7 - Adding to the Church

Q: What does the Bible say about baptism?

The Bible teaches that believers should be baptized as an outward sign of their repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Baptism is a vital sacrament instituted by Christ, signifying the believer's faith in Jesus and their entrance into the Church. As stated in Acts 2:38, the Apostle Peter calls for everyone to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. This act serves not only as identification with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection but also as an affirmation of the believer's sincere repentance and faith in the gospel. It's an important public testimony and obedience to Christ's command, symbolizing the cleansing from sin and the reception of the Holy Spirit, promising eternal life.

Q: How do we know that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives?

The work of the Holy Spirit is evidenced by a believer's conviction of sin, repentance, and desire for transformation. The Holy Spirit’s influence in our lives is primarily shown through conviction of sin, a key moment illustrated in Acts 2:37, where those present felt pricked in their hearts and sought guidance on what to do next. This conviction leads to repentance, a turning away from sinful behaviors and a realignment to follow Christ. The Spirit also empowers believers to live in accordance with God's will, producing a desire for holiness and transformation in character. Furthermore, the ongoing work of the Spirit is noticeable in a believer's eagerness to partake in community, prayer, and the sacraments, demonstrating a life transformed by grace.

Q: Why is repentance important for Christians?

Repentance is crucial as it signifies a true change of heart and mind towards sin and God. Repentance is vital for Christians as it denotes a fundamental change in one's heart and mind. In Acts 2:38, Peter commands the crowd to 'repent' as a response to the conviction of their sinful state. This change reflects a movement from self-focused living to submitting one’s life to Christ. True repentance leads not only to forgiveness of sins, as Peter promises, but also to receiving the Holy Spirit, which empowers believers to pursue holiness. Thus, repentance is not merely feeling sorry for one’s sins but involves an active turning away from sin towards the Savior, making it central to the Christian experience.

Q: How can we build community in the church?

Building community in the church involves fellowship, shared resources, and a commitment to spiritual growth. Community in the church is nurtured through active fellowship, shared beliefs, and mutual support, as demonstrated in Acts 2:42-47. The early church continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, interacted in fellowship, broke bread together, and devoted themselves to prayer. This pattern of gathering serves to cement relationships and foster a sense of belonging among believers. Moreover, sharing resources voluntarily, as noted in Acts 2:44-45, illustrates the importance of love and generosity, allowing the community to flourish as they meet each other's needs. This collective commitment to growth, support, and mutual encouragement creates a spiritually vibrant church environment.

Q: What role does prayer play in a Christian's life?

Prayer is essential as it serves as the means of communication with God and sustains spiritual life. Prayer is fundamental in the life of a Christian, acting as a vital lifeline to God. The early Christians in Acts 2:42 devoted themselves to prayer, which highlights its critical role in fostering a close relationship with the Lord. Through prayer, believers express their dependence on God, seek guidance, and intercede for others. As seen in the teaching of Christ, prayer is not merely a ritual; it is an intimate conversation that enriches the believer's faith and spiritual vitality. Furthermore, an active prayer life enhances spiritual discipline, enabling believers to experience the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and communities.

May it please God to bless us
this evening as we conclude our meditation in this second chapter
in the Acts of the Apostles and we will just retrace our steps
back to the 37th verse and as we read this evening the Apostle
Peter had just preached that sermon to the multitude, that
mixed multitude and it was a glorious day and how we want to try and
visualise the wonder of it. All these people gathered together,
brought together by the Holy Spirit of God and then wrought
upon by the Holy Spirit in a most amazing and wonderful way. And the Apostle spoke so clearly. He spoke about the Saviour. He spoke about what had occurred. And he says, in the concluding
words of this sermon, Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ. The effect of that was dramatic. Now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their hearts, and they said unto Peter, And
to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? Well, what a wonderful time that
was. There was that question. They
being preached in their hearts, they realized they were guilty
before a holy God. They realized they were sinners.
And they were those who had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. And now
having been spoken to and having been addressed in this way, they
now come and say, oh, they wanted to know what shall we do? What
shall we do? What a blessing that is when
that occurs still today. When people are convicted in
their hearts by the Holy Spirit, as to their true situation before
a holy God and they come and say what shall we do? Peter answered
and he said repent and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for remission of sins and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now just to remind ourselves
this was the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was given
It was an amazing day. The Lord Jesus had spoken and
said it would occur on that day when he was taken up to glory.
And they were told to go and reside in Jerusalem until it
occurred. And it was ten days now had passed
and now that was fulfilled. And there had been a wonderful
blessing, a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit And so the
apostle now directs these words to these people who were crying
out with their great need. And he said that they were to
repent. That means they were to turn
away from their wrong ways, from their evil ways. They would have
changed direction. They would have gone in the opposite
direction. They would have been following themselves. And now
they were to follow the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was
a complete change. And that's what the Apostle tells
them here, repent. Now, they only, he was only able
to say that because of their situation. They had been pricked
in their hearts. They cried out, what shall we
do? And the Apostle said, repent. To be sorry for their sin. To
truly desire forgiveness. And so he says, repent. None of us will be the outward
witness, the outward performance of that. He said, and be baptised. Every one of you. There weren't
to be any exceptions. There weren't to be some who
were going to make excuses and say, well I can't and I don't
think so. Everyone, said the Apostle. Every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ. for the remission of sins and
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It's a wonderful
promise, wasn't it, here to these people in this time of need. And Peter directs them very clearly
as to the way ahead. There wasn't any doubt about
it. It was the way that the Lord Jesus had laid down in his life. He set the glorious example when
he was baptised at the beginning of his ministry in the River
Jordan. and John the Baptist has seen
the spirit ascend as a dove and say this is my beloved son in
whom I am well pleased with acknowledgement that this was the right way. And so he then says for the promise
is unto you and your children and to all that are far off even
as many as the Lord our God shall call. there was a mixed company
here who come from a long way many nations they travel a long
way they had been a far off and now he is addressing those who
are a far off and he makes his point and it is so relevant he
says even as many as the Lord our God shall call God does call
the apostle Paul was called and every child of God is called
by God And what that means, they hear His voice. They hear His
voice speaking to their heart, calling them to repent, calling
them to turn from their sins, to seek forgiveness, to seek
remission. What a blessing it is to know
that we have the same God today, who still moves hearts, who still
moves souls, and who brings them to that place to seek unto the
Lord and cry out, what shall we do? Well, the Apostle tells
them the promise was unto you and to your children and to all
that are far off, however far they were, and even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. And then we read with many other
words that he testifies and exhorts saying, save yourselves from
this untoward generation. He preached to them faithfully
the whole gospel, quite clearly many words. He was able to speak
to them and explain and give them a right understanding of
the many things that they did not understand. And now they
were blessed with this situation. And what was the result? It's
a lovely result, isn't it? It was the work of the Holy Spirit.
What was the result? Then they gladly received his
word. They were needy people. They
were crying out, what shall we do? They were desperate. They
realised they had a lost soul and they needed to know that
they were saved. They were in a time of great need and therefore
when Peter preached in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and
quite clearly that's what had occurred, then they gladly received
his word. Oh, it was a time of rejoicing. And what did they do then? What
did they do? They were baptised. They were
baptised. They followed the testimony of
the Apostle. They followed the example that
Lord Jesus set before them and many others. And so here was
this great occasion. Then they gladly received His
word, were baptised. It was, as it were, almost an
automatic response. They'd been blessed. They'd received
the word. And now, They desired to do that
which the Lord had commanded them and were baptised. They followed the Lord, despised
and crucified man. And we read, and there were added
unto them about 3,000 souls. What an amazing time it was,
wasn't it? It's hard for us to imagine,
isn't it? 3,000 souls were converted and
were blessed and were moved by the Spirit to be baptised and
we don't read of any not being baptised we read of all those
as they received the word they were baptised it was the ordained
way of God and we see there really there are only two New Testament
ordinances there were many in the Old Testament there were
many ceremonies in the New Testament, in the Gospel Age, and this was
the beginning of the Gospel Age, this was the wonderful occasion
when the Spirit of God was poured out upon them, and the beginning
of this Gospel Age, here we have this wonderful example, they
were all baptised, they didn't hesitate, they were blessed,
on the same day they were baptised and they were added unto them
about 3,000 souls and now we see then what happened what happened
then? it's good to know what happened
with these people who had been blessed and had been baptised
there were four things they did they continued steadfastly in
the apostles doctrine steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine. Now
the Apostle had preached Christ, he preached the true doctrine
of God and here were these, they didn't cast it aside, they continued
steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine. Now what a good thing it is if
we are able to follow steadfastly the truth of God, to follow steadfastly
His doctrine, that which has been shown to us, revealed to
us. They didn't look around for other
things to follow. No, they continued steadfastly
in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship. They continued in
fellowship, one with another. And what would that have meant
really? Well, I believe it meant this, that those that fear the
Lord, spake often one to another. A book of remembrance was written.
That was a fellowship. It was fellowship in the things
of God. They had something to talk about,
didn't they? They had something to say. Because
they found the Saviour. that they'd realised their lost
condition and they'd realised the wonderful favour the Lord
had come and saved them and had redeemed them with His most precious
blood by dying upon that cross at Calvary that they had been
guilty and had their hand in that conviction of the Saviour. And so there was this fellowship
It is important, isn't it, for us to realise this truth. And they continue in doctrine
and fellowship. And in breaking of bread. And I believe in this word here
that breaking of bread really means partaking of the Lord's
Supper. The second New Testament ordinance. And so we see here they were
a people called by grace, called by God, converted, baptised,
partook of the Lord's Supper. The Lord said, do this in remembrance
of me. And here they were then, following
the Lord's command. The 14 men, prayers. They continued praying. Oh how
vital that is for every one of us. Prayer is indeed our spiritual
breath, our vital breath. If we have no prayer, we don't
have any life really. If we find prayer is very low,
our spiritual life is very low. If we have much prayer and much
resting prayer we find our spiritual life is lively and healthy. Well we have then these four
elements that these blessed people continued in. Don't forget doctrine,
fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. It's good to remember
those things. And then we read, and fear came
upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. Those perhaps around them, fear
came upon them because they saw an amazing situation had occurred
before their eyes. Something they'd never seen before.
And my friends, you know, God's great blessing of grace is something
we haven't seen before. What a wonderful thing if we
see it in ourselves and if we see it in others. And there was
indeed a wonderful work here. And so we read, and fear came
upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
And these people witnessed these signs and wonders and therefore
they feared God, they feared the Lord. and all that believed
were together and in all things common. We can visualise Cork
with this lovely gathering together and these people living together
in union and communion and rejoicing in the Gospel, rejoicing in what
the Lord Jesus Christ had done and blessing God for the revelation
that had come to them and they were continuing this way and
all that believed were together And they had all things common.
They shared their possessions around. They obviously didn't
think very much of their worthy possessions. They didn't try
to gather up a tremendous amount of worthy possessions. They were
very willing to share them around. And they sold their possessions
and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. We see the true Christian work
here. We see the evidence of God's
grace. Willing to share around the things that were given to
those who had more and were able to give to those who had less.
And there was this union and dwelling together and the Lord's
name was indeed honoured and glorified. And so they sold their
possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man
had need. And they continuing daily with
one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to
house to eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Every day you see they were meeting
together. Every day this was a continuing
situation. Oh the gospel was so precious
to them. Everybody didn't want anything
else today. and they were together and praising and blessing God
because as we read they did eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart they had a single object and my friends
that object must have been Christ oh it's a great blessing if we
have a single minded view and that view is Christ to be a true
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ a despised and crucified man,
and to rejoice in his great and glorious work, that work that
was accomplished and finished upon that cross at Calvary. My
friends, let us never, never tire of coming to the cross. Let us never desire to be found
there, looking to the Saviour, bowing down in true worship. And we read, and they were praising
God, and having favour with all the people because of their good
example they weren't selfish they were generous one to another
and the people obviously observed their actions they were godly
actions they were god glorifying actions and the effect was and
having favour with all the people and the Lord added to the church
daily stature should be saved what a wonderful thing to see
conversions every day the church being built up and as our brother
prayed we worship the same God today the same God today who
is able to do far more exceedingly abundantly than we can ask or
even think my friends let us not be weary in well doing let
us not fail in prayer Let us not fail in beseeching the throne
of grace and all that arise and do great things, so that once
again this great name may be honoured and glorified, many
souls blessed. Oh, He is able. Oh, that He may
be willing then to hear the many prayers for these things. And
that we today may be encouraged to know that we worship the same
God, that we read of Him that did these great things on this
wonderful day. And it's an example for us to
realise that the Lord is able to do these things today. Great blessings and may we continue
to see those added to the church. What a blessing if we saw them
added daily for his namesake, for his honour and for his glory. While we stand together you may
have noticed our second hymn was a hymn on baptism. And the last hymn is a hymn on
the Lord's Supper. As I said those are the two ordinances
which are recorded and which occur and which are blessed in
the New Testament. Believers baptism and then what
follows is partaking of the Lord's Supper. So may we thank God that
he has instituted these things And may we do these things in
remembrance of Him.

7 - Adding to the Church

What does the Bible say about baptism?

How do we know that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How can we build community in the church?

What role does prayer play in a Christian's life?

Sermon Transcript

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7 - Adding to the Church

What does the Bible say about baptism?

How do we know that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How can we build community in the church?

What role does prayer play in a Christian's life?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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