How should we do church 20240602

The kings speech

Warren Wiersbe was a pastor, a conference speaker and a writer.

He wrote over 50 book in his “BE” series

Be Real

Be Rich

Be Obedient

Be mature

Be Joyful

And so on.

And in his newsletter he wrote about , Harold Vivien.

In January 1930 “Britain’s King George V was to give the opening address at a special disarmament conference, with the speech relayed by radio to the U.S.

As the broadcast was about to begin,

a cable broke in the New York radio station, and more than a million listeners were left without sound.

A junior mechanic in the station, Harold Vivien, solved the problem by picking up both ends of the cable and allowing 250 volts of electricity to pass through him.

He was the living link that allowed the king’s message to get through.”

Wow! What unbelievable dedication and commitment of this man.

The Huntsville Daily Times, January 21st 1930. The journalist writes,

“His arms twitching with shocks from electric current, Harold Vivian, a young radio engineer, literally spliced with his body a broken link in the vast hookup and made it possible to listeners in on 59 North American radio stations to hear King George’s speech today…”

“…Vivian, chief control operator, grasped the wires together in his hands to restore the circuit. Leakage of current through his body to the floor shook his arms with spasms, but he held on without a break for 20 minutes until new wires could be connected.”

The king’s message got through; whatever it took!

That’s how we get to impact the world“

The Early Church was characterized by zeal for the message,

“Christ died,

Christ rose again and

repent for the forgiveness of sins.”

Nothing could hold them back,

not persecution,

not suffering,

not even death.

Because of this constant bold proclamation of the Gospel to a world that stands in wilful opposition to it they faced

hardships and

persecution

but they were unperturbed.

They pressed on still harder because they knew they were the link between the king and the people, the chosen conduit by which our glorious Lord and Saviour chooses to make the message of the Kingdom known.

They literally stood in the gap and picked up the cable.

Not so much us today.

We’re not so good with the proclamation of Gospel.

We’re negligent in the study of the Word.

We’re like uncommitted bystanders who expect others to do the heavy lifting.

We’re no longer bold with the king’s message.

Our impact is negated by our lethargy, our witness repressed by our slough.

Now, I would not label us all sloughful disciples of Christ, but

we could all be encouraged to step up to the plate more:

Be it a little more,

or in some cases, a lot more.

of a disciple of Christ.

Let’s read our scripture passage and get started.

Acts 2:42–47 NIV

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The early church was a fantastic church in many ways.

But they were not a perfect church,

They had disingenuous worshipers like Ananias and Sapphira

who saw the praise others received for selling land and givng the proceeds to the church,

so they sold a field, kept some of the proceeds and gave the rest to the church,

no problem there but

They PUBLICLY CLAIMED they were giving all the money to the church,

and God demonstrated his justice, His Holiness, by taking their lives. (Acts 5)

In that early church, they had prejudice or favoritism effecting the distribution of food to the poor in Acts 6.

So they are not the example of the perfect church but they did a lot of things well, from the start.

The devoted themselves to seven things:

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching

The Apostles Teaching

They had eye witnesses to Jesus life and teaching.

back then, you couldn’t buy a new testament, so

when there was a chance to hear from an Apostle, you better take it.

All of those Apostles died long ago,

you can’t go here them today,

Some churches will call their leaders,

or a few of their leaders apostles

but they don’t have the knowledge and experience that the 12 and Paul had with Christ.

What can we devote ourselves to

Reading God’s word

learning God’s story

memorizing verses.

How we share that wisdom with others can be

Winsome

or wearing.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship

Fellowship

They spent a lot of time together.

They were getting to know each other

getting to know the scriptures and the Christian life together.

I remember pastor Rolly was shocked at how little interaction this church body had between Sundays.

Coming from the mid-west it just astounded him, how independent our lives were.

And today, we have the potluck fellowships to try and build some community in our church body.

What else did this church do?

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread

The Breaking of Bread

That is more than just eating together, that was sharing in communion together.

That was an important part of their worship and we have agreed here, to more deliberately have it

the 3rd Sunday of each month.

Can it be abused?

Yes it can.

Some of the early churches abused it!

Here is what Paul wrote to the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:20–22 NIV

20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

Typical Communion today is not a feast at all!

But we could fall into rote routine.

I visited the Catholic Church, twice with my mother in her senior years.

The second time, in the pre-service, the leader Haled Marry in as many ways possible for about half an hour.

I got a little board.

To me, it wasn’t an uplifting part of worship that day.

So they devoted themselves to the Apostles Teaching

To Fellowship

To Communion

What else?

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer

Prayer

This was prayer as they were together. Prayer

Prayer is an important part of worship,

let me know if you want to lead in prayer some time.

Most of us, including me, could

and should become better prayer warriors,

the early church did a lot of praying.

But sometimes prayer can be rote

just going through the motions like when

they earnestly prayed that Peter would be released from prison and

then when he was, they left in knocking at the door

because they couldn’t believe their prayer had been answered.

Acts 12:13–16 NIV

13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” 15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” 16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

Sounds like they had some un-belief despite praying for Peter’s release.

As a result of these first four things they were devoted to:

Apostles Teaching

Fellowship

Communion

Prayer

This is what happend in their area

Acts 2:43 CSB

43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.

A wonder is something that makes us do wow,

how did you do that,

A sign is a wonder that confirms something.

On the night that Peter denied knowing Christ 3 times, a cock near by crowed. The first one that day in Jerusalem.

Normally a cock crowing would not be a great sign, but the timing was such that both Peter and Jesus knew it was a sign that Peter had failed Jesus the 3rd time that night

Luke 22:60–61 NIV

60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”

That was a sign.

I have heard that missionaries see God work more signs and wonders, when they are first hearing about God orally.

By the time they have scriptures in their language, they might not see so many sign and wonders.

Their unity/fellowship

The New International Version Chapter 2

44 All the believers were together

skipping down

The New International Version Chapter 2

46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

These people were more together then we are.

They were at first good Jewish believers

so they still went to synagogue and to the temple.

What else did they do

They shared what they had

The New International Version Chapter 2

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need

This is a very biblical thing to do as James says

James 2:15–17 NIV

15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

but if that is our model, can it be abused?

YES very much so

The cults often claim everything belongs to the group,

which usually really means

all you have, belongs to the group leader.

My dad and uncle did their part in funding more Rolls Royce's for the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

How else could the Christian edict to share be abused?

In Thessalenica, the believers were very excited at Jesus quick return.

some of them stopped working and were just living off the others,

since Christ was coming so soon and this became a problem so Paul had to write them

2 Thessalonians 3:10–12 NIV

10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

Another time this Christian principle of sharing was abused was in

The Jamestown colony.

The colony was going to starve because too many people drew from the common supplies and

not enough added to those supplies.

and in light of 2 thes 3 John Smith created the law

If a man did not work, he would not eat.

It is sad we have to make rules like that but our old sin nature,

our tendency to look out for #1 a little too much

tends to mess up good things.

It the west, we are too materialist

to looking into our own interest but

but even scriptures talk about saving, choosing to hold back.

Proverbs 21:20 NIV

20 The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.

That’s not about sharing but about storing up.

Proverbs 6:6–8 NIV

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

again, storing up for the future.

If an owner of a company gave away all his money this week,

he might not be able to make payroll or pay his other obligations next week.

So we are encouraged to be generous in sharing but not foolish.

What the church became

A Place to worship as a group

Acts 20:7 NIV

7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.

Hebrews 10:25 NIV

25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The church became a place if discipleship.

We can learn from the songs

we can learn from the message

we can learn from each other

and in Sunday School and bible studies

The church became a place to be pastor-ed by an under-shepherd of the Lord.

1 Peter 5:1–3 NIV

1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

the church became a place to be obedient to God

Hebrews 10:25 NIV

25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Camp Meetings

Have you ever been to camp meetings?

Pam and I have and they were generally fun, exciting times.

They are usually over a week meeting most nights, with a guest speaker.

Many people have grown in the Lord during camp meetings or Revival meetings.

Under pastor Rolly we had some of those special meetings here in the past.

Too Much

Can you ever get too much of a good thing?

We know of a church, and have heard of other churches where

Special meetings have gone on for months.

pretty soon

everything at home is falling apart

families are not spending time together and

everyone is tired

tired of church.

How would your rate yourself

Disciple

Are you dedicated disciple of the bible?

study it

memorize it

apply it

Fellowship

Do you have Christian and Non- Christians friends you spend time with?

Communion

Do you take communion, or skip it, or just go through the motions.

Pray

are you a man or women of prayer

Sharing

Do you share

generously

secretly

but also save for your own rainy day.

Receive

with thank

without manipulating

Do you remember Harold Vivien

The guy who made a human connection so that the Kings message went out to a million listeners across the United States of America.

The early church was a human connection between God and those outside the church.

None of them was electricuted but soon after the great growth and great favor came persecurtion

great persecution that scattered the church

Yet everywhere they went, they still were that human connection betwenn Jesus Christ and the lost world.

Are you and I choosing to be, the kind of disciple of Christ that is a human connection to this lost world.

I invite you to choose to be that kind of disciple.

Let’s pray.