Bible Character Studies: Peter. Pt. 16 Changed lives, spiritual growth and joyful fellowship.
Good morning.
Psalm 111:1 Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
We pray you will have a blessed LORD's day today!
The impact of the gospel:? Changed lives!
Acts 2:42-47 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Luke concludes the first sermon preached by Peter by telling us what happened after 3,000 people were saved. Remember, the New Testament Church began with just those 120 disciples in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost.
The impact of the gospel? Learning & fellowship.
First, they continued stedfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship. What does this mean? It means they became like attentive students hearing the teaching of the apostles.
The New Testament has not yet been written and the first book of the New Testament would not be written until about 17 years after the birth of the church that we just read about. Therefore, they needed apostolic doctrine to show them what salvation was and how they were expected to live.
The word "fellowship" is a word that refers to a community of believers or as I might say, a church family. It is a close and intimate fellowship of born again people joined together by the Spirit into the body of Christ known as His church.
The idea here is that they loved learning truth from God through the apostles and they loved communing with other believers.
The impact of the gospel? Sharing meals, the Lord's table and prayer.
Second, they spent time breaking bread together and in prayer. Breaking bread may refer to sharing a meal together, and it may refer to the Lord's table, or observing communion as Christ commanded (Matthew 26:26-28).
They soon learned that there was much that they needed to pray about. They gave themselves wholeheartedly to this task and were encouraged by the apostles who taught them how Jesus said to pray. They prayed for the Word to go out with power. They prayed for each other's needs. They prayed for the salvation of lost loved ones. They prayed for God to be honored by their lives.
The impact of the gospel? The fear of the Lord brings a right worldview.
Third, Luke tells us that the fear of the Lord was manifest among the people. This is that fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom and the beginning of understanding (Proverbs 1:7). Furthermore, the Spirit of God was very active and many signs and wonders were done by the apostles.
These new believers spent most of their time together. They shared things together so that no one did without the necessities of life. They even sold property and goods and divided them among each other according to the individual needs of the Christians.
Most of these first believers were Jews. Some lived in Jerusalem or Judea and some came from another country in order to observe the Feast of Harvest and Pentecost. Their lives had been radically changed. The Spirit of God knit their hearts together in the strong bonds of Christ's love and love for each other.
The impact of the gospel? Loving God and others with one mind.
Fourth, we read that every day they went together to the temple with one accord. They had one heart, one mind and one passion. To love God and to love others. They wanted to worship Jehovah for saving them from hell and for putting them on a new path for a new life. They shared meals as they went from house to house. It was a strong, tightly knit community of believers, a true church family.
The impact of the gospel? Joy, praise and finding favor among other people.
Fifth, we see their hearts were full of joy and praises to Jesus Christ. They had a singleness of heart which means that this became their life pattern.
They found favor with all the people. This is the idea that God's grace was flowing through them to minister to the needs of those around them. The civil authorities were pleased with their conduct and no one spoke evil of these new believers. Other people that they came in contact with in the marketplace or doing business with had favor toward them. It is truly a remarkable picture.
This is important because soon persecution will arise against the church and most of these beautiful born again Christians would leave Jerusalem and spread the gospel far and wide.
Last, Luke tells us that our wonderful God and Savior Jesus Christ added more people every day to His church!
Points to Ponder....
Bob
Psalm 111:1 Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
We pray you will have a blessed LORD's day today!
The impact of the gospel:? Changed lives!
Acts 2:42-47 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Luke concludes the first sermon preached by Peter by telling us what happened after 3,000 people were saved. Remember, the New Testament Church began with just those 120 disciples in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost.
The impact of the gospel? Learning & fellowship.
First, they continued stedfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship. What does this mean? It means they became like attentive students hearing the teaching of the apostles.
The New Testament has not yet been written and the first book of the New Testament would not be written until about 17 years after the birth of the church that we just read about. Therefore, they needed apostolic doctrine to show them what salvation was and how they were expected to live.
The word "fellowship" is a word that refers to a community of believers or as I might say, a church family. It is a close and intimate fellowship of born again people joined together by the Spirit into the body of Christ known as His church.
The idea here is that they loved learning truth from God through the apostles and they loved communing with other believers.
The impact of the gospel? Sharing meals, the Lord's table and prayer.
Second, they spent time breaking bread together and in prayer. Breaking bread may refer to sharing a meal together, and it may refer to the Lord's table, or observing communion as Christ commanded (Matthew 26:26-28).
They soon learned that there was much that they needed to pray about. They gave themselves wholeheartedly to this task and were encouraged by the apostles who taught them how Jesus said to pray. They prayed for the Word to go out with power. They prayed for each other's needs. They prayed for the salvation of lost loved ones. They prayed for God to be honored by their lives.
The impact of the gospel? The fear of the Lord brings a right worldview.
Third, Luke tells us that the fear of the Lord was manifest among the people. This is that fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom and the beginning of understanding (Proverbs 1:7). Furthermore, the Spirit of God was very active and many signs and wonders were done by the apostles.
These new believers spent most of their time together. They shared things together so that no one did without the necessities of life. They even sold property and goods and divided them among each other according to the individual needs of the Christians.
Most of these first believers were Jews. Some lived in Jerusalem or Judea and some came from another country in order to observe the Feast of Harvest and Pentecost. Their lives had been radically changed. The Spirit of God knit their hearts together in the strong bonds of Christ's love and love for each other.
The impact of the gospel? Loving God and others with one mind.
Fourth, we read that every day they went together to the temple with one accord. They had one heart, one mind and one passion. To love God and to love others. They wanted to worship Jehovah for saving them from hell and for putting them on a new path for a new life. They shared meals as they went from house to house. It was a strong, tightly knit community of believers, a true church family.
The impact of the gospel? Joy, praise and finding favor among other people.
Fifth, we see their hearts were full of joy and praises to Jesus Christ. They had a singleness of heart which means that this became their life pattern.
They found favor with all the people. This is the idea that God's grace was flowing through them to minister to the needs of those around them. The civil authorities were pleased with their conduct and no one spoke evil of these new believers. Other people that they came in contact with in the marketplace or doing business with had favor toward them. It is truly a remarkable picture.
This is important because soon persecution will arise against the church and most of these beautiful born again Christians would leave Jerusalem and spread the gospel far and wide.
Last, Luke tells us that our wonderful God and Savior Jesus Christ added more people every day to His church!
Points to Ponder....
- We see that the gospel of Jesus Christ has power to save sinners.
- We see that the gospel of Jesus Christ has power to dramatically change lives for the good.
- We see that God gave sound doctrine for them to learn so that they would be anchored to God's Word.
- We see the importance of prayer, close fellowship with other believers and of being unselfish.
- We see that they maintained respect for their religious institutions by regularly worshiping in the Temple.
- We see that their changed lives was a very positive testimony to those living in Jerusalem and that all people showed favor or grace toward the new Christians.
What a beautiful picture of the early church recorded for us by Luke. It is fitting that the birth of the church would be a singularly unique event with radically changed lives and a city impacted by their love for each other and their good works.
Each one of these marvelous things we noted flow out of the sermon that Peter preached. The birth of the church was a one time, special event and we do not necessarily expect to see the church repeat what God already did.
However, we should expect to see people's lives changed if they claim to be born again. We should see people manifest a love for God and neighbors that they did not have before salvation.
We should see people develop a strong desire for sound doctrine and accurate preaching. We should see people make a commitment to prayer and a desire to spend time with other Christians instead of spending time with lost people. We should see people sharing the life changing gospel of Christ with those who are lost. In short, all the born again children of God should be a living testimony of the power of the gospel.
We should see people develop a strong desire for sound doctrine and accurate preaching. We should see people make a commitment to prayer and a desire to spend time with other Christians instead of spending time with lost people. We should see people sharing the life changing gospel of Christ with those who are lost. In short, all the born again children of God should be a living testimony of the power of the gospel.
Bob
Comments
Post a Comment