Peter's Shadow - Acts 5:12-16

After the apostles received the Holy Spirit in Acts 1, they were completely different men.  As they continue to perform many signs and wonders, their reputation grows among the people.  Peter was so highly regarded they brought people to him thinking that if only his shadow were cast upon them they would be healed.  Do you think we in the church today can operate in the same kind of power the early church did?  


The Apostles Heal Many


12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

What can we learn from this passage?

1. No else dared to join them.  God's Spirit was so powerfully working in them that if left people in awe.  We know it wasn't from their nature charisma but the power of the Holy Spirit and their obedience to go out in Jesus' name. 

2. Many became disciples. People came to faith after witnessing the power and healing that the Holy Spirit produced through them.  Some have called this "power evangelism". It is still happening all around the world today, especially in third world countries.  

3. They drew crowds from all around  People came from everywhere near and far, and all of them were healed.  There was a very "potent" spiritual force that emanated from the gathered church that drew people to the church.  

Many people wonder why the church can't be more like this today? Some have even suggested that this kind of spiritual power the disciples possessed was only available to them during the early start up of the church.  People have reasoned that they needed this power to get the church going but that kind of stuff really doesn't happen anymore.  There was a time in the enlightenment period not too long ago that some in the church deleted all the miracles from the bible so they could believe in it.   

Do you really God think does not want the church today to operate with the same Holy Spirit power which was unleashed in the early church through ordinary men and women like you and me?  Maybe part of the problem is that we don't really believe it could happen. Maybe we don't want it to happen. Maybe we are more comfortable with keeping all of our religious activities in a nice, neat box. 

So what can we do? Maybe that is a good place to start praying for God to create a desire in our hearts to do the same types of things the disciples did. Remember what we have learned in the first five chapters it wasn't that the disciples were so naturally talented, they were ordinary people like you and I.  These disciples show us that with the Holy Spirit's power anything is possible if we trust and obey. 

Who knows maybe someone will want to walk underneath your shadow some day!




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