Begin with two minutes of silence and stillness before God.
Acts 2 might be one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible. God fulfills His promise to send His Holy Spirit as an advocate and helper to dwell within His followers. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles preach the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus, and in a single moment, the Gospel spreads to every language and nation. The New Testament church explodes onto the pages of history as 12 becomes 3,000 in the blink of an eye.
As you read through this account of the birth of the Church, did you pick up on the theme of unity? It’s littered all throughout this chapter from beginning to end.
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they (the Apostles) were all TOGETHER in one place.” Acts 2:1
They had just lost their leader. Everything they had lived for over the last 3 years had just disappeared. What were they supposed to do now? What would you have done? Honestly, I think it would have been hard for me to not go back to the life that I had known, pick back up my fishing nets, and try to rebuild an income. Maybe go sulk in a corner somewhere and complain about everything I thought I missed out on.
But the Apostles stayed together. No one left. No one got kicked out. They had each other and they had hope. That was enough to keep them going when everything else seemed to be falling apart.
“And at this sound, the multitude came TOGETHER, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.” Acts 2:6
When the Holy Spirit fell on the Apostles, nations were brought together because the Gospel was proclaimed. No language or nationality could stand in the way of God’s Good News.
“And all who believed were TOGETHER and had all things in common.” Acts 2:44
Literally, thousands of people began following Jesus, and the church was born in this moment. That amount of people can be overwhelming to any system. It is crushing to a movement that hasn’t even had time to take form yet, but the sheer mass could not stop the unifying power of the name of Jesus.
Here is the bottom line, and you have probably heard it said before: We are better together.
When circumstances push you into isolation, fight for community and fight for connection. We were never made to do life alone.