Hear the sermon now, "Together" - Fr. Christopher Caudle

Summary

After Peter’s Pentecost preaching, the crowd asks what they should do. The answer is to repent and be baptized—trusting Christ for forgiveness, receiving the Holy Spirit, and being incorporated into God’s people. Everything else the church does flows from (and serves) that center.

The early believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, becoming a disciple-making community shaped by the apostles as they applied the gospel to real situations, faithful to Jesus and to the way Jesus read the Scriptures. They also devoted themselves to fellowship—lives overlapping in shared time, meals, prayers, needs, and encouragement as a connected, caring church. They were committed to the breaking of bread: not only ordinary meals but as the form of our worship, known as the Lord’s Supper, that proclaims Christ’s death and resurrection “until he comes again.” The early believers were a praying church, offering requests and intercession that kept the community aligned with God’s purposes.

The book of Acts presents these devotions alongside public witness, mercy, courage, and evangelism. The same dynamics that hold an “Easter community” together also press it outward—so that “day by day” the Lord adds new people who are being saved.

Across Acts, prayer regularly frames mission and sends the church back into mission. The apostles pray as they choose witnesses (Acts 1), asking God to guide leadership decisions so the church remains a resurrection-witnessing body. After arrest and threats, early believers pray for boldness (Acts 4), and the Spirit empowers renewed proclamation. When practical needs threaten to distract from ministry, prayer accompanies the appointment of servants (Acts 6), thereby supporting gospel work. In suffering, Stephen prays with Christlike forgiveness (Acts 7), asking mercy for his opponents. Prayer strengthens new believers (Acts 8) and surrounds healing and restoration that enables ongoing service to the vulnerable (Acts 9). Finally, worship, fasting, and prayer commission missionaries (Acts 13), launching outward gospel witness.

“Glad and generous hearts” show up in shared meals and open lives. Generosity is portrayed as making room for others—an extra place at the table—so togetherness includes those not yet part of the believing community.

The sermon emphasizes a two-sided reality in Acts 2:47: God does not add people without saving them (no merely nominal Christianity), and God does not save people without adding them (no isolated Christianity). Salvation draws people into a visible community.

The gospel remains effective even for those who hear “late,” and transformed communal life can soften even the most resistant observers over time—illustrated by the surprising note that “even a number of priests became obedient to the faith.”

Keeping the gospel primary, repentance and trust in Christ are the “musts,” and the church’s practices are gifts that serve the gospel. Let the four devotions shape your weekly life—learning, sharing your life with others, Holy Communion/Lord’s Supper-centered worship, and prayer. Consider evaluating your prayer by its direction, asking for prayers that move you toward need and toward mission rather than away from them. Practice concrete hospitality by setting an “extra place” in the rhythms of meals, conversation, and service. And expect God to work through ordinary faithfulness over time, even among those who seem least likely to respond.

Prayer

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