73 Bible Verses about The Growth Of The Early Church

Acts 9:31 ESV / 15 helpful votes

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

Acts 2:47 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Matthew 28:19-20 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Hebrews 13:7 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

Ephesians 4:11-12 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Hebrews 10:25 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Titus 2:1-15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ...

Titus 1:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

1 Timothy 4:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

3 John 1:11-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

3 John 1:9-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

Hebrews 10:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

Romans 10:14-15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Acts 20:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Acts 12:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Acts 11:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Acts 8:9-13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Acts 6:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

Acts 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Matthew 16:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

3 John 1:5-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

1 John 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

2 Peter 3:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 1:13-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ...

Hebrews 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Titus 1:3-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, ...

2 Timothy 3:16-4:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ...

1 Timothy 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

1 Timothy 3:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

1 Timothy 3:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? ...

Colossians 1:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Philippians 1:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Ephesians 5:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Ephesians 4:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 5:16-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ...

Galatians 5:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ...

1 Corinthians 12:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ...

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 3:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

Romans 16:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. ...

Romans 12:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 10:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Acts 20:20-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. ...

Acts 20:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

Acts 20:1-38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, ...

Acts 19:17-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Acts 17:22-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ...

Acts 17:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Acts 16:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

Acts 6:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Acts 6:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

Acts 6:1-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ...

Acts 5:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

John 12:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Mark 16:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Matthew 28:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 5:48 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Ezekiel 13:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive?

Psalm 103:2-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

Psalm 40:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

Job 22:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; but he saves the lowly.

1 Chronicles 16:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Exodus 7:10-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

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