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[0:00] Good evening, brothers and sisters and friends. I enjoy to worship the Lord again this evening. The same intimations as the morning. There's some intimation sheets left at the back door. Please do take some with you. Just for one, I guess, change of intimation is a reminder that Thursday, a slight change from our usual prayer meeting, Thursday is the one day that Reverend Thomas Davis could give us.

[0:24] Again, I said in the morning, he won't say this, but that man's schedule is something incredible. But he can do Thursday for us to come and to discuss with us and share with us just some thoughts on how we can engage well and engage perhaps better in evangelism. He's not coming to tell us what to do.

[0:43] He's coming to give us some lessons that he has learned and lessons he's gathered together on how we can better engage together in sharing the good news in North Tulsa.

[0:54] So if he can come along to that on Thursday, it'd be very encouraging both for himself but also for ourselves together to come and hear and engage with that work.

[1:05] We can begin then this public time of worship to God. All our singing this evening, our song worship is from the Psalter. That's Psalm we know so well, Psalm 67, but a Psalm that acquires our attention as we sing together as to the power but also the way the Lord will bring his people together.

[1:26] Psalm 67, it's on page 300 of our Psalm books. Psalm 67 on page 300. Lord, bless and pity us.

[1:37] Shine on us with thy face. That the earth, thy way, and nations all may know thy saving grace. Let people praise thee, Lord. Let people all thee praise. Let the nations be glad.

[1:49] In songs, their voices raise. Psalm 67, the whole Psalm to God's praise. Psalm 68, it's on page 300.

[2:24] In our life, thy way, and nations all may know thy grace. Let people all praise thee, Lord.

[2:39] Let people all praise thee, Lord. Let them Canada, the truth, that the joy that you've got bhikers. Time to see, Lord, assess相�� ich die grace, Leopatra, but 300, of them to have balistice, I'm trumped my gift.

[3:04] Let them the Lord bless thee, Lord. The justly people touch on earth through ancient soul.

[3:22] Lark in the raising of heaven, visible, great and small.

[3:40] The earth and the child, her God shall bless the earth.

[3:57] God shall bless the earth, then shall be near, and will let that go still.

[4:19] Let's join together in a time of prayer. Let's pray. Lord, we gather this evening and we await this final day.

[4:33] This great day of glory that we sing of just now. That final day when all the voices of your people will join together in that one chorus of praise to you, our one God.

[4:45] Help us then to look forward with it expectantly, knowing that this day is coming. However, in our lifetimes, or after we're long gone, that you will one day come back and gather your people.

[4:58] And we who are here will be caught up and we who are gone will be raised up. Lord, help us then to understand what it is to have that full gospel hope. We thank you, Lord, for the privilege we have this evening once again of gathering together as your people.

[5:12] Help us to understand that what we're doing here is not again just completing the list of our daily activities. Not just meeting twice daily just to take off the list of our Sabbath work.

[5:25] Lord, we do this to honour you. We do this to glorify you. But also in your wisdom and your love, by gathering together around your word, it is also of benefit to us.

[5:36] It strengthens our unity with one another. It strengthens our search of the truth. It strengthens our desire to worship. It strengthens our ability to open ourselves before you.

[5:50] It strengthens the unity we have, not just one another, but also with our Saviour. At this time of togetherness, it is good for us to be here. It is good for us to gather both in times of formal worship, but also informally as brothers and sisters.

[6:07] Thank you, Lord, that we are a congregation that is seeking to do that more and more. Help us, Lord, then to give us wisdom on how we might serve one another. How we might bear one another's burdens.

[6:19] And thus we know we fulfil the law. Help us, Lord, then to be salt and light. Not just to the wider world, but also to be salt and light, as it were. To be a comfort.

[6:30] To be a source of help. A source of warmth. A source of light to one another. Pray just now for one another as brothers and sisters. Pray just now, Lord, for any issues, perhaps that may be, as it were, festering issues that the rest of us don't know about.

[6:45] But issues that brother may have against brother here. Or sister against sister. Lord, you know the full story. Help us, Lord, to fulfil the command to not come to worship unless we have first, as it were, made the way clear between one another.

[7:02] Help us, Lord, not to come with a heart full of worship to you, but a heart full of hatred or full of dislike towards our brothers and sisters. Lord, help us to be unified, not just publicly, but also privately, in our hearts with one another, in our hearts with you.

[7:17] And we know that as our unity with one another grows, as we seek to build it, as we seek to serve one another, as we seek the best for one another, you will bless that unity.

[7:28] And when you bless unity, we see your church growing and growing. We thank you, Lord, for the evidence we have of that in the early church. That we read they were united and they shared all that they had.

[7:38] Not just material sharing. They also shared their time. They shared fellowship. They shared and broke bread together. And we see that you blessed their number.

[7:51] Help us, Lord, as a congregation, to understand that all that we are and all that we have and all that we do relies not on our efforts, but relies fully on the work of the Holy Spirit, as he works through us, inspiring, encouraging, as he works through us, giving us the energy and giving us the vision to reach out to North Tulsa.

[8:15] And then as he works through us then, as he works through your word, as he works through the prayers of your people, we see and we pray for days of gospel renewal, gospel refreshing and gospel revival.

[8:26] So pray for ourselves as a congregation, Lord, we ask you to add to our number as you see fit. If there are any in our congregation, any of our friends here who gather with us, but who are yours, who perhaps have come to that realization or that understanding that Jesus is theirs and that they are his, Lord, they would not remain silent about that.

[8:49] They would share their faith. They would share their hope they have in Jesus. Pray for ourselves. We also remember our brothers and sisters next door. We pray for them in their walks. Pray for them in their service for their saviour.

[9:02] We ask you to keep them, look after them. We also pray just now for our brothers and sisters who worship elsewhere on the island from this village, who travel on the Lord's day to these other congregations.

[9:14] Lord, we ask you to bless these congregations they travel to. We ask you to bless them and that they be a blessing to these congregations. We understand, Lord, that although humanly speaking we might be divided at times across these dominational lines, in many ways we know we acknowledge these lines are shaky lines drawn by the hands of men.

[9:34] But wherever your word is preached this evening, wherever your people meet to worship you in spirit and in truth, wherever your word is preached truthfully with the power of the spirit, there your people are.

[9:48] And there we find brothers and sisters across the denominations in our island but also across our nation. Remember, especially thank you for the work of the FIEC, that grouping of your people there, of these mostly, as I aware, Baptist congregations who are faithful to the word, who are gathering and who are growing.

[10:09] As we see more of these churches being built in areas where the gospel has not been heard for many years, Lord, we ask you to bless that group. Bless them as they seek to be faithful to the gospel.

[10:19] We'll look after them, we ask, and after their preachers and their ministers, their pastors and their elders. We thank you, Lord, for the fact there are gatherings of Christians and groups of Christians, many of whom work so closely to our own denomination, many of whom are good friends of our denomination, and that together we seek the Christian good of Scotland.

[10:42] Lord, at the end of the day, we are here with the same purpose, to see Christ glorified and magnified, and to see our denominations, our ministries, our names become nothing, if Christ instead becomes everything.

[10:59] Help us, Lord, then to have that wider mindset, that we are the church, yes, but we are also part of a worldwide church, across not just our nation, across the various colours and cultures and languages of this world, that you have seen fit to bring the gospel to us.

[11:18] And long before the gospel hit our shores, long, long before, the gospel was in Asia, in Africa, in the various parts of that great continent.

[11:30] We thank you, Lord, for the years of missionaries that were sent from Africa in the early years of the church, who travelled hundreds of miles, precarious miles, dangerous miles, to share the gospel across Europe.

[11:45] We thank you, Lord, for missionaries who are now being sent from Korea into Europe and into the UK. Lord, we understand it is a humbling time for us.

[11:56] We give you praise for it, the reminder that you are building your church, and nothing will go against you. Not governments, not nation states, not the age, not the culture of the day, but you will build your church in your way, in your time, and you will have the victory.

[12:13] Lord, help us then with confidence to go forward into North Tolstah this new week, proclaiming the name of our risen Saviour, the one who brings salvation to all who trusts in him, the one who is the King of peace, the one who offers hope and purpose and joy and life to all that come to him.

[12:32] Help us, Lord, then, to proclaim the good news boldly, understanding we have many reasons to fear, understanding we find ourselves at times lost for words, at times to our shame, embarrassed.

[12:44] We are asked for, when we have to share the gospel, we ask for gospel sharing chances with friends and family and colleagues and those around the village. Help us then to be salt and light.

[12:56] We ask your name to be glorified as the word and the name and the story and the glorious gospel of our Saviour goes out. We ask, Lord, for days of gospel flourishing in our own congregation, gospel flourishing across this area, across our island.

[13:15] As we pray for ourselves, we are mindful, as we remembered this morning, we remember once more the ongoing gospel work in Turkey, but also the wider gospel work in that part of the world, where at times the persecution is more quiet and more subtle, where building regulations are changed, where Christians are charged rent at three or four or five times the amount of ours, where Christians are not given the best jobs simply for daring to be bold and daring to proclaim their Saviour.

[13:51] Our Christians who face harsher consequences, who are imprisoned, who are often, I see that it feels at times, really accounts monthly interrogations of these Christians.

[14:02] Lord, look after them and keep them. We cannot enter them to their sufferings, but we can and we do bring them before you, you who are with them for all of our sufferings. You have gone before them in our sufferings, and they rely on you in the midst of their sufferings, the Jesus, the Saviour, the friend, the older brother, who does not leave nor forsake his people.

[14:26] Lord, help us this evening to make the most of the freedom we have. This new week, help us to be bold and proclaim the gospel, knowing that time is short, time is short, eternity is near, and that the freedom we have to share the gospel, it is not guaranteed.

[14:41] With that in mind, would you pray, Lord, for the changes, the slow changes we see in government, as we see perhaps future restrictions being, the foundations of these restrictions being laid in our laws, in our statutes, as we see perhaps the oncoming reality where some sermons and some texts, texts of your word, will not be as they were allowed to be preached, at least not freely.

[15:07] Lord, give us grace when these days come. Give us energy. Give us the wisdom. Help us to be faithful servants. Look after us, Lord, and keep us. Keep us far from sin this new week.

[15:19] Keep us also far from the evil one and keep him far from us. He hates unity. He hates the church. He hates worship. He hates your people. All because he hates you.

[15:31] Lord, we know that although he assails us, he attacks us, he distracts and distresses us, the victory has been won. And he is now just writhing and wailing, but he will not win.

[15:45] The head has been crushed by the great serpent crusher, the Lord Jesus Christ, who at his name the demons fail and flee. It is in his name, and it's for his sake and in his strength alone we come this evening, asking all these things.

[16:03] Amen. We can read in God's word. We'll be carrying on later on in our series and acts, but we can read, first of all then, in 1 Corinthians.

[16:18] 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. That's on page 902.

[16:30] Page 902 of the church Bibles. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, page 902. We can read from verse 12 to the end.

[16:43] 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12. Let's hear again the word of God. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ.

[17:03] For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or three, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.

[17:18] If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body.

[17:34] If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But, as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

[17:49] If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, not again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

[18:03] On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker and indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honourable, we bestow the greater honour, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require.

[18:22] But God has so composed the body, giving greater honour to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

[18:34] If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honoured, all rejoice together. Now, you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it, and God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

[19:00] Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles, do all possess gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way.

[19:16] I'm ending the praise to God for his holy and his perfect word. Let's again sing, again from the Scottish Psalter, this time Psalm 46.

[19:29] Scottish Psalter, Psalm 46. We can sing verses 1 down to verse 6. Scottish Psalter, Psalm 46, verses 1 down to verse 6.

[19:45] Again, a psalm we know so well, but a psalm that reminds us as to the peace and protection that is available to us if we know and love the Lord.

[19:56] Psalm 46, verses 1 to 6. God is our refuge and our strength, in straits a present aid. Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid. Though hills amidst the seas be cast, though waters roaring make, and troubled be, yea, though the hills by swelling seas do shake.

[20:14] Psalm 46, verses 1 to 6. to God's ...

[20:41] ... ... From me, ... ... ... ...

[20:57] ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

[21:08] ... CHOIR SINGS .

[21:50] . .

[22:08] . Amen. Amen.

[23:08] Amen. The Lord God has there. It is wise to hear.

[23:23] It is wise to hear. Amen. That's it. Now turn to the book of Acts.

[23:34] We are going to be on Acts. Acts chapter 2. It is on page 857.

[23:47] We are as far down as verse 42. We are in verse 42 this evening. Verse 42 down to the end of the chapter. Acts chapter 2 verse 42.

[24:00] Remember last time we saw the, well, two weeks ago we saw the, a few weeks ago now, we saw the Holy Spirit descending. We saw this time of Pentecost. We followed then the sermon preached here.

[24:11] And now we are told about the church. What was a church like? Acts 2 verse 42. I read these verses together. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

[24:27] And awe came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were all together had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

[24:43] 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 favour of all the people.

[24:55] And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. Okay, we've come to this point now. We've seen the start of the early New Testament church where Holy Spirit descended.

[25:09] And now just in a short summary, we are painted a picture by Luke. He takes in what he is seeing and what was reported, what he himself saw, what he himself experienced, what others experienced.

[25:23] He takes in, you know, what was a few weeks, a few months, a few years, a time at least of the early church. And he condenses it down for us to show us what the early church was like.

[25:36] Now, not for a second are we saying this is exact instructions for us to follow today in North Tulsa because we're not there. And often when we read passages in Scripture and it's a danger we all fall into, we can read things and assume it's direct commandments for us to follow.

[25:57] And people will do that and it leads them to all sorts of trouble at times, all sorts of trouble. When the Lord gives a direct command to follow, he is clear about that. He is very clear. Now, whilst we're not applying everything directly, there are principles here.

[26:12] There are principles that God's wisdom has chosen to show us of the early church. Good principles, healthy principles. And our question then is, what are the principles or what were the principles of the early church?

[26:27] And how do we apply them, the principles, to ourselves in North Tulsa? Some of these things made sense where they were and when they were. And we are a thousand plus miles away and a thousand plus years away.

[26:41] Two thousand miles and two thousand years away. But yet, God is God. And the Lord's people are the Lord's people. Yes, we are separated by time and by culture, by technology.

[26:55] But people are people. And you see that the Lord's people, in many ways, we have not changed. We still all love our Saviour as they did. We all still seek to serve Him as they did.

[27:08] They all enjoyed gathering together as I hope we do. They gathered around God's Word. They sang. They prayed. And we'll see that more later on. And I want us to remember not to detach ourselves too much from these early Christians.

[27:24] Yes, there are many differences. But at the same time, brothers and sisters, they are us. We are them. They trusted in Jesus as we do. They loved Him as we do.

[27:35] And we'll see that, hopefully, in this small section this evening. With that, you know, we read these pastors and we think, well, God was working in such power then through His Word.

[27:47] He did this, He did that. You know, that would never happen today. And again, we lose that sense of Gospel optimism. The same Lord who worked through His people with the same power He worked then, He has not changed.

[28:01] It's been 2,000 years for us. 2,000 years to the Lord. We know He is outside of time. He has not changed. And we see the Gospel optimism of these early Christians.

[28:15] We ourselves have the exact same optimism. We have far more information, far more resources than they had. They had a few weeks worth of seeing the Lord work in this new way.

[28:27] We've had 2,000 years of seeing the Lord work in the way. The Lord building His church. In fact, we're here in North Tulsa this evening. A place, again, at this point, that was full of pagans.

[28:40] Who knows what was going on in this place when this was being written? Who knows what was taking place in this very area? What awful things were happening? What gods were being sacrificed to?

[28:51] We don't know. Half of it. And yet, here we are today, worshipping the risen Savior. So, just four very broad headings for us to take from this section.

[29:06] First of all, then, daily discipleship. Then we see daily giving, daily fellowship, and daily blessings. Daily doesn't really fit, but it helps us to give the image.

[29:18] But by daily, I just mean regular. Regular discipleship, regular giving, regular fellowship, and regular blessings. First of all, then, daily discipleship from verse 42.

[29:30] The early church, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. We see four areas here.

[29:44] Four areas that tell us of, or five areas, of the practice of the early church. And we see here, I hope, that nothing's changed. But also, I see, I hope, we'll see an encouragement, perhaps, for us to be different in some areas.

[30:01] And we'll see that in a second. Devotion, then. How did the early Christians worship? What was their devotion like? They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and so on.

[30:14] They devoted themselves. It doesn't just say they listened, or they attended. They devoted themselves. And again, the very root of that word is called, actually, a daily activity.

[30:28] It showed that for the early Christians, they were living as Christians 24-7. I know we all do. And we still do. But in a way, perhaps, we don't quite grasp.

[30:40] They, every second of the day, they were filling their time, filling their lives with the things of God. And we think, well, we might say, well, it's easy for them.

[30:52] You know, they didn't have the stresses of modern life like we do. Well, they had jobs. They had families. They had real life responsibilities. They also had the state breathing down their neck every single second.

[31:06] They were devoted. It wasn't just something they attended once or twice a week, or three times a week. It wasn't just a gathering they came to. Their very lifestyle was one of service to the Lord.

[31:21] In other words, it wasn't just something they did. Being Christians wasn't just something they did. It was something they were. Their very lifestyle showed that.

[31:35] Their very existence reflected that. You often think back, well, how did the early church grow? Humanly speaking. Humanly speaking. How did more people come into the church?

[31:46] How did, and they remind the church is meeting in secret at this point. They can't have signs and banners on cattle grids for back to church Sunday. They can't have websites and Facebook pages and information sheets.

[31:57] They can't have invites being spread around locally. How did the early church grow humanly speaking? Oh, you know, we have letters. We have writings of these first century Christians.

[32:10] They did it by talking to their friends and family and workmates. They did it by sharing and inviting one on one.

[32:24] Yes, the Lord is working through that. But on the ground, on the ground for these Christians, we know that they shared the gospel. There wasn't some miraculous signs and wonders.

[32:36] The Lord did that. But the average normal week for these Christians. You know, the slaves went and were slaves all week. The workers worked. Those higher up went and did the higher up jobs.

[32:48] But everyone, to a man to a woman, they shared the gospel with friends and family and colleagues and neighbours. And that is how we see the early church growing.

[33:00] And yes, the Lord added to the number. That is the method, that is the means the Lord uses. Why? Because their whole lives were lives of devotion. Every chance it seems they took to lay hold on and say, I see you, my friend.

[33:14] I see you suffering. I see you struggling. I see you questioning life. I see you all the big questions. Can I talk to you about Jesus? I see you, my friend. You've tried everything else in life.

[33:26] Have you ever thought well about Jesus? I see you, my friend. I see you, my brother, my sister, my father, my mother, my child. Have you heard, have you considered what it is to believe in one who made you?

[33:42] And so on and so on. They are not doing great feats of wonder. The apostles were. The apostles certainly were. But what about the thousands of other believers? The normal believers?

[33:54] What are they doing? They are living devoted lives. Every day seeking to serve their saviour. Now when I say devotion, we're not saying that it looks like after as if we have to, you know, walk the walk and look the part.

[34:09] That does not get blessed. A life of devotion is real internal work, you could say. Where internally, every morning we wake up and say, Lord, give me a gospel sharing chance today.

[34:22] Lord, help me share the gospel with a family member, with a friend, with so and so today. And every day we are there understanding. We are ambassadors. We are salt.

[34:33] We are light. We are witnesses. We are not in this world for the sake of being in this world. We are in this world to serve our saviour. They were devoted.

[34:44] Also note they attended regularly the teaching. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship.

[34:55] Preaching, sharing the word, it forms the basis of the Christian community from the very start. We might think perhaps this is something that's modern to the church.

[35:08] Some people say that. No. Right from the start, the preaching and teaching and explaining and coming around God's word, it is there from the start. Now we have added pulpits and elders' pews and everything else.

[35:21] That's cultural. That's part of our culture, our history, for good or for bad. But the actual act of preaching. Right from the very start, we see the early Christians are devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles.

[35:36] And we saw last week what that looked like. It's a breaking down of scripture. It's the explaining of scripture. It's the applying of scripture. Even those of us, and I hope many of us, who enjoy hearing God's word being broken down and explained, who grow from it, myself included, often are tempted by more exciting prospects.

[36:01] Well, the church would grow if we did this different. If we did that different. If we did less preaching and less emphasis on God's word and more emphasis on something exciting.

[36:14] And something that attracts people with excitement. And it's very easy to go along that way of thinking. But the truth is that from the very start, the growth of the church has always been connected to the faithful preaching and teaching and expounding and explaining of God's word.

[36:33] Coupled with God's people doing the legwork and going out and about and sharing and bringing and explaining and encouraging these things together. Us as God's people going out and interacting in the world.

[36:47] And us as God's people then together growing in the word. The image here isn't it that on the Lord's day in times of gathering like this. We're here to be as we're recharged and reminded of God's goodness, God's mercy, God's promises.

[37:04] That should inspire us enough tomorrow morning. Start this new week as it were. Go out into the world and say, I have a saviour who heard this morning who has purchased heaven for me.

[37:17] My place in the glory is mine because of him. Therefore, I can now go and share the life-giving gospel. What we hear on Sunday should inspire, encourage, challenge us to then go out and serve the Lord for the rest of the week.

[37:34] That's a pattern we see of the early church. Preaching. Preaching. But also we see they devote themselves to the fellowship. In Greek it's very much the fellowship.

[37:46] This is not just fellowship in general. We'll see that later on. This is to the fellowship. A certain fellowship. This is, we know from history, this is the name they had for this.

[37:58] This is saying, they gathered together. They gathered together to hear God's word being preached, explained. They gathered together to sing God's word.

[38:09] They gathered together to share time with one another. Right from the start, we've been called to be witnesses. Right from the start, the early church gathered around God's word.

[38:23] And right from the start, the early church gathered together. We keep saying this and we don't say it because we want numbers in our churches. This morning, I encouraged everyone who was there this morning to consider coming out to the evening too.

[38:38] It's not because my ego is hurt if there's not enough faces. The sermon is written anyway. I'm going to preach it if there's one of us or a hundred of us. I'm preaching it regardless. I'm here anyway. It's because it's good for us to gather together.

[38:51] The Lord blesses the gathering of his people. The Lord blesses his word being shared to the gathering of his people. And he has done since the very start of the church. The gathering together of God's people is not just nice or good.

[39:07] It is essential. It's essential. Now with the caveat, I know for some of us, there's various good reasons why it tends to gather. Health situations, both mental and physical.

[39:20] Family situations. Work commitments of necessity. These things aside, you and the Lord yourself have these things together. But I'm saying in general, as Christians, it is good for us to gather together.

[39:35] It is essential for our growth that we gather together. What's amazing is when you see the early church, one of my favourite subjects in ETS was church history.

[39:46] You see the early church and we have pretty good accounts of what we did. What the early church worship service looked like. What the early church service looked like. And for many, I think they would be quite disappointed as to how average their services are.

[40:01] We think the early church did amazing things. We would meet together and there would be miracles everywhere. Left, right and centre. And who knows what else. No. We know exactly pretty much what the early church service looked like.

[40:12] I can run your through just now. An average Sunday morning. An average Sunday morning. Interesting also to note, they would try and meet as best they could twice a day too. Meeting twice a day, both morning and night.

[40:26] They were seeking in one way to reflect the Jewish pattern of beginning and ending your day with the Lord. But also they recognised it was good for them. So twice a day, this is the pattern of the early church.

[40:38] Let's read out the steps they took. This is a rough order. There is an opening call to worship. Now we do that, do we not? We say, let's worship God.

[40:50] Our congregations do it and it's right and good by quoting a small bit of scripture. We might do that in the future, we'll see. There's an opening call to worship. A time of prayer. We sang psalms together.

[41:02] We read a portion of scripture. We had a sermon. There's a closing benediction. And then afterwards, we shared a time of communion. We shared the Lord's Supper together.

[41:13] And after all that, we often then shared a meal together. Is there anything there that is extraordinary to us? No.

[41:25] That's why, at least in part, why we worship the way we do. Because we are seeking to follow the pattern of the way our brothers and sisters have done it from the very start. There are some differences.

[41:38] If you notice, I said they celebrated the Lord's Supper. I think I said benediction. Benediction came at the end, same as the ourselves. They had sermon, prayer, then they shared the Lord's Supper. Now, we know from history, we're not quite sure of the exact frequency, but they shared the Lord's Supper weekly, we think.

[41:57] If not weekly, it was once every two or three weeks. They shared it as often as they could. As often as they had the facilities and the means to actually have the bread and the wine. And the safety to gather together.

[42:09] They worshipped. And they served and ate the Lord's Supper every week. Don't forget for ourselves, you know, much of the reason that we have the Lord's Supper twice a year, that's just, if I'm being very honest, that's cultural.

[42:25] That is historical reasons. That comes from a lack of ministers early on in the Reformation. There wasn't enough ministers to go around all the churches, so they had a service once or twice a year to enable the ministers to get around all the churches.

[42:39] That's why we have our communions, far less a year. It's also, often people say, well, if you have communions more often, it makes it less special. You often hear that?

[42:50] If you have communions more often, it makes it less special. Well, I wouldn't say that to the early church. If they're having it every week, then who are we to say it makes it less special? It didn't for them.

[43:01] The ones who followed the advice, who followed the pattern of the apostles. If they're doing it, then let's be careful how we talk about our Christians taking communion and how often they do it and all that.

[43:13] All to say, brothers and sisters, nothing's changed really. Our culture's changed, our passions have changed a wee bit. But right from the start, they are singing psalms together, reading the Bible together, listening to a sermon together.

[43:28] Praying together, praying together, joining together. Right from the start, this has been the way the Lord has blessed his people. And he continues to bless us, does he not, in the exact same way.

[43:42] Also note prayers. See prayers here as separate as it were to the rest. So fellowship, that's a church service. Breaking of bread, that's a communion service.

[43:55] Also to the prayers. The first generation of Christians, they roughly followed the Jewish pattern of praying several set times a day.

[44:08] This was, of course, not more or less holy. It's what they grew up doing. So they just kind of doing the same thing. They grew up as faithful Jews, praying several times a day. They kept doing the same thing. There's nothing wrong with that.

[44:20] But what's important here is, they were a people of prayer. A people of prayer. Brothers and sisters, the exact times or the exact ways we pray individually is of little consequence.

[44:34] What matters is that we are people of prayer. Now that means we have several prayers a day, or one or two prayers a day. Whatever is correct for you in your experience, you yourselves know.

[44:46] Don't get caught into a trap of thinking it has to be one way or another way. That's not biblical, it's not scriptural. But we must be people of prayer. And if you are able to pray every hour on the hour that is able to do that, then you do that.

[45:02] If you can handle maybe one long prayer in the morning or one at night, you do that. The process doesn't matter. What matters is, like the early church, we are people who are saturated in prayer.

[45:13] And if we're not praying as the early church did for the work of the gospel in our area here, we will see no gospel fruit. The early church are people of prayer.

[45:27] They had to be. But also the early church believed in the power of prayer. And we'll see that throughout Acts. How often there's brothers or sisters captured and attacked.

[45:39] And the first thing we see recorded is the brothers and sisters were praying together. We find them praying several times throughout Acts. Several big moments, and we'll get to that.

[45:50] But several big moments in Acts, we see the first response of the church is to come together to pray. We are a praying church. I praise the Lord for that. We see the Lord for that. We see the Lord for that.

[46:01] We see the Lord for that. We encourage us to keep on praying. To keep on being a praying church. They had then daily fellowship. Daily discipleship, sorry. They were growing together the same way we grow.

[46:14] The word. The services. The prayer. Times of communion. Also note they were a giving church. Verse 45.

[46:25] They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. Now this is one of the areas where some Christians have sought to follow this exactly.

[46:38] And some Christians will say, well we should. As Christians we should be absolutely not a penny to our names and give everything we have to one another. Now that's your conviction. If you are able to do that, between yourself and the Lord, you are allowed to do whatever you want with your own possessions.

[46:54] But what's being said here, is this for us to follow? No. What's being shown here is they were a generous people. And generous for the gospel cause. Not generous to make the apostles more rich.

[47:06] Or to fill the ministers pockets. They were generous for the gospel cause. Now I'll say at this point, because it's here in the text. Brothers and sisters, you know, we'll have an AGM at some point soon enough.

[47:17] And you'll see yourselves. That you, that we, and you, are a generous church. A generous church. And it's unbecoming for me to say otherwise.

[47:28] Because, you know, you are giving to the gospel cause in a way that is so encouraging. So encouraging. So just to encourage you here from God's word.

[47:39] To the best of your abilities. Every one of us. To keep on giving as we can. So we give for the work of the gospel. You know, we give for the work of the gospel.

[47:50] And we try, when it comes to gospel things, we try and do things carefully. The books we hope explored. Most of the books we hope explored were a gift from our brothers and sisters in back three church. They had extras.

[48:01] We happily took the extras off Reverend MacLeod's hands. So where we can, we are careful of our money. But at the same time, we are to be generous together for the sake of the gospel.

[48:12] Every penny we have, hard earned as it is, it is a gift as it were from God. It is God's money he allows us to use. It is God's material he allows us to have.

[48:25] And like the early church in North Tulsa, we and you show this well. A generous giving congregation. Daily discipleship.

[48:36] Daily giving. And then daily fellowship. Verse 46. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.

[48:47] They received their food of glad and generous hearts. And this is the image, isn't it? Of brothers and sisters together. They understood they were more than just formal times of public worship.

[49:02] Although that's essential for them. There was more to them than that. They were all of life Christians as we should aim to be too. But in their formal and informal times, they're spending time together.

[49:15] Now culturally, we know this was, wasn't it the way? Think back to your own younger days perhaps in this village. And together as a culture, as a village, you spent so much more time together.

[49:28] That was the way it was in these days. We spent time together. Brothers and sisters, we must be realistic. The days have changed. The times have changed. Every one of us, to a man, woman and child, if we're honest, we're far more individualistic.

[49:44] We're far more inward looking now. And we must, as it were, make more effort to spend time together. I'm not just saying, come to the times of organised fellowships, that will please do.

[49:57] I'm just saying, in your own lives, we must be mindful of how much time we're spending with other Christians. Is our whole Christian life spent meeting other Christians only on a Sunday, only on a Thursday?

[50:10] Or throughout the week, are we trying to meet together, to pray together, to encourage one another? I'll say this, and I hope you assume this anyway, but I know some congregations are worried of meeting together, or having prayer meetings in houses and things, because we're worried the minister will be annoyed or offended.

[50:28] I would be overjoyed if I heard that happening. Overjoyed. Please feel free. You know, if there's a Bible study in someone's house or whatever, do it. Crack on. Please.

[50:40] Gather together. Have fellowship together. Like the early church did. They broke bread together in each other's houses. They spent that time, that essential time together.

[50:53] And it's in that time, isn't it? You share your burdens. You share your worries. In that time, you see one another, and you're reminded, this brother, this sister, I love them. And the Lord loves them.

[51:04] And I want to serve them. And together they grow, and we all grow together in the Lord. Day by day, attending the temple together, and breaking bread in their homes.

[51:18] Literally, they are in each other's homes. The idea is that they're breaking bread in all their homes. They're all sharing their meals and sharing what they had. Sharing their time.

[51:29] And doing so with glad and generous hearts. And all of this then leads to daily blessings finally for us.

[51:40] Praising God and having faith in all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. They were doing nothing strange, as we said.

[51:54] They were doing nothing out of the ordinary. I hope you've recognized what we said here. It would be very, very difficult if you gave our worship service on paper and their worship service.

[52:05] The things we are trying to do in North Tulsa. The things they try to do in their areas. If you did it all on paper, take away the names. It would be very hard to tell which was which.

[52:16] First century at Jerusalem or North Tulsa today. The church is the church. God's people are God's people. There's no fancy activity going on here. There's nothing amazing going on here.

[52:27] Yes, there's miracles. And yes, there's apostles. And yes, there's prophecy. And there's great healing going on. But that's not everywhere. That's in set places at set times. In general, for most of the Christians at this day, in this time, they lived a normal life as we read about here.

[52:44] Worshipping together. Fellowshiping together. Having meals together. Praying together. Giving generously. And serving the Lord as best they can where the Lord has placed them.

[52:55] And from this simple but ongoing, disciplined life, the Lord blesses his church. Day by day. Day by day. And it is day by day.

[53:07] Yes, we saw, you know, there after Pentecost, we see these thousands being added to the number. Thousands. But there on in. That's an extraordinary event.

[53:18] We can say that's like a time of revival almost. It certainly was. But here we see the normal way. Day by day. Day by day. Brothers and sisters, it is day by day the Lord adds to his number in North Tolstead.

[53:32] Week by week. Month by month. Year by year. And if we're just waiting for this one incredible day. Some point, hopefully in the future, where hundreds are saved or this church is suddenly full.

[53:46] And we think there's nothing required. Then we're wrong. We're mistaken. It is that constant daily living as brothers and sisters. That constant daily serving as brothers and sisters.

[53:58] That constant being the church day by day as brothers and sisters. That's how the Lord adds to the number. Day by day. Month by month. Year by year.

[54:09] As we seek to serve the Lord faithfully in all the ways we've discussed this evening. The Lord sees. The Lord knows. And in his time and in his way, he will add to the number of his people.

[54:22] There's no hidden trick. There's no hidden ritual. And I'm not saying for a second, and our churches have done this across the denominations, across our nation, across the world.

[54:35] If we put on something amazing tomorrow or next week. Some amazing theatrical performance. We might be able to fill this church pretty quickly. But that famous and well said quote, What you win them with, you win them too.

[54:51] So what you bring people in with, you then must maintain that forever to keep them. And plenty of churches have big events and big exciting things. And they just get rid of God's word and replace something more exciting and more fun and more whatever else.

[55:06] And you'll see it. And you see these churches and you can map them. They explode for a while. They always peak. The decline is then disastrous.

[55:17] Absolutely disastrous. The gospel church is one. Day by day. Week by week. Month by month. Faithful ongoing service. And yes, we seek every chance we can to share the gospel.

[55:31] Every chance to engage together. Whether that's men's breakfast in the manse. Or WFM. Or the yearly service in the barn up there. Or back to church Sunday.

[55:42] Or barbecues on the beach. Or whatever else we can think to do. Let's make full use of the creation God's given us. The intelligence, the ideas God has given us.

[55:54] At the same time remembering at its core, it is God's word. God's people praying. God's people serving. God's people having conversations with friends and family. God's people seeking to worship him.

[56:06] God's people seeking to worship him. That's what brings God's plan to fruition. He works through these simple means and simple ways to bless and increase his church.

[56:18] Brothers and sisters, let's be encouraged this evening. In many ways, we are just like these very first Christians. And the challenge for us is if this is the very basics that the Lord blesses.

[56:34] How many of these basics are we, as it were, following? As we, as it were, are taking off in our service, in our worship, in our life and service to the Lord in North Tulsa.

[56:47] Let's pair our heads now. A word of prayer. Lord, we thank you as we are reminded this evening as to the activity, as to the worship, as to the... the way you blessed the early Christians, this early church.

[57:00] Those whose lives were far more difficult, at times were sure far more complicated than many of ours, who suffered constant danger and constant worry. But yet, in all these things, we served their Lord and Savior.

[57:15] Help us in North Tulsa to have a mindset of service. Thank you, Lord, for the great gifts you've given us as a congregation, the great privileges we have. Thank you, Lord, for the membership that we have.

[57:27] Thank you, Lord, for those who come along week after week. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunities we have to share the gospel. We pray, Heavenly Father, you give us more chances to share the gospel in North Tulsa.

[57:38] More opportunities. Help us to be wise and help us to be on the lookout for all these chances. To not lay aside any chance to partake and join into the community.

[57:49] Any chance to attend things. Any chance to proclaim your name in every way possible. We pray, with hearts full of faith and hope, we pray you would add to the number here, day by day, and week by week, and year by year, for your glory.

[58:07] That this congregation, that this ministry would never be praised, but you would be praised as we hear of many more come to faith. And many more come to love and serve Jesus as King, Saviour, Lord, and Friend.

[58:21] Lord, help us this evening. Help us to be challenged as we leave this place. To be faithful servants this new week. To understand that we are part of a long line of your servants. Many of whom are now in glory.

[58:34] But servants, nonetheless. Brothers and sisters, we will one day meet with and spend eternity with. Until we see these days, give us the strength to keep serving you well and serve you faithfully.

[58:45] Ask all these things in and through and for Jesus. His precious name's sake. Amen. We can close then with the same psalm. Scottish Psalter, Psalm 46.

[58:56] Scottish Psalter, Psalm 46, verses 7 down to verse 11. Psalm 46, verses 7 to the end.

[59:10] To God's praise. The Lord of hosts upon our side, do have constantly remain. The God of Jacob's our refuge, as safely to maintain. Come and behold what wondrous works have by the Lord been wrought.

[59:23] Come see what desolations he on the earth have brought. Psalm 46, verses 7 to the end. To God's praise. God's praise. The Lord of hosts upon our side, do have constantly remain.

[59:52] The Lord of hosts upon our life with constant.

[60:13] Let us pray in the praise and спорт.

[60:34] The清 unser Vision migitiousando adieu vying That all he lived a story that we died whom night their childered grace Be still and know that I am born, for upon every year I will be your soul.

[61:48] Do I know that I am, will be exalted high.

[62:01] But God who is a heart of us, is still and all of us.

[62:19] May God who is a heart of us, is still and all of us.

[62:41]  In the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, both of you now and forevermore. Amen.