This temple was later renovated and the temple mount was built around it by another unbeliever – Herod the Great. If any one purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the house, ready for any good work. 19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
God Uses Unbelievers To Accomplish His Will And Testament
God has the sovereign ability to control anything and anyone. But remember this … Jesus uses those who turn from God. Epaphras is the man who told Paul about the Colossian church because he brought the good news about Jesus Christ to the Colossians. RT063 - God uses unlikely tools to accomplish His will! Ezra 1:2. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Simon and Simon (Peter). The Holy Spirit was to come only upon genuine believers. We are called to be among his faithful people.
Nevertheless, the hand of God continued to work in a powerful way (Acts 5:14-16). God prepared the people of Samaria by using Simon the magician. Philip is in the city in Samaria; he is on a desert road with the eunuch. Consider…Jesus was using a man who would later stop serving. First, we see the faith of Moses. They were the ones who asked for valuables from the people of Egypt, who were so fearful and stricken with grief that they gave the departing Israelites their riches, literally paying the Jews to leave Egypt (Ex. How much easier it is to explain Simon's actions as those of one outside the faith. However, Rahab's story doesn't end here. But it does mean that we are responsible to use the cleansing that has been provided. A third reason God had Moses raise his staff and hands before dividing the Red Sea is that God delights to use sinners to accomplish His sovereign will. Does God work His plan through non-believers as well. Matthew: A Tax Collector. Let's take a look at 10 unlikely people that God used to do great things, advance the gospel, and ultimately reveal his glory. He even turns wicked hearts to serve his Sovereign purpose. Paul also made this clear in Romans 9-11.
God Uses Unbelievers To Accomplish His Will And Hope
It is as though he fears that his prayers will not count, but he assumes that the prayers of Peter and John will. However, he had Aaron and Hur hold up Moses' arms and had Joshua lead the armies of Israel. But the fact of the matter is it wasn't me! Only after the eunuch was saved and baptized did he observe something spectacular – Philip's amazing exit. One of the letters that Paul writes during his time in Prison in Rome is the letter Philemon. God uses unbelievers to accomplish his will and might. Tychicus is not Jewish.
I confess that I have been inclined to view Simon as a non-Christian myself. For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans. ) As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him, 53 but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. Epaphras: The one who was the focused shepherd (4:12-13). God uses unbelievers to accomplish his will and faith. Jesus was silent at His death (see also 1 Peter 2:22-23), and so it is Philip who speaks to explain Messiah's death and resurrection, and the salvation it achieved. The sheep representing believers who did God's will and the goats representing unbelievers who do not do God's will. The more you are aware of what God says the more your faith is aroused, awakened and stirred up to lay hold of what God says. Let us listen to God's Spirit as He speaks to us through this great text.
God Uses Unbelievers To Accomplish His Will Not Work Correctly
While he was in the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed to God for forgiveness and protection, and as a result, God gave him a second chance and spared the people of Nineveh, since they also repented. Philip did not need to be told what to do next. Because he had a very large following, his decision to follow Jesus must have caused others to listen to Philip's preaching with interest. God Uses Many People to Accomplish His Purposes | Faith Ministries Resources. This is a most serious matter, as we should be able to discern from the severity of Peter's rebuke.
But He has also been at work through great preaching. They probably said things like, "See, God isn't doing anything" "no body ever gets punished", "it can't be very serious. " The result was a mixed race that persisted in idolatry. That is a very practical admonition from the Apostle Paul. It was a rainy day and no one was out in the yard. Let's face it; it makes us uncomfortable to think that a true believer could be guilty of this kind of sin.
God Uses Unbelievers To Accomplish His Will And Faith
"The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. " Were they to march into the sea holding their little ones, driving their cattle, and pushing their elderly? As a result, King Saul began to favor him, and eventually, David was anointed as king over Israel. 14:16, God, who is all powerful and infinitely sovereign, tells Moses, "lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. " 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot. " At the beginning of their sojourn, Joseph was ruler of Egypt, a son of Jacob, and watched over his own. Through slight of hand (or possibly by employing powers from the dark side), his power seemed unlimited. Thanks to Gamaliel's counsel, the Sanhedrin seems to have significantly reduced its overt opposition to the apostles as they took more of a "wait and see" approach to their preaching. There simply is not enough money. 31 The man replied, "How in the world can I, unless someone guides me? "
He was very eager, however, to obtain the power that he saw as a result of the laying on of hands by Peter and John. Just like us, the Colossians should not doubt God's word is true. We, too, are to open our mouths and speak of Him who suffered silently (see Colossians 4:6; 1 Peter 3:15). And thus the preaching of the gospel follows that geographical pattern God set down in Acts 1:8.
God Uses Unbelievers To Accomplish His Will Scripture
So he's a runaway slave in the giant city of Roma and of all people…he meets Paul in prison who tells Onesimus about Jesus Christ. Lord, we wait upon you now. The one clear link between these two accounts is Philip. God knew that Pharaoh would change his mind about letting the people of Israel go and that he would pursue them to bring them back to Egypt. We often are exposed to the choice of how we are going to react toward someone who, perhaps, has irritated us, who has done something that makes us upset or angry.
Then, once you have done that, the positive is possible. We do know that when the apostles laid their hands on these Samaritan believers, they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17). The evil nations God was raising up to judge his rebellious people were self-centered. Jonah: A Man who Ran from God. Second, Simon was asking for the power to bestow the Holy Spirit on everyone (Acts 8:19). That is true of all homes -- we have "vessels for honor, " i. e., dishes we eat from, pots and pans we cook in, decorated vases, etc., are all vessels unto honor. This resulted in his being swallowed by a large fish. Most the Jews of Thessalonica are pretty against the spread of the gospel. First, the people of Israel were for the most part leaderless. When we were joined with Christ by faith, we were joined to Him in His death to sin, and in His resurrection to newness of life. In Romans 9, Paul says that Pharaoh was used of God to resist the departure from Egypt in order that the greatness of God might be manifest.
God Uses Unbelievers To Accomplish His Will And Might
What a comfort to know when we feel overwhelmed and in need of help and encouragement, Jesus still uses us. These, however, are not the points of contrast on which I wish to focus. Jesus uses people who turn away from God. Specifically, Luke indicates that he was reading the words of Isaiah 53:7-8. We oftentimes find ourselves in the grip of tremendous forces that urge us on to do things that the world is telling us are perfectly all right; no harmful results will ensue, we are told. What is he going to do with you? I believe our text supplies two main reasons for this rapt attention to Philip's preaching. Jesus changes Paul from a hater of Jesus to a lover of Jesus.
Justus is one of the few committed Jews. He must have had a fair knowledge of the Jewish faith, enough to prompt him to travel a long distance to worship in Jerusalem. Simon is not as concerned with the fact that he has sinned as he is about the consequences of his sin. We see that in Verse 21: "If any one purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel for noble use. "