Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them who believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
The Church of the First Century is the model Church for us today. While it was not overly great in number, it was great in faith and unity. Due to their faith in Christ, they had all been excommunicated from the synagogue which left them homeless and without a source of income because many of them worked for the synagogue which was also the government.
What we see is that their faith in Christ outweighed their trust in the Synagogue or government. This caused them to come together and care for each other. They pooled their resources and actually lived together in support of each other.
Many people believe this to mean that God supports Communism, but nothing could be further from the truth. Communism is a forced situation by the government. The First Church was a “family” of believers who lived together due to the persecution of the government. While Peter and John were their leaders, they were by no means dictators to the rest of the group.
No one was required to give anything. They voluntarily shared what they had with each other out of sheer necessity and love for each other. They were of one mind; one accord; one heart, and one soul. And the multitude of them who believed were of one heart and of one soul:
When a community of a few thousand like-minded people come together in unity and pool their resources and abilities together, they can live in harmony and peace. This was the case with the First Century Church and they grew in number every day as they shared their faith in Christ.
While this is God’s Pattern for His Church, unfortunately, it is far from the case today. Denominations have fragmented the Body of Christ to the point that we are at each other's throats instead of being in one accord, one mind, one heart, and one soul.
Personally, I believe that God is using the current demonic state of the world and its attack on the Body of Christ to force us to come together. While we may not agree on every detail in the Bible, we do agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, suffered, and died on the Cross of Calvary to atone for the sins of the world, was buried in a borrowed tomb, was raised from the dead on the third day, and is alive today sitting at the Right Hand of the Father until such time as He returns for His Bride; the Church.
This is what I like to call the “Common Ground of the Gospel.” On this, we all agree. On this, we are in one accord. Agree with me that the Body of Christ join together on this Common Ground and stand strong against the enemy in these troubled times because it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
We must stand and we must stand together as we lift up the Name of Jesus around the world.
The Name of Jesus will……..….turn the tide……….in this dark and troubled world.
Standing with you, Doreen
www.bettsministries.org
