The Spirit works through the Body of Christ
This passage paints for us a very happy picture.
• Earlier on, Apostle Peter preached and "about 3000 were added to the church."
• It is the start of something new. Something the apostles have not done before.
• But it looks like a smooth start. They people were happy. They came to know Christ and lives were changed.
• Bible says they were together with "glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people."
It does not matter if the ministry was something new, something they have not done before.
What is important is whether the Spirit of the Lord is at work.
• "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (v.47b).
• God was with them and working through them. It is clear that the success was not the result of some skills or marketing plan. It was not their programme that brought people to Jesus. There wasn’t any ‘programme’ actually, just the preaching of the Gospel.
• The growth came because the Holy Spirit was present and He was working through the disciples and the believers. He works through the church.
The circumstances around them have not changed. The authorities were still against the "people of the Way".
• They were still under persecution. We saw later one of them Stephen was stoned to death in public.
• Yet nothing can stop them. Or put it in another way, nothing can stop God. Nothing can stop what God wants done.
• I wonder, what does God wants done here? In KT? In Singapore? Frankly, nothing can stop Him. The big question is, "Can we trust Him and do it?"
There were some things they were devoted to. These are important.
• Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
If we want our lives to be filled with gladness and joy, always praising God like these people, then we need to be devoted to these things. The Spirit works through these. He does not work in a vacuum.
(1) Build on the Foundation of God’s Word (Apostles’Teaching)
Change takes place by the study of God’s Word. We build our lives on the foundation of God’s Word.
• Many are not strong today because they did not eat well. I mean they are not taking in the Word enough. And not digesting it well.
• We need to take in God’s Word constantly, as much as we can, as often as we can.
• Not necessarily the Bible all the time, but Christian books and writings, Christian thoughts. They remind us of what God is saying.
We are living in very challenging time today because we’re bombarded with tons of information and voices of all kinds – from the web, newsstands, TV, YouTube…
• God’s Word is competing with all these voices that come to us from all angles, every day, relentlessly.
• That’s why we need to retreat – I mean go for retreat and have our quieter times – where we can get away from all these noises and to hear only one voice – the voice of God.
• We need that to get our bearing right or at least re-align our bearing.
We need the living water and we need it constantly.
• If you’ve been to my house, you’d have seen a few potted plants.
• When you see the leaves turning brown, you know something is needed. Water. If fact, you are late. The plant has been in need of water for a while.
• How I wish I can just simply water it once, say in a week or better still, in a month. But you know that cannot work. The plant will wither in no time.
• You have to water it a little every day. It’s not easy, you know, to keep them green.
It’s not easy with your life too. To stay health and strong, you need to quench the thirst of your spiritual life with the Word of God, regularly and constantly.
• Just as there is no short-cut to having a healthy, green and growing plant. There is no short-cut to a healthy, vibrant life in Christ.
• Regular feeding ensures our strength remains and our growth will continue.
And then they (2) build A Strong Fellowship
Rick Warren: "Most people think that Christianity is a belief system. There are beliefs in Christianity, but it’s so much more. Christianity is a belong system."
The world has never been more connected.
• Companies are laying millions of miles of fibre optics and shooting satellites into space. Kids all around the world are texting each other on mobile phones.
• Yet you see many others living in isolation. They are getting more and more disconnected. Loneliness is a major problem today.
• Our fast-moving lives have created problems for our relationships. We don’t feel nearly as close to each other as people did a generation ago. These days we can close our door and step into our house without even meeting or greeting our neighbours.
Yet we were created for relationship.
• In fact the first thing God said was, "It’s not good for man to be alone." God said that humans were not made for isolation. We were made for fellowship.
• Why? We were created in the image of God. He is three-in-one, a triune God. The Bible says God is love. And to love, you’ve got to have somebody to love.
This is what we are striving to do and to keep it that way.
• We are kind of re-charging AF. Try to get everyone commit to one time a month and meet together. We need refuelling and recharging. We need to meet to love one another, inspire one another and pray for one another.
• The Holy Spirit works through lives to touch lives. And only when we come together can that happen.
Coming together enable us to hear from one another what God is saying and doing.
• If one is not getting it from the Lord well, then the others will have to come near and voice it out for him.
• The devil seeks to separate us, and keep us separated. Like a coal being taken away from the pile of burning coals, the ember dies off very soon. If we can get them together and the burning continues. The best way to kill an ember quickly is to separate them.
Patrick Morley, author of Man in the Mirror, says fellowship is vital because we need encouragement:
"Encouragement is the food of the heart, and every heart is a hungry heart... How do I know that Jesus is alive? Because I see Him in you. How do I know that Jesus really loves me? Because you really love me. None of us is complete, but together, we are whole. In His wisdom, God has not given any of us everything we need. Instead He chose to give us one another."
Join in the fellowship as often as you can. We need to stay in the family - it’s the only safe place for us to be.
Lastly - Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
(3) Make Prayer a Priority
Prayer is the conversation that turns our salvation into a close relationship.
The book of Acts did not tell us much how the apostles evangelise - what they do or how they do it. But what was mentioned was they prayed.
• They were praying as a group before Pentecost. Now in Acts 2 with more than 3000 new converts, they were devoted to prayer.
• Acts 6 – they prayed when they were electing the deacons. So that the apostles can “devoted themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.” (Acts 6:4)
• Acts 10 – both Cornelius and Peter were praying, Cornelius in Caesarea and Peter at Joppa and the Spirit spoke to both of them, eventually leading Peter to Cornelius home where he preached the Gospel.
• Acts 12 – when Peter was imprisoned the church prayed.
• Acts 13 – they prayed to send Paul and Barnabas out in their missionary journey.
• Acts 16 – Paul and Silas were praying and singing in the prison.
It was something they did all the time. It was something that Jesus did all the time.
• Characteristics of those who pray often: (1) they are regular at it (habitual); (2) they understand that it is the most powerful use of his time; and (3) it has become the first deposition of his heart. [Bible Study: A Man and Prayer. Series: Spiritual Disciplines for the Man in the Mirror]
• Without prayer, we are without power. You may have a well-designed engine but without fuel. The Spirit of God works in response to prayer.
Prayer is God’s designated way of releasing His will in men’s lives.
Look at Jeremiah’s experience in Jer 33:1-11
"While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it - the LORD is his name: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
At this point Jeremiah "was still confined in the court of the guard" (33:1) – he was imprisoned.
• The nation had been conquered and now under the rule of the Babylonians.
• The people had been taken captives, with a small group left in Jerusalem.
• Everything was bleak and hopeless, but God called Jeremiah to PRAY.
Verse 3 is a command. "Call to me and I will answer you..."
• You call, and I promise you, I will answer. And surprise you with great and unsearchable things you do not know. I can do wonders, but you have to CALL on me!
We saw in the Gospels that many who come to Jesus were healed and helped.
• But not everyone – there were many who were not healed – because they did not ask.
• They were near Jesus but they have chosen only to stand and watch. They were sceptical. Only those who care to ask, and ask in faith, were healed and blessed.
• James 4:2 "You do not have, because you do not ask God."
It is not that God did not promise, but that we did not ask.
One day George Mueller looked down the streets of Bristol, England and saw many homeless children. He was so moved with concern and decided to do something. He started an orphanage. He had only two pence in his pocket then.
In 60 years, George Mueller took care of 10,000 orphans. He could have said, "I don’t have any money. There’s no way to care for them, to meet their needs, to buy the food." Instead, he trusted God and God blessed his efforts in a mighty way.
During his 60 years of ministry, George Mueller never solicited funds from anyone. Instead he committed himself to pray and ask God for what he needed to keep the orphanage running. He kept a record of his prayers, and his prayer records filled more than 3,000 pages. His notes show that more than 30,000 prayers were answered.
On one occasion a milk truck just happened to break down in front of the orphanage on a day when they had no milk. The truck driver came in and said, "All this milk is going to spoil. Would you like some of it?" And their need was met.
The secret to answered prayer is to PRAY.
• If we do not have what He wants us to have it is only because we have not asked!
The Holy Spirit works mightily in the early church, through their devotion to God’s Word, fellowship and prayer.
(1) Build on the Foundation of God’s Word
(2) Build a Strong Fellowship
(3) Make Prayer a Priority
