BECOMING A CHURCH OF IRRESISIBLE INFLUENCE ACTS 5:12-16

INTRODUCTION

An Amish boy and his father were visiting a city and went to a new shopping mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw. However, they were especially amazed by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked his father, “What is this father?” The father, who had never seen an elevator, responded, “Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life. I don’t know what it is.” While the boy and his father were watching, wide-eyed, an elderly lady in a wheelchair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between and into a small room. The walls closed as the boy and his father watched small circles of light with numbers above the wall light up. They continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction. The walls opened up a again and a beautiful twenty-four- year- old woman stepped out. The father said to his son, “Go get your mother.”

That Amish husband and fathered was thrilled at the potential of a physical transformation. That is what many in the church desired as well. However, when it comes to the church, God is more interested in the beauty of a spiritual transformation and the spiritual power that will bring.

Unfortunately that is not the reputation of many churches in our day. Our influence in the community is resisted because the church has become content being the church being the church we want to be, not the church we need to be. Thus, the reputation of the church as that we are weak, anemic, and powerless. The church is marred by egotism, narcissism, and other self-serving and selfish attitudes.

The text before us will reveal the qualities of a church that has a strong foundation for becoming a church of irresistible influence.

I. A TRUE CHURCH IS A SUPERNATURAL CHURCH (5:12)

Such a church will manifest the miraculous. This is only possible if the church is a spiritually united church. The church of the first century was a church operating by miraculous power. notice this was done through the hands of the apostles. None of you sitting in this room are apostles, in the strictest meaning of the word. Further, despite their arguments to the contrary, there is no genuine reality in our day of an apostolic church. So, what does this mean for us?

First, we must understand what is meant by “signs and wonders.” Signs plus wonders equals the miraculous or supernatural. This means it comes from God and not man. The sign is the mark or indication of God’s authority and power. It is the outward evidence of the inner working of God in a particular situation. The term wonder literally means, “something strange.” It is that which is awe-inspiring. It is that which is beyond our human ability to do and understand. Therefore, a miracle is made up of the supernatural external manifestation which confronts the mind and causes one to be filled with awe. This awe, in turn, brings one’s mind back to the supernatural source of the miracle. It does not bring attention back to the miracle itself.

The signs and wonders were designed to point people to spiritual truth. They also conformed the apostles’ claim to be God’s messengers. With the passing of the apostles from the scene and the completion of the canon of Scripture, the need for miracles in this context vanished. The miraculous of this sort was never intended to be a permanent part of the church. It was intended to be a unique ministry of the apostles.