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Dear God, we thank you for this Sabbath, for this time that we can gather together.

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Thank you for all the blessings that you have poured out upon us.

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Thank you for that refining fire that changes us, that makes us ready to do your will as

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we just heard so beautifully sung.

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Be with us today.

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In your name we pray.

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Amen.

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Thank you for singing.

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That was beautiful.

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And for coming to join us and playing as well.

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So I imagine that this week somebody, maybe you, one day this past week the alarm went

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off, you got up, you had some breakfast.

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What did you have?

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Some cornflakes, a pancake?

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I don't know.

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What did you have for breakfast?

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You went to work, you did the thing you do most days, maybe you had an appointment,

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you came home, you ate supper, you probably watched some TV, you went to bed.

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And then the next day the alarm went off and you did pretty much a very similar thing because

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the day was ordinary.

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It was an ordinary day and many times our ordinary days are similar from day to day,

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from week to week.

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You went the next day, you woke up and you did it all over again.

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That's how many of our days go.

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Now advertisers, they want us to want something different, to want something new.

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They like to use words like new and improved or bigger and better because if we see something

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as improved, if we see it's better, then maybe we'll be enticed to purchase that new item.

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They can tell us that the pizza is going to have more toppings.

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In fact, we're going to put cheese right into the crust and maybe we'll want to buy that

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pizza because it's got cheese in the crust.

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What about everybody's favorite Oreos?

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Not only a regular Oreo isn't enough, you've got to have double stuffed Oreos and triple

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stuffed Oreos and frosted Oreos and all these different things because it's better.

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And if it's better, then you will want it.

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Then something as simple as shaving.

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I see some in here who don't shave very often, but others shave sometimes and two razors

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on your blade is not enough.

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Two blades on your razor is not enough.

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What about three?

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What about four?

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Let's go crazy.

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How about five or six razors that's going to entice you to buy that new thing because

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they want us to be extreme because sometimes ordinary seems boring.

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We could say even in our religious moments, even in our Sabbath morning, sometimes, I'm

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sure not here, but sometimes people get upset that they don't play their favorite song.

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I didn't like the music today.

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I didn't like the sermon today.

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It wasn't the topic that I thought we needed to hear.

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Sometimes if we're not moved, if we don't cry about the topic, if our heart isn't moved,

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then we don't feel it and we think nothing special has happened, nothing special has

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taken place because ordinary seems boring.

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Now in the Bible, let's be clear, there are some extreme stories that take place.

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You can think of, we talked about Elisha, who was the guy right before him?

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Elijah, yeah, that was his name.

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One of his most well-known stories is that there's a time of drought, there's no rain,

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he gathers everybody on Mount Carmel, and there's this contest, this competition that

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takes place, and as Elijah is praying, boom, fire falls from heaven and it burns up the

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sacrifice and it burns up the wood and it burns up the stone and it even, it burns up

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everything, and the people cry out, the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God.

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Now that was an extreme story.

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That was an exciting day in religious history right there.

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We could go forward from there a few years and there's three young Hebrews in exile living

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in Babylon and one day the king sets up a giant statue and when the music plays, everybody

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is supposed to do what?

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Everybody is supposed to bow down and the guitar and the piano begin, the music starts,

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all the instruments that are listed, and everybody bows down except for three people.

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There's three people that are still standing and so they give them a second chance, these

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three Hebrew worthies, they play the music again, everybody bows down except for the

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three and so they throw them into the fiery furnace.

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This is an extreme day in religious history and just a few moments later, King Nebuchadnezzar

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peers into that blazing hot fiery furnace and he says, wait a second, didn't we throw

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three people in there?

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Why is it one, two, three, four?

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Why do I see four people in there and one of them looks like the son of God?

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That was an extreme moment in religious history.

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Or two weeks ago when I was here in Acts chapter two, we talked about those followers of Jesus

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who were gathered together and suddenly on the day of Pentecost that Holy Spirit was

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poured out and they spoke in other languages and the crowd was gathered and there was wind

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and there was fire and the place shook.

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That was an extreme moment.

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But we have to remember that yes, there are extreme times in the Bible, but that is not

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the norm.

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That is not what usually happens because before Mount Carmel, before the fire fell from heaven,

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Elijah had spent three and a half years during the drought by a brook, by himself, off in

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wilderness places communing with God.

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Before those three Hebrews were willing to stand when everybody else knelt, just the

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chapter before, Daniel chapter two, when Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a statue, they had spent

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nights, a night in prayer, praying that God would reveal a dream.

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Before they stood, before the extreme, they had spent time in prayer and before the Holy

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Spirit was poured out, Jesus had told those followers, those disciples to wait or to tarry

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and they had spent, does anybody remember how many days?

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Ten days they had spent from when Jesus ascended until that day of Pentecost.

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They had spent ten days in prayer.

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Before the extreme, there were many days of ordinary.

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But our question for today is, what is next?

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What comes after those extreme times?

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Because yes, we're doing a study on the book of Acts and there are lots of miracles in

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the book of Acts, but those miracles are not by everyone.

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They are not happening all the time.

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Before those extreme events, there are days and days of ordinary.

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And our question is, can we find God, can we see God in those ordinary days?

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Sometimes we need to forget that we're looking for the next best thing and see if we can

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see God at work in the small, good, ordinary, everyday thing.

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So we're going to pick up the story in Acts chapter two, verse 41.

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Just as a reminder for those who may not have been here the last time, as Peter stood up

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on the day of Pentecost and was preaching in other languages, he was directing people

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to the crucified Savior and the people interrupted the sermon and they said, wait, be quiet,

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just tell us what to do.

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And Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus.

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And last time, brother Riley was in this tank back here and was baptized, praise the Lord.

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But what happened on this day when they said, repent and be baptized?

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Verse 41, it said, then those who gladly received his word were baptized.

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And that day, about 3000 souls were added to them, 3000 people baptized at one time.

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What must that have been like?

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We had a baptism.

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We had one baptism, but imagine if we had 3000.

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Imagine if next week when we came to church, there were 3000 people trying to get in here.

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They were parked on the road, they were parked at the depot, they were streaming up the hill

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to get to this place.

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One, we wouldn't have enough room for them.

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Amen.

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Two, can you imagine how long that nominating committee would take to work through 3000

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new people and try to find places of service for that many people?

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And we can say amen.

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We could say that would be amazing, but you know, that would mean a lot of changes.

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And that's a lot of people.

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And somebody might sit in my seat and do we really want 3000 people?

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Yes, we do.

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But that's sometimes our thought process.

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Do we really want that many?

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Because that is a lot of changes happening.

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But we see in Acts that they take those ordinary, everyday Christians doing their every ordinary

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day Christian walk, and they were able to get everyone active and involved in this message

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of Jesus, and it changed the world.

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It changed the world.

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We're going to look at a verse.

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We're going to spend most of our time talking about this one verse, Acts 2, verse 42, the

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very next verse.

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So 3000 people were added to them.

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And it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the

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breaking of bread, and in prayer.

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So that was kind of what that early church, that was what they were all about.

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As suddenly they went from 120 people in the upper room to now there's 3120 people.

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This is what they did.

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They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, fellowship, and the breaking of

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bread and prayers.

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Now some versions of the Bible, instead of saying continued steadfastly, it says they

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were devoted to.

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They were devoted to those things.

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So a question for you today is what are you devoted to today?

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Are you devoted to a football team, maybe one that's playing tomorrow?

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You know, those fans.

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What is fan short for?

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Fanatics.

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So they're devoted to a sports team.

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Are you devoted to your family?

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I certainly hope so.

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Are you devoted to your job?

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We gotta have a job.

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We gotta have a career.

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We have to have a way to provide for our family.

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But there was someone just in the last month or so who is perhaps one of the greatest to

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ever do this particular job.

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And he retired.

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Nick Saban is a football coach for the Alabama University, University of Alabama, and he

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won national championships.

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He won conference championships.

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He won game after game after game.

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And way too often he beat Tennessee, which is my team.

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And he retired about a month ago.

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And do you know that it was about two days later that they hired somebody else?

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Even the person who's one of the best ever is replaceable.

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So don't think for a minute that if you were to leave your job, if you were to start a

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different job, if you were to get sick and not be able to work, don't think that you're

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not replaceable at your job.

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They're gonna find somebody else.

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So yes, do your best at your work, but don't be consumed by your work.

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Because we need to be devoted to something, but we need to be devoted to what is most

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important.

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So back to this verse, Acts 2, 42.

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It says, they continued steadfastly and it lists four different things.

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And we're gonna talk about these four different things.

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They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine or the apostles teaching.

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So we see that this early church, these people who were following Jesus, it was a learning

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church.

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It wasn't just about the excitement of that day of Pentecost.

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They were devoted to doctrine, to what the apostles were teaching.

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Now we have the apostles teaching, it's called the New Testament.

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Those were the people who were doing the teaching and then a little bit later they wrote down

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some of those teachings.

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And so we have that.

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In fact, this is what they said, turn over to 1 John, way back towards Revelation.

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There's 1, 2, and 3 John.

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This was written by the disciple, John, had a brother named James.

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And notice how he begins this short little letter of 1 John.

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He also wrote the Gospel of John and Revelation.

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He said, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with

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our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of

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life.

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This is like all of the senses are being used here.

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We're seeing him, we're hearing him, we're actually touching him.

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We're spending time, we're sitting around campfires, we're walking down dusty roads,

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we're sitting on the mountainside as he's teaching to the multitudes.

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We have seen this and it says the word of life, the life was manifested and we have

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seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and

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was manifested or was revealed to us.

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And he goes on a little bit more and says that which we have seen and heard, he keeps

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bringing that up.

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We are eye witnesses to this.

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We have seen it, we've heard it and we declare to you that you also, here's a purpose, that

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you may have fellowship with us.

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And not just with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus

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Christ.

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These things we write that your joy may be full.

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This is the Apostles doctrine, this is the Apostles teaching.

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It's the words of Scripture that we have.

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They were eye witnesses to these things and they were written down so that we could have

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knowledge about it too.

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Then I want to turn over to 2 Timothy because it's a classic verse about the importance

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of these teachings.

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2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16.

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It says all Scripture, all of these words, all of these teachings is given by inspiration

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of God and is profitable.

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It's valuable, it's important, it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction.

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We don't like that one as much, we don't usually like being corrected or being straightened

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out.

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For instruction in righteousness.

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We like that.

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That the man of God, that the people of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every

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good work.

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We have the Apostles doctrine, we have the Apostles teaching.

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So a question for you is, is Bible reading a part of your ordinary life?

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Is it a part of your routine, is it a part of your daily journey?

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I remember doing it but I don't remember why I started doing it.

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I was a student at Ozark Adventist Academy and for some reason, and this is what I don't

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remember, for some reason I decided I wanted to start reading my Bible every day.

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I'd grown up in the church, hadn't gone different directions too much but I wanted to start

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reading my Bible.

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I don't remember why I started but I remember if you've been at an academy at certain times

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of night they have lights out so all the lights are supposed to be out, everybody's supposed

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to be in bed.

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And so my roommate would be in his bed and I remember turning on the light in the closet

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and I would crack the door just a little bit so there was one sliver of light that shined

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out of the closet and I would sit there with that sliver of light across my Bible and I

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remember I would read two pages.

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I would read this page and this page and I would look for something, at least one verse,

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one thing that I could underline.

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And so that's kind of what for me as a teenager that's kind of where I decided that you know

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what this Bible is important to me.

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Now I'm going to be transparent here and there's been lots of days, too many days when I haven't

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read the Bible whether by a sliver of light or by the full light of the room.

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There's been too many days when the next day I'm like oh I didn't read my Bible yesterday

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or last week or whatever it was.

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There's been too many days where that's happened.

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But that's where the Bible became most important to me, more important to me, that I wanted

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it to be part of my ordinary life.

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And so in that early church they were devoted to, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles

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doctrine.

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That was the first thing.

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And then it says fellowship, fellowship.

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Now that word fellowship is a Greek word called koinonia and that just means common.

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That means ordinary.

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That means you know taking care of each other in everyday situations, a common life.

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In fact you can read the next few verses there.

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It says, then fear came upon every soul and many signs and wonders were done through the

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Apostles.

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Now that's not ordinary but look at the next.

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Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and they sold their possessions

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and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.

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Now we have to clarify especially in our day and age today that this is not talking about

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communism or socialism or anything like that.

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This is talking about people taking care of each other.

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This is about people caring about someone else.

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Someone has said that the church, the motto can be we take care of each other in good

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times and bad times.

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Now they say there's studies that have been done that if someone comes to a church, joins

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in a church, becomes a member of a church that if they don't begin to make some connections

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they're not going to last very long.

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At least it's more difficult for them to last.

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The studies say about seven is the number that's needed.

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Seven different connections, seven different people that you can share with, that you can

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talk to.

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Do you know seven people in this room?

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That's what it says, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread

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from house to house.

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They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with

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all people.

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They were taking care of each other.

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Now I've never seen these in real life but this is a redwood or a sequoia.

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If you go to California, has anybody seen those in real life?

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Several of you have.

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But these are the biggest living things that exist.

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They can range up to over 300 feet tall.

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I think about 340 feet tall is the biggest.

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About 40 feet around.

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So imagine a trunk like the size of this room that we're in.

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That's how big the trunk of that tree is and it goes up 300 feet.

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I've never seen them.

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I would like to someday.

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Now you could imagine, you could wonder that with a tree this tall, what must that root

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be like?

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How far down, how deep does that root go?

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That's my question too, brother.

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But those roots actually do not go down deep.

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The sequoia roots actually only go about four feet or eight feet.

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You know which direction they go?

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They go out, they spread.

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And those types of trees do not grow, just one tree, but they grow in groves.

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And so there's lots of those trees together.

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And so those roots that aren't going deep, they're intertwining with each other.

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And so that when the strong wind blows off the Pacific Ocean, those trees are going to

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rock as big as they are, but they're not going to fall.

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When those earthquakes happen in California, those trees are going to shake, but they're

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not going to fall because they are supporting each other.

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They're holding each other up.

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Those roots are intertwined and those trees stand tall because they grow together.

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If you were to look it up in the New Testament, there's about 50 different verses which have

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something to do with one another.

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One another verses, there's about 50 different ones.

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Love one another, help one another, support one another, pray for one another.

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And that's what that early church was doing.

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They were taking care of each other in their ordinary life.

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And so in our church, are we dedicated, devoted to God's Word?

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Are we spending time in fellowship?

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Just a few minutes, some of you may be looking at your clock, we're going to have a fellowship

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dinner.

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That's one aspect of that.

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But then notice how the verse goes on.

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It says, and in the breaking of bread.

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Now I think this actually has two different meanings.

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One is the breaking of bread that we refer to as the Lord's Supper, the communion service.

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And actually in two weeks, right here during our church service, we're going to celebrate

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the Lord's Supper together.

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We're going to break the bread that represents the body of Christ.

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But I think this also echoes that word right before that, that fellowship.

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Because we read it just a moment ago.

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It says in verse 46, I don't know if I put it on there again.

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No, I didn't.

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But verse 46, it says, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread

340
00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:34,780
from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

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They were doing this every day.

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They were going from house to house.

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So I think it was the Lord's Supper, but I also think it was eating together.

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Because there's few things that are as intimate as eating with someone else.

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If you have someone come to your door and knock, maybe they're trying to give you something

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from the church down the block.

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00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,140
Maybe they are trying to get you to vote for a certain person.

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Maybe they're trying to sell you a vacuum cleaner.

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There's a good chance that those people are going to stand right on the porch.

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And that's as far as they're going to get.

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00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,800
If there's somebody you know, maybe you want to buy that vacuum cleaner, you're going to

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invite them into your living room.

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And you'll sit down and they'll pour dirt on your floor and do whatever else needs to

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take place.

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But that's your living room.

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But if there's somebody that you really know and you care about and you love, family members,

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friends, they're going to come a little bit further.

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They're going to come into your kitchen and they're going to sit down at your table, even

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if there's dirty dishes in the sink.

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Because you know each other, you care about each other.

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And to have that meal together, to eat together, that's an intimate thing.

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That is a bonding experience.

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And so whether it's a potluck or whether it's eating at somebody's homes, there is fellowship

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00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,520
that is taking place that is part of our ordinary life.

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And so one more word here.

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They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, in the breaking of bread,

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and in prayers.

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Prayers.

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Now, again, full transparency, I love reading the Bible.

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I love to read and I love reading the Bible.

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But praying, that's a little more challenging for me.

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That's one that I have to think about, that I have to plan, that I have to work out.

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Prayer is powerful.

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Prayer is talking to God as to a friend.

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Prayer is tapping into all the resources of heaven.

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But is it part of your ordinary life?

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00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:51,600
It's much easier for me to read some chapters from the Bible than to spend time in prayer.

378
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That's a fault of mine.

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00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:55,960
But guess what?

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00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:01,840
When the disciples, they came to Jesus and they said, Lord, teach us to pray.

381
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It's something that we can learn.

382
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,460
It's something that we can do.

383
00:27:06,460 --> 00:27:09,760
It's something, maybe you're like me, sometimes you get in a prayer rut.

384
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:15,720
Have you ever been in a prayer rut where you find yourself saying the same thing in prayer

385
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,400
and it's just your routine and it just flows out?

386
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,680
You know you're in a rut when you're laying down to go to sleep and you say your good

387
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:29,320
night prayer but you end up saying thank you for this food but you're in bed and there's

388
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,800
no food there and you're like, wait, something is not right here.

389
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:40,600
I have a friend who was a former assistant dean of mine and he's now a pastor out in

390
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:42,840
the Northwest and he tells the story.

391
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:44,760
He took somebody to Taco Bell.

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00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:46,600
He took a young person to Taco Bell.

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They got their food.

394
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,920
They sat down and they bowed their heads.

395
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:58,360
And Troy said amen and he was waiting for his friend to finish praying before he started

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00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:04,800
eating and he's still waiting and his friend still has his head bowed.

397
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:10,200
He's still waiting.

398
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:11,200
Finally amen.

399
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:16,660
And he's like, okay, before I dig into this burrito, what was that about?

400
00:28:16,660 --> 00:28:19,760
Are you that worried about this food?

401
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:26,380
And his friend said, you know what, I realize that God knows I'm thankful for my food.

402
00:28:26,380 --> 00:28:32,760
So in order to be more intentional about his prayer life, whenever he sits down to pray

403
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:38,320
or whenever he sits down to eat and bows his head in prayer, he's not praying for the food.

404
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:42,680
He's praying for the people he knows that are going through challenges or the people

405
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,340
on his prayer list or the people who have said, pray for me.

406
00:28:46,340 --> 00:28:50,600
And it takes a little longer and maybe the food gets cold, but that was a way for him

407
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:54,680
to be more intentional about his prayer life.

408
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,600
What can you do to be more intentional?

409
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:05,320
How can you live an ordinary Christian life and how can you see God in the routine?

410
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,940
Because yes, sometimes God works through the extreme.

411
00:29:08,940 --> 00:29:13,440
Sometimes there's miracles, but that's not most of the time.

412
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,260
There's something I thought of this morning to add.

413
00:29:16,260 --> 00:29:19,080
We're going to start on our Wednesday night prayer meetings.

414
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,000
We finished our reading of The Great Controversy.

415
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,000
We're going to start reading a little book called Revive Us Again.

416
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,840
It's about how to pray, how to study the Bible, how to ask God to be filled with the Holy

417
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:30,840
Spirit.

418
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:33,600
If you would like one of these books, talk to me.

419
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:34,920
We got some extra for you.

420
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:40,100
If you want to come out at 630 on Wednesday, we're going to be diving into that together.

421
00:29:40,100 --> 00:29:45,920
So what does that mean in our everyday life?

422
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:51,960
I wanted to add a little bit here to this particular sermon.

423
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,200
I think it was my very first board meeting here.

424
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:59,540
The board said, hey, we want to develop, we've been talking about this a while, we want to

425
00:29:59,540 --> 00:30:02,880
develop a mission statement or a vision statement.

426
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:04,880
And believe it or not, that was like three months ago.

427
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,040
So time flies when you're having fun.

428
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:14,520
And so in December and the first of January, we put together a little survey that many

429
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:15,520
of you did.

430
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,280
There was a paper version, an online version.

431
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,240
And Brother Kevin kind of put all that together.

432
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:28,320
And then in January, the elders got together and we read through those survey answers.

433
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:33,120
And it was about what is the purpose of this church?

434
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:38,320
And we read verses like Acts 2 42 of how they devoted themselves to the apostles doctrine

435
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,360
and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers.

436
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:46,240
And we looked at the Great Commission and the Great Commandment and several other passages.

437
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:53,520
And as we were distilling through those surveys, there were kind of three things that came

438
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:54,700
up.

439
00:30:54,700 --> 00:30:58,300
One was Christ, that a lot of the answers had to do.

440
00:30:58,300 --> 00:31:00,240
We wanted to live our life like Jesus.

441
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:02,980
We wanted to reflect Jesus.

442
00:31:02,980 --> 00:31:05,920
Another one was about children and families.

443
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:12,340
This church over and over were wanting to reach out to families, wanted to support families.

444
00:31:12,340 --> 00:31:15,440
And so we had a big group of young people up here this morning.

445
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:17,140
And so that's awesome.

446
00:31:17,140 --> 00:31:20,660
And that's what we want to see happen and develop.

447
00:31:20,660 --> 00:31:22,980
And then the final thing was community.

448
00:31:22,980 --> 00:31:25,060
We want to reach our community.

449
00:31:25,060 --> 00:31:28,080
So Christ, kids, and community.

450
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,400
Those three things kind of came over and over.

451
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:40,440
And so that day, the elders, we kind of put together a draft and we passed it on to the

452
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:41,640
church board.

453
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,800
The church board tweaked a few phrases, a few words.

454
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,760
And then a week or two ago at our church business meeting, we voted that.

455
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:56,640
And so you may or may not have noticed that in your bulletin, there it is.

456
00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,600
I had a friend who said, yeah, we did this at our church.

457
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,960
He's a member several years ago.

458
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,120
Nobody remembers what it is.

459
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:08,120
Nobody knows.

460
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:09,920
Doesn't mean anything.

461
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:14,280
So this is a direction that we want to go.

462
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:18,040
So let's read this together.

463
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:19,560
Can we read the mission statement together?

464
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:20,800
Can you guys see that?

465
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,080
If you can't see it, pull out your bulletin.

466
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,440
We're going to read this together.

467
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,000
So that means when I start, you guys join me, OK?

468
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:35,540
The mission of the Ringgold Seventh-day Adventist Church is to reflect the love of Jesus through

469
00:32:35,540 --> 00:32:41,840
a spirit-filled life which seeks to serve and lead others closer to God.

470
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,280
So that's what we are hoping that we're doing.

471
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,900
Through all of our ministries, through all of our actions, through knocking on somebody's

472
00:32:49,900 --> 00:32:55,280
door this afternoon, we're hoping to reflect the love of Jesus as we allow God's Spirit

473
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:56,760
to lead in our life.

474
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And we want to serve other people, and we want to lead other people closer to Jesus.

475
00:33:02,260 --> 00:33:04,980
And then the second statement is a vision statement.

476
00:33:04,980 --> 00:33:07,920
So a vision is something you're looking off to.

477
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:09,620
It's in the future.

478
00:33:09,620 --> 00:33:12,180
And so that's why it's future tense there.

479
00:33:12,180 --> 00:33:16,440
And some of these things we could already say we are, but others, maybe we still got

480
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:17,680
some work to do.

481
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:19,840
And so let's read this one together.

482
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:27,040
The Ringgold Seventh-day Adventist Church will be a biblical, spirit-led, faith-filled,

483
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,420
family-focused, and growing fellowship.

484
00:33:30,420 --> 00:33:33,780
We're going to keep talking about these things, because this is not something we're going

485
00:33:33,780 --> 00:33:37,720
to put on the back shelf and in five years they're like, didn't we do something?

486
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:38,980
What was that?

487
00:33:38,980 --> 00:33:43,080
So I hope that you'll read these.

488
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:44,400
I hope that you'll memorize them.

489
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:49,800
I haven't memorized them yet, but I will very soon.

490
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,520
But that's what we want this church to be about, because I think that incorporates all

491
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,440
of these things in Acts 2-42.

492
00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:01,920
They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of

493
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:06,960
bread and in prayers, though it's part of the ordinary life.

494
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:07,960
And what happened?

495
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,960
Well, notice Acts 2-47.

496
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:16,860
The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

497
00:34:16,860 --> 00:34:19,760
It wasn't through just the miracles.

498
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:26,200
It wasn't through the lightning and the noise and the building shaking, but it was through

499
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:33,240
3,000 people who were devoted to the Word and to supporting one another and to praying

500
00:34:33,240 --> 00:34:40,540
together and to lifting each other up and caring about other people as they individually

501
00:34:40,540 --> 00:34:45,400
drew closer to Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, who died for their sins.

502
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,800
And that's what we want to happen right here in Ringgold.

503
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:53,940
That the Lord will add to this church those who are being saved.

504
00:34:53,940 --> 00:35:00,360
As we support each other, as we pray with and for each other, as we devote ourselves

505
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:07,080
to the Bibles, we devote ourselves to prayer, we want to see God at work in our own life,

506
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:11,640
in our church family, and in our community.

507
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:13,680
How many want to see God at work in you?

508
00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:15,520
Let's bow our heads.

509
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,900
Dear God, thank you for your Spirit working in our life.

510
00:35:19,900 --> 00:35:24,200
Thank you for your guidance working in this church.

511
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:29,640
May we be strengthened, may we follow you, and may others know about your love.

512
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:46,400
In your name we pray, amen.