THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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the Holy Spirit came upon him, there would have been no such results. These three thousand baptisms in a single day, were the outcome o f the ten days o f waiting upon God in prayer (cf. ch. 1:14). Surely those ten days had not been wasted. The work proved to be lasting, “they continued stead fastly." Steadfast continuance is a matter o f immense importance in the Christian life (John 8 :31, 32 ; Luke 8:15; Heb. 10:39 ; Matt. 24:13; Rev. 2:10). The four things in which they continued steadfastly are worthy o f note: ( 1 ) “ in the apostles’ teaching.” There was no running off after every new religious fad that came Up. (2) “ The apostles’ fellowship.” Fellowship is one o f the necessities o f healthy Christian growth (Eph. 4:13, 16). The one who seeks to grow in seclusion, separated from the brethren, is doomed not only to disap pointment, but worse still, to sad distor -1 tion o f character. (3) “In the breaking o f bread.” They did not neglect obedience to Jesus commandment to regularly show forth His death and to feed upon Himself in the communion service (4 ) “ In the prayers.” Just here is where the average Christian o f today departs most lamentably from the example o f the apostolic church. How few o f us can -be truly said to “con tinue steadfastly in prayer ;” and hère in lies the secret o f the poverty and the powerless ness of the average Christian and the aver age church. Steadfast continuance in prayer was one o f the most marked char acteristics o f the early church (ch. 1:14; 4:24, 31; 6:4, 6 ; Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18; Col. 4:2). Sunday, October 8 . , Acts 2 : 43 - 47 . The effect o f the steadfast continuance o f these early disciples, was that “ fear came upon, every soul : and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” Love abounded in that early church. Every body regarded his property as a sacred trust for the whole body, The true principle o f distribution was adopted, “according as any man had need.” This was true Christian
lated “ receive” means “take” ; if any one does not have “ the gift o f the Holy Spirit” experimentally, it is either because he does not “take” or “claim” his birthright by simple prayer and faith (Acts 4:31; 8:15, 16; Luke 11:13; 1 John 5:14, 15), or it is because he has not really made Jesus “ Lord and Christ” by an, absolute surren der o f his will to him and by identification with Him' in a real baptism o f which his water baptism was the symbol. The expres sion “the promise” in verse 39 as both the language used and the context unmistak ably prove (cf. ch. 1:4, 5; 2:33, 38), means the promise o f the “ baptism with” or “gift of” the Holy Spirit. Peter declares in verse 39 that this baptism o f the Holy Spirit was for them as well as for the Apostles, and not only for them (i.e., Jew ish believers o f the Apostles’ day) but for their, children (i.e., Jewish believers o f generations to c om e ); and not only for them but also for “all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him” (i.e., for Gentile believers o f every coming century o f the world’s his tory). In other words, by God’s own explicit statement jthe baptism o f the Holy Spirit is for every ohild o f God, Jewish and Gen tile, in every age o f the church. Saturday, October 7 . Acts 2 : 40 - 42 . V The words recorded in verses 14-39 give only part o f Peter’s sermon on the Day o f Pentecost, but the all-important part. The substance o f the rest o f the sermon was “ Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” Receiving the word o f God as preached, by Peter was followed by a definite public confession o f their receiving the truth, in baptism. The sermon had tre mendous effect—no less than three thou sand persons were added to the number o f the disciples dn that day. The reason why there were such tremendous results was that Peter not merely preached the truth, but that he preached it in the power o f The Holy Spirit. I f he had declared the same truth, in the same words, the day before
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