It’s 9:30 p.m. Sunday evening. This was surely a day that the Lord had made! Another series of awesome messages. It’s difficult to tell which one was better. Was it Sunday morning’s message or Sunday nights message? Yet, as only the Lord can do they both compliment and confirm one another. Both services were filled with the presence of the Lord. Some experienced the reality of His presence and His love for the very first time being filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. There was a baptismal service that night and many felt the exhilarating relief of knowing that their sins are forgiven and washed away. God has done such great things today! In Acts 2:41 this is exactly where we find the early Church.

What a day! In one day 3,000 souls were added to the Church. Image the joy of the Church that day! In verse 42 scripture gives us the divine pattern for maintaining that joy. By the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Paul lays out that divine pattern for personal growth in God. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Verse 42 in the Living Bible reads this way, “They joined with the other believers in regular attendance at the apostles’ teaching and at the Communion services and prayer meetings.” An experience, although quite real and authentic, is only the beginning of your relationship with God. Our relationship with the Lord must be nurtured if it is to grow. The early Church accomplished this by “continuing in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship”. Just like the early Church, Christians today need to be taught the Word of God, to teach the Word of God, to have fellowship

with God and other believers in order to grow into the Christian that God intends for us to be.

The Apostle Peter said to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” II Peter 3:18. Our relationship with the Lord must be nurtured if it is to grow. In verse 46 we see that the early Church went daily to the temple. For modern Christians going to Church twice a week is excessive.  Notice how they came to Church “with one accord”. In other words, one focus, one goal, one desire, Jesus! When God’s church in the earth today begins to set aside its petty differences, its desires for personal gain and shifts its attention off itself and unto God the miraculous power of the Lord Jesus Christ will begin to touch people’s lives. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12:32 (KJV)

The early Church went from “house to house”. To some extend most of the “house to house” fellowship was forced because Christians were thrown out of the Temple and rejected by Judaism being perceived as a great threat to “their” way of life. However, the Bible says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (KJV) The steps of a child of God are truly ordered of the Lord. Nothing happens by accident to the child of God. Therefore it is easy to conclude that this was a divine pattern and not a reaction to circumstance.

Today there is a revival of this Biblical pattern. Some refer to it as “small groups”, while others refer to it as the “cell ministry”. We refer to it affectionately as the “CARE group ministry”. However you refer to it there is a blessed truth in all those names. First, these groups are designed to be small groups intertwined into the life of the church that meets regularly to build up each other as members of the body (edification and discipleship) and to spread the gospel to those who don’t know Jesus (evangelism). Second, the Church is not an organization but an organism and in living organisms the cell is the basic unit of life. It is able to carry out all the functions of life and it has the capacity to grow. New cells are formed by the process of multiplication, which results in the growth of the organism as a whole.

Third, CARE! Care is so vitally needed in the world today. This ministry provides both an opportunity to serve and be served as we meet a variety of needs within the body and the neighboring community. It encourages the Ministry of the saints. “Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God's people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity;” Ephesians 4:12 (TLB).

Most people today endure blue Mondays, grey Tuesdays, or the weight of Wednesdays, the thoughts of Thursdays, to finally make it to “TGIF”. What a relief! Two more days and we start the process all over again! That’s no way to live for the child of God! John 10:10 says “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (KJV) Abundant life is not something that only happens on Sunday, it’s a 24 x 7 thing for the Christian.

We provide opportunities every Wednesday night at several different locations for the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints. There is no such thing as an independent Christian. Through the CARE group ministry young and old believers can participate in building up others. When believers participate in edifying one another, they mature. I will never forget my first CARE group lesson. Barely a few months old in the Lord my CARE group leader asked (and I use the term “ask” loosely) me to teach the lesson for next week. There was not a desert on earth as dry as my mouth was that night. I can’t remember the subject, or the text, only that by the grace of God and the patience of His people I got through it. Today, almost 15 years later, I’m still leading CARE groups and being perfected. What an honor it is to see prayers answered, see the sick healed, laugh and cry with God’s wonderful people, to witness people born into the Kingdom of God, being made new creatures in Christ and to disciple them. What a privilege!