ROLES FOR ALL
Opening Prayer
As I come to your Word today, Father, increase my understanding of your will for my life in Christ. Teach me more of how I should walk in his ways.
Read ACTS 9:32–43
Aeneas and Dorcas
32 As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”
39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Think of those who have helped you in some way in your Christian life. Let the memory encourage you as you read.I am sometimes puzzled when I read these accounts of the early church. Why don’t we see God working like this today? We do see God working; people are healed; they come to faith and they grow in faith. But it all seems rather different from the days of the early church. But even then, not everyone was healed (see, for example, 2 Timothy 4:20). God’s power has not changed, but he chooses when, where, and how that power is exercised. We can and should pray confidently and expectantly for God to act, but cannot dictate to him. Perhaps there were key times in the history of the church when God acted in special ways. But he is always at work, and we can always trust him—just as Peter did here.
Widows seem to have had a special place in the early church. Being vulnerable, they were supported, but they also had a ministry (vv. 39, 41). Ministry in the early church seems to have involved everyone. Are there some in our churches who are excluded from ministry on the basis of age, gender, or ethnicity? God works not just in signs and wonders but in quiet acts of Christian service sometimes done by unlikely people.
Apply
How can we incorporate everyone in the life and mission of our church and ensure that all have a ministry appropriate to their gifts, skills, and experience?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to have an active part in what you are doing in the lives of people today. Help me to be more sensitive to those around me and to be willing to act in ways that bring you glory.
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