Morning Message Text: Acts 2: 42-47
The Fellowship of the Believers
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 at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Morning Message:
Last week I left you with those four small words: “What shall we do?” I was asked after the service what my suggestions might be if someone were to ask me that question. I have a lot of ideas on what we should be doing as the church, but as I thought about this, I realized that me giving you my ideas would never work. You see, the point in your being moved to ask “What shall we do?” is for you to be open to responding to the very special call that the Holy Spirit is making on your life. The question is the beginning of your finding what God has planned for you. I can help you and guide you and give you ideas that might click in your walk of faith, but your ministry has to be what you feel in your soul, or it will not last.
There is a common purpose in all Christian ministry, a common thread that should run through everything that we plan and do as followers of Jesus. Have you ever belonged to a fan club? Fan clubs have a very long history. One of the first Hollywood stars to have a fan club was Shirley Temple. Elvis had a huge fan club and still does to this day, decades after his death. Many teenage idols of the fifties and sixties had fan clubs. Some fan clubs had dues, membership cards, and all sorts of memorabilia. People collected autographed pictures and signatures of their favorite celebrity or sports stars. Today, people follow their favorite stars and people on social media, and how popular someone has become is based on the number of followers they have. Now when we really like someone, we tell others about them. We want others to feel about our heroes and celebrities the same way that we do. Tell me, what do you do when you really like a sports star, a movie star, or a musician? You make them known to others. This church, is the underlying purpose of our entire existence as Christians on this earth. Have you ever thought about what you could do to increase the number of people who follow God? To know him compels us to make him known to others. We should not be able to help ourselves or contain within ourselves the wonderful love that we have experienced. All through the Bible we see examples of people compelled to witness to others.
The answer to the four little words “What shall we do?” is: whatever you do, whatever kind of ministry that you feel drawn to, the purpose is always to make Jesus known. Let me give you three examples of how you can do this. These are examples that come from my daily readings.
First, make him known through your actions. It always begins with who we are. The Bible says, “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” (1Peter 2:12). Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16,”). Whatever we feel compelled to do in God’s service: teaching, mission work, giving of ourselves, living our everyday lives; people should come to know Jesus through our actions.
Second, make him known through your words. At some point, our living testimonies must become verbal. It takes specific information for people to be saved. They must know that, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). There is a story about a man named Dempsey Dodds. His son-in- law was a pastor. One day his wife had to go into the hospital to have surgery. In the hospital Dempsey handed a Gospel brochure to a nurse on the night shift. He asked her to read it and let him know if she had any questions. That was it! But as Dempsey was about to leave the hospital, the nurse stopped him and said she’d like to talk with him about the Gospel. He led her to Christ. Here’s the interesting part. Dempsey Dodds had never led anyone to Christ until he was seventy years old and went through some evangelism training. He went on to lead several people to the Lord. It’s never too late to learn to share our message with others in natural and conversational ways — both in life and in lip.
Third, make Him known through your intentionality. Why is it important that you feel the Spirit compelling you to ask those four little words, “What shall we do?” Because, this is the first step you must take in your becoming intentional about sharing your faith. I know that I say this to all of you a lot, but it is so very important. You can’t just live a victorious Christian life by chance. Most of the time we go through our life of faith wishing and hoping for results without ever making strides to intentionally do God’s will. If we tried to live our physical lives that way, we would starve to death. You have to plan your life according to your Christian values. You have to be purposeful about living for Jesus or you never will. You have to discipline yourself to do what God is calling you to do because your adversary, the Devil, spends every waking moment plotting how to make you fail and be ineffective for Jesus. Intentional worship, fellowship with other believers, reading God’s word, praying; you need to intentionally make sure that you are involved in all of these disciplines, because when you are not you are exposed to the world. God has made everything available to us to be successful and victorious followers of Jesus, and he calls us to make him known to the world. It takes work and devotion, and you must be intentional.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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