Acts 2:46-47 (ESV)
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Church growth is a fickle thing in today’s church circles. So much of our growth is driven more by the personality of the preacher and/or the contemporary attraction of the style. Those things are not necessarily a bad thing. People are attracted to the Gospel, often, for misplaced reasons, only to find the true answer for their sins. People often flock to a church for companionship of mankind and great fully, instead, friendship with Christ. But, in the above passage we read how God designed the growth of the church. The only thing attracting the group on this day is they saw the moving of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the 120 who committed themselves to wait for Christ to send the Spirit. There was no glowing personality to attract them. Fishermen, tax collectors and the common men of the disciples were not that inspiring. There was no worship team to lead them in contemporary music. There was no light show. There was not pre-church “production” meeting. This was just the Spirit of God moving in the midst of men committed by faith to follow Christ. Only God can move a group of people like what happened in Acts 2. It was not man’s energy, strategy, or ingenuity. It was the Spirit of God moving in God’s people, the church. When we wait, by faith, for God to move in the midst of the people of God, He multiples His people. By the thousands. By the ten thousands. By the hundred of thousands. By the ...
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