Please be seated for a moment and please allow me to just share a short message. My prayer is that you will hear from God, not really from me.
The theme for this year’s Holiday Folk Fair is Celebrating the Culture of Community, commemorating a community of people who are bound together by common ties, such as language, customs and beliefs. It is good that we can come to this Folk Fair and learn from one another and become a better community in Milwaukee. May you learn and enjoy the good people of Milwaukee today!
But let us also learn from our Creator God who desires a good community!
Did you know the early Christians, about 2000 years ago, had a sense of community? You see, they shared one car and it was a Honda! The Bible tells us in the Book of Acts that the early Christians all continued in one Accord!
Just kidding, of course the word accord in the Bible does not mean a car; what does it mean? The New Testament Bible was actually originally written in ancient Greek; and the old Greek word for accord was homothumadon which means same desire! The early Christians had a common tie; the early Christians had community!
And how good was that community of the early Christians?
Here’s what we read about that Community of Early Christians in Acts 2:44-47 All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. And if they had a car, yes, the early Christians would have shared it to one another!
That Community is what our Good god desires for us as well. How can it happen? First of all we can note from the passage was that the people did their part and God did His part. And so, this is the first thing we need to note: If we desire something good, like a good community, we must do our part in doing good and depend on a Good God!
Now which is more important, doing good or depending on a Good God? Could those early Christians really do good for others if they did not know a Good God to depend on? A person cannot give what they don’t have! Right?
What did those early Christians give? Those early Christians gave all they had!! Those early Christians must have known and received from a really good God!
Who was their God? What did the early Christians knew about their God? What did the early Christians receive from their God?
If we look at the beginning of the Book of Acts, we will note the God of the early Christians. The God of the early Christians of course is Jesus Christ, but Jesus noted God the Father and God the Holy Spirit! The early Christians believed in a Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And what did the early Christians knew about their God? God the Father is in heaven, which is a place eternal and perfectly good!
God the Son Jesus Christ left heaven to die on earth for people’s sins but rose from the dead!
God the Holy Spirit lives in every Christian!
And what did the early Christians received from their God? The early Christians knew their sins were forgiven because Jesus died for them. The early Christians knew they were being changed for good by the Holy Spirit. The early Christian knew they were destined for eternal heaven to be with the perfect God the Father. God provided for the early Christians a cleansed past, an empowered present, and a future which will go on forever perfectly in heaven!
How about us today? If God is eternal then His Words are eternal! Therefore, whatever God gave the early Christians, we can also have today!
Know the Triune God and allow Jesus Christ to cleanse your past through the cross, be empowered by the Holy Spirit, and look forward to be with Holy God the Father forever and ever!
Receive the eternal goodness of God and live out that goodness in your community!
