If you have your Bible, please turn to Acts 2. I’m continuing my series on the Holy Spirit in the Bible. In Acts, we saw the dawn of the Church Age that began with the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost – fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. If you recall from that momentous event, the Holy Spirit came upon 120 disciples who had obeyed the Lord’s command to “Wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

The Spirit had entered their upper room with the sound of a hurricane and with tongues of fire coming upon the heads of all those present. The Holy Spirit came upon women equally as with men, affirming that God is no respecter of persons when it comes to whom He anoints with the Spirit’s power. They all went outside and began proclaiming the mighty acts of God that was heard by visiting worshippers in their native tongues. This led to the first sermon by Peter, whom Christ had appointed as the lead apostle. Thousands of Jewish worshippers fell under the conviction of the Spirit as Peter exhorted them. They cried out “Brethren, what shall we do?”

Reading from Acts 2:38, ³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” ⁴¹ So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. ⁴² They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

⁴³ Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. ⁴⁶ Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

So began the movement centered on Jesus Christ that is now known as the Christian faith. Let me point out the early practices of the disciples that are carried on various forms by all genuine Christian churches to this day. You will see that we’re doing these four practices even today. V.42 says that the early believers were continually devoting themselves to four practices: the apostles’ teaching – which we might receive in Bible study, home groups, Sunday schools and sermons. Apostolic teaching brings Christ to life for us. It helps us work out our salvation from sin’s harm in living a truly Christ-centered life of love and service.

They also met regularly in fellowship for the breaking of bread and prayer. The word fellowship in the Greek is koinonia. It means more than camaraderie among believers. Our fellowship is also with Christ himself; for He promised, “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Fellowship is sharing and enjoying life together with the awareness that Christ is among us.

We generally call the breaking of bread the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion, which is focused on the one ordinance Jesus commanded at the Last Supper. We’re to remember His death by eating bread representing His broken body and the drinking the juice or wine, representing His shed blood.

Then they prayed, both worshipping and petitioning God. Prayer in a community setting allows us vicariously to share in each other’s concerns, but also introduces newer believers to the language and focus of Christ’s Body. These four practices: biblical teaching, fellowship, communion and prayer are the staples of Christian living. They connect the rest of our ordinary lives with the eternal God and His great work of redeeming sinners into His holy people. That makes us significant.

The result of this surge in Spirit-inspired faith is seen at the end of Acts 2: “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. ⁴⁶ Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

There was a Holy Ghost revival taking place in Jerusalem unlike anything that had taken place before! I would imagine the signs and wonders were like those of – healings, creative miracles in people’s bodies, demons cast out and people feeling spiritually, emotionally and physically free like never before. The atmosphere must have been electric!

There was also radical generosity by the disciples. People were selling their property to aid the new believers and foreigners who had chosen to remain in Jerusalem. Their sense of unity was so great that they were acting selflessly.

During the Jesus movement of the 1970s some Christians tried to recreate the communal living displayed in the Jerusalem of 30 AD. It’s hard to sustain something like this, especially in a larger transient world where you don’t know the integrity of people around you. People generally work for theirs or their family’s self-interest. But we can learn to live more generously toward others. Generosity and grace are synonymous, and the Holy Spirit inspires grace-filled living.

Pentecost began the great work of the Spirit in making a worldwide community of devoted Christ-followers eventually encircling the earth. Now in Acts chapter 3, we see the continuing work of the Spirit in power. It began with an encounter between the two apostles, Peter and John, headed for the temple in the afternoon for prayer, and a lame beggar. The beggar asked them for alms, and Peter boldly replied, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” ⁷ And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. ⁸ With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

This miracle gave Peter fresh occasion to preach before an amazed crowd of onlookers. Most of them had seen this pathetic, lame man begging before, but they could only help him with coins. Many also realized that Peter and John were Jesus’s followers; so His miracle ministry hadn’t ended with Him.

Peter brilliantly connected Christ’s redemption with their guilt in disowning “the Holy and Righteous One”; yet the beggar was healed in Jesus’ name. Most of them had approved of Jesus’ death for blasphemy in their ignorance; but it was essential for the forgiveness of their sins. He then cited two prophecies from the books of Moses, Deuteronomy and then Genesis. They validated that Jesus was the anointed prophet whom God raised up to succeed Moses. Through Him all the families on earth would be blessed. Once again, the convicting power of the Holy Spirit was upon Peter’s message, moving them to repent and follow Christ.

Let’s pause in the biblical narrative to consider how God also wishes to employ you as His messenger of grace and redemption. Few of us have the opportunity to follow up a great miracle with a call for mass repentance. But all of us will have occasion to connect the dots in the mind of a hurting person of how Christ can redeem their sorrows and strengthen them.

God delights in turning our poor choices or afflictions into a platform for a new life of love. You can be His instrument to a hurting person that Jesus can help them start over and find a better place in life forever. God’s word promises, “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creature. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come.”

Broken people can find purpose and meaning in their life by understanding that God uses their weaknesses to reveal His perfect power. Their story then is woven by God’s Spirit into the eternal tapestry of life and love of Christ’s people that we will celebrate throughout eternity. Jesus’ adds real value and significance into the failed lives they have made once they surrender to His will. Isn’t that what happened to you? Rather than crushing you, prison has become the humble context for your restart in life.

Remember that barely two months’ earlier in a moment of exhaustion and fear, Peter denied Christ three times. Now Peter was boldly affirming Christ as the Risen Savior; and he was unstoppable. You are, too, when you live out your Christian life with kindness and courage toward the people around you. They may not turn to Jesus, but they will quietly notice the humble acts of service and caring you show toward others. You sow seeds of faith for the future, while reminding others that love in action is the best way to live. Loving, accepting and forgiving other people are the hallmarks of Christ’s love. All of us can demonstrate that in our own unique way.

Let’s move ahead to chapter four. After Peter’s second public message, temple priests and an escort of guards arrested the apostles. This cause-and-effect of new growth and religious hostility has been a continuing motif in almost every country on earth. Before the gospel comes, as John wrote, “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” Satan stirs up jealous elites against people converting to Christ.

2 Timothy 3:12 warns, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” That was the harsh state of affairs in the first century and is still the case in countries with other entrenched religions. Last month, Pastor Wang Yi of Eternal Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan, China was sentenced to nine years in prison for “illegal subversion against the state.” He had dared to send a letter to the government appealing for more religious freedom. In India, the government has passed laws forbidding conversions from any ministry to the poor. This law is clearly aimed at Christian charities.

We are fortunate to live in a country that has a deep Christian heritage and the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. Still, there are inevitable collisions between the Christian faith and secularism on touchy issues like LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, freedom to wear symbols of faith or even speak of your faith in the workplace. We need to support those who are affirming freedom of conscience in matters of religious speech, without demonizing those who see issues from a different perspective. Being right isn’t always the same as being righteous. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

In first century Judea, however, the balance of power was decisively in the hands of the Jewish religious authorities; and they wanted nothing to do with this new Nazarene sect. The rulers, elders and scribes who formed the Jewish high court known as the Sanhedrin brought Peter and John before their council. Reading from Acts 4:7, they demanded to know, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” ⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, ⁹ if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. ¹¹ He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Their arrest and interrogation provided Peter an opportunity to witness for Christ. Luke says he was filled with the Holy Spirit. This is evinced by the confident pivot Peter made to point to Christ’s death and resurrection as the basis for the lame man’s dramatic healing. Then Peter boldly cited David’s prophecy in Psalm 118:22: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.” The accusers now stood accused for having rejected Messiah Himself. The final blow was Peter’s assertion that salvation is found in no one else but Jesus, and that we must be saved in His name.

The chief priests were amazed at the apostles’ confident response as untrained teachers. They “began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” The same is true with you and me. Time spent with Jesus in meditating and responding to God’s word will illuminate your heart and mind with wisdom that isn’t conveyed in most colleges. I have degrees from respectable schools of theology, but I didn’t establish my relationship with Jesus there. My faith was already grounded in the Bible through years of reading, memorizing, and applying the word of God. Above all, I’ve tried to cultivate a friendship with Jesus by relating to Him and responding to people as He would have me do. I listen to the whispers in my heart and to circumstances to discern the Spirit’s guidance.

Pay attention to the little details and encounters in your life. God is involved with everything that happens to you. Be thankful in everything that happens, even when it isn’t a happy circumstance. God proves Himself faithful most distinctly when we need Him most. Adversity forces us to depend on His grace.

Don’t depend on your own abilities alone. Check in with God when a hard thing happens and walk through the situation with Jesus as your leader. When you cultivate this approach to daily living, you’ll find it much easier to turn to Him when the times really get tough; and you’ll be glad you did. Trusting Jesus is the essence of faith; and faith when you can’t detect God’s hand at work is pleasing to God. May people recognize by your lifestyle, faith and goodness that you have spent time with Jesus.

Let me tell you about some friends who people know have been with Jesus. I met Kasey Bounds as a teenaged soldier in the Army who had just come to the Lord. He had a learning disability and kids teased him as a “retard”, but somehow it didn’t scar his soul with bitterness. He fell in love with Jesus, and that love has only grown stronger. He has one of the kindest, warmest personalities I have known.

Kasey later moved to Colorado Springs and made friends with a couple in music ministry in Nebraska. They had a little girl and boy. They had lived simply, trusting Jesus to provide for them as they had travelled and ministered in many churches. Judy never fretted about where their provision would come from; she trusted God to provide. But then Randy suffered and died of cancer, leaving Judy with two young children to care for. When a family member asked her how she would provide for her kids, she replied in faith, “God will feed them.”

When Kasey met Judy over 26 years ago, he was amazed by her wisdom and strong faith. God spoke to both of them about the other. When Judy told God she wanted a man who loved Jesus and would take the gospel to the nations. God replied, “No, what you want is some who loves you and love your children like his own. Kasey will be that man for you.” God spoke to Kasey that “She’s the one for you.” She was older than him, but he had found his soulmate. They got married and lived in Colorado Springs, where he started a lawn care business. They also started small Open Bible Churches.

In the early 2000’s, Kasey and Judy took time for several years to seek God in prayer and fasting around the end of the year. In December 2004, Kasey went on a 40-day fast on nothing but water, some Pedialyte and Emergen-C’s to provide electrolytes. They went up to a prayer cabin in the Rocky Mountains for the final couple weeks.

On the 33^rd day of his fast, as Kasey was falling asleep, he heard distinctly in his mind, “You’re getting weak, and you’re about to die.” Kasey sat up and said, “No!” He looked and the room was filled with dark, elongated and translucent beings that he knew were demonic. He said their evil presence was palpable.

Judy didn’t see this but was awakened by Kasey. So when Kasey rebuked these demons, she started praying with him. Kasey said the demons didn’t budge when he told them to leave in Jesus’ name. At first, he felt a twinge of fear; but Kasey is a scripture-quoting machine and he began rebuking the demons relentlessly with God’s word, declaring Jesus’ dominion over them. He said little-by-little these demonic figures began moving out of the room. He said it took about a half hour to clear the enemy from the cabin.

Suddenly Kasey was in a trance vision, sitting alone on a stool in an empty room. A door opened, and Jesus walked in. Kasey tried to rise up to worship Him, but Jesus told him to stay put while He ministered to Kasey. After blessing him, the Lord told Kasey he was going to show him heaven and hell, which he did. I recall Kasey telling me that in hell he felt “intense hatred and violence.”

Afterwards, he was back in his cabin and the Lord sat next to him. They conversed for about six hours until dawn. Kasey said the Lord answered about seventy percent of the questions he asked Him; and the rest He said that wasn’t for him to know. Judy was listening to Kasey speak to the Lord, but could neither see nor hear Jesus. She just accepted that this was how Christ wanted it to be without questioning Him.

Kasey told me in 2006 that he was writing his account down for a book; but the Lord told him not to publish it or talk about it. He did say in 2013, when we were with another old friend who questioned hell as they final place of the wicked, “I have seen the lake of fire.”

This past week, I learned that the wife of one of my oldest Christian friends had passed away from lung cancer. Yesterday, my wife and I watched her memorial service. It was filled with love, warmth and pathos; for she was only 62. I saw their two kids, now grown; and Judy was able to see both of them get married in the past year.

Now Kasey will have to face a difficult new chapter in his life without Judy. But I am confident in his victorious faith, because I know they have spent their lives with Jesus. And Judy is fully enjoying her eternal reward for a life well-lived, having loved two godly husbands.

The priests in Jerusalem recognized that these unlearned disciples had been with Jesus. There was something else the priests couldn’t deny. The lame man who had been healed was standing with them. Luke says, “They had nothing to say in reply.” They admitted that a noteworthy miracle had taken place; but their hearts were too hardened to consider that they had been completely wrong about Jesus. Nothing bears witness to the reality of God like a miracle. You are a unique and unrepeatable miracle of God. May your life be your testimony of grace.

The priests tried to threaten the apostles into silence; but they replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; ²⁰ for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

The priests were temporarily thwarted in freezing this new Jesus movement. The people in the street were all glorifying God for the miracle that had taken place, and disciples were being added daily. For the lame man was over 40 years old, and a well-known in Jerusalem.

The Council released the disciples with a warning, but returned to the brethren and glorified God in worship. Reading from v.24: “They lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, ²⁵ who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said,

‘Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples devise futile things?
²⁶ ‘The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’

²⁷ For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. ²⁹ And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, ³⁰ while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹ And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

The disciples accurately connected the Jewish leaders’ enmity to God’s Anointed One, the Messiah, to the well-known second Psalm. It expresses the rage of the nations against Yahweh the God of Israel. How ironic that by not recognizing Messiah’s advent they placed themselves in the very role of the Gentiles whom they condemned for opposing God. Little did these leaders understand that the first covenant that made access to God’s promises solely through circumcision for Israelites and proselytes was now obsolete. The New Covenant brought salvation and inclusion in God’s kingdom to the very Gentiles they despised.

At this time all of the disciples were Jews, so it was difficult even for the believers to grasp the sea change in God’s redemptive purpose that opened the gospel to all peoples. This was the mystery that Apostle Paul was raised up to preach and instruct the Church through his.

The disciples grasped that it was by God’s hand and purpose that hostility to God and His chosen One was predestined to occur. Let me briefly give a crucial point of theology. God is not the author of evil, but indirectly ordained it to occur by giving people and fallen angels the will to do evil and not stopping them. Theologians call this secondary causality.

God knew the bad things that would happen to you and that you would do in response and permitted them. That’s why you’re here; but that’s not the final chapter of your story. He allowed you to be wounded and humbled by sin – by others toward you and you toward others – so that He could prove the glory of His grace in redeeming you out of darkness. This is the way you must interpret your life if you’re going to be triumphant. The world may betray you, but God won’t.

Jesus promised, “I will never leave you; nor will I ever forsake you.” So like the disciples, He authorizes you to speak His word with confidence. Through ordinary folks like you and me, God still extends His hand to heal and signs and wonders can occur. Our role is to trust Him no matter what. God always does the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right effect and the right purpose – His eternal glory and the eternal benefit of His people. Together, we who love Jesus can do great things that will express God’s glory and draw others into His kingdom of love.

Can we believe that even here in the mostly secular Pacific Northwest if we come together as believers to pray that God may grant us to speak His word with confidence, while He extends His hand with signs and wonders and miracles through His holy Son Jesus?

Luke concluded that passage in Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” Today, I would like us to greet the new year and the decade of the 2020’s with faith that God will shake up this prison, and city and region and we as God’s people will speak the word of God with boldness.

So today, I want us to gather up at the front together and spend some time crying out to God for a fresh move of His Holy Spirit. Don’t make your prayer long, but make them strong. Come on up here and let’s ask God together to rend the heavens and come down, in Jesus’ Name.