“44 And all the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and at together with glad and sincere hearts.”
Hi, children and family, last Sunday we just had a very wonderful Easter Celebration. (pic 1 – poster) It’s so excited that the church big family could celebrate it together. Our Lord Jesus saved us from our sins, and He had such a wonderful plan to help us grow our new life. Today, we will find out from Acts chapter 2 how the birth of church is the evidence of Jesus’ amazing plan for His believers. We will focus on the 4 important characteristics of the early church when it got started and see what God wants us to put into actions:
These 4 characteristics are: (slides one by one)
- The birth of church is of God’s timing.
- The birth of church is by the power of the Holy Spirit activated in Jesus’ disciples.
- The church demonstrated Jesus as the head and the believers as the body.
- The church gets expanded when the believers exemplified Jesus’ love.
Remember how Haoran and Joellen testified the joy of their new life in the Lord Jesus. The testimony encourages us and helps our faith and joy grow as well. (pic of H/J) Teacher Sharon has joined the church family and grew up in the church family in the past 37 years. I could testify that the church is the most important place for me to grow my faith in the Lord. Let’s see first, how God’s timing gives the birth of the church.
Teacher Sheen talked to us 2 weeks ago that Jesus ascended to heaven right before the eyes of His disciples, that was 40 days after our Lord’s resurrection. It’s God’s timing for Jesus to go back to Heaven at that time. Before Jesus’ ascension, what did he ask the disciples to wait in Jerusalem? (hold 2 seconds, pretend listening) You are right, the Holy Spirit. And the disciples actually only waited for 10 days, on the day of the Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came with sound like (wait 2 seconds) rushing gusty wind, with the sight of (2 seconds) fire of tongues falling on each of the disciples, and the magic power presented from each disciple when they started talking. They talked many different languages only those people from other countries understood. People accused them of drinking too much wine, but Peter said These people were not drunk. It’s the proof of the coming of the Holy Spirit as prophesized in prophet Joel. Jesus’ death, Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus’ ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit are all to prepare the Birth of the church. How Amazing! Who set the timing? Yes, It is our God, God the Heavenly Father He set the time for everything to happen. So, I want you to remember the 1st characteristic of the birth of the church is of God’s timing. It’s on the Day of the Pentecost. Peter was prompted by the Holy Spirit that day and gave his first ever sermon to thousands of people there.
This brings us to the 2nd characteristics of the Church. The birth of the church is by the power of the Holy Spirit activated in the disciples.
Let’s have Jed read Acts 2:22-24 to see how a fisherman Like Peter, he could stand up and talked like a great preacher.
22 “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Peter was so eloquently giving a perfect speech as he:
#1 speaking only the good news and nothing else:
- the Good News from Peter is that Jesus who God accredited died on the cross, but God raised him from the dead. So simple and straight, yes, that’s the good news, you and I, we could share it too.
#2 Peter convicted people of their sinful deed. He told the people This Jesus died on the cross was not just an ordinary person, He is the Lord, the Messiah as their King David testified. After pointing out Jesus is the Messiah, Peter said “You, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross..” This is so dramatic, as from verse 37, we see the reaction of the people.
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
When people say they are cut to the heart that means they are deeply sorry to a point hurting and painful.
Next, Peter invited them to repent. verse 38 says
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What a powerful speech. We could clearly see the power of the Holy Spirit activated in Peter. The Holy Spirit convicted sin, so the people were cut to their heart so sorrowful of what they did. And it’s so excited the church started from that moment. Let’s have Jed read Acts 2:41-46.
41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and at together with glad and sincere hearts.
Do you have the right guess how many repented and became believers of Jesus? 3000 people. It’s a big wow. That’s a mega church started right there with God’s timing and the Holy Spirit power.
From verses 42 to 46, we see that a church is not a building. The first church met in the temple courtyard and in homes, they did not have a church building, but they are a church. The church are the believers. These are what they were doing then
- Devoted themselves in the apostles’ teaching, Fellowship, sharing in meals and pray. They shared with each other, and met each other’s need with generosity. They were together each day in great joy.
What a beautiful picture of the church when it gets started. Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1:18 18 And he (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; also in 1 Cor. 12:27 “27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
This is the 3rd characteristics that the early church having Jesus as the head, and believers as the body was strongly demonstrated.
And we will not stop here as there is yet a very important characteristics of the early church at the start:
The church expanded when the believers exemplified Jesus’ love. Let’s read verse 47 of Acts 2 together: 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Praising the Lord, and showing good witness in the community. People saw the good deeds of the Christians, and eager to follow Jesus. God has added to the church believers as described in verse 47. Children we would be amazed to see how God increased the children in our church when we show the loving kindness to others. This is the area we have to continue to ask the Lord to empower us to love and share the good news whenever we can and we be the good witness of God’s love.
Children and families, we are part of the local church called Home of Christ church in Newark. Today we have learned not only how the church gets started, from their examples we would expect to receive God’s blessings. Let’s encourage each other to
- Put Sunday worship and Sunday school as the top priority as these are the ways we devote ourselves in the teaching of God’s word.
- We fellowship with each other whenever we could whether we meet at the church building or online. We could share, comment, encourage with a chat, clap hands, say amen that is our fellowship.
- We pray together for others for their need. We pray for each other to be strong in the Lord. There are prayer meetings in our church and small groups, invite your family to join.
- We faithfully give offering to meet the church’s need and give generously with our best.
- We tell people about the joy we have in Jesus just as Joellen and Haoran as simple as Peter did. The Holy Spirit will bring people to the Lord and add numbers of believers to our church.
Let’s bow our heads now and pray :
Dear heavenly Father, when we learned the birth of the church, we awe and ah for your amazing plan. Praise the Lord! Heavenly father, we like to be part of the expanding team of yours. With the help of the Holy Spirit, please bless our children and families to grow in you and spread the good news whenever we can. Please bless our church. We pray in the Lord Jesus’ name, amen!