Element Church Insider

Hey Element Church!  This is Day 2 of our one prayer together.  If you haven’t got your calendar yet to follow along you can download it here (pdf) or here (doc).  Our prayer today is “Lord make us generous!”  Also today I’m challenging us to fast.  Whether it’s the whole day, one meal or a specific thing.  Please pray for the churches listed on the calendar as well.  That God would bless, provide, empower and sustain them.  Pray for souls to be saved through all these churches.  Here are my thoughts from Acts chapter 2.  You can read it here.

2:1 — One the day of Pentecost.  Pentecost means 50 and it falls on the 50th day after passover.  Moses received the laws written on tablets 50 days after the exodus from Egypt (passover).  Here we will see the law written on the hearts of men 50 days after passover (crucifixion and resurrection).  Love the parrellels in Scripture.  Nothing is done by accident.

All the believers were in one place.  That either means it was a REALLY large place or there weren’t that many believers.  I lean to the latter.  In chapter one we saw that 120 believers were together in one place.  This could be the same 120 now.  Whatever the case, something amazing is about to happen.

Acts 2:2-13 — Here we see the Holy Spirit fall on the disciples and those who believed were “filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 4)  Much has been debated about these verses that we don’t have enough blog time to get into.  The issue of tongues, sanctification, baptism with the Holy Spirit, who received it, why they received it etc. is debated vehemently.

On the issue of tongues, I will say this.  The “tongues” given here were not of an unknown language (prayer language).  It tells us what kind of tongues were given in v. 6.  “When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.”  The disciples and those who believed were given the supernatural ability to speak in other KNOWN languages.  Why?  To fulfill what Jesus said was of utmost importance in chapter 1.  “You will be my witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the world.”  The ability to speak in other languages was a gift from God for that appointed time so that the Gospel message could spread quickly to all people.  So in THIS instance the tongues were of a known language for a specific reason.   To spread the Gospel to those who didn’t speak Hebrew.

I felt that v. 13 summed up the entire section.  Regardless of what happened we cannot debate that it was from God.  That is obvious.  This struck me.  Here, in one of THE GREATEST moments of church history.  When God pours out His Holy Spirit what do we see?  CRITICS  “They’re just drunk!”  ANYTIME God does something, the “religious” won’t like it.  Why?  It is outside their box.  It breaks the status quo.  It challenges their theology.  No different here.

Acts 2:14-28 — What is your name and what did you do with Peter?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Who is this guy?  Here the critics step forward.  Most likely some of the same who crucified Jesus and questioned Peter and it says “Peter stepped forward”.  He didn’t cower.  He didn’t back down.  He didn’t hide.  He didn’t deny.  Something changed!  The power of the Holy Spirit.  Can’t emphasize that enough.  When the Holy Spirit is evident in our lives SOMETHING CHANGES!  He was bold.  He was courageous.  He was not self-centered.

Acts 2:36-37 — His words pierced their hearts.  That is my prayer folks.  That the words spoken by pastors in our communities from the pulpits of churches would pierce the hearts of those who don’t believe.  That people would be brought to repentance through the power of our God.  The question I think all of us must ask is asked in v. 37 “What should we do?”  Pilate asked this question when Jesus was on trial.  “What should I do with this man Jesus?”  When we are confronted with Jesus, we must ask “What should I do?”  That needs to be a daily question of ours.  “God what would you have me do today?”

Acts 2:41 — The greatest revival in history.  From 120 to 3,000.  3,000 were saved and baptized.  HOLY SMOKES!  That that put a pep in the disciples step?

Acts 2:42 – 47 — Key phrases of the early church.  “devoted to the apostles teaching” WE CANNOT ABANDON THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD and be an effective church.  The ONLY way to be saved is through faith in the Lord Jesus.  Repentance of our sins.  Confessing Him as Lord.  We MUST be devoted to the Bible as TRUTH.  “Deep sense of awe” Think the early church had a sense of expectation?  Healthy fear of God?  Respect of who HE was?  We need a deep sense of awe when it comes to the things of God.  “Shared everything they had” Generosity.  Today’s prayer right?  “worshiped together” I bet they had some amazing times of worship.  WOW!  3,000 in one day leads to a rockin’ worship service.  HA  “enjoying the goodwill of all the people” Do you think EVERYONE in the early church agreed?  I doubt it.  But they enjoyed the goodwill of all the people.  We need a healthy dose of enjoying each other AND our differences in the Christian church.  We WON’T all agree.  It’s NEVER going to happen.  We can agree on the essentials.  The NON NEGOTIABLES.  We don’t seem to enjoy other churches very much do we?  I think many of those key phrases had to do with the last key phrase “And the Lord added to their fellowship daily those who were being saved.”

Questions to ask myself:  Do I find myself celebrating what God does in other churches or critiquing it?  (They’re just drunk)  I need that question too by the way.  Am I willing to let the Holy Spirit invade my life in ANY area?  What is Jesus asking me to do today?  (What should we do?)  Am I praying for revival in my church, city, myself?  (3,000 added)  Am I devoted to the Bible?  Do I have a sense of awe when it comes to God?  Do I worship regularly with other believers?  Am I enjoying the goodwill of other Christians who may view things a little differently?  (I think we’d enjoy life a lot more if we’d do this)

Learning,

Jeff