How would you respond if our church suddenly added 3,000 people at one time.  How would it affect our unity?  When the early church saw their numbers swell from that small gathering of around 150 to 3000 from just one sermon, it must have been amazing, yet challenging. Just as the Holy Spirit had empowered them and demonstrated His power through them as they boldly proclaimed the gospel, they now had to depend on Him to remain unified with all these new people coming to Christ from so many different backgrounds. The Explore the Bible study: "Unified," is going to focus on this very important topic this week.

As you prepare to teach these passages, think about your life as a believer as you imagine how these believers lived their faith:

• Imagine them encountering family and friends in the temple courts and sharing their faith in Christ with them.
• Imagine them inviting neighbors and friends to join them at their homes for food and Bible study and to gather together to hear one of the Disciples preach.
• Imagine the excitement they had about sharing their faith in Christ in the marketplace where people came to shop and sell.
• Imagine how passionate they were about getting to know and caring for all those who were being added to the church.
• Imagine if this were you and if this were our church today!

Acts 2:41-42

• Identify the four activities that expressed their devotion.
• Were these community or individual pursuits?
• What does this communicate about being a member of a local church?
• How does being devoted to these actions keep a church unified?
• Could they have done this without the empowering of the Holy Spirit? Why or why not?
• In what ways does our church demonstrate these actions today? 
• Look over this list again. How devoted are you to pursuing these actions as a part of this church? If these aren’t a priority what does this communicate about you?