"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." (Acts 2:42, ESV)
How are you doing with those New Year commitments, resolutions, or goals? We are now a full two weeks into the New Year, and I bet there may be a few of you who have already failed in your well-intended promises for the New Year of 2008. I wonder if our failures have anything to do with the complexity of our lives. You hear coaches and teachers in all sports frequently discuss the basics to be successful. For instance, when I was in high school, my baseball coach would hit hundreds of pop flies and ground balls just so we could practice fielding the proper way. With that being said, for the point of our study, let's stick to the fundamentals. I believe that our New Year's resolutions, especially as they relate to our spiritual life, can be greatly improved by sticking to the basics. Today's passage from the second chapter of Acts describes what was happening in the early church, the fellowship of believers in its earliest state. Yet, the activities they describe would be very good goals even in our "fully developed" church of today. Later in this passage, we read, "The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (v. 47). I should say so! Look at all they were committed to: being taught, having fellowship, eating together, praying (v. 42),unity (v. 44), selling their possessions and giving to those who had need (v. 45), worshipping God corporately, being thankful (v. 46), praising God, and having good rapport with all the people (v. 47). Wow! No wonder God was adding to their numbers those that were being saved every day! These fundamental things they were doing are the very things that show the world we are Christ's disciples. Let me encourage you this year to commit yourself to sticking to the basics, so God can use us to show others that we are His.
How are you doing with those New Year commitments, resolutions, or goals? We are now a full two weeks into the New Year, and I bet there may be a few of you who have already failed in your well-intended promises for the New Year of 2008. I wonder if our failures have anything to do with the complexity of our lives. You hear coaches and teachers in all sports frequently discuss the basics to be successful. For instance, when I was in high school, my baseball coach would hit hundreds of pop flies and ground balls just so we could practice fielding the proper way. With that being said, for the point of our study, let's stick to the fundamentals. I believe that our New Year's resolutions, especially as they relate to our spiritual life, can be greatly improved by sticking to the basics. Today's passage from the second chapter of Acts describes what was happening in the early church, the fellowship of believers in its earliest state. Yet, the activities they describe would be very good goals even in our "fully developed" church of today. Later in this passage, we read, "The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (v. 47). I should say so! Look at all they were committed to: being taught, having fellowship, eating together, praying (v. 42),unity (v. 44), selling their possessions and giving to those who had need (v. 45), worshipping God corporately, being thankful (v. 46), praising God, and having good rapport with all the people (v. 47). Wow! No wonder God was adding to their numbers those that were being saved every day! These fundamental things they were doing are the very things that show the world we are Christ's disciples. Let me encourage you this year to commit yourself to sticking to the basics, so God can use us to show others that we are His.
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