Bible Studies

---

The Scriptures
Acts 2:42-47 - Filled with Awe
Key Verses: (NIV)

• 42: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." - These four very important elements to the life of early Christians led to a deeper understanding of Christ and to the transformation of lives.
  
  
• 43: "Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." - "Awe is a mixed feeling of reverence, fear, and wonder, caused by something majestic, sublime, or sacred."¹
  
  
• 45: "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." - The earlier believers felt such unity in Christ that individual possessions only had value as they could be contributed to the good of all.
  
  
• 46-47a: "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, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." - Every day…their relationship with Christ and with one another became an amazing event to witness.
  
  
• 47b: "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." - And they were blessed.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Which basic elements to Christian life are most important to you? Teaching and learning? Do you strive to learn as much from the Bible as you can? Fellowship? Do you value your time together with fellow Christians? Communion? Do the rituals of the Lord's Supper provide you a personal connection to Christ each and every time? Prayer? Does your prayer life lead you to a closer relationship with God?
  
  
• Are you filled with awe? Does the love of Christ continuously fill you with wonder and amazement? Are you constantly surprised and astounded by what He is doing for you in your life? If not, what steps can you take to keep your relationship with Christ fresh? How can the example of the early Christian church help rekindle your sense of awe? Or, is it not important to maintain an attitude wonder? Perhaps these are traits exhibited only by "baby Christians" and mature Christians are expected to behave, well, more mature. Are you allowing your maturity to temper your feelings towards Christ? How does this affect those around you?
  
  
• Is your life with Christ an every day experience? Are you breaking bread and celebrating the love of Jesus with "glad and sincere hearts?" Are you "praising God and enjoying the favor of all people?" Are you meeting together with others in small groups sharing the joys of Christ among you? Or, are you going it alone? Perhaps you have set your Christianity on the shelf, dusting it off only when the mood strikes you?
  
  
• Is God adding to your numbers daily? Can you see the results of God's blessings in your life? Do you experience a regular sense of the Holy Spirit growing and expanding your image of God? If not, is it time to consider adopting an "Acts 2" life-style in your life and in your church community? Is it possible that God wants, expects, and needs your total immersion and focus so that others will be attracted to the love and grace that is available through Christ Jesus? Is this Good News not, in itself, glorious enough to cause you to constantly rejoice and praise God?
  

Promises of the Gospel:

Amazing things happened in the early Christian community. When we take the time out of our busy lives to consider the life of the first Christians we become enchanted by how wonderful it must have been. A sense of awe so strong that nothing else mattered but focusing on Christ. But things were different then, or so we say. There is no way we can experience this type of life-style today. We live in a different world. We have bills to pay and a complexity of issues to survive. And yet, is there something about this early church that is missing in our lives today? Should our focus on Christ be as intense as they illustrate? Should our fears and worries be set aside so that we can more easily experience the love of Christ and the sense of "koinonia"² from our community of faith? Should our hearts be filled with praise for God? Should we enjoy the presence of God and each other with "glad and sincere hearts?" Is total immersion in Christ the key to establishing a beachhead to the kingdom of heaven in our lives?

¹Definition as found in "Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition,"©1999 by Macmillan USA.

²Koinonia: a Greed word meaning sharing, particiption, communion, partnership. It implies a degree of community, intimacy, and interdependence. "A life-changing encoutner with God's Word from the book of ACTS," Life Change Series, © 1987 by the Navigators, pp. 65

FUMC Devotionals
Faithwriters Magazine
BLOG: Reflections from the Heart

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE