I want to begin by quoting Acts 2:41-42, 47: “These those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And the continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers…And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

If you read the preceding verses, we learn in verses 1-4 that this was on the Day of Pentecost where thousands of Jews from around the world came together to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost (see Leviticus 23:15-22). The Holy Spirit came down on that day to indwell believers and to form the church by baptizing them into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). In verses 14-39 the Apostle Peter preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who were assembled and as we saw “those who gladly received his word were baptized.” In other words, those who BELIEVED THE GOSPEL were then willing to identify with their newfound Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, by being baptized in His name. We also saw in verse 47 from that day forward everyone who heard the gospel and believed, were saved, and added to the church. We learn here what the church is; it is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ. It is not a denomination, a building, or an organization. It is a living organism made up of individual believers who have BECOME ONE IN CHRIST.

We also saw in verse 42 that it became the practice of the church at Jerusalem to meet together in order to learn the doctrines that the apostles had taught and to practice those truths in fellowship together. Two central meetings of the church are mentioned: the “breaking of bread” (the Lord’s Supper…see 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 with Acts 20:7) and the “prayer meeting.” They knew they were “one in Christ” and they desired to be gathered together unto Christ’s Name (Matthew 18:20) in order to worship the Lord for laying down His life for us on the cross and shedding His blood for our redemption (see John 10:11-18; 1 Peter 1:17-19; 2:24: 3:18). They also felt the need to approach God in prayer to show their dependence on Him and to ask Him to meet all their needs (Hebrews 4:16-18; 10:19-22). These portions teach us the absolute necessity we have to come together for worship and prayer. We are a “collective company” that have been called to worship and pray together.

Now let’s read Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us CONSIDER ONE ANOTHER in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of OURSELVES TOGETHER, as is the manner of some, but EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Besides “worshipping and praying together,” we need to be gathered together to stir up love and good works in each other. We are living in a hostile world that hates Christ and we can become cold in our hearts that leads to “forgetting one another and lacking good works in our lives.” We need to consistently come together to “exhort (encourage) one another” to warm our hearts so that love will be manifested toward each other. The Lord Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you LOVE ONE ANOTHER; as I have loved you, that you also LOVE ONE ANOTHER. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER” (John 13:34-35). Notice how many times we read the words “one another” in these passages. This speaks volumes of how much WE NEED ONE ANOTHER and how important is to be ASSEMBLED TOGETHER for church meetings. If we “forsake the assembling of ourselves together” we will surely miss out on the fellowship we so sorely need and our fellow-believers will miss out on the encouragement we can offer to them.

Regarding prayer, I trust you have seen the importance of being with other believers to pray, yet there is also the need to get alone with our heavenly Father to pray. I would encourage you to read Matthew 6:5-13 where the Lord taught His disciples “how to pray.” In verses 9-13 we have a “model prayer” that is sometimes called “the Lord’s prayer” but the Lord Jesus never meant that prayer to be repeated verbatim for He said in verse 7, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.” No, this prayer is simply an example of a prayer that teaches us to address our prayers to God the Father in heaven and to give Him the reverence He deserves along with 1) the desire to know His will so we can do His will here on earth, and 2) the desire for Him to meet all of our needs, temporal and spiritual.  (DO)  (646.1)