What shall we do?

Good morning. We're going to be stepping into this very exciting and amazing passage. I hope that the slide set bears with me, especially in view of some of the curious jumbles that it presented to us a minute ago. So anyway, we will be here in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, verses 37 through 47. And the passage that Courtney just read for us, and we'll step through it one bit at a time.

One of the things that I think is characteristic of this passage, this is a very fascinating, puzzling, baffling, exciting, frightening, terrifying, wonderful, amazing day. I think that's one of the things as we look at it, it has these great extremes, almost contradictions among the different people that are present. It all works out well, although along the way people may in fact be puzzled.

It was a day that began with the noise of a violent wind. We have somewhat jokingly this picture of someone hanging onto a tree, but the reality is there was a noise of a violent wind that grabbed people's attention to come to this place, but there was no actual violent wind, so this picture doesn't quite fit the case. It was the noise of a violent wind with inexplicably, no violent wind. So that drew people's attention, especially for the fact that there wasn't any violent wind.

The disciples spoke in foreign languages. They were known foreign languages of the time, but they were recognized by many of the Jews who were there and present as languages they knew from other parts of the Roman Empire and even to the east of the Roman Empire.

Peter quoted from passages, as we saw from the book of Joel, that implied that these Jews, those who were present, were on the brink of disaster, and that certainly got their attention. And what's worse, and this Peter essentially stung with them twice, they were responsible for crucifying God's chosen Messiah. For devout Jews believing in the Messiah and looking for the Messiah's coming, this was stunning, shocking, horrifying news for them to hear. So first, the really, really bad news. After laying out for these Jewish men, devout as they were, who Jesus actually was, and that these disciples were witnesses of his resurrection, Peter's words pierced their hearts, as scripture puts it. So God's chosen Messiah, promised by God himself, appointed by God himself, you nailed him. You did it. You are responsible for it. You crucified him, he then says again.

Right here in Jerusalem, only a short walk from where we are now. And what's interesting to me, the old city of Jerusalem, and this was actually where he was crucified and raised, was inside of what is now the old city. Everything is close by. Everything is within walking distance.

Peter could have said, hey, you want to go take a look at it? And they would have said, no, no, we will take your word for it. It would have been a short walk no matter where they were located at this point in time. If someone were to contest, nah, I don't believe he was resurrected. Peter and the other disciples who were present could have said, let's go take a little walk. We'll show you the place. The tomb is empty. He's not there. We've seen him alive. There are others here present who have also seen him alive.

But nobody challenged him with that. Nobody questioned the truth of the resurrection claim. So now, fortunately, some really, really good news. Though what Peter had to tell these devout Jewish men, who were frightened to the core, though they would all be pierced to the heart, to a man, we have no evidence that any of them stood off in any significant group, if any at all, who challenged what the disciples said, he told them how they may be saved that day. Those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. He told them as well. He told them to repent, we'll talk about what that means, receive the Holy Spirit, and receive the forgiveness of their sins.

Now, it's important for us in our perspective, it started before time began, and it will continue when time is no more. The church, the body of Christ, in which we who believe now are included, began that day in earth time. as the clock in the calendar says. The actual beginning of the church, your essential identity and mine, was before time even began. As we put it here in the graphic, before God said, let there be light, you were chosen first, excuse me, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4. You were chosen, where? In whom? In Him. You were chosen in Him and you had your essential identity back then. That was taken care of. The crucifixion and burial and resurrection of Christ were settled upon by the Father and the Son before God said, let there be light.

A day will come when the Lord will call us all home to be with Him forever. I hope it's today. I won't have to move. Those who had believed into that day and those who came to believe that day and we who believe since are in Christ. You know, that's one thing that Nancy and I are in the process of moving and moving out of a home that we actually like living there but have other reasons for moving. But it's good no matter what happens to know where our ultimate home is. And it may be that we won't have to move from our home. If the Lord would just come today, that would be fine with us.

Now, we should see this as not just this is a very eventful day, but also this is a true and eternal romantic drama. All the romantic dramas that are now produced in film and now restored digitally, all those are just shallow representations of the ultimate romantic drama. What happened on that one eternally momentous day, that day of Pentecost, that day of May 24th, 33 AD, wasn't just a fictional drama like all these romantic dramas that you see, nor a drama that could have been. It is not just simply hypothetically possible.

By God's design and intent, It was and is an eternal romance. That is why the father chose his bride before he said, let there be light. It was the choosing of the bride, you and me, before he said, let there be light, before he started all this. The drama of that day was sprung from eternity past. It'll continue on into eternity future. the eternal romance of Christ in the church. That's what is beginning in time as we set a date, May 24, 33 AD. It began before time ever was and will continue when time is no more.

Here's Acts 2.37, But when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?

These Jews took Peter's earlier address that we have looked at in prior weeks here. He took them to heart. He called them brethren, which was the custom among devout Jews in those days, to call them all brethren. So these devout but deeply convicted Jews, in turn, don't talk to just Peter, but the verse here says, to all the apostles, and these Jews are responding, calling them back, brethren, what shall we do?

They're also desperate. The reason they say, what shall we do, is it is not obvious to them what response they should have. Having been the ones, Peter said, and they didn't deny it, to have crucified Christ. You are the ones, Peter told them, who nailed God's appointed Messiah to a cross. You did it. So what shall we do is not a shallow question. It's a question of desperation. They had no idea what to do.

Peter's words that day were inspired by God through the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, we have some of them recorded, right? In God's inspired word. So the Jews that were gathered that day for the Pentecost, they were devout. Peter's words pierced all of their hearts. We have no record of any exception. They didn't respond to just Peter, but to all of the apostles present. They were so pressed, so cut to the heart by Peter's words, the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, that they were desperate for an answer. They had no idea what to do.

Here's Acts 2.38, so Peter responded, and matter of fact, my guess is they were relieved that Peter could tell them something. Imagine if Peter had said, I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do, you're hopeless.

That would have had them in a bad way Peter instead said to them repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit Now based on these words you will come across groups of Christians who will say that you have to believe and repent and be baptized in order to be saved and There's some churches up and down this road that believe that right or at least places that call themselves churches I met one fellow who attends one of these churches, talked to him personally, and he said, you know, I'm not actually saved because I made a list of my sins before I was baptized and I missed one. And so, I'm not actually saved, I'm going to hell. And I said, there is grace, that's not the gospel. And the fact that you missed one, does not keep your baptism, which does not earn you salvation for being invalid. Anyway, he didn't believe me, he believed them, and so he to this day thinks that he's eternally condemned.

He missed one when he made the list. We always have to observe what God's Word is telling us with care and diligence, okay? The ultimate author of scripture is consistent in what he says. He is who he is consistently. So now, this word repent. Greek word for repent means to change one's mind. That's literally what it means.

However, in a biblical context that we'll find here in Acts 2.38, we're going to see it again in the next chapter, Acts 3.19, Repent always means in the biblical context to end up believing truth.

It's possible for a person to change their mind and have that word apply and not end up believing truth. But in the biblical context, the call to repent always means to change one's mind so as to end in belief in the truth presented. So the fullest biblical sense of what Peter is telling these Jews here, though they're devout, they need to change their minds from unbelief so as to believe the truth. They'd believed everything else that the Jewish leaders had told them about the law of Moses, about what they have to do, but they, like the Jewish leaders, did not believe the truth about Christ. He says you need to change your mind and end up with believing the truth.

That's what you need to do. So, it's important for us to point out what repent is not. Christians have at times defined or understood repent to mean what was not intended biblically, so they distorted the biblical gospel. I say Christians in quotes. Not in every case are they even saved.

To repent is not about how one feels. As a matter of fact, how you feel about your sins is irrelevant. The Bible doesn't describe how you feel about it as being a necessary item. And as a matter of fact, God really is not concerned with that, no matter how intense the feeling is. And it is also, repent is also not a determination to do or live differently.

Oh, from here on out, I'm going to do things this way. No, that doesn't count either. It doesn't matter how sincere one is. And by the way, sincere does not mean without wax. Nor is it an outward act or expression. Someone can come up here and cry and scream and bawl and sob, can be thrown into absolute silence. That's still not repenting. What is repenting?

Change one's mind biblically to end in belief. So all these badly mistaken definitions end up either adding to the gospel, in which case if you're saying it's believe and repent and be baptized, etc., enslaving people to deeply unbiblical doctrine that puts salvation at risk. These all tend to credit salvation to how one feels, what one does or doesn't do, what must be added to belief in the gospel, or just as bad, taking away from the truth of the gospel.

You know, someone might say, oh, we had an evangelistic appeal and 20 people came forward and committed their lives to Christ. Too bad nobody was saved. Right? Because is committing one's life to Christ what is being called for? No. It is possible to take away from the gospel by calling it the wrong thing.

Here's Acts 2.38 expanded and explained, and this brings out what sometimes doesn't come forward in some of our translations. Peter said to them, you must have a change of mind so as to end in belief. And each one of you must be baptized upon, not just in, the ground of the content of belief and who Jesus Christ is. See the difference there? This isn't just repent. feel really sorry about your sins, right? And then get baptized and then I'll cover it. Or list your sins first before you get baptized, right? And make sure you got them all.

The ground of the content of belief and who Jesus Christ is and what he accomplished, this baptismal testimony being an expression of the fact that your sins have been forgiven as a result only of that belief. and you shall receive the grace-given gift of the Holy Spirit." Grace given because you didn't deserve it or earn it, in the least.

So watch out for those who add to or take away from the gospel as given in the Word of God. Gospel plus or gospel minus? There are many ways in which this distortion is done. The issue is a serious one. The gospel to be believed, to be saved, Christ, the Son of God, died for your sins, was buried and rose again. Believing this is all that is required to be saved, no more and no less. You don't make Him Lord, you don't make a commitment to Christ, you don't invite Him into your heart. all those other things that are added to or take away from the gospel. Christ, the Son of God, died for your sins, was buried and rose again. Believing this, all that is required to be saved, that's it.

And I tell you, not to make an appeal so that you'll come up front here and for the third time, you know, come up and repent, right? I tell you that so that you will know to tell others and To say, do I myself believe that? Yeah, that's the reason for bringing it up.

Now, baptized in whose name? We've got to ask this question. Matthew 28, 19 says to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So is Peter messing up here? Jesus is the only name that he calls for here. Why? Is that a contradiction between these passages? Earlier, Peter had spoken of both the Father and the Holy Spirit.

That was in Acts 2.33, not too many verses before the passage we're looking at today. So his purpose was not to leave them out, but these devout Jews need to repent about who Jesus Christ was and is and will be and what he has done. That's what they needed to repent about. So his focus was upon that That was the focus of their repentance, not for putting aside what Matthew wrote in chapter 28.

Here's Acts 2.39, "...for the promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." So he wanted to make sure that his words were not constrained so as to be understood to apply only to those present. So he wasn't saying, you guys repent, and be baptized, etc., and after that it doesn't apply to anybody else.

But it was saying instead, everybody here, everybody here for this day of Pentecost, everybody far and wide, this applies to. It applies to your children, whether they're here with you or not. It applies to everyone else. This is a universal appeal. By the way, he was to learn that this included Jews, right? And Gentiles. But, so this was a universal appeal.

You, and if you're going back home after this, to those people too, to your children, to your families, everybody gets included. The opportunity to change one's mind so as to believe the gospel and also to be baptized to outwardly express the deeper spiritual reality And to receive the Holy Spirit was to others near, right here, nearby, and also far away. The appeal is to everyone. Call to himself here who God calls to himself some appeal to Calvinism say oh that means That means that God calls certain people and he sovereignly elects them Calvinism says that God sovereignly elects some he doesn't elect others those who are sovereignly elected are made alive and Then are therefore given the gift of faith and otherwise they couldn't believe and then they believe and then they're saved right So that's what Calvinism says.

Is that what he's saying here? The reality is the Bible teaches that we are chosen. We talked about that earlier. Ephesians 1.4 says He chose us in Him. It does not explain, the Bible does not explain how that fits with each individual person choosing.

So, for example, here's the Apostle Paul, the Philippian jailer says, what must I do to be saved? The Apostle Paul says, well, you probably can't do anything, because God does the sovereign election and choosing and he hasn't, I don't know if he's given you the gift of faith or he's chosen you, and so, sorry, there's nothing you can do. Right? Is that what he says? No. He says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. And he makes nothing of trying to figure out whether God's chosen this guy or not. Right?

One more thing, Christ died for the sins of the whole world. That means at least from that standpoint, everyone is savable. Everyone is savable from the standpoint that all sins have been paid for by Christ's death on the cross. So, we don't need to try to figure out how that works, how God chooses and we choose as well.

Scripture just doesn't address that. And one reason we can leave that aside God's ways are higher than my ways. Right? Isn't that what the Lord spells out? Therefore, for me to try to get that figured out, if He hasn't revealed it, means I'm reducing down to something I can understand, instead of trusting Him for what I don't understand.

Here's Acts 2.40. And with many other words, He solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. So what this tells us here Dr. Luke is presenting here in Acts chapter 2 an abbreviated version. It's not exhaustive.

It does not have all the things that Peter said, but it's got the core of what Peter said and what took place that day, as we said, May 24, 33 AD. In all of Scripture then it becomes clear that when we believe we are saved from this evil and perverse generation, and by the way, what's going to happen there in Jerusalem within About four decades or less. You're going to have the Romans come in, and this place is going to be judged. And as Jesus had told them in advance, not one stone will be left upon another.

But we're also saved too, and that's what Peter's inviting them to as well. You guys are saved too, relationship with this Messiah, right? That you had a part in condemning. But you're saved to a relationship with Him. You're saved to the hope that you have of the resurrection. You are saved to the kingdom that you've been looking forward to. You're saved to all these things. So Dr. Luke summarized Peter's solemn testimony and continued exhortations, which he followed on with, be saved from this perverse generation. That was a summary statement. of what was in fact more words than that.

Here's Acts 2.41, So then those who had received his word were baptized. That day there were added about three thousand souls.

Now what's interesting as I go through this, I look for either some dramatic presentation or artwork anything that will show 3,000 people being baptized. And what's really odd is I found lots and lots of artwork and even dramatic presentations with real-life people along a river. How many rivers are there in Jerusalem? And like none, right?

Now, this exit from the tunnel that Hezekiah built right here is a good candidate for a possible place there in the Pool of Siloam is what that pours into. That could very well have been one of the places. There were also around the temple mikveh baths, they're called, that they did for various cleansing purposes. And by the way, that was also used for Gentiles who converted to Judaism went through those baths. So there are a number of candidates for where people would have been baptized.

And so we put there, this is one of them. These people received his word. That word received here means that the gospel is Peter delivered by the Holy Spirit that they once believed the action came back on themselves. That's the grammar. They received the gospel and it impacted them. They didn't just say, I received it and that's it, right? But it in fact impacted them and made a change. They didn't just take the action of receiving the message that Peter said to them that day. They were each impacted by what Peter said to them and they received and believed.

They were baptized. So far as we know, every single one was baptized. As a matter of fact, according to the Jewish culture, someone said they're a Christian. They said, that's fine. It didn't mean anything to me. Oh, you've been baptized? Oh, well, that's different. So it would have said to them, no, this is reality. You've outwardly expressed what has happened inwardly. Then that means something.

So this was something that Peter called them to do, not in order to be saved, but to express the spiritual conversion that they'd been through. So they were baptized also by another. Why be baptized by another instead of dunking yourself? Why? It means that the salvation was received not of their own doing, right? I didn't save myself. but from outside of myself. That's part of the picture of baptism. When we have a baptism here behind the screen, we have someone else doing the baptizing. It indicates that we're receiving the action from it.

So that day there were added, in addition to the twelve disciples and any others that were gathered that day, there may have been quite a few, In addition to that, 3,000 more on top of that, about 3,000 more, were added that day. These received the Holy Spirit with church-age significance. Beginning the church, the body of Christ, full reality of their position in Christ.

Would they take years and decades to come to understand it? Oh yes. They would take years and decades to understand it. But they would understand it eventually, but the reality took place that day, even if they took years and decades to come to understand what it meant.

Here's Acts 2.42, and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. So this is expressed by Dr. Luke in this verse.

It goes beyond just the one day of Pentecost. So now we're looking at the days after and the weeks after. and the time it followed right after that. So we have a special opportunity here to look at this verse and see what was unique in the time and situation, and also to look at it and say, OK, what applies to us? In order to see what was only for then and what is for now, we'll employ the principle of comparison, what is the same, and contrast, what is different.

So the Apostles' teaching in Acts 2.42 can be clarified in several respects. First, the Apostles had not yet written any of the New Testament Scriptures so far as we have any record. So the Apostles' teaching was directly the Apostles' teaching, the Apostles themselves teaching. Next, the Apostles' teaching would later be referred to as the faith.

We're going to see that beginning in Acts 6.7 and it follows on the faith That definite article and then faith, the teaching of the Apostles, continues from Acts 6 all the way into the book of Revelation. And one of the key points, the faith would grow in its content but not shift in its content. Why do I make that distinction? The Apostles began in Acts chapter 6 teaching.

They would add to it, but they wouldn't get to a place where they said, well, what we taught back there wasn't quite right. So it's additive, it's not a shifting truth. As time went on, they would add more and more truth, but not have to line out and scratch out truth that they had taught before. So ultimately the Apostles' teaching would result in what?

The completed New Testament as we have it. We were called by and through God into ongoing fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. having by faith already established a relationship with Him. Get the distinction. A relationship is permanent. A fellowship is the ongoing enjoyment of that relationship. That fellowship with Christ and with one another as a result of our fellowship with Christ is a spiritual partnership, it is a joint participation, it is a personal interaction, and it is spiritually productive. So when we have fellowship downstairs, for example, when we have a family fellowship meal, it isn't just we eat together and wasn't that great food, but it is also a time of spiritual interaction and productivity among us.

They call it the breaking of bread. That's a figure of speech. Hopefully the bread isn't too noisy when it breaks. And by the way, I can't eat any of that stuff because I'm allergic to the gluten in it. But anyway, it means to share a meal. And that's what we can do here. The breaking bread with the apostles present and where Jesus had walked with them. This is amazing. Okay, we gather together for a family fellowship meal.

Can you imagine what it would have been like? Okay, I'm sitting down and I'm talking, let's say, to John, the Apostle John. John, tell me what it was like when Jesus walked on the water. John, tell me what you were thinking and what you were feeling when Jesus was resurrected and you saw Him. and talked with him, and ate with him, and touched him. Tell me what that's like. John, can you please describe for me what it was like when Christ was ascended from the Mount of Olives right in front of you?

Just give me a little bit of explanation, that'll help, right? Wouldn't that be great? That's what these people enjoyed. Astounding. They didn't have the complete New Testament as we do, that we can sit there and study it and ponder it. But they could actually ask questions of those who had walked with the Lord, who had seen Him crucified. who had seen the empty tomb, who had seen him walk the earth in his resurrected body. Imagine talking to Thomas and saying, Thomas, now tell me, why is it you didn't believe at first? Thomas, what was it that convinced you that this really was the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ? Can you describe that, please?

It says, 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. They were also devoted to prayer. Now, prayer was always a good thing, but can you imagine how hugely different it would be? You see, before, people would pray, believers would pray, but they didn't have the assurance and the knowledge and the continuing ministry that every single one of them had the Holy Spirit conducting ministries all the time.

Can you imagine what it would be suddenly like to know the Holy Spirit is indwelling me and carrying out His ministries continuously all the time for every single one of us? That's got to be radically different and a great thing to discover. It had to have been an awesome discovery.

Here's Acts 2.43, Now this feeling of awe was universal, everyone kept feeling it, and continuous at that time and at that place, Jerusalem. Wow. We have to add to it here. So, should we consider that the normal pattern for the church even here and today? Should you come in here and go, Wow! I just saw Roger raise somebody from the dead! Right? Is that what we should expect?

I hope not, because we'll be terribly disappointed. There are a few words, a few things we should look at here. This word translated awe is usually, in almost every other context, it means fear. It means fear. It's the usual translation. The other question we have, are wonders and signs the new normal? Should we expect that? And the answer is that though it was Commonplace then everyone walked around with this sense of awe or fear as the translations often have it But there isn't any indication of scripture that that should be an ongoing expectation into today The other thing is the Apostles were present.

They served as a living canon You know who do I want to teach that guy over there? I? who I've never met or heard of before, or I may know him, or do I want the guys teaching the ones who walked with the Lord and saw Him resurrected and walked with Him multiple times after He's resurrected? Which one would you pick? Pretty clear, I want to hear from the guy that saw Him resurrected and was there when He ascended. And he could tell me what happened to Him once He was ascended. That's the guy I want to hear.

Even by the time that Hebrews 2, 1 through 4 was written, the signs and wonders that Dr. Luke recorded about here were being referred to in the past tense. What do I mean by that? Here's Hebrews 2, 1 through 4, and I'm going to skip down to verse 3. How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, the apostles, God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. So here's the author of Hebrews, 66 AD approximately, writing about these signs and wonders even at that point in time in the past tense. It was confirmed in the past by those who heard in the past. Signs and wonders were given to the apostles and some others in the apostolic era. But in a few short decades, their purpose as validation ended. And by the way, the church history records of those after this time says that these things ended. People didn't continue to demonstrate them.

Here's Acts 2, 44-45, "...and all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions, or sharing them with all, as anyone might have need." First of all, he says, all those who had believed. So a few things for us to observe here. The ones who had all things in common and who shared were all those who believed, not all the people of any belief.

Some people will say, oh look, the Christians were socialists. But no, they're not socialists, because nobody's coming to them and saying, you know, you've got to do this, you've got to sell what you have and share with everybody in common, or we're going to enforce it. That's not what's happening here, is it? It's coming from the heart voluntarily, and not from anybody mandating it. No government agent is involved in this. Selling the property and possessions in common was in the context of the overview of the apostles.

Even that would come to eventually have some issues. One of the things we're going to be looking at later on here, the sharing and the having of things in common not only ran into difficulty, beginning with Ananias and Sapphira. Hey, Ananias and Sapphira, you know that sharing in common?

You guys aren't telling us the whole story here, right? you're going to have to step out. The Lord's calling you home early because of this problem. So it's going to run into some issues there. Sharing began to have its ethnic issues as well. And that shows up in Acts chapter 6. We'll get there. I hope the Lord comes before then, but other than that we'll get there. laying the price of the possessions at the apostles' feet also became harder.

Upon the death of Stephen, the church scattered, and eventually even the apostles themselves scattered away from Jerusalem and Israel. As we'll see in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 12, James, John's brother, James was killed by the sword. It's the only apostle whose death is recorded in Scripture. From every record that we have, all the other apostles died outside of Israel, into Europe, into North Africa, and as far east as India, so far as we have any record. They went to other places eventually and died there, away from Jerusalem, away from Israel. You couldn't lay things at the feet of the apostles, they weren't there.

So this was something for here in the early stages that couldn't be taken care of Acts chapter 6 presents some of the difficulties with the care of widows of different ethnic backgrounds Presented themselves while the Apostles were present By the time of Paul's first letter to Timothy into the 60s The care of widows came to be with certain instructions to Timothy about when under what conditions care was extended So things change with that Acts 2, 46 and 47.

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, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Ah, with one mind. Now that's nice. Having one mind and even one mouth. is urged of believers, in Paul's letters particularly. So Romans 12, 16, 15, 5, and 6 would be examples of that. You know, telling them to be all of one accord. Not a civic, but an accord. Okay? All right.

And 1 Corinthians 1, 10 and Philippians 2, 2 are further examples of being of one mind or the same mind. Similarly, we have the exhortation to stand firm is also a call to unity. The appeal here is almost universally given in places where there was a strong presence of the Roman military, and so that exhortation to stand firm essentially is a military command where the tortoise formation, as you see demonstrated in one form here, It would be a call for them to stand firm together in unity. And you see that in 1 Corinthians, Corinth being a Roman colony. Ephesians not being a Roman colony, but having a Roman governor and 3,000 Roman soldiers stationed there.

Philippians 4.1, Philippi being another Roman colony. And some other examples are given there.

Now, they were in the temple. So are you called to be in the temple today? If we are, we better buy plane tickets and get over there, and we have to explain to the Muslims why we're coming up and gathering around the Dome of the Rock. And believe me, they'll want an explanation.

So as of 70 AD, there was no temple to be gathered to. The archaeologists have taken away most of the rubble, but left some. there where you can see the places where the Romans dumped the rocks off the edge. So there is no temple to gather to. If someone were to say that this passage is something we ought to do verbatim today, this would certainly be the most difficult thing for us to do. Even before that, Christians gathered at the temple was greatly reduced after Stephen was martyred, and we'll get to that. Acts 6 records that, and then following.

And breaking bread from house to house wasn't only called for here in 242, it was brought up again in Acts 5.42. So we'll see that that is a pattern, the Christians eating meals together. It was a pattern that continued on into later New Testament times. Acts 20, 20 will see the pattern also of teaching from house to house.

House churches were common there. Home-based churches were real common. It was only later that they actually had church buildings. By the way, in Capernaum, Peter's house was turned into a church building, a place where the believers met. elders qualifications including showing hospitality by the way that means lover of strangers and Others in the body are also urged to show hospitality Multiple times okay has nothing to do with hospitals.

I'm glad to tell you All right, and it said taking their meals together believers would regularly take their meals together fits with everything else was seen in Acts chapter 2 and More than just simply taking the meals together, there was gladness and sincerity of heart among them. Praising God as they did is a response to the recognition of God's grace and God's blessings. Having favor with all the people, however, can change.

The Lord was adding to their number. Now notice that the Lord is adding to their number. They didn't add to the number, but the Lord did. So the question is, is that supposed to be normal now? Are we having the Lord add to our number every day? Should we get busy in order to make sure that happens? We don't see this pattern continued indefinitely in the book of Acts.

As a matter of fact, there were places where it was difficult to do that. The church at Thessalonica, for example, Paul was only able to stay there for a short period of time and he was driven off. Then he writes 1 and 2 Thessalonians to the believers there.

Back when Nancy and I first met each other, and we did get over not liking each other, that was back during the time of the Jesus movement. And there were, in fact, a lot of people coming to the Lord. They put up posters like this. In fact, Nancy and I could tell you the names of the guys who made these posters. I used to have a blue work shirt they had on the back. I'm another Jesus freak.

And here's Nancy getting baptized at Lake Lagunita in the back of Stanford, where we had the college group actually took over the entire geology wing at Stanford University. The auditoriums and all the classrooms had college group gatherings. So this was an era when there was particular receptiveness.

But that can come and go, can't it? Right now there's actually a great deal more opposition, even vocal opposition, to the Christian message. So what of our times and our place? Should we try to reproduce or expect God to reproduce what we see described here in the book of Acts in our own time and place? The truth is that there were people and circumstances that were unique to that time and place. Even the early church was not able to continue what you see described here, and certainly not at that place. As we go through the book of Acts, the people and circumstances are going to change radically from one end of Acts to the other. We're best off not to try to simplistically reproduce what we read in this passage.

There are some things, however, that endure. We'll see in Acts that there are sustained and in the New Testament that are things that are fit for the times in the church age. and things to look at to implement biblically. These things are not transitional, as what we see largely described here, but they're sustained principles and truths and practices for all times until Christ comes to take us to be with Him forever, and I hope it's today, so I don't have to move. So, there are lots of things that the Lord would have us do.

The Apostles' teaching we now have, by the inspiration and preservation of the Holy Spirit, the completed Word of God in the Old and the New Testaments. We have it all. We have the Apostles' teaching. As we teach and present these truths through the lens that was provided by the Apostles and the Prophets, we do present the Apostles' teaching today. We have the opportunity for fellowship and breaking of bread. And by the way, one of the things that's important to look at, it is not just what the elders or the deacons plan and program.

You have the opportunity to carry out that fellowship and breaking of bread together in numerous different circumstances that we couldn't possibly program in every respect. The Holy Spirit might even motivate you as a believer, to have other believers over for dinner, for lunch, and to express hospitality, and it's not a part of a program. You might even come alongside somebody and say, hey, what are you doing for lunch? Right?

It could happen even right after church today. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this astounding day that we've taken a look at in pieces. We see that there were some amazing and unique things that took place on that day that are actually never to be repeated again. In some cases, we'd have to say because they can't be. They could never be repeated again. But at the same time, we see also that you did some astounding things that continue on with truth for today. Each one of us can count upon the continuing and dwelling and ministries of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives, both in us and among us. And we look to you to work in us and among us as we carry on ministry today by your Holy Spirit's power. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.