Bible Study (Acts 2:41 – 3:10) – Wednesday October 11, 2023

When Peter concluded his Pentecost sermon, the Holy Spirit brought about a substantial response in the hearts of Peter’s audience. Luke records the making of the church in which about 3,000 souls from this audience gladly welcomed Peter’s exhortation, now professing Jesus as Lord! Thus, they were publicly baptized and added as members to the previous body of 120. Luke further described the ministry of the church, in which these new believers with new lives persistently adhered to 4 key components of the ideal church community: 1) the apostles’ teaching, 2) fellowship (sharing together of Christ and His benefits), 3) breaking of bread (the Lord’s Supper – fellowship with God), and 4) the prayers (corporate, gathered prayer).

We then find a description of the manifestation of the church in the final verses of Acts 2. God confirmed the ministry of the apostles, authenticating their kingdom work, and demonstrating a continuance of the power of Jesus by enabling His 12 apostles to perform wonders and signs which caused great awe within the community. This new church body possessed a true unity of the body, demonstrating a willingness to use their assets for the good of the body as well as a selfless concern for those in the body with the greatest need. These new believers regularly gathered at Solomon’s Portico at the temple in Jerusalem. They also shared meals together with glad, thankful, regenerate hearts, practicing generous hospitality. Everything they did was a means of praising and worshiping God. And the church body grew incrementally, with Jesus adding to their number more people were being saved each day. This is exactly how Jesus adds to His church.

In Acts 3, Luke describes an apostolic miracle that occurred through Peter and John. One day as they approached the temple for prayer, they encountered a lame man who had this decrepit condition from birth. His condition was so bad that he needed people to carry him to the temple gate so that he could beg for money to survive. We observed how this man in his helpless condition typified an unregenerate man … looking for meager help but not actually seeking salvation from the problem he is in. When he asked Peter and John for money, Peter declared that he had nothing of monetary value to help him but that he did have something of eternal value.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Peter then took this man and raised him from a condition of helplessness to a condition of wholeness, with strengthened legs made perfectly strong through the power of the Holy Spirit. What a miracle from the courts of God! This man who had never before walked in his life (now being over 40 years old) began leaping around, praising God. He then entered the temple (probably for the first time ever) with Peter and John. Not only did such a miracle stun the people who saw and recognized him as the lame beggar man, but it demonstrated quite vividly how God takes a sinner who is lost in his trespasses and sins and makes him perfectly whole through His divine grace, raising the “lame” sinner to newness of life!

You can listen to this teaching on Acts 2:41-3:10 by clicking on the following link: The Makeup of the Early Church – An Uplifting Miracle