So this morning we begin a new series, The Jesus
Church, and we're going to be exploring the book
of Acts. And I'm super excited for this series
because I think as the church, we need to know
where we came from. We need to know our history.
We need to know our family tradition. And so
I'm really excited for the book of Acts. But
before we can do that, I want us to just start
really quickly with putting ourselves in the
scene. So I want you to imagine that you were
there. not like a tourist or a time traveler
that's just spectating, but I want you to imagine
that you were one of the disciples, that you
were in the room with the disciples. You followed
Jesus for three years. You saw him with... perform
miracles. You heard the sermon on the Mount with
your own ears. You witnessed all of the great
things he did and you got to walk with him. And
you, you saw things like him feeding thousands
of people with just a few fish and a few pieces
of bread. And you witnessed him raise someone
from the dead. And you were there when Lazarus
came out of the grave and he still reeked of
decay. Like you were there when he walked on
the water. I want you to imagine that you were
one of the people following Jesus in his time.
And not only did you witness all of these great
things he did, but you were there when they beat
him and they hung him on a cross and you watched
your rabbi die. I want you to imagine that you
were there when they put his body in a tomb and
they sealed it with a giant stone. And then a
few days later, you were there when he appeared
to you and your friends. And you were there when
he said, if you don't believe it's me, touch
me. And give me some food so I can eat with you
and show you that I'm not just a ghost, that
this is me. This is God in the flesh. You were
there when all of these things happened. You
were in the story. And then you were there standing
on a hill in Jerusalem or outside of Jerusalem.
And he tells you to stay in the city and wait.
to go back to the city and wait because something
special is coming, something promised is coming.
And so he blesses you, and as he's blessing you,
he ascends into the sky, you don't see him anymore,
and then you do as you're told, and you go back
to the city, and you're in Jerusalem, and you're
waiting, and you're in this room, and you're
hanging out with your friends, and you're waiting.
and you're waiting, and I can imagine they were
probably praying, and so you're praying, God,
would you send the promise? Would you tell us
what to do? Would you show us where to go? And
as you're sitting there, it happens. What Jesus
promised happens. It begins. See, the past few
months we've been looking at this way of Jesus,
the Jesus way, and we've been going through the
Gospel of Luke where the writer has walked us
through the way of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus,
his values, the kingdom. That was volume one.
I want you to think of this as a two -part story,
and so we've finished volume one, and now we're
in volume two, the same author, same story, same
Jesus. But now... The way that Jesus lived is
about to be unleashed through the people that
Jesus left behind. And I want you to imagine
that you were one of those people that Jesus
left behind. And so as we begin our series in
Acts, we start with verse 8 in chapter 1. If
it's underlined, I'd love for you to read it
with me. 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. So right
there, Luke is telling us where this story goes
before it even begins. But here's what I want
us to notice this morning. Jesus doesn't say,
go build a great church. He doesn't say, go create
an awesome strategy and erect these beautiful
buildings. He doesn't say, go develop a strong
ministry program. What Jesus says is, you will
receive power and then you will be my witnesses.
And we said it a few weeks ago, if you're a witness,
you have a responsibility to go and tell the
truth about what you saw. And so when Jesus says
you'll receive power and then you'll be my witnesses,
what he's saying is you have a responsibility
to use this power to do something special, but
it's not going to be your own strength. It's
not going to be your own genius. It will be God's.
And so what I will say to start us is the church
doesn't begin with human initiative. It begins
with divine promise. What we find is that it's
not the power of Donovan. It's not the power
of you. It is the power of God that begins this
whole thing. And what Jesus says is when you
have the power, then the word will be spread
in Jerusalem and then all the earth. And so it
begins with God's promise. Nobody in that room
was smart enough, was capable enough to organize
this. to do what we're taking part of today.
They weren't able to make that happen. God started
the church and what he started, he intends to
empower and sustain. And I know that to be true
because it started 2000 years ago and it's still
going today. And that could only happen by the
power of God. So I want you to hold on to that
because we're going to come back to it later.
So now we come to the day of Pentecost in Acts
chapter two. Pentecost was already this major
Jewish festival. And so Jerusalem was packed
with these Jewish pilgrims that they wanted to
come to Jerusalem so that they could celebrate
this festival. And so they came from all over
the world. And what Luke tells us is they came
from at least 15 different regions. Every culture,
every language, every skin color, everything
imaginable all represented in those streets to
celebrate. Pentecost. And on that day, the disciples
were all together in this one place. They were
in that waiting room in Jerusalem waiting for
the promise. And like I said, it's starting to
happen. And here's what we find in Acts chapter
2 where it begins. And suddenly there came from
heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and
it filled the entire house where they were sitting
and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them
and rested on each one of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak in other tongues. Now, I want to be very
careful here because we get so caught up in the
spectacular nature of what's happening that we
might miss the real point of this moment. That
if we're not careful, we get caught up in all
of the supernatural that we forget that there's
something special here that we really need to
focus on. This wasn't some mysterious, like indecipherable
language. What was happening is they were speaking
human languages. They were just speaking languages
that weren't their own. They were speaking languages
that the people from these 15 different regions
could understand. So this would be like if we
had people that spoke Spanish, people that spoke
French, people that spoke Chinese, and people
that spoke English all in the same room, and
we started talking, each person would hear their
language. And so the languages of the pilgrims
that were standing outside in the streets, the
people that were from Egypt to Rome and everywhere
between, every one of them was hearing the gospel.
The disciples declaring the mighty works of our
good God, they were hearing these words in their
own languages. And I think that's significant
because when you think about language in the
Bible, language was first divided in humanity
in the Tower of Babel story. In Genesis chapter
11, humanity... was full of pride. Humanity thought
we're going to do something special, make a name
for ourselves, and we're going to build a tower
that will ascend into heaven. And what God does
is he looks at this and he's like, this can't
happen. So he scatters the people, he confuses
their language, and from that moment on, we have
different languages. And now there is a divide
between humanity. Well, right here in Acts chapter
2, The reversal of Babel happens. Pentecost is
the reversal of Babel. And at Babel, God scattered
a people that were trying to build for their
own glory. At Pentecost, God gathered a people
to proclaim his. And so the church is, from its
very first breath, the anti -Babel. It's the
uniter of humanity. It's the proclaiming of God's
glory and not our own. It's a community that
exists not to make a name for itself, but to
declare the name that is above every other name,
to declare the glory and the goodness of God.
It was many languages, many cultures, many backgrounds
and testimonies, all united in one gospel, all
united with one Lord. formed into one community.
And so Peter, he stands up and he preaches the
gospel and they're hearing it in their own language.
And I love that they are so energetic. They're
so emphatic and honestly so wild that the crowd
around them says, are these guys drunk? And they're
like, no, they're just full of the spirit. And
I think that's pretty cool because like later
on in scripture, Paul will say, don't be drunk
with wine, but be full with the Holy Spirit.
And so that's what we're witnessing here, that
Peter gets up and preaches, and he's so enthusiastic
that people think, this guy's been drinking at
9 a .m. Could you imagine? And so Peter, he gets
up there, and he doesn't give them this self
-help message. He doesn't give them this feel
-good, you're going to be okay, and you were
made for this. He doesn't do that. What Peter
does is he preaches Jesus. He preaches Jesus
crucified, resurrected, and exalted. He connects
what they're witnessing now to the ancient prophets
of old. And he's saying, you've heard these stories
since you were a child. You know what God has
promised. Well, it's been fulfilled. It's being
fulfilled in the person of Jesus. And he looks
at the crowd, which would have been filled with
people who were there shouting to crucify Jesus.
He looks at the crowd and he sees the people
that spit on Jesus and he sees the people that
picked up stones ready to throw them at Jesus.
He sees the people that shouted for the release
of a murderer so that Jesus could be put on the
cross. He sees those people and he proclaims
the gospel to them and he says, let all the house
of Israel therefore know for certain that God
has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus
whom you crucified, whom you crucified. who you
put on the cross, who you killed, who you murdered,
who you slandered. He did this for you. And it
says that at that moment they were cut to the
heart. They were convicted, that their minds
were stirred, their hearts were stirred, and
they asked, they said, brothers, what do we do?
What they're saying is how do we respond to this?
What do we make of this? You just said that God
sent Jesus to die for me in all of my sin, in
all of my evil. God... would proclaim or would
reclaim my life. And the disciples are like,
yeah, he would. And so they're like, well, what
do we do with this? And then Peter says, 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
for the promises for you and for your children
and for all who are far off, everyone whom the
Lord our God calls to himself. I want you to
notice something there. Peter doesn't just offer
forgiveness. He's not just telling them about
the forgiveness of sins. He also tells them about
the gift of the Holy Spirit. And what he says
is like, this stuff that you just witnessed us
do, this energetic and chaotic and crazy drunkenness
that you see in us, it's available to you. This
ability to proclaim the gospel in a way that
connects with every tribe and every tongue, this
is available to you, this power. It's available
to every single one of you. If you will give
your life to Jesus, if you repent, turn away
from your evil ways, be baptized and give your
life to Jesus. This power is available to you.
And I want you to think about what else the promise
contains. Yes, it's the forgiveness of sins.
And yes, it's the gift of the Holy Spirit. But
there's something else. And there's something
that for me is a huge blessing. And we think
about Jesus blessing the disciples before he
ascends into heaven, and we described it or defined
it as bestowing benefit. Well, for me, this has
been a huge benefit in my life. It is a community.
I want you to see what we read in Acts 2 .41.
So those who received his word were baptized,
and there were added that day about 3 ,000 souls.
Added. They were added. Added to the kingdom.
to the community, to the family. They were added
to the body of Christ. Baptism isn't just a transaction
between you and God. It's not just an agreement
between me and God. Baptism is the moment that
we are brought into something far greater than
ourselves, something so beneficial, something
that if it were not for the community, the church,
if it were not for that, I would not be here,
and I would go as far as to say you probably
wouldn't either. Because life is way too hard
to do on your own. And God knows that. So he
gives us this family. When you come out of the
water, you're not just forgiven. When you come
out of the water, you don't just get this gift
of the Holy Spirit to use for yourself. You are
given a new community. And on that day, 3 ,000
people were added from 15 different regions,
all kinds of different languages, people that
had different stories. people with different
baggage, people with different home lives, people
with different family structures, people with
different socioeconomic statuses, people from
all over. Every type of person added to this
one family. That's the power of the gospel. That's
the power of the spirit. That is a power that
only God has. It's not just to save individuals,
but it is to form a community. A community that
the world would not be able to explain. Because
the world looks at the church. And they look
at the church and they say, how can all those
people sit in the same row? How can the biker
with the tattoos sit next to the banker? How
can this happen? It's the gospel. And that's
what the Spirit was doing from the beginning.
And so before I get to our key text, I just want
to pause and I want to say something about the
Spirit's movement in history because we can look
at this and we can say, well, that's really cool
that that happened way back then. And we can
look at it and say, man, God used to work in
some awesome ways. Well, I want to make it very
clear that God didn't just work that way 2 ,000
years ago. As recent as the 1800s, we have the
Cambridge Revival where people were falling out.
They were weeping because of their conviction
by the Spirit, their conviction of the gospel
where they give their life. lives and thousands
of people give their lives to the gospel. We
can look at the 1900s with the Welsh revival
where this young untrained man, which I want
to note that often revivals start with young
people. So for my young people in the room, we
got some work to do. This young untrained man
named Evan Roberts, he gets up and he starts
preaching. And within months of this, thousands
of people in the nation of Wales give their lives
to Christ and they become faithful followers.
And I want you to know there are many people
today, historians, scholars, ministers, and ordinary
people that believe right now we are in the midst
of a revival. They believe that the Spirit is
working, that the Spirit's been working since
the pandemic. Who would have thought COVID would
be the thing to bring about revival? And I'm
not here to say we are or we are not in a revival,
but my point by saying that is that the Spirit
didn't just work 2 ,000 years ago. It is still
working today. And if we believe the Spirit can
work, I believe revival can happen. So I just
want to throw that in there as we look at this
Spirit -empowered church because the church was
put here to proclaim the goodness of God. And
we can do that in an exponential and an incredible
way if we will rely on the Spirit's power. So
we get into our text. Acts 2, 42 through 47.
As we look at this idea of what the church looks
like, of what the church is supposed to be, this
is what I read. This is what comes to my mind
every time someone asks me, what's the church
for? This is what I want to think about because
Luke, he paints this portrait of what the church
looked like in its first days, not as this ideal
to admire or to say, man, that was really cool,
but as a blueprint for what this is supposed
to be. So read this with me. And they devoted
themselves to the apostles' teaching and the
fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and
the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and
many wonders and signs were being done to the
apostles, and all who believed were together
and had all things in common. And they were selling
their possessions and belongings and distributing
the proceeds to all as any had need. And day
by day, attending the temple together and breaking
bread in their homes, they received their food
with glad and generous hearts, praising God and
having favor with all the people. And the Lord
added to their number day by day those who were
being saved. That's an incredible passage. But
you could be sitting there and you could think,
well, of course, a Christian writer is going
to say that. Of course, a preacher is going to
say that because it fits their initiative. Well,
I want you to know it wasn't just Christians
saying this about the early church. In fact,
the church was an enemy of Rome. Rome wanted
to get rid of the church. They wanted to exterminate
every Christian. And so the Roman emperor, Caesar,
he sends a spy to infiltrate the church. reports
back to him saying this, they love one another
and he who has gifts to him who has not without
boasting. And when they see a stranger, they
take him into their own homes and rejoice over
him as a very brother. And if there is any among
them that are poor and needy, and if they have
no spare food, they fast two or three days in
order to supply to the needy their lack of food.
Such, O king, is their manner of life. And verily,
this is a new people. And there is something
divine in the midst of them. That guy has no
motive to say good things about the church. That
guy does not benefit from saying good things
about the church. In fact... He's supposed to
be coming back to Caesar and saying, yeah, it's
all a hoax. Yeah, it's just a cult. Yeah, it's
just crazy talk. Yeah, they're all a bunch of
drug addicts and they're hallucinating. They're
off their rockers. He has no reason to say good
things about the church. He definitely doesn't
have any reason to say these things about the
church, but he does. Why? Because it was true.
This is history. This is not the Bible speaking.
This is history speaking about what the church
looked like. It was a community. It was a family
that is so different from the world, that's so
different that the only explanation is there
was something divine about them. There was something
supernatural going on among those people. They're
not crazy. They're not lunatics. They're empowered.
They are spirit -filled. There is something divine
among them. And I ask the question, can people
say that about us? Can people say that about
this group of people? When people walk in this
room trying to figure out what this church thing
is all about, can they look at us and say, there's
something divine about these people? We've sang
the song before, there's a sweet spirit in this
place. Is there something supernatural about
us? So today I want to anchor this message on
three things that I think if we can figure these
out and if we can rely on the Spirit, maybe the
world will be able to see something divine among
us. And the first thing is the early church was
devoted. Verse 42, that's what it says. They
were devoted. And right there, that word devoted
means to persist. To hold fast, to continue steadfastly
or refuse to let go. When I was in college, I
really liked this girl. And I just really, I
mean, I could not think about anyone else. And
people would say, dude, just let go. But I was
persistent. And thankfully, my persistence paid
off. Because I got the girl after three years
of trying. And so the disciples, they were devoted
to the word. They were devoted to the teaching.
They would not let go when people would say,
dude, you just got to give it up. I can't. I
can't get enough of this teaching. Dude, you
just got to let go. I can't. Because something
that they're teaching, it's what I need. They
were committed. They could not let go of the
word. They were not just devoted to the word.
They were devoted to fellowship. They couldn't
get enough of being together. They could not
go a day without talking to their church family.
And I think that's pretty convicting because
I can go an entire week without touching the
life of somebody in my church family. They were
devoted to the breaking of bread, to being in
each other's homes, having meals together, celebrating
the Lord's Supper. They were devoted to being
a church family. The early church was a community.
that could not help but be committed. They couldn't
help but be devoted. And not only were they devoted
to each other, but they held all things in common.
That they had, what they had was what their brother
had and what they didn't have, their brother
didn't have it. They were together. They shared.
in all things. Verses 44 through 46, it teaches
this idea of being in common. They were selling
their possessions to make sure that if their
brother had a need, that need was met. They were
giving up their own things so that their brothers
could have, so that their sisters could have.
They were in the temple together. They were breaking
bread in each other's homes. And it wasn't like
they were living in a monastery. I always say
like, man, I wish we could just like buy a giant
piece of land and just live in our own little
world. But we can't do that. We weren't called
to do that. We were called to live in the world.
But when the world would see us in the temple
together, when the world would see us gathering
in each other's home, when the world would see
us feeding each other and making sure each other
had what they needed, when the world saw that,
it was attractive because the church was reorganizing
their lives around each other. It wasn't, I can't
make it, I've got a ball game. It wasn't, I can't
make it, I've got a function. It wasn't, I can't
do this because I've got this. It was, I can't
go to the ball game because I've got a church
gathering to be with. And I'm not picking on
sports. I love sports. What I'm saying is, is
we've gotten convinced in this world that the
church is a part of our lives. But for the church
in Acts, the church was their lives. It was who
they were. It wasn't... Like they didn't separate
it as I've got my family and my church family.
My church family was my family. It wasn't I've
got my work friends, I've got my school friends,
I've got my gym friends, I've got my golf friends,
I've got my church friends. It was just I've
got my friends. And my friends were my church
family. It was my community. They had all things
in common. And because of how radical this was,
because of how crazy this was, it wasn't something
that turned people off. Like I've heard people
say, man, if we talk like that, we're going to
turn people off. People are going to think we're
a cult. People are going to think we're, I don't
think it's that crazy because I look at the church
of Acts and it says daily they were adding. They
were adding because it was attractive. Because
when people see, and Greg said this in his communion
talk, when people see this, they say, man, I
want some of what they've got. Because the world
is, they're hungry for belonging. People are
hungry for purpose. People are hungry for community.
They're hungry for people that will love them
and support them and cheer them on. I think about
my kids' T -ball games. Like, we're at these
T -ball games, and we've got 20 church members
at these games just for Easton or just for Peyton.
And so when they get a hit, it's a roar of fans
cheering. And then I noticed when the other kids
hit, the other kids hit just as well, but it's
not as loud. The difference is, is my kids had
a fan club and it was all their church family.
That speaks volume. That speaks volumes to the
world around us because they look at it and they
say, what the heck's going on with these kids?
Why do they have so many people cheering for
them? They've got a really good church family.
It's attractive. It's something that people look
at and they say, man, I need that. And I want
you to notice Luke doesn't say anything about
the production value of their worship gatherings.
He doesn't say anything about how good their
preacher is. He doesn't say anything about how
good the worship leader is. He doesn't say anything
about how comfortable the seats are, how nice
the building is. He doesn't say any of that.
He talks about what they did and who they were,
not what they had. And that's important. And
because of how attractive it was, the Lord added.
The Lord added. And I want you again to notice
it wasn't the elders added. It wasn't the preacher
added. It wasn't the missionaries added. God
added. And the Lord added to their number day
by day. Daily, he added those who were being
saved. Growth in the early church was not the
work of people. It wasn't anything that the people
did. It was simply God. The way I would explain
it is when we work, when we do what God has put
us here to do, God produces the fruit. The church's
responsibility was simple. Be faithful. Worship
together. Be devoted to each other. Be generous.
Pray together. Live life together. And God added.
And what I'm not saying is that the church should
be passive. I'm not saying we just sit here and
have prayer meetings 24 -7. I'm not saying we
just wait and we say, well, God will do the adding.
That's not what I'm saying. In fact, the early
church was anything but passive. They were out
in public proclaiming the good news. They were
in each other's homes proclaiming the good news.
They lived lives that were radically different.
They were not passive, but the source of growth
was always God. And I would simplify it by saying
this, human faithfulness. makes way for divine
activity. When we're faithful, when we do what
we were put here to do, when we do what we were
called to do, when we live the life that God
has called us to live, God will produce. There's
a story in the Old Testament where the prophet
Elijah, he stands on a mountain, and he's confronted
by these hundreds of prophets of Baal, and this
Baal is this false god, and these guys, they
believe in Baal. And so they're challenging Elijah,
and Elijah's challenging them because he believes
in the one true God. And so they're arguing about
whose god is real, and whose god is really the
most powerful. And so what they do is they decide,
they're going to, okay, we're going to put this
to the test. Which god can make fire? And so
what happens is Elijah builds his stack of wood.
The prophets of Baal, they make their stacks
of wood. But Elijah is not just going to take
his stack of wood and call on God to put fire.
No, Elijah is going to take it a step further.
He digs a trench around his stack of wood. And
he pours water all over his wood until it is
soaked. And I'm not talking like he didn't just
like sprinkle water on it. And this wasn't gasoline
disguised as water. This was water and he douses
his wood with it so that if fire happens, there
would only be one explanation. And so the prophets
of Baal, they call on their God to bring fire
and nothing happens. But when Elijah calls on
his God to bring fire, it lights up a flame.
There is only one explanation for Elijah's fire.
God. And I say all that to say, when it comes
to the church, we can talk about all the stuff
we want to do. We can talk about all the things
we need to do. We can develop the programs. We
can establish the ministries. And we can do all
of that, but the fire will not come if it is
not from God. We can do all of these things.
We aren't called to be passive. We have a job
to do. But it's not going to be us that brings
the fire. In fact, what I want to be clear is
Elijah did not produce the fire. God did. Elijah
simply stacked the wood. And so if I could give
you one word this morning, or I guess it's two
sentences. If I can give you two sentences this
morning. that I hope you will take with you and
that we will take with us as a church family
throughout the rest of this series and hopefully
the rest of our lives, it's this. We cannot bring
the fire, but we can stack the wood. We have
work to do. That's why I'm preaching. That's
why you're doing the things you're doing. That's
why we have people that are leading devotionals.
That's why we have people that are leading Bible
studies. That's why we have our missionary efforts
that we support. That's why we're prayerful as
a church about what we're going to do for the
next generation. How we're going to support the
next generation. Are we going to hire a youth
minister? What are we going to do? That's why
we do these things is because we're trying to
stack wood, faithfully expecting the Spirit to
bring fire, faithfully expecting God to bring
growth, and not just so we can fill the seats,
but so that we can save souls. And so we've got
some wood to stack. We've got some work to do.
But I'm a believer, and I hope you are, that
if we stack the wood, God will bring the fire.
I'm a believer that if we will raise our sails,
the Spirit will push us forward to where God
needs us to go. So let me bring us back to where
we started. You're in that upper room. You've
been waiting for Jesus or for the promise that
Jesus gave you. You've been waiting and you've
been praying. And suddenly the wind comes, the
fire falls, and everything you know changes.
And then shortly after that, your little group
of 100 or so people explodes to 3 ,000 people.
And within weeks, a community is formed in Jerusalem
that the world cannot understand. that the world
cannot explain, that the world has never seen
before. People from every tribe, every background,
men and women, old people, young people, all
gathered in this room singing the same songs,
praying the same prayers, thanking the same God
for the same salvation, the same gifts. making
sure that nobody's going hungry, nobody's going
without, that everybody has a place to lay their
head, making sure that everyone knows the goodness
of God and is taken care of by the gracious and
generous gifts of the church. You're in that.
You're there. You're witnessing all of that happen.
And you're hearing the world ask, what in the
world is happening here? That's the church Jesus
intended. That's the Jesus church. And as we
go through the rest of this series, we're going
to look at different facets and kind of break
that down and see how can we more closely align
with the church of Acts. Because it wasn't about
the building. I'm not saying, hey, let's go look
at their architecture and see how they did it.
It wasn't about the organization. It wasn't about
the programs. It wasn't about the things that
they did, but it was about who they were. And
what they were, who they were, was a living,
breathing, spirit -animated community that bears
witness to the resurrection by the way it lives
and by the way it loves. So here's what I want
to leave you with today. The question I want
you to carry with you into this week and into
this series is simply, are we willing to be the
kind of community that the Spirit would work
through? Are we going to stack wood? Are we going
to raise ourselves? Are we going to open ourselves
up so that when the spirit moves, the world sees
something crazy in a good way? Are we willing
to be that kind of community? I believe we are
from a leadership standpoint. I wouldn't be here
if that weren't the case. And I'm going to be
completely honest, and I'm not just saying this
because I'm hoping for a raise. I think we've
got some good leaders. We have a great eldership.
We've got some great deacons. We've got some
great men and women in this church that aren't
in leadership positions that are doing some great
things as leaders. But then there are some of
us that we aren't in leadership positions. Are
we on the same mission? Are we willing to be
that kind of community? It starts with all of
us being on the same page of stacking wood together,
raising ourselves together. And if we'll do that,
Or if we're at least willing to become that,
then I do believe the God who added 3 ,000 souls
in one day at Pentecost is not finished adding
and he's not finished transforming. There's a
county out there. There's a state out there.
There's a country out there that needs transformation.
I'll say it, needs revival. And I believe our
God can do that. I don't just believe he can,
I believe he will. But it takes people like us,
churches like us saying, we'll let the spirit
work. We'll stack the wood. In a moment, we're
going to sing. We're going to sing what we call
a song of invitation. And what I want to say
is I don't want you to let the moment of singing
pass without looking at what God is doing or
listening or feeling what God is doing. I don't
want you to let the moment pass without responding
to God. Those 3 ,000 people at Pentecost, they
didn't wait. They didn't have it all figured
out, and they didn't wait until they could get
it all figured out. They simply heard the gospel.
They heard the message, and they said, what do
we do? How do we respond? So as we sing, I want
to speak to three different types of people.
Maybe you've never been baptized. You've never
accepted the gift of the gospel. And today, I
would say it's the perfect day to be added to
that number, to be added to that community, because
the promise still stands. If you give your life
to Jesus, He will save you, He will give you
a gift of the Spirit, and He will add you to
an amazing family. And then, maybe there's those
of us that were once devoted, but we've kind
of drifted, and maybe you've wandered. Today's
a good day to come back home. And there's no
shame about it. In fact, it is a very noble and
honorable thing to say, I've walked away, but
I need to give my life back to Jesus. And then
maybe you're not in a boat where you've drifted.
You're not in a boat where you've never given
your life to Jesus. You're a follower. You are
a disciple, but you're really struggling and
you're carrying some heavy burdens. Well, I want
to take you back to that community in Acts 2.
It said, whatever your burdens are, we'll carry
them with you. That's the church. That's what
we're here for. So this morning, however the
Spirit's moving in you, however God is stirring
your heart, whatever it is that you need, we
sincerely offer you an invitation to respond,
to lay your burdens down at the foot of the cross,
to ask for prayers from your brothers and sisters,
to have hands laid on you, to have leadership
walk beside you and say, we're with you. Whatever
you need, come now as we stand and as we sing.