And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:29
Laughlintown Christian Church is a New Testament church. We are a group of people seeking to be God's family, to get close to God and to one another in the way the New Testament describes--through Jesus and his Good News.
If there's one thing the Bible is clear about, it's that you can't be a New Testament church without a New Testament Spirit. You can't be God's family without God's Spirit. (Paul spells this out at length in Romans chapter 8.)
The very first Christian sermon is found in Acts 2. As you might have guessed, Peter preached it on the day of Pentecost. As you might have guessed, it quotes a lot of Bible verses. As you might have guessed, it is all about Jesus.
This sermon ends with thousands of people believing in Jesus, repenting of their sins, being baptized into Jesus, and joining the "church"--the family of believers. But all of this is based on the promise that you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise of the Spirit isn't just for those who heard on the day of Pentecost; it is "for you and for your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
The promise of the Spirit isn't just for those who heard on the day of Pentecost; it is "for you and for your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
In Acts, believing and being baptized and receiving God's Spirit are always lumped together. Once (as a sort of exception to unite the Jewish and Samaritan church) God waits until a little bit after their baptism to give new Christians the Spirit. Once (as a sort of exception to persuade Jewish Christian that a Roman like Cornelius can become a Christian too) God gives the Spirit to new believers right before they are baptized. But these just prove the point that believing and being baptized and receiving God's Spirit, happen together.
We preach Christ (and him crucified)! We encourage faith and repentance! We practice baptism!
But we don't want to forget that all of these exist in order to bring us closer to the promised gift of God--the gift where God gives us Himself, in the very heart of us, his Spirit living in us and producing fruit in us and giving us strength for every trial, courage for every good work.
How has the Spirit worked in your life today?
--Jonathan
REMINDERS:
Join us every Sunday at 10 a.m. to encourage one another in worship. Currently, we are going through the book of Revelation to explore John's vision of the world behind the curtain.
Saturday, March 9, at 7 p.m., we are watching a movie at the church. There will be popcorn and drinks. Come; invite a friend. The movie is family-friendly Joseph, King of Dreams.
Sunday, March 10 we are having a 9 a.m. breakfast at the church, in place of our usual 9 a.m. Sunday School.
At noon on Wednesday, there are short community worship services in Ligonier, at St. James Lutheran (March 6, 13, and 20).