{"id":3606,"date":"2011-11-02T11:58:22","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T11:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3606"},"modified":"2011-11-02T11:58:22","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T11:58:22","slug":"and-it-keeps-flowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3606","title":{"rendered":"And it keeps flowing………"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Two weeks ago I was in New England for 8 days, was home one day and then flew to New York, got back late Sunday night and left for Louisville and the Breeder’s Cup Tuesday a.m…… it just keeps flowing! \u00a0Not complaining, love my job and the people I work with or for, just would love to get off the merry-go-round for a few minutes. \u00a0What do you do when you are tired but must keep going?<\/p>\n

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Acts 5:27-32 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0New Living Translation (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

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27<\/sup> Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. 28<\/sup>\u201cDidn\u2019t we tell you never again to teach in this man\u2019s name?\u201d he demanded. \u201cInstead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a029<\/sup> But Peter and the apostles replied, \u201cWe must obey God rather than any human authority. 30<\/sup> The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross. 31<\/sup> Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. 32<\/sup> We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Am I in prison? \u00a0No, working is not prison, and even when you get tired, you’re on a mission. \u00a0A mission that God will give you the strength to complete. \u00a0When \u00a0Peter was ordered by the Judge to stop teaching in Jesus name, he said, “We must obey God rather than men.\u201d \u00a0 What motivated such conviction?<\/p>\n

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God\u2019s Sovereignty. <\/strong>Peter and the other disciples recognized that God had carried out His divine plan of redemption in Jesus\u2019 life, death, and resurrection. Convinced that salvation was found in Christ alone, they had the courage to speak boldly about their faith. They didn\u2019t alter their words, even in front of a powerful authority. Instead, they gave allegiance to God and obeyed Him.<\/p>\n

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Thankfulness. <\/strong>Their obedience was also motivated by gratitude. After betraying the Lord, Peter had wept over his failure (Mark 14:72<\/a>). Think of the disciple\u2019s joy to realize that Christ had forgiven him for his mistakes and restored him to a right relationship with God (Mark 16:7<\/a>; John 21:15-17<\/a>). With his past behind him, Peter became a leader of the Jerusalem church, with a passion to obey fueled by a thankful heart.<\/p>\n

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God is in charge of our lives. He has rescued us from the bondage of sin, forgiven us, and brought us into His family. Grateful obedience should be our response too.<\/p>\n

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Each day we have a choice. We can acknowledge God\u2019s sovereignty and trust Him, or we can turn away and follow our own plan. Cultivating a thankful spirit will motivate us to stay the course and obey the Lord. Like Peter, let\u2019s commit to following our heavenly Father wherever He leads.<\/p>\n

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Today I choose to follow His plan, to love others with His love, to offer His forgiveness, to exhibit His kindness, to leave judgement to Him, to trust in His power, glory, and presence in my life.<\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/p>\n

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* Thanks to Charles Stanley’s In Touch Daily Devotional for this mornings entry.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Two weeks ago I was in New England for 8 days, was home one day and then flew to New York, got back late Sunday night and left for Louisville and the Breeder’s Cup Tuesday a.m…… it just keeps flowing! \u00a0Not complaining, love my job and the people I work with or for, just would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3606"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3611,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3606\/revisions\/3611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}