MARKS OF AN AWESOME CHURCH
Acts 2:42-27
1) A Studious Church - V42 - The different translations us the words steadfast and/or devoted to describe this church in Jerusalem. They gathered, they studied, and they were "committed" to the apostles doctrine. They didn’t just participate when it was easy or convenient, but sold out to the word and work of the gospel.
2) A Supernatural Church - v43 - When the Holy Spirit filled the church, the disciples were able to perform both "Signs and wonders." When a church walks in the economy of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural becomes the natural, the abnormal becomes the normal, and the unimaginable becomes Unusual. What is the key here is to let the Holy Spirit control the envirment. ILLUS: If you place water in your freezer what do you expect to happen? It becomes ice. No big surprise, right? In fact, if your freezer will not freeze water, you’ll call the repair man to "fix" your system. In the same way, a church family control by the Holy Spirit of God WILL have in it things happening which can only be explained by God.
3) A Sharing Church - v44 - The church at Jerusalem came together to live in what we would call a "communal" fashion. To be clear, there is no command to do this and history would bear out that these believers missed God’s best for them by doing this, but here is the defining point in the life of this church. They desired to be so Christ-like in their living and their responses to each other, that they went OVERBOARD in wanting to share what God had given them with each other. A truly awesome church is a church that is not stingy--but shares with the less fortunate. Jesus had more to say about "taking care of the poor" than He did about "heaven".
4) A Singing Church - V47 - They "praised God", they worshipped, they sang. It seems to be an oxy-moron to claim to be a believer and have no song to sing. In Christ, there is always a song inside. "Amazing Grace", "I’ve God the Joy-down in my heart", "from sinking sand He Lifted me", and a myriad of other truths are those that we sing because of our forgiveness, salvation, and even assurance.
5) A Spirit-filled Church - The adage has been spoken for years in pulpits across America, "The Holy Spirit could cease to exist and most churches would never know it". The Awesome church is the church that is a little different than the others. It is the body which trusts God so much and allows the Spirit so much access that guests in the midst and sense it. They feel it. They know it. Here’s the kicker; the only way to have a "spirit-filled" body is to have "spirit-filled" MEMBERS.
6) A Salvation Church - V47b - The last verse says "the Lord added to the church daily". What a great affirmation of God’s hand on the place! There is no doubt that when God is in the house, hearts a constantly being changed, lived are being touched, and salvation is coming to the lost soul.
