Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

The Book of Acts – Our Lives, Our Churches

ACTS 2:42-47 – And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Try this out soon. Take a good amount of time, maybe a month, and do a thorough study of the New Testament book of Acts. As we do, look for three things; the commitment to be together by the believers, what they did when together, and the spiritual focuses among them. Label the study “The Christian Life in the Early Church.” Then, after the study, go back and ask questions of our own walks with the Lord in the context of other believers and the church–“Would we fit comfortably in the church and lives of the believers in the book of Acts?” and “Are we making significant contributions in the lives of other Christians and our churches in building Acts-like lives and churches?”

As individual Christians, the most important thing we give our families, marriages, neighbors, work places, and churches is a close walk with Jesus Christ; as close as a human being may have this side of heaven. Robert Murray McCheyne, the great 19th century servant of the Lord from Scotland once said and so true it is,“ It is not so much great talents that God blesses, as great likeness to Christ.” Remember that often because its reality in our lives is what determines our influence for Christ from our lives. But there is something more, much more, to consider about the Christian life and our impact.

The greatest need of the hour in our world is for the church to be the church; to exist and live as defined by God’s Word and not by our Christian culture, own understanding or what we think/want it to be. Conversely, the church not resembling what we read in the New Testament will be irrelevant, have no voice in the culture, and make little, if any, impact in our world. And that is exactly what we are witnessing–the church irrelevant, the church lacking influence, the church being shaped by selfish desires and the world. But there is hope. It is called “revival”–a movement of God to revive His people to be what His Word describes they are to be in relationship with Him and one another in His church. Are we praying for it? Well, a good place to start is our study of the book of Acts educating us on what the Biblical church looks like that impacts the world. So, why not go there? Let’s open up the book of Acts with the goal to become Biblical Christians contributing to the building of Biblical churches like we will discover in our study.

PRAYER: “Father, please help me to be a real Christian in relationships with other Christians practicing real, Biblical Christianity.”
QUOTE: “What the world desperately needs to see is the church being Biblical with its members living out Biblical Christianity.”

Because of Him,
Pastor Jim