The beginning of Jesus' ministry gives us a picture of what it looks like to remain close to Jesus and serve with others as we follow him.

The Church exploded in growth on the day of Pentecost and the description of the church that directly followed lays out the plan for sustaining the dynasty.

Everyone needs a team. We all require support, encouragement and even discipline once in a while. A team provides all of those benefits to the team members.

Ringer - someone who enters a competition under false pretensions, usually because of their superior abilities. The ringer in the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit.

Everyone on a team plays an important role. They share a united mission and everyone needs to be ready to step up and make a play. This is true in the Church and we see this play out as the Church takes shape at the beginning of Acts.

Dave Ramsey often tells callers to his radio show, “you need to live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.” In other words, sacrifice now so you can enjoy the rewards of those sacrifices later. Following Jesus means living like no one else so we can live like no one else for all eternity.

Christmas is a time of year when we feel pressure to have the perfect experience. We want the decorations to be perfect, we try to prepare the perfect meal, we hope for snow on Christmas morning and

pray that our family gatherings will go smoothly. Those gatherings and experiences are probably never perfect because they are filled with people who aren’t perfect. Jesus enters the world through an imperfect family tree to restore all things to perfection!

In Matthew 2:11, the Magi famously offer three gifts to the baby Jesus; gold, frankincense and myrrh. In the movie,

Journey to Bethlehem, three wise men compete to give the best gift to the newborn king. One of these goofy wise men contends that while others might not know what it is, myrrh is good for everything! We associate Christmas with gifts, but ought to make certain that we not forget the greatest gift of all!