CONTINUING IN REVIVAL
Acts 3:1-26
INTRO: What do we expect to happen after the revival services have ended? Is it back to business as usual? or, do we expect God to continue to do some great things in our lives and our Church?
For some, you are glad that the revival services have ended. You attended the services, and perhaps even walked down the aisle, making a decision. But now you are ready to put that behind you, and get on with what you normally do — nothing! For others of you, you are excited and want to do something, but you just don’t know what to do, or how to do it. This message will give us some guidelines into what to do and how to get started.
I. WE CONTINUE IN REVIVAL BY MEETING PEOPLE’S PHYSICAL NEEDS (vv. 1-11).
The great experience of Pentecost had come and gone. The people were excited about what God had done. There were at least 3,000 souls saved and added to the Church. The fellowship was good, and God was blessing.Now it was time to start doing some of the things that they had been commanded to do. Peter and John were on their way to the temple for a prayer meeting. On the way they met a man with a great physical need. Peter did the only thing he knew to do. He ministered to the man’s physical needs. The man was healed and began praising God.
ILLUS: Have you seen Walter Keene’s haunting pictures of little children with the big gaunt eyes? There is one of a little girl whose sad eyes burn like fire. Someone asked Keene how he came to paint those pictures of little lost children with the big sad eyes. He said, “It was just after the Second World War. My soul was stirred by my art student days in Europe by the memories of war-affected children. I saw all kinds of hurting children. If mankind would look deep into the soul of the very young, he wouldn’t need a road map. I wanted other people to know about those eyes, too. I want my paintings to clobber you in the heart and make you yell: ‘DO SOMETHING!’”
Revival services have come and gone in our Church. We are feeling good about what God has done. We are excited, and anxious to get started. But where do we begin? What do we do now?We need to recognize that there are those around us who have physical needs. I am not just talking about those who need food, gasoline, clothing, etc.
There are many people in our community who have physical needs but never ask for anything. That lonely widow who needs someone to talk to. That elderly couple who need someone to clean their house. That person who can’t drive and needs some help getting groceries, getting to Church, etc. Those little children who need someone to care enough about their soul to bring them to Church and sit with them during the services. These are some of the ways we can meet people’s physical needs.
II. WE CONTINUE IN REVIVAL WHEN WE MEET PEOPLE’S SPIRITUAL NEEDS (vv. 12-26).
When Peter realized that his simple act of meeting a physical need resulted in attracting the attention of a curious crowd, he immediately began preaching to them about the love and forgiveness of Jesus whom they had crucified.He told them how Jesus had forgiven the lame man and had given salvation to him. He said that same salvation was available to all who would receive Jesus into their lives.
PETER FIRST HELPED A MAN WITH A PHYSICAL NEED, THEN HE MINISTERED TO THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF MANY.
ILLUS: Martin Luther’s preaching aroused the Church from a thousand years’ slumber during the Dark Ages — the devil’s millennium. It is easy to understand why when we discover how Luther preached. He said, “I preach as though Christ was crucified yesterday, rose again from the dead today, and is coming back to earth tomorrow.”
If we are not careful, we can get so busy helping meet the physical needs of people that we fail to recognize the spiritual needs that are all around us.While it is important to meet the physical needs of people, the most important task we have is meeting the spiritual needs of people.I am afraid we sometimes are more concerned about, and get more excited over meeting physical needs than we do over meeting spiritual needs.There are many people in our community with spiritual needs. We must ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us to lost people that we can minister to spiritually. Only then have we fulfilled our responsibility to that lost soul!
CONC: Will revival continue in your life? Will revival continue in our Church? It will if we commit ourselves to doing the above. That is how it was able to continue after Pentecost, and how it can continue today!
