Prioritizing His Presence
What a gift to be back with you all last Sunday! It was so sweet sharing stories about life in the NICU and the ways God has used this journey to reveal His heart and nature to us in the middle of difficulty and uncertainty.
We also studied a few keys for Catching God’s Momentum arising from the testimony of the early church in Acts 2:42-47, when the Holy Spirit floods the lives and community of ordinary believers…
Watch last Sunday’s sermon “Prioritizing The Presence” from our Catching God’s Momentum series
During the early church’s first days with the Holy Spirit, they were totally devoted to four key things in the Spirit that remain at the heart of the Christian Church today:
The Apostles Teaching (aka. New Testament teachings, stories, letters, etc.)
Fellowship (what happens between sermons ;)
The Breaking of Bread (communion/the Cross)
Prayer (“a power sharing relationship with God”)
These seem like basic routines of church life, but in Acts these carried new power and freedom through the Holy Spirit. And as we live inside these four areas, we too, can stay in His momentum.
These four areas carried potent weight for the Early Church because these leaders and followers had literally known Jesus in-person. Imagine how fueling that would have been!
Some of them had tasted the cup and broken bread with Him at the Last Supper. Others received deep deliverance and freedom from His hand. Still others had been moved by His tenderness and power as He healed. And all of them had responded with awe as Jesus taught with authority…
Now, with Jesus ascended, what would it have been like to be around their teaching, their fellowshipping, their communion, their personal prayer? What would it be like to be in a room full of countless testimonies that all arose from in-person encounters with Jesus! Wow! But it wasn’t just Jesus’ stories they told when together…
When Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on them, He actually began to perform His ministry on earth through them. Their community, filled with the Holy Spirit, experienced Jesus-working-through-them stories. And that’s a totally different kind of story.
It’s amazing when Jesus does something phenomenal—but it’s baffling when He does something phenomenal through “ordinary” and “unqualified” people like us. And that is the story of the book of Acts. That is the story of the early church. And this is our story, too.
Consider, what might Jesus desire to do through you that you could never do in your own power or strength?
Can we even imagine Jesus moving through us despite our skills, qualifications, or ability?
Well, this is what the Holy Spirit does, and is the call of Catching God’s Momentum. Our God is the same God today. Same power. Same heart. And I’m confident He has more for us this Sunday!
Let’s be prayerfully expectant, asking Jesus to perform His ministry now through us, too!
See you Sunday!
Pastor Dave