Acts 2:1-13
Reflect
As we continue to read about the early church and how it was intent on following Jesus, we have so much to pay attention to. This passage is filled with dramatic displays of God’s outpouring into the early church. I envision Luke trying somehow to grapple with how to communicate the phenomenal. Mighty rushing wind! Tongues of fire! Long before DuoLingo, an ability to converse in multiple languages! It’s all so remarkable!
We can easily overlook a couple of items that are no less spectacular. Verse 1 says they were all together in one place…all together. Why? Because by following Jesus they were swimming against the stream of culture, and this caused them to be persecuted for their faith. They weren’t yet persecuted for their written doctrine; they were persecuted for what they believed and how they put that into practice.
Their culture (and ours) lived by the standard that a person who does wrong deserves wrath. The early church was not persecuted for delivering too much wrath; they were persecuted for believing in loving grace. They believed that a person is never as bad as the worst thing they did and that all deserved loving grace. That is what following Jesus looks like.
Apply
Our country needs more of us to follow Jesus as He goes to the unlovable with His display of mercy and grace. Where will you follow Jesus today?
Pastor Dan
Pray
- Pray for our Prime Minister and Premier, Mayor Sohi, your MP, your MLA, and any other government officials God brings to your mind.
- Pray for Dave Schneider, our Youth and Worship Pastor and Erin Gibbard, Youth Ministry Associate.
- Pray for all our small group leaders.