Acts 2:41-47

It's very good to be back and preaching today. I'm coming off a three-week preaching break, and I've been incredibly thankful for that for multiple reasons, which I've stated previously.

Please turn with me, if you will, in your copy of God's Word, Acts chapter 2, verses 41 through 47. Luke's account here follows the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:41–47

The great sermon that I would encourage you, if you're not familiar with, to go back and read. Peter answers the question, what is happening in this day of Pentecost?

These people filled with the Spirit are starting to speak in other languages, and they're telling about the mighty works of God.

And so he explains that, and then he goes on to give explanation to who Jesus Christ is and how to place believing faith in Him.

This is the beginning of the church.

It's an incredibly important text.

Because it's so important, I want to get your minds moving in the right direction before we read it together by presenting you with a couple of questions.

First question, what is the church?

What is the church?

I think that readily all of us could come up with some answer to that question.

Is it the right answer?

What immediately comes to your mind when I ask that question?

Is it a building?

Or a piece of property?

Borrowed, rented, or owned?

Is it a particular preacher?

Is it an event like a Sunday morning gathering?

Is it a business set with the task of marketing to you Christ?

Employing the means of the world to accomplish the ends of God?

We have, I believe, in our Christian culture, a lot of really bad examples of what a church is.

As we begin to look to the culture for those answers, I think we'll find that most of them will be wrong answers.

I've been saving the past about week and a half just some of the things that I get in the mail and by email,

marketing things that are sent to me.

And most of these, some, are just wrong.

Most of these are not, in and of themselves, wrong.

But just to give you some idea of the type of things that we as a church are inundated with,

catalogs to buy products.

There's lots and lots of them like this.

I'm not particularly picking on this one.

But when we received this, it still wasn't too late to order our Palm Sunday Palm Fronds, tied up and ready to go.

Or our John 316 hand fans.

We could get those shipped to us very quickly.

Another one with some adult coloring books for moms, which is a great gift for Mother's Day.

Pictures that say things, the teapot says things like,

all women are special, which I agree.

Or keep calm and color on.

A bookmark maybe that says a mother's love knows no boundaries.

Not to leave the men out for Father's Day.

Men, you could get a flashlight that says men who walk with God light the way.

About some advertising for church cleaning.

Also church building cleaning.

Lots of local services for that.

We've got a company that will do our VBS t-shirts for us.

Go ahead and get those ordered up.

Some conferences to keep me from being arrested for tax fraud,

which are always very scary.

Pastor Jen Wright is still in jail apparently.

From our own denomination,

emails about webisodes and blogs that include things,

some highlights from today's episode.

Your church worship facility will feel full to attendees when it's above 80% capacity.

From a conceptual point of view,

it's easier to deal with the too full problem than the too empty problem.

I did not take time out of my week to listen to this.

Or how about a webinar being offered on how to recruit and maintain volunteers.

Or another one on reaching and retaining church guests.

Seems Facebook and all its intelligence has learned that I'm a pastor somehow.

And I get ads after ads after ads for outreach strategy companies.

How to reach people via social media and get them to attend our fellowship together.

Two that especially grieve me close by.

A large church in our area.

Inviting pastors, lay people to a training to use a premarital and marriage counseling curriculum.

That has as its stated goals.

So let's watch what I'm saying.

This is a church in our area.

In our denomination.

Saying they'd like for us to come to a training to use this tool that they use.

This is what they're using to equip.

And these are the goals.

Explore strength and growth areas.

Strengthen communication skills.

Identify and manage major stressors.

Resolve conflict using the 10-step model.

Develop a more balanced relationship.

Explore family of origin issues.

Discuss financial planning and budgeting.

Establish personal, couple, and family goals.

Understand and appreciate personality differences.

All of these are good things to be done.

But I find it interesting that nowhere stated for the thrust of this curriculum.

And I looked.

And I looked very hard for it.

Because I don't want to misspeak on the matter.

All over their website.

Anywhere.

How do our marriages magnify the gospel?

How do we apply biblical principles and the disciplines of Christianity to our marriage?

How are we made competent for our sanctification in our marriages?

Another local within our denomination.

One that I spent part of my formative years at is going to serve as a satellite campus broadcasting something called the Global Leadership Summit.

It's put on by Willow Creek Church.

Bill Hyvel, as you may be familiar with, is the pastor there.

Since 1995, they've put on this leadership conference.

It's aimed at church leadership.

And they bring in leaders from around the world, both Christian and otherwise, to help pastors better lead their churches.

In an article online, I read the following, a 1993 survey of evangelical pastors by seven seminaries found that while they said their education had prepped them well in church history and theology, amen,

they felt undertrained in administration, management, and strategic planning.

Quote a pastor from Massachusetts,

In the 1950s, a pastor preached on Sundays, did weddings and funerals, and visited the sick.

He goes on to say,

I have almost 50 ministries that need to be put together, scheduled, organized, and led.

It's a different skill set.

What he's saying is, the Bible doesn't teach you how to do those things.

The article goes on to say,

Church conferences do little to address that need.

Most of them are pastors learning from pastors.

If you only hear preaching from the choir, you're never stretched.

You never see things from another perspective.

This year, the speakers there, Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

and T.D. Jakes, who is a known prosperity gospel preacher and a modalist,

meaning he denies the nature of the Trinity.

And this is being hosted in our denomination so that we can learn from the business world

how we're meant to lead churches.

That's just a little, that's a sampling, a small, small, small sampling.

I'm just going to get it out of my way.

I'm not mad at it.

I'm just getting it out of my way.

Well, I am mad at it, but all the same.

A second and closely related question.

What is the church?

How do we recognize the church?

What is the normative activity and quality of the church?

What are the marks of a church?

Is this a biblical church?

Is that a biblical church?

What do we base that off of?

You may ask some wrong questions, like does the church have a particular set of ministries?

Does the church have a particular style of music?

Does the church create separate environments for middle schoolers and high schoolers?

I think that was lost on most of you and I'm glad that it's to your benefit if that reference is lost on you.

Does it matter how I dress or what kind of hairstyle I have?

It's my hope this morning, at least in part, to answer those questions for you.

But how do you tackle such a task?

What is the church?

What are the marks?

What are the signs of a biblical church?

Many pastors will speak of a vision for what any particular church should look like.

But I don't believe that my innovation is of any value to you.

None whatsoever.

If I am to love you as an under-shepherd of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who's the head of the church,

he's given us a prescription for the church.

He has said what the church should look like and what it should be about.

And the only way I can do it is to draw you out of the popular culture to ancient truths.

To bring you back to the Scripture.

Beloved, I have nothing to offer you apart from the Word of God.

I will tell you that there are many men in our culture who are phenomenal communicators.

Boy, they can wrap you up and take you in and say very little, but capture your attention.

If I attempted to do that, if I tried to come up here and to preach each Sunday without humbling myself under the Word of God,

recognizing it as the absolute authority,

within a month I would run out of anecdotes and personal stories from my lives and metaphors.

I would just have to start rehashing them.

You could say it's the second Sunday of the month.

Nathan's probably going to tell such and such story.

I don't have anything to offer you apart from the Scripture.

There's a fairly lost doctrine about the Scripture,

which is the sufficiency of Scripture.

The sufficiency.

Defined by Wayne Grudem in his work entitled Systematic Theology,

the sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God

He intended His people to have at each stage of redemptive history.

So, as the Scripture was being written,

it contained within it everything that God intended His people to have for that stage in redemptive history.

We call that progressive revelation.

And that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation,

for trusting Him perfectly,

and for obeying Him perfectly.

It's a closed canon.

It now contains everything that we need for these tasks.

The Scripture contains all that we need to know and to place believing faith

in the personal work of Jesus Christ

and to follow Him perfectly.

2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

I hope you're familiar with this passage.

It says,

all Scripture is breathed out by God.

The Scripture says in many places that God by His Spirit inspired the Word,

that He spoke into men who pinned what He said.

This is the only place that it's said differently,

and it's speaking of another place in that process.

It was inspired, but it was also expired by God.

And that is to say that He is the very source.

All Scripture is breathed out by God.

It's His book.

He authored it.

And it's profitable for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training in righteousness.

It's profitable.

It's good for this,

for doing these varying activities that bring about righteousness.

And the result of that, in verse 17,

is that the man of God may be complete

and equipped

for

every

good work.

Not some good work.

Not a sampling of the good work that we're meant to do

as followers of Jesus Christ,

but that we would be equipped for

every

good work.

The Scriptures are sufficient for this.

We don't need to look beyond the Scripture

for that.

The way we define

and conduct ourselves as a church

is included in this.

Every good work.

It's included in that.

Necessarily.

It must be.

If we believe in the sufficientness of Scripture,

it

must be.

Now, I'm not saying that we don't

read other books.

I'm going to quote from a book

I've been reading

just this week again

to you.

I've got a library

full of books,

but they're only of any value

if they speak of

the Scripture.

If they help us

expound and understand

the Scripture.

The saints of old

called the sufficiency of Scripture

as it played out

in the life of the local church.

They called this

the regulative

principle.

The regulative principle

of the regulative principle.

John Calvin said this,

God disapproves

of all modes

of worship

not expressly

sanctioned

by His Word.

The Second London Baptist Confession,

1689,

a really great

Baptist confession.

A lot of

churches

like ours

with the same

soteriological

persuasion

use the Second London

Baptist Confession.

It says this,

the acceptable way

of worshiping

the true God

is instituted

by Himself

and so limited

by His own

revealed will

that He may not

be worshipped

according to the imagination

and devices

of men

nor the suggestions

of Satan

under any visible

representations

or any other way

not prescribed

in the Holy Scriptures.

Sufficiency of Scripture.

A good gauge

for us

as a church

as we carefully

and prayerfully

consider what

the Scriptures

teach us

about how to

conduct ourselves

as a church

is to ask

the question,

does our church

have a model

of ministry

that could exist

in any place

in the world

at any time

in history?

Do we do anything

that couldn't

be duplicated

in any place

in the world

at any time

in history?

Does our church

have a model

of ministry

that could exist

in any place

in the world

at any time

in history?

This means

that a follower

of Christ

from Iran

should be able

to come fellowship

with an American

congregation

this morning

and not

find him or herself

out of place.

Fly in

Sunday morning.

Hit the first place

that they can find

and not feel

entirely out of place

amongst those people.

This means that a

first century follower

of Christ

should be able

to come fellowship

with an American

congregation

this morning

and not find

him or herself

out of place.

Now I'm not

suggesting that all

churches should

look exactly

the same.

We're given

banks on the river,

we're given some

things in the Scripture

that are very,

very, very clear

and that's going

to express itself

in different ways.

For example,

Wes leads music

for us

and I don't know,

he's a little

folk rocky.

That's why we do

music in the way

we do music.

Not because we've

tailored it in a

certain way

or because God

has prescribed it

but we do sing

God-focused,

Christocentric songs

because the Scripture

does prescribe that.

We don't sing songs

about us

and songs that are

man-centered

because the Scripture

has us avoid

that type of singing

but the style

is inconsequential.

It may look different

and different places

so somebody may come

from Iran

or from the first century

and come and sit

and say,

I've never heard

this song.

This is an entirely

new song to me

but it's very similar

to the types of song

I may sing

in my church

at home,

country,

or time.

And not suggesting

that we must meet

in a straw and mud building

and gather

under the cover

of darkness.

Someone from Iran

would probably say,

it makes sense

that you meet at 1030

because you can.

We meet at 3 a.m.

because we can't meet

at 1030.

I would hope,

I think they would though,

walk into many of our churches

in America,

these two,

this time traveler

and this person from Iran,

and they would say,

why did they build

all of this?

Why are there so many spaces

being so unused?

Why are there fish tanks

in here?

How in the world

did they get a first century

Jewish village

inside this building?

What is the guy

on the stage

even talking about?

Why has he taken

his copy of God's Word

and cast it carelessly

onto a side table

and walked away from it?

Would they find a people

who love the Lord Jesus Christ

in the same way

that they do

and are about the work

of pursuing his ways

and his means?

Would they think

that we worship

Jesus

or ourselves?

Our entertainment,

our preferences,

our whims?

At best,

in many places

this morning,

the right God

is being worshipped,

but he's being worshipped

wrongly

out of ignorance,

out of an unbiblically

saturated ignorance.

At worst,

many people this morning

are worshipping

a God

of their own making,

worshipping themselves.

Beloved,

I will not have you

be ignorant

this morning.

The sufficiency

of Scripture

also means

that a follower

of Christ

from Iran

should be able

to come to fellowship

with our congregation

this morning

and not find him

or herself

out of place.

This should feel

normative to them.

It means that a

first century follower

of Christ

can time travel

and come fellowship

with our congregation

this morning

and not find him

or herself

out of place,

but rejoice

that God is doing

a work

amongst his church

in America.

So our text today,

Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

beginning in verse 41.

Psalm.

Beloved,

this is God's word

to us.

It was written

for his glory

and our good.

We would all do well

to listen to it

this morning

in order to believe

its promises

and obey

its commands.

So those who received

his word,

Peter's word,

were baptized.

baptized.

And there were added

that day

about three thousand

souls.

And they devoted

themselves to the

apostles' teaching

and the fellowship,

to the breaking

of bread

and the prayers.

And awe came upon

every soul

and many wonders

and signs

were being done

through the apostles.

And all who believed

were together

and had all things

in common.

And they were selling

their possessions

and belongings

and distributing

the proceeds

to all

as any had need.

And day by day,

attending the temple

together and breaking

bread in their homes,

they received their food

with glad

and generous hearts,

praising God

and having favor

with all the people.

And the Lord

added to their number

day by day

those who were

being saved.

So,

what is

the church?

What is the church?

I've defined it

for you this morning

simply this way.

And there's more

complex answers to this.

Simply the community

of regenerate followers

of Jesus Christ

in all places

for all time.

So,

everyone who will

ever place

believing faith

in Jesus Christ

is the church,

capital C,

the global church.

Certainly,

that has

local expressions

of church.

again,

regenerate followers

of Jesus Christ.

Here we find

both the global

and local expression

at the same time.

It's the only time

in history

this will happen.

The church will soon

be scattered

as we read Luke's account

in Acts.

But right now,

it's both global

and local

expressions.

The church,

whether we are speaking

globally or locally,

whether for all time

or today,

is made

of true followers

of Jesus Christ.

Not merely people

who profess

to believe

in Jesus Christ.

While they may

fellowship with a church,

they may be

tears among

wheat.

But people who are

actually regenerate,

who have been given

the regenerating work

of the Spirit of God

in their life.

Regenerate followers

of Jesus Christ.

It's the gathering

of those people,

the ekklesia,

which is a really

simple word in the Greek.

It just means

gathering.

In Greek,

it could have been used

of any other type

of gathering

as well.

Just a gathering

of those

who believe

in Jesus Christ.

It's not a gathering

to events.

It's people gathered

around the event

of Jesus' life,

death,

resurrection,

ascension,

and now His

working in the world.

That is what

the church is.

Verse 41.

So those who received

His word were baptized.

And there were

out of that day

about 3,000 souls.

What word did they receive?

If you back up

to verse 38,

you see that Peter says,

Repent,

turn from your sin,

and be baptized,

every one of you,

in the name

of Jesus Christ

for the forgiveness

of your sins.

And you will receive

the gift

of the Holy Spirit.

Repent and believe

in the person and work

of Jesus Christ.

This is the word

that they received.

And this was the way

that they were to,

verse 40,

save themselves

from this crooked generation.

They responded in faith

to the gospel preaching

of Peter

because they had the gift

of the Holy Spirit.

Regeneration precedes faith.

It's given to us

as a gift

so that we cannot boast.

Right?

They had this regenerating work

that happened in them

and they believed

in the person

and work

of Jesus Christ.

These are regenerate people

who are about this activity

of the early church.

So how do we recognize the church?

The church is

in one way of answering it.

How do we recognize it?

What are some of the indicators,

the normative activity

and the quality,

the marks

of the church?

And there's three we can find here

together in the text.

Number one,

the Spirit-filled church's

devotion.

The Spirit-filled church's

devotion.

In verse 42,

and they devoted themselves

to a number of things.

Four things.

And they devoted themselves.

They collectively.

Not some devoted themselves to.

Some decided they were going to be

really sold out for Jesus.

And some decided

they were not.

They were just going to be

nominal Christians.

Fire insurance policy

in the back pocket.

I'm going to ride this out.

They, collectively,

were all devoted.

If you are regenerate,

you are part of the church,

and you are to be

devoted to these following things.

It's a commitment,

a firm commitment,

and you each have a part to play

and are each responsible

for your part.

To be devoted speaks of

constancy,

diligence,

firm commitment.

It means that it takes work.

It means that to be devoted

to the things we're going to talk about

here momentarily takes work.

You have to apply yourself

to these things.

And, beloved,

while we're talking about

the church broadly today,

the church is made of people,

primarily,

and you're one of those people,

I hope and pray.

So it means that you're to work

and to be devoted.

You must be disciplined

individually

so that we can be disciplined

corporately.

We can together be devoted

to these things.

So what are they devoted to?

They're devoted, number one,

to the apostles' teaching.

To the apostles' teaching.

So in this day,

this early church day,

the apostles are there

and they're beginning

to expound to them

the Old Testament Scriptures

as Peter's already done

in chapter 2.

They're explaining

all of the things

that they need to know

about Christ.

They're going to go on later,

these apostles,

to pin letters

to the churches.

These letters are canonized

into our Scripture today.

So we can understand this

for us as a devotion

to the truth,

the truth found

in the 66 canonized books

of the Bible.

Devotion to the truth

is foundational

for the definition

and health of the church.

Any people,

you're going to like this one,

it's bold,

any group of people

claiming to be a church

that are not devoted

to the truth of Scripture

is no church at all.

And any church

that doesn't continue

in that devotion

to the truth

of Scripture

will very quickly

become anemic

and die.

Beloved,

this is the problem

with so many

of our churches today.

It seems that you either

have churches

that are fizzling out

because they've traded

the truth of God

for the traditions

of men.

They're doing things

some way because

it's always the way

that they've done it

and there's no foundation

for it in the Scripture

itself.

Or they're innovating

themselves to a place

of cool

and attracting

a crowd.

Both are damaging.

They were devoted

to the apostles'

teaching.

They're also devoted

to the fellowship.

And there is so much

to be contained in here.

We have a schedule

for the book of Acts.

I was tempted

just to rewrite it all

this week

and park on this

for the next couple

of months.

They're devoted

to the fellowship,

the koinonia in Greek,

which is not merely

a potluck meal

after a service.

But it can include

a potluck meal

after the service.

Word carries the idea

of it with partnership

or sharing,

but specifically

in the things of life.

In the comings

and the goings

of life,

they were in partnership

with one another.

The details

of what koinonia

looks like

for a Bible-believing,

Bible-defined church

are expressed

in all of the

one another's

in the Bible.

And there are too many

for me to give them

to you this morning,

but just a few.

John 15, 12.

Jesus says,

this is my commandment

that you love

one another

as I have loved you.

Again,

Romans 12, 10.

Paul,

love one another

with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another

in showing honor.

Romans 6, 16.

Paul says,

greet one another

with a holy kiss.

And that was a practice

of showing someone

that they're a part

of your family.

You're part of our family.

We are a faith family

together.

Galatians 6, 2.

Bear one another's burdens

and so fulfill

the law of Christ.

Their devotion

to the fellowship

included discipleship.

It included counseling.

It included sharing meals together.

It included helping each other

with yard work.

It included all of these

types of things

that Christians

are meant to be drawn into

together

as the people of God.

Expansive meaning

the fellowship.

They were also devoted

to the breaking of bread.

And I think,

some will say this is referring

to meals taken together.

I'd like to put meals

in the fellowship.

I think that specifically,

Luke,

is referring to them

practicing

the ordinances.

This is them

practicing

the Lord's supper

together

as He had commanded

them to do.

I broaden that

to talk about the ordinances

because we saw in verse 41

that they were baptized.

They didn't need to be

as this early group of people

continually devoted

to baptism

because they had already

been baptized.

But they go on

to now be devoted

to this continuing

practice

of breaking bread

with one another.

Practicing the Lord's supper.

Remembering together

what Christ had done

on their behalf.

What He was doing

and what He had promised

to do.

They're celebrating that

collectively

together.

They were remembering

together

that their fellowship

was a divine reality.

It was something

that was accomplished

by the personal work

of Jesus Christ.

This is the continuation

of His ministry

on earth.

Do you think

about the church

in that way?

Do you merely

attend a church?

Or are you

in fellowship

with a group

of believers

because of what

Christ has done

on your behalf?

We have,

if we're in the faith,

the greatest

uniting commonality

between us.

We could come from

all various

different backgrounds.

We have Christ.

Christ.

We have community

and fellowship

together.

And the Lord's

supper is meant

to remind us

of that.

I'll read to you

from a little book

by a man named

Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

If you don't know

who he is,

please learn who he is.

You'll be encouraged

by him.

A little book

called Life Together.

He says,

I am a brother

to another person

through what Jesus

Christ did for me

and to me.

The other person

has become a brother

to me through

what Jesus Christ

did for him.

This fact that we

are brethren

only through Jesus

Christ is of

immeasurable

significance.

He pulls out

some significance

for us.

He says,

first,

that Christian

brotherhood

is not

an ideal

but a divine

reality.

It exists

already

because of what

Christ has accomplished.

Second,

that Christian

brotherhood

is a spiritual

and not a

psychic

reality.

By that he means

it's something

that exists

in spiritual places

and not necessarily

caught up in the way

we think or feel

about it

at any given time.

He goes on

to explain this

and he talks about

our feelings

and the things

that we want

to get from

Christian community

and he calls

those wish dreams.

So when you

hear a wish dream

that's what I'm

talking about.

He says,

every human

wish dream

that is injected

into the Christian

community

is a hindrance

to genuine

community

and must be

banished

if genuine

community

is to survive.

He who loves

his dream

of a community

more than the

Christian community

itself

becomes a

destroyer

of the latter

even though

his personal

intentions

may be ever so

honest

and earnest

and sacrificial.

Beloved,

do you know

people like this?

I think a lot

of you college

students may.

A person who's

always looking

for the perfect

church

make up of a

certain set

of somethings

that make them

feel a certain

something

to know that

they've finally

arrived at the

place

or those people

who will come

and commit

and only stay

for a while

and then they'll

go someplace else

and commit

and stay for a while

and they'll go

someplace else

and they give

so many

very many

very reasons

why

and fail to

recognize

that the

common denominator

in all of that

is them.

That's some

weird ideal

set up in their

mind for what

church must be

and they fail

to recognize

that it exists

because of

Christ

and we're doing

that together

when we take

the Lord's

Supper

every Sunday.

You may not

have known

that.

You are.

They're also

devoted to

the prayers.

Now the NASB

which is the

other translation

I enjoy

and appreciate

in equal measure

to the ESV

which I typically

preach from

doesn't include

the article

V.

It just says

prayer.

A little

interesting

when you

begin to

look around

and look

at the

original

language

that the

article's

not there

in the

original

language

either.

I think

a button

just made

that happen.

That's weird.

I think

that ESV

rendered it

this way

because of

the context

of them

collectively

being devoted

to

understanding

that it

was likely

referring

to

corporate

prayer.

So this

doesn't

diminish

the need

for personal

prayer

but here

we see

them

together

devoted

together

to

the

prayers.

So times

of corporate

prayer

I believe.

The vitality

of the church

depends on

this.

Acts 3.1

we see that

Peter and

John were

going up

to the

temple

at the

hour

of prayer.

So it

seemed to be

a practice

in this

day that

the church

was doing

that and

still

participating

in those

Jewish

times of

prayer that

were practiced

in that

day.

Do you

recognize

prayer is

necessary?

Do you

get that

the power

of God

is necessary

for the

work of

the church?

Have we

outgrown

our need

of these

things,

these devotions?

Have we

innovated

beyond the

necessity

of the

basics

Christian

living?

In some

places

it seems

to be

the case.

Some

churches

seem to

say we

don't need

the Bible.

We have

multimedia

presentations

and funny

quips,

movie scenes,

skits.

We don't

need fellowship

because we're

just all too

busy and

besides we

have social

media groups.

We don't

need to

empty ourselves

of our

individuality

for the

sake of

service

to the

whole.

We have

so many

varied

ministries

that I

can find

one that

meets my

needs and

my

conveniences.

We don't

need prayer.

We have

a website

and a

kiosk

sign

and a

window

sticker.

Some

churches

these days

seem to

be what

Todd

Friel

calls

silly

factories

because he's

unwilling to

call them

churches.

Let it

not be

so among

us.

Let us

be a

church

devoted

to the

scripture,

to partnering

in Christian

living together,

to gathering

regularly in

worshiping God

in observance

of the

Lord's

Supper,

and to

praying

individually

and corporately.

Their

spirit-filled

devotion,

secondly,

produced

spirit-filled

character.

Their

spirit-filled

devotion

produced

spirit-filled

Spirit-filled

character.

And I'm

going to

start speeding

up for you.

Spirit-filled

church's

character,

point number

two,

verses 43

through the

first part

of 47.

Notice

first that

they were

awe-inspired.

The beginning

of verse 43

says,

an awe

came upon

every soul.

They were

amazed

at the

work of

God

and the

people

of God.

Verse 43

goes on

and says,

and many

wonders and

signs were

being done

through the

apostles,

which certainly

fed the

awe,

but it

wasn't the

primary

thing.

Awe came

upon

every soul

and

miracles

were taking

place.

The

apostles

were doing

miracles.

So whether

or not you

think that

this is a

gift that's

still active

today or

that it's

not active

today,

you can

see that

as a

church,

we are

meant to be

enthralled

by the

work of

God

in the

people of

God.

If you

have witnessed

or been

part of

and believe

that possibly

miracles do

still happen

in these

evidencing

kind of

ways,

we have

to recognize

that the

greatest

miracle that

happens

ever is

that dead

hearts are

made alive.

People who

were once

enemies of

God have

now been

made His

friends and

this was

happening on

the regular

in their

day.

They were

awe-inspired.

They were

motivated by

the goodness

of God

to them

in Christ

and what

He was

doing in

the church.

They were

generous.

They were

generous.

It was

44-46.

They were

together.

They had

all things

in common.

They were

selling

possessions

and belongings

and distributing

proceeds to

all as

any had

need.

Day by

day,

they were

together,

attending

temple

together.

Before the

Jews prohibited

them from

doing so,

and they're

breaking

bread in

their

homes,

Lord's

Supper,

and they're

receiving

their

food.

We live

in an

interesting

political

climate

right now

where many

socialist

arguments are

being made.

This is not

an argument

for that.

It's not a

government

reigning over

them in this.

This is a

compulsion that's

being brought

about by the

Spirit of God

in their

hearts.

So,

beloved,

I'm not

absolving you

from caring

about other

people.

What I'm

saying is you

need to

press it up.

We need to

be more

generous as

the people

of God.

I'd just

rather do so

personally to

my neighbor,

not through

a program.

They were

generous.

This is being

generated in

them by the

Spirit of

God.

They were

joyful.

Last part of

verse 46,

they're doing

all this with

glad and with

generous hearts.

First part of

47,

they were

praising God.

They were

joyful.

They were

filled with

joy.

They were

glad,

generous.

NASB again

renders that

they were

sincere.

They had

sincerity of

heart,

which is to

say simplicity

of heart.

They weren't

divided.

They weren't

pulled in

multiple

directions.

They were

glad and

joyful and

focused on

the Lord,

praising God,

offering up

praise to

His name for

all that He

was doing

in their

midst.

So that was

second.

The Spirit-filled

church's

character.

And lastly,

and thirdly,

the Spirit-filled

church's

effect.

These are all

things that we

should be able

to observe

in the church

of God.

And beloved,

these are

indicators.

These are

litmus tests.

These are

barometers to

us.

These things

exist in the

life of our

congregation.

If not,

we need to

be really

looking at

why.

Why do

they not

exist?

Are we

not

regenerate?

Are we

not devoted?

Are we not

Spirit-filled?

These are the

things that are

happening as a

result of

this.

The last part

of verse 47,

you'll see that

they were

attractive.

They were

having favor

with all

the people.

And this is

going to come

and go.

We're going to

get just a

couple chapters

later in the

book of Acts,

and a great deal

of persecution

is going to

come to the

church.

They're not

going to be

quite so

favorable any

longer.

together.

But the

thing that

we need to

learn from

this is

whether or

not people

hate the

message that

we preach,

they ought to

consider the

world better

for us being

here.

Your boss

should appreciate

the fact that

you work for

him or her.

Your professors

should feel that

way.

I had a lot

of professors

that did not

agree I was

a sociology

major with

my world

view at all.

I hope that

they all

appreciated the

work I did in

their classes and

the way I

made my

case.

They were

attractive.

People were

drawn who

were gods to

the church of

God.

And they were

multiplied.

And they were

multiplied.

And the

Lord added to

their number,

day by day,

those who

were being

saved.

Now,

church, I

have made the

argument before

that we could

possibly live in

a time like

Jeremiah lived

in, labored

his whole life

as a prophet

of God, saw

we think maybe

possibly a

convert, one

person who

turned from the

sin of Israel

and back to

God.

I think that

when I've done

that, I've used

it as a cop

out ultimately.

Oh, we're

doing the work

of God, we're

doing the work

of God, we're

doing the work

of God.

God just isn't

blessing it yet.

We're persevering

in faithfulness.

We need to be

doing this thing.

I think we

need to really

to consider

whether or not

we're doing

the work of

God if we're

not seeing

people added

to our

number.

And we

as a church

have had the

benefit, the

joy of

receiving so

many college

students across

the years.

Hear me,

college students,

we're really

thankful that

you're here.

Having people

who have come

out of churches

that are entirely

unbiblical and

see that at

least in some

ways we're

getting it a

little more

right.

I said that

with a great

deal of

humility,

we're

attempting,

we're pressing

at being a

biblical church

together and

I'm so

thankful for

you who have

transitioned over

and are helping

us build

together a

church for the

glory of God.

This is good.

This is a good

thing.

We don't want to

stop doing that.

We don't want to

stop being a

place where

college students

can come up

and have a

church up here

as they begin

to reestablish a

different home for

their time in

college.

college.

We don't want

to stop taking

in people who

have been wronged

by unbiblical

models of

church and

serving them and

loving on them and

growing them in the

truth.

We don't want to

stop doing that.

I think we're

really missing the

point if we're not

growing through

conversion.

And that troubles

me.

And I think as a

church, it's easy

for us to be excited

each year because we

get a little bit

bigger.

because there's

another recruit of

college freshmen

that come around

and they come here

and it feels like

stuff's happening.

Things are happening.

Things are happening.