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Anytime the gospel is preached great things can happen.

Anytime the gospel is preached great things can happen. “ I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). “ The word of God is living and powerful” ( Heb 4:12). Churches grow when God is involved. Acts 2:1-11.

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Anytime the gospel is preached great things can happen.

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  1. Anytime the gospel is preached great things can happen. • “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). • “The word of God is living and powerful” (Heb 4:12).

  2. Churches grow when God is involved.

  3. Acts 2:1-11

  4. It’s important that the apostles were in Jerusalem. • Of course, that’s where God had said the church would begin (Is 2:1-3). • The apostles are obeying Jesus by staying in Jerusalem. • “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk24:49, ESV). • The apostles would begin their testimony to Jesus in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8).

  5. Twice we’re told that the apostles spoke from God. • The apostles were “all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (v 4). • The crowd: “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God” (v 11).

  6. You know that for men to be converted, the gospel must be preached. • In the Old Testament, the word of God was highly valued. • “The Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth’” (Jer 1:9). • “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them” (Ezek 3:4). • The New Testament connects hearing the Word of God with our faith. • Jn20:30-31. • “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17).

  7. Churches grow when God is involved.

  8. That principle runs throughout the New Testament. • “The hand of the Lord was with them [men from Cyprus and Cyrene who were preaching in Antioch], and a great number believed and turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21). • “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Cor 3:6).

  9. How does that work practically?

  10. One: You need an assembly.

  11. The apostles were all in one place (v 1). • We need to assemble if the church is to grow. • One: Jesus is with us when we assemble. • “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20). • Two: Worship can turn unbelievers into believers. • 1 Cor 14:23-25. • Commit to being here during the meeting.

  12. Two: You need a fullness of truth.

  13. The Holy Spirit overwhelmed and filled the apostles. • “Baptism” of the Holy Spirit. • “I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1:8). • “Baptize” in Greek means “to immerse.” • The apostles could speak for God. • “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (Jn 16:13).

  14. The Bible is the lasting impact of Holy Spirit baptism. • “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Cor 2:13). • “Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21).

  15. The conversion of sinners only happens through the preaching of Scripture. • “Those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). • “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). • “It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor 1:21).

  16. If God is to use us to bring people to His Son, we need a fullness of truth. • “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another” (Col 3:16). • Commit to spending time in Scripture.

  17. Three: You need a crowd.

  18. “When this sound occurred, the multitude came together” (Acts 2:6). • “Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’” (Is 2:3). • “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Lk 14:23).

  19. What would happen when if we really came to understand that “Churches grow when God is involved?”

  20. We’d work together with God in His vineyard. • “We are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor 3:9). • “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor 6:1).

  21. Are you a worker in God’s vineyard?

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