We Are LifeChurch

God's plan is not that we go off on our own, individually being a light of the gospel, but that we "strive together as one for the faith of the gospel," just as the apostle Paul writes to the church in Philippi. We are to be partners together, standing strong when trials come and reaching out with helping hands to the lost.

If the Bible says "the wages of sin is death," why are we not dead yet? The answer dates back to Adam and Eve, the original sinners, and the original redeemed. They were covered in sin, but God clothed them in sacrifice, as nothing corrupt can stand before a holy God.

What hope is there in this life if this is it? Is there anything to look forward to? Jesus made sure there was. His life ended so we could be saved. He rose again so we could live forever with him. There is hope for more. Find it with Jesus.

When Cain flippantly asked "Am I my brothers keeper?" God didn't bother to answer because the answer was obvious, "Yes, you are." Our mission is to multiply the church with God, but we can't do that if we are divided from our brother, with that we can only add. Strife, division, gossip, etc. do nothing but hurt the mission, hurt ourselves, and hurt our brother.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain sneered a mockery of exactly what he was to God. His brothers keeper, as Abel was his. It's the keeper that God honors. The keeper that protects. The keeper that fights. The keeper who stands in the way of the enemy when their brother or sister is down, saying "No. You have to come through me first." The keeper after God's own heart.

The human body can’t last long without water. 3 days, maybe 4. To be without it is disastrous. Yet, after just a moment speaking with Jesus, the woman at the well forgot entirely her purpose for going to the well and she forgot her life sustaining vessel to carry that water. He spoke Living Water into her dry and parched soul. The same is for us today, just reach out and touch Him.

Bethesda. Mercy. Those that lay by the pool hung every hope they had on a moment of chance. IF the waters were troubled, IF someone could carry them, and IF they could get there first they would receive the answer to their problems. They spent all their time waiting. Then and now, it’s so easy to focus so much on searching for the answer that we don’t see it’s right in front of us.

The early church experienced an explosion of growth when it first came to be despite mockery and persecution all around them, the rate of increase even being astounding by todays standards. What then, did they have that we have not? Not technology, not gimmicks, nor advertisements. The answer is simple: they did to others what Jesus did to them. They taught, they fellowshipped, and they loved.

Egypt and Babylon. Captivity and slavery. Israel vastly outnumbered their conquerers in both situations yet still remained in bondage. How? The tried and true tactic of demoralization. Your enemy knows this. He will do anything to snuff out your fire. Beat him at his own game. He knows he can't stand when you rise with the Lord.

It's time to lift up your head.

Pastor Brown continues our study of Acts chapter 2, focusing on the power of the new covenant created when Jesus rose from the dead and the great message of hope it brings not just to the Jews and Gentiles of old, but to all mankind here and now, today.