The Places Series

“THE PLACES” Acts 2:42-47

FBCF – 3/6/22

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Roll call in school. Answered, “Here,” or “Present.” Means, “I’m in my place where I’m supposed to be. I’m ready for my assignment.”

Today, continue w/ our series on “The ChURch” from the book of Acts w/ a message entitled, “The Places.”

EXPLANATION – Acts 2:42-47

Attended a pastors’ prayer conference this week in Houston, TX. Awesome week! Thanks for allowing me to attend.

Conference was put on by the 6:4 Fellowship, a network of pastors that I belong to. Purpose of 6:4 Fellowship is to challenge & encourage pastors all over the world to stay committed to excellence in the priorities of Acts 6:4 – prayer & the ministry of the Word.

The conference was called the 6:7 Awakening. Based on Acts 6:7 – “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” Formula that was talked about over & over – 6:3 disciples + 6:4 leaders = 6:7 awakening!

Prayed “God, please let me clearly hear from you this week.” Got there & first preacher – Kevin Myers, 12 Stone Church, Lawrenceville, GA – talked about Acts 6. Next preacher – HB Charles, Shiloh Church, Jacksonville, FL – preached from Acts 3. Next preacher – Vance Pittman, Hope Church, Las Vegas, & now the president of Send Network w/ NAMB – preached from Acts 1. “I’M LISTENING, LORD!!!”

Conference focused on prayer & the Word of God. We prayed A LOT! Worshiped A LOT! Awesome time w/ about 500 other pastors & church leaders from all across the country & Canada.

One thing we didn’t talk about was church buildings. Conference was held at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, TX. Beautiful facility. Got lots of good ideas for ways we may want to design our new building. But there were no workshops or panel discussions on church buildings. The focus of the conference was on who the Church is & what the Church should be doing.

But the truth is that there are places that the Church can be found. And that’s what this message is about.

APPLICATION – The Church is not a place, but there are places that the Church ought to be.

IN HERE – I love church buildings. News ones w/ theater seats & large video screens. Older ones like our sanctuary w/ stained glass & pews. Majestic ones like FBC Jackson (used to take people in there when I was on staff). Simple ones like the small building in Pedernales, DR, where Pastor Frantdzy pastors – no AC, homemade benches, & bare lightbulbs hanging from ceiling.

There is something significant about a gathering place for the people of God. God’s people have always had a place to gather to worship Him.

- Psalm 122:1 – “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

- Moses & the children of Israel had the portable, temporary tabernacle that they used while they wandered in the desert.

Here in Acts 2:46, we see that these new believers – new church members – were still gathering w/ other believers in the temple to worship God. Weren’t doing the OT sacrifices any more, but still going there w/ other believers to pray.

Why do we gather in here? For corporate worship, prayer, & the proclamation of the Word of God.

- Acts 3:1 – “Now Peter & John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer…”

- Acts 5:42 – “And every day, in the temple & from house to house, they did not cease [they never stopped – NIV] teaching & preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

Hill Street Blues – Every episode opened w/ roll call at the Hill Street precinct. At end of roll call after going over all the crimes being committed & criminals that need to be apprehended, Sgt. Phil Esterhaus would say, “Let’s be careful out there.” Roll call was time for officers to gather before they scattered.

That’s this worship time in here – our precinct. We gather to worship, to pray, to be instructed in the Word. Then we scatter to go do the work we are called to do. We gather, then scatter.

AT HOME – The bulk of our time as the Church is not spent inside this building. The bulk of our time is spent at home. Do we have a responsibility to use our homes as the Church? Or are our homes simply our retreat from the outside world?

When we look at the early Church, it’s clear that another place where we can find them is in each other’s homes. Maybe we can learn from them.