Peter finished off his sermon, talking about Christ's Resurrection, Ascension, and Glorification, all as a fulfillment of prophecy in Scripture. He told the crowd what they needed to do to be saved - "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (vs 38b); and 3,000 accepted.
The early church grew daily, under the model summarized in vs 42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." I often refer back to this "model" to see how my class is doing in the basic areas of teaching, fellowship, and prayer. I do emphasize teaching and try to incorporate prayer for each other every time we meet; but, just this last weekend, when our class had our New Year's potluck get-together, it was clear how beneficial fellowship time outside of class was. I could see that people were able to get to know each other better to develop closer bonds; and to enjoy their time together.
In the passage, there are two specific times identified where the Church grew: first after hearing the message of truth and the other when devoted to the Church model. I liked what Chuck Swindoll said in "The Church Awakening" which seems to summarize this well - "the church needs biblical truth taught correctly and clearly....and lived out in authenticity."
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