"...and All Is Well!"
Acts 9:31-43
A building belonging to the church can be destroyed - but the Church cannot be destroyed! It is God's own possession. Local gatherings of believers are expressions of the Church. Geographical and ecclesiastical designations simply identify various parts of the Body of Christ. If there is but one God, one Christ, one Cross, one Holy Spirit, there is but one Church!
I. The Church Is to Be Constructed on Firm Foundations: "It was strengthened" (v. 31).
A. The Bible portrays the Church as "God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Eph. 2:10-22).
1. The foundation of God the Father, Creator.
2. The foundation of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
3. The foundation of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
B. The Church must remain dogmatic about its foundations because "when the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do" (Ps. 11:3)
C. The Church is not a completed project; it is still being built. The Church is really a workshop where Christian character is being produced.
II. The Church Needs the Encouragement of the Holy Spirit to do God's Work.
A. The word used here of the Holy Spirit is paraclesis meaning "one who consoles, one offering encouragement, one called to our side, one giving enthusiastic help.
III. A Church Founded upon the Word and Filled with the Holy Spirit Will Be as Contagious as an Epidemic: the church "grew in numbers."
A. The Early Church was a missionary movement.
B. Multiplication starts slower than addition, but it soon outdistances adding.
1. Too often the Church has settled to add occasional converts rather than God's multiplication.
2. Illustration:
1. .01
2. .02 + .01 = .03
3. .06 + .01 = .07
4. .14 + .01 = .15
5. .30 + .01 = .31
6. .62 + .01 = .63
7. 1.26 + .01 = 1.27
8. 2.54 + .01 = 2.55
9. 5.10 + .01 = 5.11
10. 10.22 + .01 = 10.23
11. 20.45 + .01 = 20.46
12. 40.92 + .01 = 40.93
13. 81.86 + .01 = 81.87
14. 163.74 + .01 = 163.75
15. 375.50 + .01 = 375.51
16. 655.02 + .01 = 655.03
17. 1,310.06 + .01 = 1,310.07
18. 2,620.14 + .01 = 2620.15
19. 5,240.30 + .01 = 5,240.31
20. 10,480.62 + .01 = 10,480.63
21. 20,961.26 + .01 = 20,961.27
22. 41,922.54 + .01 = 41,922.55
23. 83,845.10 + .01 = 83,845.11
24 167,690.22 + .01 = 167,690.23
25. 335,380.46 +.01 = 335,380.47
26. 670,760.94 + .01 = 670,760.95
27. 1,341,521.90 + .01 = 1,341,521.91
28. 2,683,043.82 + .01 = 2,683,043.83
29. 5,366,087.66 + .01 = 5,366,087.67
30. 10,732,175.34 + .01 = 10,732,175.35C. Some argue that we shouldn't be concerned with numbers, but in the church, each number is a person. If the church is to be missionary it must be spiritual. If the church is to be spiritual it must be missionary.
IV. The Church must Be Committed to Radical Obedience to God: "living in the fear of the Lord."
A. God is the all-powerful, holy God, a God of justice deeply displeased with our intentional disobedience. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge," (Prov. 1:7).
B. The Church dreaded to do anything that might displease the Lord.
C. "Living in the fear of the Lord" suggests a sense of progressive direction: walking in the fear of the Lord.
V. This Kind of Church Will Be Crowned with Evidences of God's Power (vv. 32-35).
A. People are attracted to the Church because of its healing ministry.
B. God still transforms the lives of people in the climate of a healthy, Spirit-filled Church.
The Church must continue serving and teaching in the name of the Lord Jesus. The main business of the Church is to make Christ real to every generation.