READ: Acts 2 (Focus vs. 36-47)
MEMORY VERSE
“The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:47
BACKGROUND
On a sunny afternoon, I drew with sidewalk chalk with the Sudanese family next door. We could hear singing coming from the house next to theirs, where a small group holds worship services.
The young mom I was talking with was curious about what was going on, so she and I walked over and listened in. They invited us to gather with them. A young man, standing in a tank filled with water for baptism, spoke about receiving forgiveness for his sins and committing himself to follow Jesus.
This was a unique opportunity for us to hear a testimony of salvation in the yard right next door. This group was being the church in our neighborhood.
Jesus is building His church around the world. In the days before His ascension, He told His followers that He would send the Spirit to live in them and that they would be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
He would build His church through their Spirit-empowered preaching and teaching. And immediately God began to add “to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).
We can be a part of building Christ’s church by being His church as we live out our faith in our neighborhoods and share with others what He’s done for us.
He gave His life and was resurrected so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. And He’ll help us learn how to serve others in His church today.
Anne Cetas*
INSIGHT
Acts 2 offers a glimpse of early faith communities after the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (vv. 1-13).
In response to hearing that forgiveness, salvation, and the “gift of the Holy Spirit” (v. 38) were possible because of Jesus’ resurrection as “Lord and Messiah” (v. 36), “about three thousand” people became believers in Christ (v. 41).
These new believers’ faith was deepened through “[devoting] themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (v. 42) and giving “to anyone who had need” (v. 45).
God’s Spirit draws people into faith and deepens it through fellowship and service in community.
Monica La Rose
APPLICATION
In what ways might God be using you to build Jesus’ church? What more might you do?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s Post)
“We can be a part of building Christ’s church by being His church as we live out our faith in our neighborhoods and share with others what He’s done for us… God’s Spirit draws people into faith and deepens it through fellowship and service in community.“
PR’s TAKE
The Church is much more than brick and mortar. It’s the “living” body of Christ. pr*
“…If today’s Church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the Early Church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the (21st Century.” Martin Luther King Jr.
PRAYER
“Dear Jesus, thank You that You’re adding people to Your church daily.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“THE CHURCH’S IS ONE FOUNDATION”
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation,
By water and the word;
From Heav’n He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
Elect from ev’ry nation,
Yet one o’er all the Earth,
Her charter of salvation
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With ev’ry grace endued.
‘Mid toil and tribulation
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forever more;
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with thee;
There, past the border mountains,
Where in sweet vales, the bride
With Thee, by living fountains,
Forever shall abide!
