The Amazing First Century Church | Part 2

What is our purpose as the body and bride of Christ?

With a wasted life. Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the profound truth of the gospel, simply stated by Adrian Rogers. In part one of our message today, we learned that the church is the world's first idea of Jesus. We must ask ourselves, do we exhibit the same power as the amazing first century church who turned the world upside down with the gospel?

The church exists to exalt the Savior, to proclaim the manner of Jesus' life, the meaning of his death, and the miracle of his resurrection. If you have your Bible, turn to Acts chapter two, as Adrian Rogers shares more about the amazing first century church. Now, I'm going to give you now a description of a church triumphant, and we're going to ask God to make our church that kind of church.

Found right here in the second chapter of the book of Acts. You know, we talked about the principles of power and the Holy Spirit of God. But now, once we have that anointing, that power, what do we do?

What is our purpose? Well, number one, we are to exalt the Savior. Now, begin now in verse 22 of this chapter. The day Pentecost has come, all of these signs and wonders have been done. The Holy Spirit has come and baptized that motley crew into the body of Christ. And Peter stands up to preach the gospel. And here's what he says in verses 22 through 26. Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him, in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should beholden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad.

Moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope. Now, Peter preached the message, and it is simple to see that it was a plain Christ-centered gospel message. The church grew because they lifted up Jesus.

Jesus said, and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. No church, in my estimation, is going to be a growing, vibrant church that does not exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. Some churches reserve Sunday morning for God the Father, Sunday night for God the Son, and Wednesday night for God the Spirit.

Now, not really, but, you know, there's sort of an emphasis like that. On Sunday morning, they just want to speak of God, and there's nothing wrong with that. Of course, we should magnify God the Father, but every service, every service must exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe that?

I do, because he is the attracting power of the church. I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. And so what do we do as a church? What is our duty? What is our privilege? What is our joy? What is our mandate? It is, first of all, to exalt the Savior.

Now, until we do that, we have not done anything. But secondly, not only must we exalt the Savior, secondly, we must evangelize the sinner. Now, continue to read now and look, if you will, in verse 37 through 41 in this passage of Scripture.

Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what must we do, or what shall we do? What is the conversion, the evangelization of the sinner? Number one, listen to me again, it is the conviction by the Lord, it is conversion to the Lord, it is a confession of the Lord, and it is control by the Lord.

Look again in verse 38, if you will, here, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. That is, he comes into you to control you, the Holy Spirit takes possession now of the person who has been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Real salvation is not just to believe something or to achieve something, but to receive someone. The Holy Spirit of God comes into you. Real salvation is not just going to heaven when you die.

That's a byproduct. Salvation is not getting man out of earth into heaven, it is getting God out of heaven into man. First of all, there's conviction, then there's conversion, then there's confession, and then there is control, and finally there is continuance.

Look, if you will, in verse 41 and 42 of this same chapter. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfastly. Jesus did not call us to make decisions, he called us to make disciples.

They continued steadfastly a continuance with the Lord. Now that's what we're about in evangelizing. That's why we preach, that's why we teach that people might be convicted, that they might be converted, that they might make a confession of Jesus, that they might be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and that they might go on and on with God in continuance and continue steadfastly.

Now here's the third thing that we want to do. Not only exalt the Savior, not only evangelize the sinner, but we want to enlist the saints. Once we get them saved, what do we do?

We'll begin now in verse 42 again and look. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. The little boy again didn't understand what the word doctrine meant. Somebody asked him, what is doctrine? He said, that's what folks need when they're sick.

I say, amen, we need a lot of it. Great churches are Bible-centered. They continued in the apostles' doctrine. That's just another way of saying they continued in the Word of God because the Word of God came through these apostles. How do we enlist the saints? Well, first of all, we get them in Bible study. You say, well, Pastor Rogers, I just don't need it.

Yes, you do. That's how they know you by name. That's how they miss you when you're sick. That's how they pray for you when you're sick.

And if you go to the hospital, come over and cut your grass and minister you. That's where you have fellowship. That's for prayer, care, share there in that class. And so we're going to enlist people in Bible study, but also we're going to enlist them in fellowship. Notice, if you will, in verse 42 again, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.

Watch this. And fellowship. Now, there's some people who think that fellowship is incidental. No, fellowship is absolutely fundamental. The Bible does not teach a lone ranger Christianity. I need you.

You need me. I was reading an interesting passage of Scripture concerning the Apostle Paul. Do you think the mighty Apostle Paul had such a walk with Jesus? Did he need fellowship? Listen to this verse.

It's Acts 28, verse 15. Paul has been through a shipwreck. He's been trying to get to Rome. Finally, he lands on the shores of Italy, and this is what it says. And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as the Api forum and the three taverns, whom when Paul saw... Now, when he saw these brethren, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage.

I love that. Here's the mighty Apostle Paul. Now, these brothers go out and meet him now.

He's tired, worn, bedraggled. And when he saw him, he said, Oh, thank God, and he took courage. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25 says, Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more. We need fellowship. Now, people say that big churches are cold. Well, be reasonable. If big churches are cold, how do they get to be big churches?

No. Big churches don't have to be cold. Big churches can be full of big love, but there's a danger with a big church, and the danger is that we can have wonderful programs, and we can become program-centered rather than relationship-centered. Now, friendliness is a sine qua non, a prime requisite for any growing church, and I can't do that by myself. I can say with a full heart, You're so welcome here. But people, listen to me.

It is up to you. If you're not friendly, this will not be a friendly church, and we have to grow in fellowship. I was reading some statistics about what causes people to come to churches. What do you think causes people to come to churches? Well, here's what the statistics say. Nearly 50% of people who filled out these surveys said they went to this or that church, number one, because of friendliness. Number one, nearly 50%. 15% said they came because of programs. 12% said location.

12%. Well, let me ask you a question. Your friends that you choose, do you put a point on a map and then just kind of draw a circle around it and say, I won't have any friends except in this circle?

No. Not with the day of automobiles. People drive across town to restaurants, they go to ball games, they go here or there. People do not come to churches anymore because it happens to be in the neighborhood.

A few may, but they do not come primarily because of location. Only 12% said location, and 12% said belief. Now, you would think it would be different. Doctrine doesn't seem to make that much difference. I'm not saying that it's not important.

It is very important. I'm just saying how do people's minds work when they're looking for a church? Only 12% said belief, and 12% said location.

7% said denomination. What? Again, almost 50% said friendliness. That's just another way of saying fellowship. And let me tell you, folks, we need to work at this. When people come in here, they need a look. They need a nod. They need a word.

They need a touch. All right, now listen. When those people come into that fellowship, they are very apprehensive. Now, listen. Suppose you were invited, you had neighbors, and they invited you to a Buddhist temple.

They're Buddhist. They kept after you and after you and after a while. You say, well, honey, we just got to go.

So we go. They say, well, we'll pick you up. You say, well, I'll tell you what.

We'll just take our car. When you say that, why? Because you won't be able to leave when you want to leave and so forth. And when you'd go there, you'd be wondering, am I going to do something wrong? All these people looking at me, wonder what they're thinking about me.

What are they going to do next? Friend, fear is a terrible thing, and what we need to do is to reduce the fear element. The most attractive part of you is your smile.

A smile is a passport almost to anywhere. We are to enlist the saints. We enlist them in Bible study. We enlist them in fellowship, and we enlist them in worship. Look in verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayers. Now, most exegesibly breaking of bread here refers to the Lord's Supper, and prayers, obviously, is worship as they're praying together. We need to always maintain the worship service.

We must enlist them also in stewardship. Look, if you will, here in verses 43 through 45. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together, now watch this, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need. You know about Bible stewardship, there it is, folks. None of them said, what I have is mine.

Lord, if you want it, you can have it. There was an emergency. There was persecution there. Some people think this was talking about communism.

It was not communism for a number of reasons. Number one, it was temporary. Number two, it was based on belief in God. Number three, it was church controlled.

And number four, it was voluntary. But the point is this, that everything that they owned was at the disposal of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is everything you own at the disposal of Jesus? I mean, honestly. If he asked for your last penny, would you give it to him?

I'm not saying he will, but if he did, you should. It all belongs to him. Perhaps the last thing that we want to release is our finances, our material possessions. It all belongs to God. Don't get the idea that one-tenth belongs to God and the rest is yours for your pleasure, for your squandering. It all belongs to God. One-tenth is only a sign that it all belongs to God. Don't get the idea that one day belongs to God and six are for you. Every day belongs to God. And he is to be the Lord over it all.

And we're to teach this kind of stewardship. So many of us are afraid we're going to over-give or you can't out-give God. You shovel out, he shovels in, he's got a bigger shovel.

Two men were talking. One said, do you tithe before or after taxes? The other man said, I tithe before taxes.

He said, why is that? He says, God gets more that way. And I'll tell you something, I believe that man gets more also because God loves the man who can trust him with his finances. Now I'm not trying to tell you to give things God doesn't tell you to give.

That's presumptuous. I'm just simply saying, hey, you tell the Lord, Lord, whatever you want me to do. What you do not willingly and joyfully give, God neither needs nor wants. We don't go around wringing people's arms and trying to make them give. Listen, you can't fall in love with Jesus and not want to give. I mean, you cannot love the Lord and not want to give.

You cannot have the Christ that Peter was preaching about when we said, exalt the Savior. You can't have that without wanting to give, to give. And so we have to enlist people in stewardship and we have to keep giving and keep giving.

You say, well, when we get our buildings built, then we can stop. Oh, that's when we really start because now we're going to be reaching out and out and out and out sharing Jesus Christ with this community and sharing Jesus Christ with this state and sharing Jesus Christ with this world and we're going to be pouring more and more money into reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that brings me to the next one. Not only do we enlist them in stewardship, but we enlist them in evangelism. Notice here again in verse 46 now. And they continued daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

Now watch this. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. This church was a growing church. There's nothing wrong with a small church. Nothing wrong with a big church. There's something wrong with any church that's in an area where there are a lot of lost people and the church is not growing. The church is to grow.

This early church was perhaps in size the greatest church in church history. Are you ready to do a little arithmetic? Let me show you something. Just get your Bibles now.

Lick your fingers. Look in Acts chapter 1 in verse 15. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, and now here's the parentheses in the Word of God, the number of names together were about 120. All right, so we start with 120.

The 12 had become 120. Now, look in Acts 2, verse 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. Pretty good church growth.

Now they're 3,120. But now go to Acts chapter 2, verse 47. It speaks of them praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Now, we don't even know how many this was. But every day, every day, souls are getting saved.

More every day, not just on Sunday. Now go to Acts chapter 4, and look, if you will, in verse 4. And they had another service, and the Bible says here, Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of men was about 5,000. Now, it doesn't say 5,000 were saved. It says the number of men that were saved were 5,000.

So let's just give each man a wife and two children. That's 20,000 right there if the rest of the family came to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so now the church that's been growing every day takes this 3,120, plus those which came in every day, which probably now they have 20,000. We add another 20,000.

That's 45,000 members in just a few days. And then look, if you will, now in Acts chapter 5. And look, if you will, now in verse 28. They are rebuking the disciples for the preaching, and here's what they said to them.

Did we not straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. By the way, that's what I'm calling the church to do is to fill this city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is our Jerusalem.

They said, you have filled this city. They literally saturated the city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now look in Acts chapter 6 and verse 7. And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied. They multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.

Remember what I said there in Acts 2? The Lord added to them daily such as should be saved. No more addition now.

Now it's multiplication. The church is growing exponentially. B. H. Carroll, the founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary said that this church had a membership in excess of 65,000 members in the first six months. 65,000 in the first six months.

G. Campbell Morgan said, no, it was more like 250,000 in the first six months. Talk about big churches. Listen, do you think God wants everybody to go to hell?

Do you think God just doesn't want people reached for Christ? We're not going to get 250,000 in this building, but we can build some other building somewhere. We can help some other churches to grow. We can send some workers to other churches if they're not growing. And we can find places to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ if we will enlist the saints. And here's what we exist to do, to exalt the Savior, evangelize the sinner, and enlist the saints. Not complicated, is it?

Not complicated at all. Question, does this excite you? Would you like to be a part of that, or you just want to draw your breath, draw your salary, drag into heaven with a wasted life? Would you say, Lord, make me a part of that vision? Lord, I don't want to be just a drone.

I don't want to be just a Sunday night bench warmer. I want to be a part of that vision. Show me, Lord, what part I'm to have. If you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus Christ today, we'd love to offer you an insightful resource on our website. It's our Find God's Love page. There you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith. Who is Jesus?

How can I know him? How can I take a step toward receiving that forgiveness that he's offering? Simply go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Find God's Love. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD.

Mention the title The Amazing First Century Church. This message is also part of the insightful series Living Supernaturally. For that complete collection, all 13 powerful messages, call 877-LOVEGOD or go online to order at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You can also purchase our new Bible studies, much like this message, in our online store.

For information, go to lwf.org slash radio. Are you part of a New Testament church, a Spirit-filled, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring church? Consider your purpose today to exalt the Savior, to evangelize to sinners, and to enlist the saints.

We hope you'll join us again next time for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. Listen to this wonderful news we received from a listener not long ago who wrote, I love to share Jesus with others and actually got to lead a dear friend to Jesus two weeks ago. I'm grateful for Love Worth Finding and giving me the truth of the gospel to tell others.

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