Alright, the rest of you, I would ask you to open your Bibles up to Acts chapter 2, as we look at the next text in our study through the book of Acts. The book of Acts is written by Luke, who also wrote the Gospel of Luke. It's really the second volume of the history of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke, of course, tells the ministry of Jesus Christ during his three and a half years of public ministry before his death, burial, and resurrection. And the book of Acts continues to tell the story of the ministry of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit in the church. And so in my last three sermons, we looked at Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 41. In that passage, Luke records the events that occurred on the day of Pentecost. We learned that Pentecost means 50th. It's 50 days after Passover, 50 days after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And we know that for 40 of those 50 days, Jesus had appeared on various occasions to his followers. on one occasion appearing to five hundred of his followers at one time and then of course we saw that he ascended into heaven but before doing so promised his disciples that they should wait in jerusalem for the promise of the holy spirit being poured out upon them And then we saw that God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the 120 followers of Jesus who were waiting for this promise to be fulfilled just as Jesus had told them it would. We saw that God provided dramatic evidence to all those gathered in Jerusalem that this was a unique one-time event that would have profound results. We saw that these evidences included the sound as of a mighty rushing wind that came down from heaven into Jerusalem and into that upper room. A sound that had no explanation other than it was a divine event. And then we saw that there was a light that also descended and filled that room and then divided and rested on each of the 120 that were there. So there was sound, there was light, and then there was the gift of speaking in known languages, speaking of the mighty works of God. That these men and women went out of that upper room proclaiming in this manner the mighty works of God was also evidence of the power that was given to them to become witnesses for Christ. Remember that up until this time they had largely been in hiding out of fear that the Jews would do to them what they had done to Jesus. But now with the filling of the Holy Spirit. They were given the power and the boldness to go out and proclaim the mighty works of God to those who were gathered there for the Feast of Pentecost. And we saw how one of the twelve apostles, Peter, raised his voice to the crowd that had gathered and preached the first sermon following the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We saw that in that sermon he preached God's Word. In fact, over half the sermon is quoted verses from the Old Testament. We also saw that he preached Christ and he preached salvation through Christ. He preached the Gospel. And the result of this Holy Spirit empowered preaching is given to us by Luke in verse 41. Look with me at Acts 2 41. So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. That's church growth folks. The church in Jerusalem in one day went from 120 believers to at least 3,120 believers. Now, some of those were not from Jerusalem and did not remain in Jerusalem. Many were from other areas of the Roman Empire and would leave after the Feast of Passover. Nevertheless, the church in Jerusalem experienced tremendous growth on that day as a result of the preaching of God's Word accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit to bring conversion, to cause the hearers to be born again, to give them the gift of saving faith. This is the beginning. of the New Testament Church and Luke follows this with a description of what the church in Jerusalem was like. This description serves as a model for all other Christian churches including our own and we will see that in this brief description that the members of the church were devoted to their spiritual duties which led them to develop spiritual attitudes and behaviors which resulted in a spiritual impact upon the community in which they lived. This is exactly what we should desire to have happen right here at Christian Family Fellowship. That we would be devoted to our spiritual duties and that that would develop in us spiritual attitudes and behaviors that would then impact our community and our neighborhood for Christ. Amen? So let's look at this description of the early church in Jerusalem so that we can learn from it and we can follow the pattern that God established for his church. The first thing we will see is that they were devoted to their spiritual duties. Look with me at Acts 2.42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers. So they devoted themselves to these four things. The expression here, they devoted themselves, has the idea of perseverance or persistence. So it is an ongoing devotion. In the New American Standard, it's translated, continually devoting themselves. So this is not a one-time commitment to these things, but this is an ongoing devotion to spiritual duties. Ongoing activities, which are the duty of all who are committed to being followers of Christ. Let's look briefly at these four. First, they were devoted to the Apostles' teaching. And as we've already seen, the Apostles' teaching was nothing less than the teaching of the Word of God, that which God had revealed to them. We know that instruction from the Word of God is the paramount duty of every believer. We are commanded to study and we are commanded to instruct others. This is repeated over and over again in the New Testament starting with Jesus. Remember Jesus included the need for teaching in the Great Commission in Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20. Just before he ascended back into heaven he gave this Great Commission to his followers. He told them to go therefore and make disciples of all nations. That word disciple, mathetes in the Greek, it means an intentional learner. An intentional learner. So you're not a disciple unless you are studying, unless you are learning. not according to the definition at the time this was written. A mathetaste was an intentional learner, somebody who was learning from the one discipling them. And Jesus said we should go make disciples. Well to make a disciple you need to be a disciple, amen? So we need to first be disciples and then we need to make disciples. He went on to say baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit And then this key phrase, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. So clearly, teaching what God commands, teaching the Word of God, is primary. It's a primary responsibility in the New Testament church. You need to be sitting under expositional preaching, and you need to be expositional hearers. We are not simply to be converted, we are to be intentional learners devoted to the teaching of the Apostles. 1 Peter 2.2, Peter writes these words, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word that by it you may grow unto salvation. We should have almost an overwhelming desire an insatiable thirst for God. And the only way to know God is His Word. This is His revelation to us. This is how He has revealed Himself to us. And so we should have a thirst, a hunger for God's Word. Paul would later write to Timothy of Timothy's need to be nourished by the words of the faith and of sound doctrine. and then to prescribe and teach these things to others. That was in his first letter to Timothy. Later, in his second letter to Timothy, he writes these words, 2 Timothy 2.2, What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. In that passage, we actually see three generations of Christians. Paul teaching the Word of God to Timothy, Timothy being an intentional learner, but learning with the goal of teaching this to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Four generations. Paul, Timothy, faithful men, others also. This is how the Christian faith gets passed on. This is how it gets passed down. And so, we have to admit that we have the same mandate for us today to learn and to teach. Luke tells us that those who made up the church in Jerusalem were devoted to the apostles teaching. Devoted to learning which would then give them the opportunity to teach others also. We just saw a demonstration of that in Michael and Karen receiving their discipleship certificates. Those certificates certify that they have learned a portion of God's Word of sound doctrine. And it also means, then, that they can also teach that to someone else. And so, what a blessing that is to us. Amen? It's a blessing. So, they were devoted to the Apostles' teaching. They were also devoted to fellowship with other believers. Fellowship, or koinonia in the Greek, that word literally means to share things in common with someone else, to share in common with others. We know that believers are called into the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, 1 Corinthians 1.9, which means that we share a common identity and relationship with Jesus Christ. You and I have the same Master, the same Lord, the same Savior. We have this in common as believers. And you know this is true if you've ever traveled outside of Sonoma County, you've gone somewhere else, and you've run into other believers. You may not know them, but you know them. You understand what I'm saying? There's a connection there, isn't there? because they're brothers and sisters in Christ. They are in Christ. We are in Christ. We share a common identity and a common relationship with Jesus Christ. In his first letter, the Apostle John writes these words, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ." Fellowship here speaks of our sharing this common relationship in Christ with all other believers who are in Christ. That sharing should result in caring for and ministering to one another. Fellowship is the spiritual duty of all believers to be connected to each other in the family of God. We call ourselves a family here, don't we? It's in our name. Christian Family Fellowship. Fellowship meaning we hold in common that we are saved through grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Amen? According to Scripture alone. We're part of a family. But fellowship also means that we care about each other. It's our spiritual duty to participate in the lives of one another. for a Christian to fail to participate in the life of a local church is exactly the opposite of fellowship. That is why we are commanded by God in Hebrews 10 24 and 25 to not neglect or forsake the gathering together of believers. As Pastor Don read earlier, let me read that verse to us again. The writer of the Hebrews writes this, and this is written to the church not to those outside the church, to the church. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as we see the day drawing near. The writer of the Hebrews under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes to us that if we neglect spending time in fellowship with other believers, we are not doing what God has commanded. We're not doing what God intends for His family. Scripture does not envision the Christian life Listen to this, does not envision the Christian life as being lived apart from other believers in the local church. It's that simple. And I know that you and I know people who profess to be Christians, but they are not involved in a local church. And I've heard every reason, probably under the sun, why somebody doesn't get involved in a local church. Okay? But the bottom line is, that's not God's will for His children. God's will for us is that we would live in fellowship. And I'm not just talking about attending a church on Sunday morning. Honestly, that's not the fellowship that's involved here. It's about having an intimate relationship with others in the church, you being involved in their life, you allowing them to be involved in your life, sharing time together, sharing meals together, sharing the Word of God together. Scripture does not envision the Christian life as being lived apart from other believers in the local church. And this is why Luke makes it clear that those who were added to the church were continually devoting themselves to the duty of the fellowship of the saints. It was not optional. They were also devoted to the breaking of bread, which I believe in this context is the celebration of communion, or the Lord's Supper together. This phrase, breaking of bread, can refer to the Lord's Supper or it can refer to simply sharing a meal together. For reasons which I don't want to take the time to explain to you this morning, I believe here it's referring to Holy Communion. Because it's referring to the congregational gathered life of the church. Observance of the Lord's Supper is not optional. It's commanded by Christ Himself. And it is to be done gathered together with other believers. It's not something you do by yourself in your home. It is something that is done with the family of God in communion with each other. It's a form of fellowship because in communion all believers, rich or poor, male or female, black or white, all believers meet on the common ground of being sinners saved by the penalty of our sin through the broken body of Christ and the blood shed by Him. Communion exemplifies the unity of believers That's why we all partake together. Remember what Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 10, 16 and 17. He writes these words. The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. What's being represented there is that the Lord's Supper communion, when we celebrate it together, it unifies us. It reminds us that we are all of one Savior, one Master, one Lord. There is one body, one church of which we are a part. And so they were devoted to breaking bread together. And in that breaking of bread together, we are spiritually nourished by Christ and reminded of the price that was paid for our sins. That He who knew no sin became sin for us. And that we were credited by His righteousness. We are reminded that we are sinners. We stand guilty. before a holy God, and we deserve eternal punishment. We deserve eternal separation from God. But because Jesus Christ gave His life, all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If we confess Him as Lord, and we believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. Gathering together to celebrate the Lord's Supper together is something that God intends for His people. We are strengthened by it. And so the early church was devoted to the breaking of bread together. And last, they were also continuously devoted to prayer. And here we're talking about corporate prayer. We're talking about praying together with other believers. Of course you and I should be spending time in prayer with our Lord individually every day, but here it's talking about gathering with other believers for the purpose of prayer. Before his death upon the cross, Jesus instructed his disciples that whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Those who heard this from Jesus took it to heart, as we saw back in Acts chapter 1 verse 14. When they were waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit, they were gathered in the upper room. What were they doing? Praying together. Praying together. Luke writes these words, all of these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer. Oh, interesting. devoting themselves to prayer. It was something that was happening when they gathered together. They would pray together. By the way, we gather here for prayer every Tuesday morning and once a month on Sunday night. Oh, it happens to be tonight at six o'clock. We will gather together as a family, as a church, to pray together just as Jesus commanded us to do. The devotion to prayer in our text is a devotion to corporate prayer, a devotion to praying with our church family, with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Sadly, prayer is much neglected in many churches today. This is not how it was in the beginning, at the beginning of the church. The early church understood the great privilege that they had been given to come before the throne of God through prayer. I hope you see that as a great privilege, that you can boldly come before our Heavenly Father in prayer. And they saw the results of prayer in their lives and in the church. because God answers prayer. Amen? Corporate prayer is commanded because it is so vitally important. Through prayer we are continually reminded of who we are and who God is. We are reminded that we are wholly dependent upon Him for everything. We connect through prayer with our Heavenly Father, and we have fellowship with Him. So these spiritual duties the early church were devoted to. They were devoted to the Apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. And this devotion to these spiritual duties then led them to develop spiritual attitudes and behaviors. It impacted their lives. It impacted the church. So, Luke lists here some of these spiritual attitudes and behaviors. The first thing we read in verse 43, in fact, look at verses 43 through 46. Let me read this next part of the text. Luke writes, "...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 gladness and generous hearts, praising God." These spiritual attitudes and activities were an outflow of their devotion to their spiritual duties. And the first was that awe came upon every soul. The word translated awe here is the Greek word phobos, which means fear or reverence, a sense of a divine presence. The effect of the members of this church being devoted to their spiritual duties was that those who observed them were filled with awe, filled with reverence. They could sense that God was at work in those in the church and through them. We want to be living our lives in such a way that we are visibly seen by others outside of the church as being committed to Christ. Amen? We want our lives to reflect that. We want there to be an awe, a reverence. That's what leads to others outside asking us, what's going on with you? What's different about you? What's the hope that is within you? Amen? We want that. And that's what happened in the early church. It was obvious to outsiders that something was going on with these individuals. God was at work here. It was also accompanied by attesting miracles, signs, and wonders. These attesting miracles were designed to attract attention and to result in attesting to the fact that God was at work in these men, in the Apostles. Note this, the ability to perform miracles was not given to all, but it was limited to the Apostles. This validated them as those chosen by God to speak and write God's Word to His people. The writer to the Hebrews makes this very clear to us. Hebrews chapter 2 verses 3 and 4. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to by those who heard. So, those who heard are those who were walking with the Lord. those who were instructed by Him or the Apostles. It was declared at first by the Lord, attested to by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. That's why we call these attesting miracles, or the scripture refers to them as signs. A sign is something that points to something else. That's what these were. These were signs that these men who are performing these miracles, these men are God's men. They are God's messengers, these apostles. It attested to that fact. God was putting his stamp of approval upon these men, as if to say, listen to them. they are my messengers." God confirmed the preaching of the Apostles with miracles to show that they were indeed His chosen messengers. With the passing of the Apostles and the completion of the canon of Scripture, the need for these confirming miracles ended. Now, today we can confirm who speaks for God by comparing their teaching with God's revelation in Scripture. But remember that although the gift of miracles is no longer existent, God still performs miracles in response to the prayers of his people. Amen? And the greatest miracle that God performs is the transformation of rebellious sinners into devoted followers of Christ. Amen? That's the greatest miracle of all. That is life from death. Because we are born dead in our trespasses and sins. Spiritually dead. We have to be spiritually raised from the dead. In fact, Spiritual resurrection is far more amazing than even physical resurrection is. We know the effect of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead had on all those who were observing it, right? Blew them away. He'd been in there four days, right? Even his own sister said, Lord, don't roll back the stone because it's going to stink, okay? And those who saw it, there was no doubt in their mind that God had just performed a mighty miracle. Amen? But you know what? Lazarus died again. Physically. If we're reborn spiritually, our soul will live forever with the Lord. That's the greater miracle. Amen? God still performs miracles to this day, but the gift of performing miracles is no longer something that we see. The apostles are long gone. God attested to these men by the ability to perform these miracles, and we'll see that in the next chapter in Acts, the first such miracle. Another manifestation in the church was the care that they had for each other. True Christian fellowship, that word koinonia, includes sharing with others who have need. It includes generosity. Those who share in Christ, share in God's nature, which includes generosity. And they are therefore generous with others. They cared for one another, even to the point of selling land and possessions to help those in need. Look again at verses 44 and 45. And all who believed were together. By the way, you can't be together if you're not. Right? Okay, so if somebody says they're a member of a church but they only show up like once a month or every couple of months or every three or four months, they're not together with the church. It doesn't mean they're not a believer, but they're certainly not fulfilling this passage, right? All who believed were together. and had all things in common, they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need." And we want to be very careful with this passage because there's a lot of false teaching that surrounds this passage. So we need to understand what is being said here. Some have regarded these verses as an endorsement of communism or socialism, but it is neither of these. Communism is also a sharing of possessions, but it is a forced sharing based on the teaching that no one has the right to own anything. It is compulsory, therefore it has nothing to do with generosity whatsoever. Socialism acknowledges the right to own but compels people to give a percentage of everything they have to others to level the income inequality. Does that sound familiar? The United States of America exists as eight socialist country taxes or socialism unless it's a flat tax okay if those that have more tax more that have been those that have last that is a form of socialism now it's a mild form i grant you but it still is a form of socialism the government doesn't ask me what would you like to give The government tells me what I have to give. The early Christians shared of their possessions not because they were forced to do so, but for a far better reason. Because they loved one another and they wanted to share with one another out of the blessings that God had shared with them. They were generous to others because God had been generous to them. This should be evident in the church. That is one reason why here at Christian Family Fellowship we don't mandate that anyone give at a certain level, because we don't believe that we have the authority to do that. There is no authority to do that found in the New Testament. What we do is we appeal to you to give as you prosper, as you are blessed to think about others, to support the work that God is doing here in the church. and to take care of the needs of one another. That is why we take a benevolence offering once a month. That is why we have a category of giving, which is benevolence. Those funds are not used for Pastor Steve to go to Hawaii on vacation. Those funds are used to meet true needs in the church, which we should be willing to do. And I realize that many of you help one another without running it through the church. The church is us, amen? The brothers and sisters in Christ. And so we have this great privilege of being used by God to share some of the blessings that God has blessed us with with others. And I pray that that will continue in this fellowship and even increase as God gives us that ability. The other thing that we see is that the church gathered together regularly, both for formal and informal gatherings. Look back at the text, verse 46, and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with gladness and generous hearts, Attending the temple together represents their formal worship services. I've been in the upper room in Jerusalem when I was there for a tour. It's a large room, about the size of this room, so you could gather 120 in that room. You could not gather 3,120 in that room. In fact, there was no indoor building in Jerusalem large enough for that many people. That's what the Temple Mount was used for. And so when it says that they would attend the Temple together, it doesn't mean they went into the actual Temple. It means they were on the Temple Mount, either in the porticoes or probably in the courtyard of the Gentiles. That was the largest area. The capacity of the Temple Mount at that time was about 250,000. I've been up there. It's huge. And so a thousand or two thousand believers in Christ could gather in one place on the Temple Mount to have their formal worship service, their formal teaching by the Apostles, to observe the Lord's Supper together. So this is speaking of a formal gathering together similar to what we do on Sunday mornings. But this was not the only time that they gathered together. That's very clear in the text. It tells us that they also met regularly. It uses the phrase day by day. That doesn't mean every single day. But it means often they met together in their homes. These would be the informal gatherings. Now, note this. These gatherings were still centered around the Apostles' teaching, fellowship, communion, and worship. These informal gatherings were vitally important to the health and growth of the Church. These, in our little fellowship, would be represented by our home fellowship groups, where we meet in homes, we gather together to focus on the Apostles' teaching, on prayer, on fellowship, that is something that we do on a regular basis, week by week. This would also represent things like the abide group, like the men's breakfast, like the women's fellowship and study. And it also would include having believers into your home, practicing hospitality. These practices, these informal gatherings, would also be an opportunity for the members of the Church to minister one to another, to have mutual accountability, to build up one another, to encourage one another in their most holy faith. The one another's of Scripture, and there are many, Those don't generally happen on Sunday morning during the worship service. Those happen throughout the week as we meet together with other believers. This is what so many in the church today are missing out on. They may attend the formal Sunday morning worship service and that is good. but they are not gathering together regularly with brothers and sisters in Christ with a spiritual focus, spending time with other believers, practicing the spiritual disciplines together. This practice made all the difference in the growth and development of the church in Jerusalem. These practices of the church resulted in a powerful spiritual impact on their community. Luke closes this summary statement on the practices of the church by stating the impact that these practices had on those outside of the church, those in the community around them. Look at verse 47. praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." Luke here tells us that by observing their practice of spiritual duties and their care for one another, their spiritual attitudes and behaviors, those outside of the church showed favor upon them. Now this is not speaking of the Jewish leadership who persecuted them. This is speaking of their neighbors, their friends, their fellow family members. They would see something has changed in this person. Look at the love they have. Look at the care they have. This was something missing in the culture, missing in the community. And it resulted in people wanting to know. Because God was adding to their number those who were being saved. The only way they could be saved is that somebody had to have shared with them what this was all about. And then God gave them the gift of faith and they believed. Make no mistake, salvation is from the Lord. No one can ever be saved except God chooses to save them. Amen? But make no mistake, the means that God uses is the gospel, both seen and heard through His people, through His church. It's one thing to tell people about the love of Christ, and that's vitally important, but they also need to see it in our lives, in our church. We need to look different than the world. We need to act different than the world. You don't attract people out of the world by being like them. You attract people out of the world by being like Christ. So we share Christ with others both through proclaiming the gospel and by showing in our lives and in our church the transforming power that he brings to us. Luke wants to leave no doubt that there is a direct connection between the community life within the church and the impact that church will have on the community outside of the church. In order to see people come to Christ, we need to offer to them what is lacking in the world. And there is so much in our culture today that drives us towards individualism, that undercuts the development of true community. We are actually encouraged to separation and isolation from others. We are encouraged to have things our way and to look for things that will validate us rather than looking towards the needs of others. which is exactly what Christ did for us. Amen? In our culture, our individual needs and rights come before the needs of the group. And that is antithetical to biblical Christianity. That is the opposite of New Testament Christianity. So this portrait of the early church is the exact opposite of what the culture teaches. It shows that community was the focus and the welfare of the members of the church was a priority. This attitude attracted the attention of those outside of the church and drew them in. When the church taught that God cared about people, they then demonstrated that care in visible ways. showing that what they said was true. And I believe this should be our desire as well. That through us individually practicing the duties of New Testament Christianity and developing into a community of believers that we see in the New Testament, then we will make an impact in our community for the cause of Christ, and that God will bless our efforts by adding to our church daily those who are being saved. That is my prayer for you. That is my prayer for us as a body of believers, as the family of God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity for us to be reminded today of what it means to be a New Testament Church. Father God, each and every one of us in this room who have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone,