Christian Blog

Is your church Purpose Driven, Deliberate, 9 Marks, Emergent, Emerging, Seeker… the list is endless. However, the disciples in Acts did not focus on these distractions. Instead, they preached, administered communion, and fellowshipped together by the power of the Holy Spirit. Today, the question we must ask ourselves is: do we really trust that the power of the Holy Spirit is enough in our ministry or does our hope lie elsewhere?

“It is easy for us to get distracted and find security in other things that serve as substituted to the power of the Spirit. Excellent programming using the best of modern technology, management techniques, and building facilities can produce impressive results. …Many people will come to these churches attracted by the comprehensive program that the church offers. People want a weekly religious dose, and, in our entertainment-oriented culture, a church that provides an entertaining program will attract people, just like a good concert or sporting event will attract people. But Christian ministry is ministry in the Spirit. Without the Spirit’s power, our excellent pogroms are ultimately futile. (Ajith Fernando, Acts NIV Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998), 65)
 

In his commentary on Acts, Ajith Fernando highlights an extremely interesting pattern from the preaching in Acts where the speaker sought to find a common bridge with the hearer and use this to head toward the gospel. Ajith seems to elucidate an excellent paradigm for “contextualization” and “relevant preaching”—a paradigm that considers the hearers' unique circumstances but centers on the message of the gospel.

Many of society's elites speak of diversity and inclusion--and rightly so. As Christians, the hope and ground of our unity is God's act in history to build a people for Himself who transgress social, racial, economic, and all other barriers. One of the clearest acts of God in building a people from every tribe and tongue was Pentecost.

“Pentecost also signals the breaking of barriers that have separated the human race since Babel, with the formation of a new humanity in Christ. In other words, Pentecost reverses what happened at Babel.” (Ajith Fernando, Acts NIV Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998), 90)

One of the strongest evidences that someone has truly been born again is the presence of a strong desire to read, study, and understand Scripture. This is clear in Acts, where the new Christians gathered daily to sit at the feet of the apostles and learn.

“Openness to being fed by the Word is key evidence that one is truly regenerate. Many people come to Christ to have a felt need met because they hear that the God of the Christians is a prayer-answering God. In their eagerness to be blessed by this God, they go through the motions of ‘making a decision’. Since the possibilities of prayer attracted them to Christ, they may give a high place to prayer. But how do we know that the seed of eternal life is germinating in them? If there is such a seed, it will hunger for the nourishment of the Word. Peter states this principle using a metaphor from human life: ‘Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation’ (1 Peter 2:2)” (Ajith Fernando, Acts NIV Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998), 132)