Summary: If we do as the early church did in verse 42 then we will see God add to our number daily as verse 47 testifies to.

Serious Talk or Idle Chatter?

Introduction

Acts 2:41-47

Wednesday night Bro. Tom asked the question of everyone at Bible study, What are your goals for the church? First off let me say thanks to Bro. Tom for being willing to be so bold and ask such a point blank question.

Of the few that were here, a number of responses were given and I’d like to share a few with you...especially those of you who weren’t here Wednesday night.

People wanted to see People strong in God’s will; 3 digit attendance; Strong prayer life in the church; A church full of children/youth and teachers for them; and People saved in the past come back to church...just to list a few.

Now before you say, Well yeah Pastor, who wouldn’t want those things let me reread a part of the passage we used for our text this morning.

Acts 2:42, 46-47

Did you hear that, we don’t have to wish for it, Luke, the author of the book of Acts, has just given us the formula for making it happen¡Kfor the success we, and every other church in the world, should be looking for.

Luke gives us the proof right here in the Word of God.

We chan have a church that has triple digit attendance; a church that has a strong prayer life; a church that has people strong in God’s will; a church full of kids/youth; and people saved in the past back in the house of the Lord if we’ll only follow the formula that’s right in front of us!

For once, and you won’t hear me say this very often so take note, but it’s all about us folks!

It’s all about us and what we’re willing to do and give up in order to see this happen!

What are you willing to do to see these things that were mentioned Wed. night happen; to see the Kingdom of God enlarged...that is the true question?

Let’s look this morning at the four major things we have to do first in order to see God do what He has promised.

First, v. 42 says ¡§they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

Now before someone feels the need to bring it to my attention that we don’t have apostles anymore, bear with me for a moment.

We may not have the apostles per say by that title, but we do have people such as pastors, evangelists, ministers, etc. who God has put here for the holy purpose of feeding the sheep¡Kor teaching Christians.

God didn,t just put pastors here to babble on Sun. morning and night to take up your time...we are put here with a heavenly purpose...very specific purpose.

Listen to the words of 2 Tim. 4:1-5.

2 Tim. 4:1-5 1I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

So here you have the pastor’s ultimate job description¡Kexactly like what the apostles were to do.

So now that we’ve established what part pastors play in this, what part do you, the members of the church, play in this.

It says in v. 42, devoting themselves to the apostles’ (or pastors in today’s terms) teaching.

Let’s look at that word devoting.

Let me give you Webster’s definition of devoting - To give or apply (one’s time, attention, or self) entirely to a particular activity, pursuit, cause, or person

Now can you honestly say that if you come in and listen to a forty-five minute sermon and then go home and do nothing with it that you are devoting yourself to the teaching of the apostles or pastors?

I believe that God intends for us to go home and dig further into the Word and allow Him to speak more to us through it.

Many Christians look at hearing the Word of God preached as something that is over when the pastor closes the service in prayer...but to God, that’s just the beginning.

We need to be devoted to the teaching of our pastors and evangelist and be willing to take what God gives us through them and continue to build on it¡Knot just leave it when we leave the service.

Second, v. 42 says, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching AND TO FELLOWSHIP.

Just like the teaching, how many of us can say we are devoted to Christian fellowship?

Let’s look at this from a time aspect.

Let’s say you’re at church Sun. morning from 9:30 - 12:00; and Sun. evening from 6:00 - 7:00; and Wed. night from 7:00 - 8:00; and if you’re a woman on Mon. night for Bible study from 7:00 - 8:30...that’s a total of 6 hours.

And let’s say you spend that much time truly fellowshipping with other Christians about the things of God outside the church, then that’s a total of about 12 hours per week.

When you figure that there are 168 hours in a week, that means you’re only spending 7% of your time in Christian fellowship at best!

What if we could only spend as much time watching TV or doing leisure activities as we spent in Christian fellowship...would that change the amount of time we spent fellowshipping with other Christians?

Let’s be honest...it’s a matter of priorities and we don’t put Christian fellowship or the apostles’ (pastors’) teachings as high on the list as we should!

And we wonder why churches all over our community and the world are shrinking instead of growing!

Third, v. 42 says, to the breaking of bread.

Now folks, I know how good Baptists think, but this doesn’t mean eating a meal together...this means the Lord’s supper which was much different in Bible times than what it is now.

The Lords Supper in Bible times involved more "breaking of the bread" or "getting into the Word of God."

J. Vernon McGee says, "Breaking of bread is more than just going through the ritual of the Lord’s Supper. It means being brought into a fellowship with Christ"...through the world of God.

One of the strongest ways we fellowship with God is through the reading and study of His Word...and God calls us as Christians to be in the Word not only on Sundays and not only when we feel like it...but every day!

Notice the words of v. 46

Acts 2:46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

Notice it says "day by day continuing"...that means they didn’t just do it on Sun. and Wed...they broke the Word of God daily.

We shouldn’t only study the Word of God with others at church¡Kbut in our homes as well.

And also notice the statement "with gladness and sincerity of heart"...that means with a joyful attitude...because we want to do it not because we have to.

When was the last time you invited a group/ or was invited by a group to someone’s house for an "old fashioned Bible Study?"

We need that "smaller group" Bible study many times to give the Word of God the attention it truly deserves¡Kto give everyone a chance to open up and study in a very non-threatening environment.

And believe me when I say that there are people who would come to your house for a Bible study that most likely wouldn’t come to church if you invited them every day.

We need to start with things just like this folks!

And wouldn’t it be nice to know that you had the option of going somewhere to a Bible study group on any night of the week you had free?...think of how our spiritual life would grow.

I’ve heard a lot of the "senior saints" at many of the churches I’ve attended talk about attending this kind of thing and if we’ll just put forth the effort, it will still work today!

God will bless our efforts!

If God had to describe your spiritual diet would he use the word gluttonous or starvation?

God calls us to break His bread together more than a couple short times a week.

And fourth and lastly, v. 42 says, and to prayer.

How committed tare we to our prayer life?

How much time do we spend in prayer daily?

And could the time we spend in prayer be described as "fervent prayer"

J. Vernon McGee says, "I’m afraid in the average church today that prayer is a little fingerprint. That is, prayer is the evident weakness of the church when actually prayer should be the greatest asset of any church."

If the church is going to advance, it has to advance on it’s knees!

We simply don’t pray as we should!

Look at these references to prayer.

James 4:2 You do not have because you do not ask.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Phil. 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

When Paul was writing to the church at Ephesus, he said in Eph. 6:18 that "praying at all times" was God’s plan for the church.

We need to pray without ceasing...for the lost, for needs of our church and the community, for our country, for the world, and the list goes on and on.

Jesus gave us the example of praying without ever giving up. (Luke 18:1)...can you say that this is what you’re doing?...Can I say this is what I’m doing?

Fervent prayer, like Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:44), is necessary to build up a church!

We need to be sure we can say to every lost person that we come in contact with that we’ve been fervently praying for them!

And lets be honest, we have to talk to God about sinners and a backslidden church before we can talk to sinners and a backslidden church about God!

Are we, as a church, as committed to prayer as this first church? Are we as committed to prayer as God would have us to be?

Conclusion

If we do our part, listen to the last part of v. 47 again and what God will do for us.

Acts 2:47 And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

How serious are we about wanting to see People strong in God’s will; to see 3 digit attendance; to see a Strong prayer life in the church; to see A church full of children/youth and teachers for them; and to see People saved in the past come back to church?

Are we serious enough about it to get committed in these four areas we’ve talked about this morning...or is it just wishful, idle chatter?

If we’re truly serious about these things, it’s time to get on our knees and pray down some changes from heaven.

I’m going to put this notebook right here behind the altar and anyone you want prayed for, I want you at any time to put their name and their need in this notebook.

You can do it when you’re here by yourself if you don’t want anyone to know who put it in there, you can do it whenever...it will always be here...and then we’ll put out a prayer list, we’ll print it in the bulletin or mail it or something from time to time and I ask you to pray daily for each need on the list.

And I’m going to ask you to get out of your box of comfort as well and as God moves you, to come to this very altar during invitation times of any service and pray extra and specifically for one or more people in this prayer journal.

It’s going to take doing things like this if we want to be the church that we say we want to be?

Will you do your part so God can do his part? I’m going to do my part and if you’re willing to do your part and get serious about it, you come and pray as we sing.