As we have begun our journey into
the activities of the early church,
and the leaders Jesus left to carry
on His mission, it has been interesting
to examine the process they
followed and the actions they took.
To begin as a very unsettled group
of men and women who were
traumatized by the death of Jesus, they were then
almost paralyzed at the realization that He was
leaving them to implement what He had taught
them.
In the beginning two chapters of the book of Acts
we can imagine the anxiety they initially felt, and
then we can witness the transformation that came
when they began to see the fulfillment of Jesus’
plan to spread the Gospel. It was all about the
Holy Spirit, this special Gift that Jesus promised
to send them when He returned to Heaven. Jesus
had said that they should wait for the source of
‘Power’ to come upon them so that they would be
able to move this mission into reality.
We have already seen the early church grow exponentially
from the very first Gospel presentation
when 3,000 people came to faith and responded
to the invitation to repent and receive forgiveness
from sin and to be baptized. Last week we considered
the challenge of assimilating this huge number
of new converts into the body of believers that
numbered only 120.
I find it fascinating that these “apostle/disciples”
initially continued to do just what they were doing
while they were waiting for the Holy Spirit to be
poured out on them. Combined with the new
believers they remained together, prayed and
listened to the apostles teaching them what it was
like to know Jesus personally. They all were
drawn to the stories of how His compassion and
teachings had such a transforming impact. The
new converts were now part of this growing
fellowship of faith and they found strength and
power showing up in their own lives as well.
But the time was coming to take this ‘good news’
to the people. As they did, it is not hard for us to
believe that they faced fierce opposition and some
pretty harsh pushback. Performing a miracle in
plain sight while invoking the name of Jesus as the
source of Power for the gift of healing to a man
who had been lame all his life was more than the
religious leaders could stand. Hadn’t they done
away with these miracles when they Crucified
Jesus?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
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