Title: Traits of a History Making Community
Text: Acts 2: 42- 47
42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
44 And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common;
45 and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
46 And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Introduction
Three weeks ago I shared with a message on “Return to the vision”
The Vision is a vision of God raising up a generation of youths who will bring revival to the ends of the earth.
Acts 2:
17 ’And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
Now vision is what we see ourselves to be in the future. And for some, a vision will just remain as a vision. Some believers had a vision of serving God as a missionary in a foreign land. When they are 50 years old, it still remained a vision.
Vision captures us and motivates us to work towards the fulfillment of the vision.
Jesus before he departed for heaven, he painted a vision for his disciples to see; He said: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Now the disciples did not just sit around and dream about it. In the upper room, they kept plowing into the vision through their prayers till the day of Pentecost came and the mighty explosion of the Holy Spirit took place. Empowered by the Spirit, they began preaching and 3000 were saved.
These 3000 that were saved formed the first church community. They were a life giving community, for out of them flows the mighty workings of God. Out of this community, many later went out of Jerusalem to bring the gospel to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
In Acts 2:42-47, the bible recorded of us the practices of this community. I believed that if we want to return to the vision of revival, then we have to return to the practices of the first Christian community, that was bringing revival to the land.
In my next few sermons, I will share with you on
“Traits of a history making community”
I believed that as we take on the traits of the early church, we can become the same history making community as the early church.
The first thing we notice about the early church was:
Devotion to the Word
“42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching”
The Apostles were teaching from the Old Testament, from the teachings of Christ, and the revelation given by the Holy Spirit.
They were devoted to the word of God.
A. Let me first explain why the Word of God is so important.
i. All scripture is inspired by God
2 Timothy
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The bible is the Word of God, which reveals to us the will of God, teaches us the way which we should live our lives.
Illustration
When a person dies, how does the family know what to do with the inheritance? Normally the dead person would already have a left a will or a testament to instruct how the inheritance should be divided.
In the same way the bible is God’s testament to us, instructing us the way to live our life.
Have you bought an electronic gadget that comes with an instruction manual? Now I dislike reading manual. I would rather try to figure out how to operate the gadget by playing around with it. Well unfortunately this can be costly and damage to the device can happen.
God’s word is God’s manual for our lives. He is the creator and he knows best how we should be operated.
ii. The bible changes our lives.
It produces conviction (Heb 4:12)
It transforms our mind (Romans 12:2)
It gives us victory over sin (Ps 119:11)
I have yet to see a believer who is not interested in the word of God and yet his life changes. Have you seen one?
On the other hand when a believer is unstable in his ways, it is because he was never interested in the word of God.
B. What does devotion to the word of God mean?
i. Their hearts and mind were captured by the Apostle’s teaching
In lectures you will see many bodies seated but their spirit and souls are somewhere else.
(Flash up power point – Gerald Ho)
The believers in the early church were different. They were listening intensely to what the apostles were teaching and preaching. They were busy writing down notes.
(Flash power point – Yu Hang)
Their posture is like that of a student listening intensely to a teacher giving hints for an examination.
ii. They were willing to align their life to the word.
Now they were new believers. The apostles were teaching them things which are probably contradictory to their lifestyle. But these believers were not offended by the word. In fact they were convicted by the word of God and were willing to align their life to the word of God.
- A Plumb Line
iii. They were willing to act on the word.
Devotion to the word means absolute obedience to the word of God. Now this does not mean that there is no place for weaknesses.
Absolute obedience means that when a believer realized that a part of his life is not align to the word of God, he will take steps by making a change in that particular area of his life.
It means that a believer does not stop committing sins, he will start doing what the bible commands him to do.
C. Practical steps towards Devotion to the Word
i. Make a decision that God’s word will be a plumb line for your life.
ii. Take the preaching of the Word seriously.
iii. Start having a regular daily quiet time where you can read and ponder on God’s word.
iv. Whenever God’s word convict you, or contradict your lifestyle, take steps to align yourself to God’s word.
v. Make it a goal to finish reading the New Testament first and then go on and finish the whole bible. Don’t be a believer that is stuck on the gospel of Mark for your whole life.
Conclusion
