The Unstoppable Force
Everyone’s heard of the question, "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" The famous question has been uttered by Superman in DC comics, Phoenix Wright in his Ace Attorney game, and by Joker in The Dark Knight. On Sunday, Pastor Febby posed a different kind of unstoppable force.
But who or what is this unstoppable force? We learn that the unstoppable force is the word of God and the Holy Spirit.
Sustaining power of the word of God
We witness the truly unstoppable nature of the force in Acts 4:1-20, where Peter and John face the Sanhedrin. The passage begins with three groups of people (priests, captain of the temple and Saducees) who are trying to confine the messengers. But despite their best efforts, we see that in verse 4, people heard the Message and they reacted to it; more than 5,000 people (the Bible only states 5,000 men but not the women and the children.
So, while the teachers of the law could try to contain the messengers, by throwing Peter and John in jail, they couldn’t contain the Message i.e. word of God (verses 3-4). As it says in 2 Timothy 2:8-9, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead… This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.”
Transformative power of the Holy Spirit
Afterwards, Peter and John are brought before Annas, Caiaphas, John and Alexander, who ask, “By what power or what name did you [heal the crippled beggar]?” And it wasn’t how Peter answers that teaches us, but who helped him answer. In verse 8, it says, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said to them…” And Peter delivered! He schooled these highly educated men that sat before him and John. This is a crazy concept considering how only a short time ago Peter was denying knowing Jesus in the high priest’s courtyard. We are witnesses to Peter’s amazing transformation, and it could only have been done through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.
So, what is our main take-away from this Sunday’s sermon? The church is meant to be a mission-driven community that can’t keep quiet nor stay still. Peter and John couldn’t keep quiet after being filled with the Holy Spirit (verse 8) and going deeper in experiencing Christ (verse 13); so, who are we to keep quiet? We must also be filled with the Holy Spirit and go deeper in our relationship with Christ, so that we can go wider to our local communities and areas of influence. We must be the messengers for the unstoppable force.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for your Holy Spirit and the Your Word which is an unstoppable force in our lives. I pray that You would use me to be a messenger of Your unstoppable force.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.