The Lord Added To The Church

Q: What does the Bible say about election and being chosen?

The Bible teaches that believers are chosen by God before the foundation of the world, highlighting divine election as a source of grace. In Acts 2:46-47, we see that the Lord added to the church daily those who were to be saved. This emphasizes the doctrine of election, where God sovereignly selects individuals for salvation. Scripture confirms this in Ephesians 1:4-5, stating that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. The reality of being chosen is not based on human merit but is entirely a work of divine grace, reaffirming that salvation is of the Lord, as mentioned throughout the sermon.

Q: How do we know that salvation is by God's choice?

Salvation is by God's choice as revealed in scriptures like 2 Thessalonians 2:13, which states that God has chosen us from the beginning. The sermon highlights that salvation is not a result of human will but entirely the work of God. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul expresses gratitude for believers because God has chosen them for salvation from the beginning. This emphasizes that God's choice precedes human action, reinforcing the doctrine of unconditional election. Furthermore, the polling of humanity reveals that while many may reject God, those whom He has chosen will inevitably come to faith, underscoring His sovereign will in deciding who belongs to His church.

Q: Why is the doctrine of the church important for Christians?

The doctrine of the church as the body of Christ emphasizes community, belonging, and divine purpose among believers. Understanding the doctrine of the church is crucial as it reveals that the church comprises all believers—God's chosen people who gather not by mere human decision but by divine appointment. The term 'ekklesia,' or 'called out,' signifies that the church is not a building but a spiritual assembly. Acts 2 illustrates this with believers joining together in fellowship, doctrine, and worship. This community serves as a tangible expression of Christ's body on earth, accentuating the importance of unity, mutual love, and the collective mission of spreading the gospel.

Q: How does God add people to the church?

God adds people to the church through His sovereign call and by the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. According to the sermon, Acts 2:47 indicates that the Lord Himself is the one who adds to the church. This act is not a passive invitation but an active sovereign call where God selects and transforms individuals, convicting them of their sin and need for salvation. The process involves three key elements: calling, conviction, and commitment. God first calls His people, then convicts them of their sins, leading to repentance, followed by a commitment to Christ through baptism and community fellowship.

Thank you. I was chosen by Him Chosen by
Him Chosen before the world began I was chosen by Him Chosen by
Him Thank God I was chosen by Him He died for me at Calvary
Because of His love He shed His blood Now I am clean His kingdom
I'll see Thank God I was chosen by Him I was chosen by Him Chosen by Him Chosen before the
world began I was chosen by Him Chosen by Him Thank God I was
chosen by Him He holds the place in glory for
me. He's given me grace, love and
mercy. My life He spared, no judgment
to bear. Praise God, I was chosen by Him. I was chosen by Him Chosen by
Him Chosen before the world began I was chosen by Him Chosen by
Him Thank God I was chosen by Him God's people will never Get over that. It's simplicitive. You get the wonder
and amazement of it. God's electing grace. Let's go
to Acts chapter 2 now. God electing grace. That's the theme of our message. Acts chapter 2. Let's read verses 46 and 47,
Acts chapter 2. It says, They, continuing daily
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness
of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, And
the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be said. The Lord added to the church. That's the title of this message. And like so many words, the word
church has been so abused and misused in our day, and I hate
that it's so. The word church The Greek word
is ekklesia, and it means called out. Called out. That's what the church means.
Or an assembly of the saints, or the called. The word church
is a precious and a blessed name which God the Father gave to
His children, which God the Father uses in reference to Christ's
bride, the church, his chosen, his elect, his saints, the church. And as I said, this word is so
abused and misused and used in a wholesale manner today. I have
purposely taught myself not to use this term carelessly. And it would be a good thing
for all to do so. I do not refer to these buildings all over the
land as churches. I call them religious organizations. Nor is this building the church.
The church is God's people. It's the family of God. And there
are many local assemblies throughout this world. local churches like
this one, and they're meeting right now all over, God's precious
people. They're meeting in Jacksonville,
North Carolina. They're meeting in Fairmont,
West Virginia. They're meeting in Ashland, Kentucky.
They're meeting in Papago, Florida, and on and on. When I bring up
those cities, what do you think of them? Pretty building? You think of the people, don't
you? Faces come to mind. The church, the church, God's
people. They're meeting all over their
local assemblies, but you know, there's one church. It's all
God's people makes up the church, the church of the living God.
It's in earth and it's in heaven. We sang this song with whom we
had mystic sweet communion. We have brethren that have left
us to go to be with the Lord in that heavenly church, but
they're still on our mind and our heart. They're still with
us in that sense. So the church is a blessed and
precious name used by God to refer to his people's Christ's
body. It's Christ's body, his bride,
it's the church and to be a part of the church. To be a part of
the church, to be added to. To be added to the church. It's. It's the greatest honor
that can be conferred upon a human being. It's not no we added to
the church is not to join a club. Like you would join an organization
of some other kind like the Lions Club or the Rotary Club or the
Women's Garden to be to be it's not to join but it's to be joined. To the church. It says in our text, the Lord
added to the church. How do you get to be part of
the church? The Lord added to the church. The Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
his choice. He decides. He decides who's
a member of his church. He decides who is in his family. It's the Lord, salvation belonging
to the Lord. And salvation is of the Lord.
It's by his sovereign power that someone is made a member of his
church. And we're going to look at this
now, this sovereign power. So to be... What I'm trying to
say is to be added to the church is another way of saying, Lord
save me. I've been saved by the Lord.
The Lord added to the church, we don't join the church. It
joins us to the Bible, grabs us in the Bible. The same way
we don't say, I got saved, we say, the Lord saved me. I'm not
splitting hairs. All right, the Lord added to
the church, it says, such as should be saved. such as should who should be
said he's not saying here that everyone deserves a chance all
you'll get say. You ought to be saying. That she leaves the parks used
to attend a place here in town that they had on their bulletin
board recently for a long time they had this on their bulletin
board. And this is what most places believe. But they had,
and I quote, if you don't like the way you were born the first
time, try being born again. That's what they believe. You
just try getting, you just get born again. We're about to witness the miracle
of a birth, and that child had nothing to do with it. That child
wasn't even in existence until the mother and the father got
together. and conceive that child. So it is in salvation. It's of
the Lord. You don't get born again. You're
born from above. The term is really, when our
Lord said it in John 3, he said, what he said really was, you
must be born from above. From above. And you don't add yourself to
his church. But the Lord adds, who should
be saved? It's not that everyone deserves
a chance. It's not that everyone should or ought to. No. All whom God the Father gave
to Jesus Christ should be saved. Or they will be. You can count
on it. They will. They will. They will. Salvation is of the Lord. The
Lord adds to the church such as should be saved according
to his Lamb's Book of Life and his eternal purpose. Now, in the context here, this is what the Lord did to
add to his church. In this story here, this is the
story of Pentecost. Most of you know that. The Lord
does the same thing now, though in a smaller way. He does the
same thing now, to add people to his church as he did that
day when there were three thousand souls added to the church. Same thing. Same thing. All are added to the church the
same way in which these people were. Well, how? How were they
added to the church? All right, let's look at it.
There are three things that happen when the Lord, and here's what
I want you to Ask yourself when you're listening to this, I want
you to honestly ask yourself, have I been in my part of God's
church? Am I a part of God's church?
Now, here's three things that happened to these people, three
things. Number one, they were called.
They were called. That's how God answered his church,
he calls his people. Number two, they were convicted.
They were convicted. And number three, they were committed. It's called conviction and commitment. All right, now, let's look at
it. Acts chapter 2. Peter and the apostles were preaching
at Pentecost. They preached the gospel. Look
at chapter 2, verse 22. He says, You men of Israel, hear
these words, Jesus of Nazareth, He's reminding them of the man
named Jesus who walked on their soil among them. A man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs. Even Nicodemus
one time said, no man can do these things except God be with
them. Everyone recognized that what he did and said was so clearly
God-like. Peter says, you know this, verse
twenty-three, and he being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, that is delivered up to be killed, to
be crucified, to be slain, you have taken and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain. God sent him, God sent his only
begotten well-beloved Son, that man named Jesus was indeed the
Son of God, and he came to this earth. to do something which
God sent him to do. And God sent him forth, and yet
man took him, you took him, he said. And with wicked hands it
crucified and slain. Now who's he speaking to? Us. I've said so many times, for
a human being to live any time at all on this earth and not
give his Creator a thought. Not give the one in whose hands
his breath is and all his ways. Not give the one who has provided
for him or her all of their days. Everything they have they receive
from above. For a human being to live any
time on this earth and not give God a thought, a word of thanks,
is rejecting their Creator. It's like saying, I don't care
if God lives or not. I don't even acknowledge him.
Isn't it? It's to kill God. For a human
being to live on this earth and hear the story of God sending
his Son through this earth. You mean God walked this planet? Must have been a reason. Must
be important and all, but people don't care. It's nothing to them.
For a human being to live any time at all and not give that
a thought, it be of no concern to them why God came here, is to kill him. It's to say,
I don't care if he lived or not. I don't care less. We're all
guilty. And had we been there, we'd all
have driven the nails in his hands. Every one of us, me included.
Yes, sir. You with wicked hands. But we
did what God determined before to be done. We did what God determined
before to be done. Read on down. In verse 24, it
says, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death.
Jesus, called the Christ, was killed, slain, put in a grave. We saw that, but He didn't stay
dead. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt who He was. He was raised from the dead.
He walked out of that grave. Nobody has ever done what he
did. Walked out by his own power,
out of the grave, because death had no hold over him. Proving
everything he did, everything he said, proving him to be God.
Proving him to be God. And he walked out, because it's
not possible that death should hold him. Down in verse 32, it
says, this Jesus have God raised up, that is, raised him to the
highest place, whereof we are all witnesses, we've seen him.
Peter, James, John, he took them up on the mountain one day to
show them his true person. He said, we beheld his glory.
Not just a man, they saw who he really is. He said, you'd do well, Peter
wrote in another place, you'd do well to take heed. He'd do
well. In verse thirty-three it says,
being by the right hand of God exalted, right now, seated on
the throne of glory, exalted as a prince, as a judge, as a
ruler over all mankind, right now ruling over us. Everyone
in this room right now is in His hands to sovereignly dispose
of as He will. Right now, our souls are in His,
the judge of all the earth, in His hands to dispose of as He
will. Right now, seated, looking over
all the earth, His earth that He reigns over. Stephen, when
he was preaching, said he looked steadfastly toward heaven, he
said, I see the Son of Man at the right hand of God, reigning,
ruling. And all those God-haters, they
wanted to silence that. Well, God has exalted him, seated
him. Verse 33 says, he's exalted and has received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost. That is, for his enemies to be
his footstool. Read on. And he's the one who
has shed forth this that you now see and hear. All of this
that's going on, he's doing it. David is not ascended into heaven.
He's not talking about David in that psalm. The Lord, when
the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until
I make thy foes thy footstool. He's talking about Jesus Christ.
So let all the house of Israel, let everyone know, and everyone
in this house, know assuredly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that
God Almighty hath made that one named Jesus, that man that walked
this planet, whom we have crucified. whom the world makes to be nothing
more than a man. God has made him a Lord, that
is, supreme ruler, despot, absolute controller over the breath of
every human being, and Christ, the only mediator between God
and man, the only one, not Peter, not James, not John, not the
Pope, not the priest, not the preacher, not anybody, but one
person that every human being must be aware to get to God. Jesus Christ. The only one. And He's seated on the throne
right now, reigning over us. Right now. Can't see Him? Man. A God in whose hands our
breath is. that we didn't give a thought,
didn't care. That's what they heard. They
didn't hear about a weak Jesus who wants to and can't, did they?
They didn't hear about God's love. Did he say anything about
God loving them? No, sir. Did he say anything
about Jesus dying for their sins? No, sir. What do you say? He said, you
need to hear this. That man named Jesus is more
than a man. He came with an expressed purpose,
sent by God. He did what he came to do. He
died, yes. He didn't die. He rose. Where
is he now? Seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high, reigning and ruling, and we're in his hand.
We are in his hand. To do with as he pleases. Save us or damn
us. Kill us or let us live. Have
mercy or condemn us. That's it. That was the message. That was the message. No talk
of God loving. No talk of Jesus dying for him.
No asking anybody, what will you do? Won't you accept him? No soft music playing. Don't
come down. That's it. a reigning, ruling, sovereign
king and lord. Well, that's how God calls his
people. Now, the world doesn't understand
this. The religious world doesn't understand this. They think salvation
is an invitation. No, salvation is a divine subpoena. Salvation is a summons to appear
before the court of God Almighty. Isn't it? If you break the law, what will happen? If there's
any justice in the land where you live, if there's true justice,
you will appear before the magistrate, won't you? Is there any possibility? You can run, but you cannot completely
hide. You will be found out. And you
will be apprehended if the law, if the transgression is great
enough. You will in time. I've heard
of stories of people committing a great crime and selling it
and go into hiding for 30 or 40 years. And not only did their conscience
never leave, let them go. There's somebody living in hiding
30 or 40 years in their conscience still, and they turn themselves
in. I've heard of them doing that. That's a good illustration. If God plants the seed, plants
the word, that person will turn themselves in. But I've heard
of those being in hiding for years like that, and some little
law officer, somebody spot them or whatever, and apprehend them
and bring them in. They're going to be
apprehended, and so will we. It's a divine summons. It's to
be apprehended by the Lord himself. It's to be called by him. Now
this call is not an invitation. Look with me at 2 Thessalonians
2. This call is not like we would call somebody.
We call people all the time and invite them to do things. We
cannot make anybody do anything. We can't make anybody do anything.
I can't even make my dog come to me. Really. He has to be made willing
by, well, I can't even make my dog cook, let alone a human being
do anything. This call is not an invitation,
but it's a divine power of God through the preaching of the
gospel which brings his people. Look at verse 13. He says, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. Paul gives thanks to God. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now, if I call
somebody, if I'm just going to invite somebody, I do it sovereignly. Don't I? Don't you? Rebecca,
don't you call whoever you will on the phone? Does anybody deserve
to be called by you? No, you call whomever you will.
That's the sovereign right of anybody. I'm going to call staying
on the phone today. Ron over here can't complain.
He didn't call me. You don't deserve to be called.
I'm calling who I will. What could be clearer? God calls
who he will. He's had mercy on whom he will.
Well, I call Stan. Stan, this is Paul. He knows
who it is. I called him. I'm talking to
him. I chose him to call him. Read on. God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. God decided, that's a bad term,
God purposed before the world began. God in his will and his
purpose He chose the people. That's His divine prerogative, or right. We have that right,
don't we, Stephen? We have that right. We can choose
anything weâ€”nobody can say anything about it. How much more God? All right, God chose us from
the beginning, from the beginning of the world. I love what Man,
I repeat it all the time. You know I love it, because I
repeat it all the time. What Spurgeon said, he said,
I know God chose me before I was born, because I know if He'd
have waited till after, He wouldn't have chosen me then. The children
being not yet born, either having any good or evil, done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
spread. A lot of works, but of Him that calleth. It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. Yea, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated." And lest anybody argue with God's
sovereign election, Scripture says He chose a people
which no man can number. How many did you decide that
was, Dan? Did you look that up for us,
our numerical system? How far does it go? And no man can number, as he
said, as the stars of the sky. Brother Gabe was pointing out
to me, he said he put on a pair of night vision goggles. Brother
Lee had them, put on these night vision goggles. He said, you
look up in the sky without these on, you see just literally millions
of stars with the naked eye. He put on these night vision
goggles. You can't believe the stars. Well, God says, I have
a people as the stars of the sky. If he'd chosen one person,
it would have been great mercy. But as the stars of the sky,
the sand of the seashore. How many grains of sand do you
have in your hand when you pick up a handful, let alone the whole
ocean shore and bottom of the ocean? Well, that's how many
God has chosen. Why does anybody argue? My, he's
not unfair, it's false. But he chose them from the beginning
to be saved, to save them. How does he do it? Read on. 2
Thessalonians 2.13, through sanctification of the Spirit. That means to
be set apart by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sets them apart. I've given you the illustration
before of a cutting horse, you know. There's a herd of cattle
and a guy on a cutting horse. He's got his mind, his eye on
one of those calves. And he's going to rope, he's
going to cut that calf out of the herd, isn't he? He's not concerned with the other
one. He's got that one choked. And what's he going to do? He's
going to brand it. He's going to cut it, set it
apart, and put his brand on it. What does that mean? He's mine.
That was mine. Our tape's working. That's what God does through
the Holy Spirit. He sends the Holy Spirit to set
apart His people from the mass of humanity. How? How did you
know them? One time, a fellow was arguing
with Spurgeon about election. He said, if I only believe that,
and they still argue that, if you believe that only the elect
will be saved, and I do, I do. I don't apologize for that. The
elect will be saved. Well, they argue, well, why not
just preach to the elect? Well, if I knew, that's all I
preached to. It'd be a waste of breath otherwise,
wouldn't it? If I knew. If you go out there and the Virgin
said, if you'll put an E on them, I will. Well, there is an E on them.
Well, there's red all over them. There's blood all over them,
applied to their hearts, their conscience. It's no different
than the blood on the doorpost and the lintel of those children
of Israel in Egypt. Yes, sir. Who saw it? They didn't
see it. God did. He saw the blood. He knew where it was and where
it wasn't, didn't he? And what does he do? He comes
calling. How? Read on. Through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel. Our gospel. If someone listens carefully,
they'll see the vast difference between our gospel and what's
called the gospel today. Haven't you? Someone pretty new,
don't you clearly see the difference in what is called the gospel
today? What I'm talking about this morning, this call, Preachers and people and religions,
you can't understand. How are you going to get people
to come unless you do things to draw them in? How are you
going to get people to come to Christ unless you make an invitation?
How are you going to get people to respond unless you please
and beg and do all this stuff to get them to respond? You know,
we're humans, and how are you going to get a big crowd unless
you use all these sales tactics like business uses? How are you
going to do it? How are you going to? I'm not
going to. I don't want to do anything. Salvation's up to the
Lord." And all he told Ezekiel was, he said, Ezekiel, go out
there to that graveyard. It's full of dry bones, isn't
it? It's full of dry, dead bones.
And man is dead, dead, dead, dead. Barnard used to say, graveyard
dead. We know what that means. Go down
to a grave, and there's a man, and you holler at him, scream
at him, beg him, plead with him. He's not going to do a thing.
He's still graveyard dead. And he told Ezekiel, you go down
to the graveyard, and here's what you do. You get you a five-piece
band. with the best sounding music,
and see if you can't get the hip bone to join to the thigh
bone, the thigh bone, you know, get those bones a-shakin'. Do
something. Plead with them. Dress them up.
Preach. Preach what? Declare God. Just declare God. Just declare
the truth. You don't ask dead people to
do it. They can't. All you do is declare
God. This is the power of God. And
religion can't understand that. They can't understand. Why? Because
they've never experienced this. Do you understand why they can't
understand? This is all you do is preach?
Yeah. It's all God sent you to do.
Well, that won't accomplish anything. It's the power of God. The reason
you don't know it is because you've never heard it. This is
how God called, and begged, and pleaded, and asked, and do things
to get people. He just declared, God! And God
moves. The Spirit of God moves. You have He quickened who were
dead in trespass and in sin. How? To see His glory. given eyes to see that were blind,
ears to hear that I heard message after message after message after
message. I had ears to hear, but I could not hear. But God
in due time. That baby is not going to be
born until it's time. In due time. And God, the time,
is appointed by God Almighty. The ears are open. Did you hear
that? Yeah. Thought you never would. And the heart is broken. Life has been given. This is
the call. It's the gospel call. We don't... The power of God is just declaring
the power of God. This is the power of God. This
is what God uses. The power of God is simply declaring
the power of God. He said, if I be lifted up, what
happens? I'll draw men to me. Declare
me. Declare me. My sheep are going
to see me, see my glory. They're going to see me, the
Lord reigning, ruling, the Christ, the only one. The church is called
to see his glory. They call, everyone up, called.
That they may be with me, Christ said, to behold my glory. That's
what salvation is. You know what? That's what it
is. To behold his glory, right now, and on through this life,
and then in heaven itself, just to be married. What is marriage? You
get married so you can have a bigger house and you have more things.
No, it's to fall in love with a person. Isn't it? In marriage, we're the bride
of Christ and what he calls us to do is fall in love with his
son. Well, they're called and then
they're convicted. Look at our text here. It says
in verse And don't you hear, just through the naked ear, don't
you hear the difference between our gospel and all that stuff
out there? Our gospel is the power of God.
It's not what we do with it or how we use it. It is the power. The message is the power. When they heard this, verse 37,
when they heard this, what? Who Christ is? Where He is? They were pricked in their heart.
They were pricked in their heart. Peter didn't tell them, now if
you'll repeat after me, if you'll buy my self-help book, How to
Live the Christian Life. They asked Him. They came begging
Him, didn't they? They said to Him, the men and
brothers said, what shall we do? They said, men and brethren,
what shall we do? Here's the answer. Here's a good
answer. They were convicted. Peter said,
repent. Repent. Just repent, man. Just confess guilt. Just confess
guilt. That's what repentance is. I'm
wrong. I've been wrong. I am wrong.
Everything about me is wrong. Let God be true. Everything I
thought about God was wrong. Everything I thought about salvation
was wrong. My profession was wrong. Repentance is the fear of the
Lord. It's repentance is toward God. Against thee and thee only
have I sinned. I've done this. I've ignored
God. I've ignored God's Son. I haven't
been thankful to God. Repent, God. Be merciful to me. Be sinner. Repentance toward
God. Repentance is... Look with me
real quickly at 1 Thessalonians 1. Would you turn there real
quickly? I'm going to wind this up. Oh, may the Lord not wind
it up for somebody. May He convict. May He convict me afresh. Repentance
is an ongoing thing, it's never-ending. 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 5, he
says, our gospel, we have it, 1 Thessalonians 5, our gospel
came not in word only, but in power, and the Holy Ghost and
much assurance. And down in verse 9, it says,
the last line, you turn to God from idols to serve the living
and true God. It's for a person to come to
the realization, I've been playing church all my life. I was just
religious. I didn't know God, didn't know
Christ. I made a profession, didn't mount to the hill of Eden.
I just got wet. I didn't confess the true Christ.
It's for a person to realize that and say, I renounced every
bit of that religious past of mine. I was all an idol. I was
playing games. And now I know the living and
true God and true Christ, and I want to confess Him. I want to confess to him. Repent,
Peter said, and be baptized. That's what baptism is. Repent and be baptized. Turn from idol, turn from self,
turn from sin and be baptized. Here's the last point. We're
called, we're convicted, and we commit. Commit. Commitment is confession. You
do not love somebody until you, before all the world, tell all
the world, I love this person. I want to marry this person.
I want all the world to see that this is the person that I love
and am committed to from this day forward. Do you take this
man to be your God and King? I do. Do you take this man to
be your only righteousness before God? I do. Will you confess him? I will. Leaving all others, plead to
him. He is your all. Yes, he is. What he did, you were buried
with him, crucified with Christ, buried with him. Is that what
you want? Yes, it is. I now pronounce you. The church. He confessed Christ. He confessed
Christ in believer's baptism. It's not joining the church.
You're not confessing people, you're confessing Christ. It's
a public confession of faith in Christ. And it says, look
at our text. Acts 2, it says in verse 41,
they that gladly received his word were baptized. All of them.
Every one of them. without exception, were baptized. And read on, a communion. Same
day were added thirty thousand souls, and they continued, verse
forty-two, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. They
came back the next Sunday, or Wednesday, as the church, we
saw an exit, and he was still piled, couldn't wait. They said,
we want to hear this soon. And they met together quite a
bit. They wanted to hear this message over and over again.
That's how you know. That's how you know. They loved
him. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine. More than doctrine, it was the
love, the gospel was the love of their heart and fellowship.
Fellowship, worship around the gospel table, they got to have
it. Can't do without it. That's the nature of sheep. Breaking
of bread and in prayers. They continued, read on, and
fear, fear of the Lord, came upon every soul. Wonders and
signs were done. Oh, they saw the Lord do great
things through the apostles. And all that believed were together.
That's what flocks do. They gather together. That's
what sheep do. They had all things common, read
on, and sold their possession and goods, parted them to all
as every man had need. If there was anybody in need,
they met it. That's how you know they love
one another. No member of the family is going to starve, or
be without a house, or a place to live, or clothes. You're not
going to let it happen to your family, are you? That's how you
know they're family. That's how you know. Committed, communing. Verse 46,
they continued daily with one accord in the temple. Breaking
bread from house to house, they love to get together, fellowship.
You like to spend time with your family? Well, yeah. I do too. And that's who I spend my time
with. All the time. At every opportunity. I have
my family in my house. That's just a fact. I love my
family. Church is your family. That's
who you love. That's who you keep company with. That's who
you have in your home. That's who you think about. That's your... And you do it with gladness,
verse 46, and singleness of heart. Gladness. You don't do it because
you have to, you're supposed to, ought to. You do it because
you want to. You be with who you want to be with. Do what
you want to do. Gladness and singleness of heart,
meaning one aim, one purpose, one goal, One thing in mind,
you do it out of, well you love the Lord, you love the gospel,
you love his people, by this shall all men know. You want
to do what he says in verse 47, praising God. What's church all
about? Praising God. There's another
word that's just thrown around like Something more common. Praise. He's a praise leader. Man. The biggest center in here
ought to be praise leader. Praising God. Praising God. That's what we do here. That's
why we come. Praising God. Having favor with all the people.
You're my favorite people. You know that? Stan's just getting more favorable
in my eyes all the time. I think more highly of Him just
all the time. All the time. Favor with all
the people. In other words, the more you
get to know somebody, the more you love them, the more you appreciate
them, the more you want to be with them, and on and on it go. On and on
it go. That young man right there, I
thought I loved him, but boy, I'm really starting to love him.
Like flesh. I mean that. It's the exact same
way for all God's people. I hope it shows. And the Lord added to the church. The Lord added. He did this.
It's all the Lord's doing. All of that. Everything will
happen. The Lord did it. The Lord did it. So that's what we want. That's
what we want to happen. The Lord did it. A preacher one
time said to somebody, he said, I'm not looking for church members,
so-called. You can make those, but looking
for God's sheep. But if the Lord adds to the church,
if the Lord adds to the church, they're added, and they'll never
be subtracted. Not on this earth, unless he
removes them to his church in heaven. I think that can't family's
family always will be. Always will be no matter what.
If the Lord does it, that is. If the Lord does it. All right,
let's sing a closing hymn. What number you got picked at?
187. Okay.

The Lord Added To The Church

What does the Bible say about election and being chosen?

How do we know that salvation is by God's choice?

Why is the doctrine of the church important for Christians?

How does God add people to the church?

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The Lord Added To The Church

What does the Bible say about election and being chosen?

How do we know that salvation is by God's choice?

Why is the doctrine of the church important for Christians?

How does God add people to the church?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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