Ministry in the Early Church

Transcript

GR 1584
11/24/10
Ministry in the New Church
Acts 2:42-47
Gil Rugh

We're in Acts 2; we're concluding Acts 2, a momentous chapter in the Bible, one of the turning points in the scripture. One of those chapters you must understand to understand the scriptures. The rest of the New Testament will go back to Acts 2. It's the beginning of the church, the coming of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven in a new and special way to begin the church. And following the coming of the Spirit the Apostle Peter stood up and preached the first sermon to the new church. Not just to the church, but to the people assembled there. And it has tremendous impact. There were 120 believers gathered together in chapter 1, by the end of chapter 2 there will be in excess of 3,000 believers. So God is doing a great and gracious work at the beginning of the church.

It is Jewish in nature at this point. Peter and those assembled with him were Jews and he is addressing a Jewish audience. Though, as we've noted at this stage in time, Peter does not have understanding of the plan of God in reaching out beyond the nation Israel to gather into the church the nations of the world. In fact it will be the non-Jewish element that will be the dominant part of the church as we move through the book of Acts.

The method God is going to use in building this first church, if you will, at Jerusalem is the preaching of His word, the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that has not changed. What happens, there are mighty miracles done in Acts 2 with the coming of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, the visible manifestation of His presence with the tongues of fire, the sound of the rushing wind. All of that gets the people's attention and prepares the way for the preaching of the message. This is going to be the pattern we see in Acts. There will be miracles done, but the miracles are not the focal point. The miracles provide the occasion for the preaching of the word. And so Peter has preached the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost. This will be the pattern, right down to today. God's method of reaching the world is through the preaching of the gospel.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 1, before we look into Acts. In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul is reminding the Corinthians of the ministry he had with them. And he says in verse 17, Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, or wisdom of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. When Paul says that he was commissioned to preach the gospel, it's the simple, basic gospel. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Come down to verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. You see the pattern and plan of God. The message preached, the message proclaimed, the message of Christ given out. That's the plan of God for the salvation of the lost. And nothing has changed. The Jews ask for signs, they want miracles, more proof; the Greeks, they are in love with wisdom. Paul says what we do is we preach Christ crucified. That's the ministry of the church down to today.

In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul says when he came to Corinth, when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God. That is the plan of God that the message of Jesus Christ would be given out in its simplicity, in its purity. And God in His grace through the ministry of the Holy Spirit would take that message and draw men, women and young people to salvation in Jesus Christ.

Now I realize that is very basic and simple. But what happens to the church down through time is we go through the cycles. And the church drifts away and thinks they will become more effective by developing wisdom. And we come up with all these plans and conferences and books on how to grow a church. And we come up with Plan B to God's Plan A. And we find we can build a church without God. But Jesus Christ said I will build My church and here is how He is doing it—through the proclamation of the message concerning Him.

One more example, I Thessalonians 1. Paul talks about the ministry he had when he came to Thessalonica, the pattern is the same. Verse 5, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. And the result was verse 9, you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from wrath to come. I came and preached the truth to you and you received it because of the power and the work of the Holy Spirit and the conviction that comes with that. That is something only God can do. Our role in it is to be the messenger, to bring the message of Christ and then God takes that message and does what only He can do.

Come back to Acts 2. That's what has happened with Peter, he has preached the message; he has drawn the attention to Jesus Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension to heaven. And they have come under the conviction of the Spirit, verse 38, and they ask what they should do. Peter said, repent, be baptized. You have experienced the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Basically the same thing as we will have in Romans 10 when we get there in our study of Romans. So we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts, confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Basically here you have the repentance, the turning from sin, and the public acknowledgment of your faith in Jesus Christ in baptism. And then in that context you receive forgiveness of sins, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 41 told us, so then those who had received His word were baptized that day, there were added about 3,000 souls. So that was a powerful message. We've gone from 120 disciples gathered together in Acts 1 to 3,000 new converts. You talk about being overwhelmed. I remember when I was in China a number of years ago, one of the pastors there talking about the work that God was doing through the giving out of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, we don't need your help to evangelize China. He says, we have more new converts, more people being saved. They are flooding in. Our difficulty is to get them grounded and taught the word because all the teachers have been imprisoned and executed over the time of Communist reign. That's a testimony, how God's grace works at different times and in different ways. And here there has been a great influx of believers.

So we pick up with verse 42. You see how this new body of believers, the church at Jerusalem, the only church in the world at this point is functioning. Verse 42, they were continually devoting themselves. And that word to devote denotes a steadfast, fixed focus on certain things. They were continually devoting themselves in four areas—to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

To the apostles' teaching. Go back to Matthew 28:19. This is Jesus' instructions to them, the Great Commission we call it. Verse 18, Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them. That's what Peter has done with those who were made disciples; he baptized them, told them to be baptized. And teaching them. So you make disciples, that is the basic command, then you are to be baptizing them and you are to be teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo I am with you always to the end of the age.

So that's the apostles are doing. They are teaching the truth. And these new believers are there taking in the teaching of the apostles because the apostles, remember, were taught by the Lord during His earthly ministry and then for that forty days following His resurrection. We've seen some of what Peter could teach, drawing from the Old Testament scriptures regarding what it said about the death of the Messiah, the resurrection of the Messiah, His ascension to heaven, the coming of the Spirit. So the apostles now are teaching these new believers. As Ephesians 2:20 says, the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. What are we doing? We are studying the word of God. One of our studies is in Romans; we're studying the book of Acts. We have apostolic teaching and apostolic doctrine. The church is built upon that.

I've been reading some church doctrines like Anglican, Roman Catholic recently. The thing that happens is we diverge from apostolic teaching, we move out to traditions, to cultural related matters, the ideas of men. And you develop a hierarchy that agrees on something and this gets added. And pretty soon the apostolic teaching gets lost. Apostolic teaching is what we have contained now as our New Testament, basically. That's what God has revealed. So they are not here to teach it personally, but their teaching is passed on through their writings that have been passed down to us.

So as Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1, you therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You take the apostolic teaching that you have received from me and you teach it to others, and those men do what? Originate their own teaching. No, they pass on the apostolic teaching that you received and passed on to them. And by the grace of God brought it together for us in our New Testament which together with the Old Testament comprises the scriptures of God.

Come over to 2 Peter 3:15 regard the patience of our Lord as salvation just as also our beloved brother Paul. Peter writing now, referring to Paul, according to the wisdom given him wrote to you. As also in all his letters speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, now note this, as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction. What is Peter saying? The writings of Paul are scripture just as the Old Testament writers, the prophets and so on are the scriptures. So are the writings of Paul and now we have them completed because we have a completed New Testament. Here we enjoy the writing of Peter. That's the foundation. Those who twist and distort this revelation from God do it to their own destruction, the untaught and the unstable do that. They take the scripture but they twist it, they distort it.

I listened one morning this week and I had on a preacher. And you talk about twisting and distorting the scripture. What a travesty. Every time he quoted a scripture he misused it. Health and wealth fund raiser. What a travesty. To their own destruction they twist the scripture.

Let me read you what a couple of other commentators have written on this subject. One wrote, since the teaching of the apostles has come down to us in its definitive form in the New Testament, contemporary devotion to the apostles' teaching will mean submission to the authority of the New Testament. A Spirit-filled church is a New Testament church in the sense that it studies and submits to New Testament instruction. The Spirit of God leads the people of God to submit to the word of God.

Another commentator wrote, for believers of later generations the New Testament scriptures form the written deposit of the apostolic teaching. The apostolic succession is recognized most clearly in those churches which adhere most steadfastly to the apostolic teaching. Apostolic succession is nothing from passing on authority from one man to another to another to another. This is apostolic succession, apostolic doctrine, passed down from one generation to another, to another, to another along with the word of God that was given through the Old Testament writers. They formed the completed message of God to men.

Come back to Acts 2. It couldn't be any simpler. As we move through the book of Acts we'll see that repeated emphasis on the proclamation of the word of God, the proclamation of the gospel, the teaching of the truth.

The second thing they devoted themselves to in Acts 2 was to fellowship. The church has just experienced a tremendous increase, from just over 100 to over 3,000. But they are gathered together because this is the only church on earth in existence at this time. And this new fellowship of believers is enjoying fellowship with one another. The Spirit of God produces a bond among believers so they are drawn together in a relationship with one another. The word fellowship basically means to share in common. And what we have in common is the life of God, the ministry of the Spirit in our lives. And that binds us together with one another.

Come over to 2 Corinthians 13:14, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And here you see the triune God. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. That fellowship that He produces, that bond that He has created that enables us to enjoy one another's company, to flourish in relationship with one another and to grow together.

Come back to Acts 2. So we are a fellowship of believers. We sometimes talk about we'll have a time of fellowship, and that's and expression in one sense where we can relax together and enjoy one another. But the whole ministry of the body is a fellowship together. We share together in the work that God has called us to and the study of the word together and so on. We are growing together and reinforced by being involved in one another's lives.

The third area was the breaking of bread. It is interesting, there is discussion on this. Are we talking about what we call the communion service, the Lord's Supper or are we just talking about generally having meals together. Down in verse 46 you have the same expression, day by day continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread. There is our expression, breaking bread from house to house. Mostly in verse 46 it's probably generally sharing meals together. So the expression could refer........ It's used that way in Luke 24:35 where it talks about breaking bread. And the context seems to indicate that they were having a meal together.

So it can be used in what we talk about as the communion service which is explained a little more fully in 1 Corinthians 11. Part of the difficulty comes; in the early church they did have a meal together with the communion service. So they could have been doing both. I think for sure the communion service plays a key role in the fellowship of the early church and the remembrance of the death of Christ. That may be a key part here. It could be what the emphasis is, it could be either way. This being part, the focus in the communion service would be a reminder of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His provision for sin. We know that plays a role in the ongoing ministry of the church. In the church at Corinth Paul will particularly address that subject. That may well be what is involved here.

Turn over to Acts 20:7, on the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread Paul began talking to them. And most would understand that on the first day of the week gathered together to break bread probably referring to what we call the communion service. So both would be true, part of the fellowship they enjoyed would be the meals together. But specifically as they would come together to eat a meal in New Testament times, part of that was often what we call the communion service. That comes out in 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul tells them, you don't come together primarily to fill your stomach, you come together for the remembrance of the Lord. So having the meal together, there are still some churches that have a fellowship meal together with their communion service. But the key focus that we center on is what we call the communion service, a reminder of the death of Jesus Christ and His payment for sin.

The fourth area in Acts 2:42 is to prayer. The church is characterized by being devoted to prayer. Draws us before the throne of grace to seek what we need, to give thanks to God for what He has done and what He continues to provide. Back in chapter 1 verse 14 we found the disciples gathering together for prayer. In Romans 12:12 Paul instructs the church, be devoted to prayer. He writes to the Colossian church in Colossians 4:2 and he tells them, devote yourselves to prayer. So here they are devoted to prayer.

So the apostolic teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread which I would think in this immediate context would involve the reminding of the focal point of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, and to prayer. Things that are to characterize us as a church down to today.

Now let me just say something, we need to be careful. People say we want a church like the church in the book of Acts. We ought to be careful we just don't come to one place. God is blessing greatly here and there is a unity and a harmony and a oneness in this early stage. But you understand there will soon be serious things that come into the church that have to be dealt with. Persecution is going to come; church discipline in the very extreme situation is going to come, resulting in the death of a couple of people. Problems that need to be dealt with. These things do come up. So it's not like, if only we could be the perfect church like they had in Acts. We praise God for His grace and the condition of the church in these early days, but there are different days ahead. And we'll be seeing those as we move through Acts.

Verse 43 says, everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, a sense of fear. This is a striking time. I mean, you're a part of God doing something completely and totally new. We were those privileged to be here to a large extent on the Day of Pentecost where God poured out His Spirit as a result of His Son ascending to heaven. We've experienced His power and His salvation in our lives. Everyone had a sense of awe, a sense of fear. And this is multiplied by the fact many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. We need to note here that miracles are going on. We are at the early stage of the church. Peter when he preached had the Old Testament scriptures to draw from. Then he could give an explanation of them. But you understand there was no New Testament to go to. So what he was teaching is reinforced and what the other apostles are teaching is reinforced by the presence of miracles in their ministry. Because how do you know? Here you have these men proclaiming that God is doing something new, that Jesus Christ is in heaven at the right hand of the Father and His Spirit has been bestowed. Really. But the signs, the wonders, the miracles reinforce that.

And you'll note, not every believer now, these 3,000 believers is going around doing miracles. Miracles are taking place how? The end of verse 43, through the apostles. That will be characteristic through the book of Acts. The miracles are done through the apostles. Turn over to Acts 3:6 and here with Peter and John there is a lame man healed. Verse 6, Peter said I do not possess silver and gold but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk. Seizing him by the right hand he raised him up, immediately his feet and ankles were strengthened. And with a leap he stood upright and began to walk. Verse 9, the people saw him walking and praising God and they were saying, this is the beggar that used to sit at the temple collecting alms. They were filled with wonder and amazement. And then as we'll see when we get to chapter 3, now Peter preaches to them the gospel. But the miracle takes place through Peter and John.

Look over in Acts 5:12, and at the hands of the apostles, note that, literally through the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. We're going to see that in a moment in Acts 2. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however the people held them in high esteem. So you see what happens here. The miracles are taking place through the apostles and that creates a sense of fear and awe and serves to keep the church united and focused under the ministry of the apostles and builds some hedges and barriers. Just not everybody is flocking in to be part of it. There is a certain reservation at this display of power and a fear of that power. It helps to maintain certain purity in the church as well in these early days.

Look over in Acts 9. We could read further in that context but we'll get to these sections. In Acts 9:32, now Peter was traveling through all those regions. And in verse 33, he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden eight years, he was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Jesus Christ heals you. Immediately he got up and all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, they turned to the Lord. And then you go on to talk about Dorcas whose name was Tabitha and what God does through Peter. Again it's through the apostles that miracles are taking place. You just don't go through the book of Acts and find that believers here were doing great miracles, and believers here were doing miracles. The apostles you find in different places doing miracles. Down in verse 40 Peter heals her and raises her up.

Over in Acts 13:9, but Saul who was known as Paul, now we've moved to chapter 13, the shift goes from Peter as the dominant person in Acts to Saul or Paul. And verse 9, Saul who was known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit fixed his gaze on him. And here you have a miracle not of healing, but a miracle of blinding. So he says you are full of deceit, fraud, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness. There's an evangelistic strategy. Will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? And you'll be blind for a time. So a miracle done through the Apostle Paul. We'll see that in chapter 14, chapter 16, and chapter 19 of the book of Acts. Always through an apostle.

Turn over to Romans 15:18, for I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed. In the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. So the power of signs, wonders, the power of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural display through Paul's ministry.

Another passage, 2 Corinthians 12. I realize this is review for most of you. Verse 12, Paul writes the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs, wonders and miracles. So signs, wonders and miracles were the demonstration of genuine apostleship. If everyone was running around doing these miracles it wouldn't demonstrate that you are an apostle because everyone did it. This served to unite the church under the authority of the apostles in its early days. It validated their message and validated their authority. The Corinthian church had certain miracle gifts like tongues present, but what did Paul say? You are a result of my ministry so I shouldn't have to defend my apostleship to you because the very presence of these particular gifts among you are a demonstration of my apostleship. You received them from me.

One other passage and we have to move on. Hebrews 2:3, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Now note this, after it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. So Jesus Christ first gave that. Then those who heard it from Christ passed it on. God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. You see He validated their ministry, He validated their message. When Paul came to town and claimed that he was giving forth the word of God, a lot of teachers roamed around claiming to have a message from God. But the apostles had their message validated, confirmed as from God by miraculous gifts. Now with the completion of the scripture we pass on what has already been given. I would love to be able to do miracles, it would give me greater authority and maybe greater credibility, but the credibility we have today is in the word of God that has been given.

So come back to Acts 2. Sometimes we have people come to Acts and say, we want a church just like Acts and that means Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever and we should be having the same miraculous works. They didn't have the blessing of being able to turn in their Bibles to the various passages of the New Testament that we've been turning to. And now we have been entrusted with a greater blessing than they were privileged to have with a completed New Testament.

Verse 44, and all those who had believed were together. They're united; they're functioning as a fellowship of believers. A word that has a strong emphasis on their unity here. And they had all things in common. And that is further explained in verse 45, as they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. This group is identified in verse 44 as all those who had believed. This is an exclusive fellowship, it is comprised of believers. We have an idea today we ought to fill the church with unbelievers. The church is a fellowship of believers. Unbelievers who come in and observe that's fine. But this is a fellowship of believers with a ministry directed to believers, who then take the message out. Now since we are talking and teaching the word of God, unbelievers who come in hear the message also and by God's grace are saved. Not saying we don't want unbelievers to come, but the church gets turned away from what God says it is, a fellowship of believers, when we try to make it just a gathering of people and we decide we want the unbeliever to be as comfortable as possible and we begin to gear what we do to the unbeliever. Not in presenting the gospel clearly, but in doing things that will make them comfortable and enjoy it. And they don't enjoy hearing the word of God so we begin to soften that, to make it less of a role. They like music so we begin to be concerned with the music rather than the music being tied together with the teaching of the word so that the truth of God is conveyed through music as well as through the teaching. Now we are adrift and we turn it into just an organization and getting a crowd. When you do the things that people like, it works. We've had an example of that this weekend. People go to football games. We went from different games, Marilyn said as they did the overhead, look, no matter what stadium they go to they are filled up. Why? They are doing what people want, that's their entertainment. But the church is unique.

So all those who had believed were together and they had all things in common. And verse 45 tells what that means. Some of them were selling property. That doesn't mean everyone became communal. It's amazing what people get out of the scripture. But over time as needs came up, people who had the resources, had possessions would sell that and it would be given to the church and out of that the church would help believers in need. We'll see an example of that when we come to Barnabas a little bit later. That creates its own problem in the church for some people who try to do it for show, as you are aware.

They began to sell their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. Luke is not saying they all became the same; the rich sold what they had and gave it to the common pot so that everybody had the same. Basically as we'll see they had a fund and people gave to it. And some sold what they had so they could. You understand there is immediate pressure here. We talk about 3,000 people being saved, that's wonderful. But you understand the leadership in Israel hasn't change its mind, the opposition to Jesus Christ and the message of Jesus Christ has not changed. We'll see that as we come into chapter 3. And so there is immediate pressure here. Jews have become followers of Jesus Christ and not secret followers because what did Peter call them to do? Repent and be baptized. Well what's that? You're not just going to say, I repent in my heart but I don't want anyone to know, I don't want the conflict with my family, I don't want my employer to know, this is secret business. That doesn't mean you become offensive in the wrong sense but these Jews have been identified now. What do they do? They have been identified as followers of Jesus Christ who was recently crucified at the instigation of the Jewish leadership. What are you going to do in Jerusalem? Soon the persecution will get so severe that they'll be by and large driven out of Jerusalem. So they not only now have family problems, they have to find a new place to live and work. So there are needs here. And the church is ready and willing to meet those needs. And we should. If believers are going through particular trials and problems, we want to be a help in ways that we can. Why? Because we are a family. What do you do when a member of your family is having particular needs? You do what you can do to help. We are a family of God now and they are functioning as that family.

Turn over to 1 John 3:16, we know love by this that He laid down His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. I mean, how selfish would it be that I have money in the bank and then you can't put food on the table but I talk about loving you. We don't do that with our family. If your parents are going through a particularly difficult time, you want to help them; if your children are, you want to help them. Well we're the family of God, that's the principle that we're operating on.

Back in Acts 2:46, day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, breaking bread from house to house they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart with one mind. It will be used a number of times in the book of Acts, this expression to denote unity of purpose, the fellowship of bond we have as believers. We are of one mind; it is mentioned other times in scripture as well. Don't we have one mind as the people of God submit to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior?

Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple. We mentioned the portico of Solomon in one of the passages we went to earlier. An open area in the outer part of the temple. You see it sometimes with the pillars there, and it was an open area where Jews could meet. Remember this is not only the only church in the world; it is comprised only of Jews. Nobody has any concept that the Gentiles are going to get part of this new work that God is doing. That won't happen until Acts 10. So naturally where do they go to meet? Go to the temple, that's where we go. And that's a natural place to meet, it's a larger area and we can go because there will be others there having their meeting. Today we go to the coffee shop or something and you'll look over and there might be a group of believers meeting together and they have their Bibles. Marilyn and I occasionally go to a restaurant, there is a group that always comes in and sits in their own place and they have Bibles and they are talking. Well at this stage in time where do you go? Well one of the places you go is the temple, that's where we all meet, that's where we always meet. Talk about these things and fellowship together. How we go from house to house having our meals together, enjoying fellowship, talking about these things. Remember this is new, we are Jews now, these are Jews with an Old Testament background but we are learning the new thing God is doing, what God has revealed through the apostles and the new truth that is being conveyed. With gladness and sincerity of heart. There was a joy in doing it. It's a privilege to get together regularly. Here they are doing it day by day, can't wait to get together. It's the world and it's us. They look forward to getting together.

You know something is wrong when getting together with believers becomes a chore. I just don't like it, I don't enjoy it. That doesn't mean there aren't times when we just want to be alone, just want a little space. But it ought always to be a privilege. How honored are we to be able to come together like this as God's people, like minded people, gathered together around the study of the word, people that love the Lord and we love one another. What a blessing. How sad it is that some people say, we spend so much time together, we spend so much time at church, in this building. We spend little time. It ought to be an ongoing, growing blessing.

They are praising God and having favor with all the people. So the Lord is doing special things here. They are praising God and God is giving them favor with the people. There are unbelievers observing this and they are positively impressed. The Lord is doing a work here. Now again we want to be careful we don't just take one passage of scripture and say, see if you are functioning like you should, even the unbeliever will admire you. Well read the next chapter and the next chapter. We sometimes want to make the Bible say what we want it to say in areas. Sometimes by the grace of God unbelievers are struck by the life, testimony and what is happening in a believer's life and particularly a new believer because surrounding him are those who have known him before and see things happening that they didn't see before. By God's grace, sometimes He uses your life and opens a door. There may be people who have come up to you and said, I noticed your life and there are things different about you. I wonder why. This gives you an opportunity to tell them about the grace of God in your life.

But here they are praising God and having favor with all the people. This is part of God's grace at this time as this church is getting established so that they will become somewhat solidified which prepares them for the persecution that is going to come. We can look at seasons like that as a church and say, it seems like we have special blessings at times and fewer problems, but that helps solidify us and strength us to prepare us for times when there would be difficulty.

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. You know verse 39, Peter, for the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off. Now note this, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. That's the same thing we have now in verse 47, the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Salvation is a work of God.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 3. Paul talking about the conflicts in the church at Corinth and the divisions that exist there around personalities. Verse 4, one says I am of Paul, another I am of Apollos. You are functioning like men who don't have the Holy Spirit. What is Apollos? What is Paul? Slaves through whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to each one. You see salvation is the work of God. What are we? We are God's slaves, God's servants who come out and tell you the truth. What are you gathering around the slave for? It was God who brought you salvation. I planted, Apollos watered, verse 6, God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. So what's happening in the early church? God is causing the growth and others are drawn in and hear and believe the message of Christ. The church is growing, it has grown past 3,000. We are not given a number yet, we'll get to 5,000 a little bit later, but at this point we see more people are being saved. As is often the case, a church comes into an area and the Spirit of God graciously draws out people, draws them to himself as they are saved, as they are nurtured and grow. Doesn't always happen at the same rate. We're not told how different churches in different areas grew numerically, what the numbers were later. But here we are told something of how God established this core beginning of the church, the church at Jerusalem which will become, if you will, the mother church. The apostles will remain focused in Jerusalem primarily.

And so as the message is carried out to other places and there are questions that will be directed back to Jerusalem such as the conference we will get to in Acts 15. But as we move along the message will get carried out further and further to other places, particularly with Paul in the last part of Acts when he becomes that messenger.

So basically what we have established here is what will go on. The word of God is proclaimed, by the grace of God people believe, are brought together in a fellowship of believers to share together and grow together as believers in a local church and become involved in one another's lives in a variety of ways so that we can grow together, be supported by one another, be strengthened by one another. And the Lord uses us in our lives as a testimony to draw others to Himself. And the work of God goes on. What are we? Slaves of the living God, His servants to do His will, to tell others about the Master that we serve, share with them what He has done in our lives in grace. What a privilege we have to go out as His representative to carry this message of life to others. I can't make them believe. Some of them will be offended; some of them will become hostile. You are familiar with the book of Acts, most of you; it's going to get rough out there. But God is still at work and He will add to our number those that He is drawing to Himself.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the work that You have done in our lives. Lord, for some of us we have had the joy and privilege of walking with You over many years, it was many years ago that in Your grace You sent a messenger, You brought to us the gospel of Jesus Christ and we were privileged to believe. For others it has been more recent. Lord, it all is a reminder that You are the sovereign God at work. And what an honor has been bestowed upon us that we should be brought into Your family. What an honor it is to be servants, slaves of the living God, to be entrusted with the message of life, to share that message with family and friends, with strangers, with those we come in contact with. And what a joy it is to see You do what only You can do in drawing men, women and young people to yourself. Thank You for bringing us together. May we never lose sight of who we are as a local church in Jesus Christ, the bond we have together because of the bond we have with You and the work that You are doing in our lives and will continue to do until You bring us into the glory of Your presence. Use us in the days of the week ahead. Lord, use our lives and our testimony to impact many others. We pray in Christ's name, amen.