2. God raised Him from the dead!
This message is heard again later in that chapter, again in Acts 3:15, and throughout the rest of the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament. This is such a unique message, different from any other religion! No one else serves a God who was willing to lay down his life for us, and no one else has a Savior who was killed but now lives! This is the message that must be taken “to the ends of the earth!”
Great Numbers: Throughout the book of Acts, we see that God’s church is marked by rapid growth, and great numbers of people becoming Christians! Please refer to Acts 2:41, 2:27, 4:4, 5:14, 6:1, 6:7, 9:31, 11:21, 11:24, 12:24, 13:49, 14:1, 14:21, and 16:5, which all talk about the rapid growth, or great numbers of people being baptized into God’s church! Acts 17:6 and 28:22 talk about the impact of the Christians being felt “all over the world,” and that “people everywhere” were “talking against” the disciples! Clearly, building a great church involves great numbers of people becoming Christians!
Great Awe: In Acts 2:42-43, we see that everyone, from the Apostles to the brand new disciples, was devoted to the Apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Also, everyone was filled with awe and there were great miracles done by the Apostles. There was no difference in the commitment level of anyone in the First Century Church and everyone was excited.
Great Boldness: Acts 4 describes Peter and John being taken before the religious rulers of the day. They were put on trial because they were teaching about Jesus. In verse 13, the characteristic that stuck out to the men trying them was their courage, and it reminded them of Jesus. They commanded Peter and John not to speak anymore about Jesus. However, Peter and John were unwilling to follow the commands of the religious leaders. The religious leaders knew the only way to stop Christianity was by stopping the disciples from talking about it. This is true for us today; the only thing that stops Christianity from spreading is people not talking about Jesus. After Peter and John were released they went back, met with other disciples and prayed for God to increase their boldness. This reminds me of Proverbs 28:1, “the wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion”.
Great Sacrifice: Acts 4:32-37 describes how everyone in the church was taken care of by the other church members. In fact, people would sell their land or homes and give all of the earnings to the Apostles who used it to meet the needs of the people. I believe one of the reasons that the world was evangelized in a 35 year time frame (Colossians 1:23) was because of the extreme sacrifice of the disciples. If we want to see the world evangelized today it will take the same great sacrifice that we read about in the book of Acts.
Great Leadership: In Acts 6, we learned about a weakness in the church. Some of the widows were not receiving food. The Apostles, who led the church, chose seven spiritual men and delegated responsibilities. I appreciate this passage because it shows that no church is perfect, but when a problem arises the leadership should answer with a solution.
Great Persecution: In Acts 7, Stephen preaches a powerful message against the religious leaders of the day. They react by stoning him. Acts 8:1, states a great persecution broke out on the church that day. Throughout the rest of the book of Acts and the remaining books in the New Testament we see that there was a constant opposition against the message of the gospel as well as the messenger. In fact, Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12 “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. Great persecution is something we should expect if we are building a great church.
Great Joy: The last scripture we read from the book of Acts was Acts 8:8, which said “there was great joy in that city”. This was because of the many miracles that were performed there. It is always important to remember the miracles God has done. This helps us to have great joy. Our church in Phoenix has seen 17 people baptized and 13 restored or placed membership since the month of April! As Christians, we don’t have to have miracles to be joyful, but we are certainly joyful to have these miracles! Building a great church is our goal. To see this happen we will need to have all of the elements the First Century Church had: a great commission, a great message, great numbers, great awe, great boldness, great sacrifice, great leadership, great persecution, and great joy!
Luke Speckman
