I love the Word. The Bible is alive and it gives great chase to me. God uses the Word to challenge me and to compel me and to lead me and to change my view of life. I love reading a section of Scripture and having the Holy Spirit flower a truth that I have seen hundreds of times, yet never actually seen.

I was reading Acts 2.42 and the Scripture reads that 'they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to breaking bread, prayer and fellowship.....' I have read Acts 2.42 - 47 so many times that I can't count. I tend to run toward the amazing things that God was doing among them. You know, the whole 3000 people saved or the selling of stuff or the daily gatherings in order to celebrate Christ or the awe that they seemed to generate by those around them or the constant remembrance of Jesus Christ via communion.... There was so much that was God-sized and ridiculous among them. So, how did this happen? Really, how, for heaven's sake, did all of this amazing stuff happening among them?

The simple answer that I discovered was profound. "They devoted themselves...." "They" were the 3000 new believers, who devoted themselves to one another.... to a passion for the Word... to a longing to serve those around them. They didn't ask someone else to feed them or to nurture them or to mature them. They were a wildly devoted group of Christ-followers. It seems that the Spirit of God in the life of the believer compelled them to be devoted. No excuses.... no weak pursuit... just a radical passion for God and an unimpeded devotion to know Him.

I would love for the people of Crestview to say, 'hey, that bunch of Christ-followers at Emmanuel are devoted... they are devoted to God in radical ways and they are devoted to each other.' God might just do amazing things among us that could be explained only by Him. That would be fresh!

By Grace... For Glory,
Mark