Last week I started a message titled ‘A Strong and Growing church’ and today I want to finish and share the second and final part of this message.
I mentioned how the primitive church grew despite being under great persecution and having no building, and how they had their meetings in their homes.
We as the church of Christ need to be prepared for the future because the world is quickly changing and maybe in a few years we could experience persecution again and be unable to gather as a congregation, but nothing can stop a Cell meeting-like church.(Small groups)
Today’s message : A Strong and growing church (Part 2)
I want to remind you again that: When I say church I’m not talking about a religious organisation, I’m not talking about a church building. I’m talking about people who were transformed by the power of the gospel and who are part of the body of Christ, which is a spiritual and eternal organisation.
The church of Jesus was not created by men or religious leaders, but the church was born in the heart of God as a result of man’s decline into sin. God sent Jesus to save us and so we could be His church.
My life years ago was destroyed and if it was not for the church of Christ, I wouldn’t be here today. The church helped me, it showed me the way to salvation. I was baptised in the waters and became an active member of my church.
The church of Jesus is the only way out for this corrupt world that has been going from bad to worse!
18 Jesus said “ I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”” Matthew 16:18-19
Jesus said “I will build my Church”, the Church doesn’t belong to any leader or pastor, the church belongs to Jesus Christ.
The church is the only hope for this world, it is a place of salvation, where you can be changed and get ready for eternity! The Church is the personal representative and agent of Jesus on earth.
Jesus said: I will build my church and I will give the keys of the Kingdom of heaven and whatever the Church binds here on earth will also be bound in Heaven.
Can you see how important it is to be a member of the church of Christ? If you are part of the body of Christ (the Church) then you are part of the Kingdom of heaven.
Salvation is only through Jesus; He is the Door, but Jesus has a body on earth and His body is the Church.
“Jesus is the head of the Church and the Church is the Body of Christ.” Colossians 1:18
The Church is not an event I attend, it’s a spiritual family that I belong to.
Unfortunately many Christians don’t understand how important is to be connected to the church, don’t understand the importance of taking part of the Cell Meetings, Services and Church Meetings.
Why was the primitive church in the book of Acts such a strong church?
The primitive church is an example and model for us. That church saw many miracles. The sick were healed, thousands of people were saved, people were baptised with the Holy Spirit, and the supernatural was something natural in that church’s life.
We serve the same God and our God does not change. Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever.
I believe we are going to experience the same here in our church.
Do you believe that?
Why were they such a strong and growing church? We need to look to them and to do as they did.
1- The primitive Church lived as a family
2- The primitive Church worked as one for the Kingdom of God
3- The primitive Church had one message – Jesus Christ
4- The primitive Church were always together in prayer
5- They were baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit.
1- They lived as a family
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. All the believers were together and had everything in common. 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,” Acts 2:42, 44, 46 NIV
The primitive church grew because they were a family. They would gather together out in the court house to worshiping the Lord and they would also have home meetings, they would serve one another, help one another , encouraging one another, forgive one another and having communion with one another. This is church, and church is a family.
“So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.” Ephesians 2:19
When you were born again you became part of God’s family. Church is not an organisation, it’s not a building, Church is the place where we grow spiritually as a family.
“A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.”
Proverbs 18:1
“Loners who care only for themselves spit on the common good.”
Proverbs 18:1 MSG
“He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Ephesians 4:16
Friends, we need one another, we have got to stay connected ! Those who live isolated from the body do not grow spiritually and do not develop their ministry in the church.
You need other people. I need other people. This is God’s idea! When you get isolated, it leads to crazy thinking and spiritual death.
The easiest way for the devil to destroy you is to isolate you from the rest of the body.
Being isolated is never a healthy thing. We need people that can come and help us out, and we need people from outside that will bring the Word to us. God created us to live in a community, to depend on each other and to work together.
But we have an enemy that came to kill and destroy your life and his strategy is to keep you away from the body of Christ!
You need to understand the following: The Church is protection for your life. Your family and you need to be connected, you need to be an active member, not a visitor on Sundays but a part of the body of Christ.
Jesus said: I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. When you are an active member, you are protected against hell and the power of darkness.
Church is not a religious organisation, the church is God’s family and we need to live as family.
2- They worked as one for the Kingdom of God
“And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” Acts 2:47
“Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.” Psalms 127:1
Unless the Lord builds the house , our labour is in vain. The word “house” is literally = family. Unless God builds the family, all labour to build it is in vain.
All growth comes from the Lord but God uses us to build His kingdom.
““I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:6, 9
Paul said: I planted the seed , Apollos watered it but God is the one who will make it grow. If we work together, planting the seed of God’s word and praying for each other, God will then make it grow and the church will multiply. But you cannot work alone, you have to work together with the Body.
We have been called to labour with God in this business of growth. If we are going to experience this growth, we must cooperate. It will not just happen overnight.
It doesn’t just fall on us like a ripe fruit out of a tree.
So do you want to be a worker of God in this business of growth? God needs you and He is counting on you to bring His kingdom to earth.
3- The primitive church had one message: Jesus Christ
“Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.”
Acts 11:19-21
Notice what their message was! They preached the Lord Jesus.
Jesus is the Center of our message. In Acts 2 , in the day of Pentecost, Peter’s message was about Jesus. It was about His miracles, about His crucifixion, about His resurrection, and 3,000 souls were added to the church after listening to this message.
As a pastor of this church we have to touch on a lot of different areas. We teach about family, we teach about marriage, we teach about discipleship, we need to teach about prayer, stewardship, healing… but our central message is Jesus. It’s the Gospel. Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus baptises in the Holy Spirit and Jesus is coming again.
Jesus needs to be the central theme of our lives. In fact every healthy Christian life and every healthy church has one central message. It’s Jesus Christ.
4- They were always together in prayer
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42
The primitive church devoted themselves to their leaders’ teaching, to fellowship and to prayer. You need teaching from your leaders, you need fellowship with your brethren and you also need to pray with your brothers and sisters.
Prayer is the way through which the supernatural comes through to this earth.
If you go through the Bible and you look at every man and every woman in the Bible that prayed you will find that something supernatural, a miracle , healing , deliverance, happened.
The Way in which God brings the supernatural into earth is through prayer.
If you want something, if you want deliverance, if you want healing, if want provision to comes to you, you must pray because the primitive church devoted themselves to prayer.
5- They were baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit.
“On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” Acts of the Apostles 2:1, 4
When I teach about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit I get very excited because I know what happened in my own life once I got baptised with the Holy Spirit.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a turning point in the life of all Christians.
I was born again in a church that didn’t believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues. (Presbitarian Church).
But I started reading and studying the Bible for myself and came to one conclusion: I needed to be baptised in the Holy Spirit because my Christian life wasn’t good enough, I was a believer but something was missing.
I started praying and asking to God for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. One day as I was praying, it’s was 2:00 in the morning and God visited me and I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I begin speaking in tongues and my Christian life was dramatically changed from that day on.
We are a church that believes in all that it’s written in the bible.
Jesus spoke about it
“And these signs will follow those who believe: they will speak with new tongues;” Mark 16:17
Jesus wants to do two big things in your life: to give you eternal salvation and the second most important thing, more important than healing , it’s more important than deliverance and financial breakthrough, it’s to introduce you to the person of The Holy Spirit.
There is no eternal life without Jesus and there is no abundant life without this relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Before the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the disciples were sad because of Jesus’ death, they were all afraid of persecution, but after being baptised with the Holy Spirit, they became strong, true Christians, who were anointed and preached the word with anointing and grace. They were used to heal and free people from demons and save people.
God wants His church to grow and we are going to grow. I believe that in few years we are going to be hundreds and thousands of people. But we need to do like the church in the book of acts.
1- They lived as a family
2- They worked as one for the Kingdom of God
3- They had one message – Jesus Christ
4- They were always together in prayer
5- They were baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit.
The growth and expansion of the family of God is His will.
Growth is God’s will, both for our individual life and for His church (the body of Christ).
You know that things that don’t grow, die !
Churches that do not grow, will die. If you don’t grow spiritually you are in danger!
God is looking for growth in your spiritual life and in numbers for His church because numbers represent people and God loves people. God loves people!
May the Lord bless and keep you!