BACKGROUND:
The book of Acts, written by Luke, picks up where Luke’s Gospel left off, providing details of the birth and early years of the church that Jesus had promised to build. Together the two books, Luke and Acts, form a seamless account of how the followers of Jesus turned the world upside down.
Before documenting this rapid spread of the gospel, however, Luke asserted two important truths in what serves as an introduction to the book of Acts: (1) the indisputable fact of Christ’s resurrection; and (2) the indispensable presence of the Holy Spirit. Apart from these two strong foundations, the church would be without hope and without power. What was true in the first century is still true today.
Acts 1:8 is the last recorded statement of Christ on earth. It is thus final, authoritative, and of utmost importance. The Holy Spirit is a major theme in Luke and Acts and is the major point of continuity between the life of Jesus and the ministry of the church.
Who is the Holy Spirit? God is three persons in one—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit first became available to all believers at Pentecost (Acts 2). Whereas in Old Testament days the Holy Spirit empowered specific individuals for specific purposes, now all believers have the power of the Holy Spirit available to them.
When the Spirit comes, Jesus told his followers, you will receive power. To do what? To tell people about him. They were to start right there in Jerusalem (1:4). Judea was the region surrounding Jerusalem (possibly including Galilee). Samaria was Judea’s hostile next-door neighbor, a more difficult but equally important place to take the gospel. The ends of the earth may have referred to Rome or the Roman Empire, the world power at that time.
The direction was of primary importance: Beginning from where you are at this moment, take the message of Christ outward, like ripples caused by a pebble thrown into a pond, not stopping at just your city or state but moving on beyond regional influence to the very “ends” of the earth. In other words, reach it all! The disciples took Jesus at his word and went about their task exactly as he directed: they began in Jerusalem, spread to Judea and Samaria, then filtered out across the world to the imperial capital, Rome.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
This week, I want you to look at “The Acts of a Growing Church”. When you think of the acts of a growing church you naturally go to the book of Acts. I want to do two things this week. I want to run through the growth record of the Jerusalem church today and then the rest of the week, I want to point out to you eight lessons we can learn from the church in Jerusalem that we can apply to our church today. Fortunately Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, gives us a record – a running total – of how the church grew.
Acts 1:15 “in those days Peter stood among the believers and the group numbered about 120.” That’s how many there were on the first day of the church in the Upper Room, the first record.
Acts 2:41. The Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was given. “Those who accepted His message were baptized and about 3000 were added to their number that day.” 3120 – that’s a pretty good sized church that’s one day old. On the very first day they added 3000. People say, “We want to be a New Testament church.” You’re not a New Testament church until you have at least 3000, because that’s how many they started with on day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:47 "Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved.” That means at least 365 people were being added to the church a year because it says somebody everyday.
So the church is growing from 120 to 3000 then it says they were adding people everyday so we know at least 365 a year.
Acts 4:4 “But many who heard the message believed and the number of men grew to be five thousand.” Anytime you’ve got 5000 men; you have at least another 5000 maybe 10,000 women. And kids. So we’re talking at least 15,000, 20,000 people possibly at this stage.
Acts 5:14 “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” In the Greek, this is in the imperfect passage, which means they kept on being added. It’s a repetitive thing. More and more were being added. The church is exploding with growth.
Acts 5:28 The Sanhedrin are arguing with the apostles “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” That’s an understatement! Filled the entire city with the good news.
Acts 6:1 “In those days the number of disciples was increasing [or multiplying]” We’ve gone from addition now to multiplication.
Acts 6:7 “So the word of God spread and the number of disciples increased in Jerusalem rapidly.” Rapid growth. And it says a large number of priests came to faith. Jewish priests who were once staunch anti-Christians were now becoming believers.
You can see this growth rate picking up speed, like a snowball getting bigger and bigger. I wish I had time to take you through the whole book.
Acts 21:20 is approximately 25 years after the day of Pentecost in Acts 1. “When they heard this they praised God and said to Paul, `You see brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed.’” And all the result of what it’s talking about in Jerusalem. The word “thousands” in Greek is the word murias literally means tens of thousands. It says tens of thousands of people had believed by this time in the city of Jerusalem.
B. H. Carroll, a famous Bible scholar, in his commentary, estimates that there were probably two hundred thousand members in the Jerusalem church after 25 years. Peter Wagner and many agree. G. Campbell Morgan says a minimum of 100,000. If there had 200,000 members, how big was the city of Jerusalem at this time? In any Bible dictionary it will tell you that in New Testament times that the city of Jerusalem was approximately 400,000 people. What we have here is a church with 200,000 members in a city of 400,000 people. Half the city had become converted. No wonder they said, “you’ve filled Jerusalem.”
If you take that from our standpoint – maybe 300,000 people in the COV Valley, that would be equivalent of having a church of 150,000 members – half the city. There has never been a church that’s grown in ratio like the church of Jerusalem.
This week, I want us - Church of the Valley - to learn some lessons from this church in Acts. As I take you back through the book of Acts, I want you to see eight things that we need to do, so that if we do these things we can expect God’s blessing on our church as much as they saw a blessing on the church in Jerusalem.
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