Every time I read about the heroics of the Book of Acts Christians, my adrenaline flows! You talk about high adventure; they really shook up the status quo and turned the world around them upside down. (Acts 17:6)
A few bars of praise and POW! An earthquake unlocks prison doors and shackles fall to the floor. (Acts 16:25-26)
Peter stares at a pitiful lame man, begging at the temple gate, and says, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you; in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene…rise up and walk!” Immediately, a bolt of healing strikes and the lame man is walking and leaping and praising God! (Acts 3:6-8)
It was like a never-ending chain of spiritual Mission Impossibles. The blind cried for joy as color and light broke into their world of darkness. The deaf shook their heads in wonder, as the first sounds they had ever heard hit their ear drums. Corpses blinked back to life while laying on slabs of death. The insane were freed from a world of torment. Tens of thousands were liberated from the gates of hell by the liberating gospel of Jesus.
The Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews tried to stop this ongoing display of miracles and wonders wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit. God had broken free from His long confinement in the dusty pages of the Torah and was once again moving among His people.
After counseling together, the Sanhedrin erected a stop sign. They decreed, in effect, “We forbid preaching and acting in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18)
Do you know where the Sanhedrin is today? Or how about anyone else who has tried to stop the advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? They are all gone. But Jesus lives on! And today, He is still healing, still setting captives free, and still saving lost lives. He did it then, He is doing it now, and what’s best of all, He wants to do it for you.