Tuesday 11 September 2007

And they continued steadfastly

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” - Acts 2v42

What a marvellous day that must have been as Peter finished preaching and some three thousand people were saved and followed the Lord in baptism. We can only imagine the buzz about the place as these numbers turned to Christ and joined the 120 believers who were already there.

What do you do when three thousand people get saved? Where do you put them? How do you handle the crowds and the logistics? We don’t know the answers to all this, but we do know what was important – we know that they continued on steadfastly. They stuck to the stuff. They were consistent. They were not quitters. They showed stick-to-itevness.

What did they stick to? There are a lot of specifics in the next few verse, but the first little phrase is foundational. There are a lot of things to talk about here, but I think it interesting that the first thing mentioned is that they stayed faithful in following the disciples teaching, their doctrine as it was given by God.

Sadly doctrine is often one of the first things sacrificed in a church in order to have all the rest of the things listed. All the rest hinges on proper doctrine. If the doctrine in wrong what will happen to all the rest?

All of the things to follow in this list are great and important, but it all must be built on being steadfast in doctrine.

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