TITLE: Essentials of a Growing Church

TEXT: Acts 2:42-46THEME: The church and believers growth when celebration, congregation and cell are present.

There are two kinds of Christians

• Those who think, “either/or”.

There are two kinds of Christians

• Those who think, “either/or”.• Those who think, both/and.

We need both truth and relationship

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 1: There were 120 believers. This was before the day of Pentecost. Yet as soon as the Holy Spirit comes into them the picture changes. We find:

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 1: There were 120 believers. This was before the day of Pentecost. Yet as soon as the Holy Spirit comes into them the picture changes. We find:Acts 2:41 “3,000 were added to the church.”

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 1: There were 120 believers. This was before the day of Pentecost. Yet as soon as the Holy Spirit comes into them the picture changes. We find:Acts 2:41 “3,000 were added to the church.”Acts 2:47 “The Lord added daily those who were being saved.”

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 4:4 “The number of men grew to 5,000.”

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 4:4 “The number of men grew to 5,000.”Acts 5:14 “And more and more believed and were added (a multitude- to many to count).

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 4:4 “The number of men grew to 5,000.”Acts 5:14 “And more and more believed and were added (a multitude- to many to count).Acts 5:28 Critics say, “You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.”

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 6:1 “In those days the numbers of disciples was rapidly multiplying.”Acts 6:7 “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faithActs 21:20 “20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 6:7 “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faithActs 21:20 “20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

The New Testament Church grew exponentially

Acts 21:20 “20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

Where did they put all the people?

• Acts 5:42 “…they met day after day in the temple courts and from house to house.”

• Temple Courts or Large Group Worship and House to House or small group fellowship is God’s model for church growth.

• It is not either/or its both/and.

Where did they put all the people?

Where did they put all the people?

• Acts 2:46 “They met at the temple courts”-multiple venues.

Where did they put all the people?

• Acts 2:46 “They met at the temple courts”-multiple venues.

• Romans 16:3-5 “3 Greet Priscilla] and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.”

Where did they put all the people?

• Acts 5:42 “…they met day after day in the temple courts and from house to house.”

Where did they put all the people?

• Acts 5:42 “…they met day after day in the temple courts and from house to house.”

• Temple Courts or Large Group Worship and House to House or small group fellowship is God’s model for church growth.

Where did they put all the people?

• Acts 5:42 “…they met day after day in the temple courts and from house to house.”

• Temple Courts or Large Group Worship and House to House or small group fellowship is God’s model for church growth.

• It is not either/or its both/and.

What are the essentials in turning unchurched families into

devoted followers of Jesus?”

I. Celebration: Worship- Celebrating the nature and work of God. (42)

Acts 2:42

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

I. Celebration: Worship- Celebrating the nature and work of God. (42)

A. Truth: Apostles Teaching.

Ephesians 2: 19

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.”

I. Celebration: Worship- Celebrating the nature and work of God. (42)

A. Truth: Apostles Teaching. B. Relationship: Fellowship (Koinonia

I. Celebration: Worship- Celebrating the nature and work of God. (42)

A. Truth: Apostles Teaching. B. Relationship: Fellowship (KoinoniaC. Worship: Breaking of Bread.

I. Celebration: Worship- Celebrating the nature and work of God. (42)

A. Truth: Apostles Teaching. B. Relationship: Fellowship (KoinoniaC. Worship: Breaking of Bread.D. Prayer.

Truth and Relationship

• Truth without relationship makes worship cold and impersonal.

Truth and Relationship

• Truth without relationship makes worship cold and impersonal.

• Relationship without truth makes worship superficial and silly.

Bible Quiz

1. Where is the first tennis match mentioned in the Bible?

Bible Quiz

1. Where is the first tennis match mentioned in the Bible?

When Joseph served in Pharaoh’s court.

Bible Quiz

2. Which Bible character had no parents?

Bible Quiz

2. Which Bible character had no parents?Joshua, son of Nun.

Bible Quiz

3. What kind of man was Boaz before he got married?Ruth-less

Bible Quiz

4. What is one of the first things that Adam and Eve did after getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden?

Bible Quiz

4. What is one of the first things that Adam and Eve did after getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden?They really raised Cain.

Bible Quiz

5. What excuse did Adam give to his children as to why they no longer lived in Eden?Our mother ate us out of house and home.

What are the essentials in turning unchurched families into

devoted followers of Jesus?

II. Congregation: Large Groups (43-45)

Acts 2:43-45

43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

II. Congregation: Large Groups (43-45)

A. Shared sense of awe

II. Congregation: Large Groups (43-45)

A. Shared sense of aweB. Shared resources

II. Congregation: Large Groups (43-45)

A. Shared sense of aweB. Shared resourcesC. Shared meeting place

What are the essentials in turning unchurched families into

devoted followers of Jesus?

III. Cell: Home Groups (46)

Acts 2:46

46 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,

Steve Jobs

It was ultimately Steve Jobs pride and obsessions that killed him. No one could tell him what to do- even his doctors- even the truth. We need humility and people around us to teach us. Life groups allow us to shape each other and bring our obsessions into perspective.

APPLICATION

• As a church we are devoted to celebration- the celebration of who God is and what He has done.

APPLICATION

• As a church we are devoted to celebration- the celebration of who God is and what He has done.

• As a church we are devoted to congregation- meeting together as a larger group to celebrate and serve.

APPLICATION

• As a church we are devoted to celebration- the celebration of who God is and what He has done.

• As a church we are devoted to congregation- meeting together as a larger group to celebrate and serve.

• As a church we are devoted to cell- meeting in homes in Life Groups to share our lives together.

APPLICATION• As a church we are devoted to celebration- the

celebration of who God is and what He has done.• As a church we are devoted to congregation-

meeting together as a larger group to celebrate and serve.

• As a church we are devoted to cell- meeting in homes in Life Groups to share our lives together.

• We encourage you to get involved in a life group to encourage you to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

Dallas Willard

While I was teaching in South Africa some time ago, a young man … took me out to see the beaches near his home in Port Elizabeth. I was totally unprepared for the experience. I had seen beaches, or so I thought. But when we came over the rise where the sea and land opened up to us, I stood in stunned silence and then slowly walked toward the waves. Words cannot capture the view that confronted me ….

Dallas Willard

[I realized] that God sees this all the time. He sees it, experiences it, knows it from every possible point of view, this and billions of other scenes like and unlike it, in this and billions of other worlds. Great tidal waves of joy must constantly wash through his being ….

Dallas Willard

We pay a lot of money to get a tank with a few tropical fish in it and never tire of looking at their [beauty] and marvelous forms and movements. But God has seas full of them, which he constantly enjoys …. We are enraptured by a well-done movie sequence or by a few bars from an opera or lines from a poem. We treasure our great experiences for a lifetime, and we may have very few of them. But he is simply one great inexhaustible and eternal experience of all that is good and true and beautiful and right ….

Dallas Willard

"All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness."

(Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy (HarperOne, 1998), pp. 62-64).