The First Century Church

First of all, I want to thank everyone who prayed for my mother-in-law.  She had surgery yesterday, and all went well.  Hopefully she will get to come home today.  Thanks again for your prayers.  They are appreciated more than you know.

I wanted to share with you what our pastor preached on this past Sunday morning.  He read the account in the Book of Acts, the third chapter.  You know the story.  Peter and John were headed into the temple, and were stopped by a lame man begging for money.  Peter and John looked at him, and Peter said "silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."  Then he took him by the hand, lifted him up, and immediately the man was healed.

Our pastor asked a question that really got me to thinking.  "What would two modern day preachers, walking by a person in a wheelchair begging for money do?"  He suggested that they would probably come back to church and form a committee to research beggars in the community.  He also suggested that they might be really concerned with this man's comfort while begging, and hold a fundraiser to raise money for an umbrella to shade the man while he is sitting there asking for money.  The church might even have made a donation to him.  But how many preachers would have stopped what they were doing, walked right up to him, prayed for him, and then taken him by the hand and lifted him up out of the wheelchair FULLY EXPECTING him to walk?? 

You know what, I think our preacher was right.  I think most of us would have the same thought.  Either give him some money, or, try to ignore him and keep on walking.  I've done it.  But I have NEVER walked up to a lame person and said "you don't need money, you need Jesus." 

So why have things changed in 2,000 years?  The disciples didn't go around holding meetings to decide what to do.  They went about being the hands and feet of Jesus.  They preached, they served, they prayed.  They were ridiculed, they were threatened, but still, they did what Jesus would have done.  No matter what the cost.

Jesus is still the same Jesus today as He was in the first century.  He still loves, He still saves, He still heals.  But, I think the church today is a far cry from what the first century church was.  Am I willing to do what Jesus would have done no matter the cost?  Do I keep myself so close to the Lord that my Spirit is ready to hear His still small voice, and is my faith strong enough to act upon it?  If He told me to go and pray instead of dig in my wallet would I do it?  Could I do it? 

This is what is on my heart today.