Nov 5

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution not my miracle
    This is an amazing episode in scripture as we have already seen God free prisoners from jail in a miraculous way before when the Angel of the Lord came and freed peter and John in Acts 4. So naturally as we read this we think this is a happening again but in the form of an earth quake and to Paul and his followers must have thought the same; God has caused this to free us. Even the jailer thought... Read more »

Nov 4

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution effective communication
    What a job the new church leaders had to go into a synagogue and teach that Jesus was who He said He was a debate the religious leaders of the day to re-think what they currently believed. It was for this reason that they needed to communicate effectively in order to help them understand with the help of the Holy Spirit the truth of God’s plan in Jesus. This passage also reminds me that there... Read more »

Nov 3

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution developing a plan
    This one scripture outlines how God comes and transforms our lives and gives us a new direction for it. It’s amazing to think that when we fill trapped by what the enemy uses for evil, God is in the background using it for His will. Israel was a slave nation yet God was using that time to organize their wealth and prepare them for their departure to out of Egypt and to one day the Promised Land.... Read more »

Nov 2

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution we speak He works
    It’s amazing to think that God will work as we speak His truth through what we are saying. He takes our best attempts at communicating His eternal truth and changes lives. Those who listen to the Holy Spirits voice have the opportunity to allow God to forever change their destiny. Their eternity can forever be turned around and life will never be the same all because I have shared the truth of... Read more »

Oct 31

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution the more fear I have
    After Saul’s conversion the church had finally enjoyed a time of peace from persecution and was strengthened. They were no longer living in a fear of who was after them to hurt them scatter them lock them up or shut them down. They had another fear and it was the fear of God. It was a time of peace and to revere to mighty and Holy God which they served. The Holy Spirit encouraged them and spoke... Read more »

Oct 30

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution scattered
    This was a time in the life of the early church were persecution was taking place and Saul (Paul) was attempting to destroy the church that Jesus gave His life for. But what those who were trying to stop the church by scattering them didn’t realize was that they were actually helping the gospel get further. The more they spread out the more the gospel got out into the known world. This scripture... Read more »

Oct 29

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution stiff-necked
    Stephen is letting the religious leaders of the day have it! He reminds them of all the mistakes they made missing out on the prophets God sent to speak to His people even persecuting them. He calls them stiff-necked people, implying that they ignored God’s voice and His plan in there’s lives. They refused to even turn their head and look towards the one true God for their salvation which makes... Read more »

Oct 28

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution refreshed
    This scripture is such a reminder to me of what God did the day I gave my life to Him. He wiped out all of my sins and viewed my as spotless and worthy to go before Him in the context of a personal relationship. Now each day this scripture takes on a new meaning as I go before the Lord not for a repentance of salvation and sins but for a repentance of sins and a daily refreshing and renewing of... Read more »

Oct 20

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution a never ending love
    Just as the Jews’ where about to celebrate the history of their freedom from being slaves in Egypt, Jesus knew that His time had come to give his life for the world’s freedom. An opportunity for the whole world to experience that same freedom and celebration that the Jews had celebrated for so long. But it didn’t end there; Jesus invested three years of his life into his disciples and performing... Read more »

Oct 19

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution I am yours
    When Jesus said this it was just after some Greeks approached Philip to ask him if they could see Jesus. Jesus knowing that the Greeks did in fact love their lives and bodies told them the facts about what it took to follow Him. He made it plain to them that no matter what we do, have or how we look at the end of the day we all die. We will lose what we have gained and worked so hard to maintain... Read more »

Oct 15

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution living water
    When Jesus was on this earth He desperately wanted people to believe in who He was; after all He created us, He was there when the relationship between God and man was broken way back on the garden on Eden. He knew that the Holy Spirit was soon coming after His death, resurrection and ascension back to heaven. The Spirit of God which would enable us to have full access to a personal relationship... Read more »

Oct 14

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution other options
    After Jesus had got done laying down some more details about what it meant to follow Him some of his disciples left because they felt like it was too hard of a teaching to follow after. However when Jesus asked his original 12 if they were going to leave to their response, “to whom shall we go?” said so much about how much they believed in who Jesus said he was. Every day I am confronted with decisions... Read more »

Oct 12

  • joealvarado
    joealvarado added a text contribution everything about me
    Not only do people turn to Jesus when they see a difference in our lives but when we meet Jesus he already knows everything about us. He knows where we have been, what we have done and even where we are going. This story mentions that Jesus knew the dirt about her past history in relationships in and outside of marriage. But I can’t help but think that Jesus told her so much more about her life... Read more »

Oct 2