Leadership can be lonely and leadership can be exceedingly costly and we learn that lesson here. Having just returned from a sixth visit to equatorial Africa in seven years - to Kenya - I saw something of the suffering which Pastors and Leaders have to experience and endure, as they work among the poor in the slums of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, and these were all men who had the anointing power of Almighty God upon their lives and ministries.
Surely, if I have a real true genuine 'Pentecostal' experience, all my troubles and problems will disappear. Not so!
Very soon after some three thousand new believers in Jesus Christ were baptised, and given some basic teaching, Peter and John made their way up to the Temple to pray. These two men were among the leadership in that young Church of Jesus Christ and what they met has been what thousands have met down through the centuries.
At the gate called Beautiful, a severely crippled man, in his 40's, sat begging, and he looked to Peter and John for a few pennies.
Peter and John had no money, but what they did have they gave him. Peter spoke to him and took him by the hand, helping him to his feet, and he was healed instantly.
Now, healing does not always happen instantly!
People at the Temple recognised that this man, who had been so lame, was now exceedingly mobile. Peter had some explaining to do.
He told how the Jesus, who had been crucified, was raised from the dead, and through faith in this risen living Jesus the crippled beggar had become strong.
Peter also called to the people to repent by turning to God, and have their sins wiped out and forgiven, and be refreshed.
This did not go down at all well with the religious authorities, and almost as instantly as the man was healed, they were arrested and put into prison.
Sin causes havoc when sinners act sinfully.
One of the consequences of a Pentecostal experience can be praising God in languages one has never learned, but on this occasion, as on many other occasions, the evidence is trouble.
When Jesus was born, within a few months, there was severe suffering in Bethlehem and its surrounds.
Not long into Jesus' ministry, His popularity waned, as storm clouds gathered.
It has ever been so, and will continue to be so, until Jesus Christ comes again to resolve every issue.
Leadership is more than experiencing loneliness and isolation from being 'out front'.
Leadership involves paying a price and that price at time is high, but men of integrity will be willing to pay that price, knowing that in Christ Jesus there is a reward and recompense which is far beyond what anyone could imagine.
Sandy Shaw
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org/ entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
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