January 7

Acts 1-2 Today we start the 7th stream: The Church. We read about Pentecost and the Early Church. Reading from the NIV. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | <a href= "https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=YPPA8XGTQ2YHU">Donate</a> Holy Spirit, we are overwhelmed with how you showed up on the scene and you show up today in a major way. You definitely are there. We see you in the Old Testament but now we see you fully in the story of Pentecost. And we just ask that you would continue to reveal to us the hidden nuggets that you have in scripture and help us to make these links and connect these threads as we are sailing through the scriptures this year. We thank you for saving us. We thank you for being with us and making it all possible through Jesus. Amen. <!--more--> <p>In the beginning of this we see that there is the baptism by fire that they were talking about that being baptized by the Holy Spirit. And we talked about this just yesterday because John baptized Him [Jesus] with water. So back in Acts 1:5 - "for John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." So let's talk about the timing of Pentecost. There's 40 days between the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus and then there is another 50 days after that that is the time of the Pentecost. Now Pentecost took time during the Feast of First Fruits or the Feast of Harvest and it so happened that that would be the time that there will be all these people that would be coming into Jerusalem. And so it was by no accident that Jesus coordinated with the Holy Spirit to have this take place right at this time because they knew there would be all these people that would be in Jerusalem. Pentecost is one of the most amazing aspects of what we experience in the church today because this literally is the baptism of the church. So out of this event is the church age. It's the time of the Gospel era. And what you see here is the reverse of what happened at Babel. Now we haven't gotten to the story y