A Vital Church Grows Acts 2: 40-47
1. What did the people do who gladly received Peter's message? They were baptized.
2. How many were added to the church that day? Over 3,000! Verse 41 says "Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day." That is so awesome!!!
3. After they were added to the church..what did they do..and why was this so important (V.42)? "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." They became a church!
5. In verse 43 it says fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles..why do you suppose fear came upon them..ans can you think of another passage in the NT where this is pomised by the Lord? The King James bible states the word fear and the NIV bible states the word awe. Unfortunately, there aren't any notes for this verse in my bible (strange). But I'll assume that the people had fear because they were seeing the works of God through the apostles and it was new to them. Another passage that states this activity is Acts 5:12.
6.In light of the 44 and 45..is today's church doing this..why or why not? You are speaking about the members of the church sharing their possessions so that the people who did not have anything suddenly had enough. They shared their worldly goods with each other. I think some churches today are doing this more than other churches. I think some people have distanced themselves from the Lord and have become selfish. Yet there are churches (the Salvation Army comes to mind) who give to the needy and poor of everything they have. The church is suppose to take care of it's members as if they were family, because in God's eyes they have become family.
7.Where did they eat (v.46)? In verse 42 my notes say that the breaking of bread meant they shared the Lord's Supper as commanded in Luke 22:19 and also observed in Acts 20:7. In verse 46 they ate in their homes as part of their daily life, thus separating their temple lives from their home lives.
8. How would you explain verse 47? Verse 47 states that they were "praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." This means that (Romans 14:18) "because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men." Then verse 47 states "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." These people were witnessing to others and were drawing in believers! Daily! Amazing what Christians can do when they aren't afraid to show to others what God does in their lives.....they become witnesses and draw in more believers! That is so awesome!
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