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As we dive into Acts 3, we encounter one of favorite early church moments, a truly  iconic miracle, the story of a lame beggar who became a dancing cripple. In fact, I’ve  used that as my user name on more than occasion, because in the end, aren’t we all just  dancing cripples?  And I don't know if you've noticed it or not, but when a cripple dances, a crowd begins to form and the church begins to matter.

See I believe that's why Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until God gave  them the gift of His Spirit. He told them to wait until they got what He had to give, because without the Spirit, church doesn't really matter. Without the Spirit we don't have a whole lot to give. But with the Spirit we have more than we know. 

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"Wait for the Spirit," Jesus said. Then the Spirit came and the church was birthed.  It was a church of humble power and courageous generosity, a church that lived against the grain of society but loved so deeply many in that culture were compelled to join them. It became a church that beat down the gates of hell to rescue neighbors from darkness. This was the church birthed and empowered by the very Spirit of Christ.

There are many different descriptions, different words, the Bible paints many different pictures to help us understand the Spirit. But one of my favorites is the "breath of God" the wind. It's the Hebrew word, Ruach. It is the breath of God that breathes life into our deadness, that blows fire into our hearts, that brings power for living. And that breath, the breath of God is so for you!

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I want to live the uncommon life that comes from an uncommon encounter with the living God.  And as much as I want to see signs and wonders like the healing of bodies; even more I hunger to see the healing and renovation of hearts. I hunger to see the healing of 10's of 1000's of hearts; the kind of wholesale renovation that would lead God to be pleased to pour out a blessing on central PA that cannot be contained in one
heart, one valley, one school, but spills over and draws people from all over world to Central PA to be shaped by God at work

What will it take to get there? A full-on heart devotion to Jesus.

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Acts 2:42-47 is the original destination for the church. Don't get me wrong, the Acts 2 church was just as full of imperfect people as we are today.  The Acts 2 church would make mistakes just like we do today. But there was a freshness of Spirit and when that Spirit is let loose in the church, I believe the church is the hope of the world. 

I don't mean a building or a Sunday morning gathering. I mean followers of Jesus let  loose in the world; loving God, loving each other, and loving their neighbors like they love themselves. Because listen, as another pastor once said, "There is nothing like the local church when it is working right.  Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is  breathtaking.  Its potential is unlimited."

If we aren't that kind of church...we have to ask...why not?

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What if it's true that God offers us His presence in the same the same way, he offered it at Pentecost? What if a group of people could be so filled with the Spirit that the world was changed...turned upside down? What if what happened in Acts 2, could happen today? Would we want it?

That day in the upper room as the Spirit came, tongues of fire sat upon each head. Fire is a dominant metaphor when talking about the work of the Holy Spirit.  The followers of Jesus saw 120 flames of fire, one on each person. The Spirit gave them a fire of passion for God, for each other, and a passion to share Jesus with others. An encounter with the Holy Spirit will cause our hearts to burn.

Lord would you do it again?!!

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We can be filled with many different things...good and bad. What are you filled with today?  It's an uncommon call to be filled with the Spirit of God. We're not exactly sure what it means, but we do know what it's like to be filled with something. If someone says that they are filled with grief, or filled with fear, despair, anger, ambition or joy...of filled with love, we understand. We know that what fills us dominates our thoughts, dictates our actions and perhaps even describes who we are. What fills us, shapes our hearts. So let me ask a "what if."

What if it's true that God offers us His presence in the same the same way that He offered it at Pentecost? What if a group of people could be so filled with the Spirit that the world was turned upside down? What if what happened at Pentecost, could happen today? Would you want it?

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Imagine you had a chance to be there in the upper room on Pentecost when the Spirit of God came...but you missed it.  Imagine you missed it. You weren't there. You didn't join the group. Got distracted. Got scared. Other things were more important. You missed it. What did they have to do in order to receive the promise? Just wait. Be there. 120 men and women waited. They prayed. They didn't have to earn it. They just had to be there, they just had to join in. I know there are times when we are called to wrestle in prayer,  to travail and battle in prayer, but what if sometimes we just need to be there. 

I read the book of Acts and I envision extraordinary events.  Things that make me go, wow! And then I look around me and I see spaces filled with ordinary people.  I look within me and so often I feel like I'm even less than ordinary. There's extra-ordinary and there's ordinary and then there's Dan. 120 people were in that room that day; each and every one of them...ordinary. But what God can do through ordinary people submitted to the Spirit of God...now that's extraordinary!

Don't miss it!  

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When God asks us to wait, it's always a word of hope. When God says, WAIT, He's  promising you that there will be a tomorrow.  Wait is a word of hope. God's Wait is  always tied to a promise, which simply means there is still more to come.

Some of you have been waiting on promises you believe God gave you years ago, maybe decades ago. God put something in your heart and then you waited. And as you waited, and waited, you began to wonder why, you even began to doubt the outcome. But God's waiting room is not like a hospital waiting room. When God asks us to wait, the outcome is never in doubt. It's simply the timing that's unknown.

 So let's keep asking Him for more, even when He tells us to wait!

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"The Holy Spirit will come upon you," Jesus said.  "And you will be baptized, immersed in the Holy Spirit.  You will receive power and you will be my witnesses everywhere you go." I love my church. I see God at work here. But if there's anything that I know we need more of, it is the power of God.  So if we want to turn the world upside down, we have to change the preposition.  Change the preposition and you will change the world.  

What do you mean by that Dan? I mean that in the case of the disciples before Jesus death and resurrection, they were doing life "with Christ."  They were expanding the Kingdom "with God."  And when you read the gospels we see what amazing stuff, a group of people can do "with God, with Christ."  But Jesus said, just wait...there's more, there's more than "with God." Wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, wait to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you cannot even imagine what it's like when you stop doing life with God, and start doing life in Christ.

The promise worth waiting for is that we can change the preposition from "with" to "in" and find the power to turn the world upside down.

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Before I recorded this episode, I was listening to a playlist that I put together and the title of the playlist is simply "Jesus." The song that was playing before I recorded is a song by Terrian entitled, "Honestly We Just Need Jesus." I would add it to the episode if I was better at editing. But instead, click the song and listen to it. It will set up this episode better than the words I had planned to write.

Honestly, I think we just need Jesus.