Acts 4:32-37 “Now the multitude of those who believed
were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things
he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave
witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them
all. Nor was there anyone among them who
lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought
the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they
distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the
apostles (which is translated ‘Son of Encouragement’), a Levite of the country
of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
Last Sunday, Pastor Rick was tagged by Pastor Kyle to preach on
the above Scripture passage in our Sermon series though the book of Acts (The
full title being “the Acts of the Apostles”, but could easily be titled “The
Acts of the Holy Spirit” by the context. Pastor Rick points out that when we
are lying in the same position for a long period of time, we get stiff and need
to stretch. Pray that God stretches us in our walk with the Holy Spirit. We are
called to “fullness” in the spirit, but we (being finite) are not enough like
Jesus to reach that fullness without the process of sanctification (the growing
into the likeness of Christ). He gave us four characteristics of “Gospel
Community” to guide the way; (1) Being of one heart and soul (mind, will and
emotion). Philippians 2:2 “Fulfill my joy by being like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. To be will to
sacrificially give is an ideal that would be lived out in the Christian
community by the body of Christ, His church. (2) Sharing blessings and meeting
needs – not socialism, but an offering to the high call of God to know the
needs, struggles and hurts, then respond practically; not keeping it to or for
ourselves, Gratefully gracious for our salvation through Christ with whom we
have assurance that all of our sin has been covered by His atoning blood and
wiped away and we are reconciled unto God, invited back into His favor, into
fellowship of His communion, adopted into His family, given His name, invited to
His table, and made His heir everlasting, citizen of the kingdom of heaven .
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered to you first of all that
which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
(3) By preaching and proclaiming Christ to a lost and dying world.
We fulfill the Great commission by gathering around the cross and speaking the
truth in love; witnessing for the Lord and the Gospel of Salvation through
Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God’s
forgiveness is astounding. Our inheritance in Christ cannot possibly be
measured. We change from death to life; that is what Christ has done for us on
the cross. We can all tell our personal story of redemption, reconciliation and
love of God. (4) By great grace. To find Christ, we need grace. We try all the
things of this fallen and sin-sick world, but they just won’t work because we
are just throw everything into a bottomless Jesus-shaped hole. We are all
slaves to sin and need to work through our bondage because only through our
Lord Jesus Christ can we know the truth,
and the truth shall set us free - John 8:31-32 and that means taking a moment to stretch, walking
in the Spirit and stepping into gospel communion. I
want to walk this road with you guys.
In Christ, Brian
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