Biblical FoundationsMuestra

Like me, may you’ve been around the table with some of your closest friends and thought, “I love the people God has placed in my life.” Did you know this is how God intended for his people, the Church, to think of one another? Acts 2:42 describes the people of God, known as the Church, in fellowship with one another. Reading through to verse 44 we find account of how they cared for one another and “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). This is the God-ordained DNA of how the Church was intended to look.

The book of Acts, authored by Luke, and thought to be a continuing account of the Gospel of Luke, is where we find the Church Age chronicled in the New Testament. (Side Note: Presotnwood Women has two studies available covering the book of Acts.) Luke recorded life among the apostles in the wake of Pentecost, when Jesus ascended to Heaven. This was a season when the Gospel spread and the apostles traveled and performed miracles. In fact, Acts 1:8 reads, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” This is an echo of the call to fulfill the Great Commission and spread the name of Jesus everywhere. Today, we enjoy the fruit of the early apostles’ labor, as we remain part of the global Church thousands of years and thousands of miles in distance.

Referenced above, Pentecost is one of the most important, pivotal moments described. We find the account in Acts 2, as the Holy Spirit filled every believer in Jerusalem. Jesus prophesied about this day in Matthew 3:11 and Acts 1:4-5 by referring to baptism with the Holy Spirit. After Pentecost, Christ-followers experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside them. Every believer is now a temple for the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Prayer: God, thank you for the Church. Thank you for bringing your people together. Let us serve you and make your name known.