Sunday Morning Service, April 19, 2015
What transformed the disciples of Jesus from timid and unsure followers into confident and powerful witnesses to his death and resurrection? The same thing that empowered Jesus at the beginning of his own ministry (Luke 4): the coming of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit upon his witnesses, a Spirit-empowered, dynamic community of—his church!—is born. Luke’s description of this first church in Jerusalem challenges us to examine our own congregation for these marks of the Holy Spirit in our midst.