SCRIPTURE: Acts 20:7-12
“The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.” (Acts 20:12)
I wish I had this healing gift: to raise up people who fall asleep in my sermons.
God graces this community with this miracle through Paul to comfort them.
God will grace each person or church differently… just as He determines.
To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12:8-11)
The point is not ‘this is how you can raise the dead’, or ‘you will see dead people come alive too’.
The point is we can expect the Lord by His Spirit to do what it takes to comfort and support His people.
He may heal, He may not; He may change situations, He may not; but through it all He will comfort them.
For what He does, He does for a purpose, He does for the kingdom, He does for the glory of God.
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)
I’ve felt God’s comfort when someone was healed; I’ve felt God’s comfort when someone died.
Through it all God has graced me, and us, so that we knew that we were not alone!
This is the heart of the message that Paul spent the whole night preaching:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, often I wish I could control Your grace gifts, so that You would heal and perform miracles just as I determine. But You are Lord, not me. Help me to look for Your comfort no matter how You decide to grace us.
Observations/Application
Not only was ot good for the disciples to come together, but also the people of God. And the celebrated the death and resurrection of their Saviour with the Lord’s supper as they were in the habit of doing each week. Since Paul was leaving the people wanted to hear more and more and so Paul ‘fed’ them. But not all who hear and hearing. Some fall asleep during the hearing – both then and now. Dead to the Word and the world.
How often we too sleep through the preaching of the Word and yet stay awake at all hours for amusements? Focus on the things that matter and always be watchful and awake when Christ Jesus is proclaimed. His Word gives life and life everlasting.
Alive alive alive forevermore
My Jesus is alive
Alive forevermore
Alive alive alive forevermore
My Jesus is alive
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah
My Jesus is alive forevermore
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah
My Jesus is alive