Righteous King, New Society (Isaiah 32)

In a day of national emergency, Judah looked to Egypt (Isa 30:1-2; 31:1-3).

But what about us? What do we look at? Whom do we look to? These are vital questions. What direction are we moving in? Where are our eyes fixed? Are we ever and always getting closer to Jesus, ever and always "seeing him more clearly, loving him more dearly," turning our eyes on Jesus, looking full in his wonderful face?

In Isaiah's day, Judah was in a serious, life and death, national crisis. The Assyrian invasion spelled the end of all they had and hoped. They were in a "big" crisis that could destroy them. But it may not be the "big" occasions that defeat us. Often, out of sheer desperation, it sends us fleeing to Jesus in a more determined way. But what more often leads to our downfall are the "small" daily decisions.

How to Depend on the Holy Spirit

Similar to "How to depend on the Holy Spirit" would be:

1. How to trust God (Prov 3:5; Ps 31:14).
2. How to live by faith (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38; Hab 2:4)?
3. How to live by the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 25)?
   

So how do you depend on the Holy Spirit? Learn or consider the following:

1. Accept "No" from God. Lean not on your own understanding (Prov 3:5). Don't insist on your own way (Prov 14:12; 16:25). God's ways and God's thoughts are different from yours (Isa 55:8-9).

How The Holy Spirit Helped Me To Marry

One of the best stories of my life is that in 1981 the Holy Spirit led me to marry a woman I really did not want to marry (my present wife, Christy Toh), because she looked rather tough and domineering to my eyes. I had shared about this in a blog entitled If Not For UBF I Would Not Have Married.

I was hoping to marry a demure, petite, frail, fragile and foxy sort of woman. I was also expecting to marry a Chinese woman. But the Holy Spirit did not grant me my wish. Instead, the Holy Spirit compelled me to marry Christy by faith in God, trusting and believing that God knew me better than I knew myself. Last year I shared about 12 things I learned after 32 happy years of marriage.

How the Holy Spirit works (Acts 16:6-40)

Acts 16:6-40

"... the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time." "... again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there" (Acts 16:6-7, NLT).

1. How sensitive do you think you are to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your life?
2. Generally, do you intentionally seek the Holy Spirit's leading before making decisions and taking action?
3. Discuss this quote by A.W. Tozer: "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference." Do you agree? Why? Why not?

ACTS

Introduction: Acts (or the "Acts of the Apostles") is a selective history of the early church following the resurrection of Christ. It was likely written before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The author, Luke the physician, was the companion of Paul from his 2nd missionary journey onwards. Acts provides information on the development of the first 3 decades of the early church's existence, which is found nowhere else in the NT.

We have 4 accounts of Jesus, but only one of the early church {where Luke traces only the ministries of Peter (chs. 1-12) and Paul (chs. 13-28)}. So Acts occupies an indispensable place in the Bible. It is the first work of church history ever penned, where Acts records the initial response to the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20). Acts:

1. emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth was Israel's long-awaited Messiah,
2. declares that the gospel is offered to all men (not merely the Jewish people), and
3. stresses the work of the Holy Spirit (mentioned > 50 times)

As Hebrews sets forth the theology of the transition from the Old Covenant to the New, Acts depicts the New Covenant's practical outworking in the life of the church.