Fellowship of the Brethren

Acts 2:42–47 KJV 1900

42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And 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, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The response of the church to Pentecost

Read Acts 2:41

Acts 2:41 KJV 1900

41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

This verse concludes everything that had taken place on the Day of Pentecost

The suddenly that resulted in the 120 filled in the upper room

Simon Peters convicting and convincing sermon to the devout Jews of Jerusalem.

Their response that moved them from cut to the heart, to gladness

3,000 added to the church

Here is the issue many times, in the modern church…we have moments that don’t create momentum....we have seasons that aren’t sustained!

We might have a service where we experience great breakthrough, and the next service it feels like we are running in molasses.

We might have a stretch of months where we are experiencing powerful moves of God and seeing people delivered and set free, and then just as quickly as that started, it seems like its gone....and we don’t know how to find it.

Why is that? Because we wrongfully prioritize some elements over others.

For some we over spiritualize what it takes to sustain momentum.

For others we don’t want the personal sacrifice that it takes to sustain momentum.

This is not the desire nor the Will of God! He gives us moments to create momentum!!

This next segment of scripture is categorized in the English Standard Version of the Bible as “The Fellowship of The Brethren”

The first word that I want us to recognize speak to a focus of the early church.

they continued stedfastly!

The ESV says they devoted themselves

Synonyms of steadfast = Inflexible, immovable, unwavering, staunch, fixed, firm, wholehearted.

This was not some half-hearted, uncertain, spare-time, dipping their toes in the shallow-end, approach. It was all in focus! It was a connon ball in the deep end!

And here is what they continued steadfastly, or devoted themselves, to:

Doctrine

Fellowship

Breaking bread (communion)

prayers

Many today would leave this church if I did away with doctrine and minimized prayer, (which you should) yet rejoice if we would cut back on, or even do away with fellowship.

Fellowship - Koinonia, (Word studies in the new testament defines Koinonia as “A relation between individuals which involves a common interest and a mutual, active participation in that interest and in each other”

We need Doctrine!

We need prayers!

We need Breaking Bread!

And...We need Fellowship!

Some believe that if we just prayed all the time, and instructed in doctrine without ceasing…that is how you turn a moment into momentum!

And for those that have this mindset, fellowship is viewed as a waste of time. As a carnal distraction that takes our focus off of what is important…However, the early church was just as devoted to fellowship as they were to prayer!

they were just as devoted to fellowship as they were to doctrine!

Fellowship…where we take the time to invest in the lives of one another.

where we make the investment of our time and energy to learn what we common interests we have with others in the body.

It is fellowship that gains us the leverage to instruct someone in doctrine. And to gain the insight to pray for the real issues that need to be prayed for.

I believe this…That when we become devoted to fellowship, we will see sustained growth.

I believe that this church becoming devoted to fellowship is what will enable us to translate moments into momentum…and allow us to witness seasons of revival become sustained.

Their devotion to these priorities and practices in vs. 42 led to the atmosphere in vs. 43:

Acts 2:43 KJV 1900

43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

This does not mean that the church was full of fear…that they were scared of something.

Peter Wagner in his commentary on the book of Acts explains they were in awe of the power of God that was constantly being manifested around them.

the usage of the colon in the passage indicates that the statement before the punctuation is explained by the explanation following.

The devotion to doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer created an environment where signs and wonders were being performed by the Apostles, which created an environment of great awe and reverence.

their devotion to these priorities and practices ensured the opportunity of the upper room, to every room.

One of the great frustrations is figuring out…how do we turn a moment into momentum?

How do we have a continual environment where “suddenly” moves of the spirit of God are taking place consistently.

Look in Acts 2 vs. 1 through 4 at the environment that was present when the Holy Ghost was poured out:

How many times is the word all, one, every or each used? All words to communicate unity and togetherness

They were ALL with ONE accord

The sound filled ALL the house

There are appeared unto ALL of them cloven tongues

It sat upon EACH of them

They were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost

Now lets move over to verses 43 - 47

Great fear came on EVERY soul

ALL that believed were together

had ALL things in common

They ALL continued daily with ONE accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.

did eat with gladness and SINGLENESS of heart

Notice that in both the Acts 2 vs. 4 outpouring and the Acts 2:42 continued growth, it expressly states they were all in one accord

The upper room atmosphere didn’t conclude on Pentecost because they continued steadfastly!

The measure of their commitment to fellowship was equal in measure to how God grew the church

VS. 46 They continued DAILY in the temple and house to house.

Vs. 47 The Lord added to the church DAILY such as should be saved

The growth of the church was tied to the community of the church!

There is no way around it. If we truly want to be a growing church…A church that is able to turn moments into momentum, we must be a daily church!

If we want to be a church that breaks out of the rut of seasonal growth and enters into the realm of sustained growth, we must be a DAILY church.