MUSINGS- May 19 2018
WAY TO BURY THE LEDE**
Acts 2:14-21
“Then Peter stood up with the eleven apostles. In a loud voice he said to them, “Men of Judea and everyone living in Jerusalem! You must understand this, so pay attention to what I say. These men are not drunk as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning. Rather, this is what the prophet Joel spoke about: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will speak what God has revealed. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour my Spirit on my servants, on both men and women. They will speak what God has revealed. I will work miracles in the sky and give signs on the earth: blood, fire, and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will become as red as blood before the terrifying day of the Lord comes. Then whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’’”
Every good newspaper editor knows that you start the article with the most important part. First you paint the picture with broad strokes and then drill down to the details. This is done because most people read a headline and a few following sentences and then skip to the next thing that catches their eye.
If I were Peter’s editor I would ask him if the most important thing that I am to take away from this article is that the disciples weren’t drunk?
No, of course not. The important part of this story was (and still is) “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”. That should come right under the headline 3,000 People Saved.*
However, Peter was a fisherman not a newspaper man. Nor was he, until that very day, a preacher. Even as a preacher he could have used some pointers on a proper outline and using bullet points. But then he had 3,000 converts that day which goes to prove, if you are led by the Holy Spirit, miraculous things can happen … no matter what you say.
Here is what I want you to remember … if the Holy Spirit says, “speak”, speak. And, I know, I buried the lede**
*Acts 2:41
** lede – noun – the opening sentence or paragraph of a news article, summarizing the most important aspects of the story.
All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams
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