Have you ever felt like giving up your faith in God and just wanting to be yourself, or are you already in that space where you have given up but just want to check in? I hope this message brings hope to you, changes your course, and makes you strong again in the Lord—not just momentarily strong but obtaining what it takes to be steadfast in your relationship with God and remain on the faith trajectory.

 

The disciples of Jesus Christ encountered a period in their lives where they were utterly at a loss in their Christian journey. This period was immediately after Jesus Christ was crucified, and the Christ who gave them a sense of the supernatural, hope and comfort was no more. Some of the outstanding, mind-blowing, supernatural experiences the disciples of Jesus encountered included the transfiguration in Mathew 17, where Peter asked Jesus's permission to build tabernacles for Jesus Himself, Elijah and Moses. Peter was so amazed by the supernatural that he asked Jesus for a continued stay in that moment forever. The disciples also had encounters where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and by the instruction of Jesus Christ, they got coins (money) in the fish's mouth to pay their taxes. Many other great miracles that Jesus did, which the disciples had firsthand experience with. Those miraculous experiences, the comfort and direction from Jesus kept the disciples going and helped strengthen their faith when weak, as in the case of Peter in Luke 22:31.

 

Despite all the disciples' encounters with the supernatural while Jesus was alive, it took them no time to return to the way of life they lived before Jesus met them. The disciples felt empty and confused without Jesus's physical presence. Those miracles they saw earlier and experienced before the death of Christ were not sufficient to get them going in faith after Jesus's death. 

 

The early church was in paralysis for a while until they received the Holy Spirit, which was a replacement for all that Jesus represented to the disciples while Jesus was alive. The upper room experience was a watershed moment for the early church. Immediately after the upper room experience, Peter was emboldened and preached to a crowd and three thousand souls were won for the Lord. The early church grew from strength to strength, but as the early church increased, they began having issues and divisions that distracted the disciples from their devotion to the word and prayers. The church needed to do more than live in the moment of the upper room to triumph and sustain growth. The disciples had to select Stephen, who was full of the Holy Spirit, to manage the affairs of the church while they devoted themselves to the word and prayers. 

 

There are three (3) lessons here for us to learn from the transition of our worship from physical and external experiences to living from the inside out through our devotion to the Holy Spirit.

(1) The era when the disciples could sustain their faith by the physical presence of Jesus is gone. Unfortunately, we act as though we're still living in that era, where we have to rely on our physical experiences and the external to help sustain our faith.

(2) The coming of the Holy Spirit marked a significant change in our approach to worship. All that Jesus Christ represented to the disciples while He was physically present is now in us, through the Holy Spirit. We now live from the inside-out Holy Spirit.