the watcher

Acts 13:9-11 Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye. Then he said, “You son of the devil, full of every sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord? Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see the sunlight for some time.” Instantly mist and darkness came over the man’s eyes, and he began groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him. The true enemy of the gospel is the Devil himself for each time a human is converted to become a believer he looses grip on that soul. This is why Christ said that the gate of hell will not prevail against the church. We also have humans who oppose the gospel, the major reasons include: * ignorance (as the case of Saul who later became Saul); * envy; * selfish gains; * instrument in the hand of Satan; * unbelieve. Paul and Barnabas encountered

Acts 13:2  As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. This was still at the early stages of the church, there really was a lot of ground to be covered. The message of salvation had to reach the ends of the earth. Christ said it when He sent out the seventy: Luke 10:2  Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the labourers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. So what is happening now? What is our prayer and fasting all about today?  Now let us not get it wrong we do need all the earthly help, money, food, shelter etc.  However, when the Lord has provided these, the teaching we hear is of building empires. Hello, though there is nothing wrong with prospering to build empires for generations, there is yet some questions that have not been answered. * How long exactly do you have to live? * What price are

Acts 12:23 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died. When you read the account of what happened to King Herod in Acts 13:20-23, you then understand this verse: Hebrews 10:31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Yesterday we talked about the ministry of angels, remember they are God's servants having various duties, the scope of their operations is endless: Let us look at some references: Daniel 6:22a  My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me 2Samuel 24:16  And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. Thus we see that what happened to Herod was coming

Acts 12:10-11 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him. Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!” How much do we know of the ministry of Angels? Angels are God's servants, they have hierarchies and they are as powerful according to their hierarchy. We have Waring angels, guardian angels, archangels and so on. Angels are Messengers from God, they communicated with men after the fall. Some brought news, some came to destroy/war others had specific assignments. Remember that some angels came to commune with women here on earthly illicitly, we can imply that they are the ones that left their assignment and are left in everlasting chains awaiting judgements, we believe th

Acts 12:1-5 About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration.) Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. I was in a relation's house on a Sunday, it neighboured a small church or do I say meeting centre and I heard the pastor speaking. He said that they would never have troubles, that everything would be smooth for then from that day forth, his topic was focused on divine helpers. Well, is that what Christ promised, is that true? When we talk of christian trials or challenges, we are not talking of poverty, ill health or maybe failures, No. The church has got so distract

Acts 11:26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.) Acts 11:26  And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Jesus asked His disciples a question when He was here on earth: Matthew 16:13  When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? What a man is called is an attribute of what he does and who he is, reading through the book of Acts, we see how the church began, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the works, persecution and the souls that were saved. We read that the believers were first called Christians in Antioch, why? They taught like Christ, lived like Him and

Acts 11:16-18 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.” What has the Lord done? He saved the world, the whole world. What was the problem of the world SIN, the cause of death. Not everyone is happy about this, the enemies and fallen powers are not happy about this, they fell but no redemption for them, for they were already spirits. However man fell and because of his form He could yet be saved. It would have been too late, but the Heavenly Father drove man out before he reached out and made himself unredeemable. We need to give Him glory for that. Thus resisting t

Acts 10:34-36 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. Acts 10:44-45 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. If you have been following me through the book of the Acts of the Apostles, you would have been instructed or reminded that the coming of God's Word, His Son, Yeshua Hamaschiach that is Jesus the Christ was for the whole world, not for the Jews or a particular sect but for all of humanity. The encounter with Cornelius buttress this truth further, from the visit of the angel, vision of the unclean foods finally to the release of the Holy Spirit: Acts 10:44-45,47 Eve

Acts 10:15,25-26 But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!” Reading through Acts 10:9-33, we are instructed, let us look at two of these instructions as we study by the Spirit. Firstly, who has a right to call another infidel? Specifically only the Lord has that right. For as the children of Israel related with the Egyptians, they looked at them as infidels, while the Heavenly Father actually saw them as legitimate children. Genesis 43:32  And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that [is] an abomination unto the Egyptians. The same way the Jews also will not sit at table with certain people, though this originates from the purity perspective. For o

Acts 10:2,4 He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering! A very pertinent question one must ask, what matters to God? What matters to God? Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment was and He replied: Luke 10:27  And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. It was already in scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Thus the summary of God's commandments is love for Him and love for others. The Angel told Cornelius that his prayers and gifts had been received by God as an offering. Listen, it mean

Acts 9:32-35 Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda. There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly. Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord. The essence of miracles is for those who do not believe to believe: Jesus said John 10:38 But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” The reason is that they do not believe, why, the carnal mind. However the experience with the supernatural or rightly the divine would prick the heart to steer up faith. For the believer miracles should be an every day event, for the power of God, His Spirit dwells in us. I once

Acts 9:22-23,29 Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. It is a wonder why anyone will think to kill another because of their faith. It is so terrible, from the Islamics, christian crusaders, arabs, jihadists, atheists scientist and other ignorant ones of old. Even today we see it happen again and again. I remember many years ago a young boy ran away from the north and came for asylum in our church down south because his family attempted to kill him. Their reason was that he changed faith and accepted Christ Jesus and that it was the mandate of family to execute him. Wondering how true this horrible believe was, I further had more examples when I went to live in the north. It is an age old foolishness of humans to want to suppress the truth. For if it is a lie w

Acts 9:4-6 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” At the time he persecuted the church Saul most likely thought he was doing a good deed. The cause he was fighting for would seem to him a just one for he thought he was fighting for the Lord. Acts 9:1-2 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains. Can you fight for God, when the Psalmist was describing idols He said: Psalms 115:3-8 Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. Their idols are merely things

Acts 8:29-30,35 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. We must get this right! THE WHOLE OF SCRIPTURES IS ALL ABOUT Yeshua Hamaschiach, Jesus the Christ, if you miss this, you miss everything! The book of Acts gives us the record of the Ethiopian eunuch who travelled all the way to Jerusalem to partake in the Passover feast. This most likely implies that He loved the God the Israelites worshipped, we will see this testimony also from Cornelius and other foreigners. Most likely these people might have had a lineage that encountered the God of Israel and His mighty works in times of old. An example is Naman the Syrian army general who got his skin cleansed from leprosy, definitely he would have returned to teach his generation to serve the God of I

Acts 8:4-5 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. Knowing the purpose of a thing, the goal of a cause and the reason for a mission, will ensure that one focuses and eventually wins. Yesterday we saw that even persecution cannot stop God's purpose, instead it will be the instrument to bring it to pass. Our opening verses shows us the effect of the persecution of the early believers. The word of God was preached from place to place, as the journeyed they preached thus the mandate was being fullfiled. Acts 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Today the word has almost reached the ends of the earth, do we have a new mandate? Do we have a new purpose? No. For the whole purpos

Acts 8:1  And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. Looking through scriptures and after walking with the Lord for some time, you begin to understand this scripture as spoken by Paul: Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. Yes, we cannot stop trails, temptation and persecutions from happening, but when we are of the Lord He works it out for our good. The truth is that His purpose and promises are yes and amen. The challenge might be a delay but it can never be a denial. 2Corinthians 1:20  For all the promises of God in him [are] yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. So we see that great persecution arose in the church starting from the murder of Stephen, which I believe gave boldness t

Acts 7:55-56 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” Let us remind ourselves: Man was drowning in sin, death was the sentence, very few found favour with the Father, yet in all their goodness they were still in bondage of sin and death. The Lord searched for a solution. Why? He loved man He created so much (powers that be just can't understand this). He asked His Word, who was from His very bosom, that was with Him even before creation, the one who people of old saw and said they saw the Father, to pay the price for the redemption of man. John 3:16-17 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the wor

Acts 6:10-11 None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke. So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” The major motivating factor of persecution is envy. The moment unhealthy competitions and rivalry comes in, evil intentions are not far away. A Nigerian female musician, Evi Edna Ogholi, sang a song many years ago, the chorus says: "Jealousy Jealousy Jealousy Is the root Jealousy Jealousy Jealousy Is the root of hatred" It is one of the cankerworms that brethren must beware of, it is not new, it is as old as the earth itself. Genesis 4:4-5,8 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother,

Acts 6:1,3,7 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too. The church did not only face challenges from without but also from within, apart from the record of Ananais who carried a different agenda and motive, we see the surge of sentiment from one of the worst tool of segregation - tribalism. Recall this testimony: Acts 4:32-34 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurr

Acts 5:18, 40-42 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.” The apostles were persecuted, yes the expected it, Christ had told them about it: John 15:20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. John 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. For truly all that want to live godly lives in Ch

Acts 5:12,14,16 The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed. The purpose of the release of God's power was clearly stated by the Messiah: Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” That was what the apostles and first believers were doing, drawing many back to the Father. Salvation of souls is the kingdom business and surely that was the purpose of the miracles. I believe our question today is, "what of now?". Is the power still active or did it go wi

Acts 5:3-4 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” It was not long the church began, all was going well among brethren, we see the love, fellowship, the oneness and the sharing - then comes a saboteur. Listen again to the statements of Peter: 1. why allow Satan fill your heart; 2. why lie to the Holy Spirit; 3. why keep back some of the money; 4. the property was yours even after you sold it, the money was still yours; 5. they were not lying to man, but to God. So why? Before we say Peter was too harsh, let us understand that Ananais was mocking God, he neither had the right motive nor took seriously what was going on spiritually in the church. It was God He was playing around with. See, despite a