Riding the Cycle
Sunday, December 6, 2009Subtitled ‘Persecution Intensifies as Resurrection Power is Demonstrated’ and taken from Acts 5: 12-42 – this was a very on-target message for the fellowship and described how Christian fruitfulness generally follows the cycle seen in this passage (and elsewhere in Acts, and in the life of Jesus) of prayer, power, persecution, perseverance and then more prayer – and so on.
Persecution goes with the territory and we should expect it and even welcome it because it always brings greater fruitfulness. Prayerlessness is powerlessness, but who wants to be a church of people who put their Christian life in a little Sunday compartment, and as a consequence are no threat to the enemy? If we want to see the kingdom extended, we’ll learn to ‘ride the cycle’ and be joyful in the face of difficulties (1 Peter 4: 12-14, Luke 6: 22) often triggered by our unshakeable stance on the reality of the risen Christ – which the world tries hard to ridicule.
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