I saw a reel
“……that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by him this man is standing before you well.” – Peter from Acts 4:10b
I saw a reel today…
How many times have you said this in a conversation? As our culture shifts to more and more of a digital landscape, seeing the bits that a reel provides, has started to shape the way we view the world. It shows the highlights and maybe sometimes shows the vulnerability that we as humans tend to show much more seldomly.
The book of Acts is one that is intriguing and one that provides a ” reel ” into what the early church operated as. A place of belonging and love and forgiveness and grace and teaching and sharing and eating and being with one another. It gives us a view into the world that the apostles and those that followed Jesus, both during his life and those that came to believe in Jesus after the Ascension to Heaven. It gives us a glimpse into what the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do.
” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…..” Acts 4: 8a
” And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance…..and at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language and they were amazed and astonished….” Acts 2:4 and 6-7a
” And they were all filled the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31b
Imagine what the Instagram or TikTok world would look like if these were the reels that people saw?
Imagine what our world would look like if these were the reels that we saw on a daily basis?
The book of Acts shows us also that this group of believers, a very small group of believers, made waves of impact. In todays culture, making an impact in the world is much harder than ever. There is an ever growing conception that the church is not useful or the church is not relevant. But in todays world, the church, might be the most important gathering place of all. There are culture wars, there are political wars, there are actual wars where people are dying, there are wars in our schools over what is needed and what is not, there are wars in our neighborhoods about what should be allowed and what shouldn’t be. There are wars in our own homes that can lead to devastating outcomes.
I saw a reel, just earlier today with a young person challenging a pastor about repentance. Her question was a valid one, it went something like this, ” what good is repentance if you just stated that we are all going to suffer no matter what? Why should I repent if I am still going to face suffering?” The pastors response was received, whether or not the young person believed him is another question. The pastor, filled with the Holy Spirit began to speak about the hope and the light at the end of the suffering that as a Christian we have, that when we give our lives to Jesus and we allow him to be a part of the suffering, that there is hope that those that do not believe in Jesus just don’t have.
” And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Here is a reel for you….
I saw a reel and went something like this:
” Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” – Acts 4:13
You have the same Holy Spirit as Peter and John and the rest of the believers of the Early Church. You have the same Holy Spirit that fills you with a boldness that gives you power and strength to speak the truth in love and grace. You have the same Holy Spirit in you that gives you access to the creator and author of Life. You have the same Holy Spirit that brings life back from the dead. You have the same Holy Spirit that heals wounds. You have the same Holy Spirit that mends relationships. You have the same Holy Spirit that carries in tough times. You have the same Holy Spirit that gives light to the darkness.
I saw a reel, that showed the church rise up in a way that no one expects to unleash love and hope and grace and truth in a world that needs more and more of all of those.
The book of Acts is a reel…of how some uneducated and common people took the message of Jesus to a culture that did everything it could to stop the spread of that reel. What that culture didn’t know….
is the that the reel would continue to spread to the ends of the earth and there is nothing they can do to stop it.