Can you trace your lineage, your ancestral history? Did your predecessors come out on a boat, a plane? Do you suspect you had a criminal who stole a loaf of bread in your genealogy, or maybe there is royalty back there somewhere. Whatever land you have come from, whatever your background, you find yourself here right now, reading this.
I wonder if you have thought about your spiritual ancestry. If you believe in Jesus, and are part of the church, you have a spiritual heritage. For all of us who follow Jesus we can trace it back to Him. He shared the good news with someone, who shared it with someone, who shared it with someone, and fill in about 2000 years of the same line and it comes to you. Sitting here reading this.
For many of us we are going to go back to Peters first sermon. Peter the loudmouth, the outspoken fisherman. Who was empowered by the Holy Spirit, found his own voice working alongside the Spirits and preached the first sermon from the empowered church. (Acts 2) At one point in the NT narrative we find him cowering around a charcoal fire. Jesus leaves, the Holy Spirit comes and Peter is seemingly no longer afraid of the crowd who were trying to rope him into being crucified along with Jesus. Now he is telling them it is their fault, and they need to do something about it.
Fortunately about 3000 of them do, in one day. It may have been a long sermon, in fact Luke tells us it was, but none the less they believe. Don’t think it was the fisherman’s eloquence. It may have had something to do with the supernatural courage he had been given. It certainly had something to do with the Holy Spirits empowerment.
Either way out of that crowd of 3000, someone there shared their faith, who then shared their faith….and 2000 plus years later here you are. Knowing Jesus and having the same Holy Spirit.
