Once the apostles and other believers heard this, they calmed down. They praised God and concluded, “So then God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life.” – Acts 11:18
The other day the new preacher asked me about the men’s Bible study, having been told we had a great group.
“It’s kind of a phenomenon,” I replied, “and I feel grateful to be a part of what’s happening. It has very little to do with me and everything to do with being open to what God is up to in this particular moment. I think it’s about paying attention more than anything else.”
I really do believe that. Because, thinking back, over the years Rebekah and I have been involved in a number of things that can only be described using that same word, phenomenon (and its plural, phenomena). And always because we were paying attention to God and the moment was right.
In Pensacola the phenomenon was the “Kaleidoscope” Sunday school class. In Brandon it was “Parents of Teens,” then a wide-ranging small group ministry and eventually everything about the whole church. In Wake Forest several overlapping movements of the Spirit qualified as special and powerful beyond anything we could have imagined.
“Prodigious”
My point in this post – or rather my observation – is that God is in the business of prodigious; prodigious is God’s way. Our plans, our best intentions, are nothing compared to the initiatives – the phenomena – of the Spirit.
Hence our ongoing conversation in the men’s Bible study through the Book of Acts. Acts is the story of phenomena, Acts is the story of prodigious. This week we found ourselves in Antioch, where people who had been scattered by persecution “began to proclaim the good news about the Lord Jesus.”
This good news was landing with real credibility because, I believe, “God has enabled (people) to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life” (Acts 11:18).
This is the inflection point that always leads beyond merely keeping the lights on and brings us into prodigious. Hearts and lives changed. New life.
They willfully changed their lives!
One thing we talked about was deliberately, willfully, changing our lives. It’s not like we have this spiritual experience and all of a sudden it is easy to change. I have heard people say, “I might live differently but that’s just not who I am.” or, “I would be a better person but I’m just not that nice,” or, “I would treat my wife better if I fell in love with her again…” As if positive change happens absent our own choice and commitment!
So I asked the guys: “What about if we made the hard choice to live differently? What if we purposefully practice goodness and love and kindness and generosity and grace and mercy and reconciliation and more? What if we do all of that, because we know it’s what God calls us to do? And then one day we wake up to see how our hearts are liberated and healed and overflowing too….”
People are not transformed by what we say about the Gospel, and they don’t come to church because we have such compelling doctrine… No! People respond to the evidence of love and life lived with such eloquence and passion that they too are touched by the Spirit.
I believe the moment is right! The inflection point is now! Are we paying attention to God? – DEREK
People are not transformed by what we say about the Gospel, and they don’t come to church because we have such compelling doctrine… No! People respond to the evidence of love and life lived with such eloquence and passion that they too are touched by the Spirit.