High Devotion

Do you remember?

Do you remember that first moment when you first surrendered your life to Christ? Do you remember the first time you felt His love and grace fall on you like a flood of emotions that you could not explain? What did that feel like to you? What did you want to do after you felt His powerful love?

Maybe the most memorable experience with the Holy Spirit wasn’t at the moment you gave your life to Christ. Maybe it was during a worship service when God was speaking to you through a song? Maybe it was during a moment of prayerful devotion when you felt that everything was going to be okay. I love moments like these, to reconnect to great power of the Holy Spirit. What did they experience cause you to do afterwards? Did you find someone to tell? Did you make decisions about how you would handle the future, like set goals or change your mindset? What is the result of such an experience?

Pray and Read Acts 2:37-47

Acts 2:37–47 NRSV

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Let us back up

Let us back up and explain what they heard and felt. The people gathering in the room with the Apostles were other disciples of Jesus. As they were worshiping, the Holy Spirit as was promised, came upon all of them. They were so moved, and moving, that a crowd started to gether around the room where they were. Being in Jerusalem, which is a large trade and gathering city, there were people from various countries and areas surrounding Jerusalem.

To explain to those who have not experienced the Holy Spirit in that moment, Peter begins to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ, and doing so with the power of the Holy Spirit. So when those who were in Jerusalem fifty days ago when Jesus was crucified, heard about the Resurrection, connection with King David’s Psalm, the Holy Spirit convicted them. Yet, they were not just convicted, but they wanted to know what they could do about this.

It is simple, they believe, they are forgiven. Now they have the same charge as the other disciples; go and share the story of Jesus the Messiah. Do you see how this works. You were changed by God, forgiven by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit! Does that not give you a desire to share this good news with others? About three thousand were moved to unspeakable joy at the news of the Resurrected Messiah. They were baptized as new believers, and baptized with the Holy Spirit. This was the beginning of the Church.

They Devoted themselves in Five Ways

Hearing the Apostles teaching.

The new converts would gather in the temple and wherever the Apostles were so that they could hear more about the life and teachings of Jesus. They were eager to know more. The more they learned, the more questions they had and wanted to learn even more. They would learn so much that they were able to tell the story themselves to whomever would listen.

Being in fellowship with one another constantly

They broke bread together. Their shared experiences and love of Jesus drew them to one another. They needed each other to get by day to day. Others who had not experienced the Holy Spirit, did not understand why they felt the way they felt or acted the way they acted. Besides, they could turn to one another and discuss the apostles teachings and dive deeper into understanding the truth. They could pray for one another and with one another, experiencing the power of God though prayer.

Selling all their possessions and giving them to the Poor.

They did not have claim on them anymore. Their property and themselves belonged to Christ. They did not own anything that would help them know God more intimately. Today, Christians have a problem understanding this one. We have possessions like homes, cars, savings accounts, clothes, foods that we truly can’t part with or our lives and the lives of our families would be negatively affected. The earliest Christians shared their resources with one another as a way to separate from a world that had once totally consumed them. They were safer together. They were able to do more together. This was all they knew how to do to truly become close to Christ.

As the church continued to grow and expand, not everyone sold all of them sold all of their possessions. People would have to continue to work to buy food and shelter for themselves and one another. Some would host house churches. However, those that were true to the church used their possessions, gifts, and service to glorify God above all else.

Praying and praising God without ceasing

We are directed to do so! We are to pray without ceasing. Not just pray for ourselves and others, but praise God for all of the blessings and presence in our lives. We have less time to worry when we are praying. We have less time to talk about others when we are praying. We have no time for negativity when we are praising God for His goodness.

Give generously for the goodwill of all.

When these new converts would sell their possessions, they would not just use the funds to support one another. They gave to the poor, helped those in need and funded ministries that would share the good news. They did not discriminate even in times of persecution. They were careful, but still generous.

So what does this mean for us?

In today's culture of quick gratification and wanting results immediately, it is hard for us to believe that this moment of great praise and worship lasted days, weeks, even years. Our faith is intertwined with all that is going on in the world today that we have to work hard to make acting like a Christian a priority. Let us be honest. How many of us willing to give up our desires and ownership of our possessions and use them for the glory of God alone? How many of us desire to be here in this building with our fellow church family consistently and are very happy to fellowship with one another? How often do we read the Bible, tell others what we know, and discuss the apostles teaching with other believers. as in attending Bible Studies and small group gatherings? Is every word and thought you have pleasing to God and an open dialogue between you and your Creator?

The Spirit is still pouring into the hearts of the Faithful

This day of Pentecost was the initial Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Since then, the church has experienced Revivals. As years go on, we try to plan and schedule a “Revival” asking guest preachers and musical groups to play hoping that we will experience the transformation of our community and feel the highs of heaven for ourselves. This is not all bad. There are two things that we need to understand about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. One, it is life changing. Look at the lives of those first believers. They did not feel the grace and love of God without it absolutely changing all aspects of their lives. This is why many times the true movements of revival happen over and over in different parts of the world becoming eras of Great Awakening. We are in a time of Great Awakening right now. So should we want to be a part of this time of Awakening, what should we do? Act like it. We need to come back to the life of a disciple of Christ where we are praying for God to move in our church, our family and in our community. We need to devote ourselves to the teaching of the disciples and prophets of the One True God that is contained in the Bible. We need to stick around each other, acting like family showing love and compassion for one another. Giving to those in need and helping where we can. We need to support the ministries that we as a church are called to do and ensure that all we do, say, and have brings glory to God not ourselves. God is moving, are you ready to make that kind of commitment?

In the name of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen