Your Priorities

Acts 4: 8

8.  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

 9.  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;

 10.  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

 11.  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

 12.  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

It is possible to keep a church going apart from the Holy Spirit, with ordinary common sense. You can get a good crowd by good organization and careful planned methods; you may even pack the church to capacity.

I would say that you could even have a crowded evangelistic meeting!

You may have enough money to carry on the work! It needs no divine Anointing on the part of the minister, evangelist, or church member to achieve these objectives by themselves.

In fact you only have to go into many of today’s churches to discover that they are little more than social clubs with a Sunday service added.

I heard about a church bulletin board advertising coming events. On one side there was a notice “ Be sure to come to the autumn bridge party and dance.” On the other side- it’s not to early to join our Christmas club and Bazaar.” And right in the middle was the topic of the Sunday sermon- The Lost Radiance.

It would take more than a few monuments thought to suggest respectively where the radiance had been lost.

Most people would say, “ My church is not like that”.

We want to reach out to our neighborhood and win people to Christ.

You want to be a New Testament church founded on New Testament teaching with a New Testament vision.

The very thought that your church would be any less would horrify you.

With that thought

What are you doing? Or better yet what are you being to see that vision achieved?

Just think for a moment?

If every other Christian in your church was like you would that vision that you say is yours be accelerated or hindered in its achievement.

This is a thought to meditate on.

In the 4^th chapter of acts consider the New Testament Church and how it became a real experience.

There was an opposition to be faced.

Acts 4: 29-30

29.  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

 30.  By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

It was not as much the Pharisees that were the center of the opposition as the Sadducees. Who were grieved that through Jesus Christ they had taught the resurrection of the dead?

Acts 4:

1.  And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,

2.      Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

 Their opposition was purely materialistic in their outlook.

They denied the supernatural. They explained away the miracle. In a word they were first century modernist and the conflict between them and the church was inevitable.

This is the very situation that faces our Church today and before we can even think about our vision we must consider were our center opposition lies.

If you say that you are a new testament Church then you must believe that he who has not reconciled with God is lost and is bound for a Christ less eternity and therefore needs saving.

When you read John 3: 16 the most gripping words should be “Shall not perish.”

And that being the case your whole church life should be regulated by this urgent factor and the whole ministry from the pulpit to the membership should be inspired by this urge. And rise up a one unit to war, to preach to exhort and to save.

And at once you will come into opposition with the humanistic, liberalistic and rationalistic forces of this generation who say that these teachings are outdate and disproved by everything that goes in the name of modern progress.

The Objective to be achieved.

29.  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

 30.  By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

We may not have by our side a man made whole in front of their eyes. But Through our ministry we can see men and women being spiritually healed and delivered. Not just the conversion of souls but the making of disciples, and if we are to face the world today we must have the evidences because there is no use arguing if you haven’t got them. Our objective must be souls men and women whose lives have been transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. 

 The world has very right to ask for your credentials

The Secret of Success

13.    Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

These men conceived that just because they had been in company with Jesus for two or three years that this accounted for the similarity with Jesus because they did not believe in the risen Christ.

It was not the fact that they had been with Jesus that gave them this similarity but the fact that they had given the Holy Spirit control of their lives

We need communion with the Holy Spirit.

2Chor

8.      But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 Do people see Jesus in you? have you been so controlled by the Holy Spirit that people cannot see you, for Jesus? Have you been transformed?

How often have you heard people say if that’s a Christian I want nothing to do with it.

Does your attitude reflect Christ or self you cannot be a new testament Christian unless Christ is in control through the Holy Spirit.

And that brings us back to the most fundamental thing and that is our prayer life.

If you keep your appointment in the place of prayer regularly then you will know what it is like to be swept along by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

Does it amaze you that so often you pray only because you are driven to it?

How often do other duties crowd in and the disciplined prayer life is crowded out.

To win the battle is to see the windows of heaven opened and the blessings outpoured. To lose it is to know the heavens become to brass the ground as hard as iron and at the end of life’s journey surely the judgment of God will be pronounced on the tragedy and sin of our prayer less living.

What is your Vision? What is your Goal? Examine your priorities are they wrong? If so do not let another day go by without seeing to it that they are adjusted no matter what the cost.