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The STANDARD Church
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)
The perfect God specializes in ideal things. When He makes something, He says that it is “very good.” (Gen.1:31) He made man in His image, which means he was perfect, everything God wanted him to be. We eventually mess everything up; we did in Eden and have been doing it ever since. Everything God has done in salvation is to bring us back to that pristine Eden (Rev.22), perfect people living in a perfect environment. When He makes the New Jerusalem, it will be completely glorious and perfect, and we will not ever be able to mess it up, for “there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Rev.21:27)
When God started the church in Acts chapter two, it was perfect, everything He wanted it to be; His ideal as a bride for His Son, a dwelling place, and a perfect body for His Son. Therefore, it stands forever as His standard. A standard is “something established by authority as a model or example.” (Webster) When clothes designers first show off their ‘wares’ they put them on what they call a “Model.” Designer Clothes are supposed to look like what the model exampled in the beginning. They were designed that way and they are always supposed to look that way. Those who make clothes at home use what they call a “pattern.” They pin the paper-pattern to cloth and then cut the cloth along the pattern and the clothes follow the pattern, whether it’s a shirt, skirt, or whatever. Acts 2 is the standard for the church, designed by the hand of God and meant to be patterned from now until Jesus comes. It’s His model church. Any deviation from Acts 2 is not what God designed.
The standard church is not supposed to be what you are used to. You’ve been in a dead church for years but when God infused some life into it, you didn’t like it. It’s not the type of church you’re used to. But we must always choose and design our churches after God’s standard, pattern, and model we find in Acts 2.
If you continue to read Acts you will see that men began to mess with the pattern, through sin, false doctrine and practices. Paul knew about this when he wrote, “Now the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” (1Tim.4:1) False teachings and man-made traditions pervert the pattern and sabotage the standard.
2:41 & 47, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
Setting the Stage for The Standard Church, cha.1
I. Mighty Signs, 2:1-4
II. Sermons, 2:5-39
A. Meaningful, v.5-21
B. Messianic, v.22-39
III. Many Salvations, v. 40-41, 47
IV. Multiple Services, v.42-47
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