Now That The Meeting Is Over...

Introduction

In , Peter addresses the earliest disciples of Jesus. Jesus had just ascended into heaven and Peter sees the need to fill Judas’ place as an apostle. So the arrangements were made, Matthias was selected to take Judas’ office.

But what took place after the meeting was over…?

The events of Acts and the coming of the Spirit of God came 10 days later. So Jesus’ apostles and followers had 10 days in Jerusalem. What were they going to do?

We call the book the “Acts of the Apostles”—maybe the apostles focused their minds and prepared themselves to work for the kingdom of Christ! They met in because they knew there were to be some amazing things to happen from .

In a modern-day parallel, we just concluded a meeting of our own. We had a gospel meeting with a series of Bible lessons. Those lessons were: Are We Missing the Point (edification)?; Only You Can Control A Fire (); God’s Purpose in Our Pain (); Abraham, Faith, and Friend (; ); Strange Fire, what would Nadab and Abihu say today? (); Courage in the Face of Death ( ) .

What should we do with these lessons now that we have heard them?

First, let’s think about the purpose of even having gospel meetings...

The Purpose of Gospel Meetings

The purpose of having gospel meetings is spiritual growth - ,

“Remember the words that were spoken...” -

“Building yourselves up in the most holy faith” -

“Keep yourselves in the love of God” -

I appreciated brother Bill Feagin’s prayer at the end of the meeting on Wednesday night. He led us in a prayer that we might do what we have heard in each of the lessons.

Application of the principles of God’s word is part of spiritual growth.

We are not to be hearers only, but doers of the word of God -

Spiritual growth is NOT measured only by attendance.

While we want good attendance, that is not the best way to measure spiritual growth.

Even some “Sunday morning-only Christians” attend meetings well. Yet, they will only go back to their usual habits of only being here on Sunday mornings. This shows a lack of spiritual growth.

If we looked only at attendance numbers then we might eventually reason that we should just never have gospel meetings.

If we quit having gospel meetings that certainly would not help spiritual growth!

Gospel Meetings are for the purpose of studying our Bibles so we can learn how to better be pleasing to God.

So, what did you learn?

What We Learned In Our Gospel Meeting

The Foundation of Our Faith

Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness -

We are to called to have the same sort of faith in God as Abraham did -

We are to believe in the gospel, God’s power to save. That is the foundation of our faith - ;

Influence of Our Lives

Our tongue is an important member of our body. And many times we can let it get out of control.

We curse, when we ought to bless others -

Our speech and our lives matter and they can have an important influence upon those around us.

Blessing of Our Fellowship

One of the benefits of coming together as the local church is to enjoy spiritual fellowship. Having relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ is critical to our lives as children of God.

In this fellowship we edify and build up one another in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God -

Studying God’s word is worship and it provides an opportunity for us to be challenged in areas of weakness -

Victory of Our Hope

Death has no power over us. We have the hope of being in heaven with God - ,

We have victory through Jesus and His resurrection from the dead, who is the firstfruits of our own future bodily resurrection -

OK, we have the biblical facts we are to believe. Now, how do we practice it?

Ways To Grow This Week

We did not have a Gospel Meeting last week, just so you could forget what was taught.

Now our responsibility is to put into practice what was taught. Personal application needs to begin right now—not in a week from now, not next month, not next year—right now, this week.

Here is how you can do that in some very practical ways:

You know what you believe and why you believe it. Faith was an important part of the life of Abraham. You need to know what you believe about God and you need to know that your faith serves a purpose. Choose faith this week!

The tongue is an important member of our body. It can hurt and destroy relationships, but it can also build up relationships. Here is your challenge: 1) do not complain this week; when you want to complain, pray; when you want to complain, find something to say that will be encouraging. 2) find someone who is struggling in their faith and their attendance and encourage them, offer to help them in some way so that they can grow in their faith.

We all have struggles and temptations. We all have moments where we are suffering in some way. Pray. Pray three times throughout the week about it. Paul prayed three times that the thorn in the flesh might be removed from him and he learned the power of God’s grace because of that.

Be here. We need you; the church needs you! Every member has a part. Your part is to work ()! You need to be here—don’t just show up late. Show up early and be ready to work. There are things we need to be done on Sundays and Wednesdays before and after the services. Help out (turning the lights on, making sure the heat is on, turning the screens on, getting the the porch swept off, filling the Lord’s Supper trays, etc.). Men, we need you to be here on time in order to lead prayers and participate in the leading of our worship.

Think about heaven. Determine why you want to go to heaven. Be specific. Write down those reasons in your Bible, journal, or in some special place that you will not lose. Think about being in heaven in the presence of God where we will sing and praise the Lord for eternity and have fellowship with Him forever.

Grow this week so that you will not be weak.

Conclusion

Our gospel meeting was a success. Our brother in Christ proclaimed the word of God. His lessons were biblical. He did his part; we did our part in that we attended the meeting well. We had visitors.

But now, will we continue to work to achieve the primary goal of spiritual growth?

If you are not a Christian, you need to begin your spiritual life. You can take that first step of faith in order to grow by coming today to be immersed in water.

If you need to obey the gospel, come now while we sing.