a rarity... a few Jesus thoughts ...

at baylight, we've been going through the book of acts. acts has never fallen on the top of my list of favorite books of the bible (my fav is 1 peter), but p. mike has been doing such a great job with not only explicating the finer points of Scripture, but also giving us a more historically-in-context view of the early church. it's been very interesting.

so this week, acts 19:8-20 was on the sounding board, and i'll always remember this passage/sermon for a couple of reasons:

first of all, it's a pretty incredible passage. it's crazy seeing faith played out this way, seeing paul work a more-than-full time job and then teaching like 5 hours a day, 6 days a week. i am more than chagrined at the fact that i whine whine whine about my job ... but then go home to collapse in a heap on the couch. how do i share my faith actively? does it propel me to keep my day job as my day job and a jumping off point to share the gospel, or do i use my job as an excuse for apathy and laziness?

secondly, the part about the sons of sceva, the jewish exorcists? and how they're challenged by the evil spirit? really scares the crap out of me. not that i'd relish exorcism as a job, but to have the spirit talk back to me and say "Jesus I know and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" OMG OMG OMG. it must've been a real eye-opener for them, esp after they got pounded. and certainly it makes me want to be certain that my actions/work are not disconnected from a true faith in Jesus.

thirdly, the last part of the passage about how all the people who practiced magic collectively burned all their books and the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing? one word, peoples: WOW. WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW. i mean, all these books were worth mountains of money, and as a money-driven society, it would definitely hit below the belt for the Ephesians. but the incredible part is seeing how the people really feared the Lord. i mean, really feared and revered Him. and His name was magnified. and people worshipped the Lord. in the midst of this bustling metropolis and pagan society ... it's really really incredible.

fourthly, and this is one of the MANY reasons why i love baylight ... p. mike does such a wonderful job of tying it all together. he explains the history of it so well, but he is also so very passionate about the gospel. he shared how he felt the Lord was speaking to him, especially in light of this passage. he was so emotional about conveying to us what it means to live a life of joy and conviction the way paul did. how we should not rest on our laurels of past examples of faith, but to live life boldy NOW. he also encouraged us to experience joy and freedom in confessing sin to one another in the context of our church community. and i was so convicted. to know that paul's faithfulness of working and preaching for two years resulted in all of Asia knowing the gospel -- do i live this way? do i live with that sense of urgency and deep-seated desire to see His name blessed by all the nations? and are there areas in my life that are preventing me from knowing Him fully? what am i trying to hide from him?

our church was moved. we have been praying for revival for some time now ... but i knew that the Holy Spirit was really stirring in us yesterday morning. and now my question is: how can we be faithful about praying for revival? how do we keep this one morning of really meeting the Lord from being a random, haphazard event? how do i myself really seize the opportunity to draw close to my God, and to really know Him and be known by Him, and to really live life boldly and freely, proclaiming His name?

pray with me.