“What God Calls a Great Church” Acts 2:1-47

TRANSCRIPT

Date: November 5, 2023 Author: Wayne J. Edwards

Many years ago, A.W. Tozer said, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” Since Tozer made that statement in the 1950s, what would he say about the church today? This is the theme of the sermon for the celebration of our thirteenth anniversary as a church. Our text will be from Acts 2:1-47, which describes the birthday of the Church.

Many years ago, A.W. Tozer said, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” Since Tozer made that statement in the 1950s, what would he say about the church today?

This is the theme of the sermon for the celebration of our thirteenth anniversary as a church. Our text will be from Acts 2:1-47, which describes the birthday of the Church.

Download the following translated Sermon guides:

Old Testament Reading – Malachi 3:8-12 New Testament Reading – 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

With so many different styles of churches today, one might find it hard to believe, but the most perplexing problem for true believers today is finding a true Church.

In Acts 2:1-47, Luke described the birthday of the Church, and while the term “church” does involve a facility in which the believers gather for worship, the facility itself is not the church; the assembly of believers is the true Church, i.e., the Body of Christ.

Understanding the Law of First Mention:

When the people asked the disciples what this event meant, in the first sermon preached by a layman, the Apostle Peter began in the Old Testament, and he explained the progressive steps in God’s revelation of Himself to man, and His plan for lost man’s redemption.

To “join the Church” is not being baptized and adding our names to the membership of a religious institution or to the rolls of a local church of our choosing.

After Peter finished preaching the first gospel sermon, describing God’s sovereign plan to send His only begotten Son to be our Savior and how even their decision to put Him to death was allowed by the “determined purpose and foreknowledge of God,” the people cried out, “what shall we do?”

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