One of the most powerful phrases in the New Testament is found in Acts chapter 12… “but prayer was made.” James was martyred, killed with the sword, and Peter was thrown in prison, “but prayer was made without ceasing by the church of God for him.”
The result? Freedom for Peter. Imagine how some of the church’s powerlessness might be remedied if we followed every difficulty with “but prayer was made.”
I love being a Pastor. I’m passionate about preaching. I am humbled that God has called me to shepherd a flock of His choosing. And I especially love the fuel that fires me up – the Word of God and what it has to say about whom I am.
One of my favorite passages on the subject is Paul’s gut-wrenching goodbye to the Epehsian elders who met him at the island port city of Miletus. It’s recorded in Acts 20:17-38. I’ve been reading it afresh today and have discovered a pattern of ministry I hadn’t spotted before…
I shared this message in revival last night and wanted to pass it along here…
Acts chapter 2 is a controversial chapter. Christians like to go there to argue about when the Holy Spirit arrived, whether we can duplicate the miracle of speaking in tongues, and whether this was the “baptism” Jesus talked about. But I think God’s focus is on the end of the chapter, in verses 41 and 47, where thousands of souls were being saved and lives changed.
In verse 41, the Day of Pentecost concludes with 3,000 souls being saved and added to the church. Verse 47 tells us that God kept doing this daily, but verse 42 is the bridge that connects the two. It simply says, “and they continued…” That phrase never really hit me before but it did this week. What’s the difference between having one big day (that soon passes) and having a series of big days? Continuing! Going on like the Energizer bunny!
These are the thoughts I’ll be sharing at tonight’s BMAA Missions Symposium at Fellowship Church in Forney. My message will be based on the story of Philip’s encounter with the spiritually lost Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-35.
ONE GREAT TRUTH: We live in a lost culture to which we are called on a search and rescue mission that begins when we approach people within our culture with the life-changing gospel in a language they can understand.
I know this is a strange assertion, but I’ve been studying the book of Acts all morning and the thought hit me that Pentecost plus persecution produced the mightiest change agent in all of history – the local church empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are never commanded to purposely try to duplicate either, but we certainly ought to live in the warmth and glow of that early New Testament flame.
My friend David sent me a link to a Fox News article about an ad campaign launching on Washington D.C. buses that asks “Why Believe in a God? Just Be Good for Goodness’ Sake.” The ads have certainly sparked controversy, but I’m not as bothered as you might think. For me, it would be tragic if someone saw the ads and decided that rationalism excluded the possibility of God, but I actually think the opposite may be true, and it causes me to wonder if the humanist group that sponsored the ads really thought their branding through.
“Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.” -Acts 27:25
Do you believe God? Notice carefully the wording. I didn’t ask, “Do you believe in God?” but “Do you believe God?” It’s one thing to believe He exists, even this is true of the demonic world. In fact most people believe in God for very few people are true atheists. But do you believe God? When He makes a promise, do you take Him at His word?
There will be one sure test of your belief in His promises and that test will be your actions. How do you respond in a given situation? Depending on God’s promises or figuring things out on your own? Paul was being held prisoner, was going to stand before Caesar Himself at trial, was bound on a ship with dozens of other hardened criminals, and was now shipwrecked in the middle of nowhere. Most of us would immediately be figuring out how to escape our circumstances, but not Paul. He realized that he was bound to his circumstances by chains given to him by God. It was not a nice situation, but God had a purpose in it.
If you believe God, faith to act will follow. You may not see the greater purpose, but you’ll know that there is one and you’ll act accordingly. Lord, help us to believe what You say at face value and to base our choices and our actions on Your precious promises.
Have you ever read Acts 15? Many people find themselves skipping the chapter, or at best, lazily dozing their way through it to get to the excitement of chapter 16 where Paul received his great “Macedonian Call.” But I believe that there are thousands of churches in America that need to hear and heed the message of Acts 15.
Every church is a family and every family has a certain personality. You know families that are quiet and peaceful and others who are reactive and loud. There are families that are happy-go-lucky and families that always seem to be on edge and involved in unnecessary drama. The same is true with churches. Every church has a certain atmosphere that is determined by its overall attitude toward ministry and growth.
Let me give you the short version… Paul and Barnabas were doing awesome things for God, winning the lost to Christ, and establishing local churches across the region. Then the Judaizers showed up – a group of people who were telling all of these new converts that they had to be circumcised into Judaism before they could be saved. Note the change in atmospheres in the following passage…
“And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when (Paul and Barnabas) were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them…” (verses 3-4)
Notice, growth is happening. People are being saved, churches are being started. After thousands of years of obstinate resistance, finally the Gentiles are submitting to Jehovah and receiving Jesus as Savior. The Jewish Christians must have been thrilled! They must have been overwhelmed with a sense of triumph as they watched God’s Spirit doing such great miracles in their midst. But then we read…
“But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” (verse 5)
Imagine pulling hot, fresh-baked brownies from the oven, covering them with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, drizzling warm chocolate syrup over the top and adding a touch of whipped cream and then… seasoning it with several tablespoons of garlic salt. Is your mouth watering now?
One of the great frustrations of ministry is when into the mix of Spirit-filled joy over what God is doing, someone misuses their spiritual saltiness like the Pharisees did in this passage. They were the rule-keepers, there to make sure that all of this growth was done according to the book (their own book, by the way – a system of humanly-originated rules designed for the purpose of bottlenecking ministry with extra paperwork).
One of the biggest problems with this dousing of spiritual flames is that it cannot be ignored. Verse six records that “the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.” Then all of chapter fifteen concerns itself with one of the earliest church councils. Imagine, the Spirit-filled leaders of the early church, ready to take on the world, taking a break from their zealous pursuit of the lost to consider a matter brought up by… joysuckers.
Verse three records that all the brethren had great joy over what God was doing. Three verses later, those same brethren had to stop to deal with the complaint. Like poking a helium balloon with a hot needle, the pharisaical believers (they were saved according to Scripture) had managed to deflate the zeal of the fledgling church at a crucial time.
Why do people do this? Why, when things seem to start going well, does someone have to call what is happening into question? I believe there are two key words that must be noticed to understand the phenomenon. One is the word “Pharisees.” Remember their past? They were always rule-keepers before, nitpickers with an agenda for keeping everyone in line. They had been saved, but their old natures kept hanging around. Then the word “Gentiles.” Those Barbarians outside the Judaic covenant people who never seemed to want to live by the rules.
The same thing happens in Baptist churches (and others I’m sure) across the land. God begins to move and all of a sudden all of those new people start to come in. There is a breath of fresh air, a new kind of leadership, a fresh sense of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The only problem is, when new people come in things… change! Ah, there it is. That pesky word nobody is fully comfortable with. Change.
When we speak of “change” in church we begin to envision a Christian heavy metal band, doctrinal corruption, speaking in tongues, and a plethora of other fears. We react with radical and irrational fear to change. Why? Because change is something that cannot be regulated or controlled. And nobody likes to lose control.
My wife and I have watched with glee as our tiny little baby has grown into a four-year-old. We wanted her to talk, now we’d like a little peace and quiet now and then. She’s growing. Do you know what the definition of growth is? It’s change. If our eight-pound infant had never changed, she would never have grown. You know what else comes with this change and growth? A loss of control on our part. Someday, she will be full-grown and we’ll have to let go. She’ll enter the world on her own and we’ll have little or no control over what she does with her life. We might have influence, but not control.
How do you react when change comes, when growth occurs, when God seems to be doing something to which you are not accustomed? Do you rejoice like the brethren in Jerusalem? Or do you get out the rule-book to make sure things have been done correctly? Families don’t sit down and examine Robert’s Rules of Order every time they make a decision. They make it together in faith. They are a dynamic unit. And so is a church.
Let’s get on board with what God is doing. We’ll be discerning of what is biblical and what is not, but we’ll not put a fresh movement of God under a microscope to be so intensely evaluated that we cannot enjoy the process. May God give us hearts of joy to watch Him at work!
“Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” -Acts 9:31
Most Christians are aware that Saul of Tarsus was the persecutor of the church who was converted to Christ and became one of the first and primary missionaries to the Gentile world. But I think we sometimes underestimate the impact Saul actually had. According to Acts 9:31, when Saul became a Christian and stopped persecuting the church, “then the churches had rest.”
We’re all going to leave an impact on the world of some kind. Having influence is universal, but the kind of influence we have is what is important. Saul left carnage in his wake, but Paul left the gospel in every city where he walked. Saul persecuted the church at large, but Paul established churches in Jesus’ name. As a matter of fact, the churches (notice the plural usage) multiplied.
You may not be a persecutor of the church, but you may not be helping the cause either. All of your life will be spent influencing others either for or against Christ, whether you realize it or not. We cannot shirk this responsibility, it is simply a given. What influence has your life made so far? Does there need to be a change in you so that there will be a change in the impact you leave behind?
Most men love “action” movies. I remember my Dad sitting in the recliner watching old Westerns (i.e. – primitive action movies) and counting the bullets coming out of the guns. He shouted with glee when he caught seven bullets coming out of the six-shooter. There’s something about action that thrills us.
Brandon is first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ. He's a husband to Angie and a Dad to Ella Grace and Samuel David. He's a Pastor to Bethel Baptist Church, Editor of Fuel Your Blogging and also a logo and web designer.
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