Church in the Raw

Thank you, Bridget and Katie. Good morning, everyone. Really good to have you with us,

whether you're here in the church or on YouTube. I know we have a few visitors in the church this

morning. You are particularly welcome as we now come to consider God's word.

The year is 1830. The city is Dublin. And in a small hall on the south side of the city,

a group of Christians are meeting together for the first time. They previously met in homes

and they're now meeting in a hall. Among them, there is one young man who has been refused

communion at churches around the city because he wouldn't join their membership role.

There are others who are concerned about the established church and the dominance of the

clergy, and in particular, that many churches will only allow communion if there are clergy,

ordained clergy there to lead it. Others are looking for simplicity in their worship,

to get back to how it was at the beginning in the New Testament. And so they meet and very simply,

they pray together, they read from the Bible, and they take bread and wine to remember the Lord Jesus.

Now some of you will recognize that this is a description of one of the early groups of what

later became known as the Brethren movement. There were others in Plymouth and Bristol and elsewhere.

My purpose is not to promote Brethren ideals, although I would happily do that, but rather choose as an

example, and there are many, of a circumstance where there were people who felt there is a need to get

back to the New Testament church and the way it did things. Traditions have grown up, and we want to

strip these away and simply be obedient to what the Bible says. I could equally have used as my example

the Reformation, or one or two of the splits after that, the formation of the Methodist Church,

or the free churches in Scotland, or indeed some of the churches around our city that have sprang up

in recent years. There has been many times a desire to get back to worshipping as the New Testament

church did. And churches inevitably as they grow and as they become more organized, there is more

tradition built up, and perhaps, perhaps we get away sometimes from the basic teaching of Scripture.

Now, why is that that that happens? Well, I think it's quite simple. The New Testament doesn't set out to be

a handbook on how we should do church in detail. We were looking recently at the book of Leviticus,

and in Leviticus you get great detail about the sacrifices and offerings and the priests and the

other things which were part of the Jewish faith. And they were prescribed, they were laid down in

writing, this is how you will do it. There's very little of that in the New Testament about the church.

We get some teaching, usually when something's gone wrong, and Paul or someone else is trying to correct it.

We get snippets here and there which give us an insight into church life, particularly in the book of Acts,

and how the early Christians did things. But there are not generally prescriptive details of this is how you must

do things as a church. And because of that, I would be hesitant to criticize others who do it differently

from ourselves. If they are Bible-believing Christians seeking to follow the Lord Jesus and to be obedient to

his word, the fact that they see things in terms of church and organization a little bit different from me

doesn't necessarily mean that I'm right and they're wrong. On the other hand, we do need to use the New

Testament as the basis for everything we do. This is the word of God that has been handed down to us.

And so it is good to look at what the New Testament says about church and to think, how does that apply

to us today? Some things we can take directly and we can say we should do it the way the New Testament

church did. Other things we might say, well, that is largely cultural or circumstances now are different.

And so we will do things a little bit differently. That is largely why differences spring up between churches.

But if we're thinking about how we should be and what we should do as a church, our starting point,

I think, should be these verses that we've read in Acts chapter 2. This is what I've called church in the

Acts 2 · chapter mention

raw. It is the very beginnings of the Christians meeting together and sharing a common life together

and seeking to worship and to glorify God. And it gives us lots of principles, I think, we can follow

as we seek to obey the Lord and to live as his church in our time. So we're going to go through

these verses and think about what they are to teach us about the church and the key things about it.

But before we do that, let's just take a second to orientate ourselves and remind ourselves where we

are in the book of Acts. So over the last three weeks, we've looked at the ascension of the Lord Jesus,

the choosing of an additional apostle, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost,

and Peter's great sermon on the day of Pentecost. And then at the end of that, the Bible records

that about 3,000 were added to the 120 existing Christians. So there was a great revival in Jerusalem

on the day of Pentecost. And the question then is, well, what happens next? You've got all these new

Christians. How do you organize yourselves? How do you help them to grow in their faith and in their

knowledge of the Lord Jesus? And what happened next is what will occupy Luke from the end of chapter 2

through to the early verses of chapter 6. In the verses we're looking at today, we have, if you like,

the basics of what the church did. And then in the remaining chapters, we have how it worked out

in practice. Sometimes it worked well and the Holy Spirit really worked among them. Sometimes there

were problems and the church had to deal with them and to make sure that it remained obedient to the

Lord and to his word. But the verses we have today are very much the foundation for what will follow

in the next few chapters. This is how the early church met together and what they did. And then we

get a few examples of how things worked out in the following chapters. Now our passage today divides

very easily into two sections. The first section is a single verse. It's verse 42. They devoted

themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And I've called

these the priorities of the church. These were the things which were fundamental that they were eager

to follow. The word that's used in verse 42, they devoted themselves, is the same word that's used back

in chapter 1, where it says that Christians were constantly in prayer to God. It was the thing they

did. It was the things that they focused on. So we're going to look at these priorities. And then from

verse 43 down to verse 47, we have their practices. So how did the priorities work out in their everyday life

as a church? What did they actually do? So we'll take these two sections and let's start out with the

priorities. Now as we do that, I want to give you a question to think about. If you were setting the

priorities for church life today, is there anything that you would add that is missing from verse 42?

I'll leave you to think about that and we'll come back to it later. Is there any priority for church

today that you don't find in verse 42 here? Well, let's look first at what we do find. And the first

priority was the apostles' doctrine or the apostles' teaching. So you have new Christians. New Christians,

probably all if not, or certainly most of them, who would have grown up in the Jewish faith.

So they had the Old Testament background they would understand and would know, but they knew very

little, most of them, about the Lord Jesus and what it really meant, this new faith that they had in him.

So a key priority for the apostles as they looked at this wonderful group of new Christianers, so excited

by those who had come to trust the Lord Jesus, a key priority was to make sure that they were taught

well. And who better to teach them than the men who had been with Jesus for the three years of his

ministry. Remember when they were choosing a new apostle, that was the key thing they required.

It needed to be someone who had been with Jesus. And as these apostles set about leading this new church,

then they had this reserve of all the experiences that they had walking alongside Jesus, all they had heard

from him. They had brought to their recollection by the Holy Spirit, the things that they had heard and seen.

And the things that the Spirit passed on to them were what had been passed to the Spirit by the Lord Jesus.

That's what the Lord Jesus says in John chapter 16.

John 16 · chapter mention

So this Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled group of men were able to teach those who were new in the faith

and with authority, with the authority of the Lord Jesus, to help them to understand the truth.

And the Christians were eager to hear it. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

Now, we don't have the apostles in that sense today. We can't go to Philip and say,

well, what did Jesus teach about this? We can't go to Matthew and say, well, what do you think Jesus

would have done in this situation? But we do have our Bible. And our Bible, our New Testament,

is the written down doctrine that the apostles have passed on to us. The human writers of the New

Testament were apostles, or those who were writing with apostolic authority, often with assistance

from the apostles themselves. And of course, all of them were writing down as the Spirit led them

and gave them the words. So when we think about the apostles' doctrine today, what we should think

about is our relationship with the Bible. That we should spend our time, that we should devote ourselves

to understanding what it is that the Bible says and teaches us, and being obedient to it.

That is fundamental to living as a Christian. It is fundamental to living as the church of the Lord Jesus,

the apostles' doctrine.

The second thing that Luke tells us is that they devoted themselves to fellowship, or actually he says,

the fellowship. One translation I quite like was the New English Bible, which talked about the common life.

And I think that gets across the meaning of the word that's used here.

This was a group of people who did things together and who supported and encouraged one another.

There was a love for the Lord Jesus first, but that was reflected too in a love for one another.

And they spent time together. And when one was happy, all were happy.

When one was grieving, all would grieve with them.

When one was suffering, all would suffer alongside them.

They had things in common. They supported one another.

We'll come in a minute to the material side of things, which is covered later in the passage.

But this was a group of people who were really committed to one another.

They devoted themselves to the fellowship, to living together for the Lord Jesus.

How important that is today as well.

It's been a lot more difficult in some ways over the last year,

when for long periods we haven't been able to meet together.

And some people still don't feel able to come and meet at the church.

And yet there have been lots of phone calls and lots of expressions of interest among church members,

lots of support being given.

And that's absolutely right.

We should at all times have the interests of our Christian brothers and sisters at heart

and seek to support and build them up in their faith.

We should devote ourselves to the fellowship.

Then the third thing that Luke lists is the breaking of bread against the breaking of the bread.

It is the term that is used.

Now there's some debate about what the breaking of bread might mean.

The term is used in two senses in the New Testament.

One is what we might call communion or the Lord's Supper.

Meeting together to break bread.

And the service that we'll be starting next Sunday morning,

we tend to call the breaking of bread service because that is what we do.

We meet to remember the Lord Jesus, to break bread and to drink the cup together.

And that's one meaning in the New Testament.

The other meaning is simply meeting together for a meal.

Because when the Jews would have a meal,

one of the first things they would do is that someone, usually the host,

would give thanks to God for the food

and then would break bread and would pass it around as an expression of friendship and of fellowship.

You may remember in Luke chapter 24,

Luke 24 · chapter mention

when the Lord Jesus meets the couple going to Emmaus

and they come to the house and the Lord Jesus,

they invite them in for a meal,

and the Lord Jesus gives thanks and breaks bread.

And that's the point when they recognize him and realize who it is.

Now there's no suggestion there that it's the Lord's Supper that's being celebrated at that point.

It is simply they're having a meal and as part of that, bread is broken.

So what does it mean in this passage?

This expression is used twice in verse 42 and then again in verse 46.

Well, I think the difficulty we have with that and understanding it

is maybe a difficulty the first century Christians wouldn't have had.

Because you met together for a meal and as part of that meal,

you broke bread and you remembered the Lord Jesus.

In the upper room with his disciples, as the Lord Jesus takes bread and breaks it,

he's using something which was part of the Passover that they were celebrating at the time

and he gives it a new spiritual significance.

So as the Christians meet and in their homes, as they break bread,

they say, let's remember the Lord Jesus together in the breaking of the bread

and as we drink from the cup, let's remember him.

So the two things went together.

You had the meal of fellowship and friendship together

and within that meal was perfectly natural and normal

to break bread to remember the Lord Jesus.

And of course, things changed as the church went on.

And there was still a meal in the time of the Corinthians,

but it was very much, I think, by that point that they met

and they had the breaking of bread as a separate thing within the meal.

And of course, the meal gradually dropped off in terms of normal church practice.

But in verse 42, I'm fairly sure that the specific reference from Luke

is to remembering the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread,

albeit as part of a meal.

And how important it is that we too continue to remember the Lord Jesus.

The normal context now is within a church.

In the book of Acts, there were 3,000 odd Christians.

They couldn't all meet together in one place,

so they broke bread in homes.

The normal context now would be we would come together in church to break bread.

But of course, over the last period, when that's not always been possible,

it's been good that some have been able to join over Zoom,

as we've remembered the Lord and the church, and they have joined with us.

And I think that's perfectly right and perfectly scriptural.

We break bread.

It is one of the priorities of the church.

And those of us who are in the building later on,

we won't break bread because there's no bread to break.

We'll be taking crackers and grape juice,

and the breaking is only symbolic,

but it will remind us of the death of the Lord Jesus

and all that he has done for us.

And then finally, in the priorities of the church,

there is prayer.

Again, the original would say the prayers.

So this isn't talking about the prayer,

the pride time that we have at home.

It's the church meeting together to pray with one another.

Probably from later on in the chapter,

it was often in the temple courts,

a place where Jews would go to pray,

the Christians would go to,

and they would find an area there,

and they would pray together.

But the communal prayer,

the coming together to lay hold on the Lord,

to bring their thanksgiving and their request to him,

that was a core aspect of early church life.

And similarly, it should be today.

Praying together is the powerhouse of the church

and is the way we together can approach God

and be drawn closer to him

and also drawn closer to one another.

I think over the last year or so,

when we've had the Zoom prayer meetings,

many of us have found them really helpful

in just getting together to pray

and a very simple way to bring our requests

to the Lord Jesus.

I would encourage you, if you're able to,

join us on the Monday evenings in May

for our prayer times.

We're not having Thursday ones in May,

just on Monday.

Once a week, let as many of us as possible

get together to pray

and to bring our thanksgiving

and our requests to the Lord.

So four priorities of the church.

The apostles' teaching,

the fellowship,

the breaking of bread,

and prayer.

And these very much should be four priorities

of every church today.

Then what about the practices?

If these are the principles,

how did they work out in practice?

And that's what verses 43 to 47 are all about.

And the first thing we see in verse 43 is power.

God is at work.

And God is very evidently at work.

Everyone was filled with awe, it says,

at the many wonders and signs

performed by the apostles.

Different between wonders and signs,

I think with wonders,

you ask how did that happen?

With signs, you ask,

why did that happen?

Signs are God speaking in a way

that will teach us more about himself.

But one way or another,

the apostles were doing wonderful things.

We see a bit of that in chapter three,

when there's a lame man in the temple

and Peter, through the Spirit,

is able to perform a miracle of healing on him.

And that apparently was not a one-off event.

That was something that happened very regularly

in the early church.

We might then ask,

well, is that something that we should be looking for

in our churches today?

And this is where we get into questions

about what is relevant today

and what is different today.

Our God hasn't changed.

Our God is still powerful

and is in control of all things

and can do whatever he chooses to do.

And yet in many of our churches,

in our day,

we don't see miraculous signs

in the sense that Luke is talking about here.

I think as we look through Scripture,

as we look through the Bible,

there were particular periods

when signs and wonders were quite common.

So we look at the time of Moses, for example,

and the Israelites going through the wilderness

and quite a number of miraculous things happening then.

We look at the time of Elijah and Elisha.

And again, in a national crisis,

when the nation of Israel had gone

as low as it possibly could

under Ahab and Jezebel,

God worked in miraculous ways

to demonstrate his power.

And we have it again in the New Testament,

both with the apostles here

and later on with Paul.

And I think,

and I'm not going to say this too firmly,

but I think that it is right to say

that through history,

there have been times

when there have been a great deal of miracles.

God has been working miraculous ways

at key points in human history

and the plan of salvation.

And there have been other times

when miraculous things have been

at least less common.

And perhaps we're in one of these

less common times just now.

But if you want to discuss math with me later,

I'll be very happy to.

But the key thing,

I think the key lesson from it is,

what the apostles were doing

with their wonders and signs

was validating to people

the reality of their message.

They could say,

here is God working with power among us.

This is the evidence

that what we are doing is from God.

Now listen to our message

and change your ways

and come to put your trust

in the Lord Jesus.

And I think that is why

the apostles mentioned in verse 42

in terms of their teaching,

verse 43 in terms of their power,

the one helped to validate the other.

Let's move on though

and talk about what I've called provision.

So verses 44 and 45 say,

all the believers were together

and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions

to give to anyone who had need.

The believers had everything in common.

Now there's something again

that's different from how we would

see things as a church.

We don't have all things in common.

By and large,

we live our own lives

and we are responsible

for our own finances.

So is that wrong?

Should we be going back

to what the early Christians did?

I don't believe so.

I think this was something

that was specifically relevant

and important

in the very early days of the church.

And we don't see it happening,

I don't think,

as the church progresses.

In Paul's epistles, for instance,

the church would certainly support

one another,

but it wasn't that they had

everything in common.

However,

I think perhaps we have got away

from some of the underlying significance

of these verses.

Because we do tend to treat each other

as being financially independent.

And some of us are well off

in material terms.

Some of us are less so.

And there are many Christians

around the world

who are in real poverty

and who don't know

where their next meal

is coming from.

And perhaps we have

too much of a mindset

that what I have,

what I've earned

through my work or whatever,

that is mine.

I will give some of it

to the Lord's work.

But essentially,

that's my income

and it's mine to do

what I want to with it.

have we lost that sense

of if someone's in need

and I'm able to meet that need,

then my duty before the Lord

is to do it.

If I see someone

who is struggling financially

for reasons that are

beyond their control,

is it not my duty

to help them in any way

that I can?

Perhaps these days

we're too private,

we're too proud

to ask for help.

And maybe many of us

are too greedy

to offer that help

when we should.

So let's take the challenge.

If there are people

we're aware of

who are in physical need,

what can I do,

what can we as a church do

to be able to help them

and to give them

the physical support

that they need.

The believers had

everything in common.

They sold and gave

to anyone

who had need.

We'll come back to that again

in later chapters of Acts.

I won't say any more

just now.

Then the third thing

that they did

I've called participation.

This is verse 46.

Every day they continued

to meet together

in the temple courts.

They broke bread

in their homes

and ate together

with glad

and sincere hearts.

Every day

they continued

to meet together.

We may wonder

why they still went

to the temple

or the temple

was the place

where Jews went

to worship.

And I'm sure

the early Christians

were thinking

well as the Jews see us,

those who are not yet

Christians see us

and we can explain

to them more

about what the Lord

Jesus has done,

perhaps they too

will come to know him.

It was a natural place

to go

but equally there were times

when it was better

to meet in homes,

to share a meal together,

to share the Lord's Supper

and to enjoy fellowship

with one another.

But the point is

they were all participating

in each other's lives.

There were no hangers-on.

There were no people

who said

well I'll come to church

on a Sunday

but that's all

I'm going to do.

The rest of the week

is mine

and I'm not going

to have any contact

with my Christian brothers

and sisters.

And how important it is

if we are part of a church

that we are active

participants in it.

That we're not just

those who turn up

and go away

and perhaps you almost

wouldn't notice

if we weren't there.

That we're engaged

in the life,

the fellowship,

the service,

the witness

of the church.

And we're engaged

in the lives of others

that we have

opportunities

to meet with them,

to serve,

to support

and to encourage them.

Again,

the last year

has made that

very difficult

in many ways.

And perhaps

there are some

who have almost

dropped off

from church.

You may be watching

this morning

but actually

you've had very little

contact with the church

and very little involvement

over the last year.

Please consider

what your participation

in church

should be.

What you can do

to enjoy fellowship

with others

and to build them up

as you build yourself up

and to serve

the Lord Jesus.

We have scope now

to have more people

at our services.

Great to have some extras

this morning

from what we've had

in the past.

There is still room

for more

if you would like to come.

Please consider

getting more involved

in the church

if you have largely

dropped off

in recent months.

And then the last thing

under practice

is that the church

was praising God.

It was a joyful church.

Now we have two things

to balance things here.

Verse 43

it says

they were filled

with awe.

So on the one hand

there was a great awe.

There wasn't a flippancy

about church.

There was a recognition

of what a great God

we have

and how a great privilege

it is

to be able

to approach Him.

But on the other hand

there were glad

and sincere hearts

and there was

praising God.

Being a Christian

and knowing the Lord Jesus

should be a joyful

experience

for us.

Yes there are bumps

in the road.

Yes there are times

when life is

really difficult.

But we should

if we know

the Lord Jesus

we should be

reflecting on

all the great blessings

that we have

in Him

and the great future

that He has planned

for us.

And we should be

rejoicing in Him.

Praise should be

very much

a feature

of our times

together.

And praise is

partly music.

Music can really help us

in praise.

But it is also

just appreciating

together

all that the Lord

Jesus has done

for us

and all that He

continues

to do

for us.

So we have

power,

provision,

participation,

praise.

Let's come back

to the question

that I asked

you earlier.

Is there

a priority

missing

in verse

42?

We have

for those

who are interested

in becoming

members of the church

here,

we do have membership

though everyone

is welcome

to join the communion

if they love

the Lord Jesus.

But we have

a membership

booklet

and within

that there's

a little bit

about the history

of the church.

I actually wrote

that because

I've been here

forever so I

know what's

been going on.

And within

that I write

something about

the heritage

which is still

important for

us in church

today.

So I say

as part of that

in accordance

with Acts

2.42

we give

priority to

Bible teaching,

fellowship,

the Lord's

Supper,

communion,

and prayer.

They are the

priorities that

are listed here.

I then have

another bullet

that says

we also

give priority

to personal

witness,

corporate

evangelism,

and mission

both local

and worldwide.

And I hope

you would agree

that reaching

out to others

should be

a priority

of the church.

So why then

is it not

listed in Acts

2?

Why doesn't

Luke have a

fifth thing

that says

they sought

to reach

out to

others?

I think

the answer

to that

is probably

that they

didn't need

to be doing

anything special

to reach

out.

It wasn't

something they

said we

really need

to have

an evangelistic

effort.

We need

to have

a gospel

meeting

or an

evangelistic

campaign

or Christianity

Explored

or whatever

so that we

can help

people to

become

Christians.

Now all

these things

are good.

I'm not

knocking them.

They're good

and they're

in many ways

necessary in

our time.

But for

the early

Christians

it was

simply the

case as

they lived

as Christians

people could

see that

their lives

were different

and they

were able

to use

opportunities

to explain

to them

why their

lives

were different.

So we have

again examples

in the following

chapters

particularly as

Peter gets

the opportunity

after the

healing of the

lame man

to talk about

the power

that he

has

through

the Lord

Jesus

and to

present the

gospel

through that.

The early

Christians

it is the

natural thing

to do

was to

talk about

their faith

and to

share it

with others

and to

be very

visible

in the

way that

they

did it.

And it

was effective.

They didn't

need an evangelistic

campaign because

it says in

verse 47

the Lord

added to

their number

daily

those who

were being

saved.

Wouldn't be

wonderful if

we could say

the Lord

is adding

to our

number

daily

even

weekly

those who

are being

saved.

I think that's

a reminder to

all of us

that witness

is something

that should

come naturally

to us.

I say naturally

with some

hesitancy because

many of us

find it very

difficult but

our relationship

with the Lord

Jesus should

be something

that we're

happy to

talk about

and to

share with

others and

to explain

to them

what it

is that

he has

done for

us.

And yes

evangelism is

a priority.

Reaching us

to church is

a priority.

Great we've

got a

Christianity

explored course.

Please do

consider who

you could

invite to

that.

But it's

also the

case that

people should

just be able

to look at

us and

listen to

us in a

natural course

of conversation

and learn

something about

the Lord

Jesus and

faith in

him.

We need

to be

witnesses

to him

alongside

the

priorities

that Luke

lists.

Now I

started by

talking about

a group

that separated

from the

established

church.

I want to

end with

someone who

didn't

separate from

the established

church.

If you

have the

monthly

newsletter or

the paper

copies in

the church

or it's

online,

you'll see

that in

his article

Graham has

reminded us

that it

would have

been John

Stott's

100th birthday

last week.

John

Stott

throughout

his life

was an

Anglican,

an Anglican

bicker,

and came

under pressure

a lot of

times to

move from

the church

and people

saying,

well,

how can

you stay

in the

church of

England?

John

Stott

was very

convinced

that was

what God

had called

him to

do.

One of

his last

books is

called

The Living

Church.

The

subtitle is

Convictions

of a

Lifelong

Pastor.

And then

as you see

John

Stott sharing

something of

what he's

learned over

many years of

Christian ministry

about what it

is to be the

church and

to serve the

Lord Jesus

in it.

If you're

interested,

he also

includes the

reasons why

he has

stayed within

the Church

of England.

But I

want to

just finish

by reading

what he

says in

summary about

these verses

we've been

looking at

from Acts.

So John

Stott

says,

looking back

over the

essential

marks of

a living

church,

it is

apparent that

they all

have to

do with

the

believers'

relationships.

First,

they were

related to

the apostles.

They devoted

themselves to

the apostles'

teaching.

A living

church is

an apostolic

church.

Second,

they were

related to

each other.

They loved

each other.

A living

church is

a caring

and sharing

church.

Thirdly,

they were

related to

God.

They worshipped

God in the

breaking of

bread and

in prayers

with joy

and with

reverence.

A living

church is

a worshipping

church.

Fourthly,

they were

related to

the world

outside.

They reached

out and

witnessed

a living

church is

an evangelizing

church.

John Todd

has followed

the order

of Acts 2.

I might be

tempted to

slightly change

the order as

we think about

our priorities.

Because the

first thing we

need to have

is the

relationship

with God.

If we don't

have that

relationship,

then we're

not part of

the church

at all.

So all of

us need to

have our

trust in

the Lord

Jesus,

the one

who died

for us,

and you

can bring

us forgiveness

for all

the wrong

that we've

done in

our lives.

That is the

starting point,

and then our

lives should

be an

ongoing

building of

that

relationship

with God.

And then

we can

move on.

We have

the relationship

with Scripture

next,

perhaps,

as we seek

to learn

more about

what God

wants to

teach us

and what

it means

to live

as a

disciple

of Jesus.

We have

the relationship

with one

another,

the fellowship

that we enjoy

as we support

each other,

and then

we have

the relationship

with those

who are not

yet Christians

as we would

seek to

witness to

them.

Let's all

challenge ourselves

on these

four relationships

as individuals,

as a church.

Have we got

them all

right?

Our relationship

with God,

our relationship

with Scripture,

our relationship

with one another,

our relationship

with those

outside the

church.

And if we

find we're

lacking in any

of these

priorities,

let's resolve

to put it

right and

through with

God's help

to be more

like the

church that

he intends

us to be.

Let's pray

together.

Our Father,

we thank you

for your

word to us

this morning.

We thank you

for this great

passage that

reminds us

of what the

early church

did, of what

its priorities

were, what

its practices

were.

Help us to

get our

priorities right,

that we may

have a living

relationship with

you, a real

relationship with

your word,

strong relations

with one

another and

a desire to

reach others

for the

Lord Jesus.

And help

each of us

to grow in

our faith and

our knowledge

of the Lord

Jesus and to

support one

another as a

church as we

do that.

We pray you'll

be with us

now as we

move on,

that you'll be

with those who

are leaving us

now, who have

been with us

on YouTube,

that your blessing

will be with them

over the coming

week.

And be with

those of us

in the church

now as we

move on to

remember the

Lord Jesus

together.

We give you

our thanks in

his name.

Amen.