Feb 14 2014
The impact of New Testament house groups
Acts 2:42-47 – The Fellowship of the Believers
Some of the best Christian discussions happen in kitchens. Where food is shared, life is shared. The Jews of Christ’s time understood this. Their religious feasts were a combination of worship, food and fellowship. And this tradition continued into the early church. Scripture says the first Christians “ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (Acts 2:46). This happened after 3000 people became Christians on the day of Pentecost (41). Now there’s a thought. Where do you take 3000 for a bite in Jerusalem? For that matter, where did 3000 gather for worship? The temple was used initially, but you can bet the Jewish authorities wouldn’t have allowed that for long. The answer is not hard to find – the first believers met in homes. That’s right, 3000 believers gathered in multiple houses across the city. The early church was a house group movement.
We get an interesting window into one of these house groups in Acts 12:11-17. More
Feb 22 2014
Just a supper, but what a supper!
Luke 22:7-23 The Lord’s Supper was about covenant relationships. Have we lost that?
The last supper has to be the most famous meal of all time, and no doubt the most influential. Painters have tried to capture the scene again and again. But what do they see in it? What’s so special about the last supper? Well Jesus did something that would have been quite shocking for any Jew of his day. He took the traditional Passover meal that was eaten in memory of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and told his disciples to start eating it in memory of him. That’s right. As the leader at the table that night he broke the unleavened bread and gave it out to his disciples saying “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” He also took the traditional Cup of Redemption and passed it around the table saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” We might say that he only did it with the bread and wine, but the bread and wine represented the whole meal. And the first Christians understood that because they continued to break bread together as part of a full meal in their homes (Acts 2:46). Does this mean we should be breaking bread as part of a full meal today? More