Another Pentecost? – 17th November 2006

I want to finish this week of looking at God’s grace, favour and blessing by looking at the passage at the beginning of the book of Acts.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out and the church is born. A group of hesitant, fearful disciples become bold preachers and miracle workers.

Something pretty amazing was happening in the lives of the Christians and it literally flowed out on to the streets so that others were amazed by what they saw.

They feed the hungry; they share their lives and their possessions.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:44-47

This word favour is the same word grace that we have been thinking about all week. They enjoyed the favour of all the people. In other words, people saw God’s blessing upon them, they were attracted by what they saw, they recognised that something special was going on.

Today we often feel like people look down on the church, making fun of Christians. And of course in many parts of the world people are persecuted because they love Jesus. Here in Acts, the church had such an impact upon their community that people were pleased, delighted and blessed by the Christians.

Many church goers are praying for revival, for another Pentecost. They are asking God to pour out His Spirit afresh. Do we have the channels into our communities and into the world so that outpoured blessing can flow to those who need it most? Do we want God’s blessing for ourselves or for those who don’t yet know Him? Do we want to bathe in the gentle, warm flow of the Spirit while others shiver in the cold of a godless existence and a desolate world.

I believe that God does want to bring revival and blessing but He hesitates to bless a church that is not reaching out to the world. Let’s pray that the trickling streams of revival will become streams, waves, rivers of blessing for others. You can be part of that river of blessing as you seek to be a blessing to others in our communities, our neighbourhoods and among our non-Christian friends and work-colleagues. 

Praise God for his grace and favour; Praise Him that He is swift to bless.  Praise Him for His amazing grace. May we experience that grace afresh in waves of reviving love and power, blessing us and making us a blessing to the world. Now that would be amazing!