Acts 3:4-6

            In Acts 3, what becomes very obvious is that the church of Jesus Christ is compelled to take to the streets. It remains a fact that Pentecost or the Pentecostal experience pushes the church beyond the four walls. What we have, cannot be contained. Pentecost equips the church for a world-wide campaign as outlined by Jesus.

            Jesus was precise in His instructions concerning this spiritually explosive experience. He said, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part if the earth” (Acts 1:8). The compelling truth about Pentecost is that it is not content to remain sequestered in a corner. We heartily concur with the thought that Pentecost without proclamation is empty drama. The good news about Jesus must be powerfully proclaimed throughout every nook and cranny of the land. The Pentecostal church remains more than ever a speaking church. It is a prophetic movement that readily stands up and proclaims the message of God’s redeeming power and love.

            This truth is strikingly brought out for us in Acts 3. It is noteworthy how readily and spontaneously they took the church to the streets. This miracle transpired on their way to church. How so unlike the church of today, where we seem so programmed to think that all things phenomenally religious can only take place in the confines of our religious establishments. The problem is we have become so temple-bound, that we have forgotten that we are the church and that “real church’ or “churchy” things can happen anywhere as long as we are prayed-up and Spirit-filled.

            We have become so stuck on the actual experience of speaking in tongues that it has escaped us that this thing must be lived out daily, for the rest of our lives and way beyond the Acts 2- phenomenon, described by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. May the Father help us to understand that the miracle of Pentecost continues, and it continues way beyond the upper room to every street corner of the city where we live and wherever there is a need.

            Luke puts it this way “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour” (Acts 3:1). Here again we see the dynamic correlation between prayer and Pentecostal power and that very little happens in the miraculous without a dynamic prayer ministry as evidenced there and throughout the course of the history of the church. In the passage, they “went up together into the temple to pray” (3:1)

            I just wanted to remind the church of today that Pentecost continues. Like the Early church, we must pray and take the church beyond the four walls. Certainly, this is one of the lessons of Covid-19 – that our God is by no means temple-bound. Like Peter and John, it is our obligation to declare to a sick and dying world “. . . Look on us . . . in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:4-6). Instead of going to church, Peter and John remembered that they were the church and acted as such!

Leroy V. Greenaway

Presiding Bishop – Northeast Region

July 24, 2021