the sound of the alarm clock will put me in a bad mood. Then on top of that if someone were to start telling me around as soon as I woke up I would probably not listen to them or just complain the whole time. Peter however just obeys. This verse makes me wonder if in my walk with God if I get a awakening will I still be obedient holding Christ above everything? Will I still be joyful for the fact that I have Him?

Application: When I get that awakening I need to not hit my snooze button.

Acts 12:7

Acts 12:7

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 of his hands.

This is a great picture of how God holds everything in his hands. We saw in the last verse how much Herod guarded Peter, yet this angel gets to Peter without being seen and then he wakes Peter up and the chains fall off his hands. I know that if I was Peter I would be sitting there constantly thinking about how I could get out of this situation, then when the angel showed up I would be dissapointed that I did not trust in God more. I know I would act this way, because I do this on a day to day basis. Whenever even the smallest problem comes up instead of trusting the Lord to guide me through it, I think about how I can fix it it.

Application: We had a guest speaker this last week and he said "The Lord is always talking it is just up to us to listen." From now on when I face even the smallest trial I would like to wait on the Lord to get me through it.

Acts 12:6

Acts 12:6
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.
If I had to describe this picture in one word it would be impossible. Herod has obviously thought about everything, not only is Peter bound with chains but he is sleeping between two guards and there are guards watching the outside of the prison, it seems that it would be impossible for Peter to get out of this situation. Well in the next verse we get a nice picture of how big our God is. He helps Peter get out of prison by sending an angel to guide him out. It always amazes me to think that God cares this much for each individual person. In my life I have always had a hard time thinking that God is this involved in our lives. Since I have been at Potters Field I can feel God has been working on my confidence in his love. Philippians 1:6 says "And I am sure of this that, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." This is a verse that I have read many times but has never really clicked in my head until yesterday. The same God who got Peter out of a situation that seemed impossible to get out of promises here that he will bring my life to  completion therfore I see nothing to worry about. This is a verse that I should not forget but to have it be one that I dwell on.

Acts 12:5

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

Here we see a good picture of the whole body hurting when one member is hurting. Peter is in prison and the whole church is earnestly praying for him. This verse makes me really ask myself if I really turn to prayer during the times when people are hurting or even when I simply say that I will pray for people. Usually when I tell myself that I will pray for someone it is just a quick prayer as I am right before I go to bed. The application to this verse is that from now on I am going to be more like the early church and set aside time everyday just to pray for others.

Acts 12:5

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

Here we see a good picture of the whole body hurting when one member is hurting. Peter is in prison and the whole church is earnestly praying for him. This verse makes me really ask myself if I really turn to prayer during the times when people are hurting or even when I simply say that I will pray for people. Usually when I tell myself that I will pray for someone it is just a quick prayer as I am right before I go to bed. The application to this verse is that from now on I am going to be more like the early church and set aside time everyday just to pray for others.

Acts 8:34

34 and the Eunuch said to Philip "About whom , I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?"

The passage that the Eunich is reading is about Jesus. He is asking Philip who it is about which could not be better set up to share the Gospel with someone. If you could ask Philip about this I am sure that he would say that it was not his doing but it was him just being obedient to the Spirit. All Philip did was just allow himself to be used, and he was used to share the gospel with this man and then to baptize him. Today my goal is to allow mysef to be used even if it is to share the gospel with a complete stranger.

Acts 8:30

30 so Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
When this verse said that Phillip was running to me, means that he is putting in his all and going all out for where the Holy Spirit wants him to be. As I read this I have to ask myself where does the Holy Spirit want me to be? I believe that at this moment I am supposed to be here in the ignite program. So then what would it look like to "run" like Philip did? Around these parts there have been a lot of sayings going around about living each day for Christ. I think that this would be my way of "running". I should not worry about what is going to happen in the future but instead live each day giving it all to Christ.

Acts 8:29

29 and the spirit said to said to Philip "Go over and join this chariot"

Here you see Philip being guided by the Spirit. Philip sees a Eunich reading the prophet Isaiah and the Spirit tells him to go over to him. I often ask God to show me where he wants me to go but even when he opens doors in such an obvious way, such as coming to Potters Field, I question if it really is the right path to go. Even though I know that I just asked Him I question every step of the way. As I look back I think about how much easier it would have been if I would have just said yes and trusted that his plans were better. Today my application would be to be more like Philip in the sense that when God tells me to go I go with full trust.