Building Blocks of Revival - Acts 2 — Phil Beach Jr.

The problem when we get together as a board, we have a problem getting to business. But we're working on it, because as we start praying, God just begins. I mean, I'll tell you, I'll just be honest, we have been weeping and crying.

There's been a testimony from both Joe and Norman that God has restored something to them that seemingly had been dormant for how many years, Joe? Four or five years? It was like a work of restoration.

We got together and went to a back road, and we started praying in the car. And, oh, I mean, we wept and we cried, and we just poured our hearts out to each other and to God. And we really sensed a stirring, like God was really moving in heaven.

And He's doing this with many of us. Many of you. How many here have sensed this feeling of restoration in God's spirit? And God is just bringing us back to that communion with Him. This is what we so longed for, and we believe God wants to do.

The main text is found in chapter two. However, I would like to read on beginning in verse number, or chapter number four, beginning with verse number 23. I'm going to read several scriptures from the book of Acts.

And as I read these scriptures, I'm asking the Holy Spirit to quicken and make alive this recorded truth. Because this is not just a history lesson of what happened in the days when the church was first birthed into existence.

This is relative to what God wills for us today. And as I was reading the scriptures and studying in the word of God, I sensed in my spirit a divine to bring me and others back to that setting that they walked in and lived in.

That it is apt for a corporate body of Christ as a whole. It is absolutely impossible. I say that again. It is impossible for us to realize or to experience what it is that we've been praying to God for unless the proper foundation, unless incubator is established.

God works through and by and in a certain scenario. There has never been a kind of a scenario. The Lord wants to establish our foundation. He wants to establish our foundation as a sure lock. And it is from this foundation that the work of God will spring forth.

It is from this setting that the work of God will spring forth. I believe that God wants to put together everywhere. In every town and in every city. A spiritual, listen, a spiritual hibernation or not hibernation, a spiritual incubation.

I know this sounds funny and strange, but you'll understand as we read and study the scriptures. It is absolutely expedient and necessary for the church to be in the incubation setting so that the Lord Jesus can nurture us by his spirit, by his presence and grow us up.

That we might realize and understand the unique gifts and callings that God has given to us. That we might express these by love through the Holy Ghost. So that the entire body is strengthened in love.

So that Christ is glorified all along through and through. This is the revelation. But see, you say, well, why doesn't this happen? Why isn't this happening in the local fellowships? Because it is necessary for this incubation process to come forth and is made manifest.

And this is what we must, our expectations to become a reality. This is only a work of the Lord. This could only be done by the spirit of God. As the hearts of God's people are stirred and moved and they respond to God.

It's almost like a mother hen nurturing and incubating the eggs. It's almost like God wants to create a spiritual nest wherein his covering and his presence can overshadow us. And it is from that setting from which we will begin to grow.

And he will nurture us. And we will grow and understand what he wants. Now, I would like to, if I could, begin reading Acts chapter 4, verse number 23. Acts chapter 4, verse number 23. Now, and John had just been imprisoned.

And this is where we pick up in verse number 23, Acts chapter 4. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

Now, immediately we're beginning to see that God had so fashioned the early church that their immediate response to a certain situation was prayer. Prayer is one of the foundations from which this nest, this incubation is put together.

So, the spirit of prayer prevailed in the life of the early church. The spirit of prayer prevailed. Now, let's read on here and see what the spirit of prayer produced. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed.

They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and to perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. I believe God wants to establish one of the first foundations in our life, and that is the foundation of prayer.

So that prayer becomes something to us as water is to a fish. It's something necessary. It's something that we need, something that we participate in, something that becomes an actual way of life. I'm trusting that as the word of God is being sown into our hearts, as the word of God is being brought forth, that the Lord will take the word and quicken this to your spirit, and that indeed it will begin to affect your life, your personal life, your habits, and it will also affect the corporate meeting together as a church.

The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. I believe that God is doing this in the spirit, and I believe that we're going to see it manifest itself in our midst. I believe we're already beginning to see it.

I believe we're going to see it more and more and more. Like I said, and I want to emphasize this, because I feel this is probably one of the most major, major important things to understand as God is moving and stirring in our midst.

We must allow God to put together the proper place of incubation so that the works of God and the spirit of God and the individual members of the body of Christ can truly grow and be nurtured. There is no true spiritual nurturing outside of this New Testament setting.

That's why religion and churchianity doesn't work. Because there's a form, but there's not the inner working of this foundation being wrong. Now, let's read on here verse number 32 through 35. All the believers were one in heart and mind.

Now, this is an astounding statement, and this in itself can become an entire message. But the importance of the unity of heart and mind. What this means is God joined together a group of people in the New Testament whose hearts were one.

That means they have the same purpose, they have the same desire, and they have the same aspiration. Listen, there were different calls, there were different secular jobs that the believers possessed, but the diversity of their particular callings did not hinder the oneness of their heart and the oneness of their purpose.

They desired the same thing, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ might continue the ministry that He manifested as a man through them. That was their one important chief desire, that Christ could manifest Himself.

They were one in heart and one in mind. No one claimed that any of His possessions was His own, but they shared everything they had. Here we find the incredible, miraculous, supernatural love and caring and sharing of the believers that was prevalent in the New Testament church.

An incredible love, an incredible revelation of Christ was so working in their hearts, in their lives, that they didn't even consider what they had to be their own. Now, this is not a Scripture that permits us to begin to act in a communal sense.

Many, many Christians have gone into error, and without the Lord leading them, they have taken these Scriptures and they have tried to orchestrate, outside of God's leading, a communal kind of a lifestyle where we would all become one and all own the same thing.

This is not at all what the Holy Spirit is telling the church today, at least in America. I don't know what's going on in other countries, but God is not telling us to do as the believers did, for everyone to sell their homes and their houses and all their possessions, and come and dump them at the altar so that we can all be in the same boat together.

Absolutely not. But God is telling us through this testimony that there was an incredible sharing and caring and selflessness that reigned in the heart of the New Testament church that was the direct result of Christ Himself moving in their hearts.

You see, it is impossible to hold on and to have that personal prevail when Christ truly moves in our midst. But it becomes a natural thing for us to care and share and be concerned about other people.

They shared everything they had. Verse number 33, With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. You know, friends, when I read this scripture, my heart leaped and I had to close my mouth because I thought it would leap out.

Let's read this again. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, I'm asking God to help us to understand that the apostles' testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was not sermons.

Jesus Christ was a testimony that was being through them. They were testifying to the fact that this man, Jesus, resurrected from the dead by expressing Him through their every action. The testimony was more than just a sermon, dear friends.

The year AD 33, it is a fact that the rock was turned. It is another fact confirmed by the Roman government that the soldiers were knocked down and they became cold. I doubt very much that the apostles were using that as evidence to try and convince the world that Jesus was raised from the dead.

But I had this strange feeling within me that they were using evidence such as silver and gold have I none but such as I have divine within the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. I mean, who can deny such evidence?

I believe that the power that enabled the apostles and not just the apostles because Stephen was not an apostle neither was Philip a recognized apostle but they were used mightily in the things of God because their heart was fully committed to Christ Jesus.

And I believe that the secret of the New Testament church in regards to being a witness and being able to testify to the resurrection of Christ did not lie in a creed as much as it did in Christ himself moving and expressing himself through them.

And this is what I believe God wants to do today. They had great power and testified to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them.

Now, this is referring to the church. This is referring to the church. There were no needy persons. In other words, there was nobody going hungry. There was nobody who didn't have clothing. There was nobody who didn't have shelter because the believers all were so joined together in their hearts that they wouldn't permit a fellow believer to be without.

See, they wouldn't permit it to happen. From time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, bought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Okay, now here is a picture of the life of the New Testament church. This is a picture of the life of the New Testament church. I believe that this is the incubation. This is the nest. This is the nest that the church lived in, a spiritual nest.

And it was because of this incredible unity and oneness, this incredible joining together in God, by God, and through God that enabled the church to be able to see Christ manifest Himself in such power and glory.

Now, I'll take you to Acts chapter 2. And I would like to turn your attention to verse number 42. And here we have another testimony. Similar to the one we just read. And now, this is the actual scripture that we shared at the devotional time at our meeting.

And this is what God really, really quickened to our hearts and certainly challenged us. He challenged us to really believe that this is what God wanted to do to us today. Now, I would like to submit to you this morning that within verses 42 through 47, we find a perfect description of the foundation that was laid by the Lord Himself that enabled the early church to see and experience and partake in such an incredible move of God.

And I submit to you this morning with no apprehension at all, with no doubt or question in my own spirit that if today God can find a people not committed to numbers, not committed to bigness, but committed to the Word of God and to Christ.

And if God will find a people who will allow Him to build into their life, to build into their very being, to build into their very disposition, into their very constitution, into their very personality, these building blocks in Acts chapter 2 verses 42 through 47, I believe we will see exactly what they saw with no questions, no doubts at all.

You know why I believe that? Because Jesus is the same. Yesterday, today, and forevermore. But this is the challenge. This is the challenge of the Holy Spirit. This is the time that takes time, if I might say that.

You'll find many people who will say, yea and amen to the things of God, to the works of God, to the power. But very few will understand the necessary preparation the Holy Spirit must work within our hearts before we can see these things.

And therefore, it becomes a hope that is never realized, a prayer that is never answered, a dream that is never seen. I do not want that to happen. I don't believe God wants that to happen. And I believe that through the Word of God, the infallible Word of God, and through the all-knowing Teacher of the Holy Spirit, we can let God walk us through exactly what He wants to do in our midst.

And then He can walk us through and show us what will occur. His Word can be a lamp and a light, guiding us and leading us through our darkness and our struggle. Notice these building blocks. Put together the incubation of the new church from which many marvelous things sprung out.

They devoted themselves. Three words. They devoted themselves. These three words are so very important for us to understand. Many, many people are devoted to many, many things. And I believe the Holy Spirit is asking us as a people, what are you devoted to?

It is very clear, if the English language means anything, and this is incredible, the Word of God has preserved for us something that we could never know without it. The question could be asked by the contemporary church, being heard about the great things that God did in the early testament church.

The question might be asked, what in the world did that early church do? That question never need to be asked again. Because within the Word of God, we can discover what they were devoted to. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

The first building block, the apostles' teaching, the Word of God. Because the apostles' teaching included the entire Old Testament. Because it was by the Old Testament that Paul proved that Jesus was Christ.

He did it by the law. The prophets and the Psalms. Jesus, when he was on the road of Emmaus, went to the law, to the prophets, and to the Psalms. And revealed himself in these various different sections of the Old Testament.

So the first building block in a spiritual incubator, where God by his Holy Spirit and Jesus puts his wings over us, and nurtures us individually and also corporately as a body, is devotion to the Word of God.

This means corporate devotion as we get together as a body of believers, but this also means personal devotion to the Word of God. Personal devotion to the Word of God that it might become sweet to us.

Discover the joys of the Word of God. Now I want to say this real quick in passing before we go on to discover the second building block. And that is this. Many of us, many of us are robbed on a daily basis from the Word of God because we set unrealistic goals for ourselves.

We fail to accomplish those goals. We get discouraged and we forget about the whole thing. We say, well, I'm going to start reading this much a day. You do it for two days. Then something comes in and you forget it.

You forget and then before you know it, you throw out the whole thing and you even stop reading completely. Friends, if you want the Word of God to become precious to your heart and life, stop setting unrealistic goals for yourself.

Most of the time our unrealistic goals are so far from what goal the Lord would set for us. I want to encourage you and admonish you not to go to the Word of God with an obligatory feeling. Well, I have to do this much today.

Go to the Word of God as a book of life and read one scripture and stop. Let God minister life to your heart. I know this as a pastor because I talk to a lot of people and the first thing I hear is, I just never do.

I just never can be faithful to what I have determined in my heart I'll do. And most of the time the testimony is this. Has God set those goals for you or have you set them? Don't look for quantity. Look for quality.

If it's three scriptures every morning that you read and God ministers to you, you're doing well. It's better to read three a morning than to have a goal that you're going to read four chapters and never do it.

Is it not? Certainly it is. So I'm praying this morning that God will release us from our unrealistic goals regarding the Word of God because isn't it the failure to accomplish our goals that keep us out of the Word of God?

Sure it is. How many of you honestly have been driven away from the Word of God at times in your life because you failed to keep your own goal and it discouraged you from the Word? Isn't that absurd? Do you think about it?

Isn't it absurd? Here we are being robbed from the Word of Life because of some foolish reason. Okay. Remember what we're doing, friends. I submit you will never see what we're asking until God establishes these simple devotional commitments in our lives as a local body and as families and as individuals.

It's so simple, we miss it. They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to fellowship. The second building block that the New Testament church was established in was fellowshipping one with another.

In 1 John, you don't have to turn there, I'm going to read it. 1 John chapter 1, 1 John chapter 1 beginning with verse number 7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin. The early church was not only devoted to the Word of God and they allowed the Word of God to minister life to them, but they were devoted to each other.

Listen, they prioritized. Well, that's an interesting word, isn't it? To prioritize something is to make it a priority. Have you prioritized the Word of God? And now secondly, fellowship with Christians, sharing and caring and laughing and crying.

Galatians chapter 6, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 15, instead speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is Christ.

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. This takes place in the scenario, in the setting of fellowship one with another.

Listen, that does not mean that we limit fellowship to our corporate gatherings as a church, Sundays and Wednesdays. No, no. That means that we catch the vision that there is a joy, there is a blessing, and there is a call by God for us to fellowship one with another and to enjoy each other's presence.

How many have been greatly enriched by the simplest fellowship of believers? I love it. I love it. Oh God, help us to see. Help us to see what is before us. Now, how many have not? Is this complicating?

No, it's simple, isn't it? Devoted to the apostles doctrine, devoted to fellowship, and now let's go back here in Acts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts chapter 2. I'm excited. Acts chapter 2. To the breaking of bread.

Breaking of bread was a tradition in the New Testament, and there was a twofold meaning to the breaking of bread. You see, it was inseparable. Fellowship and breaking of bread was a tradition in the New Testament church, and it was twofold.

The breaking of bread was, first of all, for the purpose of enjoying one another's fellowship and eating. Secondly, the breaking of bread was a tradition where when folks got together and fellowshiped, they celebrated and remembered the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, therefore, we understand by this scripture that the fellowship didn't revolve around foolish things. It didn't revolve around unprofitable things, but it revolved around good, wholesome fellowship, which means we have good times together, special times of dining where we all have good food, but also it revolved around the remembrance of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, our fellowship revolves around the life of Christ, the blood of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ, from which God births great things, and Silas came out of. The church of Antioch was established in this principle, and they were praying and fasting, and the Holy Ghost said, separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them.

This is the setting from which God raises up young pastors, and teachers, and missionaries. This is it. This is the setting. This is the New Testament setting where the gift of prophecy and the laying on of hands and healings take place.

This is it. This is it. From this, the entire New Testament revelation of Christ working His works among the church is realized. Without this, it is not realized. With this, God has unlimited possibilities.

This is why I'm so desperately praying that God will establish us in these things, because it is from this that there's many of us here this morning who have divine calls on our life. Maybe someone's called to be a missionary.

Maybe someone's called to be a pastor. Maybe someone's called to be an exhorter. It is in this setting, when a local church has its roots in these principles, that's when God sends people, and He knows that their gift will be realized, and they'll be sent out and nurtured.

Special, special things Christ does in this setting. He's going to do it in our midst right here. Right here. You're special, Karen and Neil. God has a special plan for you, and you're going to realize it.

Same with you, Jane. Let me ask a question. We've got the Apostles' Doctrine, which is the Word of God. We've got fellowship. We've got the breaking of bread. And we've got prayer. Everything in the world fight against devotion to these four things.

Everything in the world fights against devotion to these four things. This is why there's such a conflict in the life of every Christian who gets the revelation of the simplicity of the Christian life, and then seeks to accomplish it.

You will find storms and wars breaking out on every side. And I'm telling you right now, it's nothing less than Satan himself seeking to turn you aside from what potentially can transform your life, and then the lives of everyone you come in contact with.

Because once you're devoted to these four things, you rub off on people, and they get talking about you. You know that brother Perkins? It just seems that every time I'm with him, he's just talking about the Jesus and the glory of God, and he shares from the Scripture, and he just loves fellowship.

Maybe we should devote ourselves to those things. See, a chain reaction begins to occur. Apostles doctrine, fellowship, and the breaking of bread were the four millstones, the four foundational rocks that God molded the New Testament church into.

And it was that setting that nurtured the young believers. It was that setting that the people got saved and went into. They went into a church that had been created by God as an incubator. All the new believers being brought into the kingdom were coming into a church whose foundations were devoted to prayer, the Word of God, to fellowship.

My friends, in that kind of a setting, God's Spirit is moving and hoovering. Hovering or hoovering? Hoover is a vacuum cleaner. Okay, I knew that. Eureka! When God establishes this, but you see how hard it is for God to establish it?

You see, listen, you see the distractions that come when we purpose in our heart to let God do this? But you know what? I've come to the place where I'm willing by the power and grace of God to battle through the distractions.

I'm putting everything on risk. What happens when God gets such a setting? Verse 43, Everyone was filled with awe. I love it. Wonder, splendor. Wonder what they were filled with awe about? I tell you what, it wasn't a person.

It was the person. Everyone was filled with awe because in such a setting, Christ Himself comes forth. And I tell you, when Jesus comes forth, people are filled with awe. It's not ah, it's awe. And many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles, not the apostles exclusively.

Now I know that's what the scripture says, but you got to take the whole Word of God. Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, Silas, those who believe, moving in this setting. Then verse 44, All the believers were together and had everything in common.

Once again, this does not suggest communal living, but it does strongly suggest the same purpose, the same mind, the same desire, the same heart cry. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they're all in one mind, in all one accord.

Acts chapter 2 verse 1. And suddenly, you see, it takes time for God to bring people into unity, and that's the part that takes time, and it takes struggle, and it takes learning through trial and error.

But as soon as God gets His people in unity, the Bible says,. And suddenly, there's a suddenness about God moving in His temple as soon as people get in unity. Acts chapter 3,. And suddenly, the Lord whom ye seek shall come, and who shall abide the day of His coming.

All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need. Let me tell you something. You can sell all your possessions and goods and never give them up.

Don't ever think you have to sell something to give it up. But the Holy Spirit is such a miracle worker that you can possess everything but yet feel like you own nothing. That's what God wants. It's when your heart belongs to Him alone.

You can have as much money, as much housing as you want. And it could be like you have nothing. Let God work this in our life. Verse 46,. Every day, Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Every day. It wasn't a weekend affair, was it?

This stuff consumed them, didn't it? Listen, every day they continued to meet together in the temple. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And it was in this setting the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Word of God this morning, my friends. This is the divine challenge that God is bringing to us as a people. This is what I want Him to do in our lives.

And as He does this in our lives, He will truly be glorified in our midst. And He'll be praised by all of us. 40, That was the devotional that we shared. That was the word of the Lord that was confirmed to our hearts.

This is the direction that we're going in. This is what we want to see realized in our lives as a body and in our lives as families. And it is this setting that will produce a liberty and a life that will serve.

All right, let's turn to number two. And let's sing that precious song that we sung this morning. Open our eyes, Lord Jesus. Give us courage to say no to what perhaps we've said yes to. They had a very special play that they played 12 in Jerusalem.

Just couldn't oversee it anymore. But God took care of that. This is what God is going to obey God. We cannot control. We want God to have whoever He will to do whatever He wants. Find out what it is that the Lord has given to you.

Father, thank you for this.