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I can't read the Book of Acts without feeling very much ashamed! The apostles lived and ministered in the realm of the miraculous. Even the laymen like Stephen and Philip, men who served tables, were mighty in the Holy Ghost, working miracles and stirring entire cities. Who can read the Book of Acts without awe and wonder at the miracles God worked for them and among them? Angels appeared to them, unlocked their chains, and walked them out of high security prisons. They had mighty visions, clear and detailed.

Scene One

"…glorify thou me with thine own self…" (John 17:5).

No man can rightly define glory, any more than he can define God. Glory is the fullness of God, and that is a subject too high for our finite minds. Yet, we do know in part.

When God gives His glory, He gives Himself. He cannot parcel Himself out in pieces — no man receives a portion, but all. The one who receives His love also gets His mercy, His holiness, and His strength. The one who receives His mercy also gets His love and all else that is the fullness of God.

The day of the fury of the Lord has not yet come, but it is fast approaching. The burning up of this earth and the passing away of the heavens, so clearly predicted in the Bible, are continually drawing nearer.

God has been warning mankind for centuries that the whole of universal nature will be turned into a heap of ruins. A mighty cosmic conflagration will cause the framework of creation to explode into fragments.

The apostle Paul wrote, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16).

"Children of God." We often use this phrase to describe ourselves as believers. But I believe we use these words too flippantly, with little understanding of the power and depth of their true meaning.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24, my emphasis). Jesus prayed this for his disciples, and that includes us. He asked the Father that we may see his glory, meaning to know him.

The Bible we read is a book of hope. The hope it gives us is not moderate, average or normal. It doesn’t inspire us toward the status quo, to merely survive and get by. The hope of God’s Word is expressed in powerful promises that lead to unimaginable results from God’s own hand. That hope leads us to destinations far beyond our wildest expectations.

We know from Scripture that Ezekiel was a great prophet who moved mightily in the Spirit. In Ezekiel 37, God gave him a vision that I believe holds a timely message of spiritual awakening for the dry church of today.

Nehemiah is known as the man who led the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. Israel was in captivity when God first stirred Nehemiah’s heart toward this noble work. And when Nehemiah asked the Persian king to let him return to Jerusalem for this purpose, God moved the king’s heart to grant his request.

David wrote about brokenness often in his Psalms. He spoke of God’s nearness to those who are broken: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). “The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (34:18).