FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “99+1”

Begin your time together by reading Luke 15:3-10.  Sit at Jesus’ feet as He shares two parables with your family.

These two stories share a common theme.  In both, the main character has lost something, something significant enough to warrant an almost-frenzied search.  Then once the missing item has been found, the searcher-turned-finder invites friends and neighbors to come and celebrate the victory.  It’s that big a deal!

Put yourself in the shoes of these characters.  Can you think of a time you lost something, something important?  Something that caused a teat-the-house-apart kind of search?  Homework?  Keys?  Bills?  Birthday money?  I have a gift card from Christmas I still can’t find and it’s maddening.  It has to be here somewhere, right?

Our family watched “Home Alone” together for the first time this past Christmas.  I hadn’t seen it in at least a decade, and I found the experience both fun and illuminating.  Fun because my children laughed so hard during the booby trap seen, I thought they might need a change of clothes.  But illuminating because it was the first time I’d watched it as a mom.  I found my heart breaking for this mother separated from her son.  I identified with the panic she must have felt, not knowing if he was safe, not knowing if he was scared, not being able to explain things and offer the peace and calm that all mothers yearn to give their kids.  I mean, my heart skips a beat when I lost track of one of mine at the grocery store.

Try to imagine losing someONE instead of some thing.  I don't mean someone who’s passed away, but someone being missing, someone important.  You can’t locate them.  You don’t know where they are.  You can’t reach them on the phone and no one has seen or heard from them.  Can you think of all the things you’d do to try to find them?  To try to get to wherever they are or get them back where you are?  Can you imagine stopping your search before you tracked them down?

This is exactly what Jesus was talking about.  He really didn’t care about sheep and coins; He was talking about people, people lost from God.  God is a father who has lost not one, but many children—and he’s frantic to find them.  Like Kevin’s mom, he is doing whatever he can to get each person “home” with him.  No wonder he throws a party when one of his kids comes home to a relationship with him!  It’s a huge deal to be reunited with a missing child!

Think about someone you know who fits this description: they’re “lost” from God.  Don’t think of them as being rebellious or stubborn or ignorant (even though they may be all of those things).  Instead, think of them as the Father does.  Lost.  This poor person has gone missing from Dad.  As you interact with them this week, what can you do to help them find their way back home to him?  Look for opportunities to let them know their Father is looking for them…passionately.

Take time to pray for each person, that these sweet, lost “lambs” would soon be found.  Then agree with Jesus that when it happens, you will join the heavenly party!!

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “99+1”

Whatever it takes.

Even if you haven’t used this phrase, I’m going to assume that, since you’re still breathing, you’ve at least heard someone else say it.  These three words are used to show an incredible commitment to something.  It could be sports, a competition, relationships, personal goals, etc.  Someone might commit to do “whatever it takes” to: be number one, get into their favorite university, beat the rival team, win someone’s heart, buy a much-desired something-or-other, lose those 20 pounds…you get the idea.  

Are you a WIT (Whatever It Takes) kind of person?  I know you wouldn’t literally do anything to accomplish your goals.  After all, you love Jesus and are always going to aim for a holy, righteous life, right?  I thought so.  But setting aside the literal meaning, are you the kind of person who does well at intense commitment and discipline to achieve a goal?  Some people are like that.  They’ve never set a goal they haven’t met.  Others do better in “sudden-death” kind of scenarios.  Maybe you spent all semester ignoring that major project for school, but in the last two days, you kick it into gear and do what needs to get done. 

Maybe the WIT gene doesn’t fit across the board for you, but I bet there’s at least one or two areas in your life where you’ve shown some extreme dedication.  Share with your family a WIT moment in your life.

During January, we’ll be exploring the three parables Jesus tells in Luke 15.  It’s a great trilogy!  But the verses from today set the scene.  They tell us what’s going on that prompted Jesus to tell the stories.  

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.  And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” (v 1-2)

Here we see the WIT attitude that Jesus models—He was willing to do whatever it took to reach people with the love of God.  He didn’t care what it would do to His own reputation, He wanted everyone to know love and mercy, even if it meant breaking every cultural rule and eating with the social outcasts.  (Ironically, the Pharisees did whatever it took to NOT hang around with the the same people.)  If we could trace our spiritual heritage all the way back, I bet some of us have faith genealogies that began at this dinner party.  One of your ancestors started the whole “I believe in Jesus” thing in your family, because the Savior did what was taboo and sat with them.  Wow!

As Christians, we want to have that same WIT attitude in our families that Christ models for us.  It’s fine to be committed to your activities and your goals, but there are greater things we can be committed to—namely, sharing Jesus with those who need to know Him.  How can your family do “whatever it takes” to spread the Good News?  Who might the Holy Spirit be putting in your path who needs to hear about grace and mercy, who needs to hear it from you?

End your time together brainstorming ways you could be a WIT family for God.  Are there outcast kids at school you could start eating lunch with?  A family in the neighborhood no one seems to talk to, but you could invite over for a meal?  People in the community who are forgotten about, but you all could start spending time with?  Close in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to guide your family in doing whatever it takes to seek those who are lost.

READ IT! - B|Neighbors - 2 Timothy 2: 1-7, Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 8:34-38, Acts 14:19-22, Ephesians 4:11-16, Proverbs 22:13, Luke 10:1-3, 2 Timothy 4:7

Here are this week's scriptures for our B|Neighbors sermon series...

2 Timothy 2:1-7 (NIV)
2 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.



Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”



Mark 8:34-38 (NIV)
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”



Acts 14:19-22 (NIV)
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

21 They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.



Ephesians 4:11-16 (NIV)
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.



Proverbs 22:13 (NIV)
13 The sluggard says, “There’s a lion outside!
I’ll be killed in the public square!”



Luke 10:1-3 (NIV)
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.



2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotion — “Them or Us”

Supplies: Bible; different colored crayons, one for each family member (No crayons? Use coffee mugs, flowers, postage stamps, whatever you have—as long as each one is different.)

TRY

Give each member of your family a crayon (or whatever you’ve collected).  Have each person describe their item.  You don’t need to hide it from each other, just tell about the crayon you’re holding.  Once everyone has shared, think about how you each talked about your item.  Did your descriptors focus on how your item was LIKE the others, or did you tell more things about how it was DIFFERENT?  Did you say the crayon you were holding was “made of wax” or did you say it was “(insert color word)”?  When we look at things, we usually focus on what makes things different.  We like to be individuals, and we see differences as what make us unique.  Unfortunately, our differences can also be what divides us.  If we’re not careful, we take our differences and start putting the people around us into to groups: Us and Them.

READ

Read Luke 9:51-56 together.  If you have very young children, try retelling the passage as a story.

THINK 

James and John got really sidetracked by differences.  Ironically, they were on their way to Jerusalem so Jesus could give His life for ALL people.  But when the Samaritans refused them passage, all James and John could see were the things that separated them.  The Samaritans became “Thems.”  THEY were descended from Jews who disobeyed God’s laws and married pagans, people who didn’t believe in the one true God.  THEY were half-breeds.  THEY were not real Jews.  THEY didn’t worship God the right way.  THEY didn’t care who Jesus was.  And because of that, James and John felt THEY deserved to die.  Thankfully, Jesus set them straight.  The Son of Man didn’t come to condemn “them.”  He came to save “us”—all of us.  James and John forgot that their own sins made them just as deserving of a fireball strike.

Most of us have some people in our lives we think of as “Thems.”  It could be the noisy neighbors across the street who have different colored skin and speak a different language.  Maybe it’s that group of kids at school who wear different clothes, clothes you’ve never seen in any store ever.  Or maybe it’s the guy stopped next to you at the red light who listens to really different music really loudly.  For me it was the girls in my college dorm who cooked different food that made the whole floor smell…different.  When we think about people as “Thems,” we automatically start holding them at arm’s length.  Their differences become reasons to exclude them from our fellowship and, as a result, from God’s fellowship as well.  Yes, we have differences, but the things that connect us—our similarities—are the most essential.  God created all of US out of His love.  And every single one of US has betrayed that love through sin.   But His love was so overwhelming, that He send His Son to die for US.  Now God calls every single one of US His child and waits for US to come home to Him.  You see, we’re not as different as you may think…

APPLY

Let’s bring this home.  Take some time and share some of your “Thems” with each other. It may be hard, but being honest and open, confessing the people we tend to judge, will help us overcome this barrier.  Share what differences you often focus on.  Then talk about what you can do to start reaching out to “Them” and start including them with “Us.”  Close by confessing your “Them” thoughts to God and asking for His help in changing your thoughts to “Us.”

**If you have very young children, take time to talk about how people are different.  You could take a walk, visit a playground, or read a book or watch a short TV show that features people from another culture.  Have your child share ways these people are different from him or her.  Then point out ways they are the same: eyes, ears, they like to play, etc.  End by explaining that another similarity is that God loves them just like He loves your child. 

PRAY

Father God, You created all of us.  Each adult, each teen, each child was created out of Your abundant, ever-present love.  Forgive us for taking the wonderful gift of diversity and using it as a method to divide.  Help us, Lord, to see the world as You do: children of the Most High God.  Help me to love everyone like I love myself.  Amen.

REPLY

Did you and your family enjoy this devotional blog?  We'd love to know about it!  Our hope is to continue providing this weekly opportunity for families to do a devotion together.  If your family did this devotion, please shoot us an email, text or just post a comment to this blog.

READ IT! - Monday Reading - Luke 9

Luke 9

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Disciples

9 One day Jesus called together his twelve disciplesand gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes. 4 Wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. 5 And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

6 So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

Herod’s Confusion

7 When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. 8 Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead.

9 “I beheaded John,” Herod said, “so who is this man about whom I hear such stories?” And he kept trying to see him.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

10 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida. 11 But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.

12 Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.”
13 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” 14 For there were about 5,000 men there.
Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 So the people all sat down. 16 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. 17 They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

18 One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

19 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”
20 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”

Jesus Predicts His Death

21 Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. 22 “The Son of Man[e] must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration

28 About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. 31 They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

32 Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him.33 As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”34 But even as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them.
35 Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.” 36 When the voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy

37 The next day, after they had come down the mountain, a large crowd met Jesus. 38 A man in the crowd called out to him, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, my only child. 39 An evil spirit keeps seizing him, making him scream. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It batters him and hardly ever leaves him alone. 40 I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

41 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you and put up with you?” Then he said to the man, “Bring your son here.”
42 As the boy came forward, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and healed the boy. Then he gave him back to his father. 43 Awe gripped the people as they saw this majestic display of God’s power.

Jesus Again Predicts His Death

While everyone was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, 44 “Listen to me and remember what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.” 45 But they didn’t know what he meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

The Greatest in the Kingdom

46 Then his disciples began arguing about which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he brought a little child to his side. 48 Then he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.”

Using the Name of Jesus

49 John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t in our group.”

50 But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him! Anyone who is not against you is for you.”

Opposition from Samaritans

51 As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. 53 But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. 54 When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 So they went on to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

57 As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”
59 He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”
The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
60 But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”
61 Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”
62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Sunday Readings

• Luke 10:1-24 (NIV)

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ² He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

⁵ “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ⁶ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

⁸ “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. ⁹ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

¹³ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴ But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.^[b]

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

¹⁸ He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰ However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

²¹ At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

²² “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³ Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. ²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

 

 

• Mark 10:45

⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 
 

Friday Readings

• Luke 10:38-42  (NIV) 

At the Home of Martha and Mary 

 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

• Psalm 16:11 (NIV) 11 

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Wednesday Readings

• Luke 10:38-42  (NIV) 

At the Home of Martha and Mary 

 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

• John 5:39-40 (NIV) 

39 You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Tuesday Readings

• Luke 10:38-42  (NIV) 

At the Home of Martha and Mary 

 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

• Galatians 4:9 (NIV) 

9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces[a]? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

Monday Readings

• Luke 10:38-42  (NIV) 

At the Home of Martha and Mary 

 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

• Acts 2:42-47 (NIV) 

The Fellowship of the Believers 

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.