The Early Church

Acts documents what is considered to be the "birth of the church". I think it's interesting to see how some things have changed, and some things have stayed the same. I'm going to outline 13 areas that my text covers as characteristics of the early church.

The first 3 cover the individual:

^{Acts 2:38} Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Repentance - We need to admit we are sinners and commit to turning our life over to Him. It's not just believing; believing is passive, repenting is active. I can believe in the power of sunscreen, but if I don't respond to that belief with action and apply the sunscreen, I will end up lobster like.

Baptism - "Repent and be baptized..." (Acts 2:38). If Jesus did it then why shouldn't we?? (Matthew 3:15-16)

Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit - Just like salvation is a gift we must accept, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is such, we must receive it. 
 

 The next 10 cover the essentials for helping new believers become a part of the church family:

 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.

Devoted to Doctrine (42)- We can't let people get stuck in the "experience" of church, we need to make sure to be constantly pursuing education and growth in the Word.

Fellowship (42)- we need to move past the Sunday morning hellos and into a real connection with other believers.

Breaking Bread (42)- This refers to communion. When early Christians ate together they always included the sacrament as a sign of Christ's presence.

Prayer (42)- Not just before meals and before bed. Prayer was a constant activity.

Wonders and Miraculous Signs (43)- I can't find anywhere in the bible where it says this was only for the early church...can you???

Generosity - (44-45)  "Why does God let children starve to death?" (ever been asked that??)     
HE doesn't...WE DO!!  If everyone gave as they are commanded to this wouldn't be a problem. (Malachi 3:9-12)

Public Gathering for Worship (46)- This is a witness to the world to the church's solidarity. A basketball player without a team to play on is just a kid with a ball.

Glad Meal Times (46)- I love how it's specified that it was glad meal times. We are meant to be glad, not grumbly. You will always have an abundance of things to complain about. Jesus was tempted, tortured, humiliated, and basically just treated like crup. Yet he didn't complain. Really, this is an area we really need to get a hold of.

Favor with People (47)- We can't always control this aspect, Church persecution is a sad reality. However there are things that are in our power. Ever had that family member that you wish you could hide in the corner and pretend they don't belong with you becuz of their behavior...don't be that person for your church family.

Growth (47)- If we meet our responsibilities in the other areas, God will take care of this part :)

No church or person is perfect. The purpose of this post is not to shine a light on the faults of today's church, but rather to help us refocus on God's plan for the church. 
 

Shopping with only 3 wheels

"The purpose of being baptized in the Holy Spirit is to give the believer power to witness".

Let's look at Peter for a minute...
Peter was a disciple of Jesus, yet when Jesus was arrested and the time came for Peter to stand up for his beliefs, he denied Jesus. (3 time to be exact Luke 22:54-62). This shows that Peter lacked boldness and courage.
But then, after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Peter stands before a crowd of thousands and boldly proclaims the message of Jesus as our savior. Not only that but he tells the crowd that it was they, along with wicked men, who were responsible for Jesus' death, and they needed to repent. (Acts 2:14)


Imagine if we were all a little more open to letting the Holy Spirit work through us...

God did not send the Holy Spirit to make us feel good.

He sent Him because we lack the power to do God's work without Him.

If you want to truly fulfill God's purpose for you, you must be willing to surrender all of yourself.

Have you ever tried to go shopping with a cart with a bad wheel?? The entire shopping cart is opening itself up to you to use at your discretion, it knows it's purpose and it's happy to oblige. But that one tiny little wheel....that the shopping cart doesn't see as necessary for you to control. It's given you everything else, so why is it so important to give you this?? Sure he's seen other carts give all four wheels, but it seems a little strange to him. He's a good cart after all, he has the safety strap for the kiddos, the extra space on the bottom, heck, he even has a cup holder!! 
 
Give God all your wheels, after all, He's the one who gave them to you!!

More than just a time to eat!

So Why Then???

Why was that the moment that Jesus chose to pour out the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

I'm going to briefly go over some of the feasts of the Old Testament, and look at how they were setting the mold for Jesus to fulfill. My text explains it like this:

The Old Testament feasts were like an empty container until New Testament truth was poured into them. Like a builder lays out wooden forms before pouring in the concrete. When the concrete is set, the forms can be removed. This is how the old feasts function within our Christian faith.

OK, so I just worked on trying to explain the feasts that were going on around the time of Jesus' crucifixion, and it was just too daunting (been trying for over an hour, just deleted everything I had)...so for this I am going to cop out a bit and direct you to this website which I think sums it up pretty good!! It's about a 5 min read, so don't worry, not too long!

http://gracethrufaith.com/selah/holidays-and-holy-days/the-feast-of-first-fruits/

Ok...moving on 

The "Feast of Weeks" occurred 50 days after Passover. Pentecost means 50, so it's also called the Pentecost. It was a celebration of the end of the harvest and was a pilgrimage holiday, which meant that Jews from all over would gather in Jerusalem for the celebration.

Let's just take a few moments to look at a few things here:

1. The end of the harvest...Luke 10:2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 
2. Pilgrimage Holiday...Jerusalem was crawling with Jews...Jesus knew the right time to send the Holy Spirit :)

There's so much more that can be discussed regarding the significance, but I think that's enuf for now. You get the point. The timing wasn't an accident...must be that whole omnipotence thing!