The New Church
Acts 1:1-4
I. Introduction
a. The book of Acts is a first-hand account of the beginnings of the church. But, the book of Acts is more than history. It tells us about the love of Jesus for the world, and how that love was poured out to the ends of the earth. I think it is fitting with this being our first service, to look at the church’s beginnings, just as we are beginning here. At Calvary Chapel, most of us teach expositionally, verse-by-verse, through a book. That may be a little different to what you are used to, in most other churches, the pastor teaches topically, going from topic to topic as he sees fit, or as instructed by a denomination.
b. At Calvary, we make it simple. We believe that God’s Word is both relevant and applicable to our lives today. This is why it is so useful to teach through it verse by verse. In teaching this way, we get to see scriptures in context, as the writer intended. The flock will be fed as God intends, not as I intend. Along that same line of thought, it guards against me having a pet doctrine of topic. I have heard a lot of people complain that every time they go to church, all the Pastor teaches about is tithing, or drinking, or whatever. Well, you’ll never get that here. I will teach on a subject as we get to it in scripture. So, when we get to some verses about tithing, we’ll talk about it. That way the teaching is balanced. You know, my pastor taught me that I’m just a waiter. My job is to get the message from God, the chef, to you without messing it up! So if you have a complaint, take it up with the chef. A lot of times, when I hear a message, I think wow, that just spoke to my life where I was at right now. I think, was that written for me? The answer is yes. As we study through God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will move on your heart. The question for you is, are you going to let Him work? I pray that the Lord would work in each of our lives, and that we would do noting to hinder that.
c. In the book of Acts we are told that when the Church was born the believers continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. These are the four features that marked the early Church and these are the features that mark Calvary Chapels. These are the things that we emphasize, that we seek after, and we have discovered that--as in the early Church--the Lord will add to our number daily.
d. You know, the early church started out teaching in homes, or in hostile synagogues or the temple. They were hostile because the Jewish religious establishment didn’t want to hear about Jesus. Well, as you can see, we’re meeting in a dance hall. After looking around Bryan and College Station for 3 months, this is the place that the Lord has provided to us to use. It’s not the Taj Mahal, but we’re thankful that He has provided this to us. We obviously didn’t hang up the beer signs, but we are going to work every week to make it a better place to worship, until the Lord leads us and provides us somewhere else to meet.
e. Remember I just said that in Acts we are told that the early Church continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. We are serious about all of them, but definitely in the last one, prayer. Prayer has been described in many ways, but basically prayer is talking to God. Prayer is God’s gift to His children which enables them to make their requests known to Him and have God respond to their individual needs. Prayer is our access to the throne of God to express whatever it is on our heart. One of our goals, one of the things I pray for, is that we will be a prayerful church. Once Stacie and I get established up here, we will hold prayer meetings weekly. But, know that before that, your prayer requests will be prayed over, and they will be anonymous as you need them to be.
f. With that, let’s pray.
II. PRAYER
a. Father God, we thank You for this day and the blessings you have provided us in it. We thank you most of all for sending Your Son, who died on the cross for our sins. We thank You for your Word and the mysteries you reveal in our lives through it. Lord, we ask that you would bless this body, and the families represented here. Finally, Lord, we ask that you would bless the study of your Word this morning. Open our hearts and minds to hear and apply your Word in our lives. For it’s in Jesus name we ask, Amen.
III. Illustration
a. A little girl watching a regiment of soldiers marching down the street, turned to her mother as the last section of the band in front of them went past and asked, with a note of impatience in her voice, "What are soldiers in the parade for if they can’t play?" The child had lost sight of, or really never understood the fact, that the real business of the soldier is not to be part of an attractive parade. In the desire to make the church attractive, sometimes a similar mistake is made. The real business of the church is to save souls, and not to furnish an attraction that will draw "the best people in town" into its charmed circle. The early church was often not an attractive one. The purpose was not to attract people and have fun, but to save people from their sins.
b. Guys, it’s our goal here to reach out to the community around us for Christ, not to have an attractive place to hang out.
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. So, let’s get in to God’s Word. As I said earlier, we are going to start our studies here in the Book of Acts. Today we are going to look are going to look at the first chapter of Acts, verses one through four. By the way, a good estimate, at the rate I teach, we will be through the book of Acts in a little over a year. If anybody needs a Bible, just raise your hand, and we will get you one. There are a lot of things we can glean from Acts. So, let’s take a look. Turn with me to Acts chapter one. Acts is the fifth book in the New Testament, kind of near the back of the book, between John and Romans. Let’s read these four, starting at verse 1.
ii. 1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
iii. Now, out of these four verses, we get a prologue, and introduction to the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts is a first-hand account of the beginnings of the church. As I studied these four verses, I saw five main thoughts, five main points, these five answer five very important questions about the book, and it serves as an introduction to the book.
iv. At the end of this study, if I have done my job as a waiter, and you have done your job of listening, you will know the Who of Acts, the What of Acts, the Where of Acts, the Why of Acts, and finally, the When of Acts.
b. Who (Acts 1:1a)
i. To answer the question of who, we need to look at verse 1. Just the first part of it though. We see in verse 1 The former account I made, O Theophilus
ii. So we see right off that it in the first person. The I there was writing to a guy named Theophilus. So, who was the I there? Our answer is found in another book of the New Testament, turn with me to Luke chapter 1, and we’re going to look at verses three and four.
iii. 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
iv. So, we see here that the Gospel of Luke was written to Theophilus, and Luke wrote it. Acts is the second part of the story that Luke penned. History tells us that Luke was a physician; he was a companion of Paul on his missionary journeys. We also know that Luke was a Greek, a gentile, church tradition tells us that he was from Syrian Antioch, and remained unmarried and childless, and that he died at the age of eighty four. Luke was the only contributor to the New Testament that was not a Jew. We from scripture that he was a loyal and unshakable companion of Paul. Paul calls him the beloved physician in Colossians chapter 4. During Paul’s second imprisonment, by Caesar Nero, Paul writes in 2nd Timothy 4:11 that “only Luke is with me”. We know that Paul was imprisoned and about to die for his faith, so for Luke to be there would be great danger to him as well.
v. We see also here in verse 1 that the letter was written to Theophilus. We saw in Luke chapter 1 verses 3 the Theophilus is called most excellent Theophilus by Luke. This gives us a clue that Theophilus was a man of high standing socially. But, what is more important to note here is that Theophilus’ name actually means “lover of God”. This has led some to believe that Theophilus was just a symbolic name, that the letters were written to the church in general. But, I have no doubt that Theophilus was a real person, who was most likely in charge of publishing and distributing the two letters.
vi. Actually, it is Theophilus that ties the two books together. It is because of Luke’s two different introductions to him that let us know that the two are linked.
vii. So, why was there two letters, or books? Why didn’t Luke just write one big book? That’s a good question. The answer is this. The books of the Bible were originally written on papyrus scrolls. Now, it is only practical to have scrolls about thirty five feet in length. They get much longer than that, and they become too bulky to carry. This physical limitation seems to be the on a few books in the Bible – Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans. So, by the power of the Holy Spirit working though him, Luke wrote two scrolls. The first one described the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, which is the Gospel of Luke. The second described the events following the first, up to the arrival of the apostle Paul in Rome some thirty years later. It’s speculated by many scholars that Luke had planned to write a third that concerned Paul’s release from Rome, and his later missionary journeys to the Western provinces of the Roman Empire, but it’s clear that this did not happen.
viii. So, we’ve talked about who. Who wrote the book, and who was it addressed to. We know that clearly, Luke wrote the book of Acts under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and that it was addressed to Theophilus, and it was later widely distributed in the early church, and thus it is preserved for us today. This brings to our next question. What did he write about?
c. What (Acts 1:1b)
i. So, what was the message Luke was writing. The message of Luke was that of “all that Jesus began to do and to teach”. We see that here at the end of verse 1. Acts picks up where Luke leaves off. Like I mentioned earlier, the book of Luke deals with Jesus’ life and ministry on earth. Acts is a continuation of Jesus’ ministry on earth, but through the lives of His disciples.
ii. Acts is a historical book; James Montgomery Boice has described it as excellent history, even from a secular point of view.
iii. But, Acts is more than that it is a very important and unique book in the New Testament because it deals with what happens after Jesus leaves the earth to be with the father. A good friend of mine describes Jesus’ ministry with the apostles on the earth as a quarterback, who is calling the plays on the field. I think that is pretty fitting. But, I think in Acts, He’s more like the Coach sending in the plays. We are going to see that in the first chapter of Acts. We see that Jesus calls His believers together and tells them to go and be His witnesses – to win souls for Christ.
iv. Acts is a link between the 4 gospels and the rest of the New Testament. Without Acts, we would finish reading the gospel of John and start Romans, but we wouldn’t know who this Paul guy was and he was talking about. But, because we have the book of Acts, we know all about the Apostle Paul. We know about his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus. We know about his ministry to the gentiles in the area of modern day Greece and Turkey. We know about his imprisonment and further ministry. It is because of the book of Acts that all of this is tied together.
v. It is a book of power and persecution. A lot of people say they want the power of first century church. But, do they want the persecution that went along with it? I would venture to say that they wouldn’t be quick to sign up.
vi. Also, the book of Acts is a model of the early church. If we want to know how to do church today, this is our model. This is our guide to how to build a church. There is nothing new under the sun. Since we’re brand new here, I think it is fitting that we study this book. The same power that propelled the early church is the same one that moves us today. How do I know this? Because I have seen the same power at work in my life. God called us to Bryan / College Station to start a church. I could spend the rest of our time here today telling you about how God moved places, things, and people, to make it possible for us to be here today. But, the message I’m teaching here today isn’t about me. It’s about Jesus. That’s what our messages are always to be about – Jesus.
vii. The focus of Acts is Jesus working through His church. The title of Acts is – The Acts of the Apostles. More fitting is – The Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. So, when did all this happen?
d. When (Acts 1:2-3)
i. We find our answer in verses 2 and 3. Starting in verse 2 :
ii. 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
iii. The Book of Acts starts with the Ascension of Jesus. But, Luke gives us a little review here of what Jesus did before He left. Jesus instructed the apostles that He had chosen in ministry. These men lived with Jesus during His earthly ministry, and were witnesses to the miracles He performed. They saw the synagogue ruler’s little girl raised from the dead. They saw the wind and waves quiet down when the Lord said “Peace, be still”. They saw the Lord walking on the water.
iv. But Jesus tells them in John 14:12 that he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
v. Acts is the story of the beginning of these works. The works that were greater than those that Jesus did on earth are told in this book, and they continue today.
vi. So, the book of Acts starts with the Ascension of Jesus. Scholars tell us that the Ascension probably occurred on May 18, 30A.D. That’s the closest guess that they have. The exact day and year really doesn’t matter though, I’m just telling you this to give you an idea of when this is taking place. The book of Acts opens with the Ascension and closes in Chapter 28 with Paul living in a rented house in Rome, receiving all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.
vii. Chapter 28 ends rather abruptly, with no real closing. That’s why some scholars believe that Luke wanted to write a third book, but I think it is because the book of Acts is not finished. The ministry of Jesus is still taking place today, here this morning.
viii. I want you to notice verse three there. Notice that Luke tells us about Jesus appearing to his disciples 40 days after his death, and that He did so with many infallible proofs. What proofs? Well, he appeared to them, ate with them, let them touch his hands and his side, in the case of Thomas, and most importantly, He continued to teach them during these 40 days. What Luke was saying here, that as he was lying out the history of the early church and it is based on fact. The fact was that Jesus had risen from the dead. How do we know this, well besides the evidence in scripture, we look at the disciples themselves.
ix. We know that Jesus and His followers were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, when He was arrested and crucified. They saw them drive the nails into his hands, and they saw the spear drive into His side. They were convinced that He was dead. They were so convinced that they began to scatter and leave. There was no more sense in following a dead man - that would be foolish.
x. But, then Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them. His appearances were convincing enough to draw them together again. They wouldn’t have come together for some ideals myths. They came back together because He was alive. He was alive then, He is alive today. He had conquered death.
xi. This is the basis of our faith. If you take that base – That Jesus’ resurrection was a fact, then it carries over to the deity of Jesus. His resurrection proves He is God. If He is God, then everything He says must be truth. Scripture tells us that God is not a man that He would lie. A Holy God cannot lie. Finally, if God is speaking truth, we can trust what He teaches. This is the Christian faith in a nutshell.
xii. So, now that we have established the Christian faith, and when the book of Acts took place, let’s move on to our next question, Where did all of this take place?
e. Where
i. To break it down, the book of Acts can be broken down into three parts. The ministry of the church in Jerusalem, the ministry of the church in Judea and Samaria, and the ministry of the church in the ends of the earth. Sound familiar? Jesus told the disciples that they would be witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. It’s called the Great Commission, and we will look at it in detail next week.
ii. The first few chapters are set in Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside we see in verse 4 that being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, and Jesus tells them assembled there not to leave. The church began in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish government, culture and religion.
iii. Why Jerusalem? It’s because of God’s mercy. He loves His children; He desires that none should perish, but that all would come to everlasting life. The Jews were God’s chosen people from antiquity. They were delivered by God from captivity by the Egyptians and later they were exiled from their land, but God restored it to them, and they rebuilt their temple by God’s grace.
iv. Paul tells us in Romans not once, not twice, but three times that the Gospel is for the Jew first and then the Greek or the gentile. God loves Israel. He still loves Israel. He is still not through with the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. We see this in the prophetical book of Revelation. Speaking of prophecy, Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He came to fulfill what the prophets, who were Jews, has written by the power of the Holy Spirit.
v. The Jerusalem era of the church is found in Acts chapter 1 through chapter 8. It mainly concerns the ministry of Peter and John. They were part of Jesus’ “inner circle” of disciples that saw Him transfigured on the mountainside. We will see that Peter and the other disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and that he then preached a sermon about the resurrection and power of Jesus, and 3,000 came to faith. These were Jews from not only Jerusalem, but surrounding areas. After healing a man lame from birth, Peter then delivers a sermon that results in the salvation of several thousand more. This prompts the arrest of the apostles by the religious establishment, and Peter presents them with the Gospel message.
vi. The Jerusalem part of Acts ends with the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr of the church.
vii. We then see the gospel being taken to Judea and Samaria by Peter and Phillip. The gospel becomes available for non-Jews. It is also in this time frame that we see the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the church, and murderer. Jesus meets him on the road to Damascus; the end result is that a great persecutor of the church was won for Christ. He apostle to carry the gospel to the gentiles. We see this in Acts chapters 8-12. IT is also during this time that the Lord is preparing and training Saul, who takes a new name – Paul for his later ministry.
viii. The ends of the earth part begins with Paul and Barnabas in Syrian Antioch – remember that I told you that many scholars believe that Luke was from Syrian Antioch. Antioch gradually replaces Jerusalem as the home base of the Christian church. We will see that Paul’s journeys take him to the cities of Galatia in Asia Minor, and then on to Greece, and later to Italy and to Rome itself, the capital of the empire. All along the way, Paul was able to preach the gospel. He would preach to any and all who would listen. Tradition tells us that the Roman guards chained to Paul would have to rotate themselves out every few hours, or else they would be converted to Christianity. It is Paul’s preaching that inspires other to take the gospel to modern day Spain, and even to the British Isles. Christianity spread to every corner of the Roman Empire.
ix. All of this from a group of people who were obedient, who waited on the promise of the Lord at Jerusalem. It was said of the early church that the turned the world upside down. Would to God that that would be said of us here.
x. Guys, I know we are jus starting out here, but Bryan / College Station is our Jerusalem, central Texas is our Judea, and the ends of the earth a literally that, the ends of the earth. Our little church here is being started in Calvary Chapel Houston’s Judea, we have been sent out by them. Sooner or later, maybe God will add people to our body that will desire to go out and start a Calvary in Waco, or Killeen, or somewhere in our backyard, and their Jerusalem will be our Samaria.
xi. Also, though it is our desire to carry God’s Word to the ends of the earth. We support a young lady who is a missionary with the Calvary Chapel Church Planting Mission in Russia. It is exciting to see God work and see God move. I think it’s neat to just sit back and watch what all God is doing.
xii. Now, we still haven’t covered our last question. Why was Acts written?
f. Why
i. Acts was written for several reasons. First, to describe what was happening to the gospel message already written about in Luke. It documents the birth, rise and spread of Christianity.
ii. Christianity is Jesus. God didn’t drop a scroll of theology from heaven. He came Himself. Finishing the course on the New Testament, a Greek professor told his class: "You have studied Christ himself, the whole Christ, all of Christ. When you study the Bible, you are studying the Lord himself. For all we know of the Lord is encompassed in these sacred pages." Believers study to understand Jesus.
iii. Acts was written so that we could understand Jesus better, so that we could be better witnesses, so that we could be better Christians.
iv. As I said earlier, another reason why Acts was written was to provide a model for the church. The church of Acts is a perfect model of how we need to operate today. You know, when I was writing this, it occurred to me that in many circles, the way we are starting here in Bryan / College Station is wrong. They would say that we are setting ourselves up for failure. The way many other denominations start churches is that they get together a bunch of money, get some people together, a “core group”, and they hire a leader. Then, they put together a marketing campaign, to advertise the church. Maybe they send our 50,000 mailers to their core demographic. They start with a big fanfare, and a band, etc., etc. They make sure that the message taught will be pleasing to those who would come.
v. Well, if you look around, we haven’t done any of that. We prayed and felt like God was leading us here. It was confirmed by others in ministry with us. When we got the go ahead, we prayed and found a place to meet. We set a start date of today. I worked on messages, and here we are, teaching from God’s Word. At Calvary, we don’t have a core demographic. You can come as you are, and we will minister and teach out of God’s Word to you, no matter where you are at in your life. If you need prayer, we’ll pray for you. If you have a concern on your heart, let us know, and we can counsel you from God’s Word.
vi. I think it’s really cool how God has put all of this together. And it is exciting to see what He’ll do in the coming weeks. I’m kind getting off track here though, let’s jump back on. Look at the end of verse 4.
vii. , but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
viii. Acts is a book about obedient faith. Next week, we will talk about obedience, and how it is a precursor to the Holy Spirit. The disciples were to wait for the Promise in Jerusalem. WE will look at this in depth next week.
ix. But what I do want to look at here is obedience. Throughout the book of Acts we will see people coming and going and doing, all by obedience to the Holy Spirit. We will see how Paul is stopped by the Holy Spirit, and later, we will see how Paul was led to Jerusalem, even thought he knew he would be imprisoned, now that is obedience.
x. A friend of mine with small children tells his kids that he wants their future obedience more than their regret when they do something wrong.
xi. That’s how God is with us. You know, the Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us is without fault. That sin separates you from God. It’s like a big wall. God wants to have fellowship with you, but that sin keeps you from Him.
xii. Maybe that’s how you feel this morning. That you’re separated from God. All you need to do is trust Him, confess your sins, and ask for Him to come into your life. At that point, your sins will be forgiven, and you will receive His greatest gift, eternal life and fellowship with Him.
xiii. Or, maybe you are a Christian, you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, and you’re not walking with Him. Maybe you feel separated because of the way you have been living. Maybe you’re walking in disobedience in one way or another.
xiv. He’s there for you. He’s right there, waiting to forgive you. All you need to do is ask. In a few minutes, I’m going to pray, and you can raise your hand, and I’ll pray with you, and you can get your life right before Him, Jesus will meet you where you are.
xv. I’d like to close with a story.
V. Conclusion
a. On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little life-saving station grew.
b. Some of the members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now, the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired life-boat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in this club’s decoration, and there was a symbolic life-boat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
c. At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. They did.
d. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.
VI. Closing Prayer
a. Father God, thank you for your grace and mercy. We thank you that you sent your Son to die for our sins. We thank you for your church that we saw as we studied today. We thank you that you give us the opportunity and the choice to follow You, that we’re not just programmed like robots. Maybe there’s someone here today who hasn’t trusted you. While every eye is closed, and every head is bowed, if you’re that person, just raise your hand. Or, maybe there’s one here who once walked with You, and just kind of wandered off, if that’s you, just raise your hand.
b. Lord, we just thank you for the opportunity to come to your house to worship You; we ask that You bless the remainder of our service as we worship You with one more song.
c. ***Father God, I confess that I am a sinner. I know that I need You in my life. Lord Jesus, come into my life, and fill me. I know that You died for me, and rose again, for my sins. I give my life to you.
d. Now, if you prayed that prayer with me, please come down front. We’d like to talk with you and pray with you some more, and give you a few things to help you in your walk.
