Acts 2:42-43

Acts 2:42-43:

And they were persisting in adherence to the teaching of the apostles and to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers.  And fear was arising to every soul.  And many wonders and signs were arising through the apostles. 

Thoughts for Today:

First Thought:

This is the beginning to one of my favorite scripture passages.  To me, this is “perfect church.”  This is “church where everyone who is there is there just to worship God.”  This is “church where everyone present is there simply to figure out what church is.”  I think I love this passage because it seems to me to be “church without expectations.”  This is the first “church,” so nobody has any prior standard to live up to.

In what ways do our own expectations keep us from being the “church?”  In what ways do our “expectations” get in the way of seeing what God wants us to do?

Second Thought:

The things that the people do are so simple.  They devote themselves to the teaching of the apostles.  They pray together.  They worship God.  They don’t do anything that is complicated, anything that takes a bunch of preparation and administration, or anything that in any other way bogs down the Holy Spirit.

When you think about your fondest spiritual moments, would you say they were moments that you planned the spirituality or are they moments that God used and you had no real way of seeing it coming?

Third Thought:

As we continue this passage for the next few days, ask yourself this question each day: How good am I at doing what the first followers of Christ are doing in these verses?

So today, the questions are: how good am I at devoting myself to the teachings of my spiritual leaders (who better be teaching Christ or else you need to get new spiritual leaders!)?  How good am I coming and actually being able to worship?  How good am I at being willing to pray with the spiritual people around me?

Passage for Tomorrow: Acts 2:44-45