Our goal is to encourage every believer to know what it really means to follow Jesus and WORSHIP Him, CONNECT with other Christians by joining a small group and living life together in fellowship, friendship, prayer, and GO out together into our community and make disciples.

WEEK 8: Following Jesus means joining others in a Biblical community.

Acts 2:44-47  Topics: Gathering for God’s Word, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers

It is important to understand how all the teaching from week 1-6 connects together like a cake recipe. Each ingredient is important, but the combination creates a whole new way of life bound together with those who follow Jesus in the kingdom of God on earth. 

All the elements united form a powerful light shining as a witness to our city. A living Christian community, a counterculture, inside a dark world provides hope to the broken and ruined sinners enslaved to their master Satan. This is true even if they do not recognize their plight.

The true follower of Jesus is:

1/ Called to die to the right to control your own life, and to live by His control.

2/ Called to die to your goals, and to live for His goals.

3/ Called to die to your will, and to live in His will.

4/ Called to die to your choice of friends, and choose to love God’s friends.

5/ Called to die to what you determine is important, and to live to make disciples (which is most important to Jesus).

6/ Called to die to your culture, and to live in His counter-culture.

With the Holy Spirit in every true believer all of life changes.

Acts 2:41-47 (GW)

41  Those who accepted what Peter said were baptized. That day about 3,000 people were added {to the group}. 42  The disciples were devoted to the teachings of the apostles, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. 43  A feeling of fear came over everyone as many amazing things and miraculous signs happened through the apostles.

44  All the believers kept meeting together, and they shared everything with each other. 45  From time to time, they sold their property and other possessions and distributed the money to anyone who needed it. 46  The believers had a single purpose and went to the temple every day. They were joyful and humble as they ate at each other’s homes and shared their food. 47  At the same time, they praised God and had the good will of all the people. Every day the Lord saved people, and they were added to the group.

1/ First we must understand the power and value in following the Acts 2 example as we live following Jesus’ commands. The first 3000 converts left their culture immediately and completely changed their schedules, their habits, their lifestyles, and followed Jesus together. This is a miracle.

2/ They devoted themselves to following Jesus together through:

The Teaching of the Apostles

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV

The teaching of the apostles is all the things that Jesus commanded them in the gospels. Devotion to the commands of Jesus is the primary focus of instruction of the church. Followers of Jesus MUST understand The Lord Jesus’ Kingdom message, and clearly follow Jesus’ narrow road of being “fishers of men”.

All of God’s Word is the historical revelation from the all knowing God, and He demands that all of us accept it as literal fact. For example, Paul warns Christians to take the Bible seriously. “Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved [tested by trial], a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing—rightly handling and skillfully teaching—the Word of Truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 Amplified Bible

The Bible is God’s Word. Not an interpretation of what some zealous men think God says, but His very Words! The Bible is not a religious piece of literature, but a direct revelation from the mouth of the Living God. It is a supernatural book!

The Scripture itself claims this in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,…” The only God is all powerful and able to communicate with man. He not only is able, He has through His written Word, the Holy Bible. To understand the Bible is to understand what God wants mankind to know at this time. To understand the Bible is to comprehend God’s will and direction for the purpose of becoming a faithful friend and child of God.

Therefore, it is imperative that we read the Bible the same way we read a newspaper, history book or a math book. This is the only valid way to understand God and His Word. We must study it at face value, literally accepting all the natural and normal sense of the text. Obviously, we must analyze it to discover what it’s expressions and terms meant to the original audience. For example, in Matthew 6:12 KJV Jesus says “forgive us our debts” which today we would think means “Forget about our financial debts.” But He means sin.

We learn from Acts chapter two that church is not designed to make you happy, but to help mature you into an obedient disciple of Jesus. You must deny yourself and follow Him. So the first commitment a new Christian must make is to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness …” You are to become an all out, 100% fully devoted follower, helper, worker, and ambassador for God’s kingdom. You read, discuss, and learn what God commands his followers to know and understand so that you can obey Him completely and fulfill your destiny.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples After He Was Raised From the Dead (Luke 24:25-32 NKJV)

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

The Disciples’ Eyes Opened

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

So the early church in Jerusalem gathered together daily in the temple area as one large group to hear the teaching of the apostles. They were taught all the commands of Christ as instructed by Jesus in the Great Commission.

Fellowship

 From the very beginning the church understood the necessity of fellowship. Our local church is called to be a Heavenly Community as illustrated in Acts 2 and your duty is to team up and help one another, and together share salvation with neighbors and friends.

To be devoted to fellowship means you make a steadfast commitment to gathering with, working with, caring for, and supporting your new church family. You must learn to be tighter than friends and as family members, expand God’s kingdom. Teamwork is the environment God wants the family to grow spiritually. It is so hard to get Americans to commit to this. Most just want to come see and hear “the show” and then go home until next week. This is disobedient and stagnating to spiritual growth. 

The Bible says, “…exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”  (Hebrews 13:3) You must be committed and involved to grow together with other believers, this is true fellowship.

Our “fellowship together” is defined as koinoônia from the Greek language of the New Testament. 

It means 

partnership, 

close social union, 

deep communication, 

and common distribution. 

Like a piece of plywood, God wants our local church families to be glued together in such a union that the pulling apart of any one Christian will hurt and scar the group. 

The Holy Spirit formed “original church” exemplifies this for us. This is clearly presented in the language of our text, “All who believed were together;” “all things in common;” “continued daily with one accord;” and “breaking bread from house to house.”

According to Acts 2:42-47 we are partnered together in four ways: membership, mission, ministry, and maturity. Therefore we must understand what fellowship embraces.

Fellowship is based on the “one another commands” of the New Testament.  “Love one another;” “exhort one another;” “comfort one another;” “bearing with one another;” “forgiving one another;” edify one another;” “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs;” “we are members of one another;” minister your grace gift “to one another;”, and “pray for one another” are examples of at least twenty-four one another commands.

1/ Therefore, the close social union of church membership includes the responsibility of loving and caring for one another as we gather. 

2/ The partnership of the mission melts everyone into one voice and  enlarges our proclamation of the Good News of Christ and His kingdom. 

3/ The common distribution of material gifts and everyone’s spiritual gifts ministers God’s help throughout our church cementing all believers with God’s love. 

4/ And the deep communication of our loving exhortations, confessions, and testimonies matures the saints around you.

Therefore, as the local church gathers for worship it must follow the teaching and example of how the Bible guides the church to fellowship. We must interweave into our gatherings the opportunity for believers to obey these commands.

Breaking of Bread

Thirdly, we must always meet together in communion. In Acts they gathered in each other’s homes for love feasts, which means fellowship and the Lord’s table. This practice was adapted like the Last Supper that Jesus shared with The Twelve.  Jude mentions the practice. “These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves…” Jude 1:12 NKJV.

Paul Explains in 1 Corinthians 11:28 the importance of this event and also shows why it is a spiritual growth tool. Paul writes, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” We must constantly examine ourselves. Remember how a doctor examines a patient, he probes and pokes. He looks for hidden signs of problems. This same procedure is just as important for all to grow spiritually and root out sin.

This is why today small groups carefully planned to follow the Acts 2 Biblical model produce much spiritual fruit. For example we find instruction from Paul like this:

1/ “Confess your trespasses [sins] to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed James 5:16.

2/ “…exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” Hebrews 3:13.

Exhortation is “encouragement, entreaty to serve and please God”

The scripture says we need to desperately and passionately plead with each other to stay on course and not give up in our obedience to Christ. Friends help one another grow spiritually.

You can be deceived and tricked by the enemy like Adam and Eve, so listen to each others’ warnings. Football coaches take their jobs seriously and push their players to excel and stay focused on the game. Players that are leaders sound a lot like the coach. So, for the sake of eternity, we need to be even more motivated to focus and stay on the narrow road for the name of Jesus.

Prayer

Finally, without a steadfast commitment to group prayer meetings you will not reach see your family, friends, or neighbors saved. God promises “…where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” The Father is so concerned about group prayer He makes it clear He gives special blessings to those who obey. Jesus also said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” We all learn to depend on God as a family. The young watch the older ones and imitate their actions.

As the early church gathered together they studied the apostles’ doctrines; then they responded and affirmed God’s Word through mutual fellowship by edifying and encouraging one another as a group. Together they had “love feasts” in their homes examining themselves for purity as described in 1 Corinthians 11, and then prayed together, crying to God to expand His kingdom through His power. Group prayer is not the same as your personal prayers. 

For example:

“Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:

‘Why did the nations rage,

And the people plot vain things?

26 The kings of the earth took their stand,

And the rulers were gathered together

Against the Lord and against His Christ.’

27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” 

31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:24-31 NKJV

Like a four legged table, it works when all legs are up and holding together the surface. The church succeeds when, as a united group, the whole church participates in all four elements. This is the secret of spiritual growth and spiritual fruit. “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” Acts 4:33 NKJV

Remember these people had regular lives just like us. They had jobs, and worked long hours. They had families and relatives. They had homes and family responsibilities. And yet they willfully changed their lifestyles as God’s Word reveals and merged their lives together by becoming best friends, and co-workers for the kingdom.

All the believers kept meeting together. They changed from family privacy and immediately pooled their resources together and shared everything that they could to needy Christians, accepted a single purpose to serve God and work together, went to the temple every day for Bible study, ate at each other’s homes and shared their food, and together praised God constantly.

Because of this radical change of lifestyle, every day the Lord saved people, and they were added to their group.

“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” Acts 4:32-35 NKJV

3/ Are you willing to follow Jesus and commit to a complete cultural change?

Fellowship is costly and dangerous because you must open your hearts and allow others to get close to you. Fear not! Some will hurt you, fail you, disappoint you. Forgive them! But for Christ’s sake, deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Jesus! Learn to forgive and love without receiving anything in return. Obey the God who knows us best, and truly enter the fellowship God designed for the church, before the foundation of the world!

I am now making these decisions, commitments, and actions.

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