The Book of Acts.
I'd like to speak to you this evening
about some of the biblical principles that we
find in the New Testament Church.
The Book of Acts is not a theological
book.
People who try to draw up systematic theology
from the Book of Acts either end up
in a false cult, a tangent, or a
headache.
Because it is not a book of systematic
theology.
It's a transition book of a great transition
period in history.
In the first chapter we find the Lord
Jesus Christ going into the heavens and telling
his disciples that they're going to receive power
after the Holy Ghost has come upon them.
Verse 8.
Verse 8, chapter 1.
And
he says, I like those words.
Or should I say, I don't like them.
Why stand ye gazing?
Many a Christian, after coming to know the
Lord Jesus Christ, spends many years gazing.
Many years thinking about salvation, gazing at the
Lord, and not getting involved in obeying what
the Lord has told him to do.
There's an old hymn where sometimes we sing,
it's called, Trust and Obey, Trust and Obey.
And I believe it's true.
I also trust that every one of you
will realize that world evangelism and taking the
gospel to every creature was one of the
most important and basic things on the heart
of Jesus Christ.
This proves it.
Together with many other verses.
But the very fact that just before Jesus
left, he gave this final instruction.
Now he didn't say that much when he
came back from the dead, resurrected.
And this is one of the few things
recorded here in the book of Acts.
And so I believe it's obviously extremely important.
Ye are my witnesses.
A great mistake in so many places is
that people think being witnesses of Jesus Christ
is for a selected few.
The book of Acts teaches, and this is
the first principle, that we are all to
be his witnesses.
We don't all witness the same way, but
we are all to be his witnesses.
Now there's something you must understand about O
.M. that's very important.
And that is that we are basically a
church-oriented and to some degree assembly and
church-centered movement.
If you are the rebellious type that feels
all the churches are completely up the pole
and you can't possibly work with the churches,
basically you're in the wrong place.
And I believe there's many scriptures to prove
that you're in the wrong place.
And I believe that the easy way, of
course, is to forget about the established church.
And you remember, as you and your generation
forget about the established church, so your children
will forget about you.
It's easy to be a rebel until you
become 40 and 50 and then discover that
someone's rebelling against you.
The Word of God says, very clearly, in
the book of Matthew, chapter 7, these powerful
words, Now
I was a rebel and I was tempted
to really throw off the church and everything
that was linked with it.
But from His Word and by His mercy,
I came to see that God's plan for
evangelism, though He is sovereign and uses many
methods, and He does use non-church groups
without any question, He desires and has established
a church.
And that includes a local church.
Firstly, we're all members of the body of
Christ.
That's the true church.
Remember that.
That's foundational.
No matter what movement we may be in,
we're all members of the body of Christ.
But also we see, in the book of
Acts, we'll see it a little further as
we move on, that God called the believers
together or allowed them to come together and
brought Paul as teaching of the local church.
I'm not talking about church buildings.
That was man's idea.
I'm not saying we shouldn't cooperate with a
church that has a church building.
I believe we should, if it's a live
church.
But the church is in the book of
Acts.
We're meeting in homes.
And I think there's some danger that we
think, therefore, that, of course, the true church
must be in home.
I think there's always that danger of getting
caught up with outward things.
Really, to me, whether you meet in a
cave, a cathedral, a home, or a tent,
that isn't the main thing.
You're entitled to your view.
Fine.
But how can you believe that's the main
doctrine?
We are for tent meetings.
We are for meetings in caves.
We only meet in factories.
We are of the cathedral plan.
No.
The main thing is always what's in your
heart.
These other things are important, more important in
some situations than others.
But reality is in the heart.
And I believe that this is what we
see in the book of Acts.
We don't see one specific way.
We don't see one systematic little set playing
in the book of Acts.
You can't find it.
I've read this book I don't know how
many times through.
One time I read the whole book through
in one night before I went to bed.
But you will find a heartbeat.
You will find men aflame for God.
You will find love.
You will find reality.
You will not find such a clear-cut
pattern as some would like to believe.
And that's why we have at least 100
patterns out of the book of Acts by
all different groups.
But you'll find a heartbeat.
And this is what I hope you'll see
as well as some principles, of course.
Hear my witnesses.
Don't stand gazing.
Do what you're told.
They were told to go to Jerusalem.
They were told to wait for this power.
Now we know in Acts chapter 2 it
came.
It came in a very unusual way.
And I don't know of hardly any other
time in history when it came, he came,
because the Holy Spirit is a person, when
he came in this way.
Some of you may not agree, but it
seems to me that the first coming of
the Holy Spirit was a historical event, and
that since that first coming, basically, the Holy
Spirit has come into all those who were
baptized into the body of Christ.
They may not be filled with the Spirit.
They certainly will need the anointing of the
Spirit.
But it is our belief, as we see
it in the book of Acts, and in
Corinthians, and in the Gospels, that the Holy
Spirit indwells all believers.
Romans says, If you have not the Spirit
of Christ, ye have not Christ.
Who is the Spirit of Christ?
It's the Holy Spirit, not two spirits.
It's not the Spirit of Christ, then the
Holy Spirit.
So the Holy Spirit indwells the believer.
As you know, there at this point are
two major divisions in people's thinking.
And unless the Holy Spirit keeps his hands
on O.M., we will see these two
major emphases, and all their side emphases, blow
this movement right apart, cut our evangelistic thrust,
and slice our source of power from on
high.
There's one school that believes that after you're
born again, some believe that you already have
the Holy Spirit when you're born again.
Others seem to be mixed up on that.
But in any case, they believe that you
must have a second work of grace, which
they call the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
You can read innumerable books on the subject,
and you can find many great men of
God who will give testimony to having experienced
what they call a baptism of the Holy
Spirit.
Then you'll have a large school who do
not believe in a second work of grace.
They believe more in growth and continual work
of grace.
And down through the years, even in the
past years, there has been adamant controversy between
these two groups.
There have been hundreds of churches that have
split right down the middle between these two
differences of opinion.
Both sides have their Bible verses.
Both sides have at least a hundred books
apiece that they've produced and written over the
years.
Both sides have their theologians.
And both sides are still waging war tonight.
And we have both sides in Operation Mobilization.
How we do it?
Some people don't know, but I do.
The Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit not allowing us to get
divided on areas that are still so controversial
and so unsettled in the whole evangelical world.
Nobody stops you from reading books on both
sides.
We have both sides in our bookshop.
But we feel for the evangelistic thrust that
God has called us into in this work,
we must try to avoid controversy on this
subject.
And we would like to be able to
say, as Billy Graham once said, I don't
care how you get it, just get it.
We all can believe and unite together that
we should be filled with the Spirit.
So really when it comes down to it,
the only difference is how you go about
it.
And to the man who likes to speak
a lot and likes to engage in controversy,
we would only say that as a young
person in a training movement, we would prefer
to see it in your life before we
see it lapping off your lip.
If you have been baptized in the Holy
Spirit, you believe that's God's way of sanctification,
let's see the reality.
Let's see the souls.
Let's see the fruit of the Spirit.
Let's see this New Testament Christianity in you.
Don't write me a book or start a
gospel periodical about this or that, but let
it radiate through your life.
Some of my very close friends have had
such an experience.
I would never despise any experience that a
man feels is a sacred experience from God.
However, I would never judge another man because
he has not had the exact same experience.
You study history, you'll see some great men
had completely different ideas on this subject.
Some of you know the tremendous division that
there was between Whitefield and Wesley, the controversy
that raged, the letters that were exchanged between
those two men.
And I think it is a miracle of
God that He has raised up a movement
in the 20th century that can take Whitefields
and Wesleys and anybody else as long as
they're willing to hold to the basic tenets
of the evangelical faith.
And I don't believe most evangelical theologians would
say that this is a basic tenet because
there have been so many Spirit-filled, loving,
powerful, soul-winning, mighty evangelists on both sides
of the fence.
What bothers me the most is people of
19 years of age who are absolutely convinced
beyond a shadow of doubt they know the
truth, when the most brilliant theologians at 60
are still fighting and trying to decide exactly
what the situation is.
They say more people know more theology when
they come out of Bible school than after
40 years of penetrating the Word of God.
You figure that one out.
After a few years of diddling around in
the Bible, we really think we know so
much.
The fact is we have so much more
to learn.
I can't go any further at this point,
but I think that basically we've got enough
to agree on, enough to stay united under,
enough to fight for, for His glory.
The Holy Spirit came in Acts chapter 2
and we see the reality throughout the rest
of the book of Acts.
One thing's interesting is that they needed to
be filled again in 4 verse 31.
4 verse 31.
And when they had prayed, the place was
shaken where they were assembled together.
They were all filled with the Holy Ghost
and they spake the Word of God with
boldness.
And so, even if you believe that there
is one special crisis, I don't think you
can deny the fact that there are many
needed fillings.
Personally, I believe we need to be filled
with the Spirit every day.
We find many basic principles in the last
part of chapter 2.
Notice verse 42.
They continue steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine.
Fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer.
Obok Singh says they're the four pillars of
the New Testament church.
Apostles' Doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer.
Do you have them in your life?
That's book of Acts, Christianity.
And fear came upon every soul and many
wonders and signs were done by the Apostles.
Now, I'm not against God bringing forth signs
and wonders, but I think if you study
the book of Acts you will see that
most of the time, in fact, as far
as I can see, almost all the time,
the signs and wonders were done at the
hands of the Apostles, not the new converts.
There are anointed men in our day who
have special gifts and who have been mightily
used.
I have seen Bok Singh, a man who
is very, very against extremes, a man who
basically in theology is closer to Whitfield's side
by far than Wesley, who doesn't believe in
a second blessing, and yet a man who
quietly goes off after his meetings, lays hands
on the sick and has seen many, many
healed.
You never even know what's going on, very
quietly, in its right proportion.
But Bok Singh is a 20th century Apostle,
not a novice.
Some of you will have difficulty in O
.N. because you are more denominational, you are
more in a particular line of thinking.
That's all right, don't be ashamed of it.
Keep studying.
You may be wrong on a few points.
But remember you're only coming on O.N.
for a year and also you're very young.
And so even if you feel rather strongly
in a particular aim, a particular line of
doctrine, it will not harm you for a
year to lay the more controversial things aside
and get down to some basic training in
other areas where I'm sure the Lord wants
to teach you.
We have young people go off O.N.,
back to their denominations and do a great
work within their own denomination.
And they're thankful for the time they were
in O.N. that balanced them, that built
them up and that taught them many other
things.
That they are incorporating into their own movements
to the benefit of their own work.
I want to tell you it is a
miracle the linking we have with the churches
around the world.
We were told in Indonesia no other group
ever had as much cooperation with the evangelical
churches as we did.
Almost 98 percent.
No wonder we sold 19,000 books in
12 days.
And those books are going to teach more
sound doctrine and revolutionary truth in those churches
than you and I could ever imagine.
A lot of us are going to the
Festival of Light on Saturday but I just
found out I'm booked to speak at a
large group that won't be participating in the
Festival of Light.
It's the London Fellowship of all the young
people in the strict Baptist denomination.
How we've got into that young meeting, that
meeting, I'm not sure.
But this is the way God has worked.
Two weeks ago I was speaking at the
biggest holiness revival convention in the country.
In Southport.
They've already written me back and asked me
to go back next year as the main
speaker for two meetings instead of one.
How that worked out, I don't understand either.
I have preached in more places with greater
reception among people whose theology I don't agree
with than I've received blessing preaching among those
whose theology I do agree with.
I know one thing.
I've got a lot to learn.
I know another thing.
I want this kind of reality I see
in this book.
And I want to be flexible enough for
the Holy Spirit to give me anything He
wants to give.
Some people say, Oh, this OM, they're not
open to the gifts of the Spirit.
We're open to the gifts of the Spirit.
But we're not open to confusion, chaos, backbiting,
circus music, nonsense, and all kinds of other
things that sometimes come in under the guise
of gifts of the Spirit.
And we don't believe the gifts of the
Spirit are one or two, but we believe
they're all that's in the Word of God.
We don't believe there's only one definition.
There's quite a wide viewpoint on the gifts
and how they operate.
You realize, just among the groups that emphasize
more the gifts of the Spirit, there is
an innumerable amount of divisions.
In the one city I was preaching in,
in Indonesia, there are more than 15 major
Pentecostal groups alone.
This is Indonesia, not Chicago.
In Chicago we have at least a hundred.
And they're divided in one point after another.
So when you say, believe this or don't
believe that, you've got to do some defining.
And you better study and make sure you
know what you're talking about.
Because these things are a lot more complex
than most young people think.
But I'll tell you, in this movement, as
far as I know, we are open to
anything God wants to give.
But we believe that He has raised up
this movement and that He may allow certain
things to be kept away that we may
remain one and united and fulfill the God
-given testimony that God has given to us.
And that is as important, in the view
of the whole of the Scripture, it's more
important than some of these other things.
You must understand that.
And you must not come with OM if
you cannot stand as a loyal soldier together
with us at the foot of the cross.
If you feel that you must emphasize your
particular truth, your way of doing things, that
basically OM is a compromising group or it's
not preaching the whole Bible, then why come?
Join one of the red-hot evangelistic movements
that has these beliefs that you feel are
so important.
And if some people had as much reality
as they had noise, Afghanistan would have been
reached years ago.
And Turkey as well.
And you know, we want to be the
first to confess we're a feeble band.
And we want to get out of the
way for anybody else who's red-hot for
Christ, winning souls, shaking down Muslim strongholds.
We just want to get out of the
way whoever they are, whatever their experience, Wesley,
Whitfield, Booth, Jeffries, anybody.
We'll get out of the way.
Let them come.
Swedes, Danes, Italians, Indians, Pentecostals, Baptists, Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, whatever else they may be.
Let them come.
Hallelujah.
Shake Afghanistan for Christ.
Isn't it funny that the Lord has chosen
such an ungifted band as us to reach
so many millions with the word and see
so many thousands brought into a saving faith
with Jesus Christ.
And to see churches planted in at least
10 different countries.
And to see disciples on almost every continent
in the world today.
That's sovereign grace.
And you'll find it in every page of
the book of Acts.
And it goes on to say and they
sold their possessions.
Ooh.
How did that get in there?
And goods imparted them to all men as
every man had need.
Now, it's amazing.
In the United States, we have several groups
that literally go into the air on verse
43.
They think signs and wonders are everything.
Without that, you've got nothing.
The very same group thinking of one particular
group teaches that all those who love the
Lord will be wealthy.
They teach the P of prosperity.
And that anyone who loves the Lord is
going to be blessed, is going to be
wealthy.
And if you're a great preacher, you'll definitely
have to have a new car and a
big home and a big salary.
That's spirituality.
So they take verse 43, but when they
get to verse 45, they sort of hiccup
and go on to the next verse.
I find very few people who want the
whole counsel of God.
The blessing as well as the responsibility.
It's like so many people who want to
be able to have verse 6 in chapter
3, where Peter said that to this man
who was lame, rise up and walk.
I meet many who want to be able
to say to the lame, rise up and
walk.
Have you ever met them?
This is what we need.
We need power.
We need this New Testament reality.
But I have hardly met a person in
16 years of walking with Jesus who were
able to say as Peter, silver and gold
have I none.
It's in the same verse.
One is a blessing.
The other is a to most people the
way they think a major trial and so
they just wouldn't even think of it.
Silver and gold have I none.
But what I have I give.
Rise up and walk.
This is what we see in verse 45.
They sold their possessions and their goods.
They parted them to all men as every
man had need.
It wasn't a rule.
It was a revolution.
You write that in your notebook.
I don't think I've said that before.
It wasn't a rule.
It was a revolution.
And I believe that you and I need
to see that there's no rule in O
.M. that you have to sell your possessions
or drain your bank account or do this.
There's no rule.
But if a revolution of love moves in
on your life if this kind of New
Testament reality moves in on your life you
may find yourself doing some very unusual things
in the days to come.
Even if some friends think you're crazy.
And they continued daily with one accord in
the temple and breaking bread from house to
house did eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart.
Gladness and singleness of heart.
Isn't this what we need in the church
today?
Isn't this worth laying aside some of our
arguments some of our secondary areas?
Do you realize how impossible it is to
unite evangelicals today?
We are from so many groups and certain
churches are strong in one country and don't
exist in another country.
And most of us are far more nationalistic
than we would know.
Some here are from brethren assemblies but do
you want to know there are some countries
where there are almost no brethren assemblies?
Indonesia is one of them.
Some of you are from Pentecostal type churches.
You want to know there are some countries
where there are hardly any Pentecostal churches.
Some of you of course are from Anglican
churches and you know that in most countries
in the world they do not exist.
So how in the world can we be
denominational and still live in such a small
earth where you can travel so quickly?
And as I have been in so many
different countries I have found in one country
one group alive in another country they're dead.
In some places the Salvation Army is going
strong for Christ in other places dead as
a doornail.
And so I believe that sectarianism denominationalism that
excludes others is foolishness.
I'm not saying you can't be loyal to
your denomination to a degree but your ultimate
loyalty must always be to Christ to his
word and you must always sense your oneness
with all Christians especially if you're going to
go out of your own backyard.
May God open our minds deliver us from
our narrowness.
So many evangelicals are so narrow theologically let's
be narrow on the basic areas let's not
budge that's a big enough battle much less
all the trivialities that we get fighting over.
And let's believe God for the singleness of
heart and you will find throughout the book
of Acts a word coming back again and
again and if God could get us in
these weeks here together in one accord I
want to tell you he could shake these
lands we're talking about for Jesus Christ.
And if he doesn't get us into one
accord and if he's not able to unite
us because of our stubbornness or our stupidness
then we're not going to shake any countries
for Jesus Christ.
Praising God verse 47 having favor with all
the people and the Lord added to the
church daily such as should be saved.
You say that's too Calvinistic I didn't put
it there.
I believe that there is a balance between
Calvinism and Arminianism.
Boy a minister got me on the spot
one time in London at a luncheon he
jumped right out of his chair and he
said look are you a Calvinist?
I said yes sir I'm an Arminianized Calvinist
100%.
Boy he didn't know what to say.
You say I don't even know what those
words mean.
Good you haven't suffered from a lack of
anything.
But I believe God can keep us together
though we have differences of viewpoint even in
our leadership on some of these areas.
He's done it for 14 years almost and
I believe he can do it for 14
more.
And my soul has many times been refreshed
from people of different theology.
I want this singleness of mind I want
us to be of one accord I want
us to be a book of Acts army.
Most of this controversy you don't find in
the book of Acts.
Christians were too busy winning souls too busy
planting churches too busy moving like a mighty
army.
It was later mind you it didn't take
long that they got so wangled up in
every kind of controversy you can ever think
of.
Praising God how little time we take to
praise God.
Do you really think the church spends as
much time praising God as they do arguing?
Dividing?
Engaging in controversy?
They don't.
If there was more praise there would be
more unity.
We've seen of course already in Acts chapter
4 there's not much time to go much
further.
But I want you to look at 4
.12 because I think it's very important.
Neither is there salvation in any other for
there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved.
You say how do we know the heathen
are lost?
Acts 4.31 Those Buddhists those Muslims those
pagans there is no hope no biblical hope.
You say I don't understand it.
Beloved in some ways I don't understand it
either but I leave it with God.
Judgment is not my job.
My job is evangelism.
My job is not to measure the temperature
in hell.
My gospel and my job is to preach
the gospel.
I don't understand hell but I know there's
no hope for those outside of Jesus Christ.
I have to follow the Bible.
Even if the tendency today is philosophy and
psychology and this and that this movement is
built on this book and must remain on
this book.
And this book says neither is there salvation
in any other for there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved.
Only the name of Jesus Christ is referring
to Christ.
Verse 10 Jesus himself said I am the
way I am the truth I am the
life.
No man cometh to the Father except by
me.
Except by me.
And if you don't believe those Indians out
there or those Muslims or those Frenchmen are
lost without Christ I wonder if you should
go.
I don't think you should.
That isn't our main motivation.
Our main motivation is the love of Christ.
In one sense of course we should go
to people even if they aren't lost.
But because the Bible teaches they are lost
you need to believe that.
That isn't your main source of motivation but
it's truth.
And it has to be part of your
theology.
Search the scriptures.
I believe if there was any other way
to save man other than Jesus Christ God's
Son that God would have found that way,
don't you?
Do you think God would have sent his
Son if there was some other way to
save the heathen?
No, I can't believe that.
It's a Biblical principle of the Book of
Acts that these men believed people were lost.
They preached it.
They lived it.
They spread it.
There is no other name.
Repent and be baptized.
Why were they so bold?
Because they knew they had the truth.
Some of us go out tiptoeing out in
our witness for Christ wondering, well maybe the
Buddhists are right after all.
Maybe Muhammad was really the best bloke that
came along after Christ.
Too much tiptoeing evangelism in the 20th century
that needs to be replaced with Book of
Acts boldness.
Declaration!
Paul, the great theologian said, I choose to
know nothing among you save Christ and Christ
crucified.
Many gospel sermons today you'll hardly even hear
the mention of the cross or the blood.
The bold proclamation is what we find in
the Book of Acts.
Then there in chapter 5 when they were
told not to speak you say, oh why
is this O.M. running around in Turkey
and Libya all these closed countries?
They're running ahead of God.
Oh, I've heard some interesting criticisms against this
movement.
I could write a fantastic book.
Peter had the same problem.
They told him to be quiet and go
somewhere else.
Put him in jail and beat him killed
Stephen.
Where do you find that kind of Christianity
today?
What did Peter say in the 29th verse
of chapter 5?
We ought to obey God rather than man.
And if man says I can't take the
word of God to his country and God
says we must go into all the world
how long does it take you to make
your decision?
Shouldn't take you any longer than it took
Peter.
We must obey God.
What happened?
They went back again.
When they went back again and witnessed they
were beaten.
The last part of chapter 5 verse 40
And to him they agreed and when they
had called the apostles and beaten them commanded
that they should not speak in the name
of Jesus let them go.
Now these men should have reorganized had a
committee meeting planned a new strategy and had
to avoid all this ruckus.
What did they do?
And they departed from the presence of the
council rejoicing.
Rejoicing.
And that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name.
And that's book of Acts Christianity.
That's not American noise.
That's not English circus riding.
That's book of Acts New Testament reality.
Rejoicing privilege suffering for Jesus Christ.
And you know if it wasn't for hundreds
of men who burnt on the stake and
suffered for Jesus Christ in this country of
England there wouldn't even be a church here.
Not a true church.
And so after that what did they do?
Daily in the temple and in every house
they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ.
Somebody says oh what's this O.M. always
going house to house?
Herbert W.
Armstrong the great false cultist wrote a whole
article about against going house to house.
Well that's good.
That gives me four more reasons why I
should go.
But here's the greater reason.
Verse 42.
Daily in the temple and in every house
every house they ceased not to teach and
to preach Jesus Christ.
I don't know how many thousand times million
times as many houses we have today.
The world population then was very very small.
We have more people in Uttar Pradesh India
one state than they had in the whole
known world of that day that Paul was
living in.
Just in UP.
One little O.M. team running around a
handful of other missionaries in the whole state.
Thank God he's given us a few other
modern means to reach people including literature.
Let's go to every house and if it's
a country that says we can't go to
the house then we'll just go anyway.
Teaching and preaching Jesus Christ.
This is book of Acts.
Christianity.
Christians filled with the spirit.
Christians united locked together of one heart of
one mind.
Christians unselfishly giving everything of their possessions of
their goods of everything to whoever the need
was.
They could only meet physical needs.
We today through literature and printing it can
meet spiritual needs.
Convert our possessions into Christian literature.
Christians fearless bold who believed that Jesus was
the only way and went out to tell
it to the whole world.
Christians who weren't afraid to suffer who counted
it privilege to be beaten for Jesus Christ
who went back even willing for more because
they knew it was a life and death
situation.
Christians who took the command of Jesus to
be witnesses seriously.
And who formed an operation mobilization in their
day and spread across the world in every
possible means of travel.
Just read about the Apostle Paul and his
travels.
True he stayed in some places for a
long time.
We believe in that.
We do that.
But there were other times when he wasn't
in a place preaching the gospel seemingly more
than a few hours.
May God give us Book of Acts reality.
This tonight is but a taste.
Take the Book of Acts.
Read it.
Study it.
Let its pulse be your pulse.
Let its boldness become your boldness.
Let its witness become your witness.
Let its suffering be your suffering.
That's the only way the world will be
reached in our generation.
Let us pray.
Our God and Father we come to you
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we praise you for this book that
throbs with love and power and witness and
unity.
We praise you Lord that you can and
will fill us with your Holy Spirit.
That you will keep us united.
That you will baptize us with that love
that comes from above not once but oh
God many times in the months and years
to come.
We thank you Lord.
There are things in the Book of Acts
we acknowledge we don't understand.
Things that theologians have argued over for years.
Things that people have taken out of context
and formed a dozen different opposing groups.
But oh God it's not what we don't
understand in this Book of Acts that is
bothering us tonight.
It's oh Lord what we understand all too
well.
And we know is often missing from our
own lives.
So speak oh God.
Give us a heart to obey.
That we may live lives New Testament reality.
In Jesus name.
Amen.