Growing Deeper, Reaching Wider

- Every time we receive the Lord’s Supper, it should result to a deeper relationship with our Lord.

4. Pray…Pray…Pray

"More prayer, more power!" This quotation is used widely. But sad to say, the meaning of it is abused. It is prayer that the early church experienced the mighty work of God. They received the promised filling of the Holy Spirit while they are praying. They were praying when Peter was release by an angel in the prison cell. It was prayer that Paul and Silas manage to escape prison. Prayer! Prayer! Prayer! It was the lifestyle of the church.

Prayer? In our times, it seems that prayer is very much abused. Prayer meetings now are seen as an activity. Very small number of members attends the said "meeting with the Lord" activity. There are times prayer is even taught in the school. Imagine teaching the people about prayer.

I believe prayer is not taught, it is caught. Jesus did not just taught the disciples how to pray, instead He showed a life full of prayer.

II REACHING WIDER

A. Who are the people to reach?

+ The reached

- The first group of people we must learn to reach, as we grow deeper in the Lord, are the one who had been reached … the brethren. It is just right to think that before showing love to others you should learn first to love the people inside the church. As Jesus taught His disciples…"Love one another," we must be doing the same thing today.

+ The reachable

- Our household. Our OIKOS. The extended family. Why reachable? These people are within our reach. They are our acquaintance. We talk to them regularly. We can even set a date with them without so much of a problem. Reachable because they are in the circle of people who are already "reach" literally but not for the purpose of bringing them to Jesus,

+ The Unreached group

- These are people who are not our OIKOS. They are outside of our circle of friends. Of course, we need to reach them too. But this will need some extra effort and will do take some time.

B. How can we reach wider?

1. Power Evangelism (v. 43) - Miracles manifested that resulted to awe. There was power in the ministry of the Apostles. As Jesus healed the sick so were the Apostles. There is no doubt that people were attracted to the power demonstrated by the early church. If you will notice, when the Holy Spirit came upon them while the whole church was speaking in tongues, people came from the outside to see what was happening. No banners or even an invitation was made to attend their gathering. And the story goes, Peter preached and 3000 people believe and was baptized on that same day.

2. Servant Evangelism (vv. 44-45) - They lived in communal living. No need was ignored. Properties were sold not for the owner’s gain but to meet the need of the believers.

3. Body Evangelism (V.46a)- They met daily in the temple courts. The whole church gathered in the place where there were people to reach. The body started to make contact with community of people where they can be found. The church went to the center and not at the corner of the city.