Blueprint Of The Early church.

Acts 2:42  — And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

The context of Acts 2 is the infancy stage of the church era. Three thousand souls were added to the apostolic church in the previous verse. The people were listening to the teachings. The people were fellowshipping. The people were feasting and finally the people were praying.

These seem like pretty simple things for a church to do, yet not all do this well. Take teaching for instance . Much could be said about this part. Today as in other times the teaching the church is doing is being maligned. Churches tout motivational speakers who quote a few bible verses as “preachers”. Filling the pews becomes the number 1 priority over the gospel being preached. Paul puts it pretty plainly here

1 Corinthians 2:1-4 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

He decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.. That’s all he needed to get across. That message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Charles H. Spurgeon once said something to the effect of this: A good preacher starts with any text then makes a beeline to the cross.

Back to the Acts 2 verse. Devoting themselves to fellowship. That’s kind of an all encompassing word. Christians seemingly do this all the time

Koinōnia is a Greek word translated to fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse.

Usually used in Christian circles when fellow believers are gathered together in any context. The Greek word notes an intimate aspect to it. Believers are close to one another from their shared faith in Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ fellowship and grow closer when they share in praise and worship and prayer and even food as we see here in this verse. There really is no substitute for Christian fellowship. It makes it easy too when we see this is the way God appointed us to carry out our lives. Serving humbly and loving others.

Now to breaking of bread. What better way to talk with people than over food. This is something I’ve been wanting to do more of. Eating with people you know are on the same page as you and share the same beliefs is a great way to draw closer to them. It opens up new friendships and strengthens old ones.

Then there’s prayer. They devoted themselves to prayer. This is another one I had a hard time doing. Praying for others was uncomfortable the first few times I did it. I’ll never forget going on the Beautiful Feet mission trip the first time shortly after I became a believer. We went to a homeless shelter in Ft. Worth Texas to have a little service and unknowingly to me I was going to be praying for some homeless person I had never met. It was unforgettable hearing a man’s story of his life changing from a few random events. He told me what had happened and what he wanted me to pray for. And I did. I have no idea what I said in that prayer but I hope it was a prayer that God blessed.

In order to be the church we’ve got to be intentional with the everyday things we do and the ways we worship our Holy Holy Holy God.