Good morning, church. It's a
blessing to be with you guys this morning, especially to be
able to come up here and expound on God's word by his grace. This
morning, the Lord would have us in Acts 2. And we'll be covering, Lord willing,
42 through 47. Acts 2, 42 through 47. And it reads, And they devoted themselves
to the apostles' teachings, the fellowship, to the breaking of
bread, and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing
the proceeds to all as any had need, and day by day attending
the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. And they
received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising
God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added
to their number day by day those who were being saved. Let's pray. Father, we really at times don't
realize how blessed we are, Lord. that you would save us. Lord,
I pray, Lord, as we contemplate salvation, Lord, we contemplate
or think about or meditate on you coming, Lord, that we would
be in awe, Father, that we will be in awe and thanksgiving of
the grace that you have given us by saving us, realizing, Lord,
that it's been nothing done by us that would produce salvation,
but that you would see fit for your good pleasure, for your
will, Lord, that you would open up our eyes to see the beauty,
to see the majesty, to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Lord. And not only that, not just to
see it, Father, but the hope in it, to trust that in his holiness
as our own, Father. Pray, Lord, that you'd be with
us as so many have already prayed this morning, that you'd be with
us, Lord, that you would open up our hearts to receive your
word. Lord, you would take me, a weak vessel, and use me for
your glory, Father, that you would help me teach nothing but
the truth, Father, that no error would be found upon my lips today,
Father, that you would be glorified through your preaching of your
word, Lord. And I pray, Lord, as we hear your word, Father,
that you would give us the grace to walk therein of it, Father,
that you'd give us the grace to apply it to our lives, Lord,
realizing that apart from your grace, Lord, nobody can do that
which you've called us to do, Father, that the flesh is hostile
towards you, Lord, but that the Spirit of God live in us, we
know we're able to do all the things that you have commanded
us to do, Father, not as a burden, Lord, but as a blessing, as rejoicing
in that which you have called us to do, Lord. Be with us this
hour. We ask this in the name of the King of kings and the
Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, here we are at the
count of Pentecost, and as we know that Peter and his disciples
or Peter and the apostles and possibly 120 were gathering up
a room. when the Holy Spirit of God came. And when the Holy
Spirit came and filled them with power, such power that they,
what, they entered outside of the building that they were in
and they went to proclaim the gospel to over 3,000 souls. Such
power that we know is, that Babel was undone in that day because
these men and through power through the Holy Spirit spoke in another
language. So when you see tongues in the
Bible, it's talking about another language. For instance, we know
that the apostles spoke Hebrew, and the moment that the Holy
Spirit come upon them, they spoke in another language that they
never spoke before in their life. Why? Because God used the apostles
to reach men who would not understand the gospel in the Hebrew language,
so God empowered them to speak another language so that them
people could hear the gospel and believed. So the portents
of the apostles receiving the gospel hear this. It isn't some
prayer language, but it's for them to preach the gospel to
those who could not understand them, except for them speaking
another language. So the apostles come out and
they preach in the power of tongues, in the power of the Holy Spirit,
speaking another language. And as they preached the Word of
God, we know 3,000 or more people came and they heard the Word
of God. And as Peter preached Christ crucified, as Peter preached
Jesus being the King of kings and the Lord of lords, as Peter
preached Jesus Christ rising from the grave, and as Peter
preached that only through Christ that we can be saved, we know
3,000 men were cut to the heart. They were cut to the heart. that
God's Word went forth in power and the working of the Holy Spirit,
they were cut through the heart to such a point that they cried
out, brothers, what must we do to be saved? But that ain't always the case
when people are cut through the heart by the Word of God. We know when
Stephen preached, the Scripture specifically says that they were
cut through the heart. But instead of repenting when
they were cut through the heart, the Word of God hardened their
hearts when it cut it. to such a degree that what they
gnashed their teeth and they put their fingers in the ears
because they cannot stand to hear the Word of God no more
and they stoned Stephen to death. That we don't ever know when
God's Word, when it goes forth in power, we never know what
it's going to do to the individuals. Some it's going to rejoice, some
it's going to fall on good ground, and others it's not going to
fall on good ground. Here, God, by His grace, here at Pentecost
allowed for it to fall on good ground. Some of the people, we
know some people yelled out, they're drunk, they're drunk,
but they were not drunk. They were full of the Holy Spirit
preaching the word of God. And as they were cut to the heart,
what must we do to be saved? Peter says, repent, repent, be
baptized in the name of Jesus. That the gospel has always started
with repent and trust in Christ. Repentance is something that
we don't hear about in most pulpits today. Something that we don't
hear about turning from your sin or turning from thinking
that in your own power, your own deeds that you can be righteous
before God or repent of your false religion because your false
religion will not save you. Only through Jesus Christ that
you can be saved. As Peter was calling these Jewish
people and these people from other countries to repent of
their idolatry. And why Jesus? Because this is where a lot of
the Oneness Pentecostals love to run to. A lot of the Oneness
Church of God loves to run to when they denounce the Trinity.
See, they baptize in the name of Jesus. Well, here it doesn't
say that they baptize in the name of Jesus. He said, be baptized
in the name of Jesus. I believe when Peter actually
baptized these people, he didn't go against the commandment of
Jesus in Matthew 24. I believe when Peter baptized
these people, he baptized them in the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. The importance of telling them
in this day, at that moment, to be baptized in the name of
Jesus, because these people, the majority of these people,
already knew that Father was God. They already knew that. And now Peter's saying Jesus
is God also. Jesus is one with the Father.
Because we know Jesus, a lot of times, the Jewish people,
that's the reason why they wanted to kill Jesus, because when He
says, I'm the begotten Son of God, I'm the Son of God, He was
creating Himself equal with the Father. So that's the whole purpose,
they wanted to kill Him, because when He says, I'm the Son, He's
saying, I'm equal with the Father. And we know Jesus says, a lot
of times in the Scripture, and also John talks about it in 1
John, that what, if we do not have the Son, then we do not
have the Father. And if we say we had the Father
and do not have the Son, we have neither one. For some people
to denounce the Trinity is to denounce God. That one is not
above the other. So the importance here when he
said he baptized in the name of Jesus is he's saying, look,
Jesus is God as well to the people he's talking to. And we know that when he taught
them this, He continued teaching them the Word of God, expounding
on the Word, exhorting the Word of God amongst them. And we know
that God done a great miracle amongst these 3,000 or more people,
but we know 3,000 souls were added to the church. 3,000 souls
through the public preaching of the Word of God, people were
born again. And when you think about that,
when I read the book of Acts or I look through the New Testament,
you know most people who were born again were either born again
through the public preaching or through the public witnessing
of the word of God outside the local building, or they were
born again in the synagogue. Because we know when Paul arrived
at a new city, it was custom for him to go to the synagogue's
wife who preached the gospel to the Jewish people who did
not know about Christ or already denounced Christ. Or he was in
the marketplaces. Preaching the gospel. Most people
didn't have a church service like we're having today and invite
lost people in for them to hear the gospel so that they'd be
saved. It was always outdoor public preaching or going to
synagogues where people were worshiping a false god and go
teach them the truth. And as God done that, he would
save and then bring people to the church. He would add to the
church. And we know that these people were born again of God
because then we get to what they were devoted to. So as we walk
through this day, I'm not preaching a work salvation through some
of the things I'm going to say today, through what this text
is teaching us. But what I am preaching is those who are born
again will follow up in these areas in their life. Then we
know when God saves us, He takes out our heart of stone that loves
the things of the world, that's devoted to the things of the
world. and He gets the heart of flesh. Then He puts His Spirit
in us and He causes us to walk in His statues. Then everyone
who's in Christ we know is a new creation in Christ. They went
from being dead to alive. He transferred them from darkness
to light. And the outcome of them knowing that these 3,000
people were saved wasn't because they gave an altar call and 3,000
people come forth. It wasn't because Peter led them
in a prayer. It wasn't even because they said
Jesus is Lord at the end of all this. It was the fruit and the
obedience to the Word of God that affirmed that they had been
born again. Because we know people can walk
out all day and profess Jesus is Lord, but it doesn't mean
they're born again. I know I've done it three times in my life
and was not born again. That we know when the Word of
God goes forth in power, we ain't gotta give an altar call, people
are gonna believe. Whether they believe in their
seat, or they believe in their bed, or they believe on the way
home, we know God is the one who saves people. God is the
one who stirs people up, I mean, changes people's hearts to believe.
And let's get, in 42 he says, and they were, and they devoted
themselves to the apostles' teachings. Devoted themselves to the apostles'
teachings. I imagine before they devoted themselves to the apostles'
teachings, before God saved them, they were devoted to many things.
They were devoted to many things. I know before God probably saved
us, we were devoted to many things. I know many things I was devoted
to was sports. I was a big sports, probably
my number one idol. I was devoted to money. I was
devoted to all kinds of things before God saved me. And I imagine
these people were devoted to all things before God saved them.
That we know as people, whether we're falling down worshiping
a statue, we'll make an idol out of anything. and worship
it. And we'll say, no, I'm not worshiping that. But then we're
all about it. Because whatever we're devoted to is that which
we're worshiping. But these people showed that
they had been born again of God. Why? Because they were devoted
to the apostles' teachings. I remember when I was a baby
in Christ and I read that. And I was like, well, how do
you apply that today if they're devoted to the apostles' teachings?
Well, the apostles' teachings is the Word of God. So them people
were devoted to the apostles teachings who were teaching the
word of God. So we know that they were, because
they were born again, God was doing a work in their heart and
God gave them affection. God gave them a zeal. God gave
them a passion for God. For God. And what are they doing? They wanted to know their God,
so they showed up to listen to the apostles teach. And I imagine
because they didn't have the New Testament, they probably
took notes from the Old Testament about Christ so they could go
home and study the Word of God because they had to know their
God. They had to know Him. They had
to know Him because they loved Him. They loved Him more than
anything else. They had to know Him. And we
must ask ourselves, are we devoted to the Word of God? Are we devoted to the Word of
God? In the Bible, there was no Christian
who was born again of God that was not devoted to the Word of
God. There was no Christian in the Bible who was not devoted
to God. Yes, they had hangups. Yes, they
had mess ups. But when you look at the life
of every Christian in the Bible, They were sold out. They were
what we would call in our day radical Christians, but they
were normal Christians. They were born again of God. And they
showed they were born again by their love for the Word of God.
For the love for the Word of God, beloved. If we don't have
a love for God's Word, then we must ask ourselves, does the
Holy Spirit of God dwell in us? This Holy Spirit of God dwells
in us. If I think about that, beloved, that if we love our
spouse, we're devoted to them. Why? Because we're married to
them. Well, if I'm part of the body
of Christ, if Christ is my husband, and I'm his bride, and his Spirit
lives in me, how can I not be devoted to him? Is God not able
to make us devoted to him? Is God not able to do a work
in our heart that we have to find ourselves in the scripture
every day? Or have we become easy in our walk and the word
of God just isn't that important to us no more? We must ask ourselves these things,
beloved. And not only should the word of God be important
to us outside of, the local assembly, studying the apostles teachings,
but also it should be such important to us that we have to come together
and hear it. Talk to us. We know in first Timothy, Paul
charges Timothy to exercise the gift that God has given him by
reading the word of God out loud and exhorting owning and teaching
on it. Because we know God gave gifts to the church. He gave
the apostles. He gave what we would have today, the elders
and the pastors, what, to expound on the word of God. And we know
Timothy was an elder of Ephesians. And what he's telling him, Timothy,
teach the word of God. So if God is commanding Timothy
through the mouth of Paul to exercise his gift by preaching
the word of God publicly, meaning when the church comes together,
then he's called us to be up under. Because God isn't going
to tell Timothy to preach to himself out loud. Though we do preach to ourselves,
though we do teach to ourselves. But we know if Timothy is an
elder of the church, if Timothy is a pastor of the church, and
God's given him the gift to proclaim the Word of God, to preach the
Word of God, and to teach the Word of God, then he's called
the people to gather in that they might receive the blessing
of hearing the Word of God taught. But beloved, you know there's
no greater gift that we can hear with our ears or no greater blessing
that we can hear with our ears than the Word of God. There's
nothing. And I know we'll devote ourselves
to listening and watching things, and we might feel good about
them things, but there's nothing like hearing the Word of God.
Nothing like it, beloved. So we come together today, why? That we might hear the Word of
God. That I might hear the Word of God. That you might hear the
Word of God. That we might hear the teaching on the Word of God.
Why? That we might all grow in Christ together. That we might
all be built up in Christ together. He says, and they were devoted
themselves to the apostles' teachings and the fellowship. They devoted
themselves to the apostles, they devoted themselves to the Word
of God, they devoted themselves to God, and also devoted themselves
to the body of God. Because if you devoted to Christ,
you're automatically devoted to His body. Hear that? In the early church, there were
no Christians who were in the practice of staying at home when
the Word of God was going to be taught. Hear that? There was no practice of that.
That these people had such a desire to learn about God that they
would come together and corporate worship so that they could hear
the Word of God. It was that vital to them. Some
of them might have had to walk miles to get there to hear the
Word of God. We know in foreign countries
they do walk miles to hear the Word of God. Because it's that important to
them. that they were devoted to each
other. They were devoted to each other, getting together, sharpening
each other. That's one reason we come together,
not just in corporate worship, but in our homes or on the telephone,
what we call, we invest in each other's lives. Why? That we might all sharpen each
other. That we might pray together. That we might stir each other
up to not neglect meeting together. This is what Paul writes in Hebrews. that some are neglecting to be
together. He says, stir each other up in
love that the day of the Lord is coming. I find that odd. Because Paul knew or whoever
wrote Hebrews knew that if people were neglecting to meet together,
there was a reason why. And normally when we neglect
to meet together, one, it's because we're living in sin or we have
a great burden on our heart or life. And normally when we are
struggling and we're suffering, for some reason, we believe the
lie of the devil that we need to separate ourselves from everybody. Satan, he lies to us when he
tells us that. Cause the word of God teaches
that we must come together, that what? So we might bury each other's
burdens. Hear that? So that we fulfill
the law of Christ. Which also causes that when we
come together, we're supposed to tell each other our burdens.
I'm not saying tell everybody what's going on in your life,
but we should have a few people in the local congregation that
we can tell our problems to that they might help bear the burden
with us. This is what the early church
did. That they'd come together, they'd
eat meals together, they'd hear the word of God together, they'd
bear each other's burdens, they'd pray for each other, they'd sharpen
each other, We know in Titus chapter 2 that the older women
in the congregation, Titus taught them to what? Teach the younger
women. A lot of times the older people in this generation, sometimes
they don't see what they need to be doing or because they've
already retired from their job, now they've retired from ministry
in the local church as well. But we know that older people
in the congregation, especially those who have been walking with
the Lord, can be a great blessing to those who are younger. And
as you have these older women, these older men who have been
following God and have great wisdom according to the word
of God, we know younger people are called to submit to them
and their teachings, to listen to them. It's what? Paul rationalized us. So I would
encourage some of you older folks in here to grab some of these
younger people and teach them the Word of God. Teach them how
they're supposed to love their husbands. Or teach them how the
wives are supposed to submit to their husbands. And how the
husbands are supposed to love their wives as Christ loves the
church. How they're supposed to lay down their life for them.
Some of the things that Paul was writing to, taught us to
teach the people and taught us to. That these people were not
sold out for God, They were sold out to each other. I find that
amazing because the importance here is that we know when the
early church, when they come together, it wasn't just all
one race. It wasn't just all one race. They were different
color people. That one minute, they hated each other. One minute,
they'd walk on opposite side of the street of each other.
And the next minute, God saves them. And now they come together
in a fellowship. which probably was in awe of
that generation when they saw this. And most of them probably
was hated for it. Probably like in our, in early
American days when slavery was still around. That, imagine if
a white folks fellowship with some black folks in that day,
majority of the white folks would persecute them for it. And I
imagine vice versa. But we know when God saves us,
all that junk goes out the door. That one cannot be born again
and be racist. Because we know if we claim to
love God, but we don't love our brotherhood, we do see with our
own eyes, then we're not of God. Because God saves us, beloved. He does such a work in our heart,
that next thing you know, we have a partnership. For those
who are of God, no matter what color they are. And we love them
all the same. It isn't that we love one brother
over the next. We love them all the same. Because
that's the work of God in one's heart. That one pours out his
life for another. That one lays down his life for
another. It's the work of God. That's what I love when just
reading this and how challenging it is even in my own life when
you read this and you see how devoted they were to each other
as they were coming together every day, devoting themselves
to each other. He says, they devoted themselves
to the apostles' teachings and the fellowship and the breaking of bread. So
when we see they were devoting themselves to God or to the teaching
of God's word, privately and publicly, Corporate worship.
They devoted themselves to fellowship, laying down their life for each
other, and also to the breaking of bread. Now I believe here
when it talks about the breaking of bread, it's talking about
communion or taking the Lord's table. That we know the early
church, they would come together and what, they would eat the
bread in remembrance of the brokenness of Jesus' body. They would drink
the cup of wine in remembrance of his blood being shed for the
new covenant that we have with God. That was a practice that
he did. Now think about doing that practice
together. When they come together and you do that practice, it
brings everybody at one moment there in remembrance of what
Christ has done for us. I mean, a lot of times they probably
started off that way, or they made sure they did it when they
were together. Why? Because think about that, beloved. That at
one moment, we're all thinking about the same thing. We're one
accord. Thinking about what Christ had
done on the cross for us. And we know also when they were doing
that, they had a good time to reflect on their life, reflect
on their affections for their brothers and sisters, to reflect
whether they were at odds with one of their brothers and sisters
in Christ. Because we didn't, because you know, Paul talks
about the Corinthian church. They, what, were taking the Lord's
table in vain instead of taking it as a blessing, they were taking
it and receiving judgment upon their head. That some were falling
asleep, some were getting sick. Why? Because they were coming
together and getting drunk. Coming together and the rich
were eating first and when the poor people showed up, there was nothing
for them. And Paul says, you ain't got wine, you ain't drink, you ain't
got food at your place to eat. And here you come and do this
amongst God's people. You come and sin amongst God's
people. And what God was striking them
down for. He was disciplined for it. Imagine it also in a
thing in that they would come together and have all that would
be mad with each other. And they would go ahead and take
it anyways, because they didn't want to be left out. That's really a great truth. We have a we have an importance.
What that we give you time to pray and decide whether you should
take the Lord's table to this day. And that's the time to reflect,
time to repent. You know, Jesus says that if
you have a gift for God, leave it at the altar. If you've got
a problem with a brother, go and make that right. Then come back and
give your gift to God. Because beloved, if we take part
in the Lord's table and we're at odds with each other, then
we're sinning. And to do that in a form of worship
is no worship at all, because the hearts isn't right. So we know they were devoted
to the Word of God. They were devoted to fellowship.
They were devoted to the breaking of the barrier. And they were
devoted to prayers. They were devoted to pray. See,
being devoted to God isn't just about being in His Word, but
it's about communicating with God, bringing a prayer with God.
And I know as James testified last week, and I'll testify of
myself this week, that praying is probably one of the hardest
things there is to do. It's much easier to pick the Bible up and
read the Bible than it is to fall down on your face and pray.
In my prayers, I pray that God don't let me go to sleep at night
sometimes, unless I've devoted myself to prayer. or devoted
myself to the Lord of God. But then when you read about
the New Testament and the Old Testament, that Jesus rose up
early in the morning when everyone else was sleeping and prayed. When those who went to bed early,
he stayed up and prayed. We know the same thing with some
of the Old Testament things. They would take the morning watch,
take the evening watch, pray. that, and not only did they do
that in the morning and the evening, but we know, like Paul said,
we should pray without ceasing. That the early church did not
set a time apart for God throughout their day or throughout their
week. Their whole life was Christ. They were devoted to Christ throughout
their whole day. That they were praying without
ceasing all day, every day. But I think it's good that we
can go to God any time of the day, but I think too, we should
set time apart to be in prayer. When you read about the men of
old, like in the Old Testament, New Testament, also those who
passed on forward, they were men who prayed. They were. Those whom God used mightily
were men of prayer. They were men of prayer. The
Puritans, you read some of their prayers. Do you know their men
prayed? and you see the effect of it
in their life. There were men who prayed. And beloved, there's
something about getting up in the morning early and reading
the word and praying. Most time, when I become lazy
in that, sin comes. I'll be honest with you, every
time I have problems about midday or early in the morning, conflict or sin, I can always
go back. to being in prayer and being
in the word of God. If I just woulda got up and wasn't lazy and woulda
just got in the word and got in prayer, I'da handled that
situation different. I'da handled it different. But when we refuse
to do that, we're weak. This is what Jesus told Peter.
Peter, stay up and pray. Temptation's coming. And because
their flesh was weak, they, what, fell asleep. And sure enough,
temptation came, Satan came, and they all scattered. Peter
followed close behind, John too. And we know Peter, what? Denied Jesus three times. Of course, we know that was the
sovereignty of God in that, because you already told Peter he was
going to die in three times. But God ain't told us any of that.
If we know temptation is coming, which temptation is coming, temptation
comes every day. that we must be ready at all
times to stand against the devil. Because if we stand against him
one hour, he might flee for an hour, but he might come back
the next. And we got to be ready, and the only way we can be ready,
beloved, is being in prayer. Praying that God will show us
the doorway of escape when it comes. Or when temptation comes,
when God lays people before us every day to share the gospel
with them. If we ain't ready, Then what? We ain't gonna do it. I remember
later on in the book of Acts that Peter and them and the disciples
fell down and prayed and as they prayed the Holy Spirit came and
what? Gave them boldness. And what did they do? They gave
them boldness so that what? They might continue to preach the gospel. We know Paul
was put in chains. So he writes in the Philippians,
I believe the Philippians letter what? Pray for me that I might
continue what? Preaching the word of God while
I'm in these chains. Because when Paul was in chains,
his flesh was weak. He realized that if it was not
for the grace of God, he wouldn't continue preaching the gospel.
So Paul was devoted to prayer. But also we know Paul mentions
a man in Colossians, I believe in the last chapter of Colossians,
about a man who was laboring, laboring, exhausting himself
in prayer, not for himself, but for the beloved brother. Full
of love, brother. I think it'd be a good idea,
and I know I've got it, and maybe me and James can get together
and make a list of everyone on our church list, and divide it
up in groups each day, so we can be in prayer for each other
every day. Because a lot of times we get so caught up in our daily
life that we only pray for ourselves when we do pray, or we pray for
our family members. And a lot of times we don't pray
for each other. A prayer life isn't just praying for us and
praying for our family members, but it's praying for each other.
Praying that God would stir up our hearts to pray for each other.
That's another importance of when we come together in fellowship,
that we might tell each other our burdens and why, so we can
pray for each other throughout the whole week. But also, not only were they
devoted to prayer in their private life, but they were devoted to
prayer publicly. Like come together in corporate
worship, they were devoted to prayer. that they were come together
for one sole purpose, and that's to pray. To pray. To devote themselves
to prayer. I know just in churches past
or known of churches that if you have a cookout, the whole
church will show up. If you're preaching, half of
the church will show up. But if you're saying, we're going
to have a time of prayer tonight, you might have five show up.
Might have five show up. There's not
something wrong with that. We're praying tonight. And it's like, well, we can find
something else to do tonight. They're just praying. Like prayer isn't
important. Prayer is greatly important. And as we move on, you know,
I think that's the reason why they were seeing miracles amongst
them. They were seeing people get saved
amongst them. They were seeing God heal people
amongst them. Why? Because they were devoted to prayer. They were
devoted to prayer in the private life. They were coming together
and praying for specific things, and God was moving amongst it.
Moving amongst it, beloved. And if we don't come together
and pray, how can we expect God to do anything? If we don't come
together and pray, how can we expect God to move the church
in number, but also to grow us spiritually? I ain't just talking about just
praying casually. I'm talking about these people
were praying desperately. Heard one man say one time that
God doesn't hear prayer, God hears desperate prayer. You think
about that. If we all must become like children,
children are desperately dependent upon their parents to do that
which they ask for. And sometimes I think we as Christians,
even when we, when we are praying our homes, or is it really crying
out to the Lord to do that which we want him to do for his glory?
Are we really crying out to the Lord to save our loved ones?
Are we really crying out for the Lord when we hear about each
other's burdens for God to heal our marriages, or for God to
get us over addictions, or for God to get us away from these
things? Are we really crying out for
each other, desperately? Or is it just something we just
mentioned because we know we're supposed to do it, off the check
mark? But we should have such an affection
for each other and such an affection for God that when we go to Him,
We're desperately going to Him, persistently going to Him, that
He might hear our prayers. And the good news is we know
God hears our prayers. God hears the prayers of His children,
and it pleases God for us to pray to Him. You realize that? When I think about how it pleases
God for us to pray to Him, it blows my mind. that God, the
magnificent, holy God of the universe, He finds pleasure in
hearing my voice coming to Him. That's just mind-blowing. It's hard to even grasp that,
that God would want me, Jesse Bates, to pray to Him. I mean, I can understand maybe
He'd want Moses to pray to Him, or David, But me, that's mind
blowing. And we know he finds pleasure
in it because we know God finds pleasure, pleasure in obedience.
And he's commanded us to pray. I mean, when Paul says pray without
season, it's almost commanding us to pray without season. When
he, when, when he commands us to pray corporately, he's commanding
us to do that. Why? For our good. For our good. Oh, that God would give us the
grace to pray more. That God would give us the grace
to be devoted to prayer. To be zealous to enter the closet. Be zealous to come together when
we know that we're praying. When we know we won't have time
to pray, we'll be zealous to come. We might make our petitions before
God. And because they were devoted
through the word of God, because they were devoted the fellowship
because they were devoted to prayer. We see in 43 and all
came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being
done through the apostles being done through the apostles.
No key here, apostles. That's the key that these, these
bringing people alive, these people calling people to stand
up and walk. were done through the apostles.
Now, I do have a problem at times with some of my before brothers
because they're so stuck in the fact that God doesn't go and
bring somebody alive no more through their prayers, they forget
that God still can heal people. Or that God still can move mightily. Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes
we forget when people get cancer that we really can pray for them
and God hear our prayers and heal them. Hear that? God can do that. Or someone get financial burden. We can really pray and God do
it. Work out their finances for His
glory. Or we can really pray for some of our wicked family
members and God really save them. We can really pray and God heal
our marriages. if we have trouble in our marriage.
We can really pray and God do these things, y'all. It isn't
that the apostles were just going out in their flesh and just randomly
doing things. No, because the church had come together and
were devoted to God, devoted to prayer, devoting to each other,
God was doing a work amongst them. And one of the greatest
miracles that God was doing amongst their prayers was God was saving
people. God was saving people. Sometimes I love reading about
the great awakening and stuff, but sometimes I don't want to
read about it. I just want to see God move in that way. And
sometimes we think that's just a thing in the past and God can't
move in that way no more. Now God can't bring revival to
Claxton, Georgia. He can. He's God. The same God that brought us
dead people alive is the same God that can bring the dead people
in Claxton alive. I mean, come on, y'all. If He
can save me, He can save anybody. He's mighty. He's mighty to save. He's mighty to answer our prayers.
I mean, think about the things that we have prayed for when
we've seen God do it. Why? Because we've devoted ourselves
to prayer. We persistently went to him, knocking on his door,
pleading with him, and he answered. It's like we forget about that. We're not in awe over that. Beloved God, when we do that
which the Scripture commands us to do, God blesses us for
it. There's a blessing in obedience. There's a blessing in it. I said, all came upon every soul,
and many wonders or signs were doing through the apostles. And
all who believed were together and had all things in common.
That these people who were once lost and wanted nothing to do
with each other, now they wanted everything to do with each other.
These two different or many different races people who wanted nothing
to do with each other, as I said earlier, they would cross the
street to get away from each other. Now they come together,
and they want everything to do with each other. that this one was about this
and this one was about that. Now they come together and they
got everything in common. And when I think about some of
us in this local church, if we really just go to the, to what,
what is worldly, we would find none of us have anything in common. We really wouldn't find it. If
I would have married my wife over what we had worldly in common,
we'd have never got married. Cause we really, when it comes
to things in the world, we really had nothing in common. But when we
met each other, we had Christ. We had Christ. That when we come together, we
have all things in common because we had the same father. We had
the same father. That when we come together, you
realize we were literally, it's gonna shock you now, we were
literally brothers and sisters in Christ. We just don't say
that because it's tradition. That we are such born again of
God and the Holy Spirit such lives in us that when we, when
the apostles and them wrote that, they didn't write it because
to make them people feel good who they were writing to. When
John write, my beloved children, he wasn't just writing that to
make them feel good. Well John, he's an apostle, he called us
his beloved children. John's like, well if I write on that,
it's probably gonna make them feel real good about themselves. No, when he wrote that, he wrote
that because he felt that way. The same way John would have
looked at his physical kids is the same way he looked at his
spiritual kids if he'd have had any physical kids. That the same
way that this early church was about their physical family,
they were about their spiritual family. Isn't that so hard? Isn't it so hard when you got
a sister in the flesh or a brother in the flesh to love someone
you don't know who's of Christ as much as you love them? It can be hard, but if the Spirit
of God live in us, He can give us that type of affection. As
you've heard me say many times, that if God doesn't save my fiscal
brother, then He's not gonna be my eternal brother. He won't
be my brother forever. But y'all will, y'all be my brother
and sister forever. Why? Because God has saved us. We got the
same Father. We'll always be together. And when we come together,
we got all things in common because we had the Father. We had the
Father. We ain't gotta go out and do
different things and pitch different things to the world to get them
to come. Because if we want to have something
to come in the world, we gotta what? We gotta act like the world. We
gotta pitch something to the world. And then when they come,
we expect them to have spiritual things in common with us. They're
not. I've been in churches where you
want to talk about the word of God outside the preaching of God
or outside the Sunday school lesson, and it's hard to find
a conversation with people. They want to talk about something
else. I'm not saying things are bad. I'm not saying any of that's
bad. But the thing is, when we come together, we're solely here
for Christ. Solely here for Christ. So therefore
we have everything in common. And all who believed they were
together and they had all things in common. And also when they
had everything in common, meaning no one counted anything as their
own. Literally, you know, sometimes when we invite people over to
our house and go, okay, anything you want in the fridge is yours. But do we really mean that? Or
we go, okay, anything in my house is yours. With apostles in this
early church, they had such things in all common that anything they
had was their brothers and sisters in Christ. Hear that? That's extreme in our culture.
But this is the way they felt. That we know those who lost their
jobs and didn't have homes to live in, the early church would
bring their brothers and sisters to their home. and they would
live with them, and they would take care of them, and they would
feed them and clothe them until God made a way for them to go
somewhere else, or God didn't make them a way to go somewhere
else. And we know also in the early church that if you believed
in Christ, you would be exercised or be thrown out of your house,
thrown out of your family, family wanted nothing to do with you,
because you were a Christian. Now, you didn't worship and the
way in a Jewish culture anymore, you wouldn't be following Judaism
no more. So you couldn't be part of their household no more. So
what do they do? They had to, they had to leave and they had to
what? Move in with somebody. And you know what would happen?
The Christians of that day would just welcome them in as they
were family. Welcome them in and take care
of them. And we really see that, how they had all things in common
in verse 45. In Acts 2.45 it says, and they were selling their
possessions and belonging and distributing the proceeds to
all as any had need. Also in Acts 4.34, we see the
same thing said, and there was not a needy person among them
for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and
brought the proceeds of all that was sold. Now we know these prosperity
preachers, they've been teaching that, preaching that. You've
got to sell your house, you've got to sell your car, and you've
got to bring it to us so we can live in our million dollar houses.
But God's going to give you a million dollar house too. He's going
to give us ours first though. No, they wasn't, they wasn't
going through the scriptures talking about we should, you
know, I can't think of the word, but I'm having a hard time thinking
of what Paul said there. He wasn't, they wasn't preaching
in such a way that people would be convicted to do that. They
were preaching the Word of God and as they preached the Word
of God, these people in their hearts, through the work of the
Holy Spirit in them, was causing them to want to give up their
possessions and get rid of them. Like the young rich ruler, Jesus
told him to sell everything that he had and give it to the poor
and come and follow him. He commanded him to do that. He didn't ask
him, he commanded him. But then the next chapter, when he saved
the rich man, Zacchaeus, he didn't tell Zacchaeus to do any of that. He saved him. And Zacchaeus said,
well, if I've deceived anybody or if I pretty much stole from
anybody, which he probably did because he was a tax collector,
I'd give fourfold back. And that day, by Moses' law,
I think you only had to give twofold back. But he went far
and beyond that. So I give fourfold back and half
of my goods, Lord, I'm gonna give to the poor. Which probably
was gonna leave Zacchaeus a non-wealthy man no more. But these apostles preached the
word of God and as they preached the word of God, people were
compelled to give and people were compelled to give extremely.
Some people were compelled just to give what they had. Others
were compelled to sell their properties. Now think about that. In our day, if I got extra land,
we're going to keep it until little Johnny gets 25, and then
we give it to little Johnny. But these, they weren't keeping
it for their children. Somebody kept it for their children. And
there's nothing wrong with that, if God leads you that way. But
we know these people who had nothing, when they had land or
they had extra houses that they didn't need no more, they weren't
using anymore, they sold it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
laid it at their feet so that the apostles would take it and
distribute it as any had need. They didn't take the money and
put it in a savings account so they can always have $50,000
in a church savings account or $100,000 in a church savings
account. No, they would take it and distribute
it as needed. And we know also that when they laid it at the
apostles' feet, that the apostles, the elders of the church, they
were jobless. We know the apostles had been jobless for three and
a half years by now. So we also, as the church gave,
the apostles would take care, the money would take care of
their need and also take care of the poor people in the church's
need, as needs arisen. It would take care of the orphans
in the church or take care of the widows in the church. That they were selling their
stuff. and giving it to the Lord. They
weren't giving it to the apostles, they were giving it to the Lord.
That's key there. Giving it to the Lord because they knew the
apostles, by giving it to the apostles, the Lord would use
the apostles to do right by it. Not to do wrong by it. It says, And all who believed
were together and had all things in common, and they were selling
their possessions and their belongings and distributing the proceeds
to all as any had need. And it says, Day by day attending
the temple together, breaking bread in their homes, they received
their food with glad and generous hearts. So now we see that we
already talked about how they were together, but they were
not only coming together in a temple, but also they were meeting each
other's homes. They were fellowshipping in each other's homes. They were
eating meals together in each other's homes. They were praying
together in each other's homes. They were studying the Word of
God together in each other's homes. Now keep in mind now, what 3,000
people meeting in one person's home? Now imagine they were scattered
abroad. that maybe if the church, if
the temple was here and the people who lived on this side of town
and the people who lived on this side of town, these people who
lived on this side of town and maybe another side of town, them
people were coming together in that area probably to fellowship
together, to eat meals together. Just like in our local congregation
because it's so Scattered apart, some of us live in Claxton, some
of us live in Statesboro, some of us live in Matter, some of
us live in Reesville. There's not a good chance that
if somebody hosts a Bible study at their house, or they host
a prayer meeting at their house, that everyone in the church is
gonna show up. It's not gonna happen. I don't
think it happened in this early day either. Just whoever was
close to them is where they went. They went there so they might,
what, be in fellowship together. They might grow together. Understanding
too that whoever God has put around us is who he wants to
use us to equip them and them equip us. To build us up together. To fellowship together. Beloved,
but I know as we have come together at Grace Truth, a lot of times,
even when we do these side things in our home, it's even harder
to get the people to come that live in our area. It's hard to get each
other together. And sometimes if we do host something
and all people don't come, then we get discouraged and like,
why should we even do this? But love, I encourage you that if
God has laid upon your heart to host something in your house,
do it. And if one person shows up, praise God for it. Because
we're going to be intimate with everybody because we're in Christ,
but sometimes God is going to put specific people in our life
in the local congregation that we're going to grow more intimate
with than we are with others. Grow more intimate with. Not
that we're not going to be intimate with everybody in the congregation,
but we're going to grow more intimate with each other. Why? That we might counsel each other,
we might sharpen each other. It's the way God has designed
it. And day by day, attending the
temple together, breaking bread in their homes, and they received
their food with a glad and generous heart, praising God and having
favor with all people. So the result of them going together
in the temple, the result of when they were breaking meals
is what? It was a time of celebration. A time of praise. A time of giving
God glory. They weren't just coming together
to do worldly stuff together in their homes. They were coming
together for the same reason why they would come to the temple
together. They were meeting their homes together. And a resort
of that, what? They were giving God glory. They
were praising God together. They were worshiping God together.
That worship doesn't take place together here, it can take place
in our homes. Hear that, beloved? That worship
can take place in our homes if we're together. Mom, because
every time we come together, do we not grow? whether it be in our homes or
it be here. And every time we come together,
if we're coming for the main purpose of Jesus Christ, then we're all
coming together with one mind, and that's to worship Christ. And I don't know about you, but
when we come together, I'm encouraged. Whether I'm at one of your homes,
you're at my home, or we're here together, I'm encouraged, but
why? Because the word of God is being taught, or we're praying
together, that's encouraging. I mean, it looks like, have you
ever heard somebody tell you they're going to pray for you?
It's a blessing, though, they're going to pray for you, but how
much more is a blessing when they really take the time and
pray for you? It's more of a blessing. It's
more of encouragement. So I encourage you to meet up in each other's
homes, to pray for each other, to feed each other, the Word
of God to sharpen each other. The early church were devoted
to each other. It wasn't they were just showing
up at the temple doing their corporate worship and then leaving
and forgetting about each other. That wasn't their Christianity.
Their Christianity wasn't private with each other. It was open
to each other. They were getting together with
each other. Don't get me wrong, I've got brothers and sisters
all over the world that I love and when I have a chance to communicate
with them on Facebook, it's awesome. When I have a chance to talk
to them on the phone, it's awesome. But God hasn't called me to be
in fellowship with them at all times. He's called me to be in
fellowship with you guys. He's not called me to invest in their
lives though I can. He's called me to invest in your
life. And it isn't a matter of my elder of a church or I'm not
the elder of a church. If God has sovereignly, God has
sovereignly placed us in each other's lives, then we might
invest in each other's lives. And we know every one of us are
important to each other. Hear that. Every member of the
body of Christ is important. Not one is more important than
the other. We all have something to offer for each other. Hear
that, beloved? Because sometimes we think we
have nothing to offer if we're part of the body of Christ. But
we do. That's the reason God saved us.
He doesn't just save us just to be an empty vessel that He doesn't
use. No, He saves us for His glory.
He saves us and puts us in fellowship with each other. And we might
help each other grow. And we might keep the main thing
the main thing. And we might walk around and take out specks
out of each other's eyes. And bury each other's burns and
pray for each other. And worship the Lord together. He says, in day by day, adding
to the temple together and breaking bread in their homes and receiving
food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor
with all people. Because of this resort of what
the culture was seeing at the time, they had favor with people. I mean, they were seeing the
church come together of different races. They were seeing the generosity
of the church. And God was giving them favor
with everyone in their community. Now, we know that it lasts long.
At times, I believe God can give us favor with a lot of people.
I mean, I got lost people who I have favor with, but we know
when it comes to the Word of God and eventually teaching somebody
the Word of God, it can get to a point where we don't have favor
with them no more. We know the early church might have had favor
with everybody there, except maybe some of the Pharisees.
But we know the moment that Stephen preached the word of God, it
went back as it was when they were yelling, crucify Jesus,
they were yelling, kill Stephen. And then we know the church was
scattered abroad. And since then, the church has really not had
favor with most people. The biblical church. Now, of
course, if we go out and feed everybody all the time, of course
you can have favor with a lot of people in the community. But if you go out and teach the
Word of God, you ain't gonna have favor with all people. You
go out and call other churches out for their sin or call other
pastors out for their sin, you ain't gonna have favor with some
of the people who claim to be Christian. Not gonna happen. Because we know Scripture teaches
that we want to suffer for the name of Christ. We want to suffer
for the name of Christ. And at times when we do have
favor with those who are lost, the only reason God has gave
them favor with us is that we might teach them the gospel. That we
might preach the gospel to them that God might save them. And
that should be our prayer, that is, God does show a favor with
people. Because if we're doing that which God has called us,
we are not stealing from nobody or sinning against nobody. We're
walking in righteousness amongst lost people. Or what they would
view us as morally righteous, so we might earn favor that way.
But the same purpose is, no matter who we have favor with, is to
share the gospel with them. Main importance. Share the gospel
with them, that God might bring them to salvation. It says, having favor with all
people, and the Lord added to their number day by day, those
who were being saved. Day by day. So, resorted in what? Being devoted to the Word of
God, being devoted to fellowship, being devoted to each other,
being devoted to prayer, being devoted in such a way that they're
in each other's lives at all times, God moved in such a way
that God was adding more people to their fellowship. God was adding to their fellowship.
Those who were being saved. And we know God is the one who
saves. God is the one who saves. And as God saves, as we go out
and preach the gospel to whoever God puts in our path, and as
God saves them, then he adds them to us. The apostles weren't
going out and offering, like a lot of congregations do, worldly
means to get people to come. If we offer carnal means to get
people to come, we can't give God credit for adding to the
church, as so many people do when their church grows big.
But people didn't come to their church because they were preaching
the Word of God. They'd come to the church to see what they could get. Or
to come to the church to join a program so that it could be
a good way to make friends. The apostles weren't out baiting
and switching people. They weren't baiting people to
come off worldly incarnations. They were out preaching the gospel.
They were in the marketplace preaching the gospel. The church
was at the places of their work preaching the gospel. They were
in the marketplace preaching the gospel. Where were they at?
They were preaching Christ crucified. And as they preached Christ crucified,
people were being saved. And where do we meet with you
guys at? Where do we go to meet with you guys? And God was adding
them to the church. Which also shows that if God
adds to the church, which we know he talked through the word
of God that he would, that he's only going to add through his
word and the work of the Holy Spirit. Hear that. And if God adds them,
then they'll come. And if God does not add them,
they won't come. Meaning grace, truth, they ain't gonna get no
bigger than what God allows it to get. It's not. And our job is, as members of
this local church and as pastors and elders of this church, is
what? To be faithful that if people come to this church, the
main reason why they're coming is for the word of God. That's the main reason. They're
coming to hear the word of God. That's the reason a lot of times
after I get done giving somebody the gospel, then I say, hey,
we have fellowship over here. We would love for you to come.
But I'd rather you start reading your Bible first. Start reading
the book of John. If God does the work in your
heart and you want to find somewhere to fellowship, come fellowship with us. Me talking about my church is
maybe a 10-second dialogue with lost people. The rest of it spent
on the gospel. Of course we could go out and
invite people in and say, hey, we got this going on, we got
this going on, we got this going on. We'd have to go get another
building in a year probably. But that's not God adding, that's
us adding. You ever hear people, when people
talk about their local congregation, they advertise it. Well, we got
this going on, we got this going on, we got this going on, we
got this going on, we got this going on, and it's never about,
man, our pastor preaches the word of God. It's always this,
this, this, this, and this. Why? Because they feel like if
we advertise these things to you, then we'll come, we got
a good youth program, we got a good play set, play, I mean,
we got a good playground in the back, we got this going on, we
got this going on, and a lot of times when you look at these
things, you only find a little bit of the word of God in these things. But we can't run to that route.
We can't go that way. Which also shows that there's
no such thing, when you read there's no such thing as a biblical
Christian who's not part of a local fellowship. God saves, God adds. You see that? He didn't save
them and then leave them stranded out here by themselves. He saved
them, then he added them. There's no such thing as a Christian
that I'm going to stay at home and watch TV or watch a sermon
on TV and think that's biblical. Not saying we can't watch sermons online and it be edifying
to us and be a blessing to us, but we know God has called us
to be part of a local fellowship. You see it time and time again
in the word of God. God saves and he adds. He adds. that if people say,
I believe in Christ, and they don't have a desire in their
heart to be part of the local fellowship, not that coming to
church saves you, but you must ask the question. You're saved
and you don't want to be with God's people. That makes no sense,
especially when we see it time and time again. Even those who
were sent out by the local church were still devoted to the church.
The missionaries are still devoted to God's people. Or a lot of
times when you hear about missionaries, they go out and they're just
about themselves. No, these people were about the Word of God. And
because they were about the Word of God, about God's people, God
continued adding people to the congregation. But I want to hit on this. The
only way they were added was through the preaching and the
teaching and the witnessing of God's Word. That's it. Wasn't nothing else. Wasn't that, there was no, even
when they preached it, there was no tampering with it. Every time they went out and
preached, it was as though God was standing there listening
to them, watching. It was as though they were preaching
to God and they were face to face with Him. Would not tamper
with God's word or twist God's word to get people to come. No,
they would preach God's word and God would move and bring
people alive and add them to the fellowship. So beloved, As
we continue to be here, if we don't grow no bigger than this,
it's because God ain't allowed us to grow no bigger than this.
If we had only stayed to 10 people, then we'd have praised God for
10 people. Because sometimes God calls people to be elders
of a 50 member church, and sometimes he might call people to be elders
of a 300 member church. God determines that, not us.
God determines how many people's gonna attend the local church,
not us. Especially if we just rely upon him and his word, he
determines that. We're just to be faithful with
who we have. Be faithful to who we have amongst
us. That's who God has added to us,
that what? That we might be a blessing to each other. That we might
invest in each other's lives. Beloved, I say this in love,
but who in here are you investing in? Who are you investing in? That's
something we must ask ourselves. Because when we look at the biblical
example of the early church, they were investing in each other's
lives. And we must ask ourselves, who
are we investing in? Who are we sharpening? Who are we bearing burdens of
or them bearing our burdens? I encourage you, there's probably
no way that you're gonna be able to be intimate, a close intimacy
with everyone in here, but I encourage you to pray until God lays people
on your heart in this local congregation. that you can grow in fellowship
with intimately. Of course, I wanna grow in fellowship
corporately, but I'm just talking about on a one-on-one basis. Or those who you might call on
the phone and what, help keep each other accountable. I encourage
you to pray, to pray in that way, that God might use you to
invest in someone's life at Grace Truth. Because it's biblical,
and God will honor that, and God will bless that time. We know they preached the gospel.
And as they preached, as they preached the gospel, as they
met together, as they prayed together, God moved. God brought
them, God grew them in their faith, and God saved people. It's what the Word of God does.
It grows us in our faith, and it saves people. Beloved, I'd
encourage you as well as you go throughout your day to teach
people the gospel. Teach people the gospel. Don't
find coincidence that those who you see all the time that they're
just there because they're just there by chance of luck. No,
God has placed them there. That you might what? Teach them
that we have fallen short to the glory of God. Teach them
that we are dead and are trespassing, and teach them that we have broken
the law of God and we deserve the judgment of God. Teach them
about Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God, the one who died
on the cross for our sins, the one who was buried, the one who
rose again from the grave. And now He declares and commands
us what? To turn from our sin and to trust
in Him. and teach it to them. And you
know what? Teach it to them again and teach it to them again until
God brings them alive. Because sometimes we plant and
sometimes we're going to water, but eventually God's going to
get the increase. We know that the fields are wiped and the
church is those who are the laborers to go there for and labor amongst
lost people until God brings them alive. Let's pray. Father God, we are Thankful,
Lord, through the reading of your word. Lord, I pray that
you just take the reading of your word, Lord, and use it for
your glory. Father, that you'd work in our
hearts and give us a love for each other, Lord, that we might
lay down our lives for each other. And we might invest in each other's
lives. Lord, that we might be devoted to praying for each other,
Lord. Lord, You would move in such our hearts, Lord, that You'd
always be putting us on each other's minds, Father, that we
might pray for each other, that we might see each other grow
spiritually. Lord, I pray, Lord, that You
would stir up our hearts to minister to each other, stir up our hearts,
Lord, To be together, Lord, not to allow Satan to keep us away
from each other because we might be struggling at the time, Father.
Pray, Lord, you give us the grace to humble ourselves and teach
each other our burdens, Father, that we might, as the church,
bear them with each other. For we know that's what you've
called us to do. Not to allow lost people to hear
our burdens and receive worldly wisdom, Lord, but to bear our
burdens with our brothers and sisters who can instruct us in
the way of God. Instruct us in the way of righteousness, Lord. Lord, I pray we would come to
the understanding, Lord, that if you have called us here, Lord,
you have called us not just to be casual comers and goers, Lord,
but you have called us to covenant with each other, Lord. You've called us, Lord, to fellowship
with each other. You've called us here, Lord, to be a family. And Lord, I don't know any family
who says they love their people and that they don't fellowship
with them, Lord, or don't associate with them. But I pray that we would be a
people, Lord, that gather together and always want to gather together
for your glory. Lord, I pray you might raise us all up and
build us all up, Father, in your word, that we might worship you
in spirit and truth, that we might continue to be in awe at
you as we study your word and see you move amongst us. And
I ask this in no other name but the alpha, the omega, the beginning
and the end, Jesus Christ, amen. God bless you, church, I love
you.