Our pastor is currently sharing with us a sermon series entitled, “Uncomfortable: Being the Church is Difficult”. As always, his sermons are so timely with where we are personally, as a church, as a community and as a country.
Every sermon in this series has been great, but the one a week ago on September 30th, really spoke to me. He talked about the believers in Acts when the Holy Spirit came upon them. He shared how Peter then spoke to all who came to see what was going on and he told them that they needed to repent. He said, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away – all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day – about 3,000 in all (Acts 2:38-41).
Wouldn’t it be awesome if this happened today? Can you imagine if 3,000 were added to our church in one day? Many churches are doing good to add a handful of people in a year…let alone 3,000 in one day!
The question then becomes…why aren’t we seeing “scenes” like this today? What was going on then with Jesus’ followers that isn’t going on today? Could it be that we are just not willing to be that committed? Do we wish it would happen, but yet show with our actions that it just isn’t a priority?
Our pastor then reminded us that if we expect to experience God’s power, as they did in Acts, we have to be committed to sustained prayer. We can’t just throw up a prayer when we finally find a spare minute and expect to experience the Holy Spirit to work within us and through us. It made me think of the times when I have done just that. Those times when I’ve tried to do things on my own, not allowing Him to be in control, and then throw up a prayer when I get things all messed up asking Him to fix it. I’m doubtful that acting this way will allow me to see the Holy Spirit work in a powerful way in my life.
Pastor Gary then closed with these questions: “What if we lived in such a way that we were constantly and desperately crying out for Divine intervention? What if we got serious and prayed, ‘God, we can’t do this on our own. We need You. We need the filling of your Spirit.’” I haven’t been able to get those questions out of my mind and I decided that morning that I would be committed to praying this way. Since then, I have been constantly and desperately crying out for God’s Divine intervention in many situations in our government, our church and in my own family. I want to see Him work in a mighty way in and through my life so that others will see Him through me. I want to see thousands added to His Kingdom. I want to see miracles happen on a daily basis. I want to be so filled with His Spirit that I am overflowing with His strength, wisdom and power.
How about you? Are you satisfied with the status quo, only praying and seeking Him when you need Him to do something for you? If not, I urge you to begin to constantly and desperately cry out for God’s Divine intervention. I believe you and I will see His Spirit work in a mighty way, like we have never seen before. There are thousands and thousands of people that need to accept His amazing grace and they need to see Him in us. I’m expecting great things as we realize that we can’t do it on our own and we rely on Him to work in us and through us in the days ahead!
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