based on the Love God Greatly Study, From Broken to Restored / w3d5
Scripture: Nehemiah 7:1-73; Acts 2:42-47 / SOAP Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, 47 praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.
Acts 2:46-47
*Note on the Nehemiah passage: When the wall was complete and they were preparing for reentry, Nehemiah set in motion a focus on God (1-2) and followed God’s lead (5) as to who could enter. The chapter is long and filled with nearly 73 verses of names and details, details that were recorded because they would one day prove the family line between David and Jesus, the Messiah. The occupants were Jews and they were chosen according to who could “prove their lineage” You can read more about this in today’s “Going Further” section.
As for our SOAP passage, Acts 2:46-47, the who or how of the gathering of the disciples was structured a little different than the lineage based structure of Nehemiah’s day. In the disciples’ case – while they were Jewish converts – their gatherings had little to do with the fact that they were Jews and everything to do with the fact that they were Jewish Jesus followers.
Me From the Inside Out 