Meeting Needs Pete Kersker - Feb 11, 2026 When ascending into the heavens, Jesus told his disciples (students) to wait for the Holy Spirit. During the following Pentecost festival, they received the Holy Spirit and preached to all the festival attenders in their native languages. They were convinced that Jesus is the Christ and convicted to make Jesus Lord of their lives. Three thousand were baptized and added to the number of disciples (students) that day. All the believers were together and had everything in common (Acts 2:44 NIV). We've seen so far this week that they dedicated themselves to the Jesus' teachings,loving one another, celebrating communion during community meals, and asking their Lord to lead them. They were in awe with everything God was doing. Today, we can also see (above) that they had everything in common. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me'" (Matthew 25:31-40 NIV). Sometimes people will use the "everything in common" phrase to support the concepts of communism or socialism. That's not what is being described here, though. The people are not being forced to give all their money to the people with the guns so it can be redistributed to all. No, this is a picture of individuals coming together as Jesus' disciples and making sure nobody in the group was in need. They were living out Jesus' teachings in the parable above and below. "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matthew 25:41-46 NIV). Taking care of the "least" of Jesus' "brothers and sisters" (Matthew 12:50) was a matter of eternal life and death (Matthew 25:31,46). These new disciples (students) were simply making sure that no Jesus-follower was in need. That way they could all focus their attention on learning to walk together with God in holiness, righteousness, and peace. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need (Acts 2:45 NIV). Did you know that the original disciples (students) made sure that nobody in their group was in need? What does Jesus define as "need" in his parable above (Mat. 25:31-46)? Do you make sure there is nobody in need in your local church? How?