Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

The call to send missionaries came during a small gathering of church leaders. Five men, all of whom functioned as prophets and teachers, had set aside time to fast and worship. It appears the purpose for the meeting was to listen to the Lord. It also appears, from the casual way Luke describes it, that this sort of gathering was a normal part of life. He names the men: “Now among the church in An...

Every human being needs encouragement. Many of us are our own worst critic, so a sincere compliment or word of thanks can be like a “cup of cold water” to someone who’s thirsty. Of course, there are people who are proud, but in most cases, I think, much of that is bluff, or if nothing else the passing of time tends to humble even the best of us. Discouragement, self-hatred and shame become the ene...

Bad things happen over which we have no control, but we do have control over how we react to those events. We can plummet into despair or turn our hearts to prayer…real, passionate, focused prayer. There’s a disarming realism in this passage. Luke allows us to watch our forefathers and mothers face a tragic, confusing situation. Yet, in spite of their pain, they gathered to pray. They didn’t pull...

Honoring people who deserve honor is easy. Most of us know people we deeply respect, and showing honor to them flows effortlessly from our hearts. The real challenge comes when we’re asked to honor flawed people, people who don’t live up to our expectations, people who’ve failed to do what they should have done. We ask ourselves, “How can I respect someone who hasn’t earned my respect? How can I l...

This passage describes the missionary challenge in most of the world today: too many converts, too few pastors and teachers. The good news is people are coming to Christ in record numbers, but the bad news is there aren’t nearly enough trained people to take care of them. It’s as though someone went out into a wheat field and cut the ripe wheat, but then left it lying on the ground to spoil. Wheat...

Peter is under attack. He’s having to defend himself. A sizeable and vocal group within the early church were deeply convinced that faith in Jesus in no way changed their requirement to observe the Law of Moses. They believed the statutes and ordinances in the Torah were meant to be eternal commands and therefore must be kept by anyone who wishes to be saved (Ac 15:1). And they were furious with P...

While praying on a rooftop in Joppa Peter received an amazing vision. God spoke to him three times in that vision, but afterward he had no idea what He’d been trying to tell him. It had remained a puzzling mystery until the moment he stepped into the home of a Roman soldier. As he stood there looking at their faces and feeling God’s presence in the room, he instantly understood. In fact he finally...

Since its founding, the United States has been a predominantly Christian culture. Not that everybody was a good Christian, they weren’t, but by and large people did believe that Jesus is the Savior and the Bible is God’s Word. Obeying His Word was another matter. There was a consensus. We generally agreed on what we should or should not be doing. When opinions are polled today it seems there is st...

I recently met with a pastor and his wife and when the conversation finally moved to the topic on their heart the question they wanted to ask was this: How do you know who you can trust? They had gone through some painful experiences of betrayal, and admitted they had now emotionally withdrawn to protect themselves. They hadn’t seen it coming so they didn’t know what to do differently the next tim...

There are mysteries that lie hidden for centuries and then God, in His perfect timing, chooses to reveal a deeper level of that truth. Until that revelation is given we must believe as much as He has shown us, and then humbly acknowledge there is still much we don’t know. Those who try to solve these mysteries before God reveals them always get it wrong, and end up leading others astray. The human...

Here we go again! We just read how an angel told Philip to walk down a particular road and then the Holy Spirit pointed out an Ethiopian official he was to lead to Christ. Now we hear the Lord speak to a disciple named Ananias and tell him to go to a certain address and lay hands on Saul of Tarsus. Both situations are “divine appointments.” In both, Jesus sends His disciple after someone He has ta...

Three days after wanting to kill the disciples of Jesus Christ, Paul is a completely different man. Sure, he has a lot to learn, and almost nobody trusts him yet. When he tries to meet with other believers they suspect he’s just pretending so he can gather names and come back later with the police. But he is different. Totally different. And for the next three decades he will live a life that is c...

Not every human heart is ready to receive Jesus Christ. Different people are at different places in their spiritual journey. Some aren’t willing to hear the gospel, but others are and God knows where that person is every moment of the day. You and I can’t tell what’s going on inside another person’s heart, especially by merely looking at their outward appearance. But God knows the secret thoughts...

How many times have you been confronted with someone who was ill or troubled and thought to yourself, “We need to find somebody to pray for this person!” The individual in front of you needed a touch of God’s power and you wondered who you knew who could pray with real authority…you know, someone who actually has power and believes in miracles. Those kind of people! And there are such people, aren...

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He is kind and compassionate. When He began His ministry He introduced Himself this way:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18, 19; Isa 61...

People need a God who actually does something. We live in a world filled with varieties of invented gods and philosophies. They only exist because of someone’s imagination. They make great claims but provide no proof they exist. We’re told to trust them, and after we die it will all become real. How many different theories about life and death have you heard? Undoubtedly, the answer is, so many (a...

What had been an amazingly joyful season for the church in Jerusalem is suddenly thrown into turmoil. Stephen is publicly stoned and the temple authorities feel they now have enough popular support to send soldiers into the city to hunt down believers from house to house, to put them in prison and then to beat and execute them (Ac 22:4, 5, 19, 20; 26:9-11). The effect of this violence was to scatt...

Luke wrote the history of the early church but he wasn’t personally present at these events until chapter 16 (Ac 16:10). To gather all this information he had to interview eyewitnesses, ask them pointed questions to draw out their memories, and then carefully write down what they told him. Someone had to tell him about the martyrdom of Stephen; someone who was there and heard and saw what happened...

How many of us are facing a problem that’s still there because we didn’t address it? It’s not a new problem, it’s an old problem that didn’t go away. Most of us tend to avoid confronting issues hoping matters will resolve themselves with the passing of time, but if we’re honest with ourselves we’d have to admit that seldom happens. Things that are broken don’t fix themselves, projects don’t move f...

It wasn’t just what he said, it was who said it. Very few of the dignitaries in that room could have stopped that lynch-mob. It took a special voice, at the right time, and a lot of courage to stand and rebuke the elders of Israel. God elevates His people to positions of leadership so He can speak through us at critical moments. There are times when even one voice speaking clearly, forcefully, res...

What an amazing level of power we are seeing at work here. Luke does say that it was “at the hands of the apostles” that these miracles were done, which seems to mean that most believers weren’t yet functioning at this high level. Even among the apostles, Peter seems to be exceptional (v15). If we remember that he was the disciple who had the courage to try and fail and give wrong answers, we shou...

What we’re seeing in this remarkable event is God disciplining His church. He’s revealing His standard of holiness and showing us the danger of hypocrisy. What may seem to us to be a small, insignificant sin, a lie told about an amount of money being given as a gift, we discover was viewed by God as an alarming spiritual danger which had to be removed immediately. Clearly, in His mind, there was n...

How many people would become Christians today if being baptized meant the government would seize their bank account, their spouse would be free to divorce them and take all the assets, if they were a student they would be removed from school, if employed they might be fired with no legal rights to protect them, their parents might not speak to them again, declaring them “dead,” and the community i...

Sometimes human leaders tell us to do things God has told us not to do, or they tell us to stop doing things God has told us we must do. And then they force us to choose whether we will obey them or God. By nature, Christians prefer to be peaceful and obey civil and religious authorities, and the Bible tells us that under normal circumstances that’s the way we should live (Ro 13:1-7). But there ma...

Jesus warned us that following Him would get us in trouble, and He didn’t promise that He would always get us out. But He did promise He would be with us in that moment, and would speak through us. He said when we stand before our accusers He would empower us and make us witnesses for Him. And this is exactly what we see happening here with Peter and John. Basically, they’re in trouble, standing i...