A simple look at the trades in Acts — and at 1 Corinthians 3:10
Now I want you to look with me at something very practical in the book of Acts. We meet two ordinary working men. One is Simon the tanner in Joppa. The other is Paul the tentmaker in Corinth. Some folk put those two jobs together as if they were the same thing. They were not. The Greek makes that plain. And then, if you follow it through, you come to a beautiful picture in 1 Corinthians 3. The Lord Jesus, who worked with His hands, became the Master Builder of the church.
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Read more: The Tanner, the Tentmaker, and the Master Builder
Now friends, I want us to look at this with open Bibles as I share some scriptures and honest prayerful hearts. The murder of two little boys is not complex history. It is sin and pure evil. And the church of Jesus Christ ought to say so without stammering.
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The coming system, the Blessed Hope, and a word for those left behind
You know friends, we are living in exciting days. I know they can also feel heavy. But Jesus never told us to wring our hands. He told us to watch, and then He told us to look up.
“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28)
That is where I want your heart to rest. Not on the buildings going up on the Scottish hills. Not on the names of world leaders. Not on the latest video that kept you awake. On Jesus. He is coming for His Church.
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You know, folks, sometimes a name stays with you after the news has moved on. This week it is Marzieh Ebrahimi Shamsabadi. Many know her as Sevda. She is about 33. She is from Bandar Abbas. An Iranian court has sentenced her to death.
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Read more: A Young Woman in Bandar Abbas - Remembering Marzieh “Sevda” Ebrahimi Shamsabadi
Now… the shofar has sounded.
Rosh Hashanah has come and gone, and we are in those Ten Days—the Days of Awe, they call them. The days that lead right up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
And I want to talk to you about that. Because I love the Jewish people. God loves the Jewish people. He called them. He chose them. He made covenant with them. And we stand with them.
But I have a problem. And it’s the same problem I used to have when I would talk with my Jewish friends.
I would say, “How do you get your sins forgiven now?”
Because there is no temple. There is no high priest walking into the Holy of Holies. There is no blood being sprinkled on the mercy seat. There is no scapegoat being led out into the wilderness.
And they would say, “Well, we reflect. We repent. We ask one another for forgiveness. We hope our names are written in the Book of Life.”
And I would say, “But that’s not what God said.”
Look at it.
Leviticus 17:11:
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
That’s not my idea. That’s God.
Hebrews 9:22:
“And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
Without the shedding of blood… there is no remission.
Now, the Ten Days of Awe are a beautiful thing in their way. Searching the heart. Making things right with your brother. That’s good. We should all do that.
But it will not take away sin.
It never could.
You go back to Leviticus 16—the Day of Atonement. Two goats. One is killed. Its blood is taken behind the veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat. The other goat—the high priest lays both hands on its head, confesses all the iniquities of the children of Israel, all their transgressions, all their sins, and that goat is led away into the wilderness. Never to return.
That’s the picture.
And the picture has a Person.
Jesus is both goats.
He is the One whose blood was shed. He is the One who carried our sins away—as far as the east is from the west. That’s Psalm 103:12. And they are not coming back.
Hebrews 10:4 says it so clearly.
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”
It is not possible.
Those sacrifices were shadows. They were pointing. They were saying, “Look! Something greater is coming.”
And He came.
He offered one sacrifice for sins forever. And then He sat down. The priest in the temple never sat down. The work was never finished. Jesus sat down. It is finished.
So I say it with a full heart, and I say it with tears:
The Ten Days of Repentance will not save you.
Yom Kippur without the blood God required cannot cover you.
You need Jesus.
Not next year.
Not after more days of searching.
Now.
He is the Messiah of Israel. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the only High Priest who ever finished the work.
Romans 1:16:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
For the Jew first.
That’s the order God set. We don’t change it.
If you are Jewish and you are reading this—we are not against you. We are for you. The same Book you honour is pointing to Yeshua. Come to Him. His blood is enough.
And if you already know Him… pray for them. Love them. Tell them the truth without the hype. Just the Word.
The trumpet they are blowing is still only a shadow.
We are waiting for another trumpet.
The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
God bless you.
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You know, folks, I’ve been watching some of the things being said by church leaders lately, and it grieves my heart. The Archbishop of York has welcomed the British government’s measures against Israel’s building in Judea and Samaria—>what the world keeps calling the West Bank—>and he described those measures as “just, necessary and frankly overdue.” He was careful to say he opposes antisemitism, but still… the words hang there.
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Read more: When Church Leaders Speak Against Israel – What Does the Word of God Say?
Coming Up Out of the Wilderness
SONG OF SOLOMON 8:5
Leaning upon her Beloved
Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.
Song of Solomon 8:5, NKJV
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There are a lot of Christians today who love the Lord, but they would have to admit that they feel far from Him. The joy isn’t what it used to be. Sin keeps coming back around. Life is full. For some of you, it is caring for a child who needs you constantly. You still read the Word. You still pray. And yet something is missing. You miss that simple walk you once had with Jesus.
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Holding it. Turning it. Living in it.
A simple thought on paper Bibles, hungry hearts, and the tools that help us stay in the Word.
There is something about a paper Bible that a screen cannot quite give you.
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Where were you twenty-five years ago when those murderous terrorists struck at the heart of the West?
I remember it like it was this morning. I was up a ladder painting the outside of a nursing home in Kinghorn, Fife. Just an ordinary Tuesday. Then the news began to come in. Planes. Towers coming down. Fire. People running. People jumping. The Pentagon. That field in Pennsylvania. Nearly three thousand precious lives snuffed out in a few hours ~ mums, dads, secretaries, firefighters, policemen, kids on a field trip.
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You know, a year has gone by now since the Lord called Charlie Kirk home.
He left a precious wife, Erika, and two little ones, a daughter and a son. And our hearts go out to them. We pray for them. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. He really is.
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