Acts 2 Devotional

Intro:

I think there are a lot of cool moments in history that would be amazing to go back and witness first hand. Like seeing the wright brother’s take flight for the first time right here in north carolina, or seeing the first rocket launch into space, or to witness ancient Egypt in it’s prime time of flourishing with pharaohs and the pyramids. And there are so many other incredible moments to be able to go witness! I’m not really a massive history expert so I don’t have many I think of. But as a Christian, I think we also have some really cool moments in history that we get stories of in the Bible. To see the Garden of Eden, or the parting of the red sea, or David killing the massive giant Goliath. And obviously I know all of us would love to be able to go back and see the disciples encounter the resurrected Jesus.

But there is one other moment that I personally would have at the top of my list. That is this story in Acts 2. It’s the day of Pentecost. Which the celebration for the day of Pentecost is actually coming up next Sunday. But Pentecost was basically the start of the Church! The official group of Christians that began to gather regularly as Jesus’ family of believers that has grown to what it is today.

I can only imagine how powerful that moment must have been. To witness the Holy Spirit appear as flames above everyone and enter into them. Then Peter to step forward and preach the Gospel. To share with everyone present about how Jesus was the savior that God sent to save the world from their sins, and the whole crowd asking, What do we need to do to be saved?

And Peter instructing them- Repent, turn away from your sins, be baptized in the name of Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit.

Then 3000 people believing the Gospel and being saved and baptized right after that! I mean can you even imaging being in surrounded by 3000 people? Then imagine 3000 people declaring they believe the gospel after you share it with them and they all start heading for the water to be baptized?

That would be insane.

The moments after that are the beginning, and the most clear picture of what the church is meant to be.

I want to read these verses quickly and let us reflect before we wrap up about what it means to be the church today!

Read with me in Acts 2:41-47

Acts 2:41–47 CSB

So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

So, you have a few thousand people join the disciples of Jesus and what do they do? What does the first gathering of believers start doing? They devote themselves to the basics. They were devoted to:

To the Apostles teaching.

They started learning from Jesus’ immediately followers what Jesus taught, how they were supposed to live, and how to understand the Old Testament.

Today, we’d say, this is devotion to the Bible. They didn’t have it all written and organized like we do, the NT wasn’t even written yet, they were LIVING IT! So, these next few things were important.

2. They were devoted to fellowship and the breaking of bread.

Meaning, they met together regularly to eat together, share their resources, and encourage each other in their faith in Jesus. They made sure they were there for one another like family! Sharing what they had, meeting each other’s needs, and reminding each other of the Gospel of Jesus as they were being persecuted by the world around them.

Finally,

3. They were devoted to prayer.

They prayed together. IT wasn’t a little prayer at the beginning and end of their time together. Much of their time together was spent in deep prayer for each other, for the world around them, and for their mission to spread the Gospel in the midst of their suffering.

So, bottom line- the first group of believers that started gathering as a church were commited to Scripture, meeting together to help and encourage each other, and praying together.

And what came out of that?

Well, many more people believed the Gospel, were saved, and started meeting with them every single day!

Meaning, they followed Jesus and did life together, and the world around them saw how they lived, heard what they believed and JOINED IN!

Our faith is meant to be contagious. And I believe our faith is most contagious when we live it out together and invite the world around us to witness it and join us.

This is why I am always saying our ministry is meant to be a place for you to invite people into and that you all can and should be going out and living like Jesus and telling people about Him!

It is through your obedience to share the Gospel and people’s experience when they walk in here and witness how we live and talk and spend time together, that we will see God’s Kingdom grow and expand in this world!

I need y’all to know that God is still moving and saving people and adding to His kingdom every day. And have seen it here over the past few years, but if we want to keep seeing it and see it consistently, we must live out the basics like the early church. We have to gather together consistently around the Bible, encouraging each other and praying together. And live that way both here in these walls and out in the world, if we ever want to see people be saved and added to our ministry!

I have said it many times before, but I want to see this room overflowing with students that you guys are going out sharing the gospel with, loving well, and inviting to our ministry. And you need to know, if you invite them they will always hear the gospel, they will witness the love we have for one another, and we believe God will use that to save many of them!

I share this with you all tonight, because it is one of my favorite passages to recenter myself around, to remember why we do what we do, and to encourage all of us to stay on mission to go reach people. I want to see God add to our number regularly those who were being saved. He has, he will, but he does it through us. He wants to do it through you!

Bow your heads and close your eyes with me. I want is to respond together to this passage.

Christians in the room:

1. Are you living these basics out? The Bible, fellowship with other Christians, and prayer. Ask God to show you if you aren’t, and ask for him to help you to start growing in that area.

2. Are we always displaying the most christlike love we can in this place so that whenever a visitor walks in they see the love of Jesus on display? That’s from the way we talk, to the way we act, to the way we dress, and the way we serve one another, help each other, or pray over each other when needed! How can you contribute to the culture that we have here as a ministry looking more and more like the picture of the Church that the Bible gives us?

For the Lost: Have you ever heard the Gospel, turned from your sins and been saved by Jesus? The Gospel is simply good news. God created you, and He loves you. But we all have sinned- meaning rebelled against God and did life however we wanted to instead of how God created us to. And so we are separated from him and deserve punishment for our sins. WE search all over for something to satisfy us but always come up short because we were made for a relationship with God. But while we were lost in our sins God sent his own son Jesus into this world, he lived a perfect life, he died on the cross in our place to pay for our sins, and he rose from the dead and invites you to turn away from your sins, stop doing life your way, and follow Him as lord. He wants to forgive you for everything you have ever done wrong and ever will do wrong, he wants to give you a personal relationship with God and eternal life in His kingdom forever.

If you are here tonight and have never placed your faith in Jesus to save you from your sins you can do that tonight! Jesus is calling you to follow Him as Lord and it’s up to you to respond. We respond through prayer. So, I’d love to pray with you tonight. No one is looking around, if you are here tonight and you would say, I am done trying to do life my way, I realize I have sinned and I need Jesus to forgive me and give me new life, will you just raise your hand so I can pray with you right now?

Prayer.

On this note, one final reminder we have an awesome night planned next week. KEEP INVITING PEOPLE! Let’s pack this place out and have one final amazing night together!