This past Sunday, I preached a sermon entitled, “Where are we going?” The new year is a good time to pause and see where we are and where we are heading. The text I used was Acts 2:41-47. I believe that we as a church must be the 1st century church living in the 21st century. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. We can learn much from the early church. It is our task to live this out in the context f the 21st century in our own community. Much has been written about these verses from Acts 2 concerning the “purposes of the church”. Most of this writing focuses on designing programs that fall into one of these 5 purposes; evangelism, discipleship, worship, fellowship, and ministry. I believe that a more accurate way to understand Acts 2 is to see it as a group of followers who are filled with the Holy Spirit. In the same way a person who is filled with the Spirit will exhibit the fruit mentioned in Galatians 5 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control), a church that is filled with the Holy Spirit and committed to Jesus will exhibit what we see in Acts 2 (evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, worship, and ministry).
You can no more “program” these purposes into the church than you can “program” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control into your own life. So here’s the key for the church: be filled with the Spirit as individuals and as a church. Let Jesus guide you as individuals and as a church.
Here is the audio of what I shared Sunday: Acts 2:41-47
A Pastor's Thoughts 