Exploding

Hear Me

Acts 10:34-43 MSG

While we might love and admire every Apostle from the first century for their unique strengths and capabilities, we might associate with one or two specific Apostles because of their characteristics.

One of the advantages of being older is that I have seen every movie produced about Jesus and His Apostles since I was old enough to notice the television. To date I counted 21 films. There was even a silent film entitled “From the Manger to the Cross” made in 1912 that I have not seen, but I added that to my list of films to look for on utube. (I am a huge fan of utube!)

The Apostle I remember most from all of those films was Peter. I think that’s because as I’ve seen Peter depicted in those films he is larger than life.

Acts 10:34-43 from the Message provides a perfect example, “Peter fairly exploded with his good news: “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he’s doing it everywhere, among everyone. “You know the story of what happened in Judea. It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change. Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him. “And we saw it, saw it all, everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed him, hung him from a cross. But in three days God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen. Not everyone saw him—he wasn’t put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand—us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead. He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead. But we’re not alone in this. Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets.”

Notice it says, “Peter exploded”. It’s such a graphic explanation of Peter’s personality that we will easily remember Peter’s reaction.

I also noticed that the text makes it clear that God loves everyone equally when they genuinely turn to God and surrender. That is a perfect explanation of God’s love for us. The surrender part is absolutely necessary but it’s where some people I’ve met stop dead in their tracks. I’ve been told by people who are on the edge of believing that complete surrender asks too much. In other words they get caught up in really trusting God.

I’ve been in Sunday School and church all my life and trusting God was a big part of my learning. But, here’s the deal. I didn’t trust God the same way I do today when I was four years old. My first memories of trusting God were of how much God loved me personally. What I needed to receive was God’s love. Trusting/Believing in God’s love at the age of four was as simple as learning the song “Jesus Loves Me”. I knew from that song that is a true statement because the Bible told me it was so.

I remember singing that song over and over again at home when I was playing with my dolls in my room. Through the years my repertoire of church songs grew but I still sang church songs to myself as I played. Every one of those songs were building blocks to my faith. My faith and trust grew.

The question we are faced with in light of faith building is how to adjust those same principles of faith building to teenagers and adults. It sounds difficult, but it’s not as hard as we might think. If you know someone who is struggling with life and they are up against a wall, go back to today’s scripture in Acts and send it to them (or read it to them.)

God can be trusted. God sent His Son Jesus and He told everyone about God’s love and healing. The healing was a big ‘draw’ and it would still be huge today. So tell them Jesus heals. Tell them Jesus loves them and if they open their hands and hearts, Jesus will help them.

Even though the person who seeks healing might be 40 years old mentally, spiritually they might be 2 or 3 years old. Speak to them like an adult but keep the expectation simple. Give them time to mull the words over.

Then, pray for them. Pray that God will give them a desire to come and receive God’s love. Personally, I choose to put the next step in their court and I continue to pray for them that when they are ready to receive Jesus God will send them the right person to help them.

It’s vitally important to remember that you are not the driver. The Spirit is the driver in the entire process. The Spirit is in charge of the next step. Re-read today’s scripture. Notice the steps. Notice that God was in charge every step of the way. I love writing and while God has not led me to write a script, I can see how a script could emerge from today’s text.

The climax is when witnesses were handpicked by God who were with Jesus after the resurrection. Jesus commissioned them to spread out and tell the Good News. I would make a big deal about us not being alone. We are filled with the Spirit who goes into the world with us.

The really really big deal is that like prophets before us go out, we go out and spread the good news. I happen to believe acts and words of kindness are one of the best ways to witness to others. Asking God to show us the right moment to talk about forgiveness is important. Don’t rush it. That’s because we are not in charge. God is in charge. We pray and wait for God to open the doors.

We simply need to let God be in charge.

Deborah/acrazyjourney.com