READ Acts 16 COMMENTARY: : 5        And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. (1577 “churches” [ekklesia] means congregation, assembly, gathering of persons with a purpose, gathering, or a calling out.) DEVOTION:  The people who gathered on the day of Pentecost started what is called the congregation of the righteous in the New Testament. They gathered around the belief that Jesus Christ came as the Messiah and died for the sins of those who accepted HIS sacrifice. One the day of Pentecost there were three thousand plus in the assembly of Jerusalem. They met in house churches. They met in other locations. It continued to grow to a group of about ten thousand believers. Next came the persecution of those who believed which caused them to scatter away from Jerusalem. The apostles stayed in Jerusalem…