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March 28, 2012
Acts in Action
By Crossworld
BRAZIL — Sweat ran down his face, sawdust covered his body, and sticky red mud caked his shoes as Crossworld worker Jason walked into the village prayer meeting.
As he sat down he heard a teenager snicker, commenting to a friend that it looked like Jason had swum to prayer meeting. Any anger he might have felt at the comment was quickly replaced with disbelief at the teenager’s presence. A teenager? At prayer meeting? Jason looked up from the growing puddle of sweat on the dirt floor to see not one but half a dozen teens scattered among the 20 other men. Twenty men? Twenty men!
Not long ago three men at prayer meeting would have been a crowd, and two of those would have been there solely to ask for old flashlight batteries or pieces of wire for fishing leaders. But here they were, more than 25 men gathered to hear God’s Word and pray!
In previous prayer meetings the group would read and discuss a portion of Acts, but this time, before they had even started, someone mentioned a request from a nearby village for people to come and teach them about Christmas, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and to baptize some new believers. The group used biblical standards for leadership to select two men from among them to go and teach, then together they prayed over the messengers.
After the prayer some complaints arose that it was already late and they hadn’t even heard from Acts. Jason smiled as he realized what was happening in this remote Brazilian village. “Not only have they heard from Acts, but they are living it.”
Italicized names were changed to protect identity.
As he sat down he heard a teenager snicker, commenting to a friend that it looked like Jason had swum to prayer meeting. Any anger he might have felt at the comment was quickly replaced with disbelief at the teenager’s presence. A teenager? At prayer meeting? Jason looked up from the growing puddle of sweat on the dirt floor to see not one but half a dozen teens scattered among the 20 other men. Twenty men? Twenty men!
Not long ago three men at prayer meeting would have been a crowd, and two of those would have been there solely to ask for old flashlight batteries or pieces of wire for fishing leaders. But here they were, more than 25 men gathered to hear God’s Word and pray!
In previous prayer meetings the group would read and discuss a portion of Acts, but this time, before they had even started, someone mentioned a request from a nearby village for people to come and teach them about Christmas, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and to baptize some new believers. The group used biblical standards for leadership to select two men from among them to go and teach, then together they prayed over the messengers.
After the prayer some complaints arose that it was already late and they hadn’t even heard from Acts. Jason smiled as he realized what was happening in this remote Brazilian village. “Not only have they heard from Acts, but they are living it.”
Italicized names were changed to protect identity.
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