Christ Community Chapel (Audio)

When Peter and John restored a lame man's ability to walk in the name of Jesus, they were promptly brought before religious authorities who found themselves in a conundrum. On the one hand, these disciples of Jesus had clearly healed a man, who now stood before them. On the other hand, the authorities thought they had done away with the "problem" that was Jesus when they executed him. They decided to warn the disciples to stop preaching in Jesus' name, but one thing was clear: the power of Jesus was far from gone.

Jesus Christ, many people were quickly realizing, was not just a prophet of God: he was God. There is no other name by which we are saved, and thus early Christians bore witness to belief in Jesus as the pathway to Heaven. Even now, we are called to boldly proclaim his name or at least make it clear to others that we too are with Jesus, as it is up to us to share the good news of salvation with all those we encounter.

The astoundingly successful spread of the gospel to all ends of the known world in a relatively brief period of time mystified many 2,000 years ago, and continues to do so now. If you understand the unorthodox template by which the message was delivered, however, you can start to see from whence that success came.

Humans love hearing and learning from stories, and when those stories are novel or delivered in an unexpected way, we pay special attention. Jesus and his followers took the unexpected approach of moving towards brokenness wherever it was encountered while most moved away. They sought to give to others everything they had, both physically and spiritually, and they spread the unconventional idea of giving control of their very lives to God. Instead of proclaiming themselves powerful, the apostles humbly proclaimed themselves to be sinful and in need of salvation. And because they did all of these things, people paid attention, and ultimately, they believed. If we can copy this approach in our daily lives, more people around us may very well do the same.

The book of Acts is a story of people who are transformed in an unexpected and mighty way. People of all backgrounds and status levels received the gospel with joy, realizing they needed the saving grace of Christ. As the community grew, they learned to become a stronger, more cohesive group of believers by devoting themselves to the doctrine of the Bible, community, interdependency and dialogue. Soon, they were no longer a group of "oddballs," but people who were distinct in all the right ways: experiencing the presence of God, meeting the needs of others and praising the Lord for the new life they had discovered.