09 The Greatness of the Church (Acts 4:31-5:13)

* The book of Acts begins with Jesus' command to the apostles to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon them with power in order that they might be witnesses of His in Jerusalem and Judaea, in Samaria, and into the uttermost parts of the world. The apostles obeyed and were empowered on Pentecost. They witnessed of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and testified that He was the Messiah (the Christ). Those who believed were immersed in the name of Jesus and began to join together continuing steadfastly in the teaching and camaraderie of the apostles, in a remembrance of the Lord's Supper and in meeting together to pray. They were also voluntarily giving of their resources in order to meet the needs of those within the church who had them. As a result of this unity of the church, we are told that "many signs and wonders were done through the apostles" and that "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." * Luke then begins to build upon this introduction to the church by expanding upon the themes of their unity. * Over the past two weeks, we considered the presentation of one of the many "wonders" which were performed by the apostles - the healing of the lame man. Last week, we saw Peter and John's boldness before the Sanhedrin in proclaiming the exclusivity of the name of Jesus Christ for salvation. After they were released, they went directly back to where the believers were meeting to give a report. This resulted in a praise and prayer meeting! The believers prayed for even more boldness! In the face of political/religious persecution they didn't pray for the demise of their oppressors, they prayed for boldness to proclaim God's truth! * Today, we will look at what a true "Mega" church looks like. ("mega" is a Greek word that means "great.") It occurs multiple times in our passage as a superlative adjective, and is demonstrated by some incredible examples. This passage illustrates how the "Greatness of the Church" should truly look. * This message was presented on December 4, 2022 by Bob Corbin.