The marks of true greatness in the church and individual life are rooted in God's original intent and first principles. The early church, as depicted in Acts 2, demonstrated greatness through reverential fear of God, profound grace and benevolence towards others, and a powerful dependence on the Holy Spirit. This reverence stems from a proper understanding of God's holiness, while grace is expressed through selfless love and generosity, exemplified by Christ's sacrifice. True power arises from prayer and submission to Christ as the head of the church, enabling believers to be light and love in the world, reflecting God's manifold wisdom and drawing others to salvation.
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Hearing, like, and then there's a mountain in the course. If you can't do them, you'd be able to hear better. I think you all have to be able to hear it, especially. I mentioned last night the benefit of any who are interested. I have a few copies. I think there's three or four left. a book, last book that my father has written called Elijah and Elisha. If you're interested in one of these books, they're a dollar ninety five each. And if you should run out and you want a copy, I'll see if you can get it. I'll mail it to you. Thank you. For our reading tonight, I would like to direct your attention to the second chapter of Acts, Acts chapter two, and we'll begin our reading in Acts chapter two at the forty-first Acts two, this, is that better?
Okay, I'll try and behave myself. Acts two, and we'll begin our reading at the forty-first verse. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. In the same day there were Adams of them about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly. in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers, and fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles. And all that believed were together at all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all them, as every man had need.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, in breaking bread from house to house, that eat their meat with gladness and singless of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. I want to speak tonight on the marks of true greatness, the marks of true greatness. in connection with any subject that we have in the Word of God, it is always well to look at it in its beginning.
There's a law of first mention in Scripture. When you consider the subject of worship, it's well to turn to Genesis chapter twenty-two, where you have the first mention of worship. I am the lad, and we'll go younger in worship. And as you study that chapter, you'll come to some pretty good ideas about what is involved in connection with the subject of worship. If you want to know a little about creation, you can't get any better than going right back to the beginning. Through faith we understand that the world were framed by the Word of God. The things which are seen are not made of things which do appear.
If you want to know what God has to say in connection with the subject of marriage, Then the Lord Jesus says in the beginning it was not so. When they mention the subject of divorce and what had happened, God points us right at the beginning and what God ideally intended should be. And it's in the measure in which we, by God's grace, seek to model ourselves after God's purpose that we come into the highest good that we can in this world. Now in this chapter he considers the great subject of the church. Here we have the institution of the church. The church was yet future when the Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter sixteen, upon Peter's confession, Peter upon this rock, will I build my church?
He says, in the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. It was future then. But here we have the church in operation. The first occasion which the word church is mentioned is found here in Acts chapter two where you read that the Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved. The history of the church like all other human institutions including marriage has been a history of departure from God's intent and purposes. and the measure of blessing which has been enjoyed both in the home and in the church is in the measure in which God's people have returned to the first principles which are set forth in the word of God and so we need as we were just singing to sing that hymn the Lord revive us again we need to get back to God's first intent Now, there are three things that make for greatness.
As far as the church is concerned, and incidentally, as far as the individual life is concerned. We are told, you remember in the New Testament, that the church is his body. It's his body. the fullness of him or the completion of him that fill us all in all. Isn't that a remarkable statement to realize that the church is the completion of the Lord Jesus. He's the head and the people of God collectively, we're members, the scripture says, of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. It says we also are members, one of another.
And as my body demonstrates all that you know about me, you can imagine all you please, but all that you know about me, you know from my body. You know from the words that I speak. You know from the deeds that I do. Man looks in the outward appearance. That's the only place he can look. He may guess motives all he wants, but all that you basically can know is the manifestation of the body. And what God is telling us in this is that all the world knows about the Lord Jesus Christ is what the world sees in his body. And so we are the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
ye are the temple of the holy ghost and says the scripture if any man have not the spirit of christ he is none of his sometimes when people have asked me how do i know that i'm saved i tell them that i've got inside information his spirit witnesses my spirit that I'm a child of God. What a wonderful thing it is to have the Spirit. The earnest of the Spirit, the scripture says, until the redemption of the purchase possession. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Twice over, at least in the New Testament scriptures, you read this statement, God is not in temples made with hands.
All the five cathedrals, You go and see them in this building itself. This is not where God dwells. God dwells in the hearts of his people. The Apostle says, you remember, we have this treasure. What's the treasure? Christ. We have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. I remember years ago reading a little track that was entitled The Chevrolet. that wanted to be a Cadillac. Some of you may have read it. The Chevrolet that wanted to be a Cadillac.
In this little book, it's an allegory, it told how this Chevrolet had the ability to talk. Some had the ability to talk, but this one had the ability to talk. It was twenty-five years old, and its owner was riding in the Chevrolet one day. And the Chevrolet said to the owner, what's all that big hubbub going on down the street there? It was a big noise of a band and all the rest of it going on. It was just curious as to what was going on. Well, said the owner of the Chevrolet. It so happens that the President of the United States is in town today. And that limousine that you see there, that big black Cadillac, that limousine at the present is riding in.
And immediately the old, twenty-five-year-old Chevrolet said, I want to be a Cadillac. To which the owner said, you can't be a Cadillac. You're just an old beat-up, twenty-five-year-old Chevrolet. And that's it. So just forget it. But the Chevrolet just kept bugging the owner of the Chevrolet so much that the owner of the Chevrolet decided what he would do. He would just sort of pacify the Chevy by getting him. catalach paint job so he went down to the Cadillac agency said he didn't want any cheap Chevrolet paint he wanted nothing but the best Cadillac paint and so they painted up the Chevrolet but when it drove out they drove it out of the garage it still upped and puffed like an old Chevrolet and not like a brand new Cadillac and so the Chevrolet of course was aware of this and said You know, I don't sound so nicely, so nice as that old, that new Cadillac.
So one thing led to another, and he added a new paint job and a new motor put in, and finally, after you've exhausted all other means. He decided the only thing to do was just send it off to the junkie, which he did. And somehow or other through some mysterious means of logistics, that old beat-up, shoveling all of its parts, added up in a scrap, it was crushed into a chunk of iron, and it was sent off to General Motors, and they, through some mysterious way, took all of those parts and refashioned them and made it into a brand new satellite. well said the man this is just utter nonsense it would never happen quite that way but it is no nonsense that god can take a poor vile guilty helpless sinner we were sitting tonight the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from jesus a pardon received and he can make him a new creation in christ jesus and he does not give to that individual the honor of carrying around the President of the United States.
He gives him the inestible honor of carrying around in him the eternal Son of God. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. God in heaven, after treasure, riches, none may countertell, after deep eternal pleasure, Christ the Son, he loveth well. God, here on earth, a treasure. None but he its Christ may know. Deep. unfathomable pleasure Christ revealed in saints below yes brothers and sisters in Christ we are the body of Christ and all that the world knows of him is what the world sees in us and the prayer of our hearts may well be that of the Apostle that the Lord Jesus he said might be made manifest in his mortal body you know what the world needs is not you And the world does not need me.
But what the world needs is Christ. And God, by his Spirit, his purpose is that Christ might be revealed in us. We walk out after the flesh of the Spirit. So remember the Apostle speaks to the unbelievers collectively, says that ye are the epistle of Christ. Ye are the epistle of Christ. The epistle of Christ. The letter of Christ. The world does not read the Bible. The world does not read this book. But the world does read Christians' lives. He are the Epistle of Christ. Known and read of all men. Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
The Apostle says, ye are a royal priestess. That's what we are. Why are we a royal priestess? He says that ye should show forth the excellencies, the glory of him who have called you out of darkness, him through his marvelous light. God tells him his word and it is his church and by the church. might be made manifest, might be made known the manifold wisdom of God. Which is another way of saying that it's God's purpose that through the church, Christ should be made known. Because we read in Colossians two and verse three that in him, Christ, are in all of the treasures. All of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are set in the person of Christ.
is God's purpose and by the church, this manifold wisdom might be a known. I said at the moment, at the outset, I want to speak on three marks of greatness. When you look up in the sky, you look at the rainbow and you see the three primary colors of the rainbow displayed. There's the yellow. And that yellow is telling us, in picture at least, that God is like... Then you see the red, and the red is telling us that God is love. It tells us that he loved us so much that he gave his life a ransom for us all.
That it's the blood of Jesus Christ that cleansed us from all sin. It tells of his life of love poured out. And then finally, you have the blue. And that blue tells us that the one who once walked here on earth, God is liked. God is love, but God is life. The life, John says, the life was manifested. And we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. In First Corinthians chapter fifteen, the Apostle tells us there are only two men as God sees men. The first man is of the earth, earth eight.
For the second man, as the Mark of blue upon him, he is the Lord from heaven. And God's purpose is that as we live on this earth, that mark of that man should be seen in our lives. In the Old Testament in Numbers chapter fifteen, God told the children of Israel that they were to take him. saw them to all of their garments that they wore, a ribbon of blue. And every time as they walked, they were to remind themselves that they belonged to the Lord their God. While you're walking on earth, it was telling them a lesson, just remember to belong to the one who is in heaven. To set your mind in things above and not on things.
on earth, such an affection of things above and not on things on the earth. I remember a number of years ago we had a young fellow in giving his testimony at one of our meetings and he said something that I've never forgotten. He was telling how he said, you know, in the Old Testament, God told me, children of Israel, if you get to the land of Canaan, he says, you know, when you get to the land of Canaan, you're going to have some delicious fruits. Oh, he says, you're going to have figs, and you're going to have dates, and you're going to have pomegranates, and olives, and all of these good things. All the children of Israel got into the wilderness. And as they were in the wilderness, they started thinking back about what a wonderful time they had back in Egypt.
They got sick and tired of manna, manna, manna. And they said, you know, back in Egypt, we really had some chow back there. We had some food. We had the leeks and the onions and the melon and the garlic and the cucumbers and all the rest of it. And then he said this. Every one of the fruits of Egypt grew on the ground or under the ground. Every one of the fruits of Canaan grew up on trees. And you had to reach up to get them. either to grovel in the dirt to get what the world has to offer, or to reach up to get what God has to offer. And the Apostle says, Set your mind on things above, not on things in the earth, for you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
There are three things that John's Gospel presents to us. Another portion of the New Testament... concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and his greatness. First of all, God is light. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Which of you, he said, convinced of me of sin? Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. This is our Savior. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. I am the light of the world, he says. He that followed me shall not walk in darkness. you'll have the life of life. And then he said, not only is God life, but God is love. God has manifested his love toward us in the gift of his Son.
And we read in Second Corinthians, eight and verse nine, that he owed the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, Our saints who became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. So God is life, and God is love. And finally, God is life. The life was manifested, and we have seen it. And said our Savior, this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I want to call your attention to three things. as I said, the remarks of greatness in the early church. The first one is found in Acts chapter five in verses five and eleven.
You read the same expression in both instances. You're in connection with the history of Ananias and Sapphira. Remember Ananias and Sapphira, those two who had sold a piece of land. kept back apart at the price of it. They had a perfect right to all of it. They could have thrown it in the dirt or thrown it out in the garbage heap, and there would have been nothing said about it. But they sold this land for X numbers of dollars, we'll say ten thousand dollars. And they came and they brought five thousand and said, here's what we got for the land. It wasn't that Paul Peter said you had a right to it.
Well, it was yours. You had a right to do what you wanted. but having sold it and pretended to give what they had actually had not given, he says, you're blind to the Holy Ghost. And remember, Ananias fell down dead. And then later he dealt with Sapphira as well. It's interesting that Ananias means the grace of Jehovah. But oh, what a contrast in this man. He had a little appreciation of the grace of Jehovah. Right, he had. He would have counted the privilege to give in everything to him. He had a little appreciation. And the scripture says, we love because he first loved us. And Sapphira means blue.
And it speaks of heavenly, but she had a little conception of heaven's claims upon our life. And then we read that following upon the judgment, in their cases it says, great year. came upon all the church. That was one of the marks of greatness in the early church and great fear. When you turn to the fourth chapter of Acts, you read something like this. Towards the conclusion of Acts chapter four, you know they have been threatened that they're no longer to speak in the name of the Lord Jesus. And they prayed, Lord, that you would work signs and wonders through the name of thy son Jesus.
And they said, Lord, they pray that we might, with all boldness, they didn't pray that they would escape their responsibility. They prayed, Lord, with all boldness, you might bear witness. And then it says, And great grace was upon them all. Notice that great grace. First of all, great fear. Great grace was upon them all. He know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Great grace was upon them all. The thing that characterized him characterized them. Great grace was upon them. And it says that they shared with each other as everyone had need. There was a concern, a love, a compassion for one another.
You know, it's interesting in Second Corinthians, eight and verse nine, you read of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, it there are six he became four. But you know, at Second Corinthians chapter nine and verse fourteen, he speaks of the exceeding grace of God in you, not the exceeding grace of God, do you, but the exceeding grace of God in you, that which characterized him, characterized them. And Paul, in writing those Corinthians, you remember in Second Corinthians, eight and nine, He speaks to those Macedonian believers who, he said, out of their deep poverty, they had very little of this world's goods, unlike the Corinthians, who were a very rich church and had need of nothing, like it says of Laodicea.
But the Macedonians were very poor people, and it says, out of your deep poverty, they abounded of the riches of their liberality, so that not only to their power, but beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, he said. And the Apostle further said this, the secret of it all was they first gave themselves to the Lord and afterward to us. And that's really the secret of giving. If we have really committed ourselves to the Lord and all that we have follows in its train. Sing in one of our lovely hymns. Praise the Savior. Ye who know him. Who can tell how much we owe him.
gladly let us render to him all we are and if we do that then the other follows all we are and have great grace was upon them all and then it says this they prayed and it says and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they had assembled together and with great power the apostles gave witness of the resurrection three things that mark them First of all, our great fear, there was a reverence for God. And oh, how we need that today. Someone has said, we will never have light thoughts of sin if we have great thoughts of God.
If we have great thoughts of God, we will not think lightly of sin. It says, great fear came upon them all. Reverence for God, a godly reverence, a godly fear, not a craving fear. not a fear as to what God will do to me if I don't behave myself but what I might do to him if I don't behave myself a concern for his honor for the worthiness of his name this is that which characterized those early believers you remember we're told in second Corinthians chapter six and seven chapter six you have they where they're told to come out from among them be separate sent the Lord and touch not the unclean thing I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons.
And daughter said the Almighty in the next chapter starts like this, let us therefore. God wants to be a father, that he can delight in his children. He says, let us therefore, in view of this, cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. of the body as well as the mind perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The fear of God. Great fear, it says, came upon them all. And one of the things that God lists in Romans chapter three concerning the sinner, it says, there is no fear of God before their eyes. I have a little girl.
She's not so little now. She's twenty. But I remember when she was a little girl. And when I used to come home from work, we used to play a little game together. It was just a made-up game. It wasn't an official game. But when I would come in, the door, I would say to her, now you run away from daddy and I'll catch you. And, you know, there's a funny thing, she never learned how to play the game. I played it with her for quite a while, when she was just a little tight, and she never seemed to get the idea. I said, now you run away from me, so I'll catch you. But you know, instead of running away from him, when I start running to her, she turned around and run to me. And, you know, we played that game over and over and over again and had a lot of fun doing it, but she never got the way to play it.
Right. And one day as we were playing that game, I thought to myself, all that sinners were just as wise as a little girl, instead of running to God, away from God, in craving and fear, running to him and finding that perfect love. Cash, house, fear. Returning, sonsy kisses. And with his robe in vests, his perfect love dismisses all terror from their breast. Yes, there's a reverential fear, but there's certainly no craving fear of the one who knows the Lord. And then it says, Great Grace was upon them all. They were not only marked by reverence for God, they were marked by benevolence for others.
They had a concern for the needs of others. You know, the scripture tells us that we could do good unto all men, but especially unto those who are of the household of faith. And this is our privilege. This is that which marked the church and caused the people of that day to be convicted of the value of belonging to the church of God. They said of them, and there's even records, oh, well, they love one another. And our Lord Jesus said it. He said, by this, Shall all men know that you are my disciples? Not because you read the Bible, not because you attend meetings regularly, not because you pray, not because you give.
By this, shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. And I think of our Savior and his self-sacrificing spirit, how he taught us a lesson on the very night at which he was betrayed. He got into his hands a towel and a basin and bending Lord the disciples' feet, he began to wash their feet. Peter protested at first until the Lord spoke to him further. But Savior said, now what I do now, he says, you don't understand now. But he says, you'll understand it one of these days. How wonderful it is. The Lord Jesus has given us an example. He says, if I bend.
Your Lord and Master have washed your feet. He says, ye ought also to wash for another's feet. In other words, what he's saying, we need to be concerned about the walk, not only our own walk, but the walks of our brothers and sisters. And if we can bring the refreshing water of the Word of God to them in such a way, has to keep them on the right path. It's worth it all. And someday our Savior is going to reward us for our faithfulness in that. Grace, grace, was upon them all. We love to quote John three sixteen, where it says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, but we shall believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
But we need to remember first John three sixteen. And it says, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought, we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren. And the next verse says, But whoso hath this world's good, and seeeth his brother at me, and shutteth up his compassions from him, I would dwell at the love of God. Amen. A friend was telling me a story some years ago, tickled me at the time, told about a man over in Ireland in a very wealthy, wealthy church.
And after he had spoken, his preacher, after he had preached the message that particular Sunday morning, he stepped to the back of the auditorium, waiting as the people filed out. They didn't have rug floors as we have here, just stone floor. And as he stood there waiting, a man was walking out of the church and the sole on his shoe was loose. And as he walked along, plop, plop, plop, plop, making a big racket. And when he finally got abreast of the preacher, the preacher said to him, is that the best pair of shoes that you have? He said, It's the only pair of shoes that I have, sir.
And with that, the preacher reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a roll of bills, big enough to choke a horse, and he had it wrapped in a big round roll, cylindrical roll, and around it he had a rubber band to hold it together. He took the rubber band off and he handed it to the man. He says, put that around your soul as you think of that of fair shoes. How often we are so impractical in our dealings with the needs of others. Who so hath this world's good? And see that, that's a key word, and see if his brother had need.
and shut it up his mouth of compassion from him. How about the love of God again? And then the apostle says, Let us not love in words and in tongues, but in deeds and in truth. The thing that marked that early church was great grace, was upon them all. And then the third thing, it says, with great power, the apostle, it says, gave witness, the resurrection they were marked first of all by great reverence secondly by great benevolence and thirdly by great dependence because when you read that incident in Acts chapter four you read that they prayed they prayed And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled, was shaken together, and with great power, the apostles gave witness.
Where did their power come from? It came one high. They prayed. They prayed. They were marked by great dependence, not by independence, but they were marked by great dependence. The Lord Jesus said in the eighteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel in the very first verse, men ought always, he said, to pray out to faith. You know, we'll get discouraged, by the way, if we're relying on what we should do and what we have done, what we would do. But when we're resting in His strength, we go from strength to strength.
I think one of the most beautiful portions of the Old Testament, Is that lovely portion, the conclusion of Isaiah. Isaiah has written in Hebrew poetry. When you read it, it sounds like poetry. Hasn't I not known? Has not heard that the Lord God, the creator of the earth, faith is not me. There is weary. There is no search even to understand it. It sounds poetic. But you remember how it closes. And even the youth shall think. And the young man shall utterly fall. but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall have communion with God.
They shall run and not be weary. They'll be a blessing to their fellow men. And they shall walk and not think. They'll not be discouraged. Man ought to walk and pray and not think. Three things. Anyway, we need to devote holy to God. First of all, our praise. The Lord Jesus lived his life. We've one objected to live to the praise of God. You know, it says, we have been saved, Ephesians chapter one, that we might be to the praise of the glory of his grace. So our life is the social arts, the description that man may see your good works. Glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Then the second thing, not only our praise belongs to God, but our first. I'm using that just for the sake of alliteration, but it means that everything that we have, we are to commit to Him seven times over in the New Testament. You read this expression concerning the Lord Jesus. He gave Himself. Is there anything greater than that? Is there anything greater than you can give? I beseech you, it says, that you present your body when you're given your body. If you're given everything, there's nothing beyond that. He gave himself, it says, a ransom for us all. And so we're to give ourselves. That's the second thing. And then thirdly, prayer.
First of all, there's praise in the purse. That is everything we have ourselves, as well as our possession. And thirdly, prayer. The secret of their power was their dependence upon the Lord. The life that I now live. He says, I live by the faith of the Lord God. who loved me and gave himself for me. It's a life that is dependent on him. And I was saying, I think the other day, that instead of signing a declaration of independence, we all want to sign a declaration of dependence, recognize day by day how utterly dependent we are upon him. In the ninth chapter of Acts, and we're all familiar with this verse, the Apostle Paul says to the risen Christ, first of all he says who art thou Lord I am Jesus who now persecutors and the sixth verse he says Lord what wilt thou have me to do we said at the outset that we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones the church his body and what is true of him the head is it's been seen in the members of the body his
great his fear His reverence for God. And secondly, His grace. And then thirdly, as we were saying, His power. Now, it's interesting that the Lord Jesus in the twentieth chapter, yes, the twentieth chapter, John's Gospel, says this, to His own. As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when you read in the Acts of the Apostles, you are impressed with this. That just as in the human body, everything that I do or say takes his directions from this little part of the body from the head.
So in the spiritual body of Christ, everything takes directions from the head. And Paul expressed that very well when he said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? See, as the Father sent me, when the Lord Jesus came into this world, he came here in absolute subjection to the Father. Now he says, as the Father sent me, even so sent my youth, so that we are to be in absolute subjection to our risen head in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul recognizes that. And I was interested in notice this in reading the Acts of the Apostles. Not once in the Acts of the Apostles do you have any prayer addressed to the Father.
Not once. Twice three times only of the Father mentioned in Acts. Once he's mentioned in connection with the Lord said, it's not for you to know the times of the seasons with the Father and kept in his own power. And twice he's mentioned in connection with the promise of the Father, the Spirit of God coming. But then you read expressions like this. The Lord added to the church daily such a should be saved. You have a prayer like this. The Lord Jesus prayed on the cross, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
In Acts chapter nine, Ananias comes and he says to Paul, he says, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared to the annoyance at me. Here he was, a member of the body, subject to the head. Not once in the Acts of the Apostle, you read of anybody being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done that way. Each time it mentions they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. It says, the Spirit of the Lord, God, are we still? It says, concerning Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened. It says, the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison gates, Peter.
It says, many believe in the Lord. It says, the Lord had brought him out of prison in Acts chapter twelve. It says, as they minister to the Lord, they said, the Spirit of God said, separate unto me Barnabas and Saul. And the Apostle said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Yes, he is the head of his church. And it's our business. be subject to him and to pray daily, Lord, what will thou have me to do? I believe that the measure in which we are weak and failing is the measure in which we fail to reflect that God is light.
And in him is no darkness at all. There is a lack of reverence and that God is love and grace is to be manifested in our lives, in our dealings, one with the other. And then thirdly, God is light and great power to be manifested in our lives. Now, the scripture says, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and above Jesus Christ, his son, cleanse with us from all sin. So we are not only walking in the light, but the scripture says, we are light in the Lord. We are the light. The Lord Jesus said, remember, while as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world, he says, but now ye are the light of the world.
He says, let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Well, we're light and then we're love. In fact, we have the capacity because we have the capacity to love. We are the wealthiest people that there are in the world. Did you know that? Having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us, makes us the wealthiest people in the world. Because nothing satisfies the human heart, save love. And God's love shed abroad in our hearts. We are the channels of His love in a material way, in a spiritual way.
The scripture says all things are yours, life, death. Things that come, and God uses us as a channel of these blessings to the world. Max Reich, a Hebrew Christian, once wrote the lines, he said, the heart is bigger than the world. The heart is bigger than the world. The world can never fill it. It thirsts for happiness and love. No earthly love can serve. Christ's love is bigger than the world. It passes human knowing. He filled the heart in which He dwelt, loved, to overflowing. We're wealthy. And every man has received the gift, even so that he ministered the same, one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
So first of all, God's people are light. They're marked by genuineness. God's people are loved. They're marked by generosity. And then God's people... our life or our God's people are life they are marked by great power it's interesting you know I I started out by reading this passage here right at the Pentecostal church and I got way you know I want you to notice that these three great marks were true here in Acts chapter two notice first it says in verse forty three and fear And fear came upon every soul.
Fear came upon every soul. That expression is used four times in the Acts of the Apostles. Fear came upon every soul. He said, they continued steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of pride in the prayers, and fear. Reverential fear came upon every soul. They were marred by great fear. And then it says in Acts two and verses forty four and forty five, all that believed were together and all things common and so the possessions and goods and part of them to all men is every man in need. They were marked by great grace. And then they were marked by great power because it said they praised God and that's the thing that brings power.
And they had favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church. daily such as should be saved and it's in the measure i know we'll never get back to pentagon there's only one and god never intended there to be more than one but it's in the measure that we get back to these three characteristics that characterize them that would be a blessing in our daily generation thank god enable us to grasp these things by faith to know something of the great fear that mark those early believers, reverence for God, and their concern, fathers, their great grace, and they know something of the power that makes these souls blessed, Lord, adding to the church such as should be saved.
Shall we pray? And now, our Father, we pray, that thou wouldst take thy word, which we have looked at, of thou knowest our hearts, thou knowest our needs, And as not us here, individual me, we pray, thou by thy Spirit, that we draweth the word hope and power into our life, the life of the Lord Jesus, that we may be made manifest in our immortal bodies, that we indeed may be usable of thee in this far day. And yet it may be said of us, as thou didst say, concerning my son David. I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart shall fulfill all my will. thus my people here and here's how I learned the help of each.