Acts 2:42-47\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0\u201cThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching\u00a0and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread\u00a0and to prayer. 43\u00a0Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.\u00a044\u00a0All the believers were together and had everything in common.\u00a045\u00a0They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.46\u00a0Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.\u00a0They broke bread\u00a0in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,\u00a047\u00a0praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.\u00a0And the Lord added to their number\u00a0daily those who were being saved.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201c<\/i><\/span>All the believers were together and had everything in common.\u00a0 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0This has commonly been misunderstood that the early Christian Church were Communists.\u00a0 However it is not true that they lived together in one very big commune, but rather that they sold their possessions to meet the needs of the body of Christ.\u00a0 One thing we must remember is that when a person comes to the Lord, they are newly born again and are in great need of being taught the ways of the Lord.\u00a0 They get born again and then they wonder \u201cOkay, what now?\u201d\u00a0 They, like all of us had, have a need to be discipled.\u00a0 After Peter\u2019s sermon and the subsequent birth of three thousand new converts, they all needed discipling.\u00a0 Many of them were there with the intention of a short stay for the Holy Day.\u00a0 If they were to stay longer, many would need supplies to do so.\u00a0 This could have been why the Christians were selling possessions, so that they could help these new converts.\u00a0 Also they could have been helping the needs of their neighbors.\u00a0 Nothing in these verses indicates that they lived together, but rather that they sold their good to meet the needs of others.\u00a0 Jon Courson points out that they had everything in common by stating that they were \u201cCommonists\u201d and not \u201cCommunists.\u201d\u00a0 The big difference is that communism says \u201cwhat\u2019s yours is mine.\u201d\u00a0 Commonism states \u201cWhat\u2019s mine is yours.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t be misled, the early church were not Communists.<\/p>\n The heart is the difference between them establishing a subculture of communism and them moving as the Lord led them from the love of God in their hearts. Pastor Courson shared this little story:\u00a0 The story is told that a number of years ago in London\u2019s Hyde Park, where free speech is the order of the day, a Communist took the podium, pointed to an impoverished elderly gentleman in the crowd, and said \u2018When the Communists are in charge, they will put a new suit on that old man!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 A pastor in the audience responded, \u2018When Christ is in charge, He\u2019ll put a new man in that old suit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Family, it is always about the heart!\u00a0 These Believers did not have their hearts on their possessions, but rather on Jesus and the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 With the Holy Spirit within them, their hearts were changed, and being continually changed, so that the love for and of God ruled.\u00a0 The loved God and that being so, they loved and cared for each other.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.\u00a0They broke bread\u00a0in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,\u00a047\u00a0praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 These people met in the temple courts.\u00a0 Some think that they met and participated in the sacrifices.\u00a0 However, that seems unlikely since Jesus was the once and for all sacrifice for all sins (Hebrews 7:27, 9:26, 10:2, 10:10<\/b>).\u00a0 However, they may have met at the temple and were present at the ceremonies, though not themselves were not giving for the sacrifice.\u00a0 They certainly were there witnessing, including healings and exorcisms, to the people who were there (Acts 3, 12:12-16, 17-21<\/b>).<\/p>\n They continued with sincere and glad hearts to meet together, to share meals together and to encourage each other.\u00a0 They loved each other and blessed each other.\u00a0 Family, the fact that Jesus was now in control of their lives was manifest for all to see.\u00a0 The love of God within them was fully on display to all.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the Lord added to their number\u00a0daily those who were being saved.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 With their hearts bent on obeying the Lord, with His love flowing through them, the number of them was increased\u2026daily.\u00a0 Are our churches \u201cdaily\u201d growing?\u00a0 See, their numbers grew because of their love and obedience.\u00a0 They were zealous to share Jesus and they loved meeting together.\u00a0 They loved their Brothers and Sisters in Christ more than their possessions.\u00a0 Family, we all should examine ourselves, can we say our hearts and minds are truly like that of the early church.\u00a0 If we truly want to see people come to the Lord, we must first truly yield.\u00a0 That is the Biblical example of church growth.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s all about the heart.\u00a0 A heart that is yielded and compliant. A mind after the Word and will of God.\u00a0 If we can be so, the world around us will be very different.\u00a0 Please allow me to boldly say that, starting with me, we fall very short.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s us praise God and be fully yielded to Him.\u00a0 After all, Jesus gave all, shouldn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 2:42-47\u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u201cThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching\u00a0and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread\u00a0and to prayer. 43\u00a0Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.\u00a044\u00a0All the believers were together and had everything in common.\u00a045\u00a0They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.46\u00a0Every day they continued…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,104,94,17],"class_list":["post-1324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-hebrews","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}