Church growth in the book of Acts is characterized by numerical expansion, geographical spread, and spiritual development. The sermon highlights how the early church experienced significant numerical increases, starting with 120 believers and growing to thousands through conversions, as evidenced in Acts 2:41 and 4:4. Geographically, the gospel moved from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and eventually to the ends of the earth, as seen in Acts 8 and 11, with believers scattering and preaching the word. The core lesson emphasizes that genuine conversion, adherence to apostolic doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer are foundational to this growth, leading to a church that multiplied numerically and spread its influence widely.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.20 → restored 4.38
returning to the book of Acts tonight, Acts chapter one, and we're going to be working right through the book of Acts in the second phase of looking at the great subject here of church growth, which is one of the great themes of the book of Acts, and we don't need to look far to find it. Before we read, let us just pray together. Our Father, we thank you that you have given thy church a commission to evangelize, and you have promised that you would add daily to the church, such as should be saved, and that wherever the gospel went forth, thy word declares that as many as were ordained unto eternal life, believe.
Help us, O God, to have a definite vision of a perishing world and of the witness of the gospel of saving grace, realizing that the same Lord over all is indeed rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed. And how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach except they be sent? So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We thank the O God for the testimony of the early church. We pray that as we study it, we may glean precious truth that indeed will be profitable to us in nineteen eighty-eight, that we may glorify you in this day, showing forth the praises of him who called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light.
Minister to us tonight, lead us out in prayer. And Father, glorify yourself in our midst. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Now, in our last study in the book of Acts, we examine church growth from the standpoint of the fact that it is written three times that the word of God grew, the word of the Lord grew. Now, we want to look and read beginning at verse six. of Acts chapter one then we want to read a bit from Acts chapter two and when they were come together they asked him that is the Lord Jesus saying Lord will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel it is quite interesting this statement that is made by the disciples they had fought with each other before the cross over who was going to be greatest in the kingdom.
And then the night in which our Lord was betrayed, they were fighting in the upper room over who was going to be the greatest. And they wouldn't wash each other's feet. And our Lord showed he, the Lord of life and glory, could take the servant's place, wash the disciples' feet, and instruct them in true servanthood. However, having arisen from the dead, our Lord Jesus about to return to the Father. They said to him, Lord, we'll now at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel.
Their minds were on an earthly kingdom and earthly glory. How sad. But the Lord... The teaching in the answer that He gave to them here in Acts chapter one must have registered in their minds to such an extent that when the Spirit of God came on the day of Pentecost and baptized them into the body of Christ, they moved on with the message of redeeming grace and they became true servants of Him who is Lord of all. So you'll notice in verse seven, and he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power.
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Here we have the commission that our Lord gave to his own. He says, Don't you worry about the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power. And it's an amazing thing that over the years we have had plenty of prophetic teachers who minded the times and the seasons more than they did proclaiming the message of the gospel.
Now when you get to the second chapter of Acts, Acts chapter two, verse forty-one, then they, now this is the result of Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost, then they that received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. So we find that there are four things that characterize the activity of the early church and from these four things grew the early church.
Now let us notice a few things. Last week we noticed three things. The Word of God grew and the gospel overcomes linguistic differences. We have that in Acts chapter six. There was a murmuring between the Grecian Jews, those who were born outside the land of Palestine, and the Hebrews, they who were born within. But we find that the gospel overcame the linguistic differences. They simply appointed men who would wait on tables in order that the apostles would continually give themselves the prayer and the ministry of the Word of God.
The apostles had their priorities straight. The prayer and the ministry of the Word of God should not We see the Word of God growing. The Spirit of God is well pleased. The men have their priorities straight. The second thing we notice is in Acts, verse twenty-two. The Gospel can conquer idolatry. For we find here that the Word of God grew the result of these men whom God raised up, and they defied, Herod, the king, who was seen and worshipped as an idolater.
Finally, we find that the gospel can successfully face opposition. And you have that seen at Ephesus in chapter nineteen and verse twenty, where the activity of Satan is met head on by the gospel of saving grace and the word of God grew. So growth in the book of Acts is a definite theme. Now we want to consider three areas wherein church growth is recorded in the book of Acts and it is recorded for our glory.
First of all, numerical growth. They grew numerically. And I want you to notice verse fifteen of chapter one. It's quite interesting the humble beginnings of the church. For we read, And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, The number of names together were about a hundred and twenty. Now, beginning at verse thirteen, we have the very names listed. We have the eleven disciples who became apostles. And we have Mary, the mother of Jesus.
We have a few women. And we have His brethren. The His brethren there are the brothers of the Lord who had not believed before His death and resurrection. But now they are believers, for Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. And before his resurrection, his brothers did not believe that he was indeed the Son of God and that his mother was a virgin when she bore the Lord Jesus. You see.
But now they believe it. Christ arose from the dead and his own brethren are gathered together here in the upper room. It's just a hundred and twenty believers. A very small group. to be waiting upon the Lord. Now after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and Peter's memorable message declaring that Jesus, who was approved of God, whom they crucified, is indeed Lord and Christ. God has exalted him to his own right hand.
And beloved, that is the gospel. And the scripture tells us in Acts chapter two that about four thousand, excuse me, three thousand believed the word, were baptized and were added unto them. That is a numerical figure. Three thousand were added unto them. They were added to the one hundred twenty. Now there are three thousand one hundred twenty in the church. The church is growing. And of course, we notice in verse forty-one that they were continuing steadfastly, not spasmodically, not as it pleased them, but they continued steadfastly in those four things.
Now because they devoted themselves to these four things, and the four things are the Apostles' Doctrine, that is the teaching of the Apostles. And I believe that the teaching of the Apostles here has reference to the Gospel as outlined in the Old Testament. They did not have a New Testament. None of the New Testament was yet written. It was a matter of proclaiming and studying the Old Testament and beholding Christ, the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his coming again.
They saw these truths. They rejoiced in them. This became the foundation of the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship in breaking of bread and in prayers. the Christian message in Acts chapter two it moves out and it reaches people who share a common background a common culture and a common geography they reach the people in their own area that's how the gospel spread now church growth in the book of Acts cannot be dismissed as just a flash in the pan something that happens and it'll go away there are those who thought it would Gamaliel is one of them but the church was established by our blessed Lord so after Peter and John preach in chapter three at the healing of the lame man and again as he continues his message in chapter four And in verse four, we find there's an additional number.
And the number of the men was about five thousand. Now, I do not know if this figure is five thousand more than the three thousand, or if the church just grew to five thousand. I do not know. One thing I do know, the scripture here says there was a numerical growth, and the number was about five thousand. Now, More were constantly added to their number. Look at chapter five of the Acts and verse fourteen. And the believers were the more added to the Lord, multitude, both of men and of women.
And when you come down to chapter six and verse one, we read, And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied. So we have church growth that is numerical. Now the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria continued to grow. Look over at chapter nine and verse thirty-one. Acts nine and verse thirty-one. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit were multiplied.
So when you look down at verse thirty-five, we read, And all that dwelt at Lydah and Sharon saw him, and turned to the Lord. This is the healing of the man there, Aeneas. And then when you get down to verse forty-two we read, and it was known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. So we notice church growth is numerical in the book of Acts. They were increasing. Now the book of Acts strongly underscores the fact of numerical growth. Now Luke, Dr.
Luke, did not worship numbers. But Dr. Luke did not ignore numbers. You know, when we get to a certain place, we can easily come up with an excuse. Oh, Dr. Luke, he didn't worship numbers. But remember, he didn't ignore them either. It's recorded for our admonition. And if we believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, it should mean something to us. You see, Dr. Luke used numbers to discern the response of the gospel in a given situation.
The gospel is going forth, and there is response to the gospel. Today, in the church growth, the growth is basically biological. Now, what do we mean by that? You see, children within a local church group... and in a local church family they profess faith in Christ and they're added or there is a transfer from another assembly but in the Acts the growth of the church was not primarily this way it was by conversion they could not rely on the other forms of growth that we rely on today usually when a church grows rapidly These people that are coming from other groups into that group rather than by the conversions to our blessed Lord from the paganism of a natural life.
So there is church growth. There is numerical growth. And we need to pay attention to the numerical growth in the book of Acts. But then there's a second area of growth and that's geographical growth. You see, the gospel spread not only from one individual to another, but the gospel spread from place to place. The Book of Acts presents in broad terms the spread of the gospel geographically all the way from Jerusalem to Rome. And if you take a map and you look at the spread of the gospel throughout northern Africa, and throughout southern Europe and Asia and all along the near eastern border of the Mediterranean Sea, you can only marvel at the geographical growth of the church in the first few years of its existence.
Now, the key text that I looked at for this First of all is a commission of the Lord that we read in Acts I.A. Ye shall be witnesses unto me. But in chapter nine, and you're still at chapter nine, and verse thirty-two, we read this, and it came to pass as Peter passed throughout all quarters. He came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydah. He came there. He had passed through. He wasn't stationary. He was moving with a gospel. So you see, the gospel was not restricted to Jerusalem.
For in chapter eight, it spread to Samaria and then further into Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Look at chapter eleven and verse nineteen. Chapter eleven and verse nineteen. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen. Isn't that amazing? Now if you remember that the Book of James was probably the earliest of the New Testament books to be written. The Book of James. Flip over to the Book of James.
Keep your finger here for a moment. James chapter one verse one. This becomes quite interesting. James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad greeting. Now in all probability James in his little epistle he is writing to establish those about whom we read in this eleventh chapter you'll notice they preached the word to none but to the Jews only they were scattered abroad because of the persecution that arose over Stephen and you remember who was the instigator of that none other than Saul of Tarsus but notice the second verse of this chapter James one my brethren counted all joy when you fall into many trials.
Temptation. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith work of patience. But let patience have our perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. In other words, the early church wasn't nearly as concerned about persecutions. and the prevention of persecution as they were proclaiming the gospel. And we see the thrust of James' message is, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into many trials. Now, when we have trials, we don't count it joy.
We count it just the opposite. We're very discouraged, and we go around with a long face. You know what I mean. You see, the geographic expansion of the gospel was undergirded by a strong conviction that the message that they had is for every person. That was their conviction. In the Acts, we see that the spreading of the gospel was according to the plan of God. And the spread was no optional extra with them. This was the very life. of the early believers. And the believers worked in harmony with the gracious purpose of God.
Now I want you to notice just one or two things that I'm going to be through. There's a third area that I was going to deal with, but we'll have to leave it. I wanted to deal with the spread of the church growth numerically, and I wanted to notice church growth geographically, and I wanted to notice church growth spiritually. For to me that is yet the most important, but our time is gone. Let me just say a few things. The Book of Acts is a book of two different three-way movements. Three-way movements.
First, it's an upward movement, the Lord Jesus, to heaven. Second, it is a downward movement the Holy Spirit to earth. It is an outward movement. The gospel goes forth. The disciples went out with the gospel. Now then, the second three-way movement is this. In the three-fold movements in the Book of Acts, in the final movement, the outward movement of the gospel There are three men in particular that are used by God.
The Lord Jesus said to his disciples, ye shall be witnesses unto me in Judea, in Jerusalem and in all Judea. And there Peter is the spokesman. And we are primarily involved in the book of Acts with the activity of Peter geographically. Now John is mentioned along with him and when they go up to the temple to pray in the third chapter of Acts. But it's basically Peter. And then we find that the gospel moves to second ring, the second circle. It goes to Samaria, Acts chapter eight. And here Philip, one of the seven who was chosen to wait on tables, now becomes a spokesman for God in a place called Samaria.
And then finally the gospel goes to the uttermost part of the earth. And now Saul of Tarsus, who becomes Paul the apostle, becomes the main mover in the proclamation of the gospel to the end of the then known world. I couldn't help but notice this morning when thinking about Peter as he wrote his first epistle. He writes to the saints scattered of the dispersion who are scattered throughout Pontus, Asia, Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bethenia.
And if you examine that section carefully, remember Paul wanted to go into Bethenia. The Spirit of God said, no, God had another man to go there. His name was Peter. And Peter writes to them. The first epistle. Friends, the gospel went forth. And church growth, the result of genuine conversions to Jesus Christ, was inevitable. And the results were that many were added to the church. For it grew numerically.
And it grew geographically. And thanks be unto God, it grew spiritually. May the Lord bless his word.