Preparing the Soil (Introduction): When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)
Our ways are not God’s ways. In fact, most of the time God’s ways are a mystery to us. But somehow His ways seem easier to understand when we look back at past events rather than when He is currently working our lives.
Sometimes, we can understand why He works in others’ lives better than how He works in our own. Jesus’ original disciples knew of the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). They knew that Jesus would have to leave before the arrival of the Holy Spirit, but did not know why they began speaking in unknown languages and saw “tongues of fire” when they received the Holy Spirit.
How could the early apostles know that this strange, perhaps even frightening, event would result in the beginning of a Church that would transcend nations and time?
Up until then there was no Church.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Acts 2:38-41)
Some sources define “disciple” and “apostle” interchangeably, but the Life Application Study Bible makes a distinction between the two terms. A disciple is defined as a “learner or follower” while an apostle is defined as a “messenger or missionary.”
This distinction is significant in the development of both the early church and today’s church in the treatment of new believers. Three thousand came forward when Peter taught for the first time. The apostles, who had been schooled by Jesus himself, knew Jesus’ ways. Just as Jesus would gather them in intimate groups, the Apostles would learn to gather intimate groups of new believers who would become disciples for Christ.
Those disciples would later spread and would themselves become apostles for Christ. They themselves would gather intimate groups of new believers and thus, the exponential growth of Christ’s Church began. When Christ began forming a relationship with the original Disciples, who were once ignorant to the ways of God, He was already building His Church.
From the first time He said, “Come, follow me,” (Matthew 4:19) to Simon and Andrew, He was planting the seed for His church. Just like the disciples of Jesus time, after Christ was resurrected we were given a counselor, the Holy Spirit, who now resides within each of us to guide us. He gave the apostles knowledge in how to develop the Church, and resided in them from the day of Pentecost and for the remainder of their life on earth.
We were given the same gift. The book of Acts is not only a wonderful book on how the Church was developed and grown, but is also a model for churches today which are truly intent on spreading the Word of God as we were intended.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): There are many people who attend CCM that were present for the first New Beginnings classes. A number of those initial attendees have answered a call from the Holy Spirit to become facilitators and teachers for that class.
The leaders who met with the goal of developing that class had no idea that over one hundred people would attend the first night, nor did they plan and make detailed decisions on how the group would grow. They did what the apostles did on the day of Pentecost.
They waited for the Holy Spirit to descend on them and allowed Him to provide the answers to how to make this incredibly successful class work. Looking back in retrospect, it turns out that this class is a perfect model of the way Calvary Chapel Melbourne grew and how the original Church grew, by gathering and scattering. The key to a successful Church is not found in the world.
The world will tell us that we have to accept its ways to be successful as a church. This, more often than not, means being willing to accept sin. The day of Pentecost in the book of Acts shows us that this is not true. The Apostles saw sin everywhere they went, just as we do today. They did not give in to sin to make the Church grow. They simply did what Jesus taught them to do, to gather and scatter. In a successful church, sinners become saints and “disciples” become “apostles.”
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Matthew 24:9-14; Revelation 2:2; Matthew 10:1-12
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