ANCHOR DEVOTIONS (NOVEMBER 29, 2011)

The Fellowship of the Spirit
Joel 2:28-32; 2 Corinthians 13:14

"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people."
(Joel 2:28)
When you consider the likelihood of the church's success on this earth, the chances are slim. How did a group of uneducated Jewish fishermen pull it off? How did the imperial strength of Rome not crush this fledgling movement in its infant stages? The answer to such questions lies in the title for today's meditation.
The church is the fellowship (or communion) of the Holy Spirit. That means that God the Holy Spirit - the third person of the Holy Trinity - is the one creating the church. Just as the Spirit hovered over the primordial waters in the first creation (Genesis 1:2), so He hovers over the church as His second and new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). A rag-tag bunch of fishermen served as the new covenant's first apostles because the Spirit had been poured out on them (Acts 2:1-4). Rome couldn't crush the church because God was creating it, and no one can frustrate His purposes (Psalm 115:3). God's Word does not return void because the Spirit makes hearers' hearts ready to accept it.
INSIGHT
Who is building your church?
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 23-24
Psalm 142
1 Thessalonians 1-2
Joel 2:28-32;
The Day of the LORD
28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
even among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.[a]
Footnotes:
a. Joel 2:32 In Hebrew texts 2:28-32 is numbered 3:1-5.
2 Corinthians 13:14 14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.