Hey there Southbrookians!
Well this 100 days sure has been amazing so far. How are you doing? Are you keeping up! Please keep at it. We all know it can be tough but this journey is UNITING us together day by day, with each other and with Christ! It is awesome that no matter how many times you go through the bible, something new pops up EVERYTIME!! I hope you are enjoying this as much as we, the staff, are!!
This section in Acts really is awesome. As the Church, we should love this book for many reasons, but this time through it two major things just flew off the page at me!
1…man they had it rough huh? Persecution, murder, getting stoned (not like that! Geez, you know what I mean!) 🙂 arrested. These guys had a much tougher path than we do to find and follow Christ!
2….We still follow the SAME PATH TO COMMUNITY AND BECOMING LIKE HIM!! Let’s look at this section of Chapter 2! Check this out…look how it is described how people came to be a part of a growing community of Christ. I am using the ESV. Now Peter has just given an amazing “sermon”, if you will, a story of Christ. This is what follows…
37Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
NOW…They were given a call to give their lives to Christ, they did so, and then they were baptized! 3000 OF THEM!!! THAT IS A LOT OF BAPTISMS!! OK now what….
42And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
So because they had this new love for Christ, they wanted to learn more right? So they fell under the teaching of someone like we do with Pastor Rob, came to church, took communion, learned to pray. We do this here! What next??
44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved
So if this were in modern day Southbrook lingo it might read like this….We all believed and came to church together and found we had a lot in common. We gave to the Closet Ministry to give clothing to the needy. We came beside those who lost their jobs and lifted them up with the funds and moral support they needed. We joined a LifeGroup and found that when we ate together, and studied together, we bonded together and found more LIFE! And just like in those days, God is adding to the number of saved lives here at Southbrook everyday!
In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I have come that you may have life TO THE FULLEST!” Some translations say more abundant! That is not done alone guys! It is done first by giving our lives to Christ, being baptized, learning more about Christ and trying to be more like Him and GETTING INTO COMMUNITY WITH OTHER BELIEVERS LIKE YOU!! It is pretty awesome that it is the same today as it was 2000 years ago! I hope this challenges you but also encourages you that we are a part of something way bigger than just an individual path! Have a great week everyone!!
Pastor Jairus
P.S. Parents – be sure and read the 100 Day Challenge Kid Blog with your kids – click here
Jairus (pronouced j-AIR-us….now say it fast and all together) is Worship Pastor over at our Monroe campus. He is leading teams that are striving to bring irresistible worship experiences to our campuses at Southbrook!