CHURCH SERIES #5:
FILLED WITH AWE (HERE’S YOUR SIGN)
BIBLE VERSE: ACTS 2:42-47
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
TRANSITION: The book of Acts lays out the foundation of the early church, and quite honestly, the modern church as well. Specifically, these 5 verses here explain perfectly the role of the church and what the church is supposed to be and do. So this next series, which continues our Acts 2 series, will be a look at the specific role of the church breaking down part by part week by week.
THE OUTLINE:
A. Devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.
B. Devoted themselves to fellowship.
C. Devoted themselves to the breaking of bread.
D. Devoted themselves to prayer.
E. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs.
F. All believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
G. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
H. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.
I. They praised God.
J. They enjoyed the favor of all people.
K. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
POINT OF EMPHASIS: Now, we are going to do some combining, we are going to break this 11 part series down into fewer weeks. But we are going to look at what the apostles did and what we should be doing.
INTRO: The key verse here is focused on signs and wonders done throughout the early church, so this lesson is once again broken into separate parts with different questions for each.
1. What was the first church like?
Well, there are a lot of things the church is NOT. You know, Christ died for a lot of things, but he didn’t die for the future church descriptions that I am about to describe.
A. Old Folk’s Home Church: This church for the most part is a bunch of older people singing older music which is absolutely fine, in fact, that aspect of the church is great. But in addition, because things never change and the leaders will never change them, most new things that are tried are met with fierce opposition, as the church stays old.
B. The Ideas Church: This church worships the Lord with great music, but has beliefs all over the page. There are people who love the Lord, that is no question, but there is no agreement over scriptures. One Bible study class will be teaching “once saved, always saved,” and the class next door will teach “people can lose their salvation.” This is not ONE ACCORD. The most ungodly ideas are allowed to go on because everything is fair game, as long as “we love Jesus.”
C. The Private Club: This church actually functions pretty decent. They have quality worship, quality teaching, quality sermons, in fact the entire interior design of the church is high quality. But…and this is a big but, no one outside of the core group is allowed in. People can visit, people can learn, but breaking in to the “in group” requires commitment, and maybe even the right look.
D. The Political Action Committee. This church fiercely defends each other, as youth would say…they got you’re back. But rather than spending their focus on reaching the lost for Christ, instead, they spend their time protesting issues or promoting social causes. And some of the protests aren’t even nice. I just read yesterday some church is protesting McDonald’s, now I’m not saying it’s the best food (in fact its terrible), but to spend church time protesting?
E. The Mighty Fortress. Do you remember the dark ages? It’s when the world closed their borders and hid in castles away from bandits. What was the church doing? Hiding away from the world in monasteries, copying scriptures and praying…but not talking to anyone. There are churches like that today. The world is all evil (though it is, they got that part right), so lock yourselves up in an Ark and wait for the rapture. Oh, by the way…our father is a king…we were not designed to live like scared rabbits running from one hole to the next.
The only problem with any of these church styles, is that it is definitely NOT what Christ died for. More importantly, it is NOT what Christ’s church did in the first century. The church was magnificent.
2. What were some of the signs the author was talking about?
Well, why go into details, let’s go directly to the Bible. Remember, it wasn’t only Jesus that performed miracles… (leaders, this may come as a surprise to you, but most of our youth are not aware that many of the same miracles Jesus performed were also performed by his apostles following his ascension…you may wind up spending a bunch of time here).
BIBLE VERSE: Acts 5:12-16
12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
BIBLE VERSE: Acts 19:8-12
8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
3. Though the first century had signs, should believers seek them?
During the time of Jesus, everybody wanted signs from Jesus in order to prove that he indeed was the Messiah. Honestly, I don’t know what would have happened had Jesus given them a sign. They wouldn’t have believed that’s for sure. In fact, I think there are tons of people today seeking signs all over the world, and it is just an example of something, here is what I mean…look at the following Bible Verse.
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 12:39-41
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and ccondemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Now, having said all that, signs were given for the purpose of REPENTANCE. And if no repentance is going to come, then there will be no signs. Make sense?
4. But aren’t there signs happening today?
TAKE A LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING NEWS STORIES (these are actual stories copied write off the headlines)…
Experts in the UK are baffled after a flock of over 100 dying birds fell out of the sky on Sunday night.
The birds were strewn over a 12ft area in something akin to a horror film and no explanation has yet been found, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is currently conducting tests to try and get to the bottom of the mystery.
-March 10, 2010
A new documentary shows footage of the massacre of 30,000 bees at the hands of just 30 giant hornets.
The incredible video details the struggle between European honey bees and a small group of giant Japanese hornets, without an adequate defence against their much larger counterparts the bees are helpless to defend their hive. The hornets are thought to have reached Europe in 2004 after hitching a ride to France on cargo transported from China.
-January 14, 2012
Over two thousand fish floated dead to the surface after a strange object had hovered overhead.
Witnesses claimed to have sighted the object with a bright light hovering over the mangrove for only 20 seconds before it disappeared, examinations of the dead fish allegedly revealed them to have signs of burns on their gills and scales.
-January 29, 2011
An avalanche of more than 100 apples rained down over a main road in Keresley, Coventry on Monday night.
The street was left littered with apples after they pelted car windscreens and bonnets just after rush-hour.
The bizarre downpour may have been caused by a current of air that lifted the fruit from a garden or orchard, releasing it over the junction of Keresley Road and Kelmscote Road.
One driver said: "The apples fell out of the sky as if out of nowhere. They were small and green and hit the bonnet hard.
"There were other cars on the road at the time too and everyone had to stop their cars suddenly.
-December 14, 2011
Preliminary reports show no evidence of poisoning in some 4,000 birds that fell from the sky dead on January 2, 2011 in Beebe, Arkansas.
In an odd twist, just 24 hours after the unexplained death of thousands of birds, more than 100,000 fish have also suddenly died in a nearby river.
Some people are now suggesting that the fish and bird deaths are part of a Biblical plague, according to MSNBC News.
-January 3, 2011
Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, residents found 50 to 100 jackdaws on a street in Falköping southeast of Skövde. The incident echoed a number of unexplained incidents earlier this week across the southern US.
-January 5, 2011
So what does all of this mean? Well, check out this verse (no, I am not crazy, just think its unique)…
END TIME SIGNS
1. False Bible teachers would be money hungry. They would be smooth talkers, have many followers, and slur the Christian faith (2 Peter 2:1-3) See some at: Fakemessiah.com
2. Homosexuality would be increasingly evident at the end of the age (2 Timothy 3:3)
3. Earthquakes would be in diverse places (Matthew 24:7)
4. Stress would be part of living (2 Timothy 3:1)
5. Many wars would erupt (Matthew 24:6)
6. People would forsake the Ten Commandments as a moral code, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and killing (Matthew 24:12)
7. There would be a cold religious system, in denying God's power (2 Timothy 3:5)
8. Men would substitute fantasy in place of Christian truth (2 Timothy 4:4). This is so evident at Christmas when the birth of the Savior is lost behind the myth of Santa Claus.
9. Deadly diseases would be prevalent (Matthew 24:7). The worldwide increase in AIDS deaths is almost inestimable. Over 160,000 Americans die of cancer each year.
10. The fact that God once flooded the earth (the Noahic flood) would be denied (2 Peter 3:5-6). There is a mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by the scientific world because of its uncanny implication.
11. The institution of marriage would be forsaken by many (1 Timothy 4:3)
12. There would be an increase in famines (Matthew 24:7)
13. Increase in vegetarianism would increase (1 Timothy 4:3-4)
14. There would be a cry for peace (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
15. The possession of Jerusalem would be at the center of international turmoil (Zechariah 12:3)
16. Knowledge would increase (Daniel 12:4)
17. There would be hypocrites within the Church (Matthew 13:25-30)
18. There would be an increase of religious cults/false teachers (Matthew 24:11 & 24)
19. The future would seem fearful to many (Luke 21:26)
20. Humanity would become materialistic (2 Timothy 3:4)
21. There would be many involved in travel (Daniel 12:4)
22. The Christian Gospel would be preached as a warning to all nations (Matthew 24:14)
23. Jesus said Christians would be hated "for His name's sake" (Matthew 24:9)
24: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:25-26).
25: Youth would become rebellious. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy (2 Timothy 3:2)
26: Men would mock the warning signs of the end of the age saying, "for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Peter 3:4). The Bible even reveals their motivation, they love lust (verse 3). They fail to understand that a day to the Lord is as a thousand years to us. God is not subject to the time that He created. He can flick through time as we flick through the pages of a history book. The reason He seems to be silent, is because He is patiently waiting, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.
NOW, HERE’S YOUR SIGN…
Sources:
Funderburk, Stephen. Church of Supernatural Signs. Sermoncentral.com.
End Times Sign. Bibleprobe.com.
The headlines are copied are from a variety of sources, all legitimate. For purposes of time I have not placed them here but all could be found via simple word searches off of yahoo.com.