The Early Church - Part 3

Main Point:  We need God’s presence in our lives more than ever.  We can learn a lot from the early church and how they thrived regardless of hard persecution.

Series Review:  What can we learn from the early church as we read in the book of Acts?

• Week 1:  The early church was totally dependent on being led by the Holy Spirit
• Week 2:  We learn the following from the early church:  Go, Don’t be Afraid, expect to be criticized, focus on the goodness of God.
• Week 3 (today) – We learn the following from the early church:  Holy Spirit empowerment, they had a desperation that produced prayer, they had faith that produced obedience, they had passion that produced unity, they were concerned for their neighbor and had everything in common.

Acts 19: 1-6.  Paul knew how important it was for Christians to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

What did the early church have?
Acts 2:38-47. Once their hearts were changed to accept Jesus as their Salvation they begin to act differently.  The church began to produce these characteristics.

1.  They had the Holy Spirit that produced power. (power to heal, power to transform lives-In Jesus name)
   • Francis Chan writes, “When I read the book of Acts, I see the church as an unstoppable force. The church was powerful and spreading like wildfire. Not because of clever planning, but by a movement of the Spirit. Riots, torture, poverty, or any other type of persecution couldn’t stop it. Isn’t that the type of church movement we all long to be a part of?”
2. They had a desperation that produced prayer.  Acts 4:31-37
3. They had a faith that produced obedience.   Acts 4:19
4. They had a passion that produced unity.  They knew that united did could stand firm to execute their passion in Christ
5. They had everything in common.   Acts 2:45.  They were passionate about meeting needs of others.