Where’s The Beef?

The commercial was about three elderly ladies who went to a restaurant and ordered a beef sandwich. Once the sandwich was brought to them, one of the elderly ladies open the bun to see what was inside. This little, short, elderly lady said loudly, “Where’s the Beef?”

What she was getting at was this. They wanted a roast beef sandwich, and when they ordered it they expected to get one. But once they received it, and upon close examination, they wanted to know, “Where’s the Beef?” It was all bun and no beef!

This commercial reminds us a great deal of the church. All bun and no beef. There is very little similarity between the church today and the church we read about in the New Testament. The New Testament Church was an exciting church!

When they went to church, they were not sure what was going to happen:

• Multitudes got saved

• Multitudes got healed

• Multitudes got strengthened

• Hypocrites got struck down dead

When the New Testament members went to church, they never knew what to expect. When you go to most church services today, you know what is going to happen before you get there.

The New Testament Church of the Bible is described as a place where many “wonders” were done. “Wonder” here is supernatural, extraordinary, surprise or amazement.

Wouldn’t it be great for the dad of the home to say to the family, “It is almost time to go to church. Let’s go see what God is going to do today!”

As we read through the book of Acts, we see THREE things that the early church did that brought about these fantastic results. First, notice-

I. THEIR PRAYING

Do you know why they were a praying church? Because people who love the Lord pray a lot.

Illus: A little boy knelt at his mother's knee and offered his bedtime prayer. He spoke so softly his mother could not hear what he said. When he finished she asked him, "What did you ask for?" He answered, "I didn't ask for anything. I just told God that I loved Him."

People who love the Lord, express that love through prayer constantly. And the early church was filled with people who loved the Lord. God’s church needs to be filled with people who love Him today.

Illus: Perhaps you were fortunate enough in years gone by to see an old mill operated by a water wheel. The water from the creek flowed down and made the wheel turn, rotating the shaft of the mechanism inside the building to grind the wheat into flour. If the miller came up one day and found that the stream was clogged up, his wheel wouldn't work. He had several things he could have done.

• He could push and shove and try to turn the wheel himself.

• He could even call in the men from the surrounding farms to help him.

His efforts would be in vain, until he went up the creek and pulled out the dead logs and debris that that were blocking the flow of the water. With those hindrances out of the way, the water would flow down again, and the wheel would begin to turn.

Today, we have pastors and Christian leaders striving and straining to do everything they know to do, to make the wheel go around.

The church bulletins list all kinds of activities.

• Special days are set aside to get people to attend church

• Church members are urged to visit and invite others to church

• Door prizes are given away to get people to come

• Lottery tickets are given out to get people to attend

There's nothing wrong with SOME OF THESE THINGS.

The problem is:

• We have all the necessary machinery

• We have the know how and the resources

• We just don't have the water to make the wheel to turn

We need to wade back up the streams of our lives, and look for the log jams and whatever else is stopping the flow of the water from above, and remove these things from our lives. What we need to do is to get back to some good old fashion praying.

• THE EARLY CHURCH WAS A PRAYING CHURCH!

Illus: They did not sit around a table scratching their heads, not knowing what to do. When something came up, they knew exactly what to do about it - THEY PRAYED.

Today when the church faces a problem, they form a committee. The committee meets and now they have an even greater problem, because the committee cannot agree on what needs to be done.

The New Testament church faced many problems, and they prayed their way out of every one of them. There are several things we can see in their prayer life.