When you read about the Acts church, you read of a group, a people, a time where the Gospel was preached more so than ever. This is was the time the Holy Spirit came and empowered the apostles and all who were in the upper room to evangelize, speak/preach the Good News of Jesus Christ (Acts 2). This movement, this transformation, this encounter, led 3000 to surrender their lives to Jesus and repent of their sins (Acts 2:37-41).

A movement is arising in this time as well and it is moving forward as a spiritual activity that is causing changes, transformation, freedom, deliverance, and redemption for many who are hearing the Gospel and receiving the Gospel. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just a movement, but a transformation. The old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5;17). It is a life changing encounter is not physical encounter but spiritual. It is an encounter of the One who came on earth, to bring salvation to ALL but also division, where and light and darkness separate. He, Jesus Christ the Son of GOD, came to unveil the truth, raw truth that challenged people’s beliefs and ideas of what living life was really about. From love your enemies to cutting off your right arm, depicts of a life, a brand new life in Christ, that shows that when we become Christ followers, children of GOD, our lives are completely different from the world’s lifestyle. It’s not popular, it’s not well liked, it is highly criticized than any other beliefs that is surfacing the earth right now. 

I have not studied religion, but what I have known is that religion gears you towards idolatry, serving self. Other religion talk about making things right on your own, in hoping of gaining rewards of good works. But the Gospel is different. The message of the Gospel is unique and it confuses the elect, the intelligence because it is the simple Gospel: Let go of yourself and believe in Jesus Christ by faith (John 3:16), turn to the GOD who made you, who knows all about you (Jeremiah 1:5), who wants a relationship with you, who wants you to know Him better (Ephesians 1:17), and who wants to fulfill His destiny within you (Romans 8:30), more so that you can imagine (Ephesians 3:20). 

And to turn, you must go through Jesus Christ. You must confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is LORD. You must repent of your sins, no longer conforming to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You must believe by faith that He came to die for your sins and the Father rose Him up again after 3 days (Romans 10:9). Jesus Christ came on earth to die for our sins so that we will not receive GOD’s judgement if we were to reject Him, which would be a sin, but receive eternal life and surrendering our all to Him. 

It’s not a difficult message, but we humans make it difficult. And we make it difficult because we still lean on ourselves.

The Acts church is a movement where we go forth and serve our communities, reaching out to the lost, and love them through the love of GOD. We are the body, the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was not one who was always laying around but was always active, doing the will of Him who sent Him and spending time with Him. That was that the Acts church did: fellowshipping with one another, serving one another, growing in the WORD, serving their community, and preaching the Gospel (Acts 2:42-47). 

Let’s not forget that the Acts church also encountered various persecution. From the story of Stephen to James, John’s brother, even Peter, and various disciples/servants of the LORD were martyred for the Gospel. It seems like the Christians, Christ followers are the only ones that are being persecuted for their faith. Those in Buddha are not being persecuted,  Hinduism is not being persecuted, and not even Islam. But when you start speaking Jesus Christ, things start to erupt. 

Let’s continue to pray for our brothers and sisters to stand for TRUTH along with asking the Father to protect, preserve, and provide the needs of our brothers and sisters, and may we also pray for ourselves, so that we continue to stand for the TRUTH.

We are in a spiritual place, time, season, hour where we as the Church of Christ, need to be the Acts church, speaking the TRUTH, and serving the people, reaching the lost. This was Jesus Christ’s last commandment on earth concerning preaching the Gospel, in Matthew 28:18-20, the WORD says, “Then Jesus came close to them and said, “All authority of the universe has been given to me. Now wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to faithfully follow  all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age.” 

He also said that we will not be able to go out there and make disciples without the counselor, the Spirit of TRUTH, The Holy Spirit, who empowers us to be Jesus Christ’s witnesses, telling people about Him everywhere-to the ends of the earth. So let’s ask the Holy Spirit to empower us, then go forth, knowing that He will help us. 

Speaking the truth is not going to come without persecution. But I believe that is what the LORD is calling us to do, to speak the TRUTH even when there is persecution going on. We cannot silence our voices, we cannot silence who we believe in. He is greater and all things belong to HIM. If He is for us, who can be against us? Will we acknowledge the LORD Jesus Christ in front of men and stand in His truth, even in the midst of persecution? This is not an easy word to write about or even think about, but it has to be said so that we understand that Christianity is not your easy ticket to get saved because you do not want to go to hell. But it is a relationship with GOD who knows you and wants you to know who you are by knowing Him first. And wants you to share with others the salvation He gave you so they also receive the Gospel when they believe in Jesus Christ. The Gospel is not a religion but a relationship. Adam and Eve did not have a religion before the LORD, they had a relationship. David did not have religion with the LORD, he had a relationship. The Acts church did not have a religion with the LORD, they had a relationship. 

Church, Bride of Christ, Children/People of GOD, let us Acts and serve and stand in TRUTH. Let’s not sit in church pews and think about ourselves when we’re told to love others as ourselves. We need to keep our lamp burning. Let’s be the light that shines in the world, pushing back the darkness, comforting the brokenhearted, proclaiming the captives their release, and setting the prisoners free (Isaiah 61:1). Let us be who we are as Children of GOD, shining our light, being the salt of the earth, walking with pure hands and pure hearts. Let us clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Colossians 3:12). Let us stand and therefore stand, for it is the time to ACT, to go forth and trust that He will be with us. 

Glory to the LORD.