The Spiritual Influence of the Church

Illustration with Wayne being in MY seat -

Weather we realize it or not, we influence people, and we leave impressions on people weather it is good or bad.

Some times that influence is on other believers, and sometimes it is on unbelievers that are seeking God, and if that influence is a negative influence we could possible push people away from the body of believers, and we could even push unbelievers away from a relationship with Jesus if we are not careful.

Sometimes we have these negative influences without even knowing it or realizing it, like telling someone that is my seat. Now we may not do it like I just did it to Wayne, but it got the point across.

We just made a negative influence on someone, we just made that person feel very uncomfortable. And as Wayne went out the door, and he did come back in, but sometimes people will leave and not come back because they were hurt or they were made to feel uncomfortable.

Another way is to pressure someone into something that they do not want, like hey you want to take this cake with you, and they say no, but we keep on insisting on it until they finally give in, well, they really did not want it, but they took it just to shut us up.

Another way is, when we are in a small group setting, and we make a comment about something, say like, drug addicts, or alcoholics, or homeless people, or other things that we have never dealt with and know nothing about, or we say something about someone’s illness that we know nothing about, because we have never walked in their shoes, and it makes them feel uncomfortable, it makes them feel like they do not belong, even though they need to be there just as much or more than you do, they maybe just the ones that Jesus is trying to help, but so many times we are being self-righteous and we run people off with our negative influences.

Jesus has called us to share His love, not promote ourselves, our motto here at Red Level is Real Love Begins with Christ, and when we have negative influences, we are not sharing that Real Love.

This morning as we continue our series of the Instructions for the church in Acts 2, we are going to look at the Spiritual Influences of the church, that the early church had in verses 43-47.

Last week we looked at how committed the believers were to what Jesus had called them too, and how they had devoted themselves to the apostles teachings which is the Word of God, to the fellowship that is the gathering together of the believers to grow together spiritually, to the breaking of bread which is partaking in the Lord’s Supper, and to prayer which is communicating with God.

Therefore, let’s look at our text this morning in verses 43-47 at the Spiritual Influences of the Church, If you are able will you stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

Acts 2:43–47 CSB

43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

pray

I. Wonders and Signs V. 43

The first way that the early church had Spiritual influence was through wonders and signs, that is because of the mighty work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles miracles were still happening.

In different places in the book of Acts we see, especially Peter with John with him performing miracles. One account is right in the next chapter, in chapter 3 we see the healing of the lame man.

In verses 1 - 10 of chapter 3, we find the story of the lame man, he is brought to the entrance of the temple to beg for money, Peter and John come to pray, and the man ask for money, Peter says we do not have money, but what we do have is better than money, Peter says, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth get up and walk, and the man was healed.

There are other accounts of miracles happening from the apostles, in the early church.

The early church was a church where things were happening. These miracles testified to God’s presence. This church was filled with wonder and amazement at the activity of God among them; it was spiritually powerful.

The life of the early believers was so genuine and spiritually powerful that everyone, whether inside or outside the church, kept feeling a sense of awe.

They weren’t awed by the church because of its buildings, programs, or anything reflecting human ability, but by the supernatural character of its life.

Such an effect should be produced when the spiritual gifts are properly operative.

II. Unified V. 44

Acts 2:44 CSB

44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.

The early believers were unified, this was before any strife and division had come into the church.

The early believers had an intense feeling of responsibility for each other, to make everyone feel welcomed, to make sure each other had what they needed, to make sure each other was growing spiritually, to help each other fit in, and connect.

They came together as a family unit, as God had designed the church, the body of believers to be, they stuck together.

This is exactly what Jesus had prayed for in what is called His High Priestly Prayer in John 17:20-23

John 17:20–23 CSB

20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. 21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

Jesus had prayed for unity among believers, why does he pray for unity among believers, he tells us right there at the end of verse 21, He tells us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

When unbelievers looks at a body of believers, a church and sees division, do you think they want to be a part of that, no. When a guest comes in for the first time and sees division, or is asked to move because they are sitting in someones seat, do you think they will come back, more than likely not.

Unity among the body of believers brings joy and joy draws people, and when unbelievers see a church that is joyful and unified they will be drawn to it.

III. Sharing V. 45

Acts 2:45 CSB

45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.

When we hear this verse we may think that the early believers sold everything that they had and gave it all to the church and then the church distributed funds and resources as needed but that is not the case here.

What they did was when someone was in need, they would make sure that person was taken care of, if that meant someone needed to sell something to make sure that persons need was take care that is what they would do,

We are told in 1 John 3:16-18

1 John 3:16–18 CSB

16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

We are called to show the love of Jesus Christ to the world, here at Red Level, our motto is Real Love Begins with Christ.

If we are not helping other believers when they are in need, then how will an unbeliever see the love of Jesus Christ when they look at us.

Giving, caring and sharing are the essential marks of the true Christian life and proves the reality of genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

William Barclay stated: “A real Christian cannot bear to have to much while others have too little.” Which is so true as we seen right out of 1 John 3, just a second ago. that if we have things and see someone in need but do not help them then how does God’s love reside in us.

We should be sharing and when we share with others we leave a great positive spiritual influence on others.

IV. Fellowship V. 46

Acts 2:46 CSB

46 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,

Here we see the word devoted once again, as we did last week, again meaning committed.

The early believers were committed people, they were committed to meeting together in the temple, what did they do in the temple, well, as mentioned last week, the Jews had three formal hours of prayer each day.

They would go to the temple three times a day to pray, if they were in Jerusalem, which was at the third hour 9 am, sixth hour 12 noon, and then the ninth hour 3 pm.

This was also a time that they use to witness to people, to share their Jesus stories.

As we seen earlier, when Peter and John was heading into the temple at the ninth hour or 3 in the afternoon, the lame man asked for money and not having money Peter and John took the opportunity to change the man’s life.

Peter told the man I have something even better, I give you, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!

Down in the middle of verse 10 of Acts 3 we are told that the people who saw this man were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

We see Peter and John heal the lame man on their way in to pray, but it was not just a miracle that happened, but it turned into a time when the people witnessed that miracle, which was the power of God working through the Holy Spirit in Peter and John.

Their time of fellowship went from the temple, to each other’s houses, We must remember that they did not have actual Church buildings at this point, therefore, they meet in people’s houses.

Therefore, they would go to the temple for their prayer times, meet at different individual’s houses and take of the Lord’s Supper, but they also did life together, as we see there it says they ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts.

The apostles, and the disciples from the upper room had a responsibility to make disciples, as Jesus had commanded of them.

Theses 120, from the upper room had spent a lot of time with Jesus, learning and listening to him, and now it was their turn to teach those that had come to salvation all that Jesus had taught them.

They did this by spending a lot of time together, praying together, taking of the Lord’s Supper together, and eating together, and just doing life together.

V. The Results V. 47

Acts 2:47 CSB

praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

We see that this verse actually continues from verse 46, that as the believer continued to do life together they praised God and enjoyed the favor of all the people.

Again the believers did life together, that is so that they could grow spiritually, they could learn more about God.

But then we see the results of the Spiritual influence of the church, as the believers did all this together, as the unbelievers around them witnessed the wonders and signs, seen the believers unified together as a family unit, seen how they shared and took care of each other, and how they spent time together in fellowship all this caused some major results.

We are told that the Lord added to their number every day those who were being saved.

Because these believers had a great positive spiritual influence in their community, the Lord was adding to their numbers every day those who were being saved.

People were being impacted greatly by how God was moving in and through these believers.

Today we wonder why we do not see the moving of God in our churches like it was for the early church, where people were being added daily, and thousands were being saved on the day of Pentecost and other big events.

Well, they had great positive spiritual influence and kept their eyes completely and totally focused on Jesus, they were joyful believers, they did not container their love for Jesus, but continuously shared it with everyone they came into contact with.

Today we focus on to many other things besides Jesus, like our own selves, our own wants, and comforts, we are always to busy, we are always headed to our next destination, and we never take time to think about Jesus and with that we tend to then have a negative influence instead of positive influence.

We need to get our eyes of of our wants and wishes, slow down, and turn them unto Jesus and look to Him, and allow him to use us.

We need to remember that it is not about us, it is all about Jesus, without Him we would be lost and dying and going to Hell. We owe Jesus everything, and if we have never accepted him as Lord and Savior then we need to today before it is eternally to late, He is waiting for you, He is calling you today, will you answer that call?

Do you need to get things right with God, have you got away from being that positive Spiritual Influence for Jesus, come and seek God about making things right with him?

Do you need to join the church, or talk about baptism?

Do you need prayer?

Do you need to talk?

God will help you with anything, and Pastor Wayne and Myself are here to help in any way that we can!!