Tag: hope

Episode NT45 – Peter, Aeneas & Tabitha

Story 45 – Peter, Aeneas & Tabitha

Based on Acts chapter 9 verses 32 – 43

So the church had a period of peace and growth throughout the region. And as it grew, Peter left Jerusalem and started an itinerant ministry, going from place to place encouraging the believers and telling those who hadn’t heard – about Jesus.

And, as he moved around, he eventually came to a place called Lydda, at the intersection of a couple of extremely important trade routes, up to the north west of Israel. His purpose for coming was to encourage and build up the believers there. However, while he was in Lydda, he came across a man named Aeneas who was paralysed – and had been for at least 8 years.

Maybe Peter was reminded of another paralysed man confined to his mattress? It had been during the time when Jesus was with them and He’d been teaching in a house jam-packed to overflowing. The friends of the paralysed man had been so insistent that he reached Jesus that they’d literally taken part of the roof off in order to lower their friend down in front of Jesus so that Jesus could heal him. It hadn’t gone quite as they’d expected because, instead of instantly curing their friend as they’d hoped, they’d watched as Jesus had not offered healing – but forgiveness – because Jesus had seen past the paralysis to the real deep-felt need of the man.

Then, to prove to the doubting Jewish leaders present that He had the authority to forgive sins, Jesus had gone on to heal the man – much to the delight of his friends – and told him to pick up his mat and go home! An instant healing, undeniable and truly miraculous.

Now here was poor Aeneas who, like that other man, was confined to his mattress. He’d been like if for 8 years with no hope whatsoever of freedom or change. No doubt filled with compassion for Aeneas, Peter looked at him and spoke to him directly, in very much the same way Jesus had spoken directly to that other paralytic once the issue of sin had been sorted. But Peter didn’t rely on his own power or for a moment think he could change Aeneas’ condition. Instead, Peter pointed to the real source of power by saying, ‘Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you.’

Quite what Aeneas felt I don’t know, but Peter wasn’t happy to leave it at that. Jesus hadn’t healed the paralytic lowered through the roof and then left him on his mat! Instead, Jesus had commanded the man to respond to the healing – an undeniable proof of the miracle that had taken place as well as being undeniable proof of Jesus’ ability and willingness to forgive sin! So, in the same way, Peter spoke again to Aeneas, ‘Now get up, and make your own bed’ – a task sounding so simple, but which had been impossible for him for 8 years. And, like the paralytic that Jesus had healed, who’d got up, picked up his mat and walked home, Aeneas also got up – no doubt both overwhelmed and overjoyed by what had happened to him.

When Jesus had healed that paralytic, it had been obvious to all, and the reaction of those present at that time had been to glorify God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this before.’ And, in a similar way, the story of what had happened to Aeneas spread like wildfire throughout the whole of Lydda and the plain of Sharon. People saw the once paralysed man walking about and living his life by the power of Jesus working through Peter. They met him, spoke to him and no doubt the story was told over and over again about how wonderful and merciful the Lord had been to him. And, as people heard, the Holy Spirit moved in an incredibly powerful and deep way, as everyone responded by turning away from their old way of life and towards Jesus, believing in Him and accepting Him as their Saviour. (PAUSE)

Now, during the time Peter was in Lydda, an incident happened in Joppa which was about 11 miles away up to the north east, on the coast. The believers in Joppa must have heard about Peter’s visit to Lydda and the news of what’d happened to Aeneas. So, when the incident happened, the believers in Joppa didn’t hesitate to call for Peter, knowing that his proximity to them was no coincidence.

What had happened was that a dearly loved member of their church had died. Her name was Tabitha and she was the kind of person whose love for Jesus simply shone through in the love she had for the destitute widows and the poor and needy people in the church at Joppa. That love caused her to work hard to meet their needs as she was best able which, in her case, involved making and providing essential clothing such as undergarments and cloaks that the needy and vulnerable simply couldn’t afford. Although I don’t know for certain, I suspect that Tabitha’s death had caught the church by surprise, that maybe she wasn’t of an age when they would’ve expected her to die. Whatever the cause, when she died, the believers at Joppa realised that Peter was nearby and so they washed and prepared Tabitha’s body for burial but, instead of burying her, they placed her on a bed in an upper room and sent a couple of men to hurriedly get Peter and return without delay.

These people realised that God had moved in such a way that Peter was close enough to get to them quickly and that God had used Peter to do many miracles – not least the latest one everyone was talking about when he’d healed Aeneas, the paralytic. And so, they trusted God that, if He wanted, He could work again through Peter in this sad situation.

No doubt Peter was a busy man. Many, many people had turned to Jesus in Lydda and Sharon but, instead of thinking he had to stay there, Peter trusted God and the church in Lydda and Sharon to help these new believers, and made himself available to respond to this urgent invitation to go to Joppa. So, he got up and went with the men as quickly as he could.

When Peter arrived, he was hurriedly shown to the upper room where Tabitha’s body was laid out and where a crowd of widows wept and showed Peter all the garments Tabitha had made for them. Clearly Tabitha was a dearly loved and sorely missed woman.

I wonder if this situation reminded Peter of another incident that had happened when he’d been with Jesus? Another time when there had been a house full of weeping people and, not a woman, but a little girl of 12, lying dead on her bed? At that time, Jesus had put everyone else out of the house except for Peter, James and John and the girl’s parents. In a similar way, Peter ushered out the weeping widows until he was alone with the dead body of Tabitha laid out on the bed.

Peter knew he needed Jesus’ help to deal with this situation. With the little girl, Jesus had simply said, ‘Talitha koum’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you – get up!’. But Peter wasn’t Jesus and so he did what had become so natural and easy for him to do, he knelt down at the bedside and prayed to the Lord he loved and trusted. Then, turning to the body on the bed, Peter said, ‘Tabitha koum’. Almost the same words Jesus had spoken to the little girl except for one letter difference.

The little girl had got up at once and begun to walk around, and Jesus had instructed her parents to give her something to eat. But Tabitha simply opened her eyes as if from a long sleep. Then, seeing Peter there beside her, she sat up and Peter held out his hand to help her get up.

Well, as you can imagine, there was a great deal of rejoicing when Peter presented Tabitha alive again to the believers and widows. And, of course, the news of what had happened spread like wildfire around all Joppa and many people believed in the Lord Jesus because of what had happened. (PAUSE)

And after that? Well, even though Peter was an apostle, God was still very much at work in his life. He’d been brought up as a strict Jew and that meant he’d been taught what the Jews considered to be right and wrong. However, Jesus had started the process of showing Peter that what he’d been brought up to believe – wasn’t quite as straightforward as he’d thought. For example, when Philip had told Samaritans (whom Jews hated and avoided at all costs) about Jesus, many Samaritans believed. Then, Peter himself, along with John, had visited these Samaritan believers to see what was happening, and the Lord had allowed those people to receive the Holy Spirit in the same way the Jewish believers in Jerusalem had done. This was unthinkable for a Jew – that anyone outside of the Jewish faith could be added to the church. But Peter could not deny what Jesus was doing and so the new church now consisted of BOTH Jews and Samaritans.

And, maybe because of this, because Peter realised that Jesus was breaking down barriers and challenging his prejudices, he was able to do something that just a few years ago would have seemed unthinkable.

A tanner had become a believer in Joppa and had invited Peter to say at his house. Now, tanners ‘tan’ animal skins to create leather. Therefore, they have to deal with dead animals which, according to the Jews, made them unclean. A Jewish synagogue at that time would not have allowed a tanner to join them and, if you had dealings with a tanner, you would be considered to be unclean. But, obviously, Peter saw that this tanner, also named Simon, was a real believer because, rather than rejecting him and his offer, Peter stayed at his house for a long time as the Lord continued His work in Joppa and beyond.

Episode NT1 – The Silent Priest

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Luke chapter 1 verses 5 – 25

The Silent Priest  

For four hundred years the Lord had been silent. No prophets had been born in Israel and even though many things had happened, the Lord hadn’t sent anyone to tell the people what He thought – all they had was what we call the Old Testament – with all God’s law and the wonderful stories of what the Lord had done many years before. 

But the Old Testament had left the people wanting more. God had promised Israel a Saviour, a Messiah, who would one day come as a descendent of the great king David, and rule forever and ever. And to make matters worse, the Israelites no longer ruled themselves! Some time ago the Romans had invaded their land and taken it over, so the people now lived under Roman control and longed for the coming of the Saviour – the Messiah – who they thought would save them from the nasty Romans! 

But they didn’t understand! God HAD promised to send the Messiah, the mighty Saviour, but God wasn’t thinking about the problem of the Romans! What did it matter who ruled over the people – if the people could never be set free from the guilt of all the bad things they’d done? If the people couldn’t be forgiven, then they could never be friends with God! This was the problem God had in mind when He talked about a Messiah, to deal with the real problem of sin and death once and for all – but it was going to take a long time for the people to realise that they’d got it all wrong! (PAUSE) 

There was a man and wife who lived in Israel at that time. The man’s name was Zechariah and he was a priest who served God in the temple for 2 weeks every year. His wife’s name was Elizabeth – she was also a member of the priestly tribe called the Levites. 

Zechariah and Elizabeth loved the Lord God and were good as far as God was concerned, always being careful to do all the things the Lord had commanded. But like many people at that time, Zechariah and Elizabeth were longing for the time when God would send the Messiah, the Saviour – to save the people, and they would often pray to the Lord that He would arrive soon. 

But even though Zechariah and Elizabeth loved the Lord and tried to please Him in every way, the Lord had left them without any children. (P) To be childless was seen as a terrible disgrace, because people often thought that when a woman couldn’t have children – it was a sign that God wasn’t happy with her! And now Zechariah and Elizabeth were very old, well beyond the time when they could normally have children. (P) 

During the 2 weeks of service at the temple in Jerusalem which Zechariah and his priestly order, the order of Abijah, did every year, the time came to chose someone to go into the temple sanctuary and burn incense at the incense alter! There were many priests in the order of Abijah, and the way of choosing someone to go in was by casting lots! Casting lots is kind-a like throwing dice – the one who gets the highest number is the one who’s chosen to go in. (P) This job, of burning incense, was a very important job that if you were lucky enough to be chosen, you could only do once in your lifetime, and many priests never got the chance to do it at all! In all the years Zechariah had been serving at the temple, he’d never been chosen, and now he was very old. 

But this was to be Zechariah’s year! For as the lots were cast, Zechariah was chosen – and carefully he made his way into the temple sanctuary to burn the incense at the incense alter, while a great crowd waited outside, praying! 

As Zechariah stood in front of the incense alter, suddenly an angel from the Lord appeared standing at the right side of the alter. Zechariah was terrified, but the angel said, ‘don’t be afraid Zechariah. For God has heard your prayer …’ Which prayer did the angel mean? His prayer for the Messiah to come soon? Or, his prayer for a son? The angel continued, ‘your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son! You are to name him John. You will be overjoyed and many will rejoice with you when he is born for he will be great in the Lord’s eyes. Now your son must not touch wine or strong drink for he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. He will persuade many Israelites to turn to the Lord their God, and he will be a man with the spirit and power of the mighty prophet Elijah from many years ago. (P) And, he will come before the Lord, preparing the people for His arrival.’ 

All this was too much for the old man! Could he really believe all he was hearing and seeing? Had the angel really promised to answer both his prayers at once? That Elizabeth and he would have a child, but even more importantly, this child was a sign, a messenger sent to prepare for the arrival of the long awaited Messiah? 

Zechariah shook his head, it was all too much to take in – surly this couldn’t all be real. ‘How can all this happen?’ He said, ‘I’m an old man and my wife’s an old woman?’ 

That’s when things started to go wrong for Zechariah. While the crowd outside started to wonder what was taking Zechariah so long, the angel responded to Zechariah’s un-belief. 

‘I am Gabriel!’ He said, ‘I stand in the presence of God Himself. It was Him who sent me to you to bring you this wonderful news. But now, since you won’t believe what I have told you, you will be unable to speak a word until the child is born! For my words will come true at the proper time.’ 

Meanwhile, the crowd outside were beginning to get a little anxious, why was Zechariah taking such a long time to do this simple job? Then, as Zechariah appeared they breathed a huge sigh of relief – only to become worried again as the old man made gesturing motions, unable to speak! It was then that they realised he’d seen a vision. (PAUSE) 

For the remainder of his 2-week of service, Zechariah stayed at the temple performing his duties as best he could, – bearing in mind that he couldn’t speak since his conversation with the angel Gabriel. (P) Then, after the 2 weeks were up he went home, and not too long after – his wife Elizabeth became pregnant! (P) For the next five months Elizabeth lived in seclusion, out of sight of prying eyes, while at the same time she rejoiced, saying, ‘The Lord’s so kind, He’s taken away my disgrace at not having any children.’

Episode 2 – The fall – How it all went wrong

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – Old Testament

Based on Genesis chapter 3

How it all went wrong

God had finished His work of creation, He’d made the grass and trees, the birds and animals and the insects and fish. But most important of all, he’d made people, the first man Adam, and the first woman Eve.

Adam & Eve’s job was to look after the world that God had made. It was all so good and perfect, every day God Himself would come and walk and talk with Adam and Eve in a garden that He’d planted for them – the Garden of Eden. And when they heard Him in the garden they’d run to be with Him. And they loved to be with God and talk with Him about all that they were doing. Everything was perfect, everything was just how it was supposed to be (P) but it wasn’t going to last.

In the Garden of Eden, God had planted a tree, called ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’. And He told Adam and Eve that if they ate the fruit from that tree they would – die!

It seemed strange to them, the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ was fine to look at and its fruit was as good as any other, and yet they were forbidden to even try it?

And anyway, what was – death? Adam and his wife couldn’t really understand properly – because there was no death in the world. They just knew it wasn’t what God wanted and so – they left it alone. Anyway, there were plenty of other trees in the garden, apples and pears, bananas and oranges to name just a few – so it wasn’t hard to leave the tree alone. If God had said not to touch it, He must have a good reason (P) they may not understand but they knew they could trust God. (PAUSE)

God had put that tree in the garden because He wanted to know if the man and the woman really loved Him. (P) If they obeyed Him by not eating the forbidden fruit then He would know that they did love Him. But, if they disobeyed Him and ate the fruit, then He’d know that He wasn’t as important to them as He should be.

It was all so simple. Leave the fruit alone and all would be well. (P) But temptation often comes when you know something’s wrong!

Now, into the Garden of Eden, where the man and the women were living and working, there came an enemy of God. And disguising himself as a snake, he hid by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, whose fruit Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. The enemy of God hated God and wanted to destroy all the good works God had done. He wanted to spoil God’s perfect creation, and had planned just how to do it! (PAUSE)

God knew what the enemy wanted to do, but He didn’t stop him being near the tree. He didn’t even stop the enemy from talking to the man and woman, because He wanted the man and woman to love Him by choosing to obey His simple command and not eat the fruit – no matter what anybody said to them! (P) All heaven waited to see what the man and woman would do. (PAUSE)

One day, as they worked in the garden, Adam and Eve came near to the place where the enemy, disguised as a snake, was waiting. As the woman was nearest to it, the snake started talking to her.

‘Hello,’ he said.

‘Hello,’ she replied.

‘This is a very beautiful garden you live in,’ continued the snake.

‘Thank you,’ replied the woman, ‘God planted it for us and asked us to look after it.’

 Then the crafty snake asked a question that started to twist what God had said. ‘Tell me, did God really say that you aren’t allowed to eat any of the fruit in the garden?’

‘Of course we can eat it,’ replied the woman. Then she pointed to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ‘It’s only the fruit from that tree that we aren’t allowed to eat. God said that we shouldn’t eat it, or even touch it, or else we will – die!’

‘You won’t die,’ lied the snake. ‘God said you weren’t allowed to eat that fruit because He knows that when you do you’ll be able to understand everything and become as wise and as powerful as He is.’

‘Ooh’, said the woman. And as she looked up at the glistening fruit hanging temptingly on the tree, she saw how ripe it looked and thought how good it must be to eat. And as she stared at it, a longing came up inside her, and she could see herself, wise like God, powerful and majestic. Almost without noticing she was touching the fruit – and then she decided. She wanted to be like God. She wanted wisdom and power. And she was going to have it. The fruit pulled easily from the branch, she lifted it to her mouth and deliberately bit deeply into the ripe flesh. And then, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, a cold triumphant look on her face, she walked over to where her husband, Adam, had been watching.

Why hadn’t he stopped her? Why hadn’t he just taken her by the hand and led her away, or reminded her once again of what God had told them?

But now it was too late for the woman, there she stood before him, with an expression on her face that he’d never seen before. In her hand she held the fruit, and her lips were stained from the juices. Adam watched wide-eyed as she raised her hand to him, offering him the remainder of the stolen fruit.

If only he’d said no! If only he’d been stronger. If only he’d remembered what God had said and – and – just run away. But like a fool, he took the ripe fruit and without hesitation bit deeply into it, dreaming of how he too might become wise and powerful, majestic and mighty like God Himself. (P)

At that very moment their minds and their hearts were changed. Up until then everything had been simple, but now, things were somehow different. The enemy disguised as a snake was laughing at them. How easy it had been to trick them, and now they would no longer be God’s friends, but his slaves!

And now, everything seemed complicated! They were naked! Why hadn’t that bothered them before? How could they possibly face God naked! How embarrassing! In a hurry they found some leaves and tried to make something to cover themselves up with, but before they’d managed to make it work properly, and to their horror, they heard God walking in the garden. What were they going to do? How could they face God now?

In their fear and confusion Adam and Eve hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden, unwilling to go near the one they’d always previously longed to be with. Instead of running to greet Him at the sound of His voice, they ran away in their shame – and hid! Oh how things had changed! (PAUSE)

So God called out to the man and woman, ‘Where are you?’

The man called back, ‘I heard you in the garden, and … and … well … I’m naked! I can’t come to you like this, it’s so embarrassing and you might be angry with me!’

‘Who told you that you were naked?’ asked God. ‘Have you eaten the fruit from the tree I told you not to eat from?’

‘Yes,’ admitted the man as they slowly came out from their hiding places. ‘But it wasn’t really my fault,’ he lied. ‘It was her fault,’ He pointed at the woman. ‘She gave it to me.’

God looked at the woman. ‘How could you do such a thing after I told you not to?’

‘It’s not really my fault,’ she lied. ‘The snake tricked me into eating it.’ (PAUSE)

Adam and Eve regretted that day for the rest of their lives, wishing that they’d listened to God and never disobeyed Him. But it was too late now, death had come into the world and it couldn’t be undone by anyone!

So what was the point in continuing? Why didn’t God end it all then? His own creation had chosen to reject Him. (P) But even before He’d made the world, He’d known that Adam and Eve would disobey Him. But He still loved them – that’s why He called out to them instead of destroying them. And, He was already working on His own plan, a plan made before the world had begun, that one day He would destroy the power of the enemy – death itself – so we could not only be His friends again, but His children.

The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus

When someone goes out of their way to find out more about Jesus it is a sign that God is at work in their life as the Bible tells us the no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them to Him … So, when Jesus saw a despised member of Jericho going out of his way to see Jesus, somehow Jesus knew His Father was at work and joined Him in what He was doing in Zacchaeus’ life.

Written and told by Andrew Devis