In February of 2001 I decided to accompany the swim from Asbury College (I was Director of Athletics for the school) to the NAIA Championships at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia.  My flight took me through the Seattle airport where I was to meet one of our assistant coaches and we would drive to Vancouver from there.  While waiting airport I walked into a gift shop that featured a lot of hand crafted glass items all over the shelves.  

Suddenly there was this noise, kind of like a low rumble, that started to move through the room and airport.  The noise grew and I looked down and suddenly the floor was rolling.  The items on the shelves began to come off and shatter in the room.  I moved toward the door of the shop and the main terminal, and as I stood in the door way a piece of the ceiling of the terminal fell onto the floor about 15 feet from me.   I finally just decided to stay put and ride out the earthquake, my first one. 

This past week two earthquakes rocked California within a couple days of each other.  They are always unexpected, and the aftermath and clean up is never something to look forward to.  I will never forget the sights and sounds from my day in the airport.   For me it's a rare event, for others they've experienced many in their lives. 

This week as we conclude the series entitled INCEPTION in our Sunday morning services, we come to the second half of Acts Chapter 4.   We find in there a verse that says:

31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

This moment is the second one where they are assembled together and the place where they are is shaken.  There is a noise, a loud rushing wind, and the place is shaken.  I can relate to their fright, to their wonder.  When you experience something like that it changes you and effects you.  For the early church it was a key moment as they left that place and spoke God's word with boldness. 

We all could use a good shaking from time to time, especially one that gets us to go out and speak God's word with boldness.

Every now and then as I'm reading through scripture I come across a verse I've never paid attention to before that just makes me laugh a little.   This coming weekend in our services we will be studying the 4th Chapter of Acts as we head into the final two weeks of our series entitled Inception.   As I was reading this morning I came across this verse:

For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.   v. 22

I have no idea why the author had to point out the age of this man. In fact, as someone who is, um,  over 40, I find it at least a little disconcerting in some ways.   This past weekend I had that chance to attend the wedding of a girl who was one of the flower girls at my wedding.  Now she is all grown up, and while we were there my daughter said to me, "Wow, everyone who is here is young."

Now that wasn't exactly true, but it in many ways it sure seemed so.  So i guess maybe I'm just feeling old as i write this morning.  But then I look at that verse again, and I think what Luke (whom I believe wrote Acts) is reminding us of is the fact that Christ can give us new life and new inspiration no matter what age we are.  This weekend I got to spend time with people from my past, but while I was away on Sunday the church voted to take away the interim title, and just make it Pastor, and they helped change my future.

So like the man in the story in Acts I am not lost in the past, but rather I am excited about the future.  He could suddenly walk and leap and had his whole life ahead of him.  I am excited about what lies ahead.  The path has taken so many twists and turns over the years, but God has the future and that is where our focus needs to be, on what God has in front of us.   His mercies truly are new every morning. 

For some reason I just can't get past this verse we looked at during are study of the scriptures yesterday (see video on another page of this website).   Verse 5 of the third chapter of Acts says "So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them." 

The man who was sitting at the gate called Beautiful, begging alms at the place his friends and family always brought him, was expecting something simple, some food, a little bit of money.  Instead his feet and ankles were healed and he got so much more than he ever expected.  He went from expecting something to "walking, and leaping, and praising God.:

I shared the story yesterday of how we were going to have a second child and I was hoping for a girl, and God said, No, you're going to have a boy, and he is going to be beyond what you ever expected.  He is going to have perfect pitch and be gifted on the piano, and he is going to love like you never knew someone could, and he is going to bring you more laughter and joy than you can imagine.

When we truly see what God is doing we realize that in life we have so much more than we ever expected.  As we go to the future then, the question is simple, "What are we expecting?"    We may be expecting certain things from God, healing, finances, a new house, restore relationships, but in all those things we are simply looking for something for us, that we believe will make things better.   What if we change our expectations?  What if, instead of expecting something from God, we simply expect God to be God.  We may find that the greatness of God far exceeds any simple thing we are expecting.  

Acts 3:7-8
And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them - walking, leaping, and praising God. 

If only I was tall; if only I was handsome; if only I was built differently, if only I had money or could win the lottery,  etc., etc.

Do you ever hear those words coming out of your mouth.? I remember a time years ago as we were traveling in Madagascar with a team of Americans and a bunch of us were in a hotel room playing hearts.  I can still remember Jeff Gasaway made a bad play that cost him some points and after he said, “If I had done it differently I wouldn’t have taken those points.”   Along with us on the trip was a seasoned (a nice way to say old) fellow from Texas who was full of all kinds of country wisdom, named Mickey Porter.  Mickey sized Jeff up, and then responded, “And if my Aunt Jane were built differently she’d be my Uncle Tom.”

Of course we all found that incredibly funny, but I also realized something very true in all of that: We spend too much of our time wanting to be something other than we are, or expecting to people to be something other than what God made them to be.

We come to a story this week in Acts 3, in our series called Inception, and a section I have entitled "Converted".  A lame man sits by the side of the rode and Peter and John come by, and this lame man has an expectation of what he wants from them.  He wants them to provide him with silver, with money.  But the two stop, and they look at him, and Peter says, "Silver and gold we do not have.  Such as I have give I thee."

Peter has come to a point in his life where he realizes what he doesn't have, but even more important, he realizes what he does have.   Peter's life has been converted from lousy fisherman to one who is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Peter has Jesus, and he realizes that is all he has, and even more importantly, that is all he needs, and he shares that with the man beside the road. 

Years ago, while living in Madagascr myself and Fred, the missionary I was working with there, headed to the town of Antsirabe, just south of the capital of Antananarivo for the day.  Our purpose there was to meet with some local government officials to set the dates and location for some basketball clinics I would be leading in the area.  We also met with some leaders from some churches to set up the evangelism and follow up parts of what we were doing. 

On the way out of town Fred wanted to stop for a minute to visit someone he had met on a previous visit and who had played a role in our coming there.  His residence was above a small pharmacy by the side of the road on the way out of town.  We stopped, and he was there and invited us into his home.  My Malagasy was very weak at the time (still is really) and I relied on Fred to translate.  Not long after we arrived I saw the man's wife head out the door with a basket.

She returned about 30 minutes later with the basket full.  Fred and this fellow kept on talking and I began to grow antsy. An hour passed and she came in placed two bottles of Coca Cola and some glasses on the table.  Then in a little while came the bread, and before long a full meal was in front of us.  Much of what they made that day was stuff I would not eat normally, but I partook.  This couple had spent basically two weeks salary to go and get food and feed us and welcome us into their home.  This kind of hospitality was not unusual there. 

We've lost some of that in America.  Our time crunch and busy schedules and large house and fences and so much more keep us from breaking bread and interacting with people. 

Our scripture this weekend is going to show us that fellowship in houses and around the table was a cornerstone of the early church.  As we look at Inception: Steadfast, part 2 we are going to see that time spent with other believers was key to the church becoming the church. 

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.    Acts 2: 46-47  (NKJV)

While it has been over 30 years since it happened, I can still remember the events like they happened yesterday.  I was blessed to coach an Athletes in Action volleyball team that was touring Bolivia and Peru for six weeks in the summer.  The format was simple, we would travel to a town and play matches against local teams or give clinics, and then we would take the opportunity to share our personal testimonies about how God has touched our lives.  We rotated through who would share at each stop.

Midway through the tour we came to the town of Oruro in Bolivia, a place of over 250,000 people at the time.  As we went there the missionaries we were working with warned us that there was a lot of satanic worship and influence in the area and people who did not want us to be there.  We played our match that night in front of a large crowd that was restless, against us, and loud.  When the post match time came there was an oppression that hung in the air. That night the testimony time was Paula's.  She was the smallest member of the team, standing a tad over 5 feet tall.  If you spent time around her you knew that she was one of the sweetest most gentle people ever.

As she began to speak I just had this impending sense of dread and doom as this young lady faced that crowd.  She started to speak and you could barely hear her over the noise, but it didn't deter her at all, she kept on talking about how God had shaped and changed her life, she was steadfast and relentless despite all that was going on around here. The suddenly there was a moment of quiet that just swept the room and she just kept going, and people started to listen.  This soft spoken girl through the power of God's Spirit delivered a message that day that ended up changing the lives of a number of people who were there. 

This week in Acts 2:14-47 we are going to look at the speech Peter gave in the midst of a crowd that started by mocking him and the other disciples and accusing them of being drunk.  Peter got up and got their attention and started to speak, and despite the commotion around them he just kept going.  By the end of the speech, the 12, plus the women, plus the 120 that began the day as followers of Jesus found their number increased by 3,000, and the church was born.   Verse 42 tells us that after that they all CONTINUED STEADFASTLY in all that the apostles were saying, and in fellowship, and in prayer. 

Years ago I was living in Madagascar and feeling the loneliness of being 11,000 miles from home in a place where I didn't really speak the language and was learning how to live bi-culturally.  This time was a time that pre-dated cell phones, and email, and the internet.   One day I received a letter from a friend from South Africa who was serving as a missionary in another country and in it she said, 

"Tonight more than ever I longed to have my own car my own friends and a place to go to.  I have so
          much energy inside me right now I am capable of exploding...It's Sunday evening, the time is 10:30
          p.m. and it is as light as it would be 3:00 p.m....This makes it impossible for me to sleep.  I would
          love to go out somewhere but I have no friends and no transport so - can you imagine how I am feeling?
          Just give me a moment to pull myself together..."

As I read her words I understood her frustration.  It is hard to not understand, to feel isolated, and sometimes we don't even have to go far away from home to feel that way.  I shared her words and my concurrent frustrations via letter with a friend back in the states and a few weeks later I got a response from her that read:

          I pray that you're not discouraged.  Hold fast to Jesus Christ and His call for you.  You have obeyed
          with a willingness to go.  You have taken the first step that  many never take.  Savor all that He has
          in store, however small or simple it may seem at the time.  After all, you're certainly not missing much
          here at home --  it's still the Kingdom of God here, too.  Many of the same struggles and victories.  I
          don't want to sound preachy; I want to offer you encouragement.  Isn't it wonderful to know that our
          God can be at your house and my house at the same time??!  He is that big and He has the
          sovereign plan.  I miss you, but I know that I will get to see you soon.  For right now you have a job to do.
          Go for it!

She nailed!  God is the God of ALL PEOPLE and ALL NATIONS and is in ALL PLACES.   As I prepare for next Sunday's message from Acts 2:1-13 the followers of Christ are in a position where they will soon be done waiting and going out into the world.  The will go to strange lands and strange places and speak languages they can't imagine, and before they leave something incredible happens to remind them that God is in control. 

People from around the world are gathered in Jerusalem and just as Jesus promised the Holy Spirit comes on them and they begin to speak and people begin to hear in every language imaginable.  God says, "Watch this.  I am the God of all people and all tongues."

That reminder echoes for us today.  No matter our circumstance of location, God is here or there!  God calls to us.   God reminds us.

Still the Kingdom
Night time brings the moments
when I long to run away
back to arms to hold me like a child,
far from all these struggles
and endless probing eyes,
back where lullabies sound soft and mild.
How I miss those moments,
feelings that I belonged,
times spent with family and friends.
If I could have one hour
of simple peace with them
I think that I could find my heart again.
But I hear stronger whispers
the urgent, marching call
to follow Him who has the sovereign plan,
and to leave far behind
the comfort I once knew
and rest all of my life within his hand,
So in each silent struggle
and through nights of loneliness
wanting quiet whispers for my ears
I will hold to truth,
the promise he has made
No matter where I am, He is here.
 
                              June 14, 1994
                             David A. Baillie
​

This week is race week in Indiana, and Sunday is race day.  If there is one thing  I have learned through my years living here is that people take race day seriously.  This weekend will see the tiny area of Speedway, Indiana become one of the largest cities in the United States.   To put things into perspective, the state of Wyoming has just over half a million residents, and that 2.5 mile oval on the west side of town can hold 300,000, just a little less than the whole state of Wyoming.

People will come from all over to watch race car drivers cram themselves into tiny cockpits in four wheeled rockets that can hit 240 mph on the front and back straightaways of the famed track.   I was watching some of the qualifying highlights this weekend, and as I watched the drivers get in and out of their cars I could just feel claustrophobia coming over me.

Then today I was reading through the scripture for the upcoming weekend, and I saw the words, "Peter, James, John and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one ACCORD in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his Brothers."

And the only thing I could think was, "That must have been one really big Honda to have all those people in it!"

Of course I know that the writer of Acts was not writing about a Honda.  But let me ask you something, can you even imagine that many people being in one accord on anything?   Notice that the writer tells us that those who were gathered there were both male and female.  Look at the names,  Jew and Greek, and Gentile.   It was a mixture of so many and there was agreement. 

Here in our nation we are so divided.  This past week we were remind how abortion laws in places like New York and Illinois and Alabama can polarize us so greatly.  Partisan bickering and posturing often paralyzes our federal government.  We can't seem to find common ground, and yet these people did.  But, notice something very important, they were a people who "continued in prayer and supplication"  The key to their agreement was found in their humility and their submission to a higher power and their seeking that power for guidance and direction.  

We as a people will never be a people of one accord, until we release all that we hold on to and seek the one who holds on to all.

Acts 1:12-14  English Standard Version (ESV)
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

I'll be honest right off the top, I hate waiting.   I am not a person of great patience in many situations.  When my wife says to me, "Please come to Hobby Lobby (or Joann, or Michael's, or really any store) to me you do not need to know my words, just the look on my face betrays what I am truly thinking.  I know that saying yes means a few hours of standing there, pretending to be interested in all the craft things and saying good things like, "Yes, I think that one is much frillier".   Sometimes I'll say yes and go, other times I'll just say no, and often she'll just look at my face and say, "Never mind, I'll just go by myself. 

It's even worse when it comes to driving for me.  I cannot stand to wait, but I'm not the only one.   Is there a traffic jam up ahead on the interstate?   I'd rather get off and drive back roads and add an hour to my trip than creep along for 20 minutes until we are back up to speed.  I'd rather be moving than sitting on the road. 

In Acts Chapter 1 verse 4 we read "He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to WAIT for the Promise of the Father..."

Jesus has been resurrected. He has appeared to the disciples. He has called them away from fishing one last time.  Now they are together and they are ready to do whatever Jesus tells them to do, and the first thing that he says to them is WAIT!.  Peter had to have been going, "Are you kidding me?"  You expect us to just sit here and wait.

The truth is, however, that sometimes God just wants us to wait. He wants to give us what we need for the journey.  he wants to prepare us.  He wants to empower us.  I've been waiting for a long time for God to show me some direction in life and ministry, and I realized a little while ago that what he is saying to me is, "Wait.  I have you right where I want you right now, and I know the plans that will unfold in the future."

May God always grant us the patience t be where He wants us to be and trust His plan. 

Acts 1:4-8 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [a]witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”