1. The Successful Church

2. The Successful Church Question: what does success look like?
Not a formula, not a checklist but a list of expectations.

3. Historical Detour Sanhedrin: The supreme Jewish Council in Jerusalem
Pharisees
Sadducees
Concerned with traditional Jewish practices
Concerned with law of Moses and politics
Working class
Wealthy
Soul goes on after death
No afterlife
Body will be resurrected
No resurrection
Supernatural beings exist
No supernatural beings
God controls everything
God not an active presence

4. God will be placed over everything
Vs 29: Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
The greatest commandment.
Success experienced was not the result of people but as a result of God.

5. People will come to the Lord
Vs 14: Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
When the word goes out, the church grows.
People from all walks of life find the message appealing and compelling.

6. Signs and Wonders?
Vs 12: The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. 
There was an unusually high concentration of miracles around the apostles and the early church.
The successful church will not rule out the possibility of, or cease praying for (under the right circumstances), signs and wonders.

7. God’s providence and intervention
God has both the physical and spiritual domains at his disposal.
God’s providence can come about through ways that we never would have imagined.
Gamaliel is placed in a time and place where his free actions are used by God to bring about the desired circumstances.

8. Worthy of suffering
Vs 41: The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
James 1:2, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…
James 1:12, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

9. The Successful Church
A successful church isn’t one with a specific image
If we want to be a successful group of believers there are certain expectations that we should be aware of.