Acts 2:46-47

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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

From Background Notes [BN] for March 8th & 9th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Growth belongs to the process of the Holy Spirit in response to faithful witness, both in words and lives. While we might think it can be orchestrated and controlled, the truth is that genuine growth belongs to the essence of life itself ― God's life, resulting from the new birth.

To further explain this process, the writer makes clear that those added were "the ones being saved." This reminds us of Peter's sermon where he enjoins his audience, "save yourselves from this crooked and perverse generation…" These new born followers of Jesus were entirely from the Israel living under the old regime. Part of their formation as lively new fellowships included leaving behind their natural claims to spiritual inheritance and taking up a new identity as the restored people of God. They are "the remnant people," called out of old Israel. [BN,8]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am