“Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.”
Acts 5:16 (NLT)
What struck me in Acts 5 is how closely the early church is walking in the footsteps of Jesus. The apostles are not just meeting and talking. They are preaching the good news, and the evidence of that good news is showing up in real power among real people. More and more men and women are being brought to the Lord.
People are so aware of God’s healing power at work that they line the streets, hoping Peter’s shadow might fall across them. That is not the shadow of the sun. It is the shadow of the Son. It is God’s power working through an ordinary man the way it once flowed through the hem of Jesus’ garment.
Then verse 16 says crowds came in from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those oppressed by evil spirits, and they were all healed. That sounds like Matthew 4 when Jesus healed every disease and sickness and crowds followed him. Here is what moves me: the church is doing what Jesus did, even though Jesus is not physically present.
God has not changed. Jesus told the truth when he said it was better that he leave so we could receive Holy Spirit and do the works he did. But that kind of life will require change, sacrifice, focus, and obedience. Some of the parts God wants in the body are still out in the villages, and they are not coming in until our preaching aligns with our praying.