to us of perseverance. They weren’t quitters. God is still on the throne. He is able and wants to do today what He did for those early believ ers. If a new church is to grow, it must learn obedience. God’s love was real to each of the early believers. There was not dis cord. They honored the Scriptures (Acts 1:15-20, II Tim. 3:16). They honored the Old Testament. Then they brought their difficulties to the Lord in prayer (verses 21-24). If a heart or a church is yielded to God, the Lord will show Himself mighty. They knew that if they lacked wis dom on any matter, they could ask and receive the answer. These fea tures will characterize the members of any church which is growing. This makes for an empowered, soul winning, missionary-minded church. It will most certainly grow thereby. We must keep our eyes on the Lord whether we’re pastor or people. We must be willing to do what Christ wants us to do and to be what He wants us to be.
increased our church not only numer ically and spiritually! The latter is by far the more important. Today there are many people pro fessing to be Christians, who simply worship Christ as a good person or even as the Son of God. They don’t accept Him as the risen Lord. In Acts 1 :5 we see the importance of the Spirit’s filling. This promise was given not that they might be more fully justified before God, but that God might become more fully justi fied in them before the world. They were obedient to His Word (verses 12 and 13). In the Upper Room they were told to wait. What an order! That is something we need to learn, too. Our lives must be fully yielded to Him. If the disciples had gone out when they wanted to, they would have gone in the strength of the flesh and failed. They waited, obedi ent to the Word of God, claiming His promises, and soon were filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice that they all continued in one accord in prayer and supplication. This speaks
North Valley Baptist Church, Redding, Calif.
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