Devotional - June 4, 2004

The second chapter of Acts could be called the birthing room of Christianity. There we see the filling of the Holy Spirit on those gathered together to worship on the day of Pentecost. Then we see Peter preaching in the power of the Spirit and about 3,000 people being baptized as followers of Jesus. In the last few verses (42-47), we see a microcosm of the church in ACTion under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Of all things I dislike most is referring to brick and mortar as "church." Plus we distinguish between believers of different doctrines by adding a denominational name to that label. A church then is a building whereas THE church is the body of people within a church. Excuse me, but it's not surprising for our message to be questioned. When we use such confusing and divisive terminology to define our interpretation of God's intention, we invite skepticism by those who are lost.

Finally, when one looks at the things done in today's church, they might wonder where all these religious stuff we do came from. The first church was always together. They came together in fellowship to eat and pray together while sharing with others in need through the abudnance of God's blessing on their life. Scripture says that the number of converts continued to grow DAILY by virtue of their love for each other and not through an evangelistic preaching ministry at home or abroad.

What about preaching? Isn't the only purpose of preaching to explain the Gospel and call for a personal decision? Peter did it once in the second chapter with great results, but it's not mentioned as a function of what the first church did to evangelize. Instead it was their lifestyle as believers that won those outside their fellowship.

Could it be that we've sacrificed praising God and praying together for listening to "good" preaching, sometimes called Bible study, and in turn sacrificed the Gospel of Christ?

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( 2Sa. 22:21-23:23 Ac. 2:1-47 Ps. 122:1-9 Pr. 16:19-20 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society