The Birth of the Church

The Book of Acts is about the spread of the Gospel out to the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, the Church was birthed as John the Baptist has prophesied – with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and from then on, the church was baptised with the fire of persecution. So why is it that the western church looks good on the outside, but on the inside is filthy and rotten? It does not sound like the power of God falling on those in the western churches.

The miracle that occurred was that “each man heard them speak in his own dialect.” The greek implies that each person heard all of the 120 speaking in his own language. So how do we interpret this for the church today? We cannot take this as a pattern for now, as this was the birth of the church, and this was only to happen the once. It was a fulfilment of prophecy and an enablement to preach the Gospel to the multitudes.

The church age is not identified by miracles, but by the Spirit of God. Unlike in the Old Testament, where God would give His Spirit out to a select few people, in the New Testament, God gives His spirit to all believers. And why do we as believers receive the Spirit of God? So that we can be witnesses to Him throughout all the earth.

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