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Team Player or Solo Performer?

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Acts 2:1b (NIV)

they were all together in one place.

CONSIDER THIS

Welcome back to the day after the Day of Pentecost—again. Yes, it’s still Day One.

We are obviously slow walking Acts 2 verse 1 aren’t we? We have come to Part B. You remember Part A: When the day of Pentecost came. Now to part b: they were all together in one place. 

For most of my life, I have jumped straight to v.2, which reads, Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven. When it comes to the Holy Spirit, it is so easy to get caught up in the phenomenon of it all and completely miss the point. It leads to the outcome of chasing all manner of individual spiritual experience when the point is pursuing each other. Here’s the point:

they were all together in one place. 

The Holy Spirit is a deeply personal reality to each of us and yet never individualized. The Holy Spirit indwells us personally with his own presence, bringing the gravity of heaven, and this gravity has the effect of pulling us together into the relationship Jesus calls “My Church.” Paul calls it the Body of Christ. Peter calls it “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place

The Holy Spirit is personal and communal; not individuated and privatized. 

My first sport as a kid was baseball. I played second base. As I look back though, I wasn’t so into the team. I was interested in my batting average and making the All-Star Team. It turns out I was more of an individual performer than a team player. That’s probably why I quit baseball and picked up golf and tennis. It remains a weakness for me. 

The Christian Faith is a team sport. It’s why the Church was born when they were all together in one place. And immediately, the game was on. 

The scoreboard that day read:

Church: 3,000
Satan: 0

Still Day One.

THE PRAYER

God our Father, who with your son Jesus Messiah, fills us with the Holy Spirit, thank you for the Eternal Day of Pentecost. Thank you for the way you turned a crowd into a Church; transforming a loosely connected group of people into a tightly knit community. I confess my own tendencies to want to go it alone, to control my performance and outcome, to be recognized and celebrated. I hear your call to humility, hiddenness and holiness. May it be so, Jesus. Praying in your name, Amen.  

THE QUESTION

Are you more of a solo performer or a team player? 

For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

Comments and Discussion

6 Responses

  1. Actually, I long to experience true Christian community. I believe that it’s the overall lacking of this much needed element within the Church here in America, that is the cause of our impotence. I pray daily to be drawn into a local body of believers who’ve sensed the same thing. I perceive that it’s going to happen, but confess that I tend to be impatient. Lord help me be still and trust in your perfect timing.

    1. Oh, Bob, that breaks my heart. How can it be in a country where there are thousands churches those spirit of community is not abundant and flourishing?
      I fear it is because of our desire to use the Holy Spirit’s gifts to be or do something ‘great for God’ instead of desiring God’s greatness to flow and shine though us. We desire to be ‘a great healer, speaker, teacher, prophet’ when we should be humble servants giving all greatness to our creator.
      Our prime function is and should ever be to LOVE – God, each other, and the world. It’s the greatest gift and the one we all should desire. If I do this, (in His name) but never give a word of prophecy or heal or speak in tongues, I still have every spiritual gift I need.
      PS I’m not there yet!
      I pray you find your church today. X

  2. My passion is to see
    The Jesus team
    Frequently gathering
    To function all together
    In one place
    According to 1 Corinthians 14:26
    As the Holy Spirit
    Inwardly prompts and directs
    Each person present
    To proclaim or testify,
    Confess or sing,
    Pray or prophesy,
    Manifest a spiritual gift,
    Or read from the Bible,
    Everyone together revealing
    The presence and power
    Of the risen Jesus
    For all to behold,
    Obey and adore.

  3. Excellent Daily Text, JD.
    This morning, I will share this with the men at Safe Harbour (a rehab). Hope that is ok? If you think as I do, and I think you do, use anything I’ve written for God’s glory.
    I was more of an individual before Christ came alive in me. Now I am sloooowly changing into a better team player. I learn to delegate, but at times I still want to do it my way. Me and Frank.
    One comment about the score; Church 3,000. Satan 0.
    Could it be;
    Church 3,000
    Satan- the rest of the world?
    Just a thought.
    Please pray for a new ministry program called FREE INDEED I’ve written and am now implementing it in a rehab called Safe Harbour, a local county jail, and starting it in a church this August.
    Thank you for your “outside the box” dedicated insights from the Lord.

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