Reflection On Acts 4

I am meditating on one chapter a day through Acts. Today is chapter four. Here are some of my reflections:

• v.4. People are believing and the number of the church is growing to about 5000. 1.) Statistics seemed important to Luke, because he regularly updates the numbers of people. 2.) The audience is a group of people with a jewish mindset. They've been trained from birth to look for a Messiah. They've been under Roman rule for as long as they can remember. They hear that Jesus is the Messiah and they believe. I'm interested as the book progresses to see the evangelism that happens outside of that cultural context. We certainly don't live in a society that is looking for a Messiah of the order of Jesus the Christ.
• v. 13. They took note that these men had been with Jesus. Now, this is a tangible notation. They had actually walked with Him, and been at all the places he was. But I can't help reading that kind of thing and praying that people will take note of me as a person who has been with Jesus.
• The main point of my meditation is to learn what a Spirit-empowered church looks like. I'm praying for fresh vision for our church. We did not start a church to hold service on Sunday. We started a church to affect the spiritual destiny of Maryland. That's what the Acts church was like; its what they did. I want to learn from what they did and do it again at SRC.
  
• v. 24-31. They lifted their voices together in Prayer. Prayer is huge. It repeats over and over in the book of Acts. The church prayed.
• v. 32-35. Is a great picture of what the church should be like. If you get the chance today read through it. I'll post it here for your meditation:

Acts 4:32 - 35 (NIV) All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.