“Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” Acts 2:41
What a day described in Acts 2 with the promised advent of the Spirit! 120 earnest prayers suddenly received the fullness of the Spirit promised by Jesus – and the first thing they did was to go out and proclaim the gospel in the many languages of those in Jerusalem for Passover. The reception wasn’t without some pushback. Peter had to answer the assertion that he and his prayer group were already drunk at nine in the morning – this on the heels of the controversial execution of Jesus by permission of the ruling Roman authority. These believers were behind the eight ball as it were. But Peter cited Joel’s prophecy about the last days where God will pour out His Spirit on all people – and this is what happened as he preached!
It is hard to be an evangelist in the West these days. Christianity has been the favored whipping boy for some time – we are painted as passe, non-thinkers, small minded and espousing hatred. Fallen Christian leaders have not helped this paintbrush. We used to talk about ‘winning souls’, but now we talk about ‘coming alongside.’ I think the faithful are timid to let their faith be known – too many in society are calling us ‘drunk at nine in the morning.’ But consider that the gospel has not lost its power. The Holy Spirit is as pervasive as ever and the Kingdom is coming more certainly than it was yesterday.
Maybe that’s why I hold out hope for revival – a fresh wind of the Spirit to blow across the Church and then across a culture looking for solid answers. We need to remain convinced of the need for people to repent and be saved; and to be tactful, loving and unafraid as were present the Lord. But we also look for a wider work of the Spirit and pray to that end. Billy Graham said: “My critics said after the crusade in Los Angeles that I set the church back fifty years. My response was; ‘I’m disappointed. I wanted to set it back 2,000 years.”
Revival starts in the church and moves out from there. If you and I live revived lives, the Lord can use us in power as he did with Peter and the other prayer warriors to influence unbelieving culture. John Wesley said: “Draw a circle on the floor. Get inside the circle and pray: ‘Lord, revive everything inside this circle.”
Pastor Leon Throness
A quick reminder of our Encounter Advent service on Sunday evening December 1 at7 pm in the chapel . A quiet and thoughtful time to prepare our hearts for the birth of the Saviour.
