We’re reading through the Book of Acts this month.  I love reading through this book because it’s so challenging to see how God used the early apostles to start the movement of Christ followers that spread out across the world so rapidly.

Here are a few things that come to mind - some random observations - as I’ve gone through the first 4 chapters in the Book of Acts:

• There must have been such a sense of anticipation and expectation for the apostles as Jesus spoke to them, promising the Holy Spirit and power.  Then He tells them to wait.
• It must have been hard for the disciples to wait.  They must have been excited and eager to move out.  Yet their first act was one of obedience, to wait as they’d been told.
• I love the boldness of the disciples.  Peter, who’d denied Christ is now preaching with incredible boldness knowing only too well that it could lead to his death.  Yet he’s so convicted, knowing that Jesus has risen from the dead, and that nothing else matters.
• In Chapter 2 verse 37 we hear the people asking Peter, “What then should we do?”  It’s the same question we must each ask ourselves as we read the Scriptures, and as we grow in Christ.  Then we need to be ready to act in obedience - ready to go out and act in this world. 
• Chapter 2 verses 42-47 gives us a picture of these new Christ followers coming together to act as biblical church.  Because they loved each other, because they gathered to worship together,  because they were willing to meet each other’s needs and give generously, the testimony of the church spread as did the church itself - 3,000 were added in a single day - just because they were willing to act as Jesus had instructed them to act.  What would happen if we did the same thing here in the church in 2007?   
• In Chapter 3 we meet a crippled man who asks Peter for money.  Instead of giving him money, Peter meets his greater need - which is healing him of his physical issues.  I believe it’s a model of compassion of the local church.  We ought to meet the physical needs of people while meeting the greater need - a spiritual one - a need for Jesus in their life.
• People were amazed at the teaching of Peter and John, making note of the fact that these men were ordinary, uneducated, unschooled - literally “idiots” - but they’d been with Jesus and now something had changed.  I hope that’s the mark of my ministry - that it would be apparent that I’ve been with Jesus and that I work beyond my human capacity and ability because He is alive in me!
• There was a buzz in the early church because God was at work and lives were being change.  I pray for that same buzz in our community because God is at work at Palm Valley and lives are being changed.

I’m digging reading through Acts.  I hope you are too.  If not, why not start today in chapter four and join me? 

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