Acts 2:1-4 – When the day of Pentecost arrived…there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house…And divided tongues as of fire appeared…And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…
Over the years, many people have asked the question “What makes a church?” Is it the ornate, perfectly crafted church building or, is it instead the people who are the most important mark of a church? It’s in fact the presence of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit first comes from the throne room of Heaven to the Jews on earth. It starts with a sermon, as Peter gets up to preach, and 3000 people were saved. This goes to show that, in a Bible-preaching, Holy Spirit-filled church, people get saved hearing the Word of God. A Holy Spirit-filled church has three things – worship, witness, and wealth. The people worship God through hearing the Word and responding in worship, they witness and invite others to be part of it, and they give sacrificially with their wealth, mirroring the generosity God has showed to them.
We can also follow their example of meeting together both in big and small groups. In that day, the people of God met together in temples in corporate worship as well as in scattered worship in homes, like what we would today call a life group. Both are very important and are the reason weekend services and life groups are two of the main building blocks of Trinity Church as relayed in our mission statement – “We open our Bibles to learn. We open our lives to love. So that lives and legacies are transformed.”
The incredible fact is this – God could’ve chosen anywhere to come down and send the Holy Spirit for the first time and He chose a home. Not a government building, a public square, or even a temple. God is always trying to create a family, as He says in Jeremiah 30:22, “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Let us learn from their example, meeting in large and small gatherings as the family of God, and church can become like a family reunion with people you actually like.
Is your family involved in both corporate worship and a small group? If not, make it a priority to do both in the new year.
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