When the Spirit moves, we go!
At least that is what the Book of the Acts of the Apostles seems to make clear. By the way, that is the full name of the book.
This book of the bible is not the story of the apostles hanging out, eating good food, making good worship music, and caring about just themselves!
Rather the story is all about the acts, the deeds, the ministries, the transformational power applied, as the church goes about fulfilling the Great Commission, preaching in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world; while also fulfill the Great Commandment to Love God and neighbors.
It’s a chronological account of what happened when the Apostles left the upper room and did what they were supposed to do.
Folks, we need to listen carefully to this, because that commission and that commandment are for us too!
What matters in God’s kingdom is not what we do in here, in this lovely church building!
Don’t get me wrong, God loves our worship and our fellowship!
But what God rejoices in, is jubilant about, is what we do out there beyond the walls of the church, when we love our neighbors in the same way Jesus did.
Healing them, introducing them to Jesus, using our resources to build the community, and then doing it all over again and again!
Now centuries ago, when I took my preaching classes in seminary, they told us the best approach to sharing God’s word with folks is to make one point and make it clear and concise. And that has been my practice for all these years.
But that last week I made four points and I need to do it again, well, just three, because I want you to see this story from Acts 3 as an amazing example of what happens when God’s people go!
It’s all about when Peter and John one day went to the Temple.
This day, they not only worshipped there, but they also brought the transformational power of Jesus Christ to a man in need of a Savior and did it by loving healing him!
How did that happen?
Well a man born lame was laid by the Temple gates each day so he could beg to support himself. Understand, this was a normal and acceptable thing to do when you had no possible way of supporting yourself.
The people passing by who offer him alms, and he would take them to provide for his own food and shelter.
But when Peter and John saw him, they knew there was something else that needed to be done. So they decided to go and make a difference, one two, three!
First, they were unafraid!
What an amazing transformation for Peter, from the one who denied Jesus, to the one who goes boldly to the Temple with John and then shakes up everything by bringing the healing presence of Jesus to a man in need!
Yes, this is the Peter that preached on Pentecost. Yes, this is the Peter who was told by Jesus to “feed his sheep!” Yes, this is the Peter who so many of us identify with because he is such a bundle of contradictions.
But here, he is bold, and God honors boldness in caring for others!
Second, even though they had given all their money to the church community to enable it to do amazing things back in that upper room, they were unafraid to offer what they did have to the man in need: the power and presence of the Holy Spirit!
So often, we feel like we have nothing to offer when the needs are so big!
But that’s not the truth!
The truth is that we travel with God’s presence and so, even if we can’t, God can.
We just need to do what we can at the moment!
Simply offering to pray for another person can be the very bit of hope they need to get through another day. Don’t minimize what you bring to the table! Ever!
Third, they transformed the life of this man born lame.
Now he can walk! Now he can run! Now, he can jump for joy!
And most importantly, now he has met Jesus and the community of faith and can tell everyone about it!
The community of faith is to go!
Not hide in the church buildings, not be so focused on our own little world over here that we fail to see and then to go where the places of need are!
We have to be out and about bringing God’s presence in whatever way we can, with food, with a prayer blanket, with a moment to talk, a pat on the back, a word of praise, or of comfort, or of encouragement!
Our presence matters! Our presence matters!
Write it down: our presence matters! God is using us to reach this world, and so we have to be prepared to go!
And here is the biggest thing of all!
It turns out that if healing is not happening in our community because the church and its people are not in the community… then the testimony of the church about the power of Jesus is without evidence!
Did you hear that?
It turns out that if healing is not happening in our community because the church and its people are not in the community… then the testimony of the church about the power of Jesus is without evidence!
It is only when we bring transformational power to the people of this world that they begin to listen to the testimony about God’s love and the wonder of Jesus grace and the power of the Holy Spirit!
So, we need to be just like those followers of Jesus, Peter and John and all the rest!
We need to go, and we need to bring the healing power of Jesus to this world.
Amen!
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