The Christians Who Upset the Apple Cart

Acts 17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

Paul, Silas and Timothy, among other believers, had so affected their world with the Gospel, that it was said that they turned it upside down.

You read in the title of the book of Acts the words, "The Acts of the Apostles." So used by the Spirit of the Lord were these godly servants that the landscape of religion would forever be altered.

Contemporary Christianity envies the early movement of apostolic evangelism. We see a soul saved every now and we greatly rejoice. But we covet that golden age of Christianity when God added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Is it possible to have such evangelistic fervor and Spirit-induced revival today, or are we doomed to Laodicean lethargy?

Although there are many hindrances to a great movement upon our preaching today, such as over saturation in our gospel-hardened nation, I believe we limit our effectiveness by our lewd lifestyles, our lackadaisical attitudes and, dare I say it, our slothful laziness.

As I read about Paul and company, who turned the world upside down for Christ, I see that they were completely consumed with ministering the gospel and they clearly counted not their lives dear to themselves. They were motivated, bold, filled with Spirit power, living with deprivation, caring little for fleshly comfort or pleasure and completely single minded in their purpose.

In contrast, we seem pleased with the status quo of our world, not seeing the need of turning it upside down for God. If people go to hell, we feel that is upon them, and not at all our concern. Paul felt himself in debt to those in need of the Savior, we are ambivalent.

If we are involved in a spiritual movement, we thank God for an unusual event and go on with normality. But our spiritual forebears would think it unusual if they were not witnessing the miraculous on a very regular basis, as well as experiencing the persecution backlash that always came on the heels of God doing something great.

We cannot, we must not get comfortable with little or no movement from heaven, no zealous desire on our part to see people saved, lives changed, apples carts upended and our world rocked for God!

Get filled with the Spirit of the Lord right now and witness for Jesus to somebody today.