Every great professional athlete knows that they are only as good as their fundamental skills for their particular sport. Therefore, they dedicate hours to honing, practicing, and improving their fundamental skills. Many will tell you that the key to mastering their skills is practice and repeat…repeat…repeat…over and over again. They will also tell you additional skills can only come about by having a strong foundation of fundamental skills.
What about the Christian believer? How can we improve in our daily walk with God? We hone and practicing over and over our fundamental skills. God is the ultimate coach, and He tells us what our fundamental skills are and how often we should work or train to them.
In the Bible in the Book of Acts chapter 2 we have the birth of the church that takes place during the festival of Pentecost. Peter stands up and delivers the first sermon of Christianity. His sermon comes right after the first act of Christianity, which is speaking in tongues. That’s right, the first act of Christianity was speaking in tongues.
Acts 2:3,4 “…and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in tongues, as the Spirit [God] gave them utterance.”
The 12 apostles spoke in tongues once they received the gift of holy spirit. This caused a great uproar in Jerusalem on that day. Therefore by inspiration from the spirit of God, Peter stood up to defend the miraculous power of speaking in tongues, and began the first Christian sermon in Acts 2:14. Once Peter finished his sermon, the people had one question:
Acts 2:37 “Now when they heard this [Peter holding forth the Word of God], they were pricked [touched deeply] in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Then Peter lead the crowd who had gathered into the new birth, he taught them how to get born again of God’s spirit. Those who responded to this dynamic presentation of the Word of God, it says it was “about 3,000 souls”. The miracle of all miracles took place, about 3,000 souls went from death to eternal life in a blink of any eye! What a day, what powerful impact occurred as the result of Peter holding forth the Word of God.
So now God has about 3,000 souls He needed to direct, lead, and train. He supplied them with the fundamentals they needed to train on. Not only did He provide them with their respective training regiment, He also told them how often or frequently they should train.
Acts 2:42 “And they [the about 3,000 souls, plus the apostles] continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
God gave them four fundamentals to practice as they began their new training as believer’s in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those four fundamentals were:
The Apostle’s Doctrine- this would have included everything that Jesus Christ taught them in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It also would have included what he taught them between his resurrection and ascension (this material is not full recorded in the scriptures, but we know they were with him before he ascended and we know he taught them more Word of God). Now, what would this mean in our day and time. Simple, the Apostle’s doctrine represents the Word of God. So the first thing they were to train in was the written Word of God.
Fellowship-this is two fold, first would have been their fellowship with God. Next, would have been their fellowship with each other. Both are vital to our fundamental walk with God. We are commanded to be in fellowship with God and each other. These “about 3,000” souls did not willingly allow anything to come between them and God. They maintained their fellowship with the Father. But they also did it with each other. That’s right. Then didn’t willingly allow things to come between and their brothers and sisters in Christ. They fought for each other and not against each other. They loved each other and forgave each other. They didn’t willingly and hard heartedly walkaway from each other. They trained in the Word of God so they could keep their fellowship with each other on the Word, pure, loving, and honest.
Breaking of Bread- simple truth but profound. These believers ate meals together. The eating of meals together provided believer’s another avenue of fellowship together. When they ate meals together what do you think was the focus of their conversation around meal time? The latest gossip? The News? The latest fashion? No, absolutely no. Their focus was the Word of God, edifying and teaching each other. Eating meals together was training ground for the believer’s in the First Century Church. It should be the same for us!
Prayers- last but certainly not least, the believer’s prayed together. They prayed for each other. They interceded on each other’s behalf. They petition God their Father together. They spoke in tongues for each other. They fought off attacks of the Adversary [the Devil] by way of prayer.
Yes brothers and sisters, these 4 keys were the training module for the believer’s in the First Century church. These were the fundamentals that they practiced over and over. These were the fundamentals that they repeated, over and over. These 4 keys became the foundation of the Christian church. Now, how often did these wonderful men and women train in these fundamentals? We find the key to this in Acts 2:42:
Acts 2:42 “And they continued stedfastly….”
The words “continued steadfastly” are the translation of one Greek word, which is defined as “to persist; to be intently engaged in; to attend constantly and preserve.” Wow, what a powerful word. To attend to something constantly has the connotation of a DAILY occurrence. This is the exact truth of the matter, these about “3,000 souls”practiced these fundamentals daily. They read the Word of God daily, they fellowshipped with God and each other daily, they broke bread together daily, and they prayed together daily. They conditioned and trained themselves in these 4 truths on a daily basis. What results did they get from practicing these 4 fundamental tenants? They saw signs, miracles, and wonders. They healed the sick, they raised the dead, they lead men and women into the new birth. They took the Word of God over the World with these 4 habits of life.
Let us learn from our spiritual ancestors. Let us return to these great training methods and practices with commitment, love and vigor. Until next time, continue to be Valiant for the Truth. God Bless.