Last Sunday we looked at a “well-ordered life.” Today we will examine a well-ordered church. It has been rightly observed, “As goes the church, so goes the nation.” Certainly all is not well in “Christian America,” which is an indictment of the state of the evangelical Church. Most churches are in a pathetic condition because of their a-pathetic attitude.
We need to re-visit the early church described in the Book of Acts. In the face of intense persecution, without any buildings or political clout, the church in Jerusalem experienced sustained growth both numerically and spiritually. Soul were “added to the church daily.” This was normal New Testament Christianity being lived out.
Let us humbly face our leanness, spiritual bankruptcy, and impotence, and honestly examine what the early church had that we do not.
The early church in Jerusalem was not perfect, but it was a truly great church. They were a joyful, Spirit-filled, loving group of people living holy lives in the fear of God. God responded by pouring out His grace and power upon them. These manifestations of God's Spirit are available for the Church today, because Jesus promised to be with us “even to the end of the age.” It all started with a ten-day prayer meeting with 120 people. Before that, these believers were all a scared, gloomy bunch. Will you join me in “tarrying” until God once again visits His people with the outpouring of His Pentecostal Spirit? Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Holy Spirit just descended on the scene and took over, inaugurating His own agenda and programs?
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Bob Vradenburgh is the senior pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has spent 40 years in full-time Christian service: the first 20 years as a missionary and the past 20 years in the pastorate. Bob’s passion is the expository preaching of God’s Word,...
