I'd like you to turn with me again to Acts chapter 2. We're going to think particularly of verse 42 and onward. Our subject this morning is features and fruits of the early church. Features and fruits of the early church. We read in verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. What was the early church like? How can we describe its features, its character? Is there a recognizable pattern, an order in which they did things? Is it a pattern that we should be following? and every Bible-based church? Or do we have liberty to make it up as we go along? What were the fruits and the effects of them following the pattern which I believe is set before us in verse 42? Well, we've considered in previous weeks Peter's first sermon pattern, a model sermon, so clearly establishing the pattern of how we should preach, of what we should preach about. Well, here in verse 42, we have a very clear pattern, a model for how we organize our services and how we organize the church and We find out that when they did follow the pattern, there was great blessing. Well, the first point I want us to note this morning is they didn't meet in a building. They didn't meet in a building. We may not meet in a building in the weeks ahead, I don't know. But these people, they went from house to house. Verse 46, they went from house to house. No, the church is not a building. Very helpfully here at Providence, we call ourselves the church and we call the meeting place the chapel. I think that's delightful. The chapel is the building. The church is the people. There were two places that they met. in these verses. They met in their homes, they went from house to house. Small church gatherings, just a few, maybe a few families that decided that they would meet together. Maybe one of the apostles went to a particular group of believers in one street, house to house. But they also met In the temple it says that in verse 46, they continuing daily with one accord in the temple. It seems very strange that they would go to the temple, the temple that was led by people that wanted to get hold of the Lord Jesus, to grab him, to take him, But the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, that the temple was his own. He claimed it. And every God-fearing Jew had a right to go into the outer courts of the temple, and it would appear that the almsgiving, the kindnesses shown by the people of God had started to give them favor, even with those that had formerly hated them. So they went from house to house, and they went to the temple. In time, as the church grew, there would be a specific meeting place. There were some advantages of meeting in a home, It was very transparent. You couldn't lead a double life. Your home life and your spiritual life were one, but there were also disadvantages. If it went on for too long, they maybe would have started to shape what they thought in one house, and, oh, we're of such and such street. But that didn't go for long. The Lord brought them together in the court of the temple, and they were together of one mind and of one heart. Well, we notice something this morning. There's a beautiful symmetry and pattern in these verses. There was something they did. There was four features of their practice. There was four fruits. of them adhering to the practices that they followed. And then there was something the Lord did. One, four, four, one. If you're following this morning, it's very easy to take notes. For the children, don't rush ahead. Take each point as it comes. I hope it will be very easy to follow. Something they did. The first point this morning. The believers continued Steadfastly, it's actually the same word in verse 46 as it is in verse 42. It's only one word and it means they devoted themselves continually. They were so dedicated. They gave constant attention. Their thoughts, the way they organized their families, their lives, was daily upon the meeting together with other believers. They continued steadfastly, so devotedly. It didn't occur to them that they wouldn't meet together every evening, as we shall see. They would meet together and they would share a meal in the family home. But what happens in the church where people don't continue steadfastly? They don't continue daily. What approach should we take? Well, there are two approaches. We have the carrot and the stick. Sometimes we don't see somebody coming out to worship. Do we jump to the conclusion that they're backslidden? Do we think to ourselves, oh, that person, that's three weeks now, they've not come. That's not very helpful, is it? Or do we think the best? Maybe they're not well. I need to check on them. I need to see if there's anything I can do to help. We don't want to be a church that jumps to the conclusion that somebody's in error or they've slipped and they strayed, no, we want to be a caring people. They devoted themselves to meeting together. Where somebody wasn't there, they cared. They cared in a kind way. Maybe you weren't at the midweek meeting this week. You missed meeting a Siberian pastor, He visits 20 or 30 places all over that country. He goes from house to house because the believers can't meet together in a church. And we heard him speak for 10 minutes. Some of you missed. You missed out. We can encourage you next time, next time you're able, next time you're well. Oh, come and join with us. They continued steadfastly. They had a godly desire. They wanted to be with the family, God's people. Nowhere to be ruled. Not by the rod of fear. but by the rule of love, the family principles. So that's something they did as we start this morning. But let's look at the first of four features of the early churches. It says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. They wanted to learn. Sometimes you hear of a child at school, oh, he doesn't want to learn. They come to Sunday school, one or two children, and they say, I don't want to learn. We want to give them a desire to learn. What did these early believers, what did they want to do? They came together steadfastly, devotedly, because they wanted to hear the apostles. Now, you're not hearing an apostle this morning. But you are hearing the apostles teaching. What did they teach these men? Well, we've considered it in previous weeks. From the day that the Lord was resurrected, for 40 days, he taught them. He reminded them why he had to come from heaven. Why a savior was the only way. that men and women could be right with their God. Why every heart is affected by sin. Why it is that the Lord Jesus had to rise again. Why he would be ascended. He taught them these things. And as they gathered together, these things were fresh in their mind. Of course, the apostles taught them. This is what you need to do. Turn to the Lord, repent of your sin, come to the only Savior. And so, the apostles would teach them. They would teach them how to worship. They would teach them of what happens after we die. Heaven, hell, you're either with God forever or you're away from him. because you didn't call upon his name. You didn't turn to him. You didn't ask him for the forgiveness of sin, and therefore you have fear in your life, fear of death, fear of being away from God forever. This is what the apostles taught. They would have taught about how they had to take the gospel, take it everywhere, far and wide, They were to build churches, open churches. They would start in homes, then churches would be built, not ornate temples, simple meeting places. And they would meet together, and he would teach them, the apostle that was appointed to that group or to this group, what they were to do, just as I'm trying to do this morning. No, that was the first principle, the principle of being taught and of me and you wanting to learn what the apostles taught and the things that were important. They were just as important then as they are now. Are we students of the word of God? We may be in our homes more in the coming weeks than ever before. Will you take up books and read? Will you study? Will you be on the screen all the time? Or will you study the Word of God? Will you find a good book? Something you've not had time to read? Look at it. Learn it. This will bring me closer to my God. This will give me understanding of my soul. of eternity, of things that are so important. Let's be students of the word of God. They continued steadfastly in teaching and in understanding what the apostles taught. But the second feature, it's this next word, fellowship. The word in Greek is koinonia. I know of a care home for elderly saints, elderly believers. It's called koinonia. That's the Greek word. It means fellowship. It's not a word that unbelievers, non-Christians can understand. You don't go to work for fellowship. You don't go to school for fellowship. You don't go to the swimming pool for fellowship. It's a unique word for Christians. We come together and we have a oneness of heart, of mind, and of purpose. We come from different backgrounds, different races, different ages. We've got maybe different political views. But when we come together as Christians, we come as one. That's what the word means. We come to help, to share, to participate, and this is only possible where there is unity. There is no fellowship in disunity. If there's anyone here, from time to time you say things, that cause disunity, that will damage true fellowship. No, they came together, they continued, they were devoted in fellowship. Well, the opposite's the case. They did anything they could to get rid of disunity, to get rid of what I think and what you think. We don't want that. We want what the word of God says. and we want to be united in the truth. So they came together. Once these people, and me and you, we wanted to please ourselves. Now we're God pleasers. We want to please God, that's what unites us. Once we were pleasure seekers. Now we take our pleasure our satisfaction from the Word of God, from being with each other and caring and supporting one another. That's true fellowship. It reminds us in the negative way of that church at Corinth. Not many years would go by after this time and the church at Corinth had been established and it says this, Paul speaking, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, that famous chapter of love. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, love, I'm become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. I'm just a noise. We don't want people coming to our fellowship, where all that we hear is noise. The noise of self, of self-promotion. My worries, my problems. No. We want to hear the Word of God. We want to hear of service and sacrifice, of putting the other first. That's fellowship. Koinonia. So that's the second feature of this early church. They met together. They had one heart, one mind. There was unity. Let's work hard to remove any disunity. We deal with things in private that might cause a division. We never, never cause disunity in public. We want to be one. We're one in Christ, we're one in the truth. And then deep, real, meaningful, valuable, warm fellowship is possible. And it was characteristic, it was a feature of this early church. But then we come to the third. They continued, they devoted themselves to a third thing. the breaking of bread. What does that mean? Some children here, what does it mean when the adults come on a Sunday evening, first Sunday of the month? Why is it them and not me? Why is it only some people and not all people? Well, in the early days, it tells us in verse 46, they continued daily, they devoted themselves, with one accord, they were in agreement, in the temple, and going from house to house in breaking bread. Well, it was their custom to do it daily. There would be a love feast. Every evening, they would come together, small groups, meeting in a home, probably with an apostle there, meeting with them. In time, what was one would be divided into two, and it wouldn't be every day, it would be every week. There was a social aspect of coming together, the feast. where they had all things in common. This was called the Agapo. It's mentioned in Jude and in Revelation. The feasts of love. But separated from that was the spiritual aspect. That's what we call the Lord's table or communion. And it was no longer kept. Daily, but weekly. It's our custom for it to be monthly. Some churches do it once a year. I don't think that's often enough. Some do it every week, and that's their practice. We shouldn't be overly familiar with it. I'm sure that's why it stopped being every day. But for them, it was weekly by the time of the Old, the New Testament finishing. Now, how did they keep it special? If everybody on the street was invited to come in, there would be nothing special. And so, it's our practice in this church and in other churches, we put not a literal fence, but we put some protections around it. We say this is for believers. It's for believers who have stepped forward and they've been baptized, they profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they've been obedient in baptism, and they've also been obedient in wanting to commit and join to a local church, either here or a similar church elsewhere. But there's another condition. The Bible tells us that we must examine ourselves. Am I walking with the Lord? That's something we have to do ourselves, but a church has a responsibility. Is that brother, is that sister walking in a disorderly way? Sometimes we may have to remove that privilege of coming to the Lord's table. We exercise discipline and we say, Brother, sister, you did something very serious. It damaged the church. Maybe a moral matter or a cause of division. And we say for a time, we need to see, is your repentance genuine? Have you realized what damage you've done? Have you come and sought peace with God and with your fellow believers? And then they come. and meet with us again for a time. We sometimes might invite others to come and join with us. perhaps they're members of other churches, and we know that they walk with the Lord in an orderly way, or maybe they're seeking membership, but for whatever reason, it hasn't been possible yet, and we're getting to know them, and they're settling down. Those are the things that we do as a church to protect it. It's a special thing. We have the bread, And we have the wine. They're just pictures. There's nothing special. We don't believe in transubstantiation, that it literally turns into Christ's body. That's not possible. His body has died. He's gone to the grave. Now he's risen again. We don't believe it's his actual blood. These things are just pictures, symbols, helps. to help us see of the centrality of the death and the shedding of blood and the resurrection and that life given for me. Well, there's a fourth thing. We see the fourth feature down in verse 42. They devoted themselves daily to prayer. Well, That could have been at the beginning, couldn't it? None of these features are more important than the other. Every time they met, they outpoured their hearts in praise to God, in worship, in adoration. They made their requests and their petitions known before God. That's what we do when we come together. We have public worship. When we pray in public, we can't mention everything. We try and pray in a way that will be helpful for everybody. So we tend not to mention names. We come together, we bring our prayers. In privately, in the church meeting, we mention people by name. And we ask great petitions from our God. It's our experience as a church. When we've prayed, God has answered. We've seen it in recent months. We've prayed that people will come in, and they've come in. We've prayed that visits that we've done will be blessed, and they have been blessed. We've prayed that children would be calm and listen to the word of God in Sunday school, and we've been helped. No, we believe in prayer. The church and prayer, that's our source of power. We don't have any other power. Where there's no prayer, there'll be no progress as a church. No prayer, no power. No prayer, no outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the heart of an individual or a town or a nation. We must be praying people. They were praying people. The first thing they did, as we considered earlier in the chapter, they met together for prayer. One of the four features, prayer. As we go through the book of Acts, we will see that prayer precedes blessing. Prayer comes before preaching. Prayer comes before anything we do of significance in life. We make a journey, maybe not one to the supermarket, but maybe one of substance. We pray. We go to hospital. We pray. We go and visit somebody, perhaps somebody that's not a Christian. We don't know what to say to them. Maybe somebody that's dying. We pray. Lord, help me. Show me what to say. May I be of help to that person. May I have the right words to give comfort, to direct them to the word of God. Maybe there's some person and they're struggling, they're fearful. We point them, but we pray for them. Maybe we pray with them. We should never be ashamed to pray. When I go and visit, as long as the person won't be offended, we pray. It's the most natural thing for us to do, pray. And when we pray, there will be blessing. Well, we've looked at four features, doctrine, teaching, learning, fellowship, togetherness, breaking of bread, and prayer. That's what we do. We don't do anything else. Every meeting, every activity, should have one of those things, maybe two, central to that activity. Well, let's look at the fruits. We see in verse 43, the first fruit, fear came upon every soul. Not one person that was gathered together in a home or in the temple, in the courts of the temple, Missed out, fear came upon every soul. We pray that there'll be fear in our land at this time. Not the fear of death, but the fear of God. And then there will be. No fear of death, no fear of sickness, no fear of anything. Fear came upon every soul, godly fear. It was natural. This was the sort of fear that when we see God as he is, in all his power, with all his attributes, the three times holy God, We feel who we are. We feel our weakness. Who am I to resist God? Fear came upon them. There were thousands, thousands in Jerusalem following Pentecost. Many of them would still have been there. Fear fell upon them. They went back to Asia. Bithynia, Cappadocia, all the places they would have told them. Oh, fear was upon us. When we met together, the prayer meetings were full of fear, but not a fear that always brought tears, a fear that brought joy. We were in the presence of God with the apostles. We heard the preaching of the The Word of God. And when we prayed together, no wonder we were in fear. A fear that stayed with them. Not some experience that you might get in a meeting with a tingling down the spine. This was lifelong fear. Every day. Every week. The fear of God. That's the problem, isn't it? In this land, In Bedford, there is no fear of God before their eyes. May we have a godly fear, a fear that leads to a desire to learn, a fear that leads to a desire to be together and to fellowship and to prayer. May our prayer meetings be more attended than ever before. Not because someone says, you weren't there last week, but because we want to be there. We want to be praying. A godly fear. But look at the second fruit. The fear came upon them. There were many signs and wonders done. Of course there were. People continued to be healed. People continued to hear tongues, the speaking of other languages. Of course it was the case, because God was there. And the apostles were there. And they were empowering the people to be ready to take the gospel. But look at verse 44. And all that believed were together. They were united. There was a togetherness. That service we had a week last Saturday. 500 people filling this building. God was there. There was a fear. When the words of the hymns were sung, you could see that most people were taking them to their heart and to their mind. They believed. And we were together. May we be together when we come together in godly fear. One in mind and in heart, all that believed were together. The unbelievers weren't together. They couldn't be. They didn't know what we know. They thought there was still something for them in this life. But all that believed bother the home, bother the dinner, bother the car, what mattered was that they believed and that they were together and they had all things in common. Everything that was important, they were of one mind and one heart. The term there, it's a very unusual term, They were together. The word sometimes is used of soil. You go digging in your garden, if you've got hard soil, you'll have stone and rock and flint. It might be clay in the summer. But the word here means there's no stones, no clay. It's that wonderful soft loam. where the whole consistency of the soil is the same. That's the picture. Sometimes in churches, we hear people say, oh, that's just me. That's what I'm like. Sometimes I speak my mind. Oh, him. He means well, but he can't help what he says. No, no, no. That's not togetherness. That's not the soil that's got no stones and no flint and no clay. We're to be together, consistent. Of one consistency, that's literally what it means. All that believed were together. That's the fruit that comes from those four features of the meeting, together, daily. No excuses. I have no excuse for offending you with my words, unless it's the truth of the word of God. I must conduct myself in such a way that that consistency, that togetherness is never damaged. Let's have no excuses. But then the third fruit. They sold. their possessions. Now, people have looked at this verse, verse 45, and they've said, we should form communes. We should all live together in one big house. There was an organization called the Jesus Army not so long ago, terribly, terribly discredited in the last few years for the things that went on. And they taught, sell everything, pulled together. That's not what it means. They may have done some of that in these early times. They were so generous. They would give anything if there was need, but we see it here, don't we? Need. As every man, every person had need. This isn't one bank account and a mansion. This is genuine awareness of every single need within the fellowship, because we know each other so well. We're not living in each other's lives, but we know when one is hurting, when one is sick, when one has a burden in the family. We know, and we're able to meet that need. If it's a practical need, you can have this, I don't need it. I've got a bike, you need a bike, you have the bike. practical considerations. You can't go shopping. I'll do it for you. That was what was in mind. They sold their possessions or they had a willingness to. They had such a heart. They had a heavenly mindedness to be willing to part with anything. You may not have to. You may need your car. to help somebody with a lift. But there has to be that desire, that willingness to have such an other-mindedness that we hold on to things so lightly. I don't need it. I've got another one. I don't need it any longer, perhaps. They parted them to all men, as every man. Well, that's the third fruit, but here's the fourth. In verse 47, as we come to the close, they were praising God. Four features, four fruits. One of the fruits was that their worship was so genuine, so sincere, I'm sure there was a loud amen. I'm sure there was singing from the heart. I'm sure they followed every word of the reading of the Old Testament scriptures. I'm sure they were aware of each other's needs. If somebody came in and they didn't know where to turn into the Bible, to a particular prophet, they would help them. Not that they had Bibles then, it was scrolls, but you get the point. There was a willingness. to praise God together. They said, they sung, they thought, everything was focused on God, praising God, God exalting, God honoring worship. We should walk out of here this morning and think of no man, no woman, didn't they sing well? We don't want that. Wasn't I blessed to be under the word of God? And I praised God from my heart. It was God and me in my heart joined together, praising God. And what happened? They had such favor for a time with all the people. They had such willingness to give that they started to have a degree of popularity, at least in Jerusalem for a period of time. It wouldn't last, but their testimony was such that they were able to praise God and have favor with all the people. So we've considered something they did, four features of this early church, four fruits, And then what did the Lord did? The final point. Something the Lord did for them. The Lord added, daily, such as should be saved. That should be our desire. When we're a God-honoring, Bible-based church with all the features set out here, And then we're a fruitful church with the fruits that we've looked at. The Lord will bless. There's no doubt. When someone comes in, they'll see, oh, it's a genuine people. People that don't scold me because I dress differently, because I'm a down and out. They meet me and they talk to me and they befriend me. Is that true of us? Have we got such a heart for the lost that the Lord would add daily? Thousands added to the church because they were a Bible-honoring, God-honoring church. A church had all the fruits that God had bestowed upon them. They were honoring God. And so the Lord blessed them. He blessed their devotion. He blessed their desire to learn. He blessed their desire to fellowship, their fervent prayer. And the Lord gave them so many, added to the church. Well, may the Lord bless us. That's what we pray for. We pray that many would listen, tune in. Many would listen to a sermon that we can share with them. Many would see of what we do, but more importantly, what we are as the people of God, as we worship him, and as we seek to honor God in this place for his honor and for his glory.