No Limits with Pastor Delman Coates Podcast Dr. Delman Coates

Today’s key passage, the second chapter of the book of Acts, is very significant because it is the primary text that tells us what happened at the inception of the New Testament Church. The first church was a spirit-led church, and we get a glimpse here of what characterizes a spirit-led church. 

When Jesus takes the wheel of our lives, we shift from allowing the wounded parts of our lives to control and govern how we treat people, handle situations, and make decisions. Instead, we allow the God-image and Christ’s consciousness within to lead the way. When we allow our hurts, our wounds, and our baggage to dictate, determine, and direct the course of our lives, things go astray. Instead, as followers of Christ, our goal should be to live a spirit- filled life. But what does that look like? Well, Paul shows us very clearly in today’s key passage what happens when we live a spirit- led life. 

If you want to experience true joy, if you want genuine peace, if you want to be more connected to God, you need to make sure that the vehicle of your life, that is how you show up in various situations, is being driven by the Spirit and not the flesh. But how do you figure that out? That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in today’s message. 

When we consider what the Gospels tell us about Judas and Jesus, I think God is trying to tell us something about life and about people so that we can find a way to heal not if we get hurt, but when. I think Jesus selected Judas to be a disciple to let us know that life does not always deliver perfect circumstances to our door, but we can still be helped by those imperfect circumstances. 

When I think of distractions, I think about speed bumps. We really don’t like them when we encounter them because, quite often, we want to hurry up and get where we want to go. Sometimes, we become frustrated because they’re in our path, but they are there for a purpose. They are there to help us slow down and remind us of where we are in that moment so we can proceed without causing harm to ourselves and problems for others. The speed bump is not there to keep us from reaching our destination. It’s only there to help us manage distractions while en route to where we’re going. And no one handles distractions better than Jesus. He was able to avoid being derailed by temptations and distracted by life’s pressures, and He shows us in Scripture what we can do to stay focused in the midst of so many distractions.

God is preparing a feast, and whether we like it or not, God reserves the right as the host, and convener, and furthermore, as the one who has paid the price to invite whoever He desires to sit down at His table. None of us has a say in who God invites to His table. In fact, when we get to heaven, many of us will be surprised by who we see there. There will be some we thought would make it who won’t be there, and others we didn’t think would who’ll be sitting right there. And that’s because God and God alone can invite whomever He chooses to have access to the Kingdom. John 3:16 reminds us that an eternal life spent with Jesus is available to WHOSOEVER believes in Him. May we never forget that.