Hello friends, welcome to In Bolden. I'm Chris Shatter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Welcome to the new series, New Beginnings. I read this great comment by a young woman that I follow on Instagram.
And it goes, 2022 is not going to be your year. It's God's year. In fact, every year has been and will be his. Once you believe that your life and your time all belong to him, every year will be a victory.
He holds the victory and the whole world in his hands every year, every day, live for him. I hope that's what you get out of this series. Enjoy. Today's new beginning comes from Acts 2, 41.
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. My husband and I are back in the process of a church search. For some of you, your church has been your lifelong home. But for others, you know all too well the difficult path of church searching.
We spent the last seven months trying out a church and realized it just wasn't quite the right fit. There was great preaching and friendly people, but there were a number of pieces missing that we didn't see being resolved anytime soon. We left on friendly terms as we began our journey to the right home. And this search led me to think about the first church.
That fateful day of Pentecost, when 3,000 souls turned their hearts and lives over to Jesus, when the Holy Spirit was delivered to earth. But there could have been more. There stood in the temple that day and heard the sound of the violent wind. They heard the Jews from every nation speaking to each other in their native tongues, but they hardened their hearts.
Acts 2, 13 goes on. Some, however, made fun of them and said, they've had too much wine. But that 3,000 selected by God, they were urged by Peter to recognize what had just occurred. He quoted the prophet Joel and explaining how the Holy Spirit would be poured out just as it had been promised.
He reminded the Jews of David's words when he spoke of God's promise to fill them with the joy of God's presence. When Peter had his brief history lesson, the 3,000 asked, quote, brothers, what shall we do, unquote? Acts 2, 38 to 39 goes on, and Peter replied, 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.
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. In other words, he answered with the message of the gospel, and he went on to plead with them to abandon their corrupt generation. Imagine 3,000 people all at once starting on their new beginnings. It must have been glorious.
But their baptism wasn't the end of their stories. What came next was an intense learning period. They, quote, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, unquote. They ate together, worshipped together, studied together, prayed without ceasing, and worked together to help those in need, and they multiplied.
You see, you don't get the impression from reading about the first church and Acts that a bunch of individuals were saved and went to their homes and began an intensive self-realization study. Or went about their workday as though nothing spectacular just happened. No, their common goal was to spread the news of Jesus Christ dying for our sins. Remember, they spoke in many different languages, so they were preparing to go back home to make even more believers.
Preparing to go do difficult work. That first church, it was all about discipleship. And I wonder how many of our churches can truly say the same. I haven't been a member of one yet.
But it's what I'm looking for now. Henry Martin once said, the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we must become. You know, the act of baptism and confessing our faith in Jesus Christ and receiving Holy Spirit is typically a public affair. It's the starting point of our new beginning.
But after that one time event, we must call on the power and strength of the Holy Spirit to fill us continually for one mission, to be in service to God. Those first 3,000 believers would need the Holy Spirit to continue on their mission. They would most likely encounter adversity, opposition, violence, and yes, success. Beautiful success.
We should all celebrate the day of Pentecost, which comes on the 7th Sunday or 50 days after Easter Sunday. This year, it's June 5, 2022. For the Old Testament Jews, it represented the giving of the law to Moses. But the New Covenant, for all the worlds partake, saw Jesus enter our lives.
And after Jesus' poor-told crucifixion, He gave us the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. And on that day, thousands of years ago, yet another promise was fulfilled by God. His Spirit came to live in all of us permanently, and we were commissioned into His service. As my faith in biblical knowledge has matured, my list of, quote, must-haves for my new church has been honed.
I want a church that is biblically strong, always pointing me to Jesus, a joy-filled body of believers, and one whose primary goal is to create well-bursed and confident disciples. I hope you will pray for us in finding such a place. Friends, the modern church itself needs a new beginning. As individuals, may we be spurred to greater expectations of our Christian communities.
And may we seek out ways to draw each other together in unity, as our forefathers in Christ did, on that day of Pentecost. Have a great day. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the A Bolden Podcast. Be sure to follow along so you don't miss any episode.
And check out my blog at embolden.net.