Photo by Erika Giraud on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42
When we are new to something, one of the most important things we do is learn all we can about it. When we fall in love with someone, we also want to spend time with them, learn more about them, and just be close to them.
Peter has just preached his first street sermon in Jerusalem. About three thousand people accepted Jesus as their Savior. Their next steps are recorded in our verse today.
They were so overjoyed by their salvation from sin and death that they wanted to know more about this newfound faith. So, they stayed near the Apostles to learn more about Jesus. They fellowshipped with them, ate meals together and prayed together. They wanted to grow in Christlikeness and holiness.
Now we have the Apostles doctrines, their teaching, in the New Testament. They wrote down what it means to be a Christian and how to become mature in Christ. They left prayers in some of the letters so we can still pray along with them and add our own prayer to theirs.
Pastors and teachers are now in place of the Apostles when it comes to teaching, fellowship and sharing a meal. Their next steps are our next steps. We read the Bible to know how to live as a Christian, how to understand what we are taught. We fellowship with other believers, hopefully some that are more mature in their faith so we can glean from them. We pray together and carry one another’s burdens in support, and to God. It’s called the church and every Christian is a part of it.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to be faithful to study your Word, share with others and pray with others. Help me be a beneficial member of the Church. In Jesus’ name, amen.
* There is a website that conducted a search for Bible verses. They compiled a list of the verses in order of the magnitude of hits they got in their search. Some of these verses probably qualify as ‘people’s favorites’, while others might be on the list because they are some of the most important and most teachable words of God.
