“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all . . .” (Acts 2:1).
The Apostolic Church began with leadership. Obviously, it was the leadership of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, but mere men were involved too. And, notably for this discussion, they were not normal men; they were men who had walked with the Savior and were infused with the power of the Holy Ghost.
There are simple truths about churches and their growth, spiritually and numerically. One is that churches do not go beyond their leadership. When we look at the book of Acts for the pattern of being Apostolic in doctrine, action and growth, we see it starts with leadership. Notice several significant things: 1) “. . . when the Day of Pentecost was fully come.” Prior to this, there had been much preparation in the lives of the disciples and apostles-to-be. They had walked with Christ the redeemer for several years, and now they had been consecrating themselves for 40+ days, readying themselves to experience the “promise of the Father” (Luke 24:49).
How does this apply to us today? As leaders, we must make sure we are preparing ourselves to hear from God. By this, I mean in word, deed and spirit. For how can we share that which we do not have? If we do not pray, can we expect those who we lead to do so? No. If we do not do devotions, can we expect those we lead to do so? No.
2) “they were all . . .” THERE (Norman addition). Yes, they showed up for the prayer meetings, they showed up for the worship, and they showed up for the fellowship. The “they” that experienced the first outpouring of the Holy Ghost were those in attendance. Faithfulness in doing spiritual, righteous, just and merciful things cannot be over emphasized. Every word and deed is sowing a seed into our lives, our eternity and those we lead. In other words, it’s the church’s growth.
As the Apostles did in Acts 6, at times as leaders we must push the reset, restart, renew and refresh button and get back to the basics. An old adage from my “BC” youth was, “Don’t forget the girl you brought to the dance.” It is imperative we major on the majors, not the minors.
Brian Norman has been in the ministry for 23 years, serving as a Pastor, Church Planter and now as a full-time Evangelist. Phone: 636-544-0627 Website: GlobalEvangelism.org