Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ.
The sermon for today is from the epistle reading acts
2:42-47
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our
hearts be acceptable to you oh Lord our rock and our redeemer.
"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching
to Fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers."
These are the distinguishing features of the Christian
community after the events of the First Pentecost. The church was new, Jesus
the Christ had only recently ascended into heaven and The Holy Spirit had just
been given to the disciples, flooding them with power from God. Peter had just
preached his first recorded sermon and 3000 people became followers of Christ.
These Christians were either Jews, or converts to
Judaism, they had been waiting for a messiah, and they rejoiced in the good
news that their Messiah had come and set them free from the punishment for
their sin. It was a joyous time for the first Christians, we read how they had
everything in common, they devoted themselves, to the apostles teaching to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. They even considered their
own possessions to be part of the community, selling possessions and goods to
distribute to any who had need.
This was a special time in the Church's history. It
was a blessed time, full of generous hearts and praising God. This early church
community was especially blessed by God who himself added daily to the number
of those being saved. This was a church lead by the Holy Spirit.
We are also a church that is lead by the Holy Spirit,
we have the same Spirit in us that was poured out on the apostles and looked
like tongues of fire.
It was the Holy Spirit that was leading them as they
acted as they did. It was the Holy Spirit that moved them to generously give of
their possessions to those who had need. And as an aside if The Holy Spirit is
leading you to give of your possessions to the church or those who are worse
off, Go for Gold, there is no command against giving. If you can spare some
extra funds to assist others, that is a good thing. It is also a good thing to
wisely use the gifts your heavenly Father has given you, so that you can
provide for the family that God has given you.
But this is a sermon I will preach when we have
harvest thanksgiving, Today I am reminding you of the four things the early
church devoted itself to which are the same things that we should devote
ourselves to.
In the early Church they had the living apostles to
teach them about Jesus. Today we have the words of the apostles written by the
Holy Spirit in the bible. As you read God's word you are devoting yourself to
the apostles teaching. As you come to this building gathered with your fellow Christians,
you are coming to hear God's word read and spoken into your lives. As you gather
for bible studies, you are devoting yourselves to furthering your knowledge of
God's Law but more so his wonderful love and compassion that he has for you.
Now I'd say it's because it's from the bible but do
not remember going to a bible study that did not also have food, and here at
Rainbow/ Pella and Hopetoun I have had the same experience. As we have gathered
and will start and continue to gather to study God's word we will also be
devoting ourselves to Fellowship.
This fellowship couple with the apostles teaching is a
wonderful venue for God to use his Holy Spirit and use Christians to educate
and comfort their fellow Christians, but clearly fellowship is not restricted
to only accompanying bible study.
In the few
short months I have been here I have received an exceptional welcome to your
parish and community, case in point just this last week I was invited out three
times to enjoyable discussions and very good food.
As Christians, we are called to have fellowship with
each other. It is at these times where we can relax, and open up. It is as we
have fellowship together that God uses you to comfort each other, He uses you
to remind each other of the brighter side of life, the side where Jesus is
king. He reminds you of the grace you have received through the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Through fellowship, through having a coffee or a yarn
in the backyard, The Holy Spirit uses you to speak God's word to your fellow
Christian. Sometimes this word will be the good news that God is pleased with
you and has forgiven you, and sometimes God will use your fellow Christian to
show you your sin and through the Holy Spirit call you to repentance.
This is part of my vocation as Pastor, God has called
me to speak his word, condemning sin and proclaiming that Jesus died in your
stead and by his sacrifice, God has forgiven you. I use the bible to know the
difference, I study the apostles teaching so that I can distinguish between Law
and Gospel and so that I can help you do the same.
As you read your bibles, and have your devotions, you
are devoting yourselves to the apostles teaching. As you gather on Sunday as
fellow Christians and receive the body and blood of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,
you are devoting yourselves to the breaking of the bread.
As you join me
in the prayers throughout the service and as you pray at work or home with
family or alone you are devoting yourselves to Christ's call to pray to God
with thanksgiving through all things.
In Acts these four things were coupled with the growth
of the church. The church was devoting itself to them and God was making it
grow, and it is the same today. God uses us as we do these things to strengthen
our brothers and sisters in Christ and to make more of them. as we have
fellowship and invite our friends over for meals God uses us to proclaim his good
news. God uses our fellowship with others to bring them into his church, it
might take years and we might never see it happens, but as we gather with Christians
and non Christians God uses us to proclaim the good news concerning His son. He
fills us with the Holy Spirit giving us the words to say. He uses our kind
actions and generous natures to bless others, often without our knowledge. As
we devote ourselves to the apostles teaching to fellowship, the breaking of the
bread and to prayer, just as he gave growth in the early church God in his time
and his wisdom will do today. Amen
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