As we begin the 6 month study of the New Testament book of Acts, I want to call your attention to a verse from the Gospel of John that describes the substrata of what occurs throughout the first 30 years of church history and is, I believe the way that God intends for the church to live today. The verse is John 3 just before the most famous verse of all, John 3:16.
Here is the verse:
The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit. (John 3:8 NLT)
You can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going …
The Book of Acts is an historical recording of what happened when the wind blew – the wind of the Holy Spirit. People didn’t know where the wind was coming from and they didn’t know where the wind was going.
Sometimes they were blown by the wind to new places and sometimes they set their faces against the wind and pushed forward. Listening, following, working with and, at times, standing against the wind required a continuous engagement with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. There was no ‘been there, done that’ attitude. They were living with their hearing aids turned up to full volume; the gain was turned all the way up on what was happening. They couldn’t sit back – putting the transmission in neutral and coast their way through life. Things were happening in such a way that it required serious engagement with Jesus.
But -- that was then and this is now. We can turn the hearing aids down; we can push the ‘gain’ down to a one; we can put the transmission in to neutral – we can just coast. NOT.
The life of faith is meant to be – The Jesus Story … Continued!
We are only living a life of faith when we are in serious engagement with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. I contend that anything less than that either borders on living a secular Christian life or is a full blown secular Christian life.
Is – The Jesus Story … Continued in your life?
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