Can we please turn to Acts chapter 2? And I would like this ministry meeting to finish with this second chapter and to see the result of the first message that the church, the assembly, the congregation preached in the city of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. The result of the first preaching that the Apostle Peter, Shimon Petos, had preached to the Jewish people who came from many countries on the Feast of Shavuot, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. And what a wonderful message Peter has preached to these many Jewish people that were there when they have seen what had happened when the Holy Spirit of God, when Ruach HaKodesh came and formed the body of Messiah.

And so we read today from chapter 2, and verse 37, and please follow with me. I'm going to read to the end of the chapter, to verse 47. And so we read, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Yeshua the Messiah, for the remissions of sins. And ye shall receive the gift of Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. And they that gladly received his word, they were baptized, or in Hebrew we call it nitbelu. And the same day, there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need.

And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God, and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added unto the church, unto the assembly, unto the Kehillah, such as should be saved. And that's the conclusion of Acts chapter 2, the last verses. Now, brothers and sisters, this is so beautiful, and so interesting, as we study the book of Acts. Because really, what we really see here in those verses, we see not so much even the acts of the apostles, but what we really see here in these chapters, the acts of the Holy Spirit of God in the lives of many.

First of all, from among the nation of Israel in these chapters, later on, from among the Samaritans, and later on from the Gentile world, we see the acts of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of God, how the Holy Spirit of God is working in lives of individuals, and bringing them to the knowledge of Yeshua, our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus, our Lord and our Messiah. And here, in these last verses of chapter 2, verses 37 to 47, we see clearly what happened about 2,000 years ago in the city of Jerusalem. Well, remember, it was earlier verses where we have read that what Peter did in the proclamation of the gospel, he preached simply the person and the work of Yeshua the Messiah.

When the gospel is being preached, we have no other message to give. We have no other message. We don't give a message of a certain denomination. We don't bring a message about certain great men, great leaders. We bring, and we are responsible, like Peter, to bring the simple message of the gospel concerning the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. His perfect life. His obedience to God. His ultimate death for us on the tree. His burial, His resurrection, and ultimately His ascension, and His coming again in a soon coming day. This is what Peter have done. He's preached to them Yeshua from Nazareth in verse 22. He spoke about His death in verse 23.

He spoke about His resurrection in verse 24, and so on. And He brought the Old Testament, the Tanakh, the Psalms, before the nation, before the people whom He was speaking with. He brought the Word of God in the midst of the people. And so as He was preaching to the nation, you remember what He said to them in verse 36, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Yeshua, whom ye have crucified, both Adon, that is Lord, and Mashiach, this is Messiah, in Christ, Christos. God, who has sent the Messiah, has made Him Lord and Messiah. While the nation, as a nation, have refused to accept Him in His first coming, but God has declared to the world and here to the nation of Israel that He is both Lord and the Anointed One.

The word for Lord, by the way, the word Adon here, means that He is Lord of the life of mankind. The Messiah means that He is the answer for the need of men. Men need a Savior, need a Messiah, and He is God's provision for mankind. It's not different today. Today, if anybody is going to come to God, He must come on a basis of the finished work of the same One that was from the city of Nazareth, rejected by men, the same Lord Jesus, the Messiah. So you know what happened? The proclamation of the message, Peter did not trust himself. Peter trusted that the Spirit of God that just came and formed the body of Messiah, that the same Holy Spirit will be the one who will convict.

And look what we see here, in verse 37, the Holy Spirit of God touched their heart. Pricked their heart. You see, it says here in verse 37, When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. This is exactly what the Spirit of God has to do in every individual's life. The Spirit of God has to touch their heart. We cannot make somebody change. We cannot change the heart. The Holy Spirit of God has to change the heart. So there was a preaching of the Word. They heard the Word of God. And that tells us what Romans 10 teaches us. That faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Romans chapter 10 and verse 17. So they heard the Word, verse 37, And they were pricked in their heart. They were convicted. They recognized that there is a problem in their heart. That they rejected the Messiah. That He was the one who loved them and gave Himself for them. And their heart was moved. The Lord touched their heart. The Holy Spirit of God touched their heart. And then it said, And they said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles. By the way, you can see from this verse, that even though Peter was the one who spoke for the disciples and for the apostles, But all the people, all the Jewish people who gathered there for the Feast of Shavuot, did not only ask this from Peter, but they spoke to all the apostles.

And they said to them, Men and brethren, what shall we do? You see, they shared this with all the apostles. And they said to them, Men, they called them men, and they called them brethren. Now, of course, they were their brethren. As Jewish, they were their brethren in the flesh. They were their Jewish brethren. Even though they were not yet saved, they were not yet forgiven, they haven't yet accepted the Messiah into their heart, but yet they asked their brethren, the apostles, they asked to them, What shall we do? Now, this question, at least twice, it is mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, in the Brit HaChadashah.

What shall we do? I want us to see this. There is a person who asked, What shall I do? In a wrong way. He had a wrong motive. And then there is another person who asked the same thing, What shall I do? But he had the right motive. Go to Luke chapter 10 for a moment. In Luke chapter 10, you remember the story that Yeshua was telling to the people whom he was communicating there in chapter 10. Of course, he was sharing with the leaders of Israel. He was telling them certain things and so on. But you notice it says there that a certain lawyer, he was studying the Pharisees' law.

And this certain lawyer, he stood up and he tempted the Messiah. And he said, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, here's the wrong motive. You cannot ask the Lord, or ask the people of God, What should I do if your motives are wrong? Here's a man who was a lawyer and his motives were really wrong. He really was not intending to turn to God. He was really not intending to be brought to Yeshua the Messiah. He was asking the Lord by desiring to find fault in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Tempting Him. What shall I do? That I may inherit eternal life.

And you notice to Him, Yeshua answered to Him, What is written in your law? And this man tried to justify himself He wanted to gain life on a basis of His works. And Yeshua had to correct him. And Yeshua had to show him that there is nothing that he can do in order to earn eternal life. There is nothing that he can do. So his motives were wrong. He sought to tempt the Lord. He sought to cause the Lord Yeshua to stumble and to fall. And the Lord exposed him with the reality of his heart. That's the one man. But there is another man that we find him this time in the book of Acts as well.

In Acts chapter 16. And this is, if you turn with me to Acts chapter 16 and look at the verses there. And especially in verse 30 of Acts chapter 16, it was the jailer that held earlier the apostle Paul and Silas. And you remember this jailer who had them in jail at midnight. Paul and Silas prayed and sang songs to God. And the prisoners heard them. And you remember, suddenly there was an earthquake and the foundation of the prison was shaken immediately. And all the doors were open in a miraculous way. The doors were open and everyone's band were loose. And that jailer was shaking in fear. He was really troubled now.

He really realized that there is the power of God and these men, Paul and Silas, were men of God. So he came trembling. Notice that. He says here in verse 29 and 30, Then he called for light and he sprang in and he came trembling and he fell down before Paul and Silas and he brought them out and he said to them, Worst must I do to be saved. Here's another man who was trembling before God. Who had the fear of God at this moment because of what had occurred there in a jail where they were in Philippi. And this Philippian jailer was sincere in his request, What shall I do?

And they had to tell him, Believe on the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and you shall be saved. There's nothing you can do. But there is a responsibility that the person has is to believe in what Yeshua, what the Lord Jesus the Messiah has done and to accept Him, to embrace Him into one's heart. So there is one man who asked, What shall I do? But he was not real. He was not genuine. That's the lawyer. There was another man who asked, What shall I do? And he was real. He meant business. He really was trembling before the Lord, before God, as he was speaking to his servants.

And here again, now we don't have an individual here, but we have a multitude of Jewish people who came to celebrate the Feast of Shavuot. And they came to Peter and they spoke to the apostles and they said to them, Men and brethren, Achim, what shall we do? You know, this is something that every person need to come to that point that he or she asked this question. God, here I am. I've seen, you've spoken to me. The Spirit of God touched my heart. I've heard the Word of God. I've heard the message of the Gospel. What I need to do now, God, show me, Lord, show me what I need to do.

And look what Peter said. Peter speak to these Jewish men and women in the city of Jerusalem. He gives them the facts. He doesn't ask for them to do anything in order to earn salvation, but he gives them the simple facts. He said to them in verse 38, two things he tells them. Number one, repent. Number two, be baptized. Now, unfortunately, in many circles, as far as I understand, many individuals at least taught and maybe some still do teach that in order to be saved, it's not only that you need to repent and believe, but you need to get baptized. And this is, as far as I'm concerned, as far as I understand from the Scripture, it's not correct because baptism on its own does never save a soul.

Water baptism is a testimony to the identification with the death and the burial of Yeshua, the Messiah. It doesn't save, but a saved individual in obedience to the Lord would get baptized in identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua, the Messiah. But what is essential, and notice the difference, it began, first of all, with the necessity of repentance. Oh, I tell you, brothers and sisters, this is so hard for the human race to repent. The Greek word here for repentance is metanoia, which means to have a change of mind. That's what it means. Metanoia in the Greek simply means to have a change of mind, to change your mind about God, to change your mind about yourself, to change your mind about your ways of life.

To change your mind is to take 180 degrees and to change in direction. You cannot do it on your own, but you need to have this desire and a change of mind. You see, the problem in general in the whole human race is the problem with men do not want to recognize that he or she are simply falling short of the glory of God. That all have sinned and come short of God's demand from the human race. And the natural men think that he is sufficient, I can accomplish something on my own, I can do something on my own. And here Peter is saying to these Jewish people who came to Solomon, listen, you have to have a change of mind.

And specifically, by the way, because of the text here, because he was writing to and speaking to the Jewish people there in the city of Jerusalem is the change of mind towards the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. And I would like to remind you brothers and sisters that these individuals that were here in Acts chapter 2 were part of the greater nation of Israel who did not acknowledge that Yeshua was the Messiah. The leadership did not recognize and accepted the fact that he was the promised Messiah. In fact, I would like you to turn for a moment to Matthew chapter 12. Look what it says there in Matthew chapter 12 when the leadership of Israel accused Yeshua of doing healing instead of in the power of God in the power of Baal Zevuv, which is the Lord of the fly.

In other words, they attributed his healing not to the power of God but to the power of Satan. You see, it says here in chapter 12 in verse 22 there was brought unto him one that possessed with a demon. I'm reading verse 22 of Matthew 12. He was blind and he was dumb and he healed him in as much that the blind and the dumb spake and he saw. And all the people were amazed and they said, is not this the son of David? Ben David? Is not he Ben David, the son of David, the Messiah? But look, when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out demons but he casts them out by the power of Baal Zevuv and notice what they call him the prince of the demons.

In other words, the leadership of the day accused Yeshua the Messiah that whatever he was doing, he was doing it in the power of Satan rather than in the power of God. And when the people who gathered there in the city of Jerusalem, when they have seen what have happened, when the Holy Spirit of God came and formed the body of Messiah and the sound and the words of the proclamation in various languages, they were amazed. And Peter began to preach to them that this is all about the Lord Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who came from heaven, who died and he was rejected and he was resurrected as David had promised.

And when they were convicted by the word of God, they asked, what shall we do? And Peter told them, you need to have a change of mind concerning the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. And that is important, brothers and sisters. It is important to have a change of mind about him, but also an understanding and a change of mind about ourselves because we need to realize that we have sinned before God and we need to turn to him and to confess and to repent and to tell him, Lord, I have sinned before you, I am a sinner, I need forgiveness. Let me show you another verse that Paul later on in Acts chapter 20 said to the Ephesian elders.

Look at Acts chapter 20. Paul said, he said to them in verse 21, we are testifying both to the Jewish people and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Repentance means to change towards God and to believe in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah to change our ways, to change our hearts, to make a change in our life. If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness of sins. See, that's what God desired to see it in the human race today. To turn your heart. Many times when he spoke to Israel, he said, turn ye, turn ye from your wicked ways, he said to the nation.

Turn around and come back towards me, I will accept you, I will embrace you, I will bring you unto myself. But one need to turn, to repent. And that's what Peter said to them, clearly. He doesn't tell them, you know, you're Jewish, you're the nation of Israel, you're the chosen nation. You see, they were part of the chosen nation. But even the chosen nation need to repent when they are going wrong. And here he told them, repent, change your mind. By the way, in the Greek, as I said, is metanoia. In the Hebrew, there is a different word in the Old Testament time. It's called the word l'nachem, nichem.

It was Job, he says, I repent in dust and ashes. When Job recognized how wrong he was before the living God, he had to say, I repent in dust and ashes because I confess what I am. All wretched men, like Paul said, I am simply falling before you, God, and telling you the truth about myself. That is repentance. And by the way, if there is no repentance, one can never be saved. God is expecting repentance for mankind. But you notice, he added here the word, be baptized. Now, that's why I said earlier that many would say, well, you see, there is a necessity in order to have forgiveness of sins, one must also get baptized.

But what happened if a person repented and did not have the chance or the opportunity or the time to go through water baptism? Is he or she saved? Well, the thief on the cross never had a chance to go through water baptism. But he repented. He said, Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom. He recognized the Mashiach Yeshua and he acknowledged that and he said, Lord, he called him Lord. So it is important to understand that baptism is important not for salvation but as a testimony of identification with the Lord Jesus the Messiah in his death, burial, and resurrection. And so he used the word baptism.

Now I want us to understand that it's not like today. When a Jewish man in the first century had been baptized, or we call it nitbal in Hebrew, baptism or tevila was connected or identified with something that was going to happen or a certain leader or what he's teaching. When they were called to baptize there, they were identifying publicly before their own nation with the rejected Messiah, the Lord Jesus himself. For those early believers, it meant for them rejection by their people, dispersion by the nation, looked at them as those that we call them meshumad or destroyed, being called today, those that are not recognized among the nation, because they believed that Yeshua was the Messiah.

Baptism for first century believers were not like today. Today, somebody accepts the Lord, he or she are saved, and you know they can get baptized three months later, six months later, one year, and so on, and it's become like a nice celebration where we are enjoying to see a person get baptized, and we are happy for him or for her, but it's different than what happened in first century and these days that we are reading about. When they were baptized, they were confessing identification with the rejected Messiah, and those early believers were immediately persecuted, immediately being rejected, immediately being despised by their own people, and later on by others, and so baptism in connection with these individuals was a public acknowledgement that they identify with the one who was just earlier, 50 days earlier, died on the Roman cross, and that's what they were saying, we identify with the death and burial and resurrection of this Yeshua from Nazareth, we identify with him.

You know, I remember many times when we take groups to visit the land of the Bible, the land of Israel, we also have baptism, and usually after the baptism, the tevila, we sing a song, some of the songs that we sing is, I have decided to follow Jesus. You know, this morning when I was preparing and reading some of the passages, I said to myself, Lord, the song, though none go with me, still I will follow. And I'm saying to myself, boy, it's so easy to say words, though none go with me, still I will follow. You mean you're going to go, if nobody's going to go with you, you're going to continue to be faithful to the Lord, and you continue and go on and go on, even you're going to be rejected by others, nobody's going to follow you, are you going to do that?

It's easy to sing. We love to sing that. The world behind me, the cross before me. We can sing it, and I know we love that song, but in reality, brothers and sisters, unless the Lord give us grace, we will not follow, though none go with me, unless the Lord touch our hearts and show us the beauty of the Lord and draw us after him. When people are scattered, we're scattered with them. Remember when we read in the prophet Zechariah smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. This is exactly what happened when Yeshua was there on the tree dying for our sins. Everybody went away.

When trouble coming, they are not around and we are not around. That's what happened. That's the human nature. When trouble coming, everybody is out and gone. It's only when things are good and everything is fine and everybody is coming, but there is a trouble, when there is a problem, everybody disappears. What happened here? When they did identify with the death and resurrection of the Messiah, it meant business for them. They paid a price for that. The rejection by their own brethren. And so he tells them, repent is essential. Repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And then he said, every one of you, in verse 38, in the name of Yeshua the Messiah.

You notice that? It's not in the name of anybody else, but it is in the name of Yeshua from Nazareth, Yeshua Hamashiach, the despised one, the rejected one. And then he says, for the remissions of sins, and ye shall receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So verse 38 is essential here in the result of the preaching of Peter. It is important when he told them, repent, be baptized in the name of Yeshua the Messiah for the remissions of sins, and he says, and ye shall receive the gift of Ruach HaKodesh, the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so, he says to them in verse 39, and I am moving on right now, in verse 39, he said to them, there is a promise that was given to the nation.

He said to them, look, he says, for the promise is unto you and to your children. You remember that Joel said, in what they have already spoken about and quoted earlier, that whosoever the Lord shall call in Joel chapter 2 and verse 32. He is saying to them, listen, unto you and to all your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. He says, it is the promises to you and it is to your children and those whom the Lord will call from among the nations of this world. you notice that it says, as many as the Lord shall call.

You know the Lord calling, the Lord speaking to individuals, we do not know how and who, but he does do the calling. He is the one who called, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He is calling, he is saving people from the nation of Israel and the nations of the world, and he is calling them to come to him. And so, Peter is telling to them that the promises that have been given through the prophet Yoel was given unto them, was given unto their children, and unto those whom he shall call from among the nations of the world.

To them is that promise, the promise of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of God. In verse 40, he is telling to them, save yourself from this unto word generation. And with many other words, he did testify and exhort, and he said to them, save yourselves from this unto world generation. What does it mean when he is saying to them, save yourselves? You see what happened, when Israel as a nation did not accept Yeshua the Messiah, they came under the judgment of of 70 AD. You see what happened, those, the nation was going to experience the judgment of God in 70 AD when Titus going to come and destroy the temple in Jerusalem, burn the city and destroy the temple in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish people would die.

Over a million Jewish people died in 70 AD because of what the Romans have done to the Jewish people. it was predicted already by the Lord in the Gospels. And so what Peter is saying to them, save yourselves, come out from this generation that rejected the Messiah. You come out of this generation that rejected the Messiah. If you turn back for a moment, I want to see how he called this generation in the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter 16, he called this generation, those generations that did not accept the Messiah, he called them a wicked and adulterous generation. See this in Matthew 16, in verse 4, he says, a wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.

See, this was the generation, this was specifically the leadership who should have led Israel to accept the Messiah, they led Israel away from the Messiah. And so he called them a wicked and an adulterous generation. In Matthew 16, in verse 4. In chapter 17 of Matthew and verse 17, he called them a faithless and perverse generation. You notice that? In verse 17, of Matthew chapter 17, then Yeshua answered and says, all faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. He called them a generation of people who are without faith and a perverse generation. And you know that it's not only applied to Israel, it's applied to the nations of the world in which we live in, but specifically he was mentioning in the gospel of Matthew to the nation of Israel.

you and I, the apostle Paul speak also of a generation in which we live in, in Philippians chapter 2, Paul says to the believers to whom he wrote in verse 15, he says that you may be blameless and harmless as sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and a perverse nation or generation. See, we also, the Philippians also live in the midst of a crooked and a perverse nation or generation. So he's telling now these Jewish people who ask what shall we do, he's telling them in Acts chapter 2, he said to them that they are to be saved from this untoward generation and they can be saved from this untoward generation by accepting the Lord and avoiding the judgment that was going to come upon the nation in 70 AD and also have eternal relationship with Yeshua the Messiah.

So after he told them this look at the response and the response in verse 41 was simply this they they that gladly received his word they were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls see they took it seriously what did they do they simply receive his word see the importance of receiving the word applying it to our hearts and saying this is the word of the Lord so they received the word and then they were baptized they literally were baptized in the city of Jerusalem there are many special places especially in Temple Mount where people were baptized there in the past you can see it very much in

the top of the Temple Mount there in this area you can see an older what we call it mikvahs in Hebrew places where there will be baptism there and many were baptized there after they received the word that Peter proclaimed and how many were added to the church at that time about 3,000 souls one message brothers and sisters that Peter had preached one message 3,000 souls it had been said that today we can preach 3,000 messages and I don't know how many souls would come to know Yeshua there was the power of the Spirit of God there was a conviction that the Spirit of God convicted souls and there was a change in their life

and there was a testimony for the Lord and you can see that 3,000 of them so now in Acts chapter 1 there were 120 by the time that Peter had finished to minister his word to those Jewish people who gathered together for the feast of Pentecost the feast of Shavuot 3,000 souls were added 3,000 souls were added to the existing 120 the church was founded and growing now and developing right now and already 3,000 souls came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah by the way all these 3,000 souls were Jewish souls that's how the church began Israelis some of them who came from afar some of them who were born in the land live in

the land 3,000 Hebrews became believers in Yeshua the Messiah and these Hebrews if you just go on and you will see in chapter 4 there was an additional 5,000 in verse 4 5,000 only men in Acts chapter 4 and verse 4 more came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah and this is the foundation of the assembly of the church Jewish men and women who came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah and began to proclaim the scriptures and the gospel to the nations of the world and so we can see that the result of the preaching of the gospel by Peter brought about salvation to 3,000 Hebrew souls now what do you think that the Lord

want them only to get saved just accept him and say you know hallelujah we are saved we are not going to go through the 70 AD judgment over the nation we are not going to be through the great white throne judgment we are saved we are going to be in heaven and we are forgiven and then they carry on without growth that's not the way because now there was a necessity to develop and to establish believers in their faith so they can grow and they make disciples it's like an ongoing continuing development and growth of the body of Messiah and so in the next verses verse 42 to 47 we see how the first assembly

the first local church grew and you can see the growth of the body of Messiah now today brothers and sisters things are different the church is divided the church is scattered all sort of names above every building and there's so much confusion we live as we know it from Revelation chapter 3 in the period of time of the Laodicean stage of the church every man does that which is right in his own eyes there's so many views and teaching but it didn't begin like that it began with unity and harmony and discipleship and growth among the people of God it began in Jerusalem in the city of Jerusalem and there were first century who were

consistently developing themselves developing disciples and then spreading us to the nations and others from among the nations who were growing and developing and the church grew we live in the other end of the church age where things are chaotic the ship that we see Paul heading towards Rome you remember it's a shipwreck and everybody got safely to shore but there was a shipwreck we live in that stage of the shipwreck destruction all over divisions all over views on teachings all over all kind of conditions that exist today that's why we cannot agree with everybody that's why we cannot identify with everybody and others cannot identify with us either you have to be so careful in

many things who do you identify with about in the first century in the city of Jerusalem there was unity and harmony which began as the church was founded and so notice that in verse 42 on to 47 you can see the development of the first assembly in the city of Jerusalem it says in verse 42 they continued steadfastly and we see here four things that were characterized the first century assembly in the city of Jerusalem number one there was the apostle doctrines number two there was fellowship koinonia number three there was the breaking of bread and some suggest that that would have been milled together but led to the Lord's table as we know it

today and the fourth thing is prayers those four elements that we see in first century in the assembly in the city of Jerusalem were evident in the lives of the local assembly in Jerusalem the apostle's doctrine you know I've heard somebody says you know we don't need teaching and doctrine why do we need doctrine what is so important about doctrine and the Bible clearly teaches us the necessity of have sound doctrine sound teaching the apostles were speaking the truth of the word of God but later on they put it for us with the help of the spirit of God in the canon of scripture when you read the book of Romans when you read the

book of Corinthians the letters that were written by Paul by Peter by John by Jude by James it is the apostles doctrine the teaching it is so important the necessity for the teaching to be an ongoing thing as part of the assembly part of the local fellowship the local congregations the apostles teaching notice by the way that those were Jewish people who came to faith in the Messiah they understood the teaching of the prophets the Old Testament prophets but now because they were part of this new thing called the ecclesia they needed additional teaching for this present day dispensation they didn't set aside the prophets they didn't set aside Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or

Daniel or Joel or Amos no they believed in the restoration of Israel they believed what God gave to Israel but they understood the necessity of the apostles teaching for the present day how do the church gather what is the fundamental truth of the word of God how can they seek to practice this they needed it and you can see they continue steadfastly it was not like something that they have done once in a blue moon they continue steadfastly to listen to what the apostles had to teach them and then secondly you have the word here fellowship this is the koinonia in the Greek this is the sharing of that which one possess apparently they were

fellowshipping with each other it was not like parties it was real fellowship with believers you know sometimes somebody says well two fellows on a ship that is fellowship well it's not two fellows on a ship you know you can be on a ship with another fellow but you don't agree with him you don't have the same views on anything but but fellowship koinonia is sharing in common the things that they have possessed that they have had they share their spiritual life together they have shared their hospitalities and communication with each other and grace and learning to work with each other because they were constantly being under pressure and the fellowship of believers is very important

and let me tell you when you and I are going to stay away from fellowship with other believers you're going to see what's going to happen just a few of us a few minutes before the meeting started we say you know what happened when we are staying away from fellowship when we are cast down and discouraged you know what happened we end up to only get further and further from the things of the Lord we can't do without each other we are members of the body of Messiah every member is important in the body and we need each other but we need to know how to relate to each other not only to need each

other in body but we need to have grace and forgiveness and love and concern towards our brothers and sisters that's part of fellowship thirdly we notice is the breaking of the bread and oh boy since the time I came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah that there are issues that rising up is over the breaking of bread we have it everywhere where I hear it where all the churches that I've seen that I've visited or spoken every time this issue of the breaking of bread who is associated with who and all these things but it was not happening in the first century today we live in a stage in a church age that even unbelievers

coming to the Lord's table to break bread well everybody should break bread but in the early church those who came to the breaking of bread you know some suggest that it's not merely the Lord's table because of the Jewish people always broke bread Shabbat we break the bread challah you know we give thanks thanks to God for the bread that came out of the earth and for the wine that came out of the vine it is done automatically on Friday night when the Shabbat enters in to give thanks to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob for his provision but I'm talking about beyond that we also had the remembrance of what the Lord have

done but at that time there was no division that existing today with all sort of teaching that existing the way we live in today that the breakdown in the local churches the present day in which we are part of and that's why every local church have their own development what they feel and what they view and we have to submit to it but at that time it was different the breaking of bread was part and parcel of notice that that is mentioned here is prayers there were men and women who prayed they were praying at home I'm sure they were praying individually I'm sure but they were also having a collective time of prayer together

prayer for the needs of the people of God prayer for the needs of the family prayer for the needs the spiritual need the physical need they continue stead fastly in the apostle in fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers stead fastly the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in first Corinthians chapter 15 and in the last verse he says unto the brethren there in first Corinthians 15 verse 58 therefore my beloved brethren be stead fast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord he encouraged them to be steadfast to continue and you know brothers and sisters

I don't have to tell you this there are so many discouragement enough to say to us who need that there are so many things around us to discourage us to say I don't and maybe we get discouraged at time and I'm speaking for myself but thank God that there is encouragement from time to time the Lord bring situation into our life individuals into our life that we can get some encouragement to continue steadfastly to continue to follow the Lord yes we don't practice everything that we would like to practice but the point is to continue to follow the Lord Yeshua the Messiah they continue in those four elements that we see here in these verse

42 and then verse 43 fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles you notice it was done by the apostles not everyone had the ability to do wonders and signs it was done by the apostles the apostles were immediate associate with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah they received the gifts to be able to show and to minister to the people through signs and wonders but it was done by the apostles in verse 44 all that believed were together and they held all things in common here you see it began with all and the unity that existed in that time among the believers were amazing they they all they

believed they were together you see they were together you cannot read that thing in today's situation together I mean of course many of those 3,000 people probably went back later on to their own countries or their own cities and the community was smaller but they were together they were together as it says here and they had all things in common they sold their possessions and goods and they parted them to all men as every man had not want but needs they met needs of the people of God in the local assembly in the city of Jerusalem and then as we head towards the end of the chapter notice that word daily and they continued daily

with one accord in the temple they continued daily it was not a weekly affair it was not a monthly affair it was a daily affair you know I know of places today in certain countries that the buildings the halls are open for daily activity you don't have only Sunday meeting or Shabbat Saturday meeting or Friday meeting but every day of the week the hall is open for all sort of activities whether it is young people meeting whether it is sisters meeting whether it is brothers meeting whether it is the preaching of the gospel whether it is the Bible study whether it is a teaching for edification not but there is every day and activities of

ministering to the people of God you know if you read the book of Acts you will find out how many times the word daily is mentioned in Acts 2 46 they were daily meeting with each other in act 2 verse 47 there were daily winning souls to the Lord in Acts chapter 6 and verse 1 they daily cared for the needs of the people in Acts chapter 16 and verse 5 they were daily increasing and growing in Acts chapter 17 and verse 11 they searched the scripture daily you know it is amazing what a transformation happened in the lives of these individuals they met daily they cared for each other daily they won souls for

the Lord daily they were increasing daily they were searching the scripture day by day by day how different it is in the life in which we live today it is not accusing anybody I mean we need to look in ourselves and say Lord I don't have that zeal and desire like they must have had as we read it in the scripture it's almost like we should say we should ask Lord develop this in my heart that I will have this hunger and thirst for your word and for the Lord's people and for souls and for increase and growth and for caring Lord work this out in my life each every one of us are to

say and to pray to the Lord and that's what happened there they continued daily with one accord in the temple by the way in the beginning they met in the temple in the city of Jerusalem and the temple was you know at a place of activity but the believers met there and as they were meeting in the temple apparently they needed to learn that it's now not necessary for them to go to the temple to worship the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob they could do it at any place from house to house and that's why it says there in breaking bread this having fellowship with each other from house to house again this breaking

of bread may have been the Lord's supper if some would take it but it had been every day from house to house and they did eat their meal or their meat with gladness and singleness of heart amazing what a condition was here in the first century and finally and I want to conclude with the last verse verse 47 they were praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord listen to that the Lord added to the assembly to the church daily here is that again the word daily such as should be saved see we don't add to the Lord we don't add to the church it is the Lord who add to

the body of Messiah and it is the Lord who brings souls to come to the knowledge of Yeshua we are members of the body but it is the Holy Spirit of God who places somebody in the body of Messiah Messiah first first first first first Corinthians 12 verses 12 and 13 it is the Lord who adds to the assembly and here we have the first time by the way in the book of Acts the word church in verse 47 of Acts chapter 2 and again the word church is ecclesia he's not adding them to the buildings to the cement and to the bricks he's adding to the body of Messiah the assembly the church notice

not those that are even saved but those as should be saved we don't know who is the one that the Lord leading and bringing to the body of Messiah he is the one who is touching the heart moving the souls and bringing people to know the Lord Yeshua as their Lord and as their Savior and so here brothers and sisters act chapter 2 those verses in this chapter are tremendous to show us how it all began where it all began and with whom it all began those were Hebrew Israeli Jewish people who came first to believe that Yeshua was their Lord and their promised Messiah how different it is today today when we talk to

the Jewish people to our own families they most of our people I'm not saying all but most of our people do not want to hear about Yeshua the Messiah and of course there they didn't want either but what I'm saying that in the beginning it started there when I speak to my families about Yeshua they said well that belonged to the Gentiles that belonged to the world that's not for us Jews we are Jewish you know but the truth of the matter that it's not so it began there it came from the nation of Israel the Messiah came he came unto his own he formed the body of Messiah began it in the city of

Jerusalem and from there it went all over to the rest of the nation of the world so we are to be thankful that we also have come to faith in the Lord Jesus today and may the Lord help us and encourage us to continue to follow him to encourage each other so we can be a good testimony here in this world for Yeshua the Messiah can you say amen to that amen