We started a series last week talking about the body of Christ called “The Body Works.” Last week we spoke of the spiritual DNA of the body which is the Holy Spirit. This is an essential component to life in the Body  - to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And what we are going to talk about today - living life together in the body of Christ is dependent on our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
 

So, what happens when you have a community of believers who are all filled with the Holy Spirit who are living in community with one another? In Acts 2, the 120 people that met in the upper room have now grown by 3,000. So now you have a body of believers numbering in the thousands who are living life in the Spirit collectively. What does that look like?
 

The early church was so saturated, inundated with the Holy Spirit that they were swimming in the deep end, so to speak - they enjoyed a Spirit filled community. You can’t duplicate this kind of community; it has to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is frequently imitated but seldom duplicated. So, 3000 people have come to join the ranks of believers - let's read about this community.
 

Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
 

There were 4 activities that the early church practiced that made it a church “on the move.”

The teaching of the apostles, fellowship, celebrating communion and prayer time. The word for fellowship in the Greek is “Koinonia” ... there are actually churches by that name. That is a lot to live up to… it means communion, friendship in the Holy Spirit…. It means participation in the Body through the Holy Spirit.

 These early believers weren’t just “come to church” on Sunday Christians, but they were participants in the body of Christ. It means they all shared a passion, a desire for the things of God… they had a love for Jesus, they loved the Word, they loved the family of God and they loved to get together with the people of God. They hated sin due to God's anger towards it; they lived in the fear of God.
 

This is the perfect “unity in diversity" that the world talks about and tries to emulate. But it can only work in the context of the Holy Spirit, because its only through the Holy Spirit that we can obtain a perfect, sacrificial and selfless love for the family of God.
 

Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “ Life in the Deep End.”     
 

Blessings,                 

Kevin