A Church of Total Devotion

Thank you for choosing to worship with us today. God is so good to give us salvation through Jesus and to save us into a community, That we can do life together with and that we can gather together with on the Lord's Day to worship Him. For a time of study in the word this morning, I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2.

Today will be the 16th and the final installment. Of our total devotion series, and it's with some reluctance that I'll be letting this series go. but many of you have been coming up to me in recent weeks and pleading for mercy. no, not, not really, but.

Some of you jokingly have assured me that you are now perfectly and totally devoted to, to God and having observed that in you as a congregation, I feel like I can safely bring this series to an end. And move on to other, topics. But God's taught us a lot, has he not, over the past, several months, and we'll try to bring, our study of this subject of total devotion to conclusion, today, even though no doubt we still have much, much, to learn. for this final message in this series, I want us to go all the way back to The church in its infancy.

I want us to observe the very first words of description about the very first congregation after those congregants in the Church of Jesus Christ had experienced conversion to Christ and look at the description that we find in Acts 2. Verse 42, the text says they were continually devoting themselves. This is the first description that we have of the early church, and these are the first words that come out of Luke's mouth by way of describing the church in its infancy, and here we have it.

Right away, we learned that this congregation.

was characterized by devotion. And we are told that they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. The description that we find in verse 42 is remarkable, even if we view it by itself standing alone, but it's doubly remarkable when we consider what this group of people was like just two months prior. A month and a half, a little bit over 1 month and a half months prior, in fact.

Imagine a group of people. who are so anti-Christ in their orientation that they call for the death of Jesus, the Messiah. Yet a couple months later, they are fully devoted followers of Christ being described with these words that Luke uses in Acts 2:42. That's actually the story of Acts 2.

Jesus had clearly subjugated this community of people to himself and made his enemies his most devoted friends being described in this way. I want us this morning to spend most of our time in Acts chapter 2 verse 42, looking at these descriptions of the first Church congregation. But before we get to that description, I think we would do well to look at the story of what led to them becoming like what is described in Acts 2:42. Basically, Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 41.

Is the story of the delivery of the baby. And Acts 2:42 is a description of what this newborn baby church looked like and how it behaved. Given the fact that the events of Acts 2 take place on the day of Pentecost, we know that Jesus had been crucified over a month and a half prior by people who did not believe that he was the Messiah, so they killed him. But on the 3rd day after Christ's crucifixion, we know that God raised Jesus from the dead.

And 40 days later, God ascended Jesus to heaven, to his own right hand. And just before Jesus was ascended to heaven, he promised his disciples that after he goes, he would send His Holy Spirit to them, and he told them that this Spirit would empower their witness to the farthest ends of the earth. Well, Jesus ascends and 10 days go by after his ascension. And it is basically on the 10th day.

After his ascension that the curtains open on Acts chapter 2 with 120 of Jesus' followers who are gathered together waiting for this promise of the Spirit. And as they're gathered together, as Jesus told them, To, to do, waiting for the promise of the Spirit. Look at what begins to happen in Acts chapter 2, verse 1. Says when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. People throughout the area hear the commotion and they come rushing toward this house.

They hear these 120. Believers in Jesus speaking in tongues of the mighty deeds of God, the crowd is bewildered and basically left asking, what in the world is going on here? Long story short, Peter steps up and begins to explain to the bewildered multitude that had gathered what was going on. Listen to what he says beginning in verse 22.

He says, men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus, the Nazarene, A man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know. This man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power.

For David says of him, I saw the Lord always in my presence, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Verse 26, therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will live and hope because you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor allow your holy one to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life.

You will make me full of gladness with your presence. This is all a quotation from one of the Psalms. Peter then continues in verse 29. He says, brethren, I may confidently say to you, regarding the patriarch David, who had written that Psalm, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

And so, because he, David, was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, He, David, looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he, the Christ was neither abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again. to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, and now Peter quotes from Psalm 110 verse 1. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified. Guys, imagine being one of the persons in this crowd and hearing this news that has just issued forth from Peter's mouth.

The long awaited Messiah of Israel has come, and you now realize you killed him. Showing yourself to be his enemy. Secondly, You now hear the news that God raised this Messiah from the dead and ascended him to his own right hand with the express intent. To subjugate all of his enemies under his feet.

And then you hear Peter say, God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Would this not be the most terrifying news you've ever heard in your life? Imagine hearing the news that the person you have mistreated more than any other has just become the absolute lord and dictator of the entire universe. With all authority and power to do anything that he pleases.

And you're being told here that part of the reason for Christ's elevation is so that God could subjugate all of his enemies under his feet. At this point, Peter's listeners are beside themselves with the fear of God. Look at how they respond in verse 37. Now, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do?

We are in deep trouble. What shall we do? Is there anything we can do? Or are we beyond Hope Listen to Peter's answer and how they must have drank these words in verse 38.

Peter said to them, repent. And each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.

And with many other words, Peter solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, be saved. From this perverse generation. It's astounding that Peter could speak to a crowd of people who called for the crucifixion of the Messiah, some of whom participated in his very crucifixion, and Peter is telling them what they can do in order to receive the forgiveness of their sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Basically, Peter gives his audience 3 instructions.

First of all, he tells them to repent. Which means to change their mind about their actions and to realize that the evil of their ways. Making no excuses for their behavior. Secondly, Peter tells them, literally, the Greek would read, be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ.

Earlier in Peter's message, he had said that whoever shall call upon the name. of the Lord shall be saved. And so here in verse 38, the idea is, be baptized while calling upon or having called upon the name. Of Jesus Christ.

Essentially, Peter is telling his listeners to step down into the waters of baptism and in that location, while standing in the waters of baptism, to call upon the name of Jesus for salvation. And after they would do so, they would be baptized. Just seconds after calling upon his name. For salvation.

Thirdly, Peter keeps repeatedly telling them, be saved from this perverse generation. Meaning these listeners were not OK in their present state. They need to be saved from their sins and from the perverse generation in which they lived. Peter's message to his hearers is not, we're all gonna be OK.

And all roads lead to God. His message to them is be saved from this generation that is not OK. And you're not OK. And you need to be saved, and you can be saved if you respond to this news that I am giving to you about Jesus.

How did Peter's listeners respond? Look at verse 41. The text says, so then, those who had received his word were baptized, no doubt after calling on the name of the Lord, and that day there were added about 3000 souls. So 3000 baptisms.

On this one occasion, realized that. None of these people thought that they were coming to a baptism. None of them brought a change of clothes with them to this event. Imagine 3000 brand new converts being baptized on one single occasion when not one of them knew initially that they were coming to their own baptismal service.

This is amazing This would be a good time for me to stop and ask you, have You receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. Have you heard the truth about him, like what Peter preaches here and received that truth? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and that he was raised from the dead? On the 3rd day and that God has ascended him to his own right hand as the sovereign Lord.

Of heaven and earth. Do you believe the message that Peter is giving here that Jesus from that position of lordship is giving out salvation and forgiveness and giving His Holy Spirit to everyone who humbles themselves before him and believes in him and calls upon him as Lord. If you've never believed. And called upon his name for salvation.

Right now is a wonderful time. To do that, repent. Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, call upon his name for salvation. You can actually come into this room, a child of Satan, and walk out of this room, a child of God with all of your sins forgiven if you believe in Him.

And call up on his name. If you do that today, come talk to us afterwards about being baptized. We probably won't baptize you today in this service, but we'll try to get it done soon. Just like these 3000 people were baptized in Acts 2:41.

The narrative of Acts 2. Continues into verse 42, which is our text for Today, where we find the very first description of the very first believers on the birthday of the church, with the church in its state of infancy. Normally, when a baby is born here at Cornerstone, we will announce the child's birth and we'll always give you some information about that child. We'll give you the child's full name, we'll tell you who the child's Parents are.

For some reason, we'll give you the child's weight all the way down to the 1 ounce, and we'll tell you how long the baby is from head to toe down to the 0.5 inch. Of measurement. I don't know why we do that, but we do, and no one's ever complained about that. Parents are happy to supply that information for us so that we can let the world know how long their baby is.

Well, in Acts 2:42, Luke gives us a similarly detailed description of this baby church, consisting of 3000 souls who've just been saved. And the fundamental component of his fourfold description is devotion that ties all four of the descriptions basically together. Luke says in verse 42, they were continually devoting themselves. And the word that is translated devoting themselves is the Greek verb that literally means to be strong towards something.

This word means to view something as important, to be passionate about that thing, to adhere firmly to that thing, and to persist in the doing of that thing. And the New American Standard translators rightly translate this as they were continually devoting themselves to. And what were they devoting themselves to? To the apostles' teaching.

And the fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer. The suddenness of this description, even just in the flow of the narrative, is something that grabs our attention, and it should stand out to us. The passage doesn't say, and after being saved, they eventually matured to a place where they became devoted to such things. No, this is a description of brand new believers in Christ, in terms of what characterized them immediately upon believing in Jesus.

And it's these descriptions that I want us to take some time to look at this morning. Oh, for baby Christians who could be described. In this way, amen. Oh, for us who've known the Lord for much longer to be described in this way.

These baby Christians are really going to challenge us. By their example. The way we'll break down our study this morning is we'll observe four descriptions of the Jerusalem Christians in Acts 2:42, which showed them to be a church of total devotion. Number one, they were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching.

They were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching. Of the four descriptions, essentially that are given, this is the first, and the text literally reads, they were continually devoting themselves to the teaching. And not just any teaching, but the teaching of the apostles. of Christ.

These early Christians didn't just become saved and then just start following their hearts and create their own truth once they were saved. They immediately postured themselves as learners and became passionate and devoted listeners to the apostles' teaching. Guys, Christianity at its core is a revelation-based religion. And if you wish to be the Christian that God has saved you to be, you must be devoted to God's revelation that he gives to us in His word, just like these first Christians were.

The description that we find here in verse 42 means that these early Christians were obviously devoted to listening to the apostles' teaching, to studying the apostles' teaching, to processing the apostles' teaching together in community with one another. They talked about it after no doubt hearing one of the apostles teach. It means they were devoted to practicing the apostles' teaching and aligning their lives with it. It means that they were devoting themselves to passing that teaching on to others.

To the lost And passing it down to their children. In the home What was the apostles' teaching? Basically, it's what we have in our New Testaments today, which is basically the teaching of the apostles put into written form for our benefit. And we would have to say that it includes the Old Testament as well because the apostles teach us in the New Testament to value the Old Testament.

As the inspired word of God that is written for our benefit and for our learning. And here in Acts 2:42, we're told that these earliest Christians were continuously devoting themselves to God's revelation as it was coming to them. Through the apostles. This is a fitting description of all truly born again children of God.

They are devoted to God's word. In her book, Confessions of an Unlikely Convert, Rosario Butterfield speaks about her journey to Christ and the role that the Bible played in that journey. She was a liberal professor at Syracuse University and an outspoken critic of all things Christian. But a series of events led her to open a Bible and begin to read it.

And once she started reading the Bible, she couldn't stop reading it. Listen to what she says. She says, I read and reread the Bible. I read it voraciously and compulsively.

I spent about 5 hours each day reading the Bible. I read every translation I could acquire. And she wasn't even a Christian yet. After she became a Christian, experiencing conversion to Christ, she says, I read and reread the Bible.

Searching for examples for my life. Jesus was my teacher, and the apostle Paul, my brother and kindred spirit. The Bible had become my life, my guide for life, my paradigmatic mirror in which I found meaning. And direction.

I loved the Bible gorging on huge chunks. At a time Everyone's story, both leading up to conversion and after is a little bit different. But let me ask you, how much did you read your Bible? This past week How central of a role did this book play in your life this past week?

How central of a role did it play in your thinking, in your decision making, in your meditations, and in your interactions with other people? Are you continuously devoting yourself to the scriptures? Could you say with Rosario Butterfield that Jesus. Is your teacher Jesus and the apostles are your teachers.

Would any historian follow you around for a few weeks? And observe how you live your life and then even think to write down the words as the first description of you saying, he or she is continuously devoting himself or herself. To the word of God If they wouldn't use those words to describe you, how would they describe you? What would they say you're devoted to?

Keep in mind that to be devoted to the apostles' teaching means that you're more devoted to it than you are to the prevailing wisdom of the world. It means that you care more about what the Bible has to say than what the world has to say. It means that you're more devoted to God's word than you are even to your own wisdom. That you have inside your own head.

The wisdom that comes naturally to you. It means that you're more devoted to God's word than you are to your own desires, even those desires. That are deep within you. It means that if you have deeply rooted desires within you and you see that those desires are in conflict with God's word, Then you side with God's word over your own desires because you're devoted to God's word, you're not devoted to every desire that you feel.

Inside yourself It means that if the world says one thing and the Bible says another, if the whole world says one thing, And the Bible says another, you go with what the Bible has to say. It means that you love the core message of the apostles' teaching, and that is Jesus, that he is God's approved Messiah who died on the cross and was raised from the dead and ascended to the Father's right hand. And the message that Jesus from that position of lordship is giving out forgiveness.

And the Holy Spirit and salvation to all who humble themselves and call upon Him as their Lord and Savior.

Guys, that's the way these baby Christians were in Acts 2:42. They didn't just approve of the apostles' teaching. They didn't just like it or occasionally listen to it. They were.

Devoting themselves to it continuously. This is not the only thing that they were devoting themselves to. This brings us to the next description of these early Christians which shows them to be a church of total devotion and that is they were devoting themselves to fellowship. They were devoting themselves to fellowship.

In Acts 2:42, the passage literally says they were continually devoting themselves to the fellowship. At the very least, this means that they were devoted to the fellowship, meaning the group of 3120 believers in Jesus that made up the church at this time. Evidently upon becoming Christians, the egos of these believers began to expand. To include everyone else in this group of believers in Jesus.

These Christians no longer thought merely in terms of I and me, but they started thinking in terms of we and us. And they were devoted to the group of their brothers and sisters in Christ, devoted to the fellowship. As Alistair McGrath Once said, the Christian is not meant to be, nor called to be a radical and solitary romantic, wandering in isolated loneliness through the world. Rather, the Christian is called to be a member.

Of a community. And these early Christians in Acts 2 embrace that call and And they were continuously devoted to the group, to the fellowship. But they weren't just devoted to the fellowship. But they were also devoted to doing fellowship when they were with the fellowship, or doing koinania is the Greek word that is used here, which speaks of relating to your brothers and sisters in Christ on the basis of what you share in common.

With them in Jesus. That's what the activity of Koinania means. It means more than just to socialize about sports or essential oils or politics, although those are wonderful things. But it means to speak to one another and engage with one another in word and indeed on the basis of what we have in common in Christ.

And guys, think about what we have in common with Jesus. In Christ, we have the same savior and oh, he's a powerful, loving, good savior. And there's much to talk about. And share in with him.

We have the same Holy Spirit inside of us, we share the same great commission in common. We have the same destiny in heaven with Christ forever. We have the same Bible in common, full of truths and promises from God to us. And when we interact with one another and minister to one another on the basis of these things and many others that we share in common in Christ, that's when we can say that we are fellowshipping.

We are doing fellowship. In fact, if you want to know how these early Christians actually did fellowship, we have commentary on that in the following verses. Look at verses 44. Through.

45 Luke says, and all those who believed were together and had all things in common, and that word translated common is the word coinos, from which we get coinania. And they began selling their property and possessions and we're sharing them with all as anyone might have need. Guys, these were baby Christians. What a picture of fellowship this is.

First of all, we see they were together, right? Meaning they spent time together with one another. You can't fellowship with people unless you decide to actually spend time together with them. Secondly, we see that they had all things in common and please don't.

I think this is some forced version of communism or socialism. This was a voluntary way of thinking. In which each Christian viewed all of his possessions as belonging to the group. To the larger fellowship.

And thirdly, we see that the people These Christians would give up their resources to meet the needs of others who were in the fellowship. And if they're like, man, I don't really have the funds to address this need, then they would think, what could I sell? They would sell something that they had. In order to have the funds to meet that need, this shows us the full depth of their fellowship.

With one another. Their sense of fellowship and commonness with one another was so deep. That when one person in the church had a need, everyone else viewed that need as their own. To share in and to address.

We see their devotion to fellowship also explained in verse 46, says, and day by day, day by day, continuing and The word translated continuing in the new American Standard is actually the same word used in verse 42, translated devoting themselves. We can literally translate this and day by day, devoting themselves. With one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God. There's so much we could look at here, but we would not have time, but here we see them eating together in the temple and from house to house.

We see them praising God together. And we see that this thing was going on. Only on Sundays. Right?

Is that what it says? No, day by day. Being together with one another was far more than a Sunday only thing for every one of these believers. And keep in mind that being devoted to the fellowship as these believers were would also include A desire to love those outside of the fellowship and the hopes of drawing them into the fellowship, in the hopes that God might save them into this fellowship and thereby enrich The fellowship, believers.

So we're not surprised to read in verse 47 that they were praising God and having favor with all the people. So there's relationships with all the people and literally, I would suggest we translate this last phrase of verse 47 in this way. You could translate it this way, having grace, that word favor is the Greek word for grace toward all the people. And the preposition there, in most cases means toward, meaning this is not favor from the people towards these Christians, but that these Christians were having grace or showing grace.

Toward all of the people. In other words, these Christians are inviting people to join them in the temple and into their homes for meals and using all of such opportunities to show the grace of Christ toward the people in their community. And the result of such efforts is that the Lord was adding to their number those who were being saved. Again, all we're doing here is just looking at how they did fellowship.

And we see here that as they did fellowship, the way they did fellowship actually serve as a useful tool by God in drawing others into the fellowship and thus expanding and enriching the fellowship of believers. If you're really devoted as a Christian to Fellowship With your brothers and sisters in Christ, if you're devoted to the fellowship with them, Then you will also be excited about inviting unbelievers. Into the very grace of that fellowship. It will be in fellowship with your fellow believers that you will reach out to others and you will rejoice when God adds people that he is saving to our number, causing the fellowship to increase.

That's what these early baby Christians were doing. And I don't want you to hear me this morning and say, man, all right, so I gotta add fellowship to my list of things to do. I'm already juggling so many things and I got to add fellowship to the many things that I'm trying to juggle. To devote yourself to fellowship.

Doesn't mean that you now have to add fellowship to your list of things to do. Fellowship is not some additional thing to juggle along with all of your other priorities. According to Acts 2:42, fellowship is to be a core value of your life, to be your identity. A central part of your basic identity and then together from the context of that community, from that fellowship, doing community with your brothers and sisters, you then seek to flesh out the rest of your life.

You serve the Lord together, you solve problems together with your brothers and sisters, you meet needs together, you do outreach together with your brothers and sisters. You also recognize that God has spread out spiritual gifts. And graces among you and your brothers and sisters in Christ that are essential to everyone together in community with one another experiencing the fullness of Christ. And you then live your life accordingly.

And fellowship with others. I suspect that the fellowship that we have described here is far more important. than any of us realize when we recognized that this was a core aspect of their identity and how they did life. Fellowship is not some accessory.

To the Christian life. It's actually the matrix in which transformation happens in you and in your brothers and sisters and the Lord. And if that's the case, all of us should want to be swimming in fellowship. From day to day as much as we can, rather than simply reading a passage like this and responding by picking a time or two each week in which we can do an hour or so.

fellowship It's gonna look different for all of us, but explore what it would mean for you to make fellowship a part of your core identity. Rather than just an accessory to your life. Some of you are longing for transformation. In your life, and it may be that one of the ingredients that is missing is this matrix of fellowship.

With your brothers and sisters in the Lord. These early Christians were devoted to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, but this is not all. This brings us to the third description. Of these believers in Acts 2:42, and we're gonna word it this way and I'll explain it in a moment.

They were devoting themselves to the Lord's Supper. They were devoting themselves to the Lord's supper. In Acts 2:42, the text says, and I've got a literal translation of this on the screen, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of the bread. And a prayer Notice the the.

In front of Bread. This is not just any bread, but the bread, the bread. of communion. Later in verse 46, we're gonna be told again that these early believers were breaking bread with one another from house to house, but there is no the in front of bread in verse 46, which indicates that the meals in verse 46 are inclusive of normal meals that people eat together.

However, the bread of verse 42 is the bread, the special bread, the bread of communion. And we see here that these early Christians were not just the people who partook of communion, but they were devoted to celebrating it continually. This is the Lord's Supper that Jesus had instituted about 53 days prior. When he had his last supper with his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion.

Interestingly, in the Gospel accounts, Matthew and Mark and Luke are all careful to tell us that Jesus broke the bread. That's how the communion narratives begin in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He broke the bread and blessed it and said to his disciples, take it. And eat it, every one of you.

This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And after the supper, Jesus took the cup. And said to them, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So basically, according to the New Testament, When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we're doing, I think we can say, 4 things in total. Number 1, we're remembering Christ, he said, do this in remembrance of me. We're also proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes.

Paul tells us that in 1 Corinthians 11, Thirdly, we're remembering that he's coming again. As we're proclaiming his death until he comes, so there's a forward glance toward the coming of Christ when he returns to establish his kingdom on earth. There's a 4th thing that happens when we celebrate the Lord's supper that we learn about in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 16. I don't know if I have this verse.

No, I don't. You can write down 1 Corinthians 10:16. Paul asked this question, he says, is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing or a Koinania in the blood of Christ? It's not the bread which we break.

There's the breaking again. It's not the bread that we break a kinania in the body. Of Christ And the obvious answer is yes, it is. A sharing in a participation in a communion with the body and the blood of Jesus.

In Paul's mind, when we partake of the elements of the bread in the cup, we're actually experiencing Koinania with the very body and the blood of our risen Lord. You say, how does that happen? I don't know. I love what John Calvin says in answer to this question.

He says, if anyone should ask me how this communion takes place, I am not ashamed to confess that it is a secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare. And I think we all would agree, but our inability to understand it or explain it renders it no less real, right? What is clear is that the Lord's Supper is a powerful experience in the life of Christians that brings us each time into a deeper experience with Jesus. In fact, I quoted from John Calvin a second ago.

Let me quote from a Southern Baptist on this score. Donald Whitney, who says it this way, he says, participation in the Lord's supper allows us an experience with Christ that cannot be enjoyed in any other manner. Neither prayer, the preaching of God's word, public or private worship, nor any other means of encounter with the Lord can bring us into the presence of Jesus Christ in exactly the same way. God has given to his children several means of communion with His Son, but one is unique to the Lord's Supper.

Even though the bread and the cup do not contain the physical body and blood of Jesus, nor are they changed into them, they really do minister Christ to those. Who believe If the ways we experience Christ at the Lord's table could be replicated through other means, We wouldn't have had the Lord's table given to us. There's a unique way that we experience Christ at the Lord's table. This is why here at Cornerstone, we celebrate the Lord's table on the first Sunday of every month, on Sunday mornings, and then we celebrate the Lord's table every other week of the month.

In our care group gatherings that happen mostly on Sundays and on some other days of the week in smaller groups. When we come to the Lord's table, guys, we deepen the bond between Christ and us, and a 1000 giants get slain every time we come humbly to the Lord's table. Think about it, how can we hold on to grudges at the Lord's table? When there we are pondering.

How we have been forgiven of our sins against God? How can we withhold grace? From others when at the Lord's table, we're pondering how Christ has shown us this amazing grace. How can we withhold ourselves from others when Jesus surrenders himself so fully to us?

How can we hold anything back from our Savior when we see how he held nothing back? And surrendering himself for our salvation. Solomon tells us in the book of Proverbs that only by pride comes contention. And how can we be proud at the Lord's table when we consider the gravity of our sins and the huge price.

of suffering that Jesus had to pay for us. To be saved How can I devalue a brother or sister in Christ? When I realized at the Lord's table that Jesus shed his blood for that brother or sister. I could go on and on.

With all the benefits that we experience as we ponder. And worship at the Lord's table and partake. It's no wonder that Christ invites us to come to his table often. It's no wonder that these early Christians made the celebration of the Lord's table one of the four central practices to which they were continually devoting themselves.

Part of the benefit Of being a part of a local church is the opportunity that it provides to partake of the Lord's table in community with brothers and sisters in Christ. Part of the value of being a part of a care group here at Cornerstone is that it affords you opportunity to partake of the Lord's Supper on a weekly basis with a smaller group of brothers and sisters. For those of you that lead care groups here at Cornerstone, I just encourage you to prize this ordinance, hold it high in the estimation of your care group members and maintain its place in the weekly life of your care group.

And to all of Our members here at Cornerstone, I would say that, there are many reasons to To be a weekly part of a care group.

But one of those reasons, a powerful reason is the weekly opportunity to celebrate the Lord's supper together with your brothers and sisters and experience all the benefits that come with that. If a historian were to watch us here at Cornerstone, would that historian think to write? This body of believers is continually devoting themselves. To the breaking of the bread.

Luke uses those very words to describe these baby Christians in Acts 2:42. There's another thing that these early Christians were devoting themselves to, which showed them to be a congregation of total devotion, and that is they were devoting themselves to prayer. devoting themselves to Prayer. And again, I put the literal translation of this final.

The final words of this verse on the screen so you can get an idea of what The Greek of this is we see in verse 42, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching. And to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers. is literally how this reads. The prayers So we know that their prayers definitely would have included various inspired psalms that are vertical in their orientation directed to God.

We actually see these early believers praying Psalm 2 in their prayer to God in Acts chapter 4. We can rightly assume that they're praying now as Jesus taught. people to pray the Lord's prayer, which means that they're praying for God's name to be hallowed and for His kingdom to come and for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and they're praying for God to provide for them their basic daily necessities of life. And they're also, as they're praying, asking God to forgive them of their debts, and while praying, they're forgiving those who have sinned against them.

Later in Acts chapter 4 verse 29, we find these Christians praying for God to give them boldness, to speak God's word in the face of Impending persecution. We also find them in Acts 12:5, praying for Peter's release from prison. In Acts 13:3, we see church leaders praying for Saul and Barnabas as they laid their hands on them and sent them out on their first missionary journey. A very critical point in the development of the church and the spread of the gospel, and it's bathed in prayer.

Back in Acts chapter 1 verse 14, we found the 120. All with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer and that same word for devotion is used there, as we find in chapter 2 verse 42. In Acts chapter 6 verse 4, we see the apostles saying, we will devote ourselves to prayer, and that we devote again is the same word. That we find in Acts chapter 2 verse 42.

Everywhere you turn in the book of Acts, you see evidence that the early church was a praying church. We learn from their example that we should be a praying people, praying together for one another, praying for the cause of Christ to be furthered in the world, cherishing the opportunity to pray together in all of our gatherings, in our services and in our care group gatherings and in every other venue in which we come together as brothers and sisters in the Lord, turning our hearts toward God and calling upon him and praying to him.

And as we do that, we should not be surprised to observe that a praying church is a church that God is happy to bless and that God is happy to use. The fact that these early Christians were devoted to prayer tells us that they obviously were humbly aware of their own weakness and of God's great power.

They knew they could not live the Christian life on their own and carry out this mission that Christ had given to them on their own. They knew they needed God, so they prayed, they devoted themselves to prayer. They also knew that a high price had been paid for them to have access to God in prayer, and they treasured the opportunity to devote themselves to this blood-bought privilege. Of coming into God's presence and praying to Him, together with one another.

And think about the outcome. That followed They started out as a group of 120 who were devoting themselves to prayer in Acts chapter 1, verse 14, and now here they are, 3000 strong and devoting themselves to prayer. But even still, what are 3120 people in the face of so vast a need? The strength of Judaism.

The power of the Roman Empire at this time could have easily made these Christians feel very small and think that they're never gonna make any difference in the world. The proliferation of pagan religions with their beautiful temples around the world and millions of people devoted to those pagan religions. could have easily caused these Christians to think. We can't make much of a difference.

Thinking about Satan and his demonic hosts that are aligned against them and ready to fight against them and even wipe them out, these Christians could have thought, What difference can we make? Will we even survive? But what an amazing thing happened over the next 60 years. In 60 years' time, the gospel will spread throughout.

The farthest reaches of the Roman Empire. And in about 300 years, emperors claiming the name of Christ will sit on the throne. Of the Roman Empire. And when historians look at just the crazy spread of the gospel that happened in that first century.

They're left asking, how did this Happen And there's a lot of explanations and a lot of good. Explanations. But one of the explanations. I prayer One writer, TW Hunt says it this way.

He says, if we examine the expansion of the church in the Book of Acts and look at its prayers as recorded in Acts and the epistles, we see convincing proof of the power of prayer. The early church had innumerable obstacles. Christianity was unknown. And it was opposed by the authorities wherever it spread.

It suffered constantly from false accusations and rumors, and it tended to attract the lower classes. Yet by the end of the first century, it had spread in exactly the pattern commissioned by Jesus, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. Points in Europe and Asia Minor. This rapid geographical and ideological shift.

Could have been accomplished only by supernatural forces. The instrument of expansion was the church and the force the church was using. Was prayer I have no doubt that if you wanted to know what all God was going to be doing in the next several decades of church history from Acts 2, Forward, all you would have needed to do was listen in on the prayers of these baby Christians in Acts 2:42, and you would have heard it all in seed form. They prayed.

And they went out and testified of Christ to the world and God worked in a powerful way beyond what anyone would have expected. And we compare that to the church. Today Where we have so many resources and books which are wonderful. We've got technology, we've got money, we've got mass marketing.

Sound systems, beautiful facilities. We've got social media with all the wonderful potential that, that and all of the things that I listed and even more affords us today. But as Donald Whitney asked, do we know anything of the power of God upon Our ministry. He goes on to say the Bible and the testimony of church history say that despite how outdated it may seem, the effectiveness of the gospel and of the church are inseparably related to the united prayers of God's people.

So guys, let's, let's be a praying. People Let's be devoted to prayer. Let's be continually devoted. To prayer.

Let's relish the opportunities we have to come together with one another and to pray. Let's pray for one another and with one another, let's cherish the times of gathering in which we can join our hearts. And prayer to God. And when we pray, guys, let's, let's not just settle for praying safe prayers.

Let's pray dangerous. Prayers. Someone once said that praying to God with a heart of full surrender is like standing in front of a dam. And asking that dam to burst and break out upon you.

That's what we're doing when we come into the presence of an omnipotent God whose arms and hands are full. And he's ready to answer what we ask according to his will. And he can do above all we ask or think. When we pray to this God, we're asking him to break out upon us and to make wreckage of what he wants to wreck and reorganize our lives and use us in any way that he sees fit for his glory.

Are we willing to do that? And to pray in this way. when a baby is born, that baby is instantly devoted to Several things that are observable to everybody. The baby is continually devoted to eating.

And sleeping And probably other things. But here in Acts 2:42, We learned that these earliest Christians were instantly devoted to Four things right upon their birth in Christ. They were devoted to the apostles' teaching. To the fellowship and to doing fellowship, they were devoted to.

The Lord's table. And to prayer. And I would imagine that this list could have been much longer, but it's obvious, guys, that a church devoted to these four things will find itself growing into everything else God would want a church to grow into. There's a lot of wonderful good that flows downstream of a continual devotion to these four things.

And a church devoted to these things. is the church that God can use for His glory. Amen. what the world needs today.

I don't think the world today needs more churches. Our world today. Needs more churches that are devoted to these four things. And let's pray and ask God to make us Ever more so, a church that.

More and more looks like what we see described in Acts 2:42. Lord, I pray that you would give Your grace to each of us and that our hearts would be soft before you. And open to Change My sincere prayer, Lord, is that I would be forever marked. That we as a church body would be forever marked by the passages that we have looked at over the last several months.

As a part of this series, change us, Lord. And we give you permission to To work in our hearts, to rearrange our lives in any way that you see fit for our good and for your glory. We stand before you in prayer and we invite you to To break out upon us and Wreck what you want to wreck. And carry us where you want to carry us.

And may we be forever changed by the good and gracious work you do in us and, and through us. We cannot in our of our. Selves, Lord, become what we see described in this passage, and so we wanna join these early believers in coming to you and praying and asking you to Do this good work in us. In all areas of our church life, in our homes, in our marriages, in our parenting, and our relationships with one another, in our care groups, and all of our ministries, Lord.

Make us a church. Of total devotion. To you, Lord, a God who is totally devoted. To making us all that you want us to be.

That what we become and what we do will redound to your glory and the glory of Jesus Christ forever and ever. We thank you for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you, Lord, and we pray that you would receive what we give in this offering and do much with all that is given for the glory. Of Jesus We ask all of these things, Lord, in Jesus' name, and all God's people said,