We believe the church is the body of Christ on earth, working toward fulfilling its calling to prepare humanity for Christ's return and entry into the kingdom of heaven. Understanding when and how the church was built helps us better fulfill that calling. This series, The Church Jesus Built, examines the early church's life and origin as described in the Book of Acts.
Jesus’s followers had grown from 120 in the room where the Holy Spirit came down to more than three thousand during a single gospel message. In a single morning, the Holy Spirit multiplied the number of gathered believers by twenty-five. And this was only the start. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Lord grew their number day by day.
As we witness to others, we Christians can be tempted to believe our job is to lead them to salvation. It may feel that we are doing the work—after all, it’s our mouths doing the talking. But Scripture makes it clear that words from our mouths without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit are ineffectual and spiritually dead. Similarly, the church without the Holy Spirit would be the church in name only. It’s the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that gives us the potency to carry out the work that defines us.