This might be my absolute favorite passage in the entire Bible. Two things stand out to me: Fear siezed the crowd. This is interesting because shortly after we see the Christian movement gain a whole lot of people AFTER the fear. When looking at this word fear, it's the same word used for revererence and respect. It would be appropriate for the Houston Texans secondary to say that great fear siezed them when Peyton Manning and the Colts took the field. See, the thing about this fear is that this is typically what will warn you,"hey, be careful with that." But this same fear is what will drive you to work harder in practice and be more alert come gameday. And should the Texans beat the Colts, it is this fear that drove them to victory. When we see the word fear in scripture, it was that same fear that drove the people's commitment to the cause. Which is why shortly after the story of Ananias and Saphira we see a ton of incredible stuff happen. The other thing that stands out is at the end of the chapter when the believers celebrated being worthy of suffering for the Name. The "Name" is such an incredible reference for me. It reminds me of when I played football and a conversation my coach had with our team. He made this big speech on how the most important thing in our uniform was the name of our school plastered in our chests, and that at the end of the day, no matter how good we played or how big a jerks we were, the only thing people will remember is who we represent and not our character. The Name. It's bigger than us. Are we living life for the Name?
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This might be my absolute favorite passage in the entire Bible. Two things stand out to me: Fear siezed the crowd. This is interesting because shortly after we see the Christian movement gain a whole lot of people AFTER the fear. When looking at this word fear, it's the same word used for revererence and respect. It would be appropriate for the Houston Texans secondary to say that great fear siezed them when Peyton Manning and the Colts took the field. See, the thing about this fear is that this is typically what will warn you,"hey, be careful with that." But this same fear is what will drive you to work harder in practice and be more alert come gameday. And should the Texans beat the Colts, it is this fear that drove them to victory. When we see the word fear in scripture, it was that same fear that drove the people's commitment to the cause. Which is why shortly after the story of Ananias and Saphira we see a ton of incredible stuff happen. The other thing that stands out is at the end of the chapter when the believers celebrated being worthy of suffering for the Name. The "Name" is such an incredible reference for me. It reminds me of when I played football and a conversation my coach had with our team. He made this big speech on how the most important thing in our uniform was the name of our school plastered in our chests, and that at the end of the day, no matter how good we played or how big a jerks we were, the only thing people will remember is who we represent and not our character. The Name. It's bigger than us. Are we living life for the Name?
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