Lord, One More Time

Acts 8:4-8

Lord, One More Time!

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.  Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.  With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.  So there was great joy in that city.

o you long for revival?  Have you any idea what a revival would mean to your community?  To your church?  To yourself?  I rather suspect that if we truly understood what a revival entailed we would pray, “Lord, whatever you do, do not send revival!”  Revival demands more than we could imagine.  I am the first to acknowledge that there are rich benefits to revival, but as one who has witnessed that divine movement, I am aware of the awesome cost of revival.

An old holiness preacher journeyed to London.  There in the great city he came upon a statue of the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth.  The old preacher stood before the statue briefly, looking up and contemplating the power of Booth’s service.  He thought of the resistance to the Salvationists among the established churches.  Booth and his followers were turned out of the Methodist churches, refused a hearing within the Anglican churches and despised by almost all other churches.

The crime of these early Salvationists was that they used unorthodox methods to gather the curious from among the rowdy inhabitants of the streets of the great cities of the world.  They would beat drums and clang cymbals and blow trumpets to gather a crowd.  They would run through the streets shouting at the top of their lungs until people would follow them just to see what was happening.  They reached out to the drunkards and the prostitutes and the filthiest denizens of society.  For this crime of compassion, they were disenfranchised by the churches of their day.  Nevertheless, Booth refused to turn aside from his calling to care deeply for fallen and hurting humanity.

With his eyes misting over, the old holiness warrior fell to his knees and bowing his head, he cried out, “Oh, Lord!  Do it again!  One more time!”

As I read the account of the early days when the first church had been scattered, I realise that they were a powerful people.  There is no comparison with the churches of this day, I fear.  The power of the apostolic church came as result of their weakness in society and not because of their numbers.  Scattered by powerful enemies who threatened their continued existence, the early saints could not be silenced.  As embers from a small campfire scattered before the wind, they began a conflagration which would not be contained.  Dry tinder exposed to such glowing embers can ignite a great forest fire.  Just so, a small movement of a few people driven by desperation to rely on God and His strength will ignite a great revival movement.  Lord, do it again.

A Powerless People Must Depend Upon an Unseen God — It will be valuable to review the verses preceding our text.  On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.  But Saul began to destroy the church.  Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison [Acts 8:1b-3].

What happened?  Stephen had preached the message of life, winning some to the Faith.  When Paul writes the Christians in Rome, he greets by name a large number of fellow believers as he concludes the letter.  Among those greeted is a man named Herodion, whom Paul identifies as his relative [Romans 16:11a].  Others identified as relatives are Andronicus and Junias, who also shared imprisonment with the Apostle [Romans 16:7].  Paul had relatives who were in the Faith, apparently before him.

Let me attempt to fill in the gaps.  Perhaps we can account for the persecution.  Acts 6:8-10 tells of the opposition which arose against Stephen’s preaching.  Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.  Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia.  These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

His preaching was especially powerful in persuading some who were affiliated with the Synagogue of the Freedmen.  The membership of this particular synagogue was composed primarily of Jews from Cilicia.  Saul was from Tarsus, a city in Cilicia.  I suggest that among those converted to the Christian Faith were Jews named Herodion, Andronicus and Junias—each identified as relatives of a brilliant young rabbi named Saul from Tarsus.  If this speculation is correct, and I do admit that it is speculation, it will account for the rage exhibited as that young rabbi attacked the Faith.  Why else would Saul feel compelled to participate in the trial of Stephen?  Why would he feel it necessary to follow through by hailing men and women into court and dragging them into prison?

I suggest that Saul was infuriated, enraged, out of control.  He landed with both feet in the midst of the church, scattering those hapless saints throughout the Empire.  Notice, especially, that all except the apostles were scattered [Acts 8:1b].  Notice further, that those who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went [Acts 8:4].  The leadership of the Apostles was nullified.  If anything would be accomplished, it would be through the disoriented and frightened people.  Where do you turn when your world is turned upside down?  To whom do you look when all comes crashing in?

I suppose that one of the darkest periods Lynda and I have ever faced was when we were notified that our son had been arrested and charged with murder.  We were fearful and uncertain what to do.  Lynda had been phoned literally minutes before she was to leave for church.  She phoned me less than ten minutes before I was to preach.  I remember quite clearly that I dropped my head and wept.  I needed a pastor.  When your world comes crashing in, the pastor will be there.  Who is your pastor’s pastor?  I had no power and the congregation was waiting.  I prayed and surrendered myself to the unseen God.  That morning, though my heart was torn to pieces, I preached with great freedom and souls were brought to Christ.  That is God and that is His grace.  When your world crashes and when there is nowhere to turn, the unseen God will reveal His power and enable you to accomplish deeds you might otherwise have thought to be impossible.

In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews—the Faith chapter—is one verse which has often sustained me in crisis.  By faith [Moses] left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible [Hebrews 11:27].  Isn’t that one of the most astonishing verses?  Moses persevered because he saw the unseen God.  It is as though God is saying that on occasion, when we are weakest… when we are unable to continue… when we think all is finished for us…  God draws back the curtain and reveals Himself to us.  We see Him and we discover His power.

Perhaps the reason we witness so little of Christ’s power in our lives is that we are unconscious of our need for that power.  We contemporary Christians have permitted ourselves to become convinced that we are sufficient in ourselves for all things.  Consequently, we seek converts to ourselves—our ideas and our concepts and our ease.  The evidence that this is true is seen in the fact that we are more impressed by mutual tolerance than we are impressed by constructive conflict.  It is through being challenged that we discover the sufficiency of the truth we have received.  It is as we stand with Christ that we discover that He is sufficient to answer His critics.  Nevertheless, we imagine that if the world agrees with us and does not bother us, then we are honouring God.  It is only because we have accomplished nothing of consequence that the world leaves us alone.  An old southern adage states, If you want no trouble, don’t do anything, don’t say anything, don’t be anything.  No one beats a dead horse.

If, on the other hand, we are powerless, we are compelled to rely on the unseen God.  May I say categorically that I hear little of desperation in our voices when we pray.  I think of what may have been Peter’s most anguished prayer—and what may have been his most powerful prayer.  The disciples were rowing against the wind and making no headway when they witnessed Jesus walking on the water toward them.

Peter, hearing the reassuring voice of the Master, asked that He invite him to walk on the water with Him.  “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter said, “tell me to come to you on the water” [Matthew 14:28].  At the Lord’s invitation, Peter began to walk on the water.  All was proceeding well until Peter began to think about what he was doing.  Looking at the waves being piled up by the wind, he became fearful and got his feet wet.

Sinking, Peter prayed.

“Oh, Thou great and gracious God; Thou who hast made the heavens and the earth; Thou who dost hear the penitent cry, do hear the petition which I, Thy faithful servant dost offer up.  Oh, Merciful God, I am not worthy to come into Thy presence nor yet to receive the least of Thy mercies, yet I believe that Thou shalt receive.”

By this point in his recitation, Peter would have been conversing with the fishes.  No!  His prayer was to the point.  Lord, save me!  He was powerless while walking in fear and he had but one prayer—a cry for rescue.  Kuvrie, sw`son me.  There wasn’t time to pray much else, but wrapped up in those brief words is his acknowledgement that he was powerless and that he was looking to the only One in whom such power resided.

Focus once again on the text.  Those who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went—OiJ me;n ou\n diasparevnte" dih`lqon eujaggelizovmenoi to;n lovgon.  This was not a formal preaching such as you receive when this pastor stands before you.  This was not a formal sermon with three points and a poem.  Those who were dispersed announced the Good News of the Word.  They evangelised!  Moffatt says they went through the land preaching the gospel.[1]  Weymouth says that those who were scattered abroad went from place to place spreading the Good News of God’s Message.[2]  Eugene Peterson captures the essence of Doctor Luke’s account by translating this verse: Forced to leave home base, the Christians all became missionaries.  Wherever they were scattered, they preached the Message about Jesus.[3]

This is vital precisely because we have permitted ourselves to be trained to accept the concept that only experts can tell others of Christ the Lord.  It is not four years of seminary which will equip us for service to the true and living God—it is salvation and utter dependence upon Him!  It should be the aspiration of each Christian to bring someone to faith.  If we depend upon the unseen God, His power is supplied to us.

The promise of the Risen Christ is implicit in the words of the Great Commission.  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age [Matthew 28:18-20].

As we go, it is always with the assurance that the Risen Son of God goes with us.  As we go, it is always with the confidence that we are equipped to make disciples.  Though many among us would no doubt confess that we have no longing to be a preacher, we realise that God is with us and that His power is given to us for His glory.  Therefore, we are bold to claim, I can do everything through him who gives me strength [Philippians 4:13].

Philip, a deacon (and not an elder), proclaimed [ejkhvrussen] the Christ in Samaria.  This godly deacon did not invest his time in praying that God would send a preacher.  Seeing the need of lost souls, he heralded the Christ.  His response to the need should not be so surprising since he had shared the duties with Stephen as one of the first deacons [cf. Acts 6:5].  It was Deacon Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, who stirred up such opposition from within the Synagogue of the Freedmen.  Hailed before the Sanhedrin, Stephen had with boldness preached Jesus to the enraged mob.

The religious leaders, furiously popping their teeth like enraged bears, threatened him with death.  In the face of this very real threat, godly Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up and saw the glory of God and the Lord Christ standing at the right hand of the Father.  Stephen saw the Risen Son of God, and he was at liberty to announce to the mob, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God [Acts 7:56].

Remember that Philip was recognised as a Christian full of the Spirit and wisdom [Acts 6:3], just as was true of Stephen.  Therefore, we should not be surprised that he would stand to declare Christ and the freedom that is found in Him.  Let me make one point very clear.  Shortly we shall begin the process of seeking out deacons for the church.  Those chosen must be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  That individual who does not witness, who does not seize the opportunity to tell others of Christ, is not full of the Spirit and that one is certainly not full of wisdom.  I have no doubt that it will require courage for the church to resist the pressure to appoint some without regard to their willingness to witness to Christ, but those who would honour God must be willing to see the unseen God.  They must depend upon Him and give evidence of their walk through bold witness.

A Message Resulting in the New Birth will Compel those thus Changed to Speak — Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.  Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there [Acts 8:4, 5].  As we read this account we are left with the impression that those speaking were incapable of doing anything other than speaking of Christ.  They were compelled by the knowledge of Christ to speak of Him.

Earlier in the account of the church we read of Peter and John when they were hailed before the Sanhedrin.  The Sanhedrin was in confusion about how to react to the message these men were delivering in the city, and so at last they threatened them and released them.  When this august body commanded Peter and John to cease speaking in the Name of Jesus, the disciples replied: Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.  For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard [Acts 4:19, 20].  Focus on that last statement which Peter spoke to the religious leaders.  We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

The weight of salvation compels believers to speak.  Let me ask you a serious question.  Do you possess Christ?  Or do you merely profess Christ?  It is one thing to profess Christ, claiming that you believe all that is written of Him in the Word, but it is quite another thing to possess Christ.  When He dwells within, He transforms our life.  One of the grave dangers to evangelical churches is the tendency to accept individuals whose lives remain unaltered.  We are responsible to demand godliness of each saint who claims membership within the church.  We are not permitted the luxury of ignoring behaviour which dishonours the Christ we worship and serve.

Those evangelising preached the Word.  Philip proclaimed the Christ.  To preach the Word is to proclaim the Christ.  To proclaim the Christ is to preach the Word.  Spurgeon insisted that his method of preaching was to select a text and make a beeline to the Cross.  There is great wisdom in that advice.  Throughout the Word is a scarlet thread which when unravelled will lead us to Christ the Lord.  The whole of the Word of God may be summed up in the concepts of ruin, redemption and regeneration.  Man is ruined by the Fall.  Redemption is offered in Christ the Lord.  Regeneration will at last restore all things at the return of our Saviour.

There is, in the Proverbs, strong language to challenge us as we weigh our responsibility to speak to the lost.  Listen to one such place in Proverbs 24:11, 12.

Rescue those being led away to death;

hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”

does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who guards your life know it?

Will he not repay each person according to

what he has done?

I think you will agree with me that this is a sobering challenge.  God examines our actions and He shall call us to account.  Perhaps there is a place for us to be confronted with such threatened judgement.  Perhaps there are among us some individuals who are froward in fulfilling their duties to those yet in sin.  The standard set for us is that pronounced by the Master.  From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked [Luke 12:48].

Though it is possible that some Christians may require such extreme pressure to obey the commands of the Saviour, I would rather believe that those who have been set free will prove eager to ensure that those yet in darkness will receive opportunity to be led into the light.  The very fact that we are set at liberty will compel us to seek freedom for those we know to yet be in bondage.

We enjoy a relationship of love with Christ the Lord.  He saved us so that we might serve Him.  Having received His love, we are responsible in turn to so love Him that we serve in love.  I recall a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses visiting at my door on one occasion who were disarmed by my challenge.  I commended them for their diligence in visiting, and I commented that I also visited people.  I challenged them to consider the respective motives for our actions, however.  They served out of fear that they might not be doing enough to merit God’s favour.  I, on the other hand, performed the very same acts, but I did so because I was already set at liberty.  They worked, hoping that in the end they would discover that God loved them.  Their motive was to coerce God into accepting them.  I performed the very same service, but I acted in love because He had already accepted me.  “Which of us has the higher motive,” I challenged?  They refused to answer, for to do so would only incriminate them.

The love of God compels the child of God to proclaim Christ.  Like Elihu, the Christian says,

I am full of words,

and the spirit within me compels me;

inside I am like bottled-up wine,

like new wineskins ready to burst.

I must speak and find relief;

I must open my lips and reply.

[Job 32:18-20]

Like Jeremiah, the conscientious Christian will find that His Word is in the heart like a fire [see Jeremiah 20:9].

Perhaps the reason such compulsion no longer marks the people of God is that we have ceased to spend time in the presence of the Risen Son of God.  After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two disciples journeying to a village called Emmaus, located about eleven kilometres from Jerusalem.  Jesus joined these two disheartened saints as they walked, and asked them what they were talking about.

The disciples were astonished and asked if He was a stranger.  How else, they wondered, could someone be ignorant of the events surrounding and following the crucifixion of their Master—Jesus of Nazareth?  In their estimate this man Jesus had been a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people [Luke 24:19].  They related all that had happened—the crucifixion, the burial, and now the account of the women who upon visiting the tomb had discovered it to be empty and told of angels at that tomb.

Jesus must have shaken His head as He rebuked them for their failure to believe.  How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?  Seizing this opportunity, the Master began with Moses and all the Prophets as He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself [Luke 24:25-27].  Jesus provided an exposition of the Scriptures in order to instruct them.

Intrigued, they invited Him to join them at the evening meal.  Seated at the table together with these disciples, Jesus took bread and gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them.  This familiar action served to open their eyes so that at last they could see who was dining with them.  Upon realising that it was Him, He disappeared from their sight.

What I call your attention to is what follows.  Scope in on verses 32 through 35.  They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.  There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true!  The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”  Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.

Those that have spent time in the presence of the Risen Lord will have joined the fellowship of the burning heart.  They will find themselves compelled by joy to seek out fellow believers in order to tell them that Jesus is alive.  Should there be no fellow believers to share their joy they will be compelled to find an outsider willing to hear.  Soon, there will be a congregation in that place since the recitation of the truth that Jesus lives will result in life for those who once were dead.

If we teach the Word, others will believe.  If we preach the Word, others will believe.  If we proclaim Christ, others will believe.  If we tell the message of life wherever we go, some will believe.  Demand that the preacher declare the Word.  Demand that those who think to teach tell us what is said in the Word.  Discipline yourself to spend time in the presence of the Living Son of God and you will discover that you cannot help but speak of what you have seen and heard.  Joy will force your mouth open and praise will spill over your lips and touch many lives.

A Transformation Among those who Believe will result in Great Joy — The conclusion of this text is stirring.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.  With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.  So there was great joy in that city [Acts 8:6-8].  Hearing the Word declared with conviction, people will listen.  Lives will be transformed.  When this has occurred, there will result great joy within the city.

My concern is that too many of us speak the words as though they were optional.  Repent, after a fashion, and believe, such as it were, or be damned, in a measure is no message at all.  Declare the message of life with conviction.  I was an awful sinner, but Jesus found me.  He died because of my sin and raised for my justification and when I believed in Him, I was saved.  I am a child of God, redeemed by the grace of God and adopted into the Family of God.  You, also, if you will only believe this Good News, can be set free from the fear of death and enter into life.  This message must be spoken with conviction.

Listen to the passion resident within the apostolic message.  Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God [2 Corinthians 5:14-21].

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me [Galatians 2:20]. 

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever.  Amen [1 Timothy 1:15-17].

My prayer is that we might again fall in love with the Saviour and that together we shall witness His grace poured out in the salvation of souls.  Oh, that the people would proclaim Christ.  Oh, that the preacher would speak with conviction and with power.  Oh, that outsiders would pay close attention to what we preach.  Oh, that some would believe and that their lives would be transformed.  I do not say that we must drive out evil spirits and heal paralytics and cripples, but I do say that we are responsible to rebuke the spirit of lethargy which has blinded us to the presence of our Saviour.  I do say that lives wrecked and ruined by sin will be transformed when Christ is preached in power.  I do insist that when He again reveals His power among His people, there will be great joy in the city.

May it be now.  May it be today.  Please God, let your grace work in our city and in our day.  Amen.

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[1] James Moffatt, The New Testament, A New Translation (Harper & Brothers NY 1922, 1926, 1935) pg. 310

[2] Richard Francis Weymouth, New Testament in Modern Speech (Kregel, Grand Rapids MI 1978) pg. 333

[3] Eugene H. Peterson, The New Testament in Contemporary English (NavPress Colorado Springs Co  1993) pg. 254