Read Acts 2:42-47
“…every soul…” “…all who believed were together…” “…all things in common…” “…divided them among all…” “…continuing daily…” “…all the people…”
Do you get the feeling from these five verses that this was something that was beginning to permeate the entire city, the entire area and each individual was impacted in some shape or form? The language that Luke, the writer of the book of Acts chooses for these particular five verses are verses that encompass an “all for one, one for all,” three musketeers type of feeling. Is this really realistic? Is Luke overstating the weight of the current events that have just happened?
For those of us that are the kind of people who in a crowd can’t be comfortable when we see someone sitting alone or standing alone, for those of us who purposely pick first the person who is always picked last in the game of kickball I think we see these verses as a dream come true, a heaven coming down and reconciling all things to God and to each other, it is the ultimate Love God, Love People kind of phraseology. Every soul, all who believed were together, all things in common, divided among all, continuing daily (every day, no days off), all the people.
Is it possible? There was a three year period in which one Man toured the cities and countryside doing things and saying things that no one had heard of since the days of the ancient Old Testament prophets, but He spoke and acted in ways that went far beyond even the revered and sacred prophets. He was drawing crowds of thousands. He raised people from the dead; He was brought before magistrates and the highest of religious leaders. He overturned tables in the temple and drove supposed righteous men to condemn Him to death. In the middle of the day as Jesus hung on the cross the sacred veil of the temple was torn and darkness fell upon the earth and three days later He was resurrected and over 500 people at once saw Him alive again, men who only spoke one language suddenly could speak foreign languages and communicated God’s story with those languages. In the pre CNN, Hollywood, Internet days these events were a big deal that captured the attention, maybe not the belief or approval of all, but certainly captured the attention of all.
Because of the simple faith of relatively few, suddenly every soul was being spoken to. All who believed began putting differences aside and coming together, those that believed that had need suddenly began receiving grace and gifts flowed to them with no expectation of return, every day they were gathering together in the temple, the most Holy of Places and declaring the gospel message, the fulfillment of thousands of years of faith and all the people were moved by what was going on.
Of all the things that I’ve been part of in my life, I’ve never been part of something like this. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved many of the things I’ve been able to take part in and I’ve loved watching lives impacted by those things, but I’ve never been involved in something that has literally impacted thousands upon thousands in a short time span. I’ve listened to thousands cry out in anguish over what happened on 9/11, so some in town got together and organized an event and only a small handful showed up. I’ve watched thousands mourn over the devastation of Katrina and again some in town organized a whole benefit and again only a small handful showed up and sadly many of the clothes donated had obviously been in the attics and basements of homes for decades (I’m not exaggerating). We ended up having to go through the clothes (throwing many away) that were donated before we drove them down to those affected by the hurricane in order to ensure that those in the Louisiana area knew that we desired to give our very best to them, not our leftovers and our forgotten.
I think for me personally, sometimes to a fault I so passionately desire to be involved in that thing, that event that truly impacts “all” so that the entire city is a buzz of what has just occurred or has been occurring. To a fault because sometimes I believe when it doesn’t happen when it seems like the circumstances would certainly allow it to I then allow it to discourage me and my face, words and actions bleed forth the discouragement and I can’t keep it contained within because it hurts so much. But at the same time, I don’t think to give up hope that it will ever happen is the right thing for me to release from my heart. Maybe there are just a million lessons to learn before it can happen, maybe it is a lack of proper spiritual discernment on my part, maybe it is lack of creativity on my part, or maybe the end is near and a deadening of spiritual response among us is the natural course of action and we are simply followers of Christ who are about to witness the end.
Whenever those feelings begin to arise I must seek God’s love, God’s instruction and yes, God’s discipline in those moments of discouragement and what do I find…
Philippians 2:14 “Do all things without grumbling or questioning,” (ESV)
It is easy to look at that verse and quickly justify myself and scream inside, “I’m not grumbling!” How often do I try to only read just a part of a verse, you know the part that makes me look good, but ignore the other part of the verse! Because I’m not grumbling however…I am questioning. Why is that wrong behavior on my part? Because of who the Lord is and the place He should hold in my life. As He told Moses in Numbers 11: 23 “Then the Lord said to Moses, Is there any limit to my power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!” (NLT) Read the rest, God wasn’t very pleased with the grumbling and questioning…
That hope that all can be impacted will always remain in my heart and should in the heart of every believer when we keep Jesus Christ central in our lives, when He is our focal point. The original believers in the book of Acts knew that for we read in Acts 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
In the breaking of bread, that means that they regularly partook of the breaking of bread together (Read Matthew 26:26-29). It is the remembrance of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Take eat, all of you, this is my body broken for you. Take drink, all of you, this is my blood shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. They kept daily remembering the sacrifice once for all of Jesus. The sacrifice that has the power to restore lives unto God. The sacrifice that has the power to bring thousands upon thousands together. The sacrifice that has the power to give birth to churches that will throughout the ages to come be instruments of the advancement of that sacrifice, that gospel to potentially change the entire scenery and make-up of our cities, towns and neighborhoods.
May we all, each and every day be brought to a place of deep passion and deep devotion to the One that has the potential to use us to impact all and He will one day impact all simultaneously, so that “every knee should bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” Philippians 2:10-11
Questions to Ask Yourself:
1. What dreams for others has God placed in your heart?
2. Are you willing to commit to praying for that dream every day?
3. Before you go to bed today, write, email or call someone that you know has a dream for others and encourage them to continue on steadfastly (No writing, emailing or calling me it has to be someone besides me!)
Pastor e
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2 comments:
Hey New Heights great job yesterday at Washington Square. There may not have been as many guests as expected but that only gave us all more of a chance to sit and talk and laugh and break bread with some wonderful people. I wonder if we would have had the same opportunities to share our stories if the room was packed full of people. Thank you God for putting me in that room yesterday.
An event such as this is not successful unless you have a true team effort. Thank you to all who got involved in the planning, the behind the scenes people, and the people who were in attendance yesterday.
People got involved with no expectation of return. "With no expectation of return." These are certainly words to live by.
Do we take action because we want to get credit or do we take action with no expectation of return?
Do we get involved because we want recognition or do we get involved with no expectation of return?
Are we doing things so that we look good in the eyes of others or are we doing things because it is the right thing to do with no expectation of return?
Do we reach out to others for our own benefit or are we reaching out to help them with no expectation of return?
I pray that I am reaching out for others and not for me. I pray that I do things or take action with no expectation of return.
I continue to find that when I reach out to others with no expectation of return, that I end up receiving so much more than I have given. The people that we spent time with yesterday were so grateful that we visited them. I am so grateful that God gave me the opportunity to serve. Although yesterday was a big undertaking, to me, it felt a lot more like fun than work.
As the radio announcer Paul Harvey is famous for saying "And now the rest of the story."
When I got to the questions and the statement at the end of the Post Sunday devotional I broke into a big smile.
Over the past few years there have been many - what I use to describe as "coincidences" happening in my life. I would do something and the Sunday message would have the same theme. I would learn something at Wednesday Night Adrenaline and later in the week I would be put in a position to go forward with what I learned. I now realize that it wasn't a coincidence but that I was opening my eyes and ears to God and I was having things put in front of me for a reason.
The last statement in the devotional talks about writing someone. This past Friday I wrote such a letter to someone telling them what a blessing they are and what a great impact they have had on not only me but also on the lives of so many. (Although he deserves to be thanked, it was not Pastor E who I wrote to). I feel so blessed that this person is in my life that God put it in my heart to write them last week.
So I have a question to all of you bloggers. I would like you all to reply if possible.
I wrote my letter last Friday. The assignment came out on Monday. Have I completed my assignment or should I write a letter to someone else this week?
Let me know your thoughts. Tune in next week to see what I did. I look forward to your thoughts on this. Have a great week.
God Bless
I emailed a person that has been a huge encouragement in my life and one that I know has given his life over to God and desires greatly to be used of God to see incredible things happen in Haverhill and beyond. I hope many such emails, letters and phone calls were made! Thanks Greg! pastor e
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