First, the the believers in the First Century church were amazingly crazy. I say that in the best way possible. These guys were just lunatics for Christ and I get checked everytime I come across an example of this. They openly opposed the "spiritual leaders" of the day to proclaim what they have seen and heard from Jesus. They preached when they have been told not to. They are thrown in jail. They are beaten. They are rejected.
The best part is that
they
dont
care!
There is a verse in Acts after Peter is before the Sanhedrin that just makes me laugh pretty much. It is out of Acts 5:41:
"The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."
Those guys were just crazy on fire for God and I personally think the first few chapters in Acts are some of the most powerful verses in the entire Bible. It gives us a sincere image of what it takes to truly follow Jesus and I feel that I sometimes feel people like to make light of these verses or just skim over them because, just as I feel now, they really convict you. Jesus called us to something much more than I have been living. Our culture has really digressed from the calling that we have as believers and followers of Jesus Christ.
Second thing is this: Not only were they fearlessly on fire, they were completely selfless. The first church is amazing. It wasnt a place for Sundays and Wednesdays. It was a place where the people gathered everyday and shared everything that they had. It was a completely selfless. I dont see how things ever got done because everyone probably wanted someone else to pick what to do because they were fine with anything. You can just feel the excitement through the first few chapters as the church is developing and increasing. It is almost humorous that such an amazing event is simply in one basic verse. Acts 2:41 is pretty much just like: ..and then three thousand people got baptized that day. What? That is it?? People were just giving up everything to get baptized and join this fellowship of believers that had developed. When the Gentile women were neglected, the apostles were just like well lets fix it so they hire people to take care of them. No big deal...these people arent getting food, so its simple. Just give responsiblilty and it will get taken care of because they care. They dont want people to be neglected.
Read Acts and see the power that the church holds. See what God did and realize what he can do today. I thank God for Acts because it gives me the vision of what it is like to be in that fellowship of believers. It is so much more than just distributing food and hanging out at the temple, it is about the spiritual, physical and emotional care that is thrown around like it is nothingm yet it is greater than anything and that excites me. I get pumped about my God when reading about that first church because they were fearless, something that I truly admire and anyone who seeks a relationship with God should too because it is the ultimate test of faith to stand up for what you believe in without fear...
