344. The Birth of the Church

Acts 2:37-47

Key Verse: "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."

Acts 2:38

Repentance must come before revival!  It is important to clean out the old to make room for the new.  When the old is gone, however and the new has come, what an amazing gift is bestowed on those who would receive it!

Jesus had told His disciples in the upper room, "By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  (John 13:35)  This was no longer a rule, however.  When the Holy Spirit came, love was written on men's hearts.  Love was no longer a rule for people to follow in hopes of pleasing God.  No!  It was a response in gratitude for the fact that God had forgiven completely.  The unmerciful servants became merciful toward their fellow man.  Love became natural and spontaneous because the old way of wanting to impress others was gone and the new way of wanting to care for others had come.

"They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  (Acts 2:42)  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he or she had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people."  (Acts 2:44-46) This was not natural. This was God, supernatural, creating something new for all the world to see.

"Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  (Acts 2:43)  "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."  (Acts 2:47B)  It's God's love on display, from those who have received, that attracts the world to Him.  Jesus said that it is by His love that you will be distinguished as a follower of Christ.  Our words alone cannot usually bring another to Christ.  Words may persuade, but they can also be used for arguing.  Who can argue against love?  Rules attract some who want to see in black and white what is expected of them, but rules become rigid, lacking grace and discouraging most who would try to obey.  Love conquers rules.

This is why it is so important to pray for those we wish to bring to Christ.  The disciples were in that upper room for ten days, praying, not knowing what to do, before the Holy Spirit came upon them. Then when he came, everything changed, He empowered them to preach the gospel and win others to Christ.  If they had just rushed back to the city after Jesus ascended and tried on their own to convince people that He truly was alive and ascended, they would have failed, because they would have been operating in their own strength. 

Because they prayed instead of running ahead, and waited, instead of guessing and trying this and trying that, the Lord not only prepared them to preach, but prepared the hearts of those traveling to Jerusalem to receive the message of salvation.  The Lord took the time to equip the called and soften hearts to write His new law upon them so that everyone would see His new way, be amazed, and respond accordingly.

We may want our witness to be a success on the first try.  When it isn't, we are tempted to be discouraged and give up because, we conclude that we don't have the gift of evangelism.  In prayer, however, God works in us to make us stronger in our convictions and burden for the lost, while at the same time, He softens the hearts of the lost to receive what we have to share.  Over all, His love must compel us or else we are a clanging gong to those to whom we are speaking.  (2 Cor. 5:14 & 1 Cor. 13:1)  It is by His love that they will know that we are sincere.

Hymn:  "Love Lifted Me!"