Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-11-27
Golden Text: "Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved" Acts 2:2I.

The church was born fifty days
after Jesus was crucified, when the
Holy Spirit descended and filled the
one. hundred and twenty disciples
gathered in that upper room for
prayer. There were believers in
God in the Old Testament days, but
they were not members of the church
of Christ-they were not the called
OUT ones, the "ecclesia." They
were subjects of the Jewish king
dom, members of the theocracy,
When Jesus came He preached, as
John Baptist had done before Him,
the gospel Of the Kingdom. Re
pent for the Kingdom of Heaven is
at hand" The King has come to
take His throne and reign over His
subjects. and fulfill all the promises
that God had made with an oath to
give to His servant David-to estab-
lish his house, and his throne and
his kingdom forever. But the sub
iects rejected the king, they would
not have this man to reign over
them. He began, therefore, to train
a little group to carry on the work
that He was beginning.
Shortly before He gave up His
life for them on the cross He told
them He would build His church
the new moYement-on the confess
sion of faith in Him as the Son Of
God, the Christ, as Peter had just
expressed it; and the balance of His
ministry was with His own disciples
training them for the work they
were to do after He left them and
until He should return.
After His resurrection He appear
ed TO them a number of times, and
at the last appearance gave them a
command. They did not think for a
they were very dull. Even then they
still misunderstood Him and asked
Him ii at that time He would re-
store the Kingdom to Israel. You
see. they were Jews, and for genera
stiens they had been taught the un-
conditional promises that God had
made to David and had confirmed
them with an oath. The land had
been Internationally given to Abra-
ham and his seed in perpetuity; and
now the Romans were in possession
of it. The house Of David was to
be established, and now an hated
uSurper, an Asmonean, Herody was
on His throne. The Kingdom of
David was to be an everlasting
kingdom, and now Rome was in
command. They did not thing for a
moment that God would not keep
His promises, and they confidently
expected Him to restore the King
dom to Israel. They had had great
hopes that this would be the time,
and that He, the Son of David and
Son of God, would be the One to do
it, for even the enemies of Jesus
never doubted for one moment that,
He had the right to the throne Of
David. Had there been any flaw in
His genealogy they would have
shown it up.
Their hopes had been blasted when
He was crucified, but now they had
been revived since they had seen
Him alive again. Would He at this
time restore the Kingdom to Israel
as God had sworn to David?
He was very patient with their
great dullness. He did not chide
them. He did not explain, for they
could not understand His plan just
now about the church-for it was
mystery" hidden secret, that had
not been revealed in the Old Tesla
ment at all. He merely said very
quietly, ''It is not for you to know
the times or the seasons which the
Father hath put in His own power.
But ye shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost has come upon you:
and ye shall be witnesses unto me
in Jerusalem, and in all times, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth" Then He left
them; and their last sight of Him
was of the nail-pierced feet as the
cloud enveloped Him!
While they were looking up, if
perchance they might see Him if He
appeared again, two angels brought
them message Of hope and inspira-
ton This same Jesus shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen
Him 60" That hope was one of
their sources of power. They never
fogot the sight of the nail-prints nor
the promise of the return.
In obedience to the command that
He had just given them, they wait
ed for the promise of the Father. It
was ten days before the Day of
Penteeest, the day when the first
fruits of the barley harvest were
gathered; and they waited. When
that day was fully come, the Spirit
OF God came down and rested upon
them, and the first fruits of the har-
vest of souls that was to make up
the called-out ones was gathered.
Three thousand were converted in
that day. During the days that fol.
lowed others were added. The lit
tie company Of 120 grew to 5000,
and daily there We're added to the
church such as were being saved.
During the next few years-the
chronology is very difficult; some
think two. some five years-the gos-
pei of the grace of God was preached
in Jerusalem only with great power.
A great number of the priests even
We're obedient to the faith. Men who
had been towards became conspicu-
ously courageous. Peter and John
were the outstanding leaders at first.
Nothing could silence them; the DOW
erful Sanhedrim had to content it.
self only with warnings; they were
powerless to stop them. Their cour-
age was contagious. Men went from
house to house witnessing to the
resurrection of Jesus, although in
doing so every one of them took his
life in his hands on account of the
bitter hatred of the Sanhedrim.
Soon the number grew so large
that it became necessary to set apart
certain ones to assist in particular
part of the work. That is always
the result OF growth. At first ev-
erybo9y can do everything; but
growth demands organization, diff
ferentlation. OF the seven deacons
who were selected for the particular
work in hand, two became men of
renown-Stepheh and Philip-and
each because of a particular contri-