The Explosive Growth of the Early Church

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The Explosive Growth of the Early Church
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Reasons for Explosive Evangelism

• We are commanded by Jesus in the Great Commission
  to go ye therefore and teach all nations (Matt.
  2819-20, KJV)
• We are to go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and
  unto the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts
  18, KJV) are commanded by Jesus, just before his
  ascension
• The disciples of Jesus took His commands
  seriously and followed them as the entire known
  world became evangelized will we do the same?

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What caused the explosive growthof the early
church?

• Strong doctrinal faith in Christ and in His life,
  death, resurrection, and ascension
• Persecution fanned the flames of Christianity,
  which spread by the power of the Holy Spirit
  throughout the known world
• The belief was strong that Jesus was coming again
  very soon and that people needed to hear the
  gospel of Jesus Christ
• Christ and others who warned about persecution
  led people to believe that Jesus was coming very
  soon Martin Luther and others believed that
  Jesus was coming very soon
• Jesus is coming soon and we must be ready

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What happened after Pentecost?

• Paul and many other Christians became apostles
  and missionaries spreading Christianity
  throughout the known world, with many becoming
  martyrs for the faith
• The Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem and the
  temple in 70 A.D., driving Christians throughout
  the world to escape persecution, which helped
  spread Christianity
• The Romans persecuted Christians, and required
  that they say Caesar is Lord but Christians
  would die for the faith saying that Jesus is
  Lord
• Eventually, in 312 A.D., Christianity became the
  official religion of Rome when Constantine
  converted to Christianity
• In 313 A.D., meetings of leaders of the church at
  Nicea led to the establishment of books of the
  Bible as canon, and is known by the Nicean Creed

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Verses in Joel in Contrast to Isaiah and the
Millennium

• Joel 39-10 prepares the Christian for war,
  which relates to the passage of Paul on the armor
  of God
• The action of beating plowshares into swords
  and pruninghooks into spears is the opposite
  reference from Isaiah 24 which is an obvious
  reference to the Millennium and to the end of
  time
• There is no valley of Jehosophat and therefore
  cannot be a reference to the end times
• The church, after Christ and since, has been
  at war with Satan The forces of darkness have
  used many ideologies to attack the church

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False Doctrines Attackingthe Early Church
Gnosticism

• From Wikipaedia, Gnosticism teaches that humans
  are divine souls trapped in a material world
  created by an evil spirit, the demiurge, who is
  frequently identified with the Abrahamic God.
  The demiurge, embodiment of evil, exists
  alongside another remote and unknowable supreme
  being that embodies good. In order to free
  oneself from the materialistic world, one needs
  gnosis, or esoteric spiritual knowledge only
  available to a learned elite. Jesus of Nazareth
  is identified by some (though not all) Gnostic
  sects as an embodiment of the supreme Being who
  became incarnate to bring gnosis to the Earth.

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False Doctrines Attackingthe Early Church
Gnosticism

• Gnosticism comes from the root word gnosis
  meaning knowledge or special/secret knowledge it
  holds the doctrine that salvation comes through
  knowledge and that once attained, one was freed
  from the clutch of matter, i.e., the body was
  evil and it did not matter what one did with it
  most Gnostics denied the deity of Christ due to
  the belief held that the physical body was evil
  and the spirit was good coming from Greek
  philosophy
• Today we have Scientology that says a lot of same
  things, with special teachers and secret
  knowledge this is also a part of the New Age
  movement which is the old tactics in new clothing

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False Doctrines Attackingthe Early Church
Nicolaitans

• Nicolaitans in Revelation were followers of
  Nicolaus of Antioch
• Nicolaitans were accepting of and/or indulging in
  pagan religious worship, including worshipping
  idols and sexual immorality
• The church of Ephesus is commended for their
  hatred of the Nicolaitans and the church of
  Pergamos is condemned for their acceptance of it
• Today many people are embrace pagan ideas are
  acceptable and sexual immorality the idea that
  if it feels good, it is OK as well as the idea
  that all religions lead to God and/or to heaven
  are wrong

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The Noble Army of Martyrs

• Translation of the Latin Te Deum which starts
  off with We praise thee, O God translates the
  phrase, The noble army of martyrs praise thee
• Besides the apostles there were many martyrs
  including the following more famous martyrs
• Stephen first martyr in the Bible stoned
  because of Saul of Tarsus
• Prochorus martyred at Antioch and is said to
  have become Bishop of Nicomedia
• One of Philips daughters, Hermoine was a martyr

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The Noble Army of Martyrs

• Other martyrs not counting thousands more
• Ignatius who before his death said, Now I begin
  to be a disciple
• Germanicus delivered to wild beasts
• Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna who said, Eighty and
  six years have I served Him, and He never once
  wronged me how then shall I blaspheme my King,
  Who hath saved me?
• Justin, famous philosopher, who argued for Christ
  and Christianity against pagan ideas
• Frequent symbols in the catacombs The Good
  shepherd with the lamb on His shoulder, a ship
  under full sail, harps, anchors, crowns, vines,
  and above all fish

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The Arian Controversy

• Arius, priest of Alexandria, at the beginning of
  the fourth century combined the Logos of St. John
  with the Demiurge of the Neoplatonists in 318
  AD
• Arius tried to say that God the Father was not of
  the same essence as God the Son, Jesus Christ
• The result was a vote by the Ecumenical Council
  at Nicea was decisively decided against the idea
  that God the Father and God the Son were not of
  one essence
• The Nicene creed (325 AD) states that Jesus was
  of one being with the Father, begotten not made
• Later on Arian heretics persecuted Christians

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What False Doctrines Attackthe Church Today

• The roots of many false beliefs are rooted in the
  idea that all matter is God but we are warned to
  worship the Creator and not the creation
• Such beliefs come from religions such as
• Shamanism
• Liberation Theology
• Buddhism
• Japanese Shintoism
• The Babylonian religion references are made in
  Revelation to Babylon the Great which refers to
  this religion
• In Persia the priests there worshipped the sun,
  and persecuted Christians

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What False Doctrines Attackthe Church Today

• Today many people have idols of all kinds besides
  God money, power, possessions, the desire for
  secret knowledge outside of the Bible and other
  things we need to put God first in our lives.
• Others will say that we do not need to obey
  Gods laws.
• We often try to make Christianity contemporary
  and relevant to the 21st century.
• However, we must maintain sound doctrine our
  doctrine becomes unhealthy and untrue if we allow
  it to become watered down.
• We move also go out and teach the true gospel
  to the world.