GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 17

Our  book this month  is a continuation of “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand ~ Lessons From the Life of Peter,” by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

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KEPT IN THE MASTER’S HAND

(Read Acts 12:1-25)

You may be in a prison of your own making, I’m reminded of a blacksmith during the Middle Ages who bragged that no one could ever break the chains he made.  Then one day he was imprisoned, and looked at the chains that bound him and found his own mark.  There is a prison of the soul, the prison of fear, of guilt, of regret – these and a thousand other voices cry out for freedom.

When Christ was in Nazareth, He went into the synagogue and read from  Isaiah the prophet: (Luke 4:18-19)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Our Lord is a specialist at freeing prisoners!

Peter’s prison experience reminds us that there is no chain that is too strong, there is no dungeon that is too deep, there is no gate that is too high that God is greater still.

Charles Wesley, the brother of John Wesley the famous revivalist, often meditated on his own spiritual conversion.  After months of agony, questioning, and doubt, the light of the Gospel dawned upon his soul and he felt as if he had great liberation, he wrote the song, “And Can It Be That I Should Gain” which is one of the greatest hymns of all time.  Notice the powerful imagery of this spiritual prisoner experiencing the freedom of Christ:

“Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night’

Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray, I woke, the dungon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free; I  rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Amazing love!  How can it be, that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me.

Peter’s body was in prison, but his heart was free.  Even in darkness there was morning in his heart.  The fearful Peter had been changed into the fearless Peter.  The sane had become a rock.

As always, Christ’s promise had come to pass.

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Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

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John 8:36

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

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Galatians 5:13

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

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Romans 8:1-2

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

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2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

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Colossians 1:13-14

 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

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Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

Because the Lord has anointed me

To bring good news to the afflicted;

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to captives

And freedom to prisoners;

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