Go ahead and take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts. Today we are going to look at a shorter section of this book, Acts 2:42–47. But there’s enough in these six verses for us to chew on and apply into our lives in one sermon. 

Sometimes we can get the impression that the book of Acts is just a circus of evangelistic frenzy that moves from one spectacular event to another. Certainly we see dramatic, fantastic events within the book of Acts. But we also see little glimpses of the day to day activities of the church.

We’ve already seen that in Acts 1 when the 120 disciples were praying in the upper room, during the week between Jesus’s ascent and the Holy Spirit’s descent. There was prayer, Bible study, and fellowship. There was nothing super thrilling about that week. It was just faithful disciples doing faithful ministry within the context of fellowship and togetherness. 

 Then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit is poured out and a miraculous encounter with God propels the church forward in Jerusalem. The church goes from 120 people to 3,000 people in one day. It was an amazing event. And other amazing things like that happen again and again throughout Acts. 

But that’s not all that happens in this book. It’s not just an endless parade of the fantastic. There are calmer, less dramatic moments as well that are just as important. And our text today is going to describe one of those calmer moments.

 This passage, in fact, is one of the seminal passages in the NT on the life of the church. When people ask the question, “What does the church do?,” oftentimes Acts 2:42–47 is quoted. When people ask the question, “What are the important objectives of the church?” or “What are the activities that the church should prioritize?” or “What things should churches be devoted to?”— those questions, at least in part, are answered here. 

Should the church prioritize potlucks and parachurch ministries? Should the church prioritize social gatherings and softball leagues? Should the church prioritize affinity groups and exercise programs and social networking and chili cookoffs? None of those things are bad, in and of themselves. But should these be prioritized as a main objective within the church? And if not, what are the main objectives? What are our priorities?

 Well let’s read this passage together and think this through. Let’s stand together for the reading of God’s Word. 

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

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Today I want to give you four priorities of a devoted church, and then afterwards I’ll give you four outcomes of a devoted church. You can see these in your notes. Four priorities and then four outcomes. The priorities are what we do, and those are found exclusively in verse 42. These are our commitments as the church of Jesus Christ. These are things we prioritize in the life of the church. 

John Calvin said about these four priorities in Acts 2:42 that “We must keep to these things if God and the angels are to judge us the true church and not just boast to be such before men.” It’s not that these are the only priorities of the church. But any list of church priorities better have these four things!

And then after we discuss priorities, we’ll discuss the outcomes. And the outcomes are up to God. The outcomes are found in verses 43–47 and I see these as the natural aftereffects of a church that prioritizes the activities of verse 42. 

So let’s start in verse 42. 

Four Priorities of a Devoted Church [What we do]:

The first thing a devoted church prioritizes is…

1) Scripture (2:42a)

42 And they [that’s the 3000 believers from verse 41, saved, baptized, assimilated into the church] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching...

Now let’s be very clear about this. You might ask, what’s the difference between the apostles’ teaching and Scripture? Well, there is very little difference. Those terms are essentially synonymous. The apostles taught the OT. We saw an example of that last week when Peter preached and interpreted the Word of God. He taught the OT and he taught Christ’s fulfillment of OT. 

Peter used his Bible, the OT, to bear witness to Christ. Eventually the apostles’ teaching was inscripturated in their writings and canonized as the NT. And so, as the disciples gathered, they studied the OT. And they studied the “apostles’ teaching,” which later became the NT.

Jesus told his disciples before his ascension, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19–20). So the apostles’ teaching wasn’t just the OT. It was Christ’s teaching as well. It was the sum-total of God’s revelation up to this point of human history. The early church was devoted to this. And we should be too! We don’t have apostles in our day going around and delivering the apostles’ teaching. The apostles died out. But their teaching prevails. It was recorded here in the Scriptures, by the Holy Spirit, for our benefit and edification.

By the way, I’m praying for revival here in San Antonio and here in Texas. And revival is actually facilitated by the preaching of Holy Scripture. I feel like people try to paint us into a corner sometimes by asking “Are you a Bible-preaching church or are you an evangelistic church?” Yes. We’re both. Those things are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are complementary.

Lewis Drummond, the great professor of evangelism said once, “A spiritual awakening always soars on the wings of the Word. No matter how long people neglect the truth of God, one day it will surface and accomplish its wonder work.” That was true in Acts. That was true of the awakening called the Protestant Reformation. One of the battle cries of the reformers was Sola Scriptura. It was true during the First Great Awakening in this country. It was true during the Second Great Awakening in this country. Don’t ever let anyone paint you into a corner of being only evangelistic or being only Biblical. Don’t fall for that false dichotomy. The early church was both: biblical and evangelistic. 

You know one of the things that I find fascinating here in Acts 2 is that after this great supernatural event at Pentecost where 3,000 people got saved and baptized, the Bible says that these new believers got steeped in the apostles’ teaching. They got steeped in God’s Word. They were devoted to it. They weren’t out and about trying to recreate Pentecost. No, they were getting acquainted with God and his Word. 

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Here’s a second priority of a devoted church:

2) Fellowship - κοινωνία (2:42b)

Luke tells us in verse 42, 

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship…

This young church, just a few days’ old, was devoted to “the apostles’ teaching” and “the fellowship.” Which prompts the question—what exactly is “the fellowship?”

I ask that question because it’s a term that is thrown around a lot in evangelical Christian circles, but it’s not understood very well. Some people think that fellowship is just two guys or two girls drinking coffee together. Some people think that it’s just gathering a group of Christians together to watch football or shoot pool. As if all you’ve got to do is gather a bunch of warm bodies in the same room together, and you can call it fellowship.

But the Biblical concept of fellowship is more than that. The Greek word κοινωνία means “close association involving mutual interests and sharing.” Communion is one way to translate this word. Not communion as in the Lord’s Supper, we’ll talk about that in a moment, but communion with each other that takes place in a community. There’s communion (κοινωνία) with God and there’s communion among God’s people. 

 Here’s one way to think of it—κοινωνία-fellowship means “mutuality of soul.” This is relational capital built one-to-another. This is togetherness and connectedness as we work towards a common goal. We worship Christ together. We walk with Christ together. We work for Christ together. We love one another. We serve one another. We bear one another’s burdens. That’s devotion to “the fellowship.” 

Hear me on this, if your relationships with people in the church are not substantively different than your relationship with people outside the church then you are in error. You need to repent. If you are walking out of your small group saying to yourself, “Well, that was no different than my conversations at work,” then you aren’t experiencing the κοινωνία-fellowship that was exemplified by the early church. 

Let me just linger on this for another second or two. One of the things that we really struggle with in America is a sense of community. We pride ourselves on individualism and isolationism to our own detriment. We build our houses bigger and bigger and put taller and taller fences around our yards. We don’t want anybody; we don’t need anybody. Just leave us alone. We aspire to be lone-rangers. We aspire to be a kind of John Wayne figure in one of his cowboy epics where he’s all alone and doesn’t need anybody. Let me just tell you, church, that is not biblical! 

And all of us as Americans have a propensity for isolationism and individualism and selfishness. I struggle with that sometimes. And that mentality finds its way into the church. People say to themselves, “I’ll just come to church and do my thing and worship God and check that box, then the rest of my time is mine.” If that’s you this morning, then you are in error. We need each other in the church. And God has called us into biblical relationship and biblical togetherness and κοινωνία -fellowship in the church. It’s a priority of his church. It’s something that Christians should be devoted to. 

One of the things that we want to accomplish in our small groups and in our interactions with each other is getting beyond the shallow and evasive forms of communication: 1) How about that weather, huh? 2) Nice clothes, where’d you get that outfit? 3) Did you see that game last night? 

I had a friend in Illinois who introduced me to this question. This is a great question to facilitate κοινωνία-fellowship. He would ask, “How’s your soul, Tony?” That’s not a question that you ask your coworkers at the watercooler. 

And I love that. Let’s get beyond surface-y, shallow conversations. Let’s ask better questions of each other. Things like this: 1) “What’s on your heart right now brother, sister?” 2) “How’s your soul?” 3) “What are your fears, your failures, your aspirations, your heart-breaks?” 4) “How can I pray for you right now?” Those are the kinds of questions that facilitate genuine fellowship in the church. And we need that. It’s a priority in the church.  

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Here’s a third priority of a devoted church. Write this down.

3) Remembrance (2:42c)

Luke writes,

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread …

And to that you might ask, what’s the breaking of bread? Well, it’s at least in part, the taking of communion together in the church body. It involves taking what we call “the Lord’s Supper.”

Look, let me be honest with you about something. This is pastoral confession time. Throughout most of my adult life, I have been very resistant to anything that you might call tradition or ritual. I have a bit of an anti-establishment streak in me. And that comes out sometimes when dealing with traditions. And that’s because I think some traditions become rote and routine, and therefore are rendered meaningless. 

And here’s my view on that. If it’s a dumb tradition… or if it’s an unbiblical tradition, then get rid of it. Who cares! Shuck it. But if it’s a good tradition, then use it. It’s not worth the risk of legalism to embrace something that’s not beneficial to the church body or something that is not explicitly biblical.  

But as a church, it’s important to embrace the concept of “remembrance.” Just as an example of this, God spends a lot of time instituting the Passover as a remembrance for his people. God wanted his people to remember every year the triumphant defeat of the Egyptians. So this yearly festival was instituted as a reminder to the people.

Well in the NT, the Passover celebration is commemorated through the Lord’s Supper. We observe two ordinances here at VBVF: 1) Believer’s Baptism and 2) The Lord’s Supper. And concerning the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (see Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:18–20; 1 Cor 11:23–25). Jesus took the bread which signified his body and the cup of wine that signified his blood, and his disciples ate and drank with him as an act of remembrance. Jesus said, “this is my body” and “this is my blood of the covenant.” Jesus told his disciples to eat and drink in remembrance of him.

And that tradition was continued in the NT. It was a priority of the early church: 

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread …

Here’s what John MacArthur writes about this statement: “[T]he breaking of bread [is] a reference to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. This duty is not optional, since our Lord commanded it of every believer… Communion acknowledges the wondrous work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. [It] further exemplifies the unity of believers, since in it all partake together symbolically of the same Lord… Communion calls for self-examination and purging of sin, thus purifying the church. Nothing is more vital to the church’s ongoing, regular confrontation of sins in the lives of its people than the thoughtful expression of devotion to the remembrance of the cross.”

Now theories abound about how Christ’s words “this is my body” and “this is my blood” should be understood during communion. Some believe in what’s called “transubstantiation,” which means Jesus’s body is actually present in the bread and wine. Others, Lutherans specifically, believe in what’s called “consubstantiation” which means that Jesus’s presence is in and around the elements when they are partaken. This is Martin Luther’s theology of the Lord’s Supper. I love Martin Luther, you guys know that. But Luther’s view on the Lord’s Supper is essentially unintelligible. That’s not my view. 

Other groups in Protestant Christianity, like us, believe that Christ is symbolically represented in the elements. And so communion is a time of sober reflection and somber remembrance of Christ’s work on the cross. It looks backwards at Christ’s sacrifice, but it also points forward to a day when we will eat and drink again in the kingdom of God (Mark 14:25).

And that symbolism is important. It’s important as an act of remembrance. Christ is with us in a unique way. Not physically but supernaturally he is with us when we celebrate communion. And remembering Christ’s work on the cross through the Lord’s Supper is a high priority in the church. 

We don’t celebrate communion every week here at church, but we do it regularly. We do it monthly, so that this act of remembrance is commemorated often in our worship gathering.  

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And here’s the fourth priority of a devoted church. Look at the end of verse 42.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The fourth priority is…

4) Prayer (2:42d)

I heard a pastor say once, “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of [God’s] omnipotence.” 

Those of you with an ESV Bible will notice that Acts 2:42 says “the prayers” not “prayer.” But I wouldn’t make too much of that. Some people think that this means they were devoted to the daily prayers in the temple three times a day. But I think this means they were devoted to different kinds of prayers: petition, thanksgiving, supplication, confession, etc. In other words, they varied their prayers. They were committed to both corporate and personal prayer, just like Jesus was. In other words, this is Luke’s way of saying, “They did a lot of praying in the early church.” And that’s what devoted churches do. That’s what devout Christians do! They pray.

When I was a kid, I had a pastor who was a bit of a character. He loved to joke around and tell the same jokes over and over again. Well sometimes when he was asked to pray for food before a meal he would say, “Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks God for the grub.” 

But then, of course, he would follow with a serious prayer that would include thanksgiving and petition and supplication. I think he started those prayers with a joke to lighten the mood so that people didn’t think of prayer as this somber, boring, repetitive, ritualistic thing. It was communication with God. Sometimes you smile; sometimes you cry. But you never fake it. You never just go through the motions. 

I had this other pastor friend who would always rebuke me for praying before my meals. He would say, “Oh, there’s no need to pray over your food. That’s just mindless ritual.” That guy, unlike my childhood pastor, was a nuisance. I didn’t pray over my food because I needed to. I did it because I wanted to. I still want to! I want to express my love to God and my gratitude to him before I eat. What’s wrong with that?

And it’s really quite amazing how much is written on prayer in the pages that follow in Acts and in the rest of the NT. There’s really no way for me to overemphasize prayer as a priority in the church of Jesus Christ. It’s one of our core activities as the church. But here’s a question for you. Is it a core activity in your life? 

I heard a pastor say once that you know how popular the church is by how many people come on Sunday morning. You know how popular the pastor is by how many people come on Wednesday night. But you know how popular God is by how many people come to the prayer meeting. 

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Okay. So here are four priorities for a devoted church. Here’s what we do: 1) We study the Bible (i.e. the “apostles’ teachings”), 2) We fellowship, 3) We remember the Lord through breaking bread (i.e. the Lord’s Supper), and 4) We pray. This is pretty simple stuff. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Actually I think one of the problems that contemporary churches have is that they get bogged down with a lot of unnecessary and unmandated peripheral stuff, and they forsake the fundamentals. 

 What follows in the next five verses is “Four outcomes of a devoted church.” These aren’t things that we do. These are things that God does. 

And the first outcome is found in verse 43.  

43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

 So the disciples were busy studying the Bible, fellowshipping, praying, and breaking bread together, and as they did that “awe came upon every soul.” The Greek word here is φόβος, which we get our English word “phobia” from. It means “fear” or “terror” or “awe.” 

The disciples were awestruck as they gathered for worship. The disciples were entranced and enthralled by an awesome God. And as they pursued God and as they prioritized the things of God, one of the outcomes was a “holy reverent, fear of God.”

Here’s the first Outcome of a Devoted Church:

Four Outcomes of a Devoted Church [What God does]:

1) Awe (2:43)

That’s not “aw” as in “Aw, look how cute that baby is!” That “aw” is spelled a-w. What we’re talking about here is a-w-e, as in God is “awe-inducing” and “awe- inspiring.” What a difference a letter makes! 

A-w-e is about being filled with “awe” or “fear” or “marvel” or even “holy terror” at the Creator of the Universe. We are awe-struck before our awesome God: Father, Son, and Spirit. 

And that’s not something you can manufacture or mandate. “Hey you! Fear God!” You can’t muster that up. You can’t mandate the “fear of God.” God brings that about. And I imagine that this group of people who had seen God move in such incredible ways and continued to see awe-inspiring miracles and wonders and signs done through the apostles had no problem fearing the mighty power of an awesome God. 

By the way the “every” in verse 43 probably includes all the people in Jerusalem, not just those who had become part of the church. In other words, God must have brought a holy dread upon the people at large, and this is probably why they were left alone during this season and weren’t persecuted. That’s not going to last forever, as we’ll see later in the book of Acts.

And speaking of awe-inspiring miracles, verse 43 says, 

43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

We’re going to see one of those miracles next week as Peter heals a lame beggar just by saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (3:6). When you see those kinds of apostolic gifts and abilities on display, you can’t help but stand in awe before a powerful God.

The question for us is how do we get to that place? How do we cultivate a fear of God among the people of God? Because I don’t have Peter’s apostolic gift of healing. I can’t just walk around and heal people on command. 

Let me suggest to you that even in the early church it wasn’t the apostles job to produce a fear of God in God’s people. That was God’s job. That was an outworking of the prescribed duties of the early church which were Scripture, fellowship, remembrance, and prayer. You go and do those things. You be devoted to those things. As a church, these are the priorities that we are prioritizing. And we leave  the outcome of bringing awe “upon every soul” to the Lord. 

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One of the outcomes of a devoted church, is “awe.” Here’s another outcome:

2) Generosity (2:44–45)

 Look at verse 44.

44 And all who believed were together 

Notice the emphasis on togetherness again. Have you got that theme down yet in the book of Acts? Obviously Luke wants to communicate to us the importance of being together. 

44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 

The Greek word for “common” here is κοινός. It means “mutual” or “common” or “shared.” It’s etymologically linked to κοινωνία.The word κοινός is the adjective, and κοινωνία is the noun.

44 And all who believed were together and had all things in [κοινός]. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

The fellowship that the early church shared was more than just a “Hey, let’s hang out and enjoy each other’s company” kind of fellowship. There was a mutuality of soul and a mutuality of spiritual experience. And that mutuality involved their material possessions.

No doubt, part of this included tithes and offerings and the pooling of resources for the benefit of the church. Even in Jesus’s day, there were followers of Christ that supported financially his ministry (see e.g. Luke 8:1–3). Part of this also included benevolence. If someone had a need in the church, they didn’t look to the government to meet that need. They took care of their own. 

Later in 1 Timothy 5, Paul sets down some strict rules for church benevolence. Possibly that’s because some of the goodwill of the early church led to abuses within the fellowship.

John Calvin said this when he was commenting on this passage, “We need to beware of two extremes here. Some hide what they possess, do not give to the poor, and in a self-righteous way refuse any gifts they are offered. Others want everyone to give everything away.” Calvin was especially critical of idle monks who lived off the generosity of others. He said, “It is wrong for monks to say that because they own nothing they are following the apostles’ teaching, for they do not sell anything, nor do they help people in need. They just fill their idle stomachs with the blood of the poor.” Yikes. Tell me what you really think about monks, John Calvin? I wonder if Calvin ever spoke those words to Martin Luther when he was a monk. Probably not! 

Let me just add to Calvin’s caution a few other cautions about this passage. I think the Holy Spirit communicates these truths to us to inspire generosity in all ages of the church. So don’t forget that. God wants us to be generous. But let me add three disclaimers to that statement.

1) Generosity is not something that can be mandated. Giving can be mandated. But generosity cannot. And whenever giving becomes compulsory not voluntary, and whenever gifts are given begrudgingly not cheerfully, the spirit of generosity is lost. These individuals in Acts 2 sold their possessions voluntarily and gave them to those who have need. This is a God-thing. This wasn’t a mandate from the apostles or even from God; this was something that welled up inside of them as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 

2) I don’t want anyone to get the impression that somehow the early church lived in communes like a bunch of hippies, or that there was no category for personal property in the early church. That’s simply not the case. The Greek in verse 45 indicates by the imperfect verbs “selling” and “distributing” and by the clause “as any had need” that this was a continuous process of selling and distributing as needs became known, not a once-for-all-time selling of everything you owned and giving it to the church. That’s clear from the grammar of this passage but also from verse 46 where we are told that there was “breaking of bread in their homes.” Whose homes were they? The answer is the church parishioners. So obviously people still owned their homes. 

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira are put to death by the Lord not because they retained some of the money from the sale of their piece of property, but because they lied to the church about it! Peter says to them, “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4). 

3) Let me just say that everything belongs to God anyway. And maybe the disciples did get a little carried away here. And maybe they got so excited about what was happening that they forfeited their private property. So what! It’s all God’s anyways.  

All our personal property ultimately belongs to God, and there’s such a freedom that comes from accepting that reality. It certainly doesn’t belong to the state. We’re not communists who forfeit our possessions to big brother. It belongs to God in the end, and you can’t take it home with you.

I do think we have a problem in our country with materialism and consumerism. But I don’t think the solution to that problem is church-sanctioned poverty. We don’t need to divest ourselves from all our material resources because we’ve got a materialism problem. “Let’s just get it out of our hands because it’s evil and I don’t want to deal with it.” The remedy for materialism isn’t poverty; it’s generosity. And that’s a God-thing that stirs up in the hearts of his people. 

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Here’s another outcome of a devoted church. 

3) Gladness (2:46)

 Look at verse 46.

46 And day by day, attending the temple together 

I assume regular attendance at the temple was customary during this transitional time of the church, at least until the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Probably the temple was a place for evangelism if nothing else. This was especially the case when the church started meeting on Sundays to worship together outside the context of the temple.

46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes 

They fellowshipped, took communion together, and ate meals together in homes. These were house churches, if you will. There really wasn’t any other option for the early church. The opportunity to buy and sell land and gather as larger congregations in church buildings didn’t come till later. 

and breaking bread in their homes they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. 

There was gladness in their heart. There was a supernatural joy that welled up inside of them. And that joy was expressed in praise.

You know I’m so thankful for our worship team and the work they put into our Sunday service. Our services each week are full of joy and gladness. And I don’t get the sense from them that they are working that up or they are faking it on Sunday. They genuinely love God and enjoy God and want to praise God. My heart is stirred every Sunday by their labor to worship God and by their joyful expressions on Sunday. 

But the truth of the matter is they can’t make you worship on Sunday. They can’t put joy and gladness in your heart where it doesn’t exist. And I imagine that there are some people who come into this building on Sunday and think to themselves, “What’s wrong with these people? What are they so happy about? Why are they singing so loud?” 

Here’s why. Gladness is the by-product of a grace-transformed life. Joy emanates from a heart that has been passionately moved by God. You can’t mandate that. You can’t force people to experience that. That’s a God-thing. That’s something that God brings about in a devoted church.

And here’s the final outcome of a devoted church. 

4) Favor (2:47)

Verse 47 speaks of favor with other people, and favor with God. This church was…

47 praising God and having favor with all the people. 

My assumption is that that means both inside and outside the church. In other words, even the non-believing Jews showed them favor in Jerusalem. 

I really struggled with that this week as well as the rest of verse 47, because I know that that’s not always the case. The outside world doesn’t always show favor to the church. Even in the pages that follow in Acts we’ll see a lack of favor shown to the church. 

But I see this verse as akin to Matthew 5:15, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Or even amidst the sufferings of the Christians described in 1 Peter, Peter writes, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12).  

And as far as favor from the Lord is concerned, look at the end of verse 47. Luke writes,  

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The Lord does that, not us. The Lord grew the early church. The Lord grows our church, not us. Our job is scripture, fellowship, remembrance, and prayer. Our job is “Go into all the world and make disciples.” Our job is worshipping and working for Christ. God grows the church according to his sovereign plan.

Now I do believe that healthy things grow. And as a truism, not as a promise, fruitfulness typically follows faithfulness. But ultimately we’ve got to leave the growth of our church to God and trust that his favor will be shown to us however he determines it. And God will get done what he wants to get done in the church. 

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Several years ago I remember marveling at the fact that I’ve spent my entire life involved in the local church. That began when I was just a little guy in Austin, Texas. I went to church with my parents every Sunday. And get this, we prayed together. Just like we do now at VBVF! We worshiped together. Just like we do now! We listened to the pastor preach. We took communion regularly. We fellowshipped together in meaningful ways. I’ve been doing that for 40+ years. Talk about a heritage. 

I told Kyle the other day, when I was a teenager in my church in Austin, I was a part of the A/V team. My pastor had this overhead projector with slides. He would give me like twenty transparencies for his message. And he would turn the projector off and on. And when he turned it off, I would go up and change the slide. That was my job in the church.

But just think with me for a moment. Your involvement in the church may go back thirty or forty years. It may go back eight years or eight months or eight decades. But really that’s just a drop in the bucket. In reality, what we do here at VBVF is not unlike what they did 2,000 years ago, at the beginning of the church in Acts 2. They studied the Scriptures. We do that too. They prayed together. We do that too. They fellowshipped together. They took communion together. We do that too! This is our heritage. This is what we do as Jesus Christ’s church! And we’ll do that till Christ returns. Amen?