Acts chapter 2. I think the title of this will
provoke thought with people. It'll be a good reference for
believers to look forward to if they're going to look for
this. The title is How to Grow the Church. And I capitalize
the letters very specifically. Capital T, capital C. THE Church. Not how to grow a church. How
to grow THE Church. I was contacted, I told you the
other day, contacted by a girl and she was telling me about
a new system she had that would add people to the church every
month, 30 to 50 people a month. We can get them in the pews.
I didn't even respond to it. I get that kind of stuff all
the time. I didn't even just delete, next. I got other things
to do. And I knew what texts we were
coming to. And then she emailed me again.
She said, I'm not a robot, I'm a real person. And she said,
are you interested in this system? And I replied, I said, thank
you, Chloe. I said, but we will stick to the original method.
And I thought, maybe with this title, maybe she'll tune in.
She's obviously never heard how the church has grown, how the
church is added to daily. Who does the work? Who it is
that's added to it? I said, I hope the Lord Give
her eyes to see that and give us eyes to see it tonight too.
But here in verse 41, Acts 2, Peter had just got through preaching.
And it says in Acts chapter 2, verse 41, then they that gladly
received his word, they gladly received it. That means it was
put in them. What word? Well, what Peter just
preached. What's that? God's on his throne. mankind he probably closed his
eyes and said you we're the ones with wicked hands and we crucified
him and if that if we receive that not just as a thought or
a systematic theology or a truth that's our truth for real not
as mankind says now if that hits us where it's true in this heart
we're going to be afraid it's going to start out of physical
fear what are we going to do What are we gonna do? Believe
on Christ. Repent, quit your way, look to
Him. Only God can do that, but we
tell Him. Only God can make something live, and we say, dry bones live.
He told us that's what we're to say. And He did, and they
believed, and they that gladly received His word were baptized. They might have been baptized
before, maybe they were sprinkled as a child. Maybe, who knows
what, they were in false religion, but they'd never professed Christ,
they didn't know him. And now they knew him. Now they received
him, and now they professed him. They were baptized, and the same
day were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued
steadfastly, rain or shine, in the apostles' doctrine. What
was the apostles' doctrine? What's the doctrine of Christ?
That's the same as My doctrine, that's your doctrine that believe.
It's him. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles doctrine and fellowship. And in breaking of bread and
in prayers, they ate together. They prayed together. They talked
together. They lived together. They went
golfing together or whatever sport they did then. This new
sport's coming up all over the world. I never even heard of
it. But believers now, they go do that. They spent time together,
they broke bread together. And it wasn't just a routine,
they didn't just have a social club. Look at verse 43. And fear
came upon every soul. Every soul everywhere? No. Everyone
that gladly received his word, this word of Christ. Everyone
that remained steadfast in that doctrine. Everyone that had fellowship.
Fear came upon them. Does that mean they just walk
around terrified? Honor for God. came upon them. That was what was in their mind.
What clothes am I going to wear today? I'm a child of God. What
kind of car am I going to buy? Just because I can afford something
don't mean I ought to buy it. We think about all those things.
Am I going to cheat on my taxes? That's what God says, isn't it? Rent under Caesar's what? Caesar's.
Live peaceably with all men. Pay your taxes. Be a good, upstanding
citizen. Well, not because that gets me
something, because the Lord's done something for me. Fear came upon every soul, everyone
that believed. They honored God. Could you imagine
being in a room where everybody in that room loved God and adored
Him? And we mess up, left, right,
and center. But our motivation was to honor
Christ and glorify Him. We'd never get tired of it. We'd
keep coming back to that same plain little white bread, that
same manna, that whiteness, wouldn't we? Wouldn't care what we ate.
And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, verse 44,
and all that believed were together, and they had all things in common.
We've all seen a lot of signs and wonders, ain't you? Have
you seen people change? People's just, I mean, as bitter
as sour lemons. And in time, so loving and so
compassionate, and people that were wild and they're calmed
down, and people that used to be super calm and now they're
motivated. Mankind can't do that to somebody else, the Lord does
that. We've seen that. What else? We had all things
in common. Salvation. The person, that's our salvation.
How'd that come to pass? All believers have the same story.
I was lost and God found me. I was wrong and he was right. If we don't have that in common
yet, I pray God will make that be in common with us. He might
save you and then we can share that in common. Our salvation's
in common and our love's in common. Our joys are in common. We join
the same thing. We want to hear gospel preached,
and we want to hear good hymns sang. And even if I don't know
the words, I want to whistle them, or I want to know about
my brethren in other places. We got some brethren coming the
end of this month. I found out there's in Kingsport today. I
want to see them. We have that in common. And trials,
this life's full of them. We'll see in a little while,
that whole body, you bust a pinky finger, the one next to it hurts
too. It hurts all throughout. And we have different trials.
Believers have different trials. I hope I can get to my notes.
Believers have different trials than the heathens do, than the
unregenerate do. There's things we face in this
world they can't face. They don't know nothing about
it. It doesn't affect them. We have that in common. It says
in verse 45, and they sold their possessions and goods and part
of them to all men as every man had need. This is not communal
living. Serve that out, put it in a pot,
and then we all take out of the pot. What's that mean? I've been
young and I've been old and I have never seen the righteous begging
bread. Is there a spiritual application to that? Yes, that's what he's
talking about. If somebody wants to hear Christ, they're going
to hear him. If they truly have a desire because God purposed
it in them first, he's going to provide. If he gives the need,
he'll supply the need. That's so, spiritually. But carnally
too. Paul spoke plainly of that. If
you see your brother in need and you have, if you've got a
bag of rice and you don't give them a scoop of rice, don't you
talk about the love of God. It ain't in you. If there's a
believer here that ain't gonna make ends meet, we'll get our
meat together. Not on my watch. Why? I love them. Would you let your
children starve to death? Like, well, I'll just sit over there eating
steak and be like, I hope you kids get food. No, you love them. Do anything
for them. Some were in need, that's what
that shows. They gave everybody a need. There was a need there,
wasn't it? This wasn't just cartwheels and sunshine all the time. Verse
46, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple
and breaking bread, there it is again, from house to house,
they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. They were glad when they did
it. I've seen believers have other believers over to their
house. Hey, everybody, come over to the house. We're going to
have cookout. It ain't got to be nothing fancy, but they get
together and they ate together and they're happy. They didn't
go there to pick a fight. They were glad. And wow, there's
a singleness of heart. The Lord gave us this food and
he gave us a sunny day or rainy day, whatever it is. And he has
us here together. He's fitly framed us together.
We thank him. That's praising God, isn't it?
Look at verse 47. Gladness that singles the heart,
praising God. And have in favor with all the
people. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should
be saved. That sentence got me. I hope
we can look at that today. And the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. I want to work this text backwards.
I think that'll be beneficial to us. With all of our thinkings
and times chronologically. And I've told you that before
you take Ephesians 1, you go from verse 14 backwards to verse
3. That's how we kind of come to
understand these things. But it took place from verse 3 to
verse 14, didn't it? Before we came on the scene,
these are the things that were in the mix. We were chosen in
Christ before time by the Father. It was purpose that we be made
just like Him. And He made us accepted in Himself
by redeeming us in His blood. And He sent the Spirit to tell
us about that. And we heard through this word
of truth being preached. through this person that's our
salvation being preached to us, the gospel. And we were sealed
in that. We didn't like, well, I'll go
home and consider it. No, that's true. The deal's done. It's so. Everything else around
me can change. This ain't going to. This is
so. We're sealed in it. And we have this earnest of the
inheritance until we see him as he is. We have this down payment
right now because we know him and we believe him. We love him
because he first loved us and he purposed these things to happen. They come to pass because he's
God. It says, and the Lord added to the church daily such as should
be saved. What's taking place here? Saved. Men and women and boys and girls
are being saved. They're being added to the church.
That's what's happening. What is it to be saved? I want
you to turn a little bit with me. Turn to John 17. Back just
a few pages, John 17. To be saved is to have eternal
life. To be saved is to be in God's
presence without sin and be made like Christ. To be his bride, that's being
saved, that's eternal life. Going to heaven is not being
saved. What's being saved? I'm gonna
go to heaven. I'm not gonna go to hell. No. It's being made
like capital H heaven. Being unified with Christ, being
one with him. Bone of his bone and flesh of
his being married to Christ. John 17 verse one. These words
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, here's
the source. People say you want it from a horse's mouth. What
is it to be saved? God's gonna tell us. Father,
The hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify
thee, colon. He's gonna list how. As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. That glorifies the
father. Him giving life to those that
the father gave him and told him, say, give them life. That
honors the father. And, verse three, this is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. What's eternal life? It's to know God, and to know him as he manifested
himself on this earth. to know him, to know him. Everybody,
everybody, K-N-O-W, not N-O. We come out of Adam saying, no
God, and we need to K-N-O-W, we need to know him. What's that
to adore him, to love him, to know him as he is. That comes
with knowing us as we are, but to know him as he is, he is as
he says he is. and that's glories, he's holy.
What are we gonna be taught? Look here at verse four. I have
glorified thee on the earth. Not that I've glorified you,
not that I've picked right, not that I'm just a good, Lord owes
me something, I'll just, I've done a whole lot for you, Lord.
No, no, Christ has. He said, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. It's to know him and to know his person and his work.
What do we need to do? Nothing. He did it. It's finished. Well, I need to, we just need
to thank him, fear him, honor him, bow to him, praise him. And that comes natural. It's
the instinct of the new man that's in us. It's so. That's what we read the other
day in Jeremiah 9. He said, That means I can't exercise loving
kindness and judgment and righteousness. I don't know what they are. We know they're words. We don't
know it as God defines it. We got to meet him. It's his
terms, not what I think it is. He's done that in the earth.
For these things I delight, saith the Lord. And we delight in that
too. If we've experienced loving kindness,
graciously without anything in us, we're amazed by it. And we delight in it. If we've
experienced judgment, not that I've stood by myself, but that
Christ stood in my place and judgment satisfied. There's no
court appearance. I don't have to stand before
the judge. I don't have to show the ticket. I did nothing. It's
satisfied. and righteousness. It's not just
that the slate's been wiped clean. We've been made holy. We cannot
sin. You can't understand it. I got
a mirror. How could that be? It don't matter
if I understand how it could be. God said so. He said that seed I put in you
is an incorruptible seed. That means it can't be corrupted.
It ain't ever gonna be corrupted. Ever, ever, ever. We don't understand
eternity, but that's how long. And he said, I've done these
things because I wanted to. I delighted in it. Do we delight
in that? Look what the Lord's done for
us. Grace! Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon. Multiply. He said, I will bountifully pardon
you. That ain't just like, well, we'll
hit delete and bountifully. I like that. Eternal life's not
just mental agreement. It's not mental ascent like well
people's bad Jesus is good. He saved sinners and he's on
a cross born of a virgin. That's I told you before I've
heard people say what do you believe? What do they preach down there
where you go to church? Well once saved always saved and we believe that
the scriptures alone and Christ alone and faith alone. No you
don't. It's not just mental agreement.
Paul said in Colossians 3, set your affection on things above,
not on things of the earth. Lord has to do that. I want to.
I've experienced it and that's a better day than when I'm looking
at things on this earth, when I see him. For you are dead and
your life is hid with Christ in God. This world's dead to
you and you're dead to it. He's it. Why? Because when Christ,
who is our life, not the biggest part of our life, not a major
factor, not a pretty significant, Think why I like him. When Christ
who is our life shall appear, ye shall also appear with him
in glory. Saved as having Christ as our
life. That's he is our eternal life. Well, we're gonna be resurrected
one day and the theologians, armchair theologians will fight
that tooth and toenail, never assemble in the gathering of
saints, but they might get together at a coffee shop somewhere and
talk until they're blue in the face. And he looked at Martha
and said, I'm the resurrection. It's me. That's why I don't have to love
Cameron and live with her in a blue house. I just want to
be where she is. It can be a blue tent or a yellow
tent or outside. We can do grounding. We'll sleep
on the ground. As much as I love her, I understand that. He's
my life. I have to have him. And he says
the place is glorious, so it'll be right. Whatever it is. Unity, one with Him. Christ as
our life, that's being saved. What is it to be saved? Him.
You stay in John, but I'll tell you what our text says. And the
Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Who should be saved? He's gonna
save some folks, but who should be? It says, as should be. Who
should be? A lot of people think, I. Why not me? I'm pretty good. The Lord has to turn us from
that and say, why me? Why me? Have you seen anybody
else? They're better than me. Why would
he pick them? Why would he pick me? Look here
in John 6. Verse 39. Who is it that should be saved?
How many? John 6, 39, and this is the Father's
will, which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. That's eternal life. Who gets that? All which he hath
given me. All which he hath given me. Some
people call that limited atonement. Limited atonement. Look down
in chapter 10, John 10. The Lord came, was given a people,
he came, he lived for them people, and he died for them people,
and he redeemed them, and he's gonna raise them up again. John
10, verse 14. He says, I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep, and am known of mine. What did he say life
eternal was? That's to know the Father and
know the Son. And he said, I know them, and I'm gonna reveal myself
to them, they know me. They know me. As the father knoweth
me, even so I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Someday we will know as we have been known. Wow. Everything. It's in complete
majesty. Everything's perfect. What are
you gonna say? Thank you. That was amazing.
I never saw it coming. I'd have never thought of that.
We'd just be in awe, in awe. Verse 16, and other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. Who's that? He's talking about us. And those
that in the 1600s, or pick a time frame between then and now, and
those two come to that last one, the very last one, here. He said,
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it up again.
He was glorifying the fathers, which we just saw by doing this.
And he said, my father loves me. Well, why are you doing it?
I love him. He told me to. He asked me to.
I said, yes, I'll redeem them. These heathen, that's my inheritance.
Thank you, father. I'll go lay down my life for
him. Look down verse 25, end of verse 25. The Lord was speaking and they
said, if thou be the Christ, you tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, verse 25,
I'm sorry, end of verse 24. If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly, verse 25, John 10, 25. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not, the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, I know them, they follow me. Just said, I'm known
of them, they know me. And I give unto them eternal
life. and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than
all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one." This one that purposed salvation and
that promised salvation to us and that performed salvation
is God. He said, I and my Father are
one. That's good news. This ain't some real strong fella
or some real smart fella. He's God. It's a God man. Something that will accompany
being saved is being thankful for that. The unregenerate won't
like it. Look at verse 31. Then the Jews
took up stones again to stone him. Kill him. How often? How much should be
added? How often should that happen?
Daily. Daily. No days off. No days off. I just, we together is our charge. It just happens to be my arm
going in the bag to throw seed. We just throw the seed and just
keep watering and keep watering. And that seed may pop up on a
Tuesday. Well, maybe 10 years. I may be
dead and gone. And then everything starts to
germinate. I have no idea. My business ain't
in the harvest. My business is to sow in the
water. That's our business, isn't it?
I thought of Ruth. He will not be in rest until
he hath finished the thing this day." Whatever needs done today
is what's going to get done today, and I can't undo it. I can't
mess it up. I can't frustrate the grace of
God. I can't subdue it, anything. He's going to do it because he
wants to, and no man can stay his hand or say, what are you
doing? Our text said, I'll read it to you again. And the Lord
added to the church daily, such as should be saved. What is it
to be saved? That's to know him, to love him,
unity with Christ. Who are the ones that should
be? His sheep. His sheep. When? As he sees fit on his timeline. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.
I expect every day. This is it. The Lord's saving
a mess of people. Why not? Why not? 500,000, 500 million, I don't
know. It has to be. What is it to be added to the
church? Ephesians 4. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. What is this church? Well, it's
the body of Christ. Ephesians 4, 11. And he gave
some apostles and some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors
and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. How long
was he going to do that? Verse 13, till we all come in
the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God until
every last one of them is saved. unto a perfect man, when that
whole body's been assembled, all the pieces of that body's
put together, unto the measure, the stature, the fullness of
Christ, because it's his body, that we, knowing this, henceforth
be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the sly of men and cunning craftiness
and whereby they lie and wait to deceive, but speaking the
truth in love. may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly joined
together, compacted, by that which every joint supplieth according
to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
What's this body it keeps talking about? That's the church. That's
the church. The Lord is saving his sheep
and adding them to his church as part of his body. He's assembling
this until the last one saved. We are in the church house. I've
heard that all my life growing up. I've heard old brother Paul
Mahan say it not too long ago. He says, I've trained myself.
We're going to the church house. This is the church house. But
we are the church. We that believe. We that's been
made to know him. He's revealed himself to. That's
the church. There's no variation of these
things. There's the body of Christ and
there's death. There's not like this church,
that church, that church. There's his body. And then there's eternal
damnation. There's eternal life and there's
eternal death. And there's completely saved. Not once saved, always saved.
This is just a rapid fire canned response. We are attached to
him as his body for eternity, no matter what. But we never
were. It's one or the other. This is
his body. Look at Ephesians 5, verse 23. Ephesians 5.23. Well, verse 22. Ephesians 5.22. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. And
he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and
everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might
present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Look down at verse 30. For we
are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bone. For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. We leave, well,
we leave our father and mother. One, leave your father and mother.
You don't need their input no more. Go away from them, leave
it. Move somewhere else is what that
means. It's a word, it's a verb, leave. But what's that spiritually
talking about? We leave everything at them.
all our old traditions and idols and thoughts and what I think
and what I feel. Well, this has been my experience.
We leave those things and we leave the worldly things. Everything
that the world values, we value what the Lord says. Leave that
stuff you come from and you cling. And we're joined, two shall be
one flesh. And he says, this is a great
mystery, verse 32, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
This is about Christ and his body. It's about him adding saved,
sinners to be members of his body, to his church. And people
say, whew, now I ain't gotta obey my husband and now I don't
have to love my wife. Nevertheless, highlight that. I got a highlight
in my Bible. This is spiritual matters. Nevertheless. We're gonna be good children,
He'll make us mine. Let every one of you in particular so love
his wife even as himself and the wife see that she reverence
the husband. We're speaking of Christ in the body here, but
this ain't just for show. Nevertheless, you have Him on
your mind as you obey, and you have Him on your mind as you
love your wife. That's why I'm saying that's the driving force
of every decision we make. What did the Lord do for us?
And I just, that comforts and that quickens, it does everything. If we know him, if we know him. What is it to be saved? Knowing
him, loving him, unity with Christ, being one with him. What is it
to be added to the church? Being bound together, being fitly
framed together, being part of his body. Who could do such things? Mankind can transplant a hand
and they think they're God. that's two things that's already
there you already had an arm and you already had a hand they
were both alive we can't make a love our text says and the
lord added to the church daily such as should be saved this
is all the lord's work turn over to first corinthians 12 first corinthians 12 Verse 12, 1 Corinthians 12, 12. For as the body is one and hath
many members, I've got fingers and toes and fingernails and
hair and elbows and I'm all together. For as the body is one and hath
many members and all the members of that one body being many are
one body, so also is Christ. He goes on to say, well, not
every eye can be a foot. A foot can't be an eye, but it's
still part of the body. That's mine. It might be just
a pinky finger. That's my pinky finger. Verse
18, we're all members. Chapter 12, verse 18. But now
hath God said, remember our text said the Lord added? Now hath
God said the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath
pleased him. He goes on to say, you know,
if everybody was a hand, I wanna be a hand. I'm a part of this
body, but I'm gonna be a hand. If we ever want a hand, it'd
just be just a bunch of little hands all put together, be one
huge hand. That ain't a body. We need all these different parts.
Everything's necessary. And the ones that we think aren't
so necessary, the Lord says are very necessary. Very necessary. That one, you know, that one
ain't that big a deal. Yes, it is. It's part of the body. It's
needed. Verse 25. That there should be no schism
in the body, but that members should have the same care one
for another. Our text said all things in common.
They're in Acts 2, didn't they? The body of Christ. Should believers
have disagreements and schisms and get fussy? No. We ain't got nothing to argue
about. Do we? We're still housing the
old body of death, ain't we? We still have pride and we still
have sin. All those things still. There's a war going on in us.
Surely there's going to be a war going on outside of us. But should
it be? No. Guess what? There'll be a
day they won't be. It'll just be firing on all cylinders. Every cell in his body just agreeing
in one. Verse 26, and where the one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it. That's why I said I've
smashed fingers before, and I couldn't tell which one hurt, because
the one on either side of it hurt. When we have a member that's
hurt, all the members hurt. They do. And on the other side
of that coin, one member honored, all members rejoice with it.
Could you imagine if there's a brother or sister that you
just love so well and you thought you grew up with them and you
knew them and known them for 30, 40 years and they got elected
to be president of the United States. That's great. Or they got some fancy award
or they graduated med school. I don't know, pick something
that we think is honorable in this world. That's wonderful. I wouldn't be envious of why,
because I can't be a doctor. They ought not be doctors. Well,
no, that's great. We love them. It's honored. Same
as we suffer with them. We honor with them. Verse 27,
understanding those things being saved, being added to the church.
We know what this body is. We're tied to him because of
Christ. Now. You are the body of Christ. Remember,
this is the Lord's doing. He's added these things. People
say, well, I'm going to join that church down there. And then
they come and go like the wind. Right now, a brother of mine's
being attacked because they put a roof on a church. Man's mad
at them, said they're a waste of money. Go read Hagia. This
was dealt with thousands of years ago. He said, you got sealed
roofs and my house don't have a roof on it? Go put a roof on
my house, on a church house. Asked and answered, didn't it?
But people think, well, I'll join there, and then I ain't
gonna go. Then I'm gonna go, then I ain't gonna go. Well, when they're added
to that body through thick and thin, whether we got the flu
or we don't have the flu, whether we're happy or sad, it don't
make a difference. When the Lord does this, and
it's His doing, not man's doing, because they decided, it says
in verse 27, now, ye are the body of Christ, and members in
particular. Now I'm my own member. But we're
part of his body. We're part of his body. That
can't be undone. That can't be undone. And that's what happens
when one side hurts and it goes through back and forth. Blood
flows through the body. You can learn about red blood cells.
I was fascinated by those things, looking at them under microscopes.
But Peter said a long time ago, knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. And the
Lord said, you comfort as I've comforted you. Over in 2 Corinthians,
it says, Everything has trials come. There'll be a time down the road,
one of your brethren's gonna go through that, when that wound
we've got now scarred up, and we still see it, and it might
still have some pains to it, but it ain't an open wound anymore,
and we'll see somebody else, one of our brethren, going through
what we went through, and we can say, I can tell you what's
gonna happen. Here's what the Lord did for
me. You're gonna see Christ in this, and you're gonna thank
him. It's gonna hurt, it's gonna scar, it's gonna itch, all things
that a wound goes through. But it's right, it's for the
body. And that one member of the body is gonna tell the other
member of the body that. Who did all this? That's impossible
with man, isn't it? But with the Lord, all things
are possible. Who could manage such a thing? Not just perform
these things or create something, a body of Christ and keep it
forever and make it work perfect, fitly framed together, like rubbed
together. Who could manage that throughout a whole nation or
across continents? And I thought across thousands
and thousands of years, the head can, the Lord. It says, and the
Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. It's
the Lord, not the big man upstairs, L-O-R-D. That means king, ruler,
dictator, sustainer, defender, comforter, provider. He's the
Lord, he's on his throne. Nothing happens without, he's
not blindsided by anything. This is the one that does it.
Colossians 2 said, let no man beguile you. They're going to
come up with all these tricks and these intrusive thoughts
and things they haven't seen. They're going to tell you to worship
angels, all kinds of nonsense, fleshly, puffed up, mindly things.
He said, but they're not holding the capital H head. They're not
preaching the Lord from which all the body by joints and bands
have nourishment ministered. All our joints and our bands
are ligaments. My Achilles heel. The Achilles heel of that body's
nourished by what? The head. That's where all the
food goes in. It all comes from the head, doesn't
it? It controls everything the brain does in our physical bodies.
If they don't have Christ, they ain't got nothing. You might
learn how to manage a household and do your finances and be a
good husband or whatever, but you don't have the head. That's
what the one thing needs for it now. Who is it that's saved?
What is it to be saved? Knowing Him, being a part of
Him. What is it to be added to the church? Being bound together.
Fitly framed together, who does such things? The King, the Lord,
our Redeemer. What's the means that the Lord
used, chose to use? It says, and, we can turn back
at our text there in a second, Acts 2. I was gonna say second
Acts. Acts 2, verse 42. I'm sorry, end of verse 47. The
Lord's going to do these things, but he's going to use our God's
a God of means. It says, and in the verse 47, and the Lord
added to the church daily, such as should be saved. How people
going to be saved? How are they going to know about
this? It says in 1 Corinthians 1, after the wisdom of God, the
world by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's the means it's
going to take place. There's going to be preaching.
We've covered that a lot. Somebody's want to stand up and
look you and I and they're gonna say some words That's just gonna
be some mouthpiece and the Lord's gonna speak through that to the
hearts of his people and quicken Holy Ghost is gonna be present
make this take place and go through all those things. We talked about
Ephesians 1 that's gonna start That's how well, how are they
gonna come to hear the preaching? Oh That was the title of the message,
huh? How to grow a church. We learned what the church was,
body members growing. Look here in verse 42, Acts 2,
42. And they continued steadfastly. steadfastly without wavering
in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of
bread and in prayers they observed the lord's table and they prayed
and they were baptizing folks who just said that one that believed
and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were
done by the apostles and all that believed were together and
had all things in common they had to be together they had to
be together why they loved one another because they loved him
he loved us we love him we got that common You start bragging
on my children, and I'm not going to be mad at you. I'm going to
be happy. When we hear the Lord exalted,
we're happy. We have to be with one another.
Have to. And they sold all their possessions
of good and parted them to all men, as every man had need. Some
had plenty, some were needy. And they, continuing daily, with
one accord in the temple, and in breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness. and singleness
of heart. That means daily. Well, some
days it rained. And you know what they did? They
lived together and worked together and went to one of those house
and ate with gladness and singleness of heart. They had something
to be glad about. We looked at that the other day. They were
glad and they trusted and they glorified God. singing us a heart
and doing so. And there was sunny days. And I thought, you know, those
weddings are a beautiful thing. They really are. It's what Paul's
going on and on about in Ephesians and other places. It's a picture
of Christ and his bride. But they come to get, they invite
people they know in the community. Hey, my kids are getting married.
You want to come by? I'm having a retirement ceremony. Do you
want to come over? I'm graduating high school. Maybe we all get
together. And they're living peaceably among all men, right?
And they're getting together and they got together on funerals
too. And they got together in the good times and they got together
in the bad times. Because it's a body. It's a body. No matter where I go, these two
hands show up. My knees show up wherever I go.
Because it's fitly framed together, isn't it? They were praising
God. Verse 47, and have in favor with all people. Paul said in
Romans 12, if it be possible, and the Lord has to do it, he
said, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men. Live peaceably with all men.
What could our modern vernacular be? Don't be a jerk. Don't be
a sourpuss. Don't be hard to deal with. And
you walk into a room and you, oh, they're back again. I don't want to be that. I don't.
Take away every offense that could be that would come in the
way of somebody coming here in the gospel. If I say, hey, there's
a wedding, would you come to it? And they say, I hate you.
No. Why would I come? Why would I be in the same room
with you? If they say, you know what? You've always been nice
to me. Yes. Yes. And that looks a lot of
different forms. That's being appealing, right? If a believing
wife and an unbelieving husband, you're to be appealing. Go to
church. You don't sit with saints because you have to, but don't
go home and kick hornet's nest. Be kind. And the Lord said he
may use that to save the husband, as long as they'll live with
you. But that comes first. When that book changes, I'll
change, but that comes first. His kingdom comes first. But
that's happened throughout, hasn't it? Abraham, the Lord said, I
know him, and he's gonna command his children and his household
after him. That means everybody within influence
that he has, and they're gonna keep the way of the Lord to do
justice and judgment. Those apostles, the Lord called
one of them, didn't he? Called Philip, and he found Nathanael.
And he said to him, we found him. We found him. That's what
Moses was talking about in the Law and the Prophets. They all
wrote about him, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, he's here,
we found him. And he said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? That was his brother. I'm sure
they had a cross word or two, didn't they? They didn't live
peaceably all the time. And Philip saith unto him, come and see.
You're my brother, come. The Lord's revealed himself to
me. I want him to reveal him to you.
Come and see. Woman at the well. That woman,
she left her water pot and went her way into the city and said
to the man, come, see a man, which told me all the things
I ever did. Is this not the Christ? Do you know she liked all them
fellas? probably married to half of them. And she said, you forget
about them old ways. You come see a man. Don't worry
about me. Come him. That's what you need.
You don't need me. I don't need a buddy. I don't
need somebody to play poker with or bridge or whatever people
consider unsinful or something. You need him. And the Lord, they
came out of respect for a harlot. And he preached to them, and
many more believed because of his word, because he preached
to them. And they said unto the woman, they said, now we believe.
Not because you said something. Not because Don Fortner said
something. Not because John Gill said something. Not because,
well, I'm saying because so and so. No. But we've heard ourselves,
we've heard Him. And no, this is indeed the Christ,
the Savior of the world. You reckon that's nice to that
woman? You reckon they had mean names to call her after that?
Do you think they looked at her and said, you better be glad
God saved sinners? Ha! Their broken heart, they was
a sinner then. They were broken down. He's the Savior of sinners. That Philippian jailer, I thought
about that. He brought him out, said, sirs, what must I, about
to kill himself. They said, don't do yourself no harm. Hold on,
buddy. We ain't going nowhere. We ain't going to leave. We'll
all stay right here, even though the walls fell down. And they
said, what must I do to be saved? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Believe
him. Believe on him. He's our foundation. He's a source of all this. Not
believe in him, on him. He's everything. He's your life.
He's going to have to do all this, but they're going to tell
him, believe. Believe. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord. They preached to him and to all that were in his
house. That was the middle of the night. He went home, woke
him teenagers up and said, get up, you're gonna listen. And
they said, well, we got school tomorrow. He said, hush. This
is more important. He commanded his house. He said,
you get in there and listen. Everybody's in this house, wake
them up. I don't care if it's inconvenient. That's what's needed.
I've told y'all many times, some of y'all do it now. My dad said,
come church with me. I thought, that fool, nobody's
ever come to him. He paid people and they wouldn't
come. Put the whole company on a payroll. They made hours. They
made it two weeks. He kept asking, kept saying,
didn't he? Come, come. I wasn't equipped to do that.
I'm a different part of the body. I ain't got the guts. And you
know what the Lord was pleased to do? I stand up and preach.
I'll take on whoever, I don't care. If the Lord opens the door,
I'll go preach. I won't ask them to come, but
he'll have to open the door. I won't have a spy do that. So
what'd he do? He attached me to you. He's fitly framed us
together. Verse 47 in our text again. They
were praising God and having favor with all the people. And
through all these things that took place, the Lord added to
the church daily, such as should be saved. Amen. I hope that's a blessing to you.