Day 22
Topic: Partnering with a local church
Title: Belonging is crucial
Truth Verse: Acts 2:41,47 Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three
thousand were added to their number that day... praising God and enjoying the favour of all
the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Truth Story: When a new born baby comes into the world they are normally added to a
family and immediately sense of what it is to belong. If children do not have love, safety, food and warmth that child will be suffering neglect, as the denial of the basic needs that affect their health, development and safety. We would never think of placing a wee one on a doorstep to fend for itself – neither does God.
Truth Unpacked: Jesus tells us that to enter the Kingdom of God we must be spiritually reborn, what the bible calls being born of God. As new born Christians we are not only to be born into the Kingdom but also to be added to the church – the family of God.
Within the very Godhead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit a family-community is encountered and exemplified to us.
In Acts Chapter 2 we see at the birth of the church, God’s plan for a corporate community of love and acceptance often referred to as the family of God. When the one hundred and twenty people that started praying in that upper room in Jerusalem experienced the move of the Holy Spirit, those that came to faith in Christ were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. This outbreak of faith continued at a pace and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. The story doesn’t stop there, with Acts chapter 5 informing us of phenomenal growth, in that more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
The family of God or those who belong to the family of believers are 'the apple of Gods eye.' The apostle Paul tells us that as Christ, the bridegroom loves the church, which is His bride, are to be His much-loved community. Remember Christ loved the church so much that he gave his life for her and will never neglect her. Individualism is rampant, case in point being hardly knowing people who live in our own street! Christ’s call to us clear – He desires us to belong to the family of God. Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Prayer: Lord we pray that the love of God would be so evident in our local church that people will sense your embrace to belong and then believe and enjoy being part of your great family plan to serve one another in love.
