Here are some pictures of football supporters.  Can you tell me what football team they support?

• Chelsea
• Liverpool
• Arsenal
• Newcastle
• Celtic
• Barcelona
• England
• Crystal Palace (of course the only team worth supporting!)

You can tell what team the fans support by the shirts and the colours they are wearing.  They give a clue as to what team they follow.

But what about those who support or follow Jesus?  Without a recognisable shirt, how can we spot who they are?

In Acts 2:41 which gives us a summary of what happened on the Day of Pentecost, we see two ways we can tell which people follow Jesus.

“Those who accepted his message [Peter’s message about Jesus] were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

The first clue to help us recognise who follows Jesus is baptism.  As people who have put their trust in Jesus go down under the water and come up out of the water, it is like they are putting on the team shirt for those who follow Jesus.  They identify themselves with Jesus because they are following His example as He was baptised.  They also identify themselves with other followers of Jesus who have also been baptised.

The second clue is what also happened.  They were added to their number – that is, the other followers of Jesus or the church.  In other words they became members of a local church.  Becoming a member of a local church is like wearing the team shirt for those who follow Jesus all the time.  By becoming a member of a local church, you say to those in the local church and those in the world around, that you are a follower of Jesus.