Good early morning! In an effort to get on track with my new work schedule I’m striving to get a healthy rhythm in place. Allow me to share. For me there are four things that can greatly affect the rhythm and cadence of my daily routine. In order of importance they are: spiritual, sleep, diet, exercise. One of my favorite quotes is from John Maxwell, “the secret of success is found in your daily routine.” It’s so true, if you can be effective with just one day you can be effective with several. After all Psalms 118:24 says “this is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Notice it says day, not week, quarter, fiscal cycle or 5 year plan...just day.
So what does this daily regimen look like? For spiritual (the most important of the four) I of course do the 5MC, and spend time reading, studying and writing on God’s Word every morning. Remember this is a daily regimen, not going to church once a week and listening to your pastor preach. That’s a weekly thing. The next most important, sleep. Without the proper amount of sleep that God built us to need, the day can be an absolute nightmare (pun intended). For me its in bed by 9:30, asleep by 10:30 and up at 5:30. It’s kinda funny, we train a sleep rhythm into our kids when they’re young but as adults our sleep schedules are all over the place. In fact, the CDC says 1 in 3 adults are sleep deprived and gets less than 6 hours of sleep a night! The next most important, diet. I like most struggle with this one because we love to dine out. When we do cook we normally eat a lot of lean protein, mainly chicken with a salad and vegetables. My diet will never be perfect, but I continue to strive to make it better. The last but not the least, exercise. Walking is my exercise. I love to walk. I used a pedometer and made a 3 mile course through our neighborhood and I try to walk it every day. I might miss a day because of weather but I try to walk 5 times a week. You put all four together and I think you’ve got a very well-rounded approach to allow yourself to be a very healthy, rested individual that can be of great service to God and others. Just thought I’d share, I hope this might help you in some way.
This morning I got to experience a huge chapter in God’s Word, chapter 2 of Acts. We have 2 major events in this chapter; the coming of the Holy Spirit which in turn sparks the beginning of the church age.
I mentioned yesterday about how we would need a state of the art special effects company to make God’s amazing miracles and works come alive. That’s so true this morning with the coming of the Holy Spirt unto the apostles. Acts 2:2-3, “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” WOW. Have you ever noticed that our God never does anything that’s just humdrum? I mean He could have just handed them the Holy Spirit, but no. When our God does things He does them BIG! He wants people to see and hear His glory, wonder and awe-inspiring presence. And He achieves His purpose here as the whole town hears this sound and comes running.
Now notice that it was not a mighty wind but the “sound of a mighty rushing wind.” This would have been like the sound of a Texas tornado but without the 120mph wind. I grew up in North Texas and have had a few near misses with tornados and let me tell you, the sound that they make is very specific. Very low, guttural, with a very specific ominous tone. Let’s just say it will get your attention and this is exactly what God did with this “sound of a mighty rushing wind.”
When the Holy Spirit actually landed on them it says it was “as of tongues of fire.” It wasn’t real fire but ‘as of’ or ‘like’ fire. But since it was ‘like fire’ I think it would have still been a brilliant orange and maybe even fanned and flickered like flames. What a sight this would have been!
God didn’t waste any time and as soon as the Holy Spirit hit these guys something amazing happened. They all immediately started speaking in “tongues”, ie different languages, the languages and dialects of all the different Jews throughout the Roman Empire. Now take note when it says they were speaking in tongues, this was not some random unknown words, they were all speaking different languages known throughout the land. So what was the reason God did this you ask? Well, it just so happened that the festival of Pentacost was going on. There were several Jewish festivals throughout the year where all men were required to attend. This was one of them. So there are tons of people in Jerusalem from 3 different continents all standing around when this happens. Don’t you love to watch God work.
So a massive sound like a mighty rushing wind attracts everyone and when they walk over they witness the apostles all speaking THEIR languages! Verse 2:12 says the people were “all amazed and perplexed.” They were floored. How can these guys be speaking all these different languages & dialects, especially mine?
Well God’s plan is perfect as always and this huge crowd sets up for something amazing and historical, the first ever sermon preached in the church age. What is the church age? When the Holy Spirit came He baptized all believes into the body of Christ which is the church. So you see the arrival of the Holy Spirit also ushered in the church. 1 Cor. 12:13, “For in one Spirit we were all Baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” So we’ve got a church, how about a sermon?
Sounds like a plan, God’s plan! Peter stands up, filled with the Holy Spirit and with a ready-made congregation in front of him, he proceeds to preach the first sermon in the church age. And what topic does he preach? Success? Happiness? Prosperity? Being Yourself? Nope, he preaches the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His first sermon was an Easter sermon! Oh, how we need to be preaching Easter more than just once a year.
What a glorious picture Luke records for us this morning. I’m so thankful that God called these men and empowered them through the Holy Spirit to write down what they saw. God knew we would need these “God Breathed” words over 2000 years later to understand His perfect plan. (see 2 Tim 3:16)
Take a few minutes today and think about the Easter message. It’s not a once a year message, it’s part of my daily regimen, I hope it’s part of yours.
Peace to you today.
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