Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

 

This past Sunday was Bright Sunday.  We wear bright clothes as a fun expression of living in the brightness of Christ’s resurrection.  The brightness also connects us to the historical practice for Christians to enjoy the humorous side of faith after we have experienced the seriousness of Holy Week.

 

God renews us by renewing people’s trust to be the “body of Christ.”  We are an Easter people.  We are a people of life transformation. So … what’s next? 

 

This article marks the beginning of a sermon series filled with God’s promises from the book of Acts. The answer to the question of ”What’s Next?” is “God’s 8 Transforming Promises.”  Through these promises, God reveals His truth, releases His power, and revitalizes us by His presence.

 

These 8 promises come from Scripture and have been trusted by Christians for 2,000 years.  They are proven promises.  Consequently, they naturally form our life transformation covenant as a family of Christian believers.  Christ’s resurrection makes every believer a winner.  Christ’s death makes it possible for every seeker to become a believer.  Christ’s life shows everyone how to live as winners … Which is, of course, the great application of Acts1:8, which says … “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

 

Our own transformation (”but when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power“) becomes Christ’s life-giving witness to others.  Through us as believers His message is carried throughout the United States and around the world.

 

Through “God’s 8 Transforming Promises,” we become the People of God to do the Work of God by:

 

•Loving God with our whole being and loving others as we love ourselves;

•Praying and worshipping with intimacy;

•Being a virtuous person of Christian character;

•Experiencing the Holy Spirit’s empowerment & giftedness;

•Sharing Christian compassion as acts of social justice;

•Learning the Scriptures for life application and sharing our faith in Christ;

•Building our church into a passionate Christian community;

•Living our faith 24/7/365

 

Acts: Their Transforming Story is Our Story

I first read Acts through during the summer I sold Bibles in North Carolina. I was 17, homesick, in over my head with responsibilities, and desperate to know how to live through God’s power.

 

I chose Acts because those early Christians felt some of what I was feeling.  Their story encouraged me.  Their life circumstances became the means through which God worked His promises and transformed their lives.  Engaging, not escaping their circumstances, allowed God to shape them into heroes.

 

These ordinary people with extraordinary faith shaped the early church.  Saul became Paul, the great Apostle.  Lydia, a business woman, founded a church in Philippi.  Aquilla & Priscilla, married & business partners, served churches in Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus.  Peter relinquished his racial prejudices because of a prayer experience.  Stephen, while being stoned to death, prayed for God to forgive his sinful executioners.  Barnabas, a realtor, sold a property to fund Christianity’s first church.  Cornelius, a Roman centurion, trusted Christ, and then shared Christ with others.  Believers learned to address the petty issues which tempted them to fuss & divide by: praying, communicating, and serving.

 

We are a 21st century people living the same transforming power which shaped the first century church.

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

- Acts 1:1-11 (NIV)

 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

- Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

 

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