A Devoted People: Designed For Community (Part 2)

In Acts 2, we find a church that is dynamic, active and powerful. In Acts, we see the first churches and they were rapidly growing and on fire. The Holy Spirit was moving, but in the midst of this we see a group of real followers that were devoted to true community. Read Acts 2:42-47 and find out what made this church so powerful:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This was a people who desired to be together with a spiritual purpose. This church was not a social club; they were not just a group of Christians who were "hanging out." They were dedicated to the things of God.

In his new book, The Spirit-Filled Church, Terry Virgo expounds on this vibrant community:

The early Christians were devoted to fellowship. They were constantly together and relinquished the right to individualism and selfishness by no longer regarding the things they possessed as their own. There was no coercion…. They expressed commitment to one another as a spontaneous outworking of their new life in Christ.

Commenting on God’s design for community, C.S. Lewis states, "Christ works on us in all sorts of ways…. But above all He works on us through each other.”