They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and Prayer

Acts 2:42 says regarding the early church, "they devoted themselves to the word (apostles' doctrine), and fellowship, communion (breaking of bread), and prayers." This verse can serve as a blueprint for churches. It describes the foundation of the early church, and it can serve as a foundation for us. Peter preached a great sermon on Pentecost and three thousand people were saved. This huge group of new believers couldn’t be sidetracked by any books, programs, or other churches. So, looking at what they focused on ("devoted themselves to") allows us to see what we should focus on. https://youtu.be/8YyhJ-Y7FdA Acts 2:42 says regarding the early church, "they devoted themselves to the word, fellowship, communion, and prayers." A great blueprint. Table of ContentsSermon Lessons for They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and PrayerFamily Worship Guide for They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and PrayerSermon Notes for They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and PrayerLesson one: the early church sets a good example, because of what they didn’t have.Lesson two: Jesus builds the church.Lesson three: we want to equip the saints by devoting ourselves to the Word, fellowship, communion, and prayer. Sermon Lessons for They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and Prayer Lesson 1: the ­­­__________ ____________ sets a good example, because of what they didn’t have (Jeremiah 6:16, Acts 2:23, 36-38, Deuteronomy 30:6) Lesson 2: __________ ____________ the church (Acts 2:39-41, Matthew 16:18, Psalm 127:1, 1 Corinthians 3:6). Lesson 3: we want to equip the saints by ________________ __________________ to the Word, fellowship, communion, and prayer (Acts 2:42). Family Worship Guide for They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and Prayer Directions: Read the above verses at the end of the lessons and then answer the following questions associated with them: Day one: when considering the vision for our church, why can the early church serve as a good example for us? Why shouldn’t we try to be original? What else do you think we can learn from the early church? The early church wasn’t perfect. What are some things we can learn from them to avoid? Day two: why do we want unbelievers to be convicted when they attend our services? What does it mean that those listening to Peter at Pentecost were cut to the heart? Why is it encouraging that Jesus said he would build the church? What application does this have for us? Even though Jesus is building the church, what responsibilities do we still have? What can the account with Gideon illustrate for us? Day three: how can Acts 2:42 serve as a nice blueprint for us? What are the four areas (or spiritual disciplines) this verse encourages us to focus on? Briefly describe each one of them and their importance. After taking an honest assessment of your spiritual life, which areas do you feel comfortable with, and which areas have the most room for growth? What practical steps can you take to see yourself grow in these areas? Sermon Notes for They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and Prayer The title of this morning’s sermon is, “They Devoted Themselves to the Word, Fellowship, Communion, and Prayer” Go ahead and open your Bibles to Acts 2. Just to give you a little direction for the following Sundays, this is our last sermon on the vision of the church. Next week I’m going to resume my verse-by-verse studies through Luke’s gospel. If you want to read ahead, we will pick up where we left off at Luke 12:35…13 years ago. For now, let’s go ahead and read our verses this morning: 36 to 42. Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. As you can tell we are looking at the early church. This is pretty much as early as you can get because it is Pentecost which we would consider the birth of the church. Let me explain why I like this approach when considering the vision of our church… You’ve probably heard many of the buzzwords in the church today: postmodern, relevant, contemporary. Sometimes when people talk about vision for the church, they say things like: We need to reinvent ourselves We need to do something new and radical I would actually say the opposite. We should be unoriginal. We should go back to the Word and look at what God already wrote and try to do that. We should see what He already said the church should do and focus on making that our vision. When I was going over the sermon with Katie she said, “This would actually make us original.” Listen to what God said to the Jews through the prophet Jeremiah in his day when they started to depart from the foundation he gave them… Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ASK FOR THE ANCIENT PATHS, WHERE THE GOOD WAY IS; AND WALK IN IT, and find rest for your souls.” I think we can look for the ancient paths, where the good way is, walk in it, and find rest for our souls. I think one of the reasons it can be restful is: We don’t have to worry about reinventing ourselves. We don’t have to worry about trying to be original. Trying to constantly reinvent ourselves can be exhausting. Instead of trying to be original, we can try to be biblical. And in our attempt to be biblical I don’t think we can do much better than looking at the example of the early church…which brings us to lesson one… Lesson one: the early church sets a good example, because of what they didn’t have. One of the reasons I REALLY like to look at the early church is because of what they did NOT have… First, the early church didn’t have books to read on church growth. I looked on Amazon and there were 28,000 books on church growth. Last week I discussed the most well-known: The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren. I shared some of the concerns I had with this book. The early church wouldn’t have had any books like this to influence them. Second, the early church didn’t have the example of other churches to follow. During last week’s sermon I also mentioned Willow Creek and how thousands of churches followed them to hopefully experience the same numerical growth. But the early church also didn’t have other churches to follow. So what we see them do would be uninfluenced by others. This sermon flows well from last Sunday’s sermon, so let me briefly remind you of something… The title of the sermon was, “Equip the saints Versus Being Seeker Sensitive.” I had a lengthy discussion about why we don’t want to be seeker sensitive. Instead, we want to equip the saints for the work of ministry. We see clearly in the following verses that this was the case with the early church: they were not seeker sensitive, and they sought to equip the saints. Look with me at verse 23 to see what I mean… Acts 2:23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, YOU CRUCIFIED AND KILLED by the hands of lawless men. Peter accused them of crucifying Jesus. Skip to verse 36… Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED.” Again, Peter told them they crucified Jesus. Does this sound seeker sensitive? Definitely not! If you remember last week’s sermon, lesson two was… We don’t want to be seeker sensitive because (lesson two) we want unbelievers to be convicted. And why do we want unbelievers convicted? Because they will hopefully repent and become believers. This is exactly what happened in the early church. Look at verse 37… Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this THEY WERE CUT TO THE HEART, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Whenever I read this account I always think about the Jews FINALLY receiving the true and greater circumcision God wanted for them, which was not physical, but spiritual: a circumcision of the heart. Deuteronomy 30:6 God will CIRCUMCISE YOUR HEART…so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. So there was this Old Testament practice which prefigured or foreshadowed a New Testament reality, and we finally see it fulfilled here. Let me ask you to think about something for a moment… What if Peter had been seeker sensitive? He would’ve thought: What do these Jews want to hear? How can I make this crowd bigger? What can I say to make them want to come back? Maybe I can give them something entertaining? But when you have people feeling convicted, they’re receptive to doing what Peter tells them to do in verse 38… Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were told that if they’d repent, believe, and be baptized, they’d receive the Holy Spirit, which is to say they’d be saved.