Through us

Acts 5:12-16

Can you imagine the excitement of the young church in Acts?

It’s a movement of God that everyone sees. No, not everyone believed what was happening. Not everyone joined the fellowship. But there was no denying something was happening. People flocked to the apostles and many experienced signs and wonders.

There was no dragging required.

People were hoping for a chance just to get in Peter’s shadow. There’d be healing there, they thought. It’s unclear where they got that idea. Was it something they came up with themselves? Did they hear it from others? Was it anything people actually experienced?

Whatever the case, miracles abound. Luke says this was all done “through the apostles.” What a great reminder. Whatever power people saw, it was not that of the apostles. It was through them such experiences manifested. Whatever gift they could offer was because of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power.

The question always comes up in studying Acts. Should we expect signs and wonders like what we read from Luke? Or was that only for a certain period of the church’s life? Wherever your inclinations lead you, one important detail remains. You and I don’t perform God’s work. God works through us.

That leads to another faithful insight. The church God builds is Acts in God’s. The church God has built since is God’s. The church God is building today is God’s.

Not yours.

Not mine.

Not even our tradition’s.

We, too often, oppress God’s church with schisms and heresies. But God is always faithful to make us a new creation by “water and the Word” (The Church’s One Foundation).

Luke says, “Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord” (Acts 5:14). Yes, people became a part of the ecclesia. Thousands of people joined the fellowship of believers. They were the church.

But let’s never forget they were joined to God. We are joined to God. We are God’s people, a part of God’s church. When we remember we are Gods and don’t lose sight that we are God’s church, ministry takes on new life. Excitement builds. People come to know the grace of God through us again.

Stay blessed…john

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John Fletcher

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