Molded Clay

In true revival, Jesus is exalted and magnified and men are humble and fear God. There is an overwhelming sense of God’s perfect holiness and our utter wickedness. Our evil deeds are quickly exposed by the light of God’s holiness and perfection and we are left naked and ashamed and exposed as the rebels we truly are. 

The Ephesians in Acts 19 were confronted with the beauty and power of the Spirit of God at work in Paul’s life through the gospel and they wanted more.  The name of Jesus was magnified above their empty, lifeless religious experiences. His name became beautiful, sacred, and intensely personal. He was their awesome, powerful, triumphant Savior, and at the same time, their intimate friend that gave His life for them on a rugged cross.  

The Spirit of God is again seen in Acts two as the life-blood of the newly birthed ‘church’. The Spirit falls on those who were waiting for power from God. (v. 2) The Spirit filled these men and women and they spoke “as the Spirit gave them utterance”. (v. 4) The Spirit worked in the minds of the multitude so that each person present heard these words in their native tongue. (v. 11) Peter, an uneducated fisherman, stood and preached the gospel after being filled with the Spirit. (v. 14) Peter preached that the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead. (v. 24) The pouring out of God’s Spirit on believers (as demonstrated by Peter’s boldness and power) was prophesied of throughout the entire Old Testament! Here we have Joel and David clearly demonstrating the ever-unfolding plan of the redemption of humanity through Jesus Christ ALONE! The Holy Spirit is seen “in the beginning” in Genesis 1:2 “hovering over the face of the waters”, filling the temple in the Holy of Holies, and by His infinite grace God has chosen to dwell in believers and in the church corporately!

What happens when God’s church humbles themselves and seeks after the power and filling of HIS Spirit?

God responds!

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” (2:37)

The Holy Spirit burst onto the scene in Acts 2:2 in response to continuous prayer and supplication in Acts 1:14, and now by Acts 2:41 three thousand people were filled with His Spirit and began life anew claiming Jesus as their God and Savior!

Let us lay hold of Acts 2:42 and return to true biblical Christianity. I need the presence of God working through me. I need the power of God to fight temptation. I need the power of God to live for Christ in complete unity with other sinners who have as many personality flaws as I do.

We need the presence of God and by His grace, we can obtain it.

Did God save you to limp along in drudgery and live out your Christian life in fear and wimpering? To cower in shame when called upon to mention the name of Jesus? Is this what biblical Christianity becons us to conform to? Absolutely not! Quite the opposite actually! Paul reminds young, timid, Pastor Timothy, “For God has NOT given us a spirit of fear, BUT of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Jesus reassures His disciples that they WILL receive power. When? When the Holy Spirit has come upon them! Jesus’ parting words in Luke 24:49 were emphatic, “tarry in the city of Jerusalem UNTIL you are endued with power from on high”. Don’t go anywhere or do anything until The Spirit is empowering you. Lastly, Paul prays for faithful believers to comprehend “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His might power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead…” (Eph. 1:19-20). That same Spirit that had the power to raise JESUS from the dead is working in us!!! So how do we obtain this kind of power to live for Jesus? Acts 1:14 gives us the key to truly and tangibly experience the limitless power of God: by fully and continually pressing into Jesus in prayer. Daily choosing to abide in Christ that your life may be an abundant one, filled to the brim with the Spirit of GOD in power. That is what the book of Acts reveals, lives lived through the empowering of the Holy Spirit and that power is available to us today through the same means: fervent prayer to an ALMIGHTY God. Let us press in to Jesus and live out true, biblical Christianity.

Have you denied Jesus recently? I confess, I have. Yesterday actually.

Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, I similarly denied him. Just as Peter arrogently proclaimed that he would follow Jesus, even if it cost him his life, so too have I made empty promises that hung on the supposed infallibility of my own merit.

Yesterday, I denied Jesus to my wife. Earlier in the day we got into a big argument. Through my cold, unloving, petty, selfish, actions toward her, I essentially denied my Savior. Through every icy glance, every bitter thought, I, like Peter, was withholding from someone the love and grace and kindness and the very essence of who Jesus is.

At some point, my eyes were opened, and I felt the piercing glance of my Savior, and the shame of my sin.

Thankfully, in chapter twenty-one of the book of John, Jesus meets Peter on the beach and lovingly forgives and restores him. Instead of disqualifying Peter from Christian service, Jesus commands him three times to care for and teach His followers. How I love the limitless mercy and grace of God. Just like Peter, my heart grieved as I prayed, “Lord, You know all things, You know I love You. In spite of my repeated failures and slow learning, I truly love You”. Jesus went on to encourage Peter that he would be a faithful, godly man. So much so, that he would die for his belief in Jesus as an old man! Jesus’ last command for Peter, and for you and I, was simply, “follow me”. Keep your eyes on me alone. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing or not doing, you follow me. This must be our singular aim in life: Following Jesus. Bringing everything under His loving and gracious authority. In Jesus we have abundant and eternal life; redemption from condemnation from sin; and pure, overwhelming, powerful love!

Follow Jesus!

What do you do when your whole world comes crashing down around you? When everything you thought to be true comes into question? When plans don’t work out the way you thought they would? When life just doesn’t make sense?

In John twenty we find that Thomas simply withdrew. He separated himself from his friends. The brutal, bloody, merciless slaughter of his beloved teacher simply wrecked his faith in God. Every one of us has moments where we are similarly shaken, where our faith seems shattered.

Meanwhile, the disciples, just as heart-broken and disillusioned, gather together; downcast, defeated, and fearful. And then…Jesus. Jesus appears before them and their hearts stop. Their hope is renewed again in God. Jesus has met them as they waited together in their despair and weakness. That’s church, that’s true Christian community. A bunch of weak sinners waiting for God to meet them and empower them, encourage them and restore them. Jesus disappears and the disciples are, no doubt, staring at each other in complete amazement with smiles forming on their faces. Hope is renewed!

The disciples seek out their elusive friend and with shouts of joy exclaim, “We have seen the Lord!!!”. Thomas would have been very aware of the dramatic change in their demeanor since he last saw them, yet his despair and isolation prevailed and he failed to believe.

It is truly amazing how far we can fall from God and it seems that the first misstep is usually distancing ourselves from Christian fellowship. Hebrews 10:25 says, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another…”. If you are like Thomas today, go to where Jesus is, because He is the only one that heals in times of loss and pain and despair and even doubt.

Eight days later where do we find Thomas? He was in fellowship again! He was with the saints, waiting to see Jesus. And without a sound, there stood his savior, Jesus, before him. I imagine that Thomas’ heart broke and his eyes welled up with tears of both shame and joy. Jesus spoke to Him gently and bid him to come and see what his sin had cost. As Thomas looked at His pierced hands and put his hand into the wound on Jesus’ side His only logical conclusion burst forth from his mouth, “MY LORD AND MY GOD!”.

Countless times have I seen Jesus meet people and transform heartbreak and despair into shouts of praise and joy. Healing is found only in Jesus. In His presence is fullness of Joy. Our hope is in Jesus because He is our God and He calls those who follow Him His children. He is our Rock, our hope in times of weakness. He is love. He is the image of the Father, God in flesh! And here, Jesus receives worship and affirms Thomas’ statement that He is indeed God!

Go to where Jesus is, where God is meeting His people who are faithfully waiting on Him, find rest for your soul, learn of truth that will set you free. 

“It is finished”! Jesus declared this from the cross. His final words before He breathed His last. What was finished? What did He mean? Did He just mean that His life was over? That His ministry had come to an end? That He failed? Jesus used His last breath to shout the declaration of the long awaited victory over sin and death! What was finished?

God’s sacrifice for our sins!

God had made a way for man to know Him! To enjoy His intimate love. To feel and experience His glorious and powerful presence. To find that ever ellusive state of complete and total forgiveness for every sin we would ever committ. To know God through His Son Jesus. It was finished. The sacrifice complete. God’s judgement completely satisfied through the shedding of the blood of His only Son.

No longer is there a thick veil of separation between God and man because of sin. Through Jesus’ death on the cross we who believe have redemption! Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by ONE offering He has perfected FOREVER those who are being sanctified”. Also, Hebrews 9:28 says, “so Christ was offered ONCE to bear the sins of many”. One offering, once for all. Hebrews 10:12 also says, “But this Man, after He had offered ONE SACRIFICE for sins FOREVER, sat down at the right hand of God”.

This is the “how” of John 14:6. That Jesus is the only way to God, and the method; His sacrificial death on a cross. That was the only way.

In chapter eighteen, the high priest sums up the bible and Christianity in one sentence in Verse 14, “Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.” This amazingly prophetic statement had so many hidden implications. Whatever his intentions were for speaking these words, we’re told that God actually spoke a prophetic word through him.

This is the thrust of the entirety of the word of God! It speaks to the plight of fallen humanity. That we are lost, without hope, alienated from our creator and completely unable to reconcile with Him on the basis of our merit. We sin because we are sinners. This is our condemnation. The high priest’s statement speaks to the justice of God. God is completely just and right. That’s comforting when we think about rapists and murderers receiving justice, but not when we have to answer to our sins. Especially when the bible says that the wages of sin is death…for eternity. God’s requirement: complete perfection. That’s the law, the ten commandments. Break one and God, in His perfect justice, must judge you. So, we’ve all sinned, and we’re all condemned to go to hell because of our sin? Yes. But, what else did the high priest say? “That it was expedient that ONE MAN should die FOR THE PEOPLE!”

This is God’s remedy to both satisfy His perfect justice and display His perfect love for us. Just as the Passover lamb was required to be spotless and perfect, Jesus was spotless and perfect; without any sin at all. That innocent, spotless lamb would then be slaughtered and the blood taken and placed on the doorpost of the house. So to, Jesus laid down His life so that He would be slaughtered for the people, His blood then being shed on that wooden cross. Now we have hope! Just as the Jews were instructed to apply the lambs blood to their doorpost to be saved from death, we are given the glorious privilege of applying the blood of Jesus to ourselves to cleanse us from our sin. We do this by believing in Jesus and placing our faith in Him alone. Did God instruct the Israelites to kill all these lambs because He’s sick or cruel? No! This was one of many pictures of His plan to offer salvation through Jesus alone. It’s all about Jesus. Jesus even said that the entirety of the bible speaks of Him. God is just and He is love. He is allowed to be both through one man, Jesus, God coming in human flesh, dying for the people. Philippians 2:5-12.