When I read the book of Acts, I am embarrassed.
They gathered to minister to the Lord in Prayer and fasting..
We gather to minister to one another.
They prayed more than they planned.
We plan more than we pray.
It is our postscript.
Prayer was their priority.
We Pray Like it is inconvenient or inconsequential.
Jesus and His earliest followers prayed Like it was important.
We do not Pray Like it matters.
Rather, it is due to our lack of prayer.
Our lack of spiritual Power in Christianity today is not due to the sermons we preach or the songs we sing.
That\'s the Gospel they preached, and the Gospel we preach.
We preach that God offers salvation by grace, Through faith, in Jesus Christ alone, and the moment anyone repents of his sin, puts his faith in Jesus, and calls upon His name, that person is born again.
We preach that man is a sinner and stands guilty before God in need of salvation.
We preach that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, and rose bodily from the grave.
Modern Evangelicals preach the same Gospel that was proclaimed in the first century.
I disagree.
What made them so different? Some say they preached a purer Gospel.
Persecution was faced and overcome.
Churches sprouted up across the Roman Empire.
Miracles were commonplace.
Demons were cast out.
People were healed.
Communities were transformed.
Yet, instead of copying them, we seem content with copying other modern churches that are "growing." But why copy a copy when you can copy the original (the book of Acts)? In Acts, God was saving people every day.
Why does our brand of Christianity look so insipid compared to the believers of the first century? Where has the Power gone? Has God changed, or have we? We\'ve all heard the cop-out that says, "The book of Acts represents a different dispensation." What a sad, self-serving attempt to excuse our current state of spiritual impotence When we read Acts, we should yearn to experience a return to their brand of Christianity.
When I read the book of Acts, I am embarrassed
