Think this was the tag line of something a while back, can’t remember what, but these have been my thoughts as I reflect on ReachOut. When I consider the awesome week we shared in, watching God at work, it gave me a glimpse of what “church” should all be about. A passage that has always impacted me when I consider how church should be was one that was considered at Ballynahinch Baptist last night, and it spoke to me again. I’ve posted before on how this vision of the early church in Acts 2 42-47 represents what we should be striving for in the community of believers we refer to as “church”, yet as I look at the church as it stands today I cannot see much resemblance of this pioneer community. And this to me underlines the fallen state of man, and I am as guilty as the next in that category. I’m selfish and self-centered, at times I don’t even think twice about the needs of those around me. Yet I’ve surrendered my life to God, and I’m asking Him to change my heart daily, giving me a heart like Jesus, eyes that see the pain and suffering in the lives of those around me, and feet and hands that act out His grace and love.
I believe this generation can bring revival to these shores, if we play our part and inspire this current generation to live radical, passion filled lives for Jesus who saved them by His grace. The interesting thing in this passage in Acts is the environment which brought about the growth of the early church, and that was one of devotion. Devotion to God, his word and teaching; building relationships where honesty and accountability with fellow Christians prevailed; sharing together regularly in worship and fellowship in one another’s homes; the underlying necessity of prayer; and the community aspect of sharing and providing for those who were in need.
And that’s the vision we’ve gotta put before this generation, and I believe we captured this somewhat through the ReachOut week.
The difficulty comes when we return to the Real World situations we face every day, be that work, school, tech, whatever. But I hope that through these blogs, and the friendships that have developed through ReachOut that we can carry on some of these aspects of being a community of believers as we share in fellowhip, express honesty and accountability to one another, and most importantly pray for one another.
Anyway that’s enough of me rambling on, trust everyone is well, keep shining bright wherever you may be
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1 comment:
I guess it's tough because it's costly.
If you compare that passage in Acts to the way our society tends to work, the contrast is huge between taking time and giving over (to the community and to God), and getting, building, accruing and looking after ourselves.
Devotion
Honesty and accountability
Worship
Providing
All these things are costly. Thing is, while Jesus said plenty about the benefit of following him, he also spent a lot of time talking about the cost of doing so - and he made it clear it doesn't come cheap.
God's Spirit enables us to follow together, but it's tough and we're going to muck it up on a regular basis.
So he gives us these glimpses of the Kingdom to keep us going, and that's cool :-)
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