10/02/2026
The Lord Added
Acts 2 and Doing It God’s Way
Laurel Heights Church of Christ, McAllen, Texas
Every congregation wants to grow. We pray about it, we bring it up in business meetings, and sooner or later somebody asks what the church in Jerusalem was doing that we aren’t doing.
Luke answers that question, but he answers the most important part first, and it isn’t about them at all. Look at the last line of Acts 2:
“And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
(Acts 2:47, ESV)
The Lord added. Not the apostles, and not anything the church organized. Whatever else we say about those first Christians, we have to say this first, or we will walk out of here with a technique.
So the question in front of us is not how to make a church grow. It is what kind of people the Lord was adding to. Luke shows us four things about them.
Through His Word.
Back up one verse from where we usually start.
“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
(Acts 2:41, ESV)
Before anyone devoted themselves to anything, they received the word Peter preached about Jesus, and they obeyed it. Then Luke tells us what they did with the rest of their lives:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
(Acts 2:42, ESV)
Four things, held at the same time. The teaching is there, and so is the table, and so are the prayers. I’ll be honest with you. Most of us are good at one or two of those. Devotion means coming back to it when it’s inconvenient, coming back when nobody would notice if you didn’t.
Through Unity.
“And all who believed were together and had all things in common.”
(Acts 2:44, ESV)
That verse makes some people nervous, and I understand why. It sounds like somebody’s property was taken. Nobody’s was. When Peter confronts Ananias a few chapters later, he says so plainly:
“While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”
(Acts 5:4, ESV)
The land was his. The giving was free. Luke describes the same church again in chapter 4, and the second time he tells us where the sharing came from:
“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”
(Acts 4:32, ESV)
Their hands opened because their hearts had already been joined.
Through Daily Living.
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.”
(Acts 2:46–47, ESV)
A word about the temple, because somebody always asks. These were Jewish believers in Jerusalem, and the temple courts were a crowded public place where people gathered. Nothing in the New Testament sends us looking for a temple. What Luke does show us is a church whose gladness didn’t wait for the assembly. It showed up over ordinary meals in somebody’s kitchen, with whoever happened to be there. And notice the last phrase. Favor with all the people. The neighbors could tell something had happened to these folks. I would like to think ours could tell. I’m not sure they could.
Through Evangelism.
In Acts 5 the apostles are arrested, beaten, and ordered to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. Here is what Luke records next:
“Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”
(Acts 5:41–42, ESV)
They had just been beaten for doing it, and they went right back to doing it.
Now, that is the apostles, and it would be easy to leave it with them. Luke won’t let us. When persecution broke out and the church was driven out of Jerusalem, the people who carried the gospel were not the apostles. They were ordinary believers who had just been forced from their homes:
“Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”
(Acts 8:4, ESV)
Word, unity, daily living, evangelism. I don’t read these as four steps, and I won’t hand them to you as a plan for growth. The growth belongs to the Lord, and what He asks of us is devotion. So before we gather again, open the word somewhere besides this building. Set an extra plate at your table for someone from this congregation. Loosen your grip on one thing you’ve been holding too tightly. Tell one person that Jesus is the Christ. Then trust the Lord with the adding. By Luke’s account He was doing it day by day, all along.
Acts 2:41 · Acts 2:42 · Acts 2:44 · Acts 2:46–47 · Acts 4:32 · Acts 5:4 · Acts 5:41–42 · Acts 8:4
