All the believers were together and had everything in common.All who believed were together, and had all things in common.And all that believed were together, and had all things common;And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
10 sermons cite this verse
… changed the world. The church that was accused of turning the world upside down. I'm reading from Acts chapter 2 verses 42 to 47. And I'm reading from the New King James Version. Just to get context, remember this is on the heels of the day of Pentecost. So the Holy Spirit has been poured out. And 3,000 people have come to believe in Jesus after Simon Peter delivered the inaugural message of the church. Acts 2.42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and in prayers. and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together. They had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as everyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. …
… changed the world. The church that was accused of turning the world upside down. I'm reading from Acts chapter 2 verses 42 to 47. And I'm reading from the New King James Version. Just to get context, remember this is on the heels of the day of Pentecost. So the Holy Spirit has been poured out. And 3,000 people have come to believe in Jesus after Simon Peter delivered the inaugural message of the church. Acts 2.42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and in prayers. and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together. They had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as everyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. …
… at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. And all the believers were together and had everything in common. And they sold their property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Community, connection, commitment, power, all the presence of God, all the power of God, all the miracles that God was doing, giving of themselves so that no one would even have need. And I want to show you in these few short verses how these first century Christians depended on God and depended on each other. Let me show you just briefly a quick summary of what the early church did. They studied the Bible together. They shared meals together. They prayed together. Help me out if you want to. They fellowshiped together. They worshiped God together. They served others together and they celebrated together. They didn't look at a screen and observe someone else's life. They were together. And what you need to know is that in the ancient world, this was unheard of, completely unheard of, because the Roman Empire was built on division. The rich avoided the poor. The Jews stayed away from the Gentiles. Those who were free, they stayed away from the slaves. And the first century church filled with the power of Jesus …
… An uncommon foundation. Acts chapter 2 verse 44, all the believers were together and had everything in common. In chapter 4 verse 32, all the believers were one in heart and mind. Same phrase used there to refer to all the believers. And from the very beginning we're getting a picture of the foundation that united them together. They had all believed on Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. in Acts chapter 2 verse 38 through 41 and what follows after that it was their faith in Christ that united them together now when we see they had everything in common we immediately start to think in the physical realm and the possessions and that's exactly what this passage goes on to talk about but what we've got to realize is these guys had a lot more in common than just sharing their possessions I want you to see two truths here number one I want you to see that they belonged to each other in Christ. These early believers believed that they belonged to each other in Christ. And it's evidenced by the way we see this word fellowship, koinonia, come up over and over again in the New Testament. Let me take you on a little tour. Turn to the right, and I want you to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. You'll go to Romans and then come to 1 Corinthians. I want you to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And I'm going to show you …
… And so let's do that. The rest of our time, we're going to spend looking at Acts 2, verses 41 through 46. Let's read it together. Peter's just preached an amazing message. And almost three, or exactly 3,000 people were added by putting their faith in Jesus that day. Here's what it says about them. Those who accepted his message were baptized. And that day, about 3,000 people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. Everyone was filled with awe. And many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had a need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. …
… of the word and the proclamation of the word that goes throughout the building of the church. It is the foundation for the power in the church. Now we know in Acts chapter 2, verse 42 through 47, the Bible says not only did they devote themselves to these things, but everyone was filled with awe And many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. And what you've got is a picture of the Word going forward. It's advancing, being proclaimed. And what's happening is miraculous signs and wonders are being done that kind of validate the Word and show, help enlighten the power of the Word. It happens all throughout the book of Acts, particularly when the Word is going to new places that it hasn't gone before. The thing is, it's happening all around the world today. You go to other countries, particularly countries where the Word is not known, you're seeing miraculous things happen. And you hear testimonies, even in Indonesia, when Larry and Dan and I were there in June to hear stories of what God is doing to bring Muslims to Christ. …
… to prayer everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles all the believers were together and had everything in common selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need 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 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. That first picture that we see of the early church is going to drive the rest of our time in this series about different to make a difference. And I want you to see that this early church prioritized some things in their lives. And there's some things I want to challenge us to prioritize. Priorities of the church, number one, speak boldly. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching that's the whole story we see happening in acts chapter 2 so we see the people of god propelled out into the streets they'd gathered together in this small room praying for the holy spirit when the holy spirit comes they are propelled out into the streets where they proclaim truth in their culture and it wasn't a popular message and we must be a people who know truth and proclaim truth in a culture marked by religious pluralism and moral relativism and biblical skepticism like we have in our country today will we be a faith family who knows truth and proclaims truth? …
… at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. And all the believers were together and had everything in common. And they sold their property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Community, connection, commitment, power, all the presence of God, all the power of God, all the miracles that God was doing, giving of themselves so that no one would even have need. And I want to show you in these few short verses how these first century Christians depended on God and depended on each other. Let me show you just briefly a quick summary of what the early church did. They studied the Bible together. They shared meals together. They prayed together. Help me out if you want to. …
… through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need, and day Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. Of the many passages in the New Testament that we might focus on in thinking about the importance of the local church, I thought it might be instructive for us if we focused on the very first local church in the pages of the New Testament, the church in Jerusalem. In actual fact, the opening section of the Acts of the Apostles focuses largely on that church and the work of God in that church and the character of the church. And you may have noticed in your reading of the Acts of the Apostles that the author Luke does a very interesting thing. …
… and many, many, I can't even, wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they're selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. and the Lord added to the number day by day those who were being saved. Then read in chapter 4 and verse 32, it says, now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own but they had everything in common and with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. there was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet. …