“Then fear came upon every soul…” (Ac 2:43a).

One essential element missing in contemporary piety is awe, holy fear or reverence. Imagine being in church and everybody is aware of God’s presence. Imagine a worship service where everybody takes God’s Word seriously. Imagine a situation where nobody is distracted or passive. We’ve become so accustomed to irreverent worship that we think it’s normal. God forbid! There’s an atmosphere befitting the gathering of God’s people. It is totally different from the frivolous social gatherings common nowadays. It’s a sacred, peculiar feel altogether. It is noteworthy that in our text holy fear kept coming (for so is the tense in the original). Waves of awe continuously came over the church as God’s glory manifested. It’s also noteworthy that nobody was exempt from this sense of awe–men, women, youth, children. Let that be our experience in church today.

Pastor Josh