"And they devoted themselves to...."

We are going to take a 1 week break from the Gospel of Mark, to look at a different passage this morning. Please turn in your copies of God’s Word to the New Testament book of Acts. For the next few minutes we will be looking at chapter 2, verse 42.

Church family, we are getting ready to embark on a new fiscal year for the church. Really, when you think of it, we have a lot of new going on. New fiscal year, and a new pastor.

With the time we have remaining this morning, I’d like to do a brief look at the verse of Scripture God has laid on my heart for this upcoming fiscal year.

The verse is Acts 2:42

Acts 2:42 (ESV)

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Completely opposed by the religious leaders of the day, the early church was operating from a deficit. Unlike the experience we are privileged with in the United States, it didn’ take long until the only safe place they could worship together was in homes. They didn’t have beautiful and useful buildings like what we are blessed with each week. Yet, despite all the opposition they were faced with, the church was growing like crazy.

Look in your copies of God’s Word at Acts 2:42. Here we see the 4 things the early church devoted themselves to that were the keys to their success. In reality for the church, this is Home base. It is where we run to to get back to where we belong.

Before we look at these 4 keys, I want to point something else at the start of the verse. In the translation on the screen, which is the ESV, we see “And they devoted themselves to”. Does anyone out there have either the New American Standard or the KJV? What does it say in your translation? (KJV- And they continued stedfastly...); (NASB-They were continually devoting themselves to..)

Do you see the difference in the translations? In both the KJV and NASB we see the word “continued” or “continually”, and the KJV adds the word “stedfastly”. In other words, the 4 keys we are going to look at this morning became and ongoing habit for the early church. We need to make them out habit as well.

The first key was;

…they (continually) devoted themselves to the apostles teaching...

Now obviously, we no longer have the Apostles of the early church, but what did the teaching of the Apostles become? (That’s right, it became what we now have as the New Testament. Actually, let me correct that, or at least add to that, what did the early church Apostles use to reach the Nation of Israel with the good news about Jesus the Messiah? Much of the time they used to Old Testament.

Turn a few pages ahead in your copies of God’s Word to Acts chapter 8. Look at verse 30 and following. What does Philip use to bring the Ethiopian Eunuch to faith in Christ?

So, when we see they continually devoted themselves to “the apostles teaching”, in our day and age we can equate that to using the whole of Scripture.

If we are going to use a baseball analogy this morning, first base for us is a continual devotion to the Word of God. Not just on Sunday mornings, or for Bible studies or other church functions. Our devotion to the word of God needs to be a daily devotion.

2nd base, or the next key was;

…they (continually) devoted themselves to … fellowship ...

While our attendance on Sunday mornings is a part of that, the truth is, we need more than just Sunday mornings. Things like the Basket lunch we are having after church fits this key, as does the end of summer party we have planned for next Saturday at 4 PM. There are some that would like us to consider having basket lunches once every month. I kinda like the sounds of that idea, I think there was a time we used to have them monthly.

Let me ask you a question.

Why do you think “fellowship” is so important? (we develop close relationships.. we become a part of a close knit spiritual family…)

Fellowship plays an important role in the life an success of any church.

3rd base, of the next key was;

…they (continually) devoted themselves to … the breaking of the bread ...

Now, it would be easy to think they were talking about sharing meals together, but we see that taking place in verse 46. So, if it’s not sharing meals together, what would this be then?

Celebrating the Lords Table/Communion.

This was hugely important to the early church, because their history as a Nation was replete with forgetting the great things God had done for them since their inception. This “forgetting” opened the door for idolatry, which lead to losing out on the Lord’s blessing, captivity, and their current position of being in their land, but being ruled by the Roman Government. They never wanted to forget what Jesus did for them on the cross!

and if we want to make it all the way to home base, the next key was;

…they (continually) devoted themselves to … prayers ...

In our study so far in the Gospel of Mark, what have we determined was one of the most important things He did that was so paramount to Him knowing what the Father’s will was for His life and ministry? (Prayer). Of course we saw it in Mark 1:35, where He rose early in the moring, while it was still dark and went to a desolate place to pray. Where else did we see it in the 1st chapter of Mark? (His 40 days and nights of fasting in the wilderness.

The point is, this was hugely important to Jesus, and it needs to be for us as well.

So, as we begin this new fiscal year as a church family, when you think of programs, functions and activities we do as a church. Let’s use these 4 keys as the lens we look through for everything we do.

Let’s close our time this morning in prayer.