Do you live your life with "great joy and generosity"?  The first century believers did.  Why?  Well, we've been seeing that all week--they lived with great joy and generosity because they loved God, knew Jesus died to set them free from sin, and devoted themselves to lives in God's word, fellowship with each other, eating and celebrating the Lord's Supper together and prayer.  Acts 2:46, summarizes what we've been reading all week from Acts 2:42-45:  ⁴⁶They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—⁴⁷all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.

To me, the most amazing aspect of Acts 2:46 is that in the midst of a culture where it was illegal and potentially deadly to be followers of Jesus, the early believers lived with great joy and generosity AND enjoyed the goodwill of ALL the people.  Living life together in the name of Jesus is magnetic.  That churches across America don't draw outsiders the way bees draw honey is an indicator that we have lost something of the first century believers' joy and generosity.  In fact, if you ask most folks outside the church what they think of folks inside the church words like hypocrisy, judgmental, and mean-spirited come to mind.  That's not my opinion. That's the truth that research provides us.  In books such as They Like Jesus, But Not The Church we read of the negative image the church has developed in 21st century America. 

I like to think we're developing a culture of joy and generosity at New Life, but the proof of that pudding is whether our guests feel the joy and generosity coming from us when they visit, and whether our neighbors, co-workers, and classmates experience it in our interactions with them. (That we have more and more guests at New Life is a great indicator that we're moving in the right direction!) In my twenty-seven plus years as a pastor, I have to say that at this moment in New Life's history I sense it has a more joyful and generous spirit than any church I've served or been part of in my life.  I believe more and more of us are experiencing the power of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and wanting to share it with others.  That is the essence of the Good News, and the essence of the life together that Jesus planned for us.  My prayer is we will continue to grow in His grace, love and truth, that we will live His truth in love more and more as we move into the future and that we will earn the good will of all the people in our communities.  God certainly desires that, and as long as we commit ourselves to it in the love and power of the Holy Spirit, we'll see it become more and more the reality--AND more people will become part of God's ever growing family.  Can I get an "Amen!"?

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your great love, grace and salvation.  Continue to fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may share them with everyone around us, and that our joy and generosity may increase day by day.  This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.