Resources For "Devoted" Series From Each Harderwyk Preacher
I. New For This Week
Spiritual Formation Resources - Because prayer is sooooooooo central to the Book of Acts, we will be working to equip the life of prayer and spiritual formation throughout the summer. We are gathering resources for that and connecting them to our main Harderwyk.com landing page. CLICK HERE for a first look at that page of resources. Expect it to develop through the course of the summer.
On the Kingdom/Kingdom of God
Definition - “Kingdom: The dynamic reign of God as sovereign over creation. Although the roots of the term lie in the OT, the Christian understanding arises more specifically from Jesus’ proclamation of the inbreaking of God’s rule. Hence the kingdom is God’s divine, kingly reign as proclaimed and inaugurated by Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection, and the subsequent outpouring of the Spirit into the world. In this sense Christ is reigning now, and the kingdom of God has arrived. At the same time the church awaits the future consummation of the divine reign. This “already” and “not yet” dimension of the kingdom of God implies that it is both a given reality (or the divine power at work in the present) and a process that is moving toward its future fulfillment or completion.” - from “Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms” - Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, Cherith Fee Nording
Video - CLICK HERE for a 6-miunute video lesson by the Bible Project. Very Cool!
Something beautiful gets lost in translation in Acts 1:14. The NIV describes the scene of disciples of Jesus waiting in the upper room this way.
“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
What the NIV translates simple as “all joined together” does not fully capture the meaning of the Greek in the original text. The NASB does a better job capturing the meaning.
“These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer,
along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”
The Greek word here is homothymadon – from the Greek homo which means “same” and thymos which means “passion.” Those present – men and women disciples of Jesus are of one passion; one mind; one accord. They were a unified around their love for and devotion to Jesus Christ and here they praying and waiting on a move of God which we know would come just 10 days later on Pentecost!!
R. Albert Mohler Jr puts it nicely in his Acts 1-12 For You commentary (our companion book for this series) when he writes on page 16.
“After describing who was present in the upper room, Luke specifically details what the group was doing. We’re told that the group as a whole became joined “with one accord” (Acts 1:14). Again, Luke is affirming that everyone present was committed to the unifying belief that Jesus is the Messiah, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. Faith in Jesus unified them together as one people.”
Imagine if Christ’s Church would once again allow this foundational truth unite us in the same way – in prayer and passion?? How much more would we witness the Spirit’s power in and through Christ’s Church today??
II. From The Commentaries
From - Acts For Everyone Vol. 1 - NT Wright - “Instead of a renewal which would form them as the re-stored Israel, waiting for God to become their king as so many Jews of the day had hoped, they would experience a renewal which would form them as the restored humanity, celebrating the fact that God was becoming king of the whole world, and knowing that as a reality inside their own selves. That is the very heart of the spirituality, and indeed the theology, of ‘The Acts of the Apostles’. God is at work to do a new thing in the whole world. And it catches up, within its powerful movement, every child, woman and man who comes within its orbit.
Jesus told his followers to wait for this to happen before they tried to do anything too much. That is important advice. Far too often, to this day, people blunder ahead, assuming that if they know a little about Jesus, and about God’s kingdom, they can just go off and put things into action in whatever way occurs to them. Luke would tell us to wait: to pray for the presence and power of the holy spirit, and to find our calling and our energy from that source. If this is a play in which we are all called to take different parts, it is a play in which the only true acting is what happens when the spirit of the playwright himself takes charge.”
III. Ongoing Resources
1) Scotty Smith’s Heavenward Daily Prayers - CLICK HERE to see the daily prayer blog of Scotty Smith. You will see an option to have them delivered to your email inbox each day as well.
2) Simple Lectio Divina Overview - CLICK HERE for a simple introduction of the spiritual practice of a more personal way of experience the Word through contemplation and reflection.
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