The Church in Recovery

In this "Year of Recovery" the Church needs to recover some of the practices of the early Church. For this lesson, we'll use this reference for the purpose of defining the word recovery: 

Recovery is the restoration or return to a normal condition

after damage or loss has been incurred - taken place. 

Our points of focus - discussion are taken from the book of Acts, chapters 2 thru 4, and the book of Revelation, chapter 2.

1) Let's recover a sincere love for God.

When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, we experience the delight of "first love" for the Lord. God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are now a child of God and this newfound relationship brings great joy and freedom. Unfortunately, many of us fall away from this first love. When we stop depending on God to meet our daily needs, our love for God grows cold. Jesus addressed this issue when He spoke to the Church of Ephesus. Jesus said: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works . . .” (Revelation 2:4–5).

2) Let's recover our devotion to God and the study and practice of His Word.

Devotion to God implies a passionate, enthusiasm for Him; having a heart completely yielded to Him in reverence, faith, and holiness. For the devoted, prayer and the study of God's Word, along with meditation are imperative. Listening, learning, and putting into practice what we hear and learn. We must become devoted to listening, learning, and letting what we read and hear change our lives.

3) Let's recover our devotion to prayer.

We see this again and again throughout the book of Acts, as believers prayed for the apostles, for each other, and for the spread of the Gospel. They prayed a particularly wonderful prayer in Acts 4, asking God for boldness to spread the Gospel.

4) Let's recover the practice of sharing.

Something really remarkable about the early Church is how committed they were to serving and supporting one another. Acts 2:45 even says that they sold their belongings in order to care for those who didn’t have enough! This kind of remarkable generosity should be evident in our Churches. However, too often we get caught up in loving the thought of having lots of money to ourselves. Could we be more generous to those around us, so no one is in need?

5) Let's recover the understanding of how important it is that we come together - meet together.

The early Church met not just on Sundays, or on Friday night, or for a mid-week Bible study and prayer. They were committed to meeting together every day, to encourage one another, learn together and worship the Lord. This doesn’t mean we have to go to church every single day. However, these believers clearly placed an extremely high priority on fellowship. Do we place the same value on meeting together? Or do things like relaxing, going out to eat, watching tv, Netflix, and chilling or just hanging out, come before Church, prayer, and Bible study?

6) Let's recover the understanding of the importance of praise.

The believers in the early Church were so thankful for everything Jesus had done for them, that they praised God fervently. This was even despite the persecution and alienation they faced for following such a radical faith! Often when we struggle, we are inclined to blame God. Perhaps we should be praising Him more for all He has done, and who He is. After all, no matter what is going on in our lives, God still created us and Jesus still died for us.