The Miracles Of Pentecost – Part 3

We pick up right in the middle of Peter’s sermon. There’s really no break where we pick up beginning in verse 25. It says, “For David speaketh concerning him,” that is, Jesus, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.” I read that text, and it’s just like we’re right into it, but I want to point out where the sermon begins. Go back and peek at it real quickly in verse 14. “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.” This is Peter’s famous Pentecostal sermon. It’s the first sermon that Peter actually preaches and we have recorded by Luke in the book of Acts.

Just a quick review, the day of Pentecost as come. We looked at the miracles of Pentecost. The first miracle was the day itself that 50 days after Passover the Jewish feast of Pentecost was actually the birthday of the Church, and it fulfilled that prophecy when the Church would be born. In the Old Testament, they would bake two loaves of bread. I believe those two loaves of bread symbolized the Jews and the Gentiles becoming one body in Christ. We saw the miracle of the day. We saw the miracle of the wind, the sound of the rushing mighty wind. We saw the miracle of the cloven tongues of fire as it rested upon each of their heads. We saw the miracle of the baptism of the Holy Spirit—the Church was born. We saw the miracle of the filling of the Holy Spirit, and we saw the miracle of the speaking in tongues. There was a sight, a sound, and strange speech.

Out of this comes Peter, and he takes advantage of this because the people that were there gathered for the Passover heard them speaking in tongues (these Christians) and said, “These people are drunk. They’re full of new wine,” or actually sweet wine. Peter says, “They’re not drunken as you suppose. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning.” These orthodox Jews, as they would celebrate the feast of Pentecost, would actually fast until, it’s believed to be, at least 10 o’clock and some until even noon. They wouldn’t eat or drink wine so, “They’re not drunken as you suppose. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning.” Peter stands up and first answers the question at the end of verse 12, “What meaneth this?” He explains to them that Joel prophesied that God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. He’s giving them a scriptural response to their question, “What does this mean?” He then moved into the fact that Jesus was sent by God and did wonders and miracles (verse 22), He died (verse 23), “…being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”

I said all that to get back to verse 25. In verse 25 he’s going to give evidence that Jesus rose from the dead. It’s interesting that Peter, only a few days earlier, had denied that he even knew the Lord. Now, this fisherman turned Pentecostal preacher filled with the Holy Spirit is giving this powerful scriptural sermon. There are three simple things about Peter’s sermon. First, it was simple. Second, it was scriptural. Third, it was Christ-centered. I think those are three marks of a great sermon, and three marks when we share the gospel as well—keep it simple, keep it Biblical, and keep it centered and focused on the person of Jesus Christ. I love to think of this fisherman filled with the Spirit and able to recall Scripture. Peter didn’t have any sermon notes, kind of like me tonight. Peter didn’t have any notes to look at or to read from. It was just the Holy Spirit quickening him, bringing these Scriptures to mind, and he was just speaking to the crowd.

So, he begins to say that David…he’s speaking in verse 25 about King David, the king of Israel in the Old Testament, “…speaketh concerning him…,” and what he’s going to do from verse 25 down to verse 28 is quoting from the Psalms; he’s quoting Psalm 16:8-11. I just wanted you to know that, and you can go back and look at it a bit later on your own, but he’s using the book of Psalms to point out that David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, actually prophesied that the Messiah would be resurrected from the dead; so if God raised Jesus from the dead, his connecting point is Jesus is your Messiah and quoting from Psalm 16 he says, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved,” he’s quoting from the Psalm but David is speaking about Jesus, “Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope,” notice that, “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

David isn’t talking about himself. David is talking about Messiah. He’s talking about Jesus Christ. And just a little footnote, the word “hell” there in verse 27 is the Greek word hades. I don’t want to get sidetracked on the Greek word for “hell” here, but the word hades is sometimes used for the grave, sometimes it’s used for what we might call hell, and sometimes it’s used for death. You have to look at the context. In the Old Testament, the equivalent in the Hebrew would be the word sheol, and here it is the word hades. I believe that in this context it’s talking about the grave—that you won’t leave my soul in the grave—speaking of the fact that Jesus would be resurrected. Notice verse 28. “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance,” so, You won’t let my soul rest in the grave or in hades, you made known to me the ways of life, and I will be full of joy at thy countenance.

Then Peter makes an explanation (verse 29), “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet,” that is, David, “and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ,” or the Messiah, “to sit on his throne.” He’s referring to the promise that God made to David in the Old Testament in 2 Samuel 7 where David was promised that God would build him a house. That house was actually the house of the Messiah, that through His seed the Messiah would come. It’s a promise that God made to David. This is why Jesus, actually through the lineage of David, is called the son of David. This is what is known by Bible students as the Davidic covenant. We have the Abrahamic covenant—God made a covenant with Abraham—Messiah is going to come through your lineage. Then he made the Davidic covenant with David—Messiah is going to come through your lineage. He’s talking about the fact that David, as a prophet, was speaking here of Messiah.

Verse 31, “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ,” Peter makes it clear that David was actually speaking of the resurrection of Christ. Sunday morning we talked about the Bible points to Jesus, remember that? We saw that the Scriptures witness to Jesus and Jesus witnesses to the Scriptures, so there we find Jesus again in the Old Testament, “seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” In other words Peter says, “We’re all here. We’re eyewitnesses. We just spent the last 40 days talking to Him, eating with Him, listening to Him.” Can you imagine that period of Jesus having risen from the dead? He spent 40 days meeting with and instructing them. I can tell you one thing, they were listening to every word Jesus spoke. Prior to that, they were a little foggy on whether or not He was the Messiah and what was going on. They didn’t really know He was going to die, but then He’s risen and they saw Him. Now He’s alive, and they’re just glued on what He had to say. They said, “We are all witnesses of this Jesus God raised up.”

Verse 33, “Therefore being by the right hand of God,” in verse 32 you have God raised Him up, that’s His resurrection and we are witnesses, and in verse 33 He is exalted. This is His ascension and exaltation, “… God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD,” now he’s quoting in the middle of verse 34 from another Psalm, Psalm 110:1. It starts with, “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool,” or thy enemy thy footstool, “Therefore,” and here’s the conclusion of Peter’s sermon. Every good sermon has an application point or a conclusion. He says, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus,” that same Yeshua, “whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” He’s quoting from Psalm 110:1, “The LORD,” Jehovah, Yahweh, “said unto my Lord,” kyrios, different words for Lord there. It’s referring to God the Father speaking to God the Son, not God the Father speaking of David but God the Father speaking of Messiah. Even Jesus quoted this reference about Himself in the gospels. He said, “Until I make thy foes,” or enemies, “thy footstool.” He’s talking about the exaltation and the triumph of Jesus—He died, He was buried, He rose, and He has ascended and is exalted at the right hand of the Father, so “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified,” he’s driving home the application, “both Lord and Christ.” Jesus is Lord, and He is Christ. Amen?

Now, the word “Lord” indicates His deity—He is divine. In Philippians 2, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The word “Christ,” we think of as His last name—Jesus Christ. It’s His first and His last name. It’s not a last name. It’s a title. The word “Christ” is a title that means Messiah. It actually means “anointed one.” In the Old Testament it would be Messiah. In the New Testament it’s Christ, and the meaning is that He is the Anointed One—He is the Christ. Jesus means God is salvation. The Lord is the title that He is divine, He’s God, and He is Messiah. I love the whole title—the Lord Jesus Christ—He’s the Lord, He’s the Savior, He is Messiah, the Savior of the world.

After he drives home this amazing point, it says in verse 37, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked,” and I’m reading from the King James. They were pricked or cut would perhaps be a better translation, “in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” It’s interesting, Peter’s sermon opened back in verse 14, right after they had asked in verse 12, “What meaneth this?” He goes into the explanation. He gets to the end of his sermon and is focused on Jesus through the whole sermon, and they ask, “…what shall we do?” Any preacher that preaches is so excited when you see the people respond to the message that is preached. I’m sure Peter was excited. He’s preaching this message and the Holy Spirit “pricked” their hearts or cut their hearts. This is a reference to what we would most commonly refer to as conviction, that they would come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

I believe for genuine conversion to take place there first has to be conviction of the Holy Spirit. You have to trust Jesus as your Savior, but you’re not going to do that until you know you’re a sinner. You’re not going to really believe you’re a sinner until the Holy Spirit convinces or convicts you of your sin, of your unrighteousness, and of the judgment that will come. I’ll never forget that period in my life. I was just getting out of high school, so I was still quite young. I began to get real convicted about the way I was living, the things I was doing, and my lifestyle. I began to feel very empty and frustrated. I mean, I’m just out of high school and you’d think that you’re all ready to tackle life and go have fun. I had all my plans and all my goals and all my ambitions, but I just felt this emptiness. I know now, looking back at the time, that it was God’s Spirit convicting my heart, “John, you’re a sinner. John, you need Jesus. John, you’ll never be happy until you give your heart to Jesus Christ. Life is empty without Christ.” I just began to feel like I need God in my life, and everything I was into just didn’t bring satisfaction. You’ve been there? Isn’t that an awesome thing? That God would love you so much that He would come and by His Holy Spirit convict or convince you, “I need Jesus Christ.” That’s the grace of God.

Sometimes you wonder, Why don’t people see? Why don’t people repent? Why don’t they believe in Jesus Christ? Many times they are resisting that work of the Holy Spirit and hardening their hearts against it as opposed to just being soft and saying, “Lord, I am a sinner and I need You.” It’s just God’s grace reaching down and opening our hearts and eyes to our need of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God took the word of God preached, and through a man of God, convicted sinners of their need for Jesus Christ. There is no substitute for the preaching of the Word. It doesn’t have to be on a stage. It doesn’t have to be in a giant auditorium. It could be you on the job. It could be you one-on-one, but you just opening your mouth sharing the simple message of Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit using that to bring conviction in the life of an unbeliever bringing them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

“What shall we do?” Here’s Peter’s response, verse 38, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you,” so he gave an individual application, “in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off,” I believe that’s a reference even out to the Gentiles, you and me here tonight, “even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward,” or wicked, “generation. 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” This is the last miracle on the day of Pentecost. We had the miracle of the sound of the wind, the cloven tongues of fire, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the miracle of speaking in tongues, and the miracle of the conversion of 3,000 souls. Isn’t that an amazing miracle?

You know, sometimes we get all enamored by the speaking in tongues and the supernatural manifestations, but I’m telling you one of the greatest miracles that God performs on a daily basis is saving a person from their sin—the conversion of a sinner. Your life, my life being changed by the power of God, that’s a miracle! Amen? You’re a walking miracle, and God has changed you by His Spirit. It started here on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached the Word and God used that to bring conviction and salvation.

I don’t want to get bogged down, but I want you to go back to verse 38. It is one of the most misinterpreted, abused, misunderstood, and misapplied verses in all of Scripture. I want to try to clear some things up without getting too technical or too bogged down. Remember several weeks ago I told you that when you’re studying the book of Acts, when you’re studying any book of the Bible ask yourself what kind of literature you’re in. Is it history? Is it poetry? Is it prophecy? What’s the genre? What type of literature is it? We sometimes don’t stop to think that the Bible comes in different genres—different kinds of literature—and it requires interpreting and handling it a little differently. The book of Acts is history. It’s history with Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Then when you get to the epistles, they are what is called didactic or doctrinal. They are explanation. In the Old Testament we have expectation, and in the New Testament gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—we have manifestation. In the book of Acts we have proclamation. In the epistles we have explanation, and in the book of Revelation, culmination. You need to keep that in mind when you’re interpreting this.

The second thing to keep in mind is in light of the fact that this is an historical narrative, you need to be careful that you don’t build your doctrine on one isolated verse, isolated from the rest of what the clear teaching of the New Testament is. In other words, you don’t just read this verse and come up with a doctrine or a conclusion that you can’t be saved unless you repent, you can’t be saved unless you’re baptized, and you can’t be saved unless you’re baptized only in the name of Jesus, which so happens to be some of the errors that people make based on this. There are entire denominations based on this verse, Acts 2:38. They even have bumper stickers that say, Acts 2:38, and their interpretation of that verse is, I believe, in error in the way they handle that. I will explain a little further what I mean by that. When you interpret a text, you never isolate it from the clear teaching of the rest of Scriptures. When the plain sense makes good sense, you seek no other sense.

Here’s another principle of interpreting the Bible. When you have a passage that is a little obscure, it’s found in the historical narrative and it’s not really clear, and you go to the epistles, which are explanation, and there’s an abundance of verses that are very clear that seem to be contradictory to what you read as the unclear verses in the historical passages, then you must interpret the historical passages through the lens of the epistles or through the doctrinal epistles, and you must go with the clear Scriptures over the unclear Scriptures. Because people don’t do that, they make a big mistake.

Here’s a couple of the mistakes they make. The first thing they do is make a big deal about repentance. The word “repent” is the Greek word metanoya, which literally means to change your mind. Involved in that change of mind means that you change your direction. The word metanoya means to change, so it means that you do a 180. If I’m going this way, I turn around and go the other way, metanoya, turn around. I change my mind. I go in another direction. Without getting too bogged down on the word “repent,” the question is: Repent of what? What do I change my mind about? I believe it involves Jesus Christ. You change your thinking about who Jesus is and what He came to do. You change your mind about your sin. You’re not going to follow your sin anymore. You’re not going to pursue your sin anymore. You’re not going to live in your sin anymore, so you turn around and go a different direction. You change your mind about Jesus, about your sin, and you turn around.

Here’s the rub. Because we find references with John the baptist and Jesus Himself, and in the book of Acts, there have been some that have gone to an extreme that say that you must repent—you have to repent—or you cannot be saved. I believe that’s kind of yes and no. It’s no in the sense of there’s nothing that I need to do to be saved other than trust or faith. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 (and this is a very fine point, but you can really make a big mistake if you miss it), “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man should boast.” That which is not of yourself is not your faith, it’s the salvation. It is your faith. You trust Jesus Christ. You believe in Jesus Christ. By grace—which is unearned, undeserved merit—you have been saved through faith, no mention of repentance through faith. Other synonyms for faith are believe, trust, and receive. Sometimes people get upset with me because I ask people, “Would you like to receive Christ,” and I give them an invitation to come forward and pray to receive Christ. I don’t know why they would be upset with that because John’s gospel says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons,” or children, “of God.” It’s in the Bible. There are many synonyms for faith or trust, but the only thing that you need to do, here’s the important point, and it’s not a work. It’s just trust Jesus to save you because when we get to Acts 16, one of my favorite stories in the book of Acts when the Philippian jailer comes in and says, “What must I do to be saved?” It’s almost the same question.

Paul and Silas don’t say a word about repentance. They don’t say “repent.” They just say believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I think, in this case, that belief was involved with repentance. True faith involves changing your mind about who Jesus is, changing your mind about the way you’re living, and you turn from your sin and trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. Repentance is involved, but just because you don’t say the actual word “repent” doesn’t mean that a person hasn’t actually been saved. If you take repentance to mean that you have to do something that’s a merit—you earn or deserve salvation by repentance—then you’ve gone beyond what the Bible actually teaches.

Another thing they do that misinterprets this passage is they say, “and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.” This verse seems to (and I underline the word “seems”) be teaching that in order to be saved and forgiven you have to be baptized, but we know from the clear teaching of the Bible that we’re not saved by works, right? “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man should boast.” The Bible clearly teaches that we’re not saved by baptism. Baptism doesn’t save us. You look at this verse and kind of go, “What’s the skinny here? What’s the deal?” (Skinny is not a theological term. That’s just a word that I used.) How is it that Peter seems to be telling us that we have to be baptized?

Not only that, another error they make is baptized in the name of Jesus. He doesn’t say in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There’s a whole group of people (I don’t believe that they’re even in the pale of orthodoxy) known as Oneness Pentecostals or Jesus Only. They deny the trinity. They don’t believe that there are three persons in the Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They believe the Father became the Son and the Son became the Holy Spirit. It’s called Modalism—God took on different modes. There’s only one God, God the Father, and God the Father became God the Son, and God the Son became God the Holy Spirit. That’s heresy. That’s heretical. You’ll find them quite often because they also teach that you have to speak in tongues to be saved, you have to be baptized in water, and you have to be baptized only in the name of Jesus. Trust me, they’re out there. You’ll run into them, and if you tell them that you’re a Christian they’ll say, “Were you baptized and were you baptized in the name of Jesus?” “Oh, no. I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to go into all the world and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Notice it’s not names, it’s name. It’s in the authority of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. They say, “Well, you’re not really saved then. Do you speak in tongues?” “No, I don’t speak in tongues.” “Well, then you don’t have the Holy Spirit.” You’re like, “Ahhhh!” You come up and ask me questions because you didn’t listen on Wednesday night. What’s the skinny? They take this text and teach that you have to speak in tongues, you have to be baptized or you’re not going to go to heaven, and you have to be baptized only in the name of Jesus. They actually reject someone who has been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! That’s just crazy that they would take this from this text.

First, the idea that we’re baptized to be saved, we’re going to see in Acts 10 (we’ll get there in just a few weeks) when Cornelius and his household were saved, they were born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. They did speak in tongues and then they were baptized, so water baptism came after their conversion. When the Ethiopian eunuch is converted, he is born again and saved and, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” The answer is no. Baptism is an outward showing of an inward work. You don’t have to be baptized to be saved. The thief on the cross who turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, I believe in You.” Jesus said, “Sorry, you haven’t been baptized otherwise you can meet Me in paradise today if somehow you can get down off that cross and get yourself baptized.” No. He said, “Today you will be with Me in paradise,” and he hadn’t been baptized. All he did was say, “Lord, remember me when you enter into Your kingdom.” This guy got saved in the electric chair! I’ll stop right there. I can say something. He called out to the name of the Lord and was saved at the moment of his execution. He was a criminal, and Jesus said, “Today you’re going to be with Me in paradise.” The Bible is clear that you don’t have to be baptized to be saved. You should be baptized, but if you haven’t been dunked in water yet and your saved, don’t worry about it. If the rapture happens, you’re going up even if you haven’t been baptized.

You say, “Well, what’s the deal though? It seems to say “…for the remission of sins,” and it does say that in the English translation, but I think that’s an unfortunate rendering there. I would only point you out that the word “for” in the Greek is the word eis. A little tiny word, three letters, eis. It’s used in other places in the New Testament translated “because of” or “on account of.” In Matthew 12:41 is an example (write that down) where Jesus said, “The men of Nineveh…repented at the preaching of Jonas,” as an account of Jonah’s preaching, the result of Jonah’s preaching, the men of Nineveh repented. A.T. Robertson, one of the great Greek scholars that America has produced, a southern baptist Greek scholar that has long since gone to heaven, but If you consult his word studies in the New Testament, he will make it clear too that he believes that this should be rendered “on account of” the remission of your sins. In other words, I don’t think Peter was saying, “Be baptized so your sins can be forgiven.” Peter was saying, “Be baptized because your sins have been forgiven.” That’s what the New Testament actually teaches, so you need to take the clear teaching of the New Testament into account.

He goes on to say, “For the promise…,” that is, the promise of this salvation which involves the gift of the Holy Spirit, “is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words,” I want you to notice that which indicates that Luke as not recorded everything that Peter said in his sermon. It’s a summary of the sermon. If he recorded every word that Peter said, then Peter preached a three-minute sermon. You say, “Well, why don’t you follow Peter’s example, Pastor John? We could’ve gone home and been in bed right now.” You can read this sermon in three minutes or less, and it’s probably not everything that Peter said. It says, “…with many other words,” which makes me feel good that Peter probably went a whole lot longer, “did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward,” or wicked “generation.” Now, no tongues are mentioned, no wind, no fire, but it says, “Then they gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Isn’t that awesome!

The Church is now 3,120, and here’s what they did. It says in verse 42, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear,” or a reverence for God, “came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common,” the Greek word is koinos. We get our word “fellowship” from that. “And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,” these early Christians had joy and a single purpose of heart, “Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” He added to the Church, but He only added to the Church those who were being saved. In order to be a part of the Church, you have to be saved. You’re not a part of the Church unless you’re born again, and once you’re born again you’ve been added to the Church.

Go back to verse 42, and notice what these baby Christians did. Can you imagine having a new believer’s class with 3,000 people in it? Three thousand baby Christians, three thousand baby Christians in diapers—metaphorically speaking—babes in Christ. The apostles had to disciple them. You know, evangelism is wonderful, but the work begins once they come to Christ in mentoring them. When we give an altar call here at Revival and these people come forward and pray to accept Christ, we take them to the side to give them things to get them started in their walk with the Lord. That always goes through my mind, They’re just getting started. They got a long way to go. They’ve got a lot of growth. They need you, they need me to pray for and encourage them, to reach out to them, to mentor and disciple them. They did several things.

Here are the qualities of a church. They continued in the apostles’ doctrine. A church must study the teaching of the Word of God. The apostles were teaching them. The word “doctrine” means teaching or instruction. I do believe that we should be learning Bible truth and learning the Word of God. They were a learning church. They were also in fellowship. The Greek word is koinonia, so they were a caring, loving church. They were breaking bread and praying together. They were selling their possessions as someone had a need, and they were helping people out. They were caring and sharing, and they were a community of loving, caring people. They studied the Bible, they fellowshipped, they cared for one another, and it says, “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple,” they met (verse 46) “from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God…and the Lord added to the church,” so they were an evangelistic church. They had these qualities: Learning, caring, worshiping, praying, breaking bread, which is communion (we need to come together celebrating communion), and they were telling others about Jesus Christ. You know, that’s the Church. That’s you. That’s me.

It’s so easy just to come to a church service and listen to the worship team, sit down and listen to the preacher, and then go and forget about everything. You’re the Church. When the service is over tonight, everything outside those doors is a mission field, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel,” on your jobs, in your homes, in your neighborhoods, when you’re being shuttled by the car dealership home from getting your oil changed—share the gospel. I got to do that this week. Wherever you encounter people, when they ask, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” “What meaneth this?” “Well, you go to that Revival church, why do you go there? What goes on there? What do you guys do?” What do we do? We study the Bible, we fellowship, we pray, we celebrate communion, we preach the gospel, we love each other, we share with each other, we build each other up.

You know, you cannot be a Christian effectively without the body of Christ. I don’t know what it is that Christians think, I’m a Christian, but I don’t like Christians. They kind of creep me out. I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church. I’m not one of those go-to-church Christians. Well, we need one another. This is what the early church did. They didn’t have any dances or bowling outings or they didn’t have any fun things to do together, you know. What do Christians do when they get together? Well, we pray, study the Word, fellowship, encourage, we mutually build up and edify one another, and we go out and evangelize. You go places I can’t go and reach people I can’t reach. You go to places where I don’t go, so you’re being taught the Word, you’re being built up in the apostles’ doctrine, and you’re having fellowship. You should get involved in a small group. You should get connected with other believers. You should participate in serving the Lord, in giving, in praying, and in being a part of what God is doing knowing that you’re being effective to reach out. The Lord is using us to add to the Church daily such as should be saved. Once those people are saved, they need you to encourage, to reach out, and to mentor them. These are the qualities of the early church.

The day of Pentecost has come and now we’re going to be moving through the book of Acts seeing how they go from Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the world, going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. Amen?