Truth for the week:

THE CHURCH EXISTS TO KNOW GOD AND SHOW HIM TO THE WORLD.

Verse for the week: 

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

1. It was said on Sunday that there is something powerful about like-minded people gathering together. Share some examples you have seen and the effects of those gatherings on the people and culture.
2. What does devoted mean? Explain why it is important to be devoted to the apostles teaching?
3. It was said on Sunday the believers were devoted to the apostles teaching. Why is teaching God’s word so important and how do we know what the apostles taught?

For Kids: God’s word is very important to our lives and tells us how we can be saved. What are different ways our church helps you learn about Jesus and the Bible? What are ways you can commit to learn and help others to learn God’s Word?

Prayer: Father we thank you for providing the Scriptures that we may know you and understand everything we need to gain everlasting life through the person and work of Jesus Christ. We pray to be made more into the image of Jesus for his glory and his Kingdom purposes.

Answers: 2) Devoted means being committed to something, with intense effort. Believers must be devoted to God’s Word because it teaches us who God is, who and what Jesus has done and who we are and our need for a Savior. Scripture is God-breathed and valuable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. 3) We need to learn God’s Word to think and believe rightly and to obey and live rightly. The teaching of the apostles, like all the scriptures is preserved for us by a work of God in the Bible.

Truth for the week:

THE CHURCH EXISTS TO KNOW GOD AND SHOW HIM TO THE WORLD.

Verse for the week: 

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

• Read Acts 2:42. What does “fellowship” mean to you? What does it mean for us to be devoted to the fellowship?
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:9. What is this calling into the fellowship? Read John 13:12-17. How does devotion to the fellowship with Jesus energize and shape our devotion to the fellowship of believers?
• Explain what serving other believers looks like. How can the giftings that God has given you be used to serve others in the church?

For Kids:

How do we become children of God?  When we become God’s children how can we be good brothers and sisters to others in the local church? What are ways you can be committed to our church?

Prayer: Father we praise you that you made a way for us to have fellowship with you through Jesus Christ. We thank you that we are not called to live alone but be committed to others and that we can help others and be helped by others in our church. Please give us opportunity and desire to make a deeper commitment to you and the fellowship of believers.

Answers:

1) Fellowship is not something we do but something we have in and with one another. It is an association involving close mutual relations and involvement of believers. To be devoted to the fellowship means a commitment to the body of believers in the local church, typically shown through church membership and regular participation in learning together and serving one another. 2) We are called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, devoting every aspect of our lives to him. This love and devotion for Jesus creates a desire to obey him and serve and sacrifice for one another. 3) Serving others is many times sacrificial but he has given spiritual gifts to each of us to be exercised and used to serve one another in the church. We pray for opportunity and use our giftings in the church.

Truth for the week:

THE CHURCH EXISTS TO KNOW GOD AND SHOW HIM TO THE WORLD.

Prayer: Father you have created us to love and encourage one another in this broken and sin-stained world. Help us to love each other as you designed us and take advantage of the opportunities like sharing meals and learning together at our church.

Answers: 1) When the first church shared meals together they made new friends, grew closer to one another, understood each other’s needs, and then loved and helped and prayed for one another. 2) We, like the first church need godly friends in our lives to help and encourage each another. Regularly sharing meals together to grow in love is the example of the early church. When we study Scripture together and have developed deeper relationships we love and help one another more. The Lord redeemed us because he loves us and wants us to live for him which brings glory to his name with our lives. 3) Since we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we draw near to him. It is important to encourage one another to love and good works. The author reminds us that we must not neglect meeting together especially as we see the growing darkness in the world around us.

Truth for the week:

THE CHURCH EXISTS TO KNOW GOD AND SHOW HIM TO THE WORLD.

1. Read Acts 2:42 & 46 and Galatians 6:2. How does praying together with other believers benefit us?
2. Read Acts 2:43. Why was everyone in awe? What wonders and signs were being done through the apostles? Read Acts 2:41. What awesome thing did God do then that he also does now
3. Read Acts 2:44-45. What do these verses show about how the fellowship of believers felt about one another? How does your life show this?

For Kids: Read Galatians 6:2 and Acts 2:42, 44-45. How did the church help each other? What are ways you can help a friend or family member who is in need?

Prayer: Father we praise you and thank you that you still do awesome miracles by saving us and saving others today. We thank you that you know all our needs and that because we are your sons and daughters, we can come to you in prayer. Please help us to recognize the physical and spiritual needs of those around us and lead us to pray with them and for them. Use the resources you provide us to help each other.

Answers:

1) When we are together, we learn about one another's needs and pray for one another and each other’s unsaved family members. Our love for each other grows and we recognize we are not alone. We take comfort that God hears our prayers and that he is faithful. 2)Peter preached one sermon and 3000 were saved and added to the church. God still does a supernatural work through his word preached and he is drawing the lost to salvation and adding to the church. 3) The believers in that day loved one another and when they knew a brother or sister was in need, they did what was needed to help meet the need.

Truth for the week:

THE CHURCH EXISTS TO KNOW GOD AND SHOW HIM TO THE WORLD.

Verse for the week: 

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

1. Read Acts 2:46-47. What are some results of God working through the regular gathering of the fellowship of believers? Does this still happen today? 
2. Read John 13:34-35 and 17:23. What amazing thing does God do when believers are engaged in each other’s lives and genuinely love each other?  
3. It was said our church is starting Sunday Night Fellowship, how does this idea fit with the pattern we see in these and other passages?

For Kids: Read Acts 4:41 and John 13:34-35. How did new believers come to faith in the Lord?

Prayer: Father we praise you that you have saved us from our sin through the person and work of your Son Jesus. We pray that our church would both proclaim the gospel and show the gospel by the way we love and care for each other. Please do a work through our church that we will be faithful to make Jesus known and shown through the teaching of your word, by how we worship together, share meals together and love one another. Lord, please bless this church to grow your Kingdom and glorify your holy name.

Answers:

1) When the believers gathered, they worshiped and praised God, they had glad and generous hearts and God added new believers to their fellowship. God still works in these ways in the local church. 2) Jesus loved sacrificially, and it is amazing that when believers love one another the way that Jesus loves that the world will come to know Jesus and those who are true believers in Jesus.3) We will meet together, worship by studying God’s word, and praying together, and share a meal with one another. These things brought the first church to know God more love each other and show God to others. Our new Sunday night fellowships will follow what see in the early church and are instructed in Scripture. God blessed that effort and brought people to salvation through it. We pray the same for this effort.