'The Sound of Heaven Touching Earth'

Today was Pentecost Sunday, celebrating the day the Holy Spirit descended on the first century church, recorded by Luke the Apostle, in Acts chapter 2. What it brought to my mind all day today was how different church is from in the first century and how it has changed throughout history, going from meeting every day to meeting for an hour on Sunday. What happened? This evening my small fellowship gathered with a few other churches in town for a meeting to participate in corporate worship. Three pastors played their guitars and led worship songs for quite a while, followed by a couple of people who had brief testimonies to share, and then practically everybody got prayer for something. It was really a wonderful time. I don't really wonder why we don't meet every day anymore, because, to me, at least, it seems like people added church onto their schedules as simply one more thing to do, and now, many people have abandoned church altogether. In other words, we have simply grown cold where church is concerned, and it shows in our world and in our nation. But I'm really not an expert on church history, and it's late, so I'm not going to delve into the changes that have occurred over time, I just want to comment briefly. First of all, after Jesus rose from the dead, he spent forty days with the disciples, speaking to them "of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." He told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the "Promise of the Father." They wanted to know when He was coming back, and he said, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1: 4-6). After he said this, Jesus ascended in a cloud, and as they watched him go up, "two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go up into heaven'" (Acts 1:9-11). Then they went in the upper room "with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers to pray" (Acts 1:12-14). You can read in Acts chapter 2 about the Day of Pentecost, which means 50 days after Passover in the Jewish calendar and 50 days after the Resurrection of Jesus in the Christian calendar, how the Holy Spirit came down with a sound "as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each one who was there and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4). Multitudes of people observed this and Peter explained that this was fulfillment of the prophet Joel, who prophesied, "'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;...I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved'" (Acts 2:17-21) So, we are in the last days. It seems like they have been going on for quite a while now, but we are in them. I just want to say that the strongest line in this prophesy, in my mind, is "Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord" (verse 20) which warns of judgment. We are living in days of grace, but those days will come to an end, and judgment is coming. We have become lazy about discipleship in America, but the times are changing. There used to be something called "cultural Christianity," which meant that Christian values were an integral part of our culture in the United States, but gradually, we have seen a decline in this. We have taken a lot of things for granted, and I think we are ripe for revival. I could be wrong, but I believe that the stirrings in our country and around the world are just the rumblings of judgment coming, and people need to pay attention. The dispensation of grace has an end, and we need to get right with God, because, as the prophet said, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." So, it is time for believers to be very alert and prayerful, seeking God and listening to him when he speaks to us. We are to be powerful witnesses for Jesus, not just casual church goers. He has work for each of us to do in this we call the Great Commission, which Jesus gave to his followers, recorded in all four of the gospels, but I quote from Mark 16:15-18): "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned..." I encourage anyone reading this to go and read about the signs following, because I think believing and being saved are the focal point of the gospel message, and this is the time to be about our Father's business. It was good to be in the house of the Lord tonight. That's all.