Partakers Bible Thought 1 October 2021 – Big Story 09

Partakers Bible Thought

1 October 2021

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.”(John 14:23-31)

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)

In our last podcast, we saw that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and has ascended back to God the Father. You would think that is the end of the story. But it is not an end, but a beginning! The story is not finished. We are ourselves part of it. Mark begins his Gospel by calling it the “beginning of the Gospel” (Mark 1:1). Perhaps Mark was hinting that there was a lot more to come after he had finished writing. If so we are part of the continuation of the Gospel.

The first 20 chapters of the book we call the Acts of the Apostles are devoted to 3 main themes: the giving of the Holy Spirit to all the followers of Jesus; the understanding that the Christian Way is open to all: Jews and Gentiles; and the spread of the Good News round all the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. All these are very important for us. The remaining 8 chapters of the book are concerned with various legal arguments surrounding Paul and his work. These were important to Luke writing to encourage his patron, Theophilus, to follow the Way but are far less important for us.

Today we are looking at the birth of the Church, the body of Jesus Christ. We explore together questions such as: Who is the Holy Spirit? How was the Church born? How did the Romans and the religious leaders react? How is the Church still alive today and why? Listen or download the mp3 podcast to find out more in this part of telling the Bible’s big story and the birth of the Church, the bride of Jesus Christ.

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