Power Evangelism (Acts 5:12-16)

What does the Bible actually teach about signs and wonders, miracles, healing, and the power of the Holy Spirit?

In Acts 5:12-16, we encounter one of the most remarkable snapshots of the early church. Miracles are happening. The sick are being healed. Demonic oppression is being broken. Crowds are gathering. Yet Luke's main emphasis isn't the miracles—it's that more and more people are being added to the Lord.

In this message, Pastor Timothy Stewart explores the biblical concept of power evangelism and answers important questions such as:

• Are signs and wonders still for today?
• What is the purpose of miracles in the New Testament?
• What does the Bible say about healing and deliverance?
• How should Christians think about spiritual gifts?
• What are the dangers of both skepticism and sensationalism?
• Why did miracles often accompany gospel expansion in Acts?
• How do holiness, hunger, and humility position believers to experience God's power?

Drawing from Acts 5, church history, revival movements, and missionary accounts, this sermon presents a balanced biblical approach to the work of the Holy Spirit while keeping Jesus and the Gospel at the center.

The greatest miracle isn't physical healing—it's the salvation of a soul.

📖 Scripture:
Acts 5:12-16

🔑 Key Themes:

• Power Evangelism
• Signs and Wonders
• Healing and Miracles
• The Holy Spirit
• Spiritual Gifts
• Revival
• The Fear of the Lord
• Holiness
• Humility
• Hunger for God
• Gospel Mission
• Acts Church
• Biblical Christianity

If this message encouraged you, be sure to like, subscribe, and share it with someone who is hungry to see God move in their life.

#PowerEvangelism #Acts5 #HolySpirit #SignsAndWonders #Healing #Miracles #Revival #SpiritualGifts #BiblicalChristianity #VintageChurch #LodiCA #FearOfTheLord #ActsSeries #JesusIsIrresistible

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hopefully you've turned to Acts chapter 5. We're gonna just read a few verses this morning. Verses 12 to 16. It should be on the screen behind me. If you did not bring a Bible, feel free to grab one of our pew Bibles. And if you don't have a Bible, go ahead and take that home and read God's Word. It will change your life. But here we are in verse 12. And the reason that we stand is to honor God's word because we believe that God's word was given to us to equip us, to encourage us, and to empower us so that we might make Jesus irresistible in our everyday life. And so we are back in the book of Acts again, and here is the word of the Lord starting in verse 12. Here we go. Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico. None of the rest dared join them. But the people held them in high esteem, and more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this Lucan summary statement of the power and evangelism that was happening in the early church. Holy Spirit, I pray that as we read this summary statement together and unpack it this morning, I pray that it would provoke in our hearts a holy jealousy. That we would want to see you work in ways that are beyond what we ask or think or imagine. I pray even now, Holy Spirit, you come, you'd open our eyes, you'd give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Jesus better. To know the power of the resurrection. We ask, Lord, that we would rightly divide the word of truth, that you would silence the mouth of the accuser and all the lies and all the confusion and all the deceit, and your truth would be seen this morning. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. This last Friday I got a chance to relive some of my childhood. I took Savannah and Caleb to the movies. Tara didn't want to go. I asked Marvin, but he was going on vacation or something. Because he was an eight. I I didn't you never said you liked He-Man. It's like an 80s. Maybe you saw it on Facebook, but when I was, I think kindergarten, my parents surprised me at my birthday party and hired a He-Man impersonator to come. It was awesome. And my dad commented um in the Facebook post. He said, My dad was a Sacramento police officer before he was a pastor. And he said that before he would go on his swing shifts and get up, that about six in the morning I would go and get VHS tapes. You guys remember what VHS tapes were? You'd have to record and all those Saturday morning cartoon episodes. And if you don't know He-Man, it's okay. It's actually a good movie. But um he's famous for saying, I have the power. You guys know that? Maybe? Maybe not. Um, well, we're talking about power evangelism, and I didn't even plan that, um, but it happened to work. And so we're talking about power evangelism today. And so the first question on your mind might be, what is power evangelism? And so here's a definition for you. And we actually just read about it in Acts chapter 5, verses 12 to 16. But here's a definition where you can maybe wrap your heads around this morning. Uh, power evangelism is the proclamation of the gospel. That's why it's called evangelism, accompanied by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit through signs, wonders, healing, deliverance, and other manifestations. Here's the important part that point people to Jesus. It's actually what we just read in Luke's summary statement. Why am I saying that it's a summary statement? Because we see a summary statement in Acts chapter 2, verses 42 to 47, and we also see a summary statement in Luke chapter or Acts chapter 4, I think it's verse 32 to 34. And now we see another one of Luke's summary statements here in Acts chapter 5, verses 12 to 16. And what are these summary statements? But they're to intended to encapsulate what is the life of the early church as it's bursting out from Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit has empowered them. They don't have the power of grace school, they have the power of the Holy Spirit, and it is moving them into evangelism, pointing people to Jesus and seeing lost people saved, broken people healed, and imprisoned people set free. That's power evangelism. And if you grew up in a church that didn't talk about power evangel evangelism, I'm sorry, but that is in the text, and so we have to unpack it this morning. I don't know about you. It might scare you, it might excite you, it might be like I've never seen that before, but maybe this morning, I hope as I prayed that the Holy Spirit would provoke us to a jealousy that says, I want to see the power of God in my life, in my church, in my family. I want to see lost people saved. Anyone with me? So the first point I want to share with you this morning is that signs and wonders are real. Signs and wonders are real. Um, Acts does not allow for a purely naturalistic Christianity. If you read the book of Acts, you see signs and wonders, you see healings, you see deliverance, you see miraculous things that cannot be explained naturalistically. God heals, God delivers, God intervenes. Why? Because Jesus is alive. Amen. And Jesus, it's not Peter and Paul, it's Jesus at work in Peter and Paul through the church by the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, while he was here on earth, healed, delivered, saved. And so, what would Jesus naturally do through his spirit, through his body, the church, heal, save, and deliver? So here are some examples of signs and wonders on the mission field that we can look back a couple hundred years and um these are well documented and recorded. I know that there are questions when it comes to charismatic excess, and we'll talk about that a little bit this morning. But these are some documented examples of signs and wonders on the mission field. Hudson Taylor, um, he was one of the pioneers of the missionary movement. Many missionaries went to inland China with him, documented, repeated answers to prayer that bordered on the miraculous. And it I love this because Taylor's emphasis wasn't on signs and wonders. It was on dependence upon God. You see, when you're seeking after signs on wonders, you've missed it. But when you depend on God for evangelism, that's where the sweet spot is. His famous principle, this is a great one, I probably should have put it on the screen, but God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. I'll say that one more time. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. And I fear that many of us have not seen power evangelism because we haven't been evangelizing. Remember, Acts chapter 1, it said that you will receive power to do what? Anyone remember? To be my witnesses. In other words, God's power isn't so that you feel good. God's power isn't even so that you would be healed. God's power isn't even so that you would be delivered. God's power is to reconcile you to himself and then put you on the team to go reconcile others. He rescues us to get us on the search and rescue party ourselves. It isn't so that you can feel good and go to heaven. God has a mission here on earth, and he says, I will give power to those who are my missionaries. And so they would recount many extraordinary healings and providential interventions. Um, John Patton recorded this remarkable, he's another missionary, this remarkable providence. One of his most famous incidents was this that hostile tribes were surrounding his mission station intending to kill him. And he and his wife had been praying all night, knowing that there was hostels around. And so miraculously the attackers withdrew. And years later, the tribal chief reportedly converted and explained that during that night when they had surrounded the mission house, that they had seen hundreds of shining warriors surrounding the mission house.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

And so they fled. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

And you know, it's so interesting that when you note some of these missiologists or missionaries, it's so common to hear healings, deliverance, supernatural provision. But again, let me remind you, it's in the context of missionaries. Why is that? It's when they're pioneering new ground. Because odd honestly, gut check here, for myself included, I think a lot of us don't see the power of God like this because we're not taking new ground.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

We're not pioneering, we're not seeking the lost.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

We're just comfortable where we are, as found. You know, John Piper acknowledges this. Craig Keener and his commentary on Acts actually records and documents, it's actually a fantastic book, thousands of eyewitness reports of, and it's a really a massive contemporary work on miracles. Tim Keller, missiologist who's now with the Lord, has argued several times that miraculous ministry frequently accompanies gospel expansion into new territory. So the question would be: where is the gospel expanding in your life? Personally, in your family, in your neighborhood, at your work, where's the gospel expanding? And for many of us, if we've relegated our Christianity to sitting on the bench rather than being on the field, no wonder. God's not going to give you the power of the Holy Spirit to sit on the couch and watch Netflix.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Right?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Charles Spurgeon, um often referred to as the Prince of Preachers, he was not a Pentecostal by any means or um emphasizing the spiritual gifts or miracles, but he actually has very many documented incidents. One of his most famous, while he was preaching, um he suddenly pointed to a man in the audience. That'd be kind of intimidating, right? He pointed to a man in the audience, he said, Young man, those gloves are stolen. He didn't know that, but the Holy Spirit gave a word of knowledge, he called it out, and the man reported later that the statement was true and it contributed to his conversion. That's power evangelism. And Spurgeon viewed this as an occasional work of the Spirit, meaning it didn't happen every Sunday, but he did say that I could tell of many similar instances. And he never claimed to possess a gift that he could turn on and off. But there were moments of God's sovereign will when he distributed his gifts as he pleases, and he saw it lead to conversion, repentance, save salvation, healing, even deliverance. And so he would say that there are moments when the Spirit appeared to grant unusual insight that led directly to repentance and faith. Again, power evangelism, it's for evangelism. That seems much closer to Acts than either skepticism or sensationalism. And so we got to talk about this a little bit because I fear that many of us see power evangelism. We see the shows, we see the hoaxes, and yes, are there fraudsters? Yes. Are there heirs? Yes. But is there real sign of wonders? Yes. When you study the Great Awakening, when you study Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, or George Whitfield or John Wesley or the Hebrides Revival or the Welsh Revival, there are recurring themes that happen. It's not about better methods and better music or better strategy, but instead it describes an environment of deep repentance. Deep repentance, extraordinary prayer, humility, a hunger for God that was rooted in an expectation that God can work. In other words, what we're going to talk about this morning is three things that I want to lay out before you that I believe are precursors to power evangelism: holiness, hunger, and humility. Holiness, hunger, and humility. Holiness, hunger, and humility, they don't produce God's power. We cannot manipulate God. But they are ordinary conditions in which God's people can position themselves to receive what God desires to give. In other words, it's a very rare day when you don't find humility, holiness, and hunger and a miracle. But when you find a community, a private devotion, a church, where they are marked by holiness, hunger, and humility, it's not unlikely. It's probable that you will see God at work in their midst. Number two, signs and wonders are real, but they're secondary. They're secondary. It's interesting as you read through the book of Acts, some people hyperfocus on the signs and wonders, and some common day crusades and certain revivalists, they'll come see the signs and wonders. That was never the message of the apostles. It was always Jesus. Jesus. Even Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, said, The Jews seek signs, the Greeks seek wisdom, but I preach Christ crucified. So they are secondary. It's never come see miracles, but instead they always preach, repent and believe in Jesus. But the miracles and the signs, they did authenticate or confirm the message that the apostles preached, but it never replaced the message. And if you've been in an environment where it was all about signs and wonders, you can often see how that's manipulated, and you can often see how the promises are over-promised, under-delivered. I love Jonathan Edwards, who was a catalyst in the Great Awakening. He saw many such things in the Great Awakening, deep conviction, the Holy Spirit was palpable. But he said this about the fruit of signs and wonders. So, for example, if you experience something, a sign, a wonder, a healing, but it does not lead to fruitfulness, obedience, or in the words of Jonathan Edwards, the true test is whether people are brought to love Christ, hate sin, and obey God. That's the marks of the Holy Spirit at work. And so I think you can use that as a litmus test when you consider moves of God. Did it lead to true repentance? Did it lead to greater faith? Did it lead to greater holiness and greater hunger and greater humility, not pride? One of the things that I have seen in the charismatic space is a lot of spiritual pride. But the true work of God never leads us to pride. Because remember, there can be false miracles and there can be false healings and there can be false deliverance. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, many will come on that day and say, Lord, Lord, did we not know, or did we not cast out demons in your name? And did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not heal the sick in your name? Did we not prophesy in your name? And what will Jesus say to them? Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you. I not knew you and then didn't know you, but I never knew you. So we have to understand that just because you see a miracle, just because you see a sign, just because you see a healing, does not necessarily mean it's the work of the Lord. What is the fruit? Jesus said right there in Matthew 7, you will know a tree by its fruit. Jonathan Edwards, I think, was on to something. Love Christ, hate sin, obey God. The fear of the Lord that we talked about last week, that's cultivated when you see God at work. Number three, signs and wonders point to the coming kingdom. This was true for Jesus, and this was true for Peter and for Paul and for us today. When we see someone healed, they will eventually die. Even if that person was raised from the dead, they're still gonna die. Does that make sense? Even if you were healed of your cancer, you're still gonna die. But what are those breaking in of the kingdom of God? They are to show us that there's a day coming where there will be no cancer, no pain, there will be no one in bondage, no one in addiction, there will be no one lost, but those who have found Christ will be saved. Right? So when Jesus comes preaching the gospel and he heals the sick and he drives out demons, they said in the Gospels, the kingdom of God is upon us. And so when we see the kingdom of God at work, you should see these things. That in other words, it's like saying, This is what the world will be like when Jesus reigns fully. Let me just ask this question. You can be bold this morning. Has anyone been healed from God? All right. So when you were healed, did that mean that you have never been sick again? No. But what that meant when you were healed and touched by the Holy Spirit, it means that the kingdom of God has broken in already, but not yet fully. And one day there will be a glorious inbreaking when all redemptive history is consummated. There will be a day where there's no sickness, no demons, no death, no suffering. So every miracle is a preview trailer of the new creation. I like to say it this way: it's a Costco sample. You guys go to Costco, get the little samples. They're trying to get you the whole meal. That's kind of what we're talking about. When you see a healing, when you see a deliverance, it's a Costco sample. The meal is coming when Jesus returns at the wedding banquet of the Lamb. Now, when we're thinking about these things, there's two ditches, two airs that we can fall into. Usually they're two different categories. They're the extreme left and extreme right. The first ditch that you can fall into when we're talking about signs and wonders is I'll call it cessationist skepticism. God doesn't really do that anymore. God doesn't really do that anymore. I've never seen it. I've never experienced it. And that one guy on TV with the big hair and the fancy suit, he's a fraud. So everyone must be a fraud. Well, I would encourage you to not fall in that ditch because as we've established, and there's plenty of resources I can point you to, especially Keener's work, that God really does do this today. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But then the second air, the second ditch is what I'll just refer to as charismatic triumphalism. Charismatic triumphalism, which says something like this if you have enough faith, God must do it. And unfortunately, I've seen people really hurt because they go to a healer and they pray and they are prophesied, you're healed. It's declared over you. And then they come back a week later and they go, it's still there. And then the response isn't, I missed it, I'm sorry. The response is you didn't have enough faith.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

It's your fault. That is blasphemy. That is heretical. It denies God's sovereignty. Be wary of individuals, churches that practice that.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

I don't have time today to go through this, and it's probably small print, but I will put this on Slack and I will put this in the email. Can I get the next slide? I told you. This is my plug. Get on Slack. Make sure your email is in the system. All right. When we think about signs and wonders, there's usually some have four, some have five. There's the continuum, right? On the far left, you have strict cessationism. Strict cessationism says that the sign gifts, miracles, tongues, prophecy, healing, signs and wonders, they all ceased when the last apostle died. That they were only given to the apostles so that they could testify and acknowledge and affirm their ministry and message. Well, moving on, the continuum, the next one is what we might call soft cessationism, which God can still do miracles, but sign gifts are not normally operative. And I would agree with that to an extent. I don't see very many Peter's shadows anymore. But has God done extraordinary miracles? Yes. So then you move to the number three, open but cautious. All gifts may continue, but should be viewed carefully and tested. Amen to that. Amen. But then you move a little bit further to just full-blown continuationism. And this would simply say that all New Testament gifts, here it is, continue today. They would say that nothing in Scripture really teaches cessationism when you do a good exegetical work. Gifts should be expected in the life of the church, and God still does work in prophecy, healing, tongues, miracle, etc. And then moving on to more charismatic power evangelism. And please don't conflate my sermon title with that category. But in this particular position, signs and wonders should regularly accompany gospel ministry, meaning you should expect it every day, every Sunday. It's all the time. And then one last step, Pentecostalism. Not only would they say that Acts is the uh, how do I put it, is the normal Christian life, right? Everything you read in Acts is normative of everyday believers. And they would actually go one step further and say that tongues is the evidence that you have the Holy Spirit. That's what makes it distinctively Pentecostal. So maybe you're asking, where does Vintage Church fall in this? I'd say somewhere between four and five. I like to say that we're charismatic with the seatbelt. But at the end of the day, we cannot manufacture revival. We cannot manipulate miracles. And here's the thing: we cannot place God in our debt. I don't care how much you fast, I don't care how much you pray, I don't know how much you give, how how much you cut your bodies. Like, you know, do people do that? Some people did way back then. That's more pagan than it is Christian. Why do I say that? Well, remember the story of Elijah at Mount Carmel? The pagan Baal prophets, they cut themselves, they do rituals, they try their heart. What are they trying to do? They're trying to get their God in their debt and manipulate him to do something. I love it. Elijah shows up, he's like, Lord, fire. That's my paraphrase, but he's like, fire. Done. Why? Because Elijah had a relationship with God. You cannot place God in our debt, but we can humble ourselves, we can walk in the fear of the Lord, we can pray with expectancy, we can trust his promises, and we can leave the results to him. Meaning, when I come and I pray for someone, if you are sick this morning and you come to the front to receive prayer and I pray for you, I should pray as if God can heal you. And if God says no, I trust him. But I am asking and believing with faith. James says that you should pray with what? Faith. Believing.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

And if you doubt, if you're double-minded, you shouldn't expect to receive anything from God. So here's where we're at holiness, hunger, and humility. They don't produce God's power. You cannot manufacture it.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

It's not a product, it's a relationship. But they are the ordinary conditions in which God's people position themselves to receive what God desires to give. So I'm gonna take a few moments with you and unpack those three. First one, holiness. Holiness creates room for God's presence. In Acts, it actually says it explicitly, God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. In other words, if you got a bunch of sin in your church, in your family, in your life, don't expect much of God's presence to work in power. Why do I say that holiness creates room for God's presence? Look at the next slide in Acts chapter 5, verses 11 to 12. Look at this. We talked about the fear of the Lord last week when judgment came upon Ananias and Sapphira. And at the end of that it says, And great fear came upon the whole church. I'd be a little terrified too. But the fear of the Lord begins to get cultivated in the church. And look at the very next verse. Now, I underlined it for a reason. Now many signs and wonders were regularly done. The fear of the Lord was encouraging holiness. It's what Jonathan Edwards said earlier. Love God, hate sin, obey God. Holiness. Now, to be clear, I know that there's holiness movements, and they say that, you know, don't drink, cuss, smoke, or chew, or date girls that do. Back in the day, holiness was you're gonna laugh at this, not bringing mustard to a picnic. What? That's weird. Why? Because mustard was associated with worldly picnics, so the church shouldn't bring mustard to a picnic. Crazy. Holiness, first and foremost, is a gift from God. But out of that gift of righteousness, we live holy and righteous lives. We want to love God because, and those who love God obey God, and we want to hate sin because sin put Jesus on the cross, and we want to obey him, not because of some begrudging submission, but because we trust him and he is our father, and we know that his as a father wants good for his children. So we trust him, even when it doesn't make sense, even when it's hard, even when our flesh cries against it, we trust him because he is our father. But the fear of the Lord will produce holiness, and when holiness begins to be the norm in the church, God's presence begins to be welcomed in that place. Number two, hunger. Hunger creates expectation for God's activity. Look at Acts 5, 15 with me. In the context of this holiness, we called it dangerous holiness last week. In the context of this fear that was happening, a healthy fear of the Lord, a right reverence and awe of who he is. Look at verse 14. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, look at this, so that. That's a key phrase, so that. So that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on the cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. It's important to note there, it doesn't say that necessarily Peter's shadow healed them. It just was it's more a picture of expectancy. They knew that the church, that God was in their midst. And so they, out of expectancy, would bring their sick and their loved ones that were in bondage into the streets near the portico, and they would lay them on mats, just hoping that Peter would walk by. And this is another hyperlink to Jesus. Do you remember when Jesus was walking by and the woman who had an issue of blood reached out and touched the hem of his garment and she was healed? It's a throwback to that. It's saying that the same Jesus is now at work in the church in Peter. Jesus is on the scene, and people want to just get a touch. That's expectancy. Do you have that same expectancy when you come to church on Sunday? And honestly, I can say it some Sundays no. If we're honest. But when God starts to move, when we start to see Him as holy, when the fear of the Lord starts guarding our heart and cultivating our spirit, we start having hunger. Expectancy. There's even this crazy story in Jesus' own life where he couldn't do much mighty miracles in his hometown. Anyone remember why? Because they had unbelief. Expectancy and faith. They are precursors. James says it clearly, as I mentioned earlier, when one prays, you should pray as one, not doubting, not double-minded. That type of person should not expect to receive anything. We need to pray, expecting. That doesn't mean that God has to do what we say. It means that we believe that God can do it. Does that make sense? And we don't get hurt if he says no, because he's dad.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

He's the Lord. And we trust him.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

But we ask. Like little children. We ask. Number three, humility. Humility creates dependence upon God's power. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And if you look at the list of spiritual gifts, and we'll get there eventually, we'll look at all the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. But when you look at all of those gifts, they're all grace gifts, meaning every gift that we have is a gift of grace. Grace gifts. And so humility is the prerequisite for grace. We must humble ourselves. We must ask God for help. Just think about the storyline of Acts. He says, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit's to be my witnesses. They had to recognize that they needed help. And let's just be honest for a little bit this morning. How many of us go throughout our day without ever stopping to humble ourselves and say, I need your help? Parenting's overwhelming you? Parenting's hard.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Amen. But how many times you just be like, God, I can't do this? I need you. Come, Holy Spirit. Give me wisdom.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

I need your spiritual gifts in my life to be able to parent to the glory of God and the good of them. Many times we just look on TikTok and follow that next influencer, and we're trying to find the best strategy or best technique to parent when we've got the Holy Spirit living inside of our hearts. Think about this. Luke chapter 11, Jesus is talking about prayer. And in Luke chapter 11, he says this in verse 9, I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. That all requires humility, by the way. Verse 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? You've got to ask. You've got to ask. You have not because you asked not. Well, I asked that one time and nothing happened.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Anyone ever guilty of that one? That's why Jesus said ask, seek, and knock.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

And if you look at the verb tense there in the Greek, they're in the, I think it's called the continued imperative or something like that. Basically, a fancy way of saying it's keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking, that little backwards, but keep doing those three things until the thing is done. It's humility. So here's the big idea: the fear of the Lord produced a holy, hungry, and humble church. And God was pleased to display his power among them. That's my prayer for us at the Vintage Church. And to be honest, if I can just encourage you a little bit, I see it.

unknown 38:49

A little bit.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Me and you? It's almost like Elijah, when he saw the cloud, the size of a man's fist in the horizon, he said, There it is. It's gonna rain.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

I hear it in your singing, I hear it in your prayers.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Would we not ask the Lord to produce in our hearts the fear of the Lord that would put us as a holy, hungry, and humble church so that God, at his own sovereign will, would be pleased to display his power among us. Not so that we could have the Holy Spirit goosebumps, but why? So that people will be saved. At the very center of this summary statement of Luke is Acts 5.14 as we close. And this is what, as at the center of the summary statement, which means it's the main point.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

More than ever believers were added to the Lord. So don't miss Luke's point this morning.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

The headline of this particular statement is not the healings, the headline is that people were getting saved. The signs were powerful, but the salvation was the miracle. Do you know that when God makes someone dead in their hearts and sins and trespasses and makes them born again by his grace, that's the greatest miracle? Because power evangelism is not about power, it's about Jesus bringing more and more people to himself. So if this morning you're hearing me, like that would be so cool to be like, my shadow healed that person. Pride, repent right now. Do you understand? But if your heart is just like, Jesus, bring lost people to yourself. However, and now you're praying, and I would hunt have a hunch that God is gonna probably show up more to that heart than the first heart. Does that make sense? Because at the end of the day, it's about more and more people being saved.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Let's pray. Father, we love you.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

We ask even now, Holy Spirit, do what you and you alone can do. Take your word and apply it to our hearts. May we be cut to the hearts that we might repent and believe. Father, where there is no holiness, and maybe we love sin more than we love you, would we repent and confess that this morning? Where there is maybe an apathy rather than a hunger, would we be reminded of Jesus' words? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Where there is skepticism and doubt, or maybe even past hurt from fraudsters, I ask, Lord, that you would heal their heart and give them childlike faith again. And then, Father, I pray for those that maybe walk in a little pride that they would clothe themselves with humility this morning, and that your grace would be sufficient. Jesus, at the end of the day, it's all about you. And so as we come to this moment of communion and we come to this time where we can remember your broken body and your shed blood, may we marvel at your humility, your hunger for the kingdom, and your holiness. And at the end of the day, thank you, Jesus, that it's your holiness that is imputed to our life because of the cross by faith. And it's out of that we live this life pleasing to you by faith. So, Lord, even now at the table, would you work in our midst? And this morning, if you are not a Christian and you've never put your faith in Christ, but you would testify that the God of the universe is working in your heart even right now, and you feel his love for you, despite all of your shame and sin and guilt, he loves you so much that as we are about to celebrate, he died for your sins in your place, that right now you would repent of your sin. Right now you would put your faith in Christ and what he has done for you, and you would ask to be born again. New life, new creation. If that's you this morning, I'm just gonna encourage you to find someone on the prayer team. Come up, tell them, or find a staff, or find me after church. We want to just pray with you and help you along your journey. But let's worship and respond to the Lord even now. Let's respond.