Holy Spirit over Pain

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Prayer

Intro text....

Acts 7: 55-60

When we are full of the Holy Spirit our eyes are open to see what our pain would otherwise cloud.

In other words the Holy Spirit is essential to helping us navigate the Changing world we live in.

I already miss the way things were. I miss the crowds... I miss the gathering together under one roof. I miss hearing all your voices lifting up the name of Jesus…I miss looking you in the eyes as I open the word of God to you…I miss the laughter, the joking and to be honest I even miss seeing people nodding off from time to time.

I miss it so much at times that if I am not careful I can allow my emotions to get away form me. I get angry, depressed, overly sensitive, and at times even engage in a bit of self pity.

These emotions are not ones that I deal with well. Mainly because these emotions keep me from seeing what God wants me to see when I need to see it most. They also keep me in a place of lamenting the past and not being willing and able to look at what God wants me to do in the future.

That is why it is so important that we be filled with the Spirit of God. In an ever changing world there is no way we can keep up if we are constantly trying to make sense of the changes on our own power. Or more likely we cannot effectively disciple others if we are constantly trying to keep the world from Changing.

Like it or not the world is changing and the church is in a position where we must look for ways not only to survive but look for ways to continue to disciple a world that needs Jesus.

That was the problem that Stephen was facing in this passage. The problem was not that Stephen was caring for the poor, it was that Stephen was calling into question the current Jewish system.

Acts 6:8–10 NLT

8 Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9 But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 10 None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.

This angered this group so much that they literally stuck their fingers in their ears and shouted lalalalalalalala....Yes just like that…adults so blinded by their own picture of God they could not see God right in front of their own eyes.

Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit allowed him to see Jesus Clearly and speak with absolute confidence even though He was not going to be received well.

This drives home the importance of making sure that we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our response to any circumstance we find ourselves in. Stephen’ would not be able to do any of this if he was not allowing the Holy Spirit in all of his fulness to keep him focused on Jesus in the midst of very turbulent times

The crowds unwillingness to let go of their their current Jewish system led them to violently oppose the message Stephen was trying to teach them.

I know a family that is struggling with this right now. The daughter in this family is with a man that the Dad did not approve of. as a result that dad has nothing to do with his only daughter. The man she has married is a wonderful husband, and father. They have several children but the dad has never spent any time with them. He even treated the daughter as if he did not even know here when she had and interaction with him as a hospital volunteer.

This mans unwillingness to let go of pride and misguided prejudices is robbing him and his entire family of the real joy of actual family.

When others people suggest or circumstance dictate changes to the practices or ideas we cherish, human nature tends to defend our values and return to what we perceive is normal....

But what if God is trying to teach or move us to a more effective way to be His Church in the new world we are about to wake up in?

I have had to think about this a lot over the last few weeks. I have been measuring effectiveness in ministry a certain way for a long time. How many people are at worship, how many people are in small groups, is tithe up or down? How many people are making first time commitments to Jesus? Are we doing a good job with overseas missions etc... All kinds of metrics for success have been used.

But what if it is time to change those metrics? What if the questions move from attendance, and finances to Salvation, Disciples, and Mission?

Quite honestly this scares me to death…yet these were the metrics of the early church. The results of which are still changing the world today. God has been challenging me with the idea that he want to change the hearts of the world more than he wants things to go back to normal.

Stephen full of the Spirit was able to focus on Jesus though the pain he was enduring.

This was not the preferred situation for Stephen. I am sure that he wanted to continue to care for the needs of people and to make more disciples but he was willing to be used in a different way to further the mission he had been given by God.

In Chapter 8 we see the result of Stephen being killed was and eventual persecution of the church which scattered believers all over the world…at the time the pain of persecution had clouded the blessing of persecution.

The blessing was that the message of Jesus spread with the Christians. If they had not left the safety of being congregated in one place they message of Jesus may very well have not changed the world like it has.

Let’s be open to the blessings of a new normal in the midst of todays pain of change.

I believe that this time is history will not only be looked at as a time of a great social transition but also a time of transition for the Church. A time where unprecedented events changed the corse of the Church for the positive forever.

With this in mind we should be open to new expressions of gathering together and outreach opportunities. What if instead of looking forward to the Sunday morning service our small groups became the center of ministry and outreach?

Every home a church…Micro Churches if you will. Just like the beginning of the Church in the 2nd Chapter of Acts... We should not be looking for things to get back to normal but allow the Holy Spirit to fill us so we can engage in innovation that we never would have if we had not gone through what we are going through right now.

We have a tremendous opprotunity through all of this to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and move us into a wonderful new future where we can focus on discipleship and multiplication of new and old believers alike.

I have believed for along time that the way we do Church in the United States was about to change and now some of those changes have been forced upon us. Instead of lamenting what was...it may be time to march into an uncharted future and ask some important questions of the Holy Spirit. Write these down.....

What if the Sunday Gathering never goes back to normal?

How will we transition into this next phase? 

What will change about our church and what will remain unchanged?

How will we be changed as a community of faith because of all of this?

I don’t claim to know the answers to these questions but I am willing to work through them with you…especially if it means being part of God’s great adventure.

The seeds of the next great revival have been planted…you and I have been chosen to tend that garden. What a privilege it is to be see the opportunities that God has for us through the pain the usually clouds out vision.

The disciples were hurting on the night of the Last Passover before Jesus would be handed over to die. Their world was spinning, nothing was happening the way they thought and this moment they were in where Jesus was talking about being broken and bleeding for them was very unfamiliar.

Yet Jesus continues knowing that while they will not be able to see through their pain in the moment…they will see clearly in the future. Let’s gather at the table of the Lord filled with the spirit asking for vision into an uncertain future.

Communion