Recently, my church introduced before service breakfast sessions (tea/coffee time) and after church lunch on communion days. This fellowship and breaking of bread is also witnessed in the early church. In fact, after the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost day, the they continued to meet together in the temple courts every day.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:46). They were devoted to the apostles’ teaching: they listened and acted based on what they received. They were devoted to fellowship (koinonia): they were meeting together everyday. They were devoted to the breaking of bread: they ate together. They were devoted to prayer: they prayed without ceasing.
The Holy Spirit brings devotion in the church and among individuals. How do I know that a person is filled by the Holy Spirit? Consider their devotion to the things of God and their relationship with God. Devoted believers always go the extra mile. They do not miss church services for no reason, they are committed to scriptures, they love to interact with fellow believers and they are committed to prayer. The Holy Spirit’s infilling is measurable: it is possible to have a knee-level infilling and others have the overflowing-swiming experience. Ezekiel’s vision of the water in the temple (Ezekiel 47:1-12) gives an understanding of how the presence of the Holy Spirit can take a shallow dive to a flowing river. Guess what? As Ezekiel noted “where the river flows everything will live” (Ezekiel 47:9c), the Holy Spirit is a life-giving spirit (Romans 8:10-11).
When we understand what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit does in the lives of believers and the church as a whole, we should naturally desire an Acts 2:42 encounter: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” This transformational church encounter led to sporadic church growth: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47b). There is life wherever the Holy Spirit presence is felt. In Ezekiel’s vision of the water in the temple, he noted that swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows… and where the river flows everything will live” (47:9) and “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (47:12).
The Acts 2:42 encounter is the life of a Spirit-filled church. Devotion should be a natural reaction of Spirit-filled believers. Are you devoted doctrine, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer?
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