After listening to Isaiah's cries about a Messiah in our last teaching series, we thought we should look at Jesus' life. Since Isaiah cast huge vision for what the Messiah will do in all the Earth, we thought we'd look at the ways Jesus creates fruit in the lives of others in our new teaching series.. Hopefully, God will help connect the grand reality Isaiah called forth with the action oriented style Jesus takes in loving others.
We started with the beginning of Jesus' story with the church, His body on Earth. Reading Acts 2, we learned that God's Spirit is being poured out on ALL people even though those same people "partnered with wicked men to kill Jesus." It's almost like God's response to disobedience is even more love and generosity with His gifts. In fact, Peter strongly states that all one has to do is repent, or change one's mind, and be baptized with forgiveness and then one can receive the Holy Spirit as a gift. That is not an invitation to some, but to all. This Sunday, we received that gift by stretching our hands and asking God to pour out His Spirit on us in order to bring love and light into our lives. With that joy, we can change our mind and ask God to renew and restore us with the gift of His Spirit. That same Spirit, which raised Christ from the dead, gives power, comfort, peace, and joy freely to ALL who ask. Pray with us to receive that Spirit and pray for us to always partner with God in giving His Spirit away at Agape.
