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new purpose — same power

Acts 20:7-12 (JDV)

Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul made a speech for them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.
Acts 20:8 There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,
Acts 20:9 and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on making his speech. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was lifted up dead.
Acts 20:10 But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because his throat is with him.”
Acts 20:11 After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.
Acts 20:12 They brought the boy home alive and were encouraged without measure.

new purpose — same power

Paul’s last Sunday in Troas was the date of an extraordinary event — a miracle in which a young man is revived from death by an embrace. I suppose the usual take on this story is to say something about long-winded preachers. But I have been thinking about the change in focus of Paul’s team — how they are primarily focused on encouraging and equipping the saved instead of planting new churches. Seen from that perspective, this miracle takes on new significance. God’s power is with us no matter what our function. His presence brings life whether we are preaching to deliver, or preaching to encourage.

Thank you Holy Spirit, for your power available for us, no matter what we are doing in God’s service.