The Book of Acts and the Work of the Church

There's a great master plan being worked out here on this planet. And this master plan is pictured by the seven annual holiday festivals. As tomorrow's Feast of Pentecost pictures, we are now living in the age of the church. God is not working through isolated prophets or ancient kings. We're not in the period of the patriarchs or the judges. We are in the age of the church. God is working through a small group of spirit-begotten humans, organized and unified by His Spirit into His church. It's through us that He's preparing your future leaders and teachers of His Kingdom. Like I said a little bit ago, He's building a world for tomorrow through us today. Those now called into the church are spiritual firstfruits, the first group to be offered salvation, but not the last, as we know from the remaining holidays in God's plan of salvation. But we've been called first for a special purpose. We've been called for the special service of eventually helping to bring the knowledge of salvation to all the world.

But how did this church begin? What traits and characteristics did we see in the early New Testament church? What can we learn from the early congregations and the first church members? What was important to them? And therefore, what should be important to us when we study their lives? So in the sermon today, let's take a closer look at the early New Testament Christianity, really, and come to understand a little better what motivated the early church members. Let's see what led our brothers and sisters in the faith to fulfill the work of God from the very beginning of the church. And I've titled this sermon, The Book of Acts and the Work of the Church. The Book of Acts and the Work of the Church. For us now, it's imperative that we understand that we've been called for more than just our own salvation.

We're called for a part, a big part, in preparing for the Kingdom of God. The church has a job to do.

So what I want us to do is to take notice of how the early church tackled this work.

And throughout the sermon, we're going to use scriptures exclusively from the Book of Acts. We're not going to turn to any other books during this particular message. And I have four sections for us to focus on today, starting right from Acts 1. Because as Christians, we sometimes forget that a great miracle has taken place in all our lives. We just heard of the encouraging baptism announcement a moment ago. A miracle has occurred in our minds. It's one of the greatest miracles of all time, and that is the giving of God's Holy Spirit, where God's Spirit interacts with our human spirit. It helps us interact and have a relationship on a spiritual plane with God.

The first point here of the four I've called simply the work of the church started on the day of Pentecost. The work of the church started on the day of Pentecost. When we study the day of Pentecost in the Bible, we find the beginnings of this great miracle. And in Acts 1.8, we read Christ's instructions to His disciples. He says, So there's that big commission again, right? Going to all of creation to the end of the earth. And the Greek word for power here, you receive power when the Holy Spirit has come, is dunamis, from which we get the English word dynamite. It's powerful stuff, this Holy Spirit. This promise from Christ was then dramatically fulfilled within a few days of His statement that we read there in verse 8. And it occurred on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. And after seeing the physical manifestation described in the first verses of Acts 2, where we see the Holy Spirit descending on a large group of people. And their lives were then changed dramatically. And that'll be covered more tomorrow, of course, than today of Pentecost. I'm not going to go through Acts 2 right now. We'll save that for tomorrow. But, Acts 1.8 was fulfilled very dramatically just a few days later after He made that statement. And then, the book of Acts is filled, from this point forward, with the stories of these people's lives and the impact they had on the society of the day. The change was so evident that they were accused of having turned the world upside down. Of course, we know they're actually trying to turn it right-side up.

After the Holy Spirit was given to God's people, the work truly got underway. And we see church members being witnesses of Jesus Christ right there in Jerusalem as promised. A lame man was then dramatically healed in Acts 3. And later, the apostle Peter preached a powerful sermon from the location at the temple named Solomon's porch. And then, as we get into Acts 4, we see that the early church got into big trouble with the authorities. Let's look at Acts 4.1. Acts 4.1. Now, as they spoke to the people, this is Peter and John speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them. So the church was preaching the gospel message. And verse 2 being greatly disturbed, so these Sadducees were greatly disturbed, that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

The Sadducees helped keep law and order for the Romans in the temple area. They were authorized by the Romans to kind of keep law and order at the temple mount. So the Sadducees stopped riots, they stopped upsets, they stopped protests, and in this case, they stopped preaching about the resurrection because it caused such a stir. So they laid hands on Peter and John and threw them into prison for the night. Verse 3, they laid hands on them, they put them in custody until the next day for his already evening.

However, many of those who heard the word believed. So the gospel message was starting to have an impact. And the number of the men came to be about 5,000. And it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the High Priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priests, were gathered together at Jerusalem. So there in verse 6, this is the same council, this is the same group, that brought Jesus Christ forward to his crucifixion and death. So this is who the church and Peter and John were now dealing with, was the same group of Jewish leaders that killed Christ.

Verse 7, when they had set them in their midst, when the Jewish authorities had set Peter and John and others in their midst, they asked, By what power or by what name have you done this? Verse 8, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit now, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, so that was the lame man that was healed, Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him, this man stands here before you whole.

It was by the power of Jesus Christ, the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, that this healing took place. And then Peter says, this is the, quote, stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Christ became the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is neither name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. So Peter boldly preached here what the church believed. Verse 13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled, and they realized that they'd been with Jesus.

You see, once Peter and John were given the power of the Holy Spirit, they preached in a very powerful way that was uncommon for them. They weren't educated in all this biblical stuff, you know. And verse 14, seeing the healed man who'd been healed, standing with them, they could say nothing against it. So here was the guy standing right here. Be careful what you say now. The man had been lame since birth.

Verse 15, but when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves. The Jewish leader said, and now what are we going to do? Look at verse 18. Here's what they were going to do. They called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Which is what they told them the first time. Verse 19, but Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Verse 21, so when Peter and John had been further threatened, the Jewish leaders let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.

So Peter and John were getting pretty popular with the local citizens, but the Jewish leaders saw it as a threat. And now we see a famous powerful congregational prayer. You know, we had one here a moment ago. But a powerful congregational prayer asking God for Peter and John to be able to preach boldly the Word of God. And the prayer concludes in verse 29 with this. Here in Acts, I guess, 4.29. Now, Lord, look on their threats, is the prayer, and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word, that they may preach the gospel by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus.

And when they prayed, verse 31, the place where they were assembled together actually shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

And so you see the influence and power the church had now that it had received the Holy Spirit. And so the church was certainly starting a work here in these first few chapters of the book of Acts. These were certainly dramatic times. And in chapter 5, Peter and the other apostles did not give up. They continued on.

The world does need to know that there is an alternative to what exists today. To the crime, the war, the poverty, the starvation, the...

I can't believe I say this, but the satanic religions of this world that mask the truth. And now we move on to Acts chapter 5. And we see the apostles getting into trouble with authorities once again. Because the apostles knew that there was such a thing coming as a kingdom of God to this earth, and Jesus Christ was going to return. And so they preached this. Acts 5 verse 17. It was Acts 5 verse 17. Acts 5 verse 17.

So they get in trouble again. The high priest rose up, and all of those who were with him, which was the sect of the Sadducees again, were all filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.

So they got locked up this time. But at night, verse 19, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, here's what the angel said to them, Go stand in the temple and speak again. And the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out. And, sorry, verse 20, go stand in the temple and speak to other people all the words of this life. And verse 21, when the apostles heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and started teaching. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. And as you know, verse 22, when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, saying, Indeed, we found the prison door shut securely. The guards standing outside the doors, the doors were locked, and when we opened them, we found no one inside.

Verse 25, so one came and told them, the leaders, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple again, teaching the people. And so, verse 26, the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence. Very carefully, let's not get the crowd upset here. For they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. Worry about the crowd throwing rocks on the Jewish leaders. Verse 27, when they brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest and asked them, saying, Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name, the name of Jesus? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us. Of course, that's a capital M there, bringing Jesus' blood on us. Doesn't it make you wonder what you would do, what we would do, what I would do, if the civil authorities here in this local town told us not to teach in Jesus' name? Said, You can't come back here next Sabbath. It's now illegal.

Would David Holiday continue to preach the gospel of the kingdom every week? Even if it was illegal to do so? Would he go to prison for it?

Would C.J. Williams suffer persecution? What about John Petrusor, elders amongst us?

Look at verse 29. Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than you guys.

Peter said, The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you murdered, by hanging him on a tree, on a stake.

Him, God has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses to these things. Remember Acts 1, verse 8? Christ said, You're going to be my witnesses? Peter said, We are witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. And so this is the kind of language that got Christ crucified. It was blasphemous to the Jewish leaders. So verse 33, when the Jewish leaders heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them too.

Verse 40, And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So what did Peter and John and the others do? Verse 41, So they departed from the presence of the council and said, Yahoo! Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Jesus' name. And daily in the temple and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. They weren't about to give up, were they? And so the work of the Church of God started in a big way after that first day of Pentecost. The early congregations were fired up with zeal for the truth of the kingdom. They weren't about to stop now. And we are the descendants of those early church members. The Church of God continues down to this day and the gates of the grave cannot prevail against it.

The second part of the title, The Role of the First Fruits Must Be Taken Seriously. The role of the first fruits, as pictured by the holiday tomorrow, must be taken seriously. Our job is to let the world, to let all nations know of the possibility of the kingdom of God coming. Like I said, not exactly when it's coming. That's not our job, to say exactly what date or when. But that it will come and to instruct people, to educate people and to give people some hope of the future. We must not back away from the urgency and the drive to do the work of God. That's why we're part of the first fruits now. We've been given a job to do. And it must be taken very seriously. Acts 6 and 7 will flip over those. But they cover a powerful sermon given by a newly ordained deacon named Stephen. And then, of course, he's subsequent stoning. It's an incredible story of faith by Stephen and fortitude. It was a stirring sermon he gave there in Acts 6 and 7, where he laid out the whole history of the plan of God before the whole Jewish council, before the whole family of the high priest. So now let's go to Acts 8. And notice verses 1-6. Acts 8, verses 1-6. Because right there at the end of chapter 7, verse 60, is when Stephen died and was stoned to death. Acts 8, verse 1. Now Saul, who of course later became known as Paul, Saul was consenting to Stephen's death. At that time, verse 1, a great persecution arose against the church was at Jerusalem. And they're all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. They're all scattered around except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. A very, very sad occasion. Some translations say that Saul was not consenting, but was having pleasure in the death of Stephen.

Can you imagine what it would be like for us here today if one of our deacons had just given a sermon here in this building and then was dragged outside and stoned? Like Rod Hall or Doug Howe, or, you know, murdered for preaching about the kingdom? Or maybe even a deaconess? You know, Betty. You just imagine what it would be like for the church there at that time. So it says that they made great lamentation over him. It was a very, very sad occasion. Verse 3, as for Saul, he made havoc, or some translations say, he ravished the church, entering every house, dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. So it wasn't just the church leaders now, it's women being put in prison. But, verse 4, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. So they still took this job very seriously, even though they were under great persecution. You notice that even under extreme pressure, when even deacons were murdered, women were being put in prison, and the congregation was being scattered by the authorities, the preaching goes on. Verse 5, and Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. Then down to verse 25, Acts 8 verse 25, so when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem preaching the Gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. So now they were taking the Gospel message to the Samaritans. The Samaritans were an interesting group of people you can read about if you want in 2 Kings 17 sometime. The Samaritans talked about it in 2 Kings 17, but they had a kind of a mix of a Babylonian, Assyrian, Christian religious philosophy. Long before...sorry, Babylonian, Assyrian, Jewish philosophy, long before the appearance of Christianity. And now they were adding Christianity to their beliefs. But some of their beliefs of the Samaritans were patterned after some Old Testament teachings. They mixed it with a lot of Assyrian stuff as well. Anyway, skipping forward a couple of chapters, we see the recording of Peter's vision in chapter 10, of the food he thought he was commanded to eat, much of it unclean for human consumption. But then he realised this was not a commandment to eat unclean food, but a vision that showed Peter that God was now calling Gentiles to the faith. God showed Peter that no man should be considered common or unclean. That's in Acts 10, verse 28. And then look at verse 34, Acts 10, verse 34. Here we see the very first sermon preached to Cornelius and to a Gentile group by the Apostle Peter. Acts 10, verse 34. That Peter opened his mouth and said, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. So here he's learned the lesson of that dream now. But in every nation whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him. Capital H, once again accepted by God. Verse 39, chapter 10.

Here's that word witnesses again.

See that in verse 42? See that in verse 42?

And so Peter was preaching about Jesus Christ and about Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and then being that who had been prophesied by the early prophets, to be the judge of all. Verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed, the Jews who believed, were astonished. As many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. So we see the Gospel going to the world now, not just to the Jewish community, but being spread past Cornelius and on throughout the Gentile community as well. And we can see then that the early church took its responsibility as being the firstfruits very seriously. The ministry and the brethren proclaimed the Gospel with strength and vigor, even while under continuing duress. And each of us now here today, too, have our own part to play in that mission. We have to prepare the people of God and preach the Gospel message, just like our church motto says. And so we ask ourselves, how seriously do we take this job? What quality of a church are we building? Because the Church of God is the Temple of God. We are a part of it. And we are following the lead of God's Holy Spirit to be a part of a residence that has a foundation built upon Jesus Christ. And the early church, as you can see, took this responsibility very seriously. So we saw in Acts 10 that the Gentiles were also being added to the church. It's not just a Jewish church. It's for all of mankind, all of humanity, eventually. And that takes us over now to Acts 13. Let's just read Acts 13, verses 47 and 48. Acts 13, verses 47 and 48.

For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, a light to the Gentiles, and you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. The Gospel message is meant to be preached to everyone. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord, and as many as have been appointed to eternal life, believed. So as I've said before, we have a worldwide work to do to all nations as we're able, to the ends of the earth, as it says here in verse 47.

We need people from around the world to participate in this process, so that we mold and shape a message that people can relate to in whichever country the Gospel is preached. The world is so diverse today. As we said, the communication systems are available that are absolutely incredible.

One person on the other side of the globe can feel like his or her thoughts are worth listening to, so he pumps it in onto the Internet, and we sit on the other side of the world here, and answer it in our personal correspondence department, almost instantly.

Let's turn to Acts 14. Notice verse 1. Acts 14 verse 1. Now, it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews. So here they are preaching in the synagogue. And quite honestly, those were the churches, shall we say, of the day, with the synagogues. That's where you went to preach and give a lesson at the synagogue. And so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. Verse 3 of Acts 14. Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. An interesting side note here is that there are now 16 or 17 apostles. There was the original 11, right? Now we've also got Matthias, James, Jude, Paul, and Barnabas at this point. So now there are 16 or 17 apostles at this stage in the story. Verse 5. And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled. So they got out of town this time. They fled to Lystra and Derby, cities of Laconia and to the surrounding region. And then they preached the Gospel there, says in verse 7. So they got out of town and preached somewhere else. So the job of the first-roots must be taken seriously. By us today, just as it was by our early church members, early church ministry and congregations.

Point 3. It is faith that carries this work forward. It is faith that carries this work forward. It's not something we do under our own steam. It's something that's done through the power of the Holy Spirit and through faith in Jesus Christ. We'll pass over the Ministerial Conference of Acts 15. Go to chapter 16 and the region of Galatia.

We then see what is basically a trip to Europe now. We've gotten out of the Middle East and now headed up into Europe. With Christ directing His church through the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is the beginning of Paul's second journey. If you're trying to keep track or have it in the back of your Bible. Acts 15 verse 36 says, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we've preached the word of the Lord before and see how they're doing. So Paul's now going out to see how these other cities are doing since his last visit.

In Acts 16 verse 5, So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. They were strengthened in the faith. It is faith that carries the work forward. Verse 9, Acts 16 verse 9, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. So now after he'd seen the vision, immediately says, We, which is Luke and Paul. Luke was the author, of course, of Acts. We and Paul together at this time sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Even once in a while, even here in United, we get pleased from various areas like this. One example of this would be the church in Angola or parts of Brazil. We periodically get calls from other areas too, like in the Philippines, asking us to come over and help them in a particular area. And we try to do whatever we can with the resources available to us. And then verse 13, Acts 16 verse 13, On the Sabbath day, and what's interesting here is the Greek word here is actually the day of Sabbaths.

It's a Greek word often associated with the day of Pentecost. It's not the normal Greek word used for the weekly Sabbath. So on the Sabbath day, or this day of Sabbaths, or someone would say on this Pentecost day, we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there, and a certain woman named Lydia heard us.

She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged her, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay, so she persuaded us. But once again, faithfulness is involved. So with the baptism of Lydia, we see the beginning of the church at Thyatira. You see how throughout the Book of Acts we're just seeing this whole message spreading throughout the region.

We'll skip over Paul preaching in Athens and Corinth, and move to his message given at Ephesus. He stayed in Ephesus for two whole years. It wasn't a quick visit like some of these other towns. He stayed in Ephesus for two years. Paul ended his second journey in Acts 1822, and the account of his third journey begins in Acts 1823. And as in any city, there were various strange and pagan beliefs. Including black magic. And some people were possessed of demons in Ephesus. Acts 19 verse 18. Acts 19 verse 18.

Many who believed came confessing and telling their deeds, and many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. So the Word of the Lord grew mightily there and prevailed.

So people were disposing of their pagan beliefs and turning to the truth. How much is our faith driving the work of the church forward? How much are our prayers carrying the work of the church forward? Is the Word of the Lord growing mightily in our lives? Like we see there in verse 20 of Acts 19, where the Word of the Lord grew mightily in their lives. There's a trend in human nature to become faithful to turn to God in earnest when things are not going so well.

But when our lives are running smoothly, it's a little easier to forget God. But when we need something, then we turn to Him. Don't we? There was a book and also a movie that came out many years ago titled The Bridge Over the River Kwai.

And you're familiar with it. The story of a lieutenant is in the book who was captured by the Japanese and put into a POW camp. There's an interesting section of the book that speaks to this idea of faith and turning to God. So the lieutenant contracted a number of diseases, and he was so near death that they put him in the morgue with all the dead bodies in the prison camp. Japanese POW camp. Because they knew he was going to die anyway. And while he was lying in the morgue, he wrote down these words, and they became part of the book later on, The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Here's what he wrote that ended up in the book. The atmosphere of the death house was anti-life. The atmosphere of decay, of the potential to be ebbing away. You're part of this death, said Reason. There is no escape. The battle between life and death goes on all the time. So I said to myself, life has to be cherished, not let go. I have made up my mind. I am not going to surrender. Then I asked myself, well, what do I do about it? And as a last resort, I turned to God. You hear there's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole, right? So he was near death in the morgue, and as a last resort, he said, I turned to God. And sometimes we would have to admit that there have been times when we did turn to God kind of as a last resort.

It has to be a daily relationship.

But sometimes there's a problem. There's a difficulty, an illness, a tragedy, a trauma, whatever it was that happened to us, too. And we turned to God as a last resort. Now, God was a Christian, is to develop a relationship with God so that we are dependent on Him every day for everything, not just as a last resort.

If we are to succeed collectively as a church, in the broader sense of taking the Gospel to the world, we must be succeeding individually, and developing a faithful relationship with God one-on-one as well. So we ask, how much is our faith driving the work forward? Are our prayers carrying the work forward? Is the Word of the Lord growing mightily?

Because it is the faith of Jesus Christ in us that carries the work of the church forward. And then finally, the church was willing to give all for Jesus Christ. The fourth point, the church was willing to give all. People need to know the reality of the Kingdom of God being established on this earth.

But do we in the church appreciate this understanding that we have? How awesome that is? We're so familiar with the term Kingdom of God. We're so familiar with the understanding of the millennium of the thousand years. Sometimes it becomes passe. But billions of people on this earth have no real concept of this, of the Kingdom of God being brought here to this earth. Do we appreciate the mystery that's been revealed to us as the firstfruits? Look at Acts 20 to conclude here, verse 18. Look at the perseverance demonstrated by the early church as they gave all for the task at hand.

The church was willing to give everything for Jesus Christ to make sure the Gospel message of the Kingdom was being preached. Acts 20, verse 18. And when they had come to Him, He said to them, this is to Paul, when they came to Paul, He said to them, You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, you know what manna, I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, but with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews.

Paul says this wasn't easy. Verse 20, how I kept back nothing that was helpful but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house. So he was teaching in various church members' homes along the way. 21, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 22, and see now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.

You know, for all of Paul's persecuting of the church when he was known as Saul, it kind of came back to him, didn't it, eventually? And he lived a tough life, then, in preaching the Gospel and standing by the truth and becoming a Christian. Verse 24, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, saying, but it was all worth it, even if I die, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. You know, you couldn't stop him now.

Verse 25, and indeed now I know that you all, among whom I have gone, preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more. Therefore, verse 28, take heed to yourselves. And actually, he's talking to the elders here. Verse 17, he says he's talking to the elders at this point. Take heed to yourselves, you elders, and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. The church of God who has begun with Christ's own blood. Verse 37, they all wept. They all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing, most of all, for the words which he spoke that they would see his face no more.

And they accompanied him to the ship. Verse 20, this is basically the end now of Paul's third journey. But how much would you and I be willing to give for the church of God to see the truth of his kingdom preached?

Paul said he didn't count his life dear any longer, but would rather preach and testify of the gospel of the grace of God.

Prison? Do we have that kind of zeal? You know, it's a big question for us, and we know that one day that there will be tribulation upon the church, and it makes me wonder how I'll hold up. You know? It takes a lot of faith and perseverance. The church was willing to give its all for Jesus Christ, as we read in the account in the book of Acts. Paul lived each day with the protection of the flock of God in mind.

Are we demonstrating the faith of Jesus Christ in giving our all to ensure that this is a place to call home for members of God's family, both for today and for tomorrow? We have been given a job to do. It's more than just web pages and TV programs and magazines. Each of us individually have a part to play in the plan of God. We have been called to understand God's truth now as first fruits in his plan of salvation for a reason, just like the early New Testament church was.

God has some business that he wants us to take care of before Christ's return and our own resurrection to immortal life. We have been instructed to go there and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, teaching them to preserve all things that I have commanded you. We have been given a job to do. Let me read a letter that is rather revealing about the work of the church in our age.

This is a letter to the membership that was written in 1944, about 70 years ago or more. It was a member letter from 1944, stated March 20, 1944. It was a general member letter that was sent out to the Church of God at that time in 1944.

Here's what it says. Now we come to the real question. Why should you brethren assemble together every Sabbath as a local church? What is our divine purpose and mission? Do we have one? Yes, we do. The individual is called to a calling. He is to become in the kingdom of God a king or a priest. There is a dual purpose in the Christian life. One is to prepare and train to assume the responsibilities to be given him then.

But also he is to have part in present evangelism before the end of this age. You know who wrote this, by the way, don't you? Herbert Armstrong. The first duty, function, purpose and commission of the church is to proclaim the message. Each of you brethren has put his hand to the plow. You have your part in it. Let us not turn back. How thankful we are that we have this light that God has revealed to us, his divine purpose, that our churches are not just social clubs.

Our purpose is not to get, but to give. We did not have churches just to enjoy ourselves and be ministered to. The ministry cannot carry the evangelism load alone. All our hands are to the plow. So it was a member letter back in 1944. God's church is the means by which he is preparing this world for Christ's return. As I said, he is now building a world for tomorrow through his church today. We will be the future leaders and teachers, called kings and priests, that will help bring God's truth to all of humanity when Christ returns.

But we will do it as spirit beings. We have seen the zeal of the early church members in the ministry, as we have looked at just a few of the passages in the book of Acts. We have to ask, do we have the same zeal today? God's first fruits have been called for the special service of eventually helping to bring the knowledge of salvation to all the world. All the while being led by the gift of his Holy Spirit, which was given to the church when the church began on that very first day of Pentecost. So I really look forward to services tomorrow and all the lessons we'll be learning about the day of Pentecost itself and on this fantastic double Sabbath weekend.

And Terri and I look forward to chatting with you after services today. So have a wonderful rest of the Sabbath.