 With that said, we're going to be looking today in Acts chapter 2. We're going to conclude really what began as a series in the Gospel of Mark. And we're going to conclude with just a few things that I believe that the Gospel of Mark was leading to. And so we're going to look today at Acts chapter 2 verses 42 through 47. And so let me begin reading here at verse 42. Now read to verse 47 and we'll get into our study. Acts chapter 2 beginning at verse 42. Luke writes, They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions. And goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. And so as we recently have seen the early church was born on the day of Pentecost. There were 120 disciples who were awaiting what Jesus referred to as the promise of the Father. On Pentecost they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and that's the day that the church was born. So the result of the baptism was for them to pour out into the streets. Now pilgrims had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost and they were there. Acts chapter 1 verse 5 tells us that they were devout men from every nation under heaven. Now they either heard the sound of the mighty wind or the disciples speaking. And as they did so they gathered together and became confused. They were bewildered. They were amazed. They were filled with wonder and they were saying, well what's happened here? Now the Bible tells us that they took note that the disciples were speaking in their own languages. Now how can this be? Seeing that each one of those who was speaking is a Galilean. Now the Galileans, they're the Jews who lived in the northern portion of the nation of Israel. They weren't necessarily regarded by other Jews. They weren't necessarily known for intellectual depth. Some thought that they were less civilized and many thought that the Galileans were rather ignorant. Well for these Jewish pilgrims it was amazing to hear them speak with their own languages. They said in verse 11 we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So in verse 12 here in chapter 2 they were completely out of their wits. They were thoroughly troubled and they said whatever could this mean? Now as can happen, instead of becoming curious some began to mock. And it was at that point that Peter gave what is called his Pentecost sermon. Now Jesus had said that he would have them as his witnesses and they would be witnesses to the whole world. In Luke 24.47 Jesus said, repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning, he said, at Jerusalem. So this was going to begin first in Jerusalem and that's exactly what happened. You see when Peter was baptized in the Holy Spirit he was completely changed. The one who had denied Jesus, the one who had forsaken him now was preaching boldly. Now starting in Jerusalem repentance and remission of sins was being preached. Now the people had asked whatever could this mean and Peter began to answer them. He explained that what they were seeing was a fulfillment by the prophet Joel. So this spiritual experience needed a scriptural explanation. And because of the baptism of the Holy Spirit he began to boldly present Jesus Christ. He preached a message that was direct. It was uncompromised and it was biblical. Now as you look at it and I'm not going to take you through all the words, but as you look at his message he clearly said that Jesus was crucified and they had a part in it. In verse 23 of chapter 2 he said you took Jesus with lawless hands and you crucified and you put him to death. In verse 32 he said though he died God raised him from the dead and then in verse 36 this Jesus he said whom you crucified is both Lord and Christ. And so as he was preaching he said this and I'm going to develop this for just a moment with you but as he was preaching and sharing with them he closed by telling them be saved from this perverse generation. That's how he closes it in verse 40. It says with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying be saved from this perverse generation. Now Jeremiah in the Old Testament one of the prophets in chapter 51 verse 45 of his book said this come out of her my people save your lives each of you from the fierce anger of the Lord and so Peter was calling to them to come out of this perverse generation. Now obviously his message wasn't brief he spoke with many other words and what he was doing is he was passionately urging them to be delivered from this warped age. The word perverse, the word perverse speaks of that which is corrupt, unfair, crooked and as mentioned warped. So I want to talk about that for just a moment here because as I was preparing this I said was that a warped age only of that day? Is that what he's referring to? And during that time Jesus did make it very clear that the people were warped. He referred to the nation of Israel as an adulterous generation so he didn't mince any words either. So was he only speaking of this warped age 2,000 years ago and fact is no he's not speaking of that at all he's speaking of a system that they need to be delivered from. Now opinion polls today reveal that people are concerned with several things they are concerned with crime without consequences Americans are concerned with drugs they're concerned with illegal immigration with homelessness, with diseases, with government overreach they're concerned with corruption, with inflation, with gas, food, home prices, with taxes they're concerned over sexual identity indoctrination. Peter said save yourself from this perverse age and that's something that can be corrupted in our day because we also live in a corrupt, unfair warped and crooked time. Let me bring this up to our own day. According to the website Statista the six most popular holidays in the U.S. are Thanksgiving Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Christmas Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Easter Sunday all are celebrated on a single day. We also have months that we celebrate month-long celebrations listen to some of the things the United States celebrates for a month many of these things you probably aren't aware of I wasn't until I asked Almighty Google and I got the answer National bird feeding month mustache month national pet month national smile month national ice cream month national zombie month we actually have national zombie month think about that but we also have gay pride month and that's an entire month set apart to celebrate homosexuality now I want to develop something with you there's a myth about homosexuality and transgenderism many believe their numbers are much greater than they are according to the UCLA School of Laws Williams Institute in the United States 3.5% identify as LGBT and 3 tenths of 1% identify as transgender but in spite of such low numbers a month is set apart for celebration for a chosen lifestyle and stores are selling women's bathing suits that are now designed for men I was sharing with the men at the recent men's conference and I shared this with them just to develop this a little bit further I said government officials have legalized drugs miss spent trillions of dollars given special favor to people they agree with passed useless mask mandates to keep people in fear permitted men entrance to women's bathrooms and locker rooms mandated shots for COVID shut down small businesses closed churches closed schools told people not to gather for holidays and even advise people to stop singing worship songs in church the damage they did to children emotionally and educationally as well as people in general has been incredible at the same time bars strip clubs and tattoo parlors were allowed to remain open as ordinary citizens we were told not to go out for dinner well they themselves continued doing so because their rules didn't apply to them look at what has happened to California a once beautiful state we are living in perverse crooked warped times and for some reason we fail to see it even the church fails to see that one of the other things that I think we ought to concern be a bit at least concerned about and I'm going to give you something you might find interesting one thing we should be concerned about is the nation's financial irresponsibility the US national debt at this time listen is over 32 trillion dollars okay that doesn't mean anything does it we don't know what that means that's so large I have no way to conceive of what that means 32 trillion so I try to find a way to figure out how I could apply that so we could say wow that's heavy how much is 32 trillion well if you spent listen carefully if you spent one million dollars an hour one million dollars an hour non-stop 24 hours a day it would take 13,152 years to pay off our national debt think about that when you hear these numbers thrown around oh we only sent this much it's only several billions this is what we're dealing with do you know that the United States has directed more than 196 billion dollars of financial aid to Ukraine and we don't even know where the money has gone because there's no accountability we have no clue well Peter said save yourselves from this perverse generation what is he saying save yourself from the opinions, philosophy, influence and the fate of this age you see they crucified Messiah and for their sins they would be destroyed themselves but many who were listening were more than likely still mocking him but in spite of this the result was powerful about 3,000 people were saved notice verse 31 those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them so they gladly received the message of the gospel they were genuinely saved the message that he gave had brought conviction they realized the things he was saying were true and in obedience to the command Christ that said to go out and baptize they were baptized now the location of their baptism isn't disclosed I thought about that 3,000 people where did they get baptized it's not disclosed but there are various places that could have accommodated baptisms they had the pull of psalom it's recorded in John chapter 9 they also had the pull of Bethesda in John chapter 5 they were nearby and that's probable where they went and so what happened is these people had been truly converted they had gotten saved verse 42 gives us that it speaks of them continuing steadfastly they had truly been converted now at that moment they're strangers people from different regions people with different dialects they've been brought together they've received a message that has changed their lives so what's going to transform this large group of strangers into a community what's going to keep them from remaining a group of religious strangers what is going to transform them what is going to make them into a community of brothers and sisters what's going to identify them as Christians and the question is what is the church to look like the day of Pentecost fully arrived Jesus has said you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you you shall be witnesses to me and Jerusalem Judea, Samaria unto the uttermost parts of the earth they were waiting there 120 the Holy Spirit baptized them on the day of Pentecost they were given the gift of tongues they poured out into the street they preached and thousands were saved but now you've got all these people from different lands and different dialects what's going to make them the church what's going to bring these strangers into unity what's going to have to be done what is the church that Jesus builds what does it look like well these are the things I wanted to share with you in our last installment of our series through Mark and into the concluding a few weeks of the existence of the church and this is what I wanted to share with you what is the church that Jesus builds notice verse 42 they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine the word doctrine means teaching what did they do well one there was an appreciation of the ministry of the leaders the apostles they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine they continued steadfastly well that speaks of personal devotion they didn't leave they didn't forsake they remained now when it speaks concerning the apostles doctrine it's speaking concerning them holding fast to the things that they're being taught by the apostles and their doctrine when it speaks of the apostles doctrine well that's found in the New Testament it's foundational for our faith Ephesians tells us in chapter 2 verse 20 that you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself be in the chief cornerstone and so that's apostolic doctrine that's what you're taught on that's the Bible studies that you have so these new believers were submitted to instruction they were hungry for the word of God they believed the message and they trusted the messengers in 1 Thessalonians 2.13 it says for this reason we also thank God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God which you heard from us you welcomed it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which also effectively works in you who believe so they constantly turned to the apostles for instruction in the gospel and that's because their leaders evidenced that they knew the Lord because their character and their understanding of such nature the people actually trusted them and eventually in the history of the church other leaders were raised up there were pastors, evangelists, elders, deacons, teachers but they all were to communicate the doctrine handed to them by the apostles and they were invested with spiritual authority and the church recognized that the church honored them in 1 Thessalonians 5.12.13 Paul said we urge you brethren to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake be at peace among yourselves in Hebrews 13.17 we read have confidence in your leaders to submit to their authority because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account do this so that their work will be a joy not a burden for that would be of no benefit to you so the formal Bible study occurred at public worship services again in 1 Timothy 4.13 Paul was writing to a young pastor and he said until I get there focus on reading the scriptures to the church encouraging the believers and teaching them so teaching and applying the word was the center of church services when you go to church you're going to church the church facility where the church is the body of Christ you're going there with the expectation to open up the book to open up the Bible and to read it and to be taught what are the implications of that and how do I put that into practice that's what the early church did and so did and so they won they were in the apostles doctrine but they were also steadfast in fellowship so there's an immediate bonding because they believed together in Jesus Christ they became the one body and though they were from various regions various nations because they all had the same faith and the same person they were able to be united in Christ I mentioned to you that Marie and I my wife and I had the opportunity just this last week to go into Mexico and to minister there and though that's a different culture than the United States in a different language than most of the United States when you go there you have the unity of the spirit and so the people would walk up to us and they were hugging us and embracing us and telling us how they loved us and all of that why because that happens with believers Marie and I have had and I've had the opportunity to be in various countries in Japan and Thailand I've been able to go through multiple countries in Europe and in South America in a variety of places throughout the world and you encounter the same thing when you're running to a brother or sister in the Lord there's a unity that you have immediately why because you love the same Jesus and that's what was happening and so they remained steadfast in the apostles' doctrine the teaching because it taught them how to live but they also remained steadfast in the fellowship they were all according to 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14 he said we're all baptized by one spirit into one body whether Jews or Greeks slave or free we were all given the one spirit to drink now the body is not made up of one part but of many they knew they needed each other immediately as you look around this room here it's filled with strangers but that doesn't mean you don't need each other there are a lot of people that go about right now they're busy right now as part of this body doing things that are blessings to others they're children's and ministers there's a worship team that is made up of all volunteers other than Jared Jared is a paid staff member you have ushers you have people in the parking lot these are all people working together to make sure that we all can be here in this room at this time receiving from the Lord that's what the church does the church loves one another and serves one another and you may not know that person you may not know their name you may be seated right now next to a complete stranger and if that person is a believer in Christ that stranger is also your brother or your sister because that's what community is it's a Holy Spirit who brought us into the one body and we are made up of many members but we are the one body and they had shared experiences and those shared experiences in Christ and in service bonded them together so I was looking at how the scriptures will use the terms or the words one another and just collected a few so this is what it means to be part of the body of Christ these people loved one another were devoted to one another they honored one another accepted one another served one another bore with one another forgave one another encourage one another to love in good works were hospitable to one another without grumbling they prayed for one another and they provided for one another it's a one another thing that's why when you leave and you go out those doors off to your side in the center you'll see that we're a Jesus people community why because that's what it means to be a Christian you see fellowship was deep for them they valued their time together they knew they were created for community in Hebrews 10 24 and 25 let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching so it's a one another thing they remain steadfast verse 42 tells us they continued steadfast in the breaking of bread that speaks of celebrating communion communion is a service that reminds us of a variety of things including that we belong together they remembered who they were and they also remember that Jesus was returning in 1 Corinthians 11 26 Paul said whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes Jesus had said do this in remembrance of me every time you take up the communion end this upcoming Wednesday if you haven't been I encourage you to be with us on Wednesday we're going to have our study in the word but we're also celebrating communion taken of the juice taken of the bread symbolizing the one body the body of Christ the body that was first in the picture of Jesus the sacrifice for us and remembering what he did and blessing him for what he's doing and looking forward to what he will do in the future and as they gathered together they were celebrating the reality of who Jesus is he's the bread of life and it emphasized the spiritual quality of their gatherings they weren't just gathering for a meal they were gathering for fellowship around the one who had made them one eventually you read the Bible it speaks concerning these love feasts that they had you see it in the book of Jude in verse 12 as well 2 Peter chapter 2 but those would take place before the communion service and so the celebration of communion emphasized the spiritual quality of the gathering and then in verse 42 again they were devoted to prayer when God moves there's always an evidence of dependence on him and they were given over to prayer they together would seek the Lord continually in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1 Paul said I urge then first of all that requests prayers intercession thanksgiving be made for everyone they were a prayerful group of people seeking the Lord and when we read through the book of Acts Acts reveals that many times that God revealed his power through prayer well what was the result well verse 43 it says fear came upon every soul many wonders and signs were done through the apostles fear came upon every soul somebody said the multitude had derided them but so striking and manifest was the power that it silenced them and produced a general veneration and awe fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles God began to work and performed miracles which created even more awe well the spirit moved in the church and impacted others there was a sense of the presence of God it even caused unbelievers to become uncomfortable there was such a deep sense of awe that rested on this community it was heard that something had happened on Pentecost the disciples had spoken in tongues Peter had preached thousands had responded so it filled the people with a greater awe as the apostles were performing miracles so it was a spirit filled church even as Jesus had said it would be Jesus had made it clear so the church was known for the presence of God and the love of the people and it was known for the ministry of teaching and preaching now every church has a reputation many of you have never heard me say this some of you are new to us and you've never heard me say it this particular thing that I'm about to say just a very basic thing I used to say it quite often I don't say it any longer but on occasion as on this occasion I will remind some every church in every neighborhood every community, every city here in the United States every church has a reputation every church does every church does what is that church known for what are they known for what does the community know them for every church has a reputation when you read your Bible you'll see that's true the church of Rome the church of Thessalonica their reputation their reputation is evangelism their faith had been heard but when you look at the Corinthian church they also had a reputation the church at Corinth had the reputation for carnality and a variety of other sins when you read 1 Corinthians for example you'll read the first eight verses in chapter one and in the first eight verses or so he gives a lot of commendations he shares concerning several things related to them when he picks up around verse nine he starts bringing conviction for the rest of the book because there are a lot of things going on in the church of Corinth that he needed to correct so every church has a reputation and so I used to say to our fellowship and I'll say it now I want us to have a reputation of what's start well I would like us to be known as a Bible teaching church I would like that for people to say Calvary Chapel of Chino Valley yeah they have a Bible teaching church now I have to tell you there are people who say how boring that is I've had people say that I don't want to go there because it's too boring and you know I say okay mom you don't have to go here it's boring but that's because people no longer will endure sound doctrine they heap unto the south teachers having 18 years they want to hear what the people are saying the things that equip them for works of service I get it not everybody does but I get it some people want entertainment but I have to tell you the truth what is the church known for I want our church to be known for the word of God I also want our church to be known by the love of the people because when you come to this fellowship and I'll just be personal with you for just a moment I want people to walk into those doors and know be on a shadow of a doubt I love you guys that you're welcome here your sin is never welcome here but you are you can leave the sin in the lap of Jesus and grow here through the word of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit that's what we do so we don't cater to sin we recognize it but we want you to be healed and that's through the teaching of the word of God that's so you can hear what God has to say about you those who were in Christ Jesus who walked not according to the flesh but by the Spirit so we want you to know there is no condemnation if you're saved Jesus Christ has said to you a party is going to use you but the sin is something that keeps you from him that has to go and that has to be given to him so we want this church to love the word we want this church to love one another we want God's Holy Spirit to work in our lives in a free way that was the early church now it was known for the ministry of teaching and preaching it was known through the movement of the Spirit Mark 16 verse 20 says that the disciples went out preached everywhere the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it and then in verse 44 and 45 all who believed were together had all things in common sold their possessions and goods divided them among all as anyone had need they had become an ideal society they were caring for fellow believers who had need they were centered on the needs of others and they cared for them interestingly this is the first time that Luke refers to members of the church's believers the point he's making is the church is made up of those who believe in Christ you see within the group within any group that gathers in a church service there will be what you call the sheep there will be the goats there will be people who are genuine believers and there will be others who aren't and what happened is many of these new believers had come from other parts of the world as I mentioned there were around 16 regions and countries mentioned in Acts 2 verses 9 through 11 some had remained in Jerusalem and that necessitated a place for them to live and for food to eat so they saw these believers in need and they did what they could to meet the need and meet their goods and all at the disposal of others who were in need and the money collected was put into what would be called today a general fund you see that in chapter 6 of the book of Acts now some have said well this was a form of communism no this was done on a voluntary basis out of concern for those who had need there was no rule and there was no compulsion that forced them to give they're giving to care for the poor it was something they knew was important it was done with love for Jesus Christ and as an expression of their faith like it says in Proverbs 19 verse 17 he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay what he's given so they brought this money and they gave it to the apostles and they distributed it now in verse 46 continuing daily with one accord in the temple breaking and breaking bread from house to house they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved and so they were saved they were blessed to be with others and they were blessed to be with those who had been saved and they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart verse 46 says simplicity speaks of lives that are undisturbed and uncluttered and the simplicity made it possible for them to continuously praise the Lord their unity in Jesus produced lives that were at peace with one another and they had unity because their eyes were firmly planted on Christ it was a great group of people they enjoyed the presence of the Lord the result of the teaching of the word and fellowship was joy like it says in Psalm 122 verse 1 I was glad when they said to me let us go into the house of the Lord you see in verse 47 praising God is the natural expression for what they had found in Jesus praising speaks of lifting up or glorifying it speaks of honoring they were so blessed to be saved that they continually praised the Lord like it says in Psalm 341 I will and that's a choice I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth so their joy, their unity, their praise is extremely attractive to people the watching world notice that these are people and I'll say this briefly these were people who didn't leave church angry angry at the world sometimes you can go to church and you hear so many things that are negative you walk out hating everybody and everything you can do that it's easy if you're fed anger you're gonna live in it you know I gave you a list of things that we should be aware of but I certainly don't want to encourage you to be angry at your neighbor I don't want you to be going home yelling at cars next to you because they cut you off I want you to see them as people who are lost in need of love in need of the Lord Jesus Christ that's what they need and that's what the church needs to remember listen if you leave this church angry I'm not doing the job right I want you to walk out this church with this body this building I want you to walk out with hope with faith with joy with an awareness that God is in control that God is with you he doesn't leave you he's not gonna forsake you he's gonna work with you he's gonna bring you to that end that you desire in him he's gonna do that and there's gonna be tough times there's no doubt about it and you're gonna have tough people that you have to deal with because that's just life isn't it there's a lot of people out there it's difficult to be with there's a lot of people sometimes you raise them sometimes you're married to them but it's true right? how are you gonna overcome? because if you have this idea that everything's gonna be just great well that's not true either so I as a pastor I want to give you the whole council of God so you can know that though it is rough sometimes and all who shall live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution the bottom line is we are overcomers in him and whatever I have gone through I was just sharing this with someone just recently whatever you go through is only purging you to make you the man that you want to be the person you want to be and you've been saying God make me into your image God help me to be like Jesus and we need to remember Jesus was a wounded healer he went through quite a number of things what makes me think I won't it's been granted unto me not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his name's sake Paul said and it's true but I know what happens why I read the last chapter and the last lines of this book and in Christ we do have victory in Christ we are the overcomers in Christ we not only survive but we have victory and so that's something we need to understand and so I don't ever want to be that pastor I'll let you so mad at the world you're living in that you don't know how to witness to them and love them you see what happened is that it resulted in their having favor with all the people the people respected and commended them for their loving and simple lives they had unity they were filled with praise they were attractive to the unsaved the result the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved there was a joyful attitude it was infectious new believers were added to the church they were blessed and the growth didn't come through diluting the message the Lord added to the church to the gospel you see you don't try and build the church in your own effort because anything a man can build another man can destroy Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church and unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain who build it Jesus was building his church and the church welcomed the people it wasn't the result of special speakers or entertainment it was built on the word of God the presence of God and the love of the people of God it was through the simple life of the church that people saw and God saved and as they were equipped they went out and they did the work of evangelism the church services were times of instruction equipping the saints for works of ministry and as they learned they went out they shared they lived and people got saved healthy sheep beget sheep my own pastor Chuck Smith taught us that a long time ago healthy sheep beget sheep how do sheep us how do we become healthy by the word of God through prayer through fellowship through the breaking of bread and that expresses itself by the power of the spirit the love for others and winning the lost to Jesus Christ that is the church that Jesus builds and that's the church that I want to pastor that's a person I want to be but that's the church I want to pastor the church that loves Christ his word and cares about others and has a power of his Holy Spirit that's what we should be that's what he intends for us to be anything less is not satisfactory