“Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” ~Acts 4:24
The Scriptures point clearly to the fact that our God uses governments and wars and elections and political manuverings and the rising and falling of empires to work his will in our world. Whatever the powers of this earth decide or do, our Father uses for the purposes of his eternal Kingdom. Those early Jerusalem Christians in Acts 4 understood this principle. After they’d been ordered to stop teaching and speaking about the resurrected Christ, they appealed to their Sovereign Lord to “stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” They pointed back to Psalm 2 in this prayer to acknowledge that the powers and authorities of this world are always opposed to God and his mission but that God uses those very powers and authorities to do his will.
Maybe they didn’t even realize how true their prayer was.
Shortly after the unified wording of this prayer, the powers of the world carried out the execution of Steven and scattered the new Church with persecution. And God used it to spread the Gospel and expand the borders of his eternal Kingdom. And our Father is doing the same thing today.
This coming Sunday, for the first time ever, our brothers and sisters in Christ will assemble in a public building in the capital city of the people’s republic of China. This Sunday, the legally sanctioned Beijing Church of Christ will meet to worship our Sovereign Lord.
God uses the Olympics.
There are over 15-million people in Beijing. There are over a billion people in China. And starting Sunday our own brother Aubrey Johnson from the Peachtree City Church of Christ outside Atlanta is going to be teaching and preaching salvation from God in Christ Jesus for seven straight weeks! In Beijing, China! Under government sanction! Under government protection! Bible class at 9:30! Worship at 10:30! Are you kidding me?!?
Prove our God is sovereign? He just did!
Again!
David and Olivia Nelson tell me Christians are fleeing Moscow by the hundreds because of new government restrictions there. God is going to use that. Manuel Calderon baptized eleven people into Jesus last week in Venezuela. He’s using that. Our teenagers here delivered over 700 lightbulbs last week to families in an apartment complex near our church. God’s using that. Dan Miller and Bruce Archer have established two congregations of new Christians at two apartment complexes in Mesquite. And God’s using that.
That smile you gave the clerk at the post office. That kind word you delivered to your waiter. The check you wrote. The cake you baked. The hours you volunteered. The child you helped. The senior you assisted. The big stuff and the little stuff. Our God is sovereign over all. All of it. And he’s using it for his purposes and his Kingdom.
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I have 17 spots available for college football pollsters to participate in The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys Top 20 College Football Poll. You can be a pollster. You only have to be a college football fan and commit to emailing me your Top 20 every Monday through the football season. Please see yesterday’s post or click the “KKC Top 20” tab at the upper right corner of this page for more information.
Happy Milestone-Birthday, Ro! Are you tired? Are you involved? Is that why you’re so tired? I love you.
Peace,
Allan
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