All InSample

 The beginning of the theme passage, Acts 2:41, sets up how it all begins:

“So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”

Most everyone reading this devotional are those who have “received his word.” This means you have chosen to follow Jesus, and that everything that comes next in this devotional is for you, no matter how long you’ve been a follower of Christ. 

Choosing to follow Him is simply making Him the Lord of your life - all of your life. Choosing to follow Him is simply going all in with everything you are and everything you do. Today, some claim to know Jesus, but rarely follow Him. In the early Church, this kind of follower would have been very strange. 

There are four All In priorities in Acts 2:42 that a disciple is devoted to: 

1. Apostles’ Teaching - Reading the Word of God.  

2. Fellowship - Gathering in groups and enjoying each other’s company.  

3. Breaking of Bread - Taking the Lord’s Supper and so much more.  

4. Prayer - Talking with the Lord in the many different forms of prayer.  

As a follower of Jesus, these are the things that your heart, a heart filled with the Holy Spirit, should desire. When the Church is all in and devoted to these behaviors, we will experience the same things the first followers of Christ saw in Acts 2:43: "Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles."

We should all thankfully and gladly choose to follow Jesus into the wonderful Word of God, into incredible fellowship with each other, into remembrance and celebration at the Table of the Lord, and into unlimited access to meet and talk with God. 

This is not a duty, but a delight! Are you all in for walking into the throne room and getting saturated in His presence?

Are you all in to taste and see that the Lord is good? 

Are you all in to casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you? 

Are you all in to hear the voice of your Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for you?