After an incredible day Sunday, I woke up Monday morning not feeling great.  Within a few hours I felt terrible because of a stomach virus.  It’s interesting to realize how one small part of my body can radically affect the rest of my body.  The nausea (and things that went along with it) totally put me out of comission for the past 24 hours.  I’m better, but still dragging a bit from the remnant of what my body went through yesterday.

We’ve all experienced something like this; whether it’s a virus, broken bone or something worse like cancer or some other life-threatening disease.  Disunity in the body can be a distraction or it can be devastating and even lead to death.

This isn’t a very upbeat way to start today’s blog, but as I read Acts 2 this morning there was a little phrase in verse 46 that kept grabbing my attention.  Acts 2:46a says: “Day by day continuing with one mind….”   The Greek word translated “with one mind’ means “in one accord”.  When Luke wrote this he wasn’t talking about being in a Honda (ha!) – it was the picture of the early church being OF ONE MIND & PURPOSE.

This was also a fulfillment of one of the longest recorded prayers of Jesus (John 17) where He prayed for this movement called the church to remain as ONE.  In fact, Jesus prayed that those of us who are a part of His congregation – His church would be as unified as He was with His Heavenly Father so that – GET THIS – the world would know who Jesus was and why He came!   In other words, our unity (or lack of it) impacts His mission in the world !

When Jesus launched His church, it was amazing.  Over 3000 people joined this movement on day one and then Acts 2:47 tells us that people were being “saved” (putting their trust & faith in Christ) every day!  That’s my prayer for Grace Fellowship – that we’d see people “saved” every day!

There are a number of things the early church did that strengthened them in their purpose of sharing the truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ with the rest of the world.  They were committed to studying what the Apostles taught, they did life together like a family should, they took communion & had meals together, they prayed together, and they were very generous – sharing with others as they had need.   However, the one thing that was most critical in my mind is that they CONTINUED WITH ONE MIND.  They were intentional about their purpose and did not let anything get in the way of this purpose.  

If we are going to impact our world in a significant way for the Kingdom of God – we must be OF ONE MIND!  All of us need to remember – “the church is not about ME” – it’s about this movement of God’s called out ones – Christ followers – who intentonally take the truth of the “Gospel” (the Good News of Jesus Christ) to the rest of the world.  It means we let nothing divert us from His purpose for His church of sharing with others that:  Jesus is the Christ – the Son of the Living God …. who died for our sins …. was buried  ….. was raised from the dead …. and appeared to many….and if they’ll embrace this truth personally they’ll not only receive the gift of eternal life, but will be counted with Christ’s mighty movement in the world called the church.

I know it’s a little cliche, but there’s an old saying that states:  “When we’re ONE, they’re WON.”   In other words, when we are OF ONE MIND – more of those who do not yet know Jesus personally will be WON to faith in Him.