Symptoms of a Healthy Church: Exploring the Impact of United Believers and Gospel Outreach | Acts 2:42-47

Hi and welcome to the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast.

We hope God will use this week's message to both inspire and challenge you as you seek to walk closer with the Lord.

Now join me as we listen in to this week's sermon.

Well amen, haven't you been blessed this morning?

It's been good to be in the Lord's house as we hear the pitter patter of really small and medium-sized feet.

There are a lot of churches in the state of Arkansas that would love to hear that sound in their church every Sunday morning, and so y'all are richly blessed by that, and I'm so thankful for the emphasis that you all place on children and on raising up the next generation, and so I'm thankful for the day today.

It's been a good day to watch them sing and help lead us in worship and have those children dedicated to the Lord Just very good.

I'm very encouraged by this Good time of worship this morning.

I want to invite you if you would take your Bibles and make your way to Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

We're going to be looking in Acts chapter 2 this morning as you're turning there.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I want to say a word of thanks to you for allowing me to come and to share with you these last few weeks I have thoroughly enjoyed myself, enjoyed getting to spend time with you, getting to know you, and I'm just very encouraged about what the Lord is doing here at First Baptist Church, el Dorado, and there just is a great spirit here, just a great spirit in the room on Sunday mornings, and I thank you for the way in which you're committed to this congregation of believers.

We're going to be focusing on the church this morning and it's good to be able to preach on the church and what the church ought to be when you're looking out at people that really seem like y'all want to be here and are encouraged at what the Lord is doing, so that makes it a lot easier and looking forward to that this morning.

Before we get to that, I don't know how many of you were alive at this time or how many of you remember this, but back in the middle of 1973, late spring of 1973, billy Graham had a crusade that took place just outside Seoul, south Korea, and the crusade started on May, the 30th of that year, and it concluded on June 3rd of that year.

Billy Graham stood in front of 1.1 million people.

Now, let that soak in.

You're going.

Oh no, he didn't either this afternoon.

Google it, there are pictures, all right, you can see the pictures.

They gathered on an old airstrip left over from the Korean War and he stood up and he proclaimed the message of Jesus to 1.1 million people on one day.

That wasn't the whole crowd all put together.

They calculated it was about 3.5 million.

Ultimately, when you calculated the whole week and as a result of that revival, 75,000 South Koreans made professions of faith in Jesus Christ.

Now just think about that In one week, 75,000 people.

And if you were to research it and to look into the impact of what God did in that particular revival, a nation was changed.

Going into that week, there were about 10,000, excuse me, 10% of the nation would have considered themselves to be Christians.

Today, 30% of South Korea is Christian and they point back to that week that God used so miraculously in that Billy Graham crusade and churches exploded in growth and the workforce was changed and today there are many South Korean churches that send missionaries all over the world with that same message they heard proclaimed at that revival so many years ago.

As a matter of fact, the world's largest church is in Seoul, south Korea.

Over 400,000 people affiliated with this one church.

That's hard for us to comprehend, is it not?

A nation was changed.

This morning we're going to be looking here in Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And in this passage, just before we read it, just to catch up on where we've been, of course, on Easter Sunday we focused on the resurrection of Jesus, and then the following Sunday we focused on John, chapter 21, and the encounter that Jesus had with several of the disciples in one of His appearances following His resurrection, and just reinforcing this call that he placed on their lives, this call to follow Him.

John 21 · chapter mention

And then last week we focused on Acts, chapter 1, and the fact that this was the last appearance Jesus had to His disciples before he ascended into heaven, and they wanted Him to bring things to an end and to restore the kingdom.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

But instead he said that's not for you to worry about.

There's a mission for you, that is, you are to go and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, you are to be my witnesses.

And with that he told them to stay in Jerusalem and to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.

And so what we find at the beginning of Acts, chapter 2, we're not going to read it this morning, but we find a group of about 120 believers gathered together and we know that they were praying together, they were patient, they were obeying the Lord and his command to stay in Jerusalem and all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit of God comes upon them in great power and it is obvious what has happened.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

When he comes upon them and this group of believers, when this happens, they go out into the street.

And when they go out into the street, they begin to speak and they are speaking languages they have never learned.

And it says in that passage again if you it's been a while since you've read Acts 2.

I'd encourage you to read that sometime very soon.

People from all over the Roman Empire Jewish people, god-fearing Gentiles from all over the Roman Empire were in Jerusalem at this time to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.

And so these believers rush out into the street, they begin to speak, and they're speaking in these languages that they've never learned before.

And this huge crowd gathers.

And what do you think it is that they're speaking in these languages they've never learned?

They are telling people about Jesus.

They have been empowered by the Spirit and now they are being witnesses to this crowd of people.

All that Jesus Christ could do for them, and the message of Jesus is simply this If you sit in this room and don't know what they would have proclaimed, or if you're watching online and are uncertain about what they would have proclaimed, you're able to see later on in chapter 2, they proclaim Jesus is the promised Messiah.

God loves us so much that, even though we're dead in our sin, we're separated from God because of our sinfulness.

We're sinners.

He is holy, as we sang about a moment ago, and the only way for us to enjoy the relationship God originally created for us to have is to repent of our sin, to turn from our sin and place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the one who died for our sin and rose triumphantly from the dead.

That is the message they would have been proclaiming that day.

And as this huge crowd gathers, peter, one of the disciples, one of the leading disciples, he begins to preach, and he preaches a sermon that's recorded here in Acts, chapter two.

And as that begins to wind down, let's pick up in verse 36 of the message that Peter proclaimed.

So verse 36 of Acts 2 says this Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both, lord and Christ.

Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren what shall we do?

And then Peter said to them repent, every one of you, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy spirit.

For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord, our God, will call.

And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying be saved from this perverse generation.

And then those about 3,000 souls were added to them.

3,000 people, you remember, toward the end of the gospel of John, jesus tells the disciples you're going to do greater things than I did.

The day's going to come when, empowered by the Holy Spirit, you're going to accomplish greater things even than Jesus did in his earthly ministry.

And this is a very obvious sign.

In a moment, 3,000 people become believers.

Here's a question for you.

There were 120 of them.

And of those 120 believers, all of a sudden they're surrounded by 3,000 people saying I repent of my sin, I want to be baptized, I'm surrendering my life to Jesus.

What are 120 believers going to do with 3,000 brand new converts, people who have just given their lives to Christ.

Well, let's see what follows in the passage, beginning in verse 42 and following it says and they, that is, this group together they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.

Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.

So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

This is a great passage of Scripture.

When I read these verses that conclude Acts, chapter 2, I've got to admit to you I have to fight off envy.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I read these passages, these verses, and I think about what the early church was like here and I'm envious.

This is a picture of the earliest church, the earliest moments of the earliest church, and if you've read Acts recently, you're able to keep flipping the pages and we know what's going to come.

We know there's going to be greed, there's going to be distrust, there's going to be favoritism, there's going to be persecution, but in these verses it is a glimpse of heaven on earth, and this is what we, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, should strive for.

This is what we should long for.

What did this new church do?

3,000 believers.

What are we going to do with them?

Did they rush out and purchase property?

Well, that's not recorded here.

Did they go out and buy a piano?

No, did they buy an organ?

Did they buy a drum set?

Did they buy an electric guitar?

They didn't do any of those things.

Did they rush out and try to find some curriculum?

They didn't do that either.

Did they schedule a one-hour church service?

No, they didn't do that either.

We find here in verse 42, it says they continued steadfastly in several things.

And so today, I want us to focus on the symptoms of a healthy church.

When you think about this being the earliest picture of the earliest church, what is a healthy church?

What does it look like?

And so I simply want us to look here and make some observations that are going to be pretty obvious to most, all of us in the room this morning.

The first one I want us to see what's the first symptom of this healthy church here in the first century, and that is they had a hunger for God's word.

You look here in verse 42.

It says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.

That is another reference to the apostles' teaching what they were instructing them.

These are 3,000 people who have no idea how to live for Jesus Christ.

They do not understand what it means to follow him.

They've not had any interaction with him.

Maybe they've observed him at some point in his ministry, but he is gone.

And yet do you remember in Matthew chapter, but he is gone.

And yet do you remember in Matthew chapter 28, when Jesus appeared to the disciples following his resurrection, when they were in Galilee?

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

And there Jesus gave them the great commission go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And then what's the next part?

Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.

And so we find here the disciples are surrounded by 3,000 people and it is their privilege and responsibility to teach to this huge crowd everything Jesus has commanded them to observe what it means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And these people loved it, they longed for it, they craved it.

Now, remember, at this point there is no New Testament.

Remember that they're not able to say, hey, I'm so thankful you prayed to receive Jesus.

Here is, here's, your gospel of John.

Or here's, here's, a New Testament.

Take this home and read it.

They didn't have that yet.

All they had was the testimony of the apostles.

And so we're able to see here in verse 46, at the beginning of verse 46, it says so continuing daily with one accord in the temple.

This group gathered together every day in the temple.

It was not in the building itself, but on the temple Mount.

It was an area of about 40 acres, a huge area for a lot of different meeting places.

They all got together.

And why did they do it?

They got together so they could learn, so they could hear from the apostles how they were supposed to follow Jesus.

They did it every day, just every day.

I mean, think about where we are.

Okay, I've sat there before, I've sat out, I've sat where you sit before, and you know there's times.

Have y'all ever done this before?

You kind of steal a glance at your watch and go how much longer is this going to be?

I've been there and we think to ourselves you know how much longer is this going to last, or how little can I get by with?

But this group of people, they were so filled with the Spirit and so excited about what was going on.

They wanted to meet every day to learn more about what it meant to follow Jesus, and it does us well to remember that.

God transforms us through His Word, he speaks through His Word.

How many times do we find ourselves saying if only God would tell me what to do.

Well, in so many ways he has Through His Word.

He speaks to His people through His Word and this is a precious gift.

This is a gift that that they had the old Testament, but those 3000 people didn't have the new Testament and we have been given this and clear instruction on how to to follow Jesus.

They were devoted to learning about God.

A healthy church loves God's word.

We have a lady in our church that she just started reading in Genesis and she, matter of fact, I've got my wife here with me this morning.

My wife, amy, is here and I'm honored to have her.

She serves on our church staff and so this lady came by earlier this week and she had questions about the Bible.

She's reading in Genesis and there's a lot that she doesn't understand, and so she asked if she could email me and some of these questions and some of them are hard questions okay, so I'm having to study up and make sure I answer her correctly.

Ran into her at Walmart on Friday and I had emailed her that morning and said, hey, I'll get back with you on some of these questions.

Ran into her at Walmart.

We had an extended conversation in the middle of an aisle and people if they were paying attention to us and talking through some stuff related to Abraham and Lot, and all this in the middle of Walmart.

And then that was Friday.

Yesterday morning she emails me again with more questions.

She's read more and she just has this longing to learn God's word and it is so exciting to me for her to be opening her Bible and reading through it and it's just coming to life for her and I'm telling you if it's been a while for you, I want to encourage you to get your Bible out and you pray and ask the Lord to help you understand it and have a longing to understand and to love God's word, and he can give it to you.

Now.

Don't start in Leviticus, okay, they're probably not Ezekiel, okay, but I mean but.

But, but you, you need to get back into the Bible because God speaks to his people through it.

We should have a craving for it and uh, and it's just a great blessing that we have.

We need to have a hunger for God's word.

Second thing a healthy church is known for is healthy church is known for its love for God's people.

We see here once again in verse 42, it says they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and in fellowship and the breaking of bread, fellowship and breaking of bread.

These people were unified around a common cause Jesus.

They recognized him as the Messiah and they recognized that he had saved them.

He had cleansed them from their sin.

They had been given the Holy Spirit.

They wanted to be with each other.

They were excited about getting together.

They loved each other.

They were a family.

They really genuinely viewed each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

How do we know that?

I think we know that from verses 44 and 45.

Look at these verses.

Think we know that from verses 44 and 45.

Look at these verses.

It says now, all who believed were together.

So they were.

They were meeting together and had all things in common.

They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.

Wow, does that passage of scripture make you nervous?

Makes me a little bit nervous.

This is the love that they had for each other.

It wasn't.

Oh no, don't wait, wait, don't do that.

You can't trust that guy.

It wasn't well.

I'm saving up for it wasn't well now listen here, we're not going to be socialists.

There wasn't any of that.

Now listen here, we're not going to be socialists.

There wasn't any of that being referenced here in this passage of Scripture.

Instead, it was I love these people so much I am going to do whatever I need to do sacrificially to be a blessing to the kingdom of God.

That's all it was.

It was simple, it was pure.

Amy is a great cook.

I am blessed with her being a wonderful cook.

Matter of fact, I have it set on my phone.

My backdrop every day changes to a different picture in my phone, and I got up this morning, opened my phone and the backdrop is a picture I took of her standing behind the world's greatest apple pie that she makes in a cast iron skillet.

Okay, now I've told you already I'm trying to be healthy right now, so that kind of picture didn't really help me because we're not eating that stuff right now.

But but but she is a great cook and I know that me and the kids when there are many occasions when I'll walk into the kitchen and she'll be pulling out a pan of probably the best example is a pan of cinnamon rolls she makes these great cinnamon rolls.

This is not doing anybody any good, is it?

What is it?

1105?

Yeah, and usually what happens when me or one of the kids would walk into the kitchen and she's pulling out this pan of cinnamon rolls, we'll say where are we going?

And and because so often she would make something that is so good to take to somebody else, and every time I think about that we usually talk her into letting us have one before we go somewhere.

But but we always want her to make us a whole pan of cinnamon rolls to eat and it's not like she deprives us at the house.

She cooks great meals, but I find myself so often, when that would happen, thinking I don't want to share that with other people.

I want to you make gross stuff to take to potlucks.

We want the good stuff for the house, not so with the church here in this passage of Scripture.

That is not what we find.

It is difficult for us to comprehend the level of love and unity they had for each other.

They were starting to look around the house trying to figure out what they could sell, because they had a brother or sister in Christ who had a need.

I mean, can you imagine there my, you know, your 30-06 is leaning up in the closet?

No, no, lord, surely not that it didn't matter In this moment in the church, as the Holy Spirit is speaking in such obvious ways, if they'd have had an extra vehicle in the driveway of their house, there's a good chance it would have been sold.

Do you know how we know that?

Look here and you can flip a page over to the last passage of Acts, chapter 4, verses 32 and following.

Acts 4:32

This is later.

This is a little bit of time has passed.

Verse 32,.

It says Now the multitude of those who believed were still.

They were of one heart and one soul.

Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common With great power.

The apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the great grace was upon them all.

Nor was there anyone among them who lacked for all who were possessors of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

That is beyond our ability to comprehend as a 21st century American Christian, the notion of selling not just my deer hunting rifle or my bass boat or, you know, my extra car or any of those things.

It went beyond that.

They were selling houses.

They were selling lands because they were so committed in the kingdom and so longed to be together and to demonstrate the love that they had for each other.

We see at the end of verse 46, back in chapter 2, it says what says daily.

They were breaking bread from house to house.

They ate food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

They ate meals together in their homes.

They practiced biblical hospitality.

It's more than that.

They just had this longing to be together Every day.

They got together.

20 centuries later, where do we find ourselves?

Well, my house is too cluttered.

My house is too small.

I'm not a good cook, you know.

Hgtv has ruined us All right, y'all know that right?

I mean, I'm one set of granite countertops away from having my house where I can have other people over.

That is not what you find in Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

They didn't care about that.

They got together and what did they do?

They ate with gladness and simplicity of heart.

What a great phrase.

They ate with gladness and simplicity of heart.

What a great phrase.

They ate with gladness and simplicity of heart.

Don't you long for that?

On some level, we had a relationship with one another in such a way that those things didn't matter.

A healthy church is a church that loves one another, has a desire to gather together, has a desire to help one another, has a desire to open our home to each other.

That's what a healthy church does.

The third characteristic, the last one I want to focus our attention on this morning, is and just very briefly, a healthy church has a dependence on God's power.

We see here, in verse 42, it concludes by saying they continued steadfastly in prayers.

In prayers, they'd seen Jesus die On the day of Pentecost, they had seen the Holy Spirit come in great power, they had been saved and now they are dependent upon the power of God and they expressed that dependence through prayer.

They continued steadfastly in their prayers to the Lord.

Now, the early church.

I think it's important for us to note there's a lot of great things that are happening.

There are a lot of difficult things that are going to happen in the future, but one of the things that is characterized, or a characteristic of the early church is they were a people that prayed.

They prayed In Acts chapter 1, when Jesus said wait in Jerusalem, they went back and they met together.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And what do you think they did while they waited?

They prayed.

And so when Acts chapter 2 begins, and they're all together, they are praying together.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And then you see, at the end of this chapter, in verse 42, it says they continued steadfastly in prayer.

And then you get to Acts chapter 4, and that's when the disciples are arrested first and they get out of, they're released out of jail and they go back.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

And what do you think?

The first thing is that they did.

They had a prayer meeting and they didn't ask for God to protect them.

You know what they asked for?

They had a prayer meeting and they didn't ask for God to protect them.

You know what they asked for.

They asked for boldness, that God would do a great work in them and continue to see the gospel advanced.

That is what we find in the early church.

Then he gets to Acts, chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Believers have made their way all the way to Antioch and they've gotten together.

Guess what they're doing?

They're praying.

And out of that prayer meeting, guess what they did?

The Lord told them you need to send missionaries, and so they sent out Barnabas and Paul.

And here we are, 20 centuries later, because of what God started in a prayer meeting.

They were dependent upon the Lord for everything.

They were dependent upon the Lord for everything.

How important is prayer in the 21st century church?

How devoted are we to prayer?

There are times when I engage in ministry and mission without a genuine dependence on the Lord.

You know what I'm doing in those moments.

I'm declaring my independence.

I can do this, lord.

I know this well enough.

I can do this and I'll call on you when I need you in some other area, and then, when that happens, we get the results only human effort can bring about, and the kingdom is not advanced.

We must be dependent upon the Lord.

Do you pray like it matters.

Just imagine if God answered every prayer you prayed.

What would you do?

We'd pray more.

We'd pray more.

If God answered every prayer I ever prayed.

All of a sudden, I would spend every moment of my day seeking Him in prayer.

And yet that is what he calls upon us to do to be people of prayer, to be people of dependence.

And I'm I'm so encouraged by this because last weekend, amy and I we were, matter of fact.

I got home from church and and there was something that we were, we were wrestling with and working kind of a decision we needed to make, and we had prayer, and before the sun went down, the Lord had answered two of those prayer requests without us lifting a finger.

I mean, we didn't have to, we didn't do anything, we didn't initiate anything.

God very specifically answered those two prayers.

And so what do you think we did Monday morning?

We got back together and we prayed again for other things we really needed God to be working in, and we are confident God is not only listening, but we are confident that God is answering our prayers.

And I want to say to you a healthy church is a church that genuinely believes that God not only invites us to pray, not only hears our prayers, but he is actively working in our circumstances.

And I want to encourage you not only to pray, but if prayer is difficult for you, if you find it's laborious or you find that you drift off in your prayer time, if you're doing it early in the morning, let me encourage you to find someone else to pray with on a regular basis.

I think that is so important, so healthy for you to do, because then you're holding each other accountable in prayer.

You're seeking God together in prayer.

And if I can say this and I don't necessarily know why this is, for whatever reason God seems to answer prayer that the two of us pray together in ways that he doesn't answer it when I pray by myself, that's all I know to say.

He does answer prayers in ways that when I pray, but for whatever reason, he seems to answer when we pray together and it just compels us to pray together, all the more the people of God have got to be people who genuinely believe God is working and God is answering.

We know he answers prayers sometimes with a no, but when I speak about answering answering in ways that genuinely demonstrate his work and his advancing of the kingdom.

The Acts chapter 2 church this earliest picture of the earliest church.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

They met together every day in the temple so they could learn God's Word.

The Acts chapter 2 church they met daily in each other's houses to eat together and to encourage one another and to meet needs together.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And the Acts chapter 2 church they met daily to pray like it really, really mattered.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And this passage of Scripture is a glimpse of heaven on earth.

And then you see what the result is.

In verse 47, the last verse in this passage, it says they praised God and they had favor with all the people.

And look at this last sentence the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

God was honored, the church exploded in growth and had great influence and people were saved.

That's what we need.

God did it now, and perhaps the way he worked on the day of Pentecost is different than how he works today, but the God who did it then, he can do it now.

He can work in his people.

The Holy Spirit can empower his people in the same way.

We need to seek him and trust him and expect him to work in that way.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer With your heads bowed and your eyes closed.

If you find yourself in this room this morning, if you find yourself watching online today, I simply want to say to you, as Peter invited those people so long ago, you need to be saved, you need to repent of your sin, you need to turn from your sin and you need to call upon the God who created, the holy God, the only one who can save, and you need to confess your sin to him, turn from it and surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

You can be saved this day and begin this life that God wants you to enjoy, greatest decision you will ever make.

In a moment, pastor Brian and I will be standing down here at the front.

We'd love to share with you how you can know Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

If you have questions about that, this morning you may be sitting in this room and you may not have a church home.

If that's the case, then I want to invite you today.

You need to join this church family.

There are great things that are happening here in this church family Great ministry that is taking place, excited about a pastor that is going to be called to lead this body of believers.

You need to join and you need to serve alongside brothers and sisters who will love you and welcome you into the family of faith.

Lord, we call on you this morning.

We thank you for your word.

We think about how you worked all those years ago.

Think about how those new believers.

They were so excited about the life that you had given to them.

They were so excited that every day they wanted to hear how they were supposed to follow you.

Please give us that same excitement.

Please give us a longing for a hunger for your word.

We think about that early church and how that they had such a love for each other.

They were willing not only to have each other in their homes, they were willing to to sell their possessions to make sure that their brothers and sisters in Christ, their newfound family of faith, had no needs.

I pray that you'll give us such a love for one another that we're willing to live generously, willing to live sacrificially, willing to open our home and open our lives to help one another live out the faith that you've called us to live.

Lord, I pray specifically that you'll lead us to be people who are entirely dependent upon you.

We've come a long way since the first century in many ways.

We have buildings, we have land, we have programs.

Lord, we need the power of the Holy Spirit, like they had there in that early church, and so we must be dependent upon you.

Let us be a people of prayer, let us be a people who pray like it matters, pray like you're going to answer, and let us see a people who pray like it matters, pray like you're going to answer, and let us see you accomplish things that only you and your power can accomplish.

So we entrust this time to you, lord.

Let us respond in faith, let us listen to your voice.

If there's someone here today that doesn't know you as their Savior and Lord, may today be the day of salvation.

It is in Jesus name that I pray, amen.