WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.660 So this morning we begin a new series, The Jesus 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:04.400 Church, and we're going to be exploring the book 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:07.240 of Acts. And I'm super excited for this series 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:11.539 because I think as the church, we need to know 00:00:11.539 --> 00:00:13.679 where we came from. We need to know our history. 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:16.800 We need to know our family tradition. And so 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.620 I'm really excited for the book of Acts. But 00:00:18.620 --> 00:00:21.440 before we can do that, I want us to just start 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:25.940 really quickly with putting ourselves in the 00:00:25.940 --> 00:00:28.660 scene. So I want you to imagine that you were 00:00:28.660 --> 00:00:32.500 there. not like a tourist or a time traveler 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:34.859 that's just spectating, but I want you to imagine 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:37.740 that you were one of the disciples, that you 00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:40.659 were in the room with the disciples. You followed 00:00:40.659 --> 00:00:44.189 Jesus for three years. You saw him with... perform 00:00:44.189 --> 00:00:46.210 miracles. You heard the sermon on the Mount with 00:00:46.210 --> 00:00:48.170 your own ears. You witnessed all of the great 00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:50.969 things he did and you got to walk with him. And 00:00:50.969 --> 00:00:53.329 you, you saw things like him feeding thousands 00:00:53.329 --> 00:00:55.950 of people with just a few fish and a few pieces 00:00:55.950 --> 00:00:58.229 of bread. And you witnessed him raise someone 00:00:58.229 --> 00:01:00.689 from the dead. And you were there when Lazarus 00:01:00.689 --> 00:01:03.570 came out of the grave and he still reeked of 00:01:03.570 --> 00:01:05.890 decay. Like you were there when he walked on 00:01:05.890 --> 00:01:08.750 the water. I want you to imagine that you were 00:01:08.750 --> 00:01:12.989 one of the people following Jesus in his time. 00:01:14.510 --> 00:01:17.329 And not only did you witness all of these great 00:01:17.329 --> 00:01:19.829 things he did, but you were there when they beat 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:23.370 him and they hung him on a cross and you watched 00:01:23.370 --> 00:01:27.549 your rabbi die. I want you to imagine that you 00:01:27.549 --> 00:01:30.650 were there when they put his body in a tomb and 00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:34.469 they sealed it with a giant stone. And then a 00:01:34.469 --> 00:01:37.129 few days later, you were there when he appeared 00:01:37.129 --> 00:01:40.250 to you and your friends. And you were there when 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:42.829 he said, if you don't believe it's me, touch 00:01:42.829 --> 00:01:46.420 me. And give me some food so I can eat with you 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:48.599 and show you that I'm not just a ghost, that 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:51.340 this is me. This is God in the flesh. You were 00:01:51.340 --> 00:01:56.040 there when all of these things happened. You 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:00.719 were in the story. And then you were there standing 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:03.400 on a hill in Jerusalem or outside of Jerusalem. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:06.579 And he tells you to stay in the city and wait. 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:09.960 to go back to the city and wait because something 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:13.159 special is coming, something promised is coming. 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:16.319 And so he blesses you, and as he's blessing you, 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:19.680 he ascends into the sky, you don't see him anymore, 00:02:19.939 --> 00:02:22.759 and then you do as you're told, and you go back 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:24.819 to the city, and you're in Jerusalem, and you're 00:02:24.819 --> 00:02:26.560 waiting, and you're in this room, and you're 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:28.939 hanging out with your friends, and you're waiting. 00:02:29.580 --> 00:02:31.379 and you're waiting, and I can imagine they were 00:02:31.379 --> 00:02:33.580 probably praying, and so you're praying, God, 00:02:33.699 --> 00:02:35.419 would you send the promise? Would you tell us 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:37.360 what to do? Would you show us where to go? And 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:42.560 as you're sitting there, it happens. What Jesus 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:46.810 promised happens. It begins. See, the past few 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:49.650 months we've been looking at this way of Jesus, 00:02:49.729 --> 00:02:52.150 the Jesus way, and we've been going through the 00:02:52.150 --> 00:02:55.949 Gospel of Luke where the writer has walked us 00:02:55.949 --> 00:02:58.370 through the way of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, 00:02:58.530 --> 00:03:01.650 his values, the kingdom. That was volume one. 00:03:02.289 --> 00:03:04.909 I want you to think of this as a two -part story, 00:03:05.009 --> 00:03:07.169 and so we've finished volume one, and now we're 00:03:07.169 --> 00:03:10.909 in volume two, the same author, same story, same 00:03:10.909 --> 00:03:14.800 Jesus. But now... The way that Jesus lived is 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.879 about to be unleashed through the people that 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:21.699 Jesus left behind. And I want you to imagine 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:24.500 that you were one of those people that Jesus 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:28.800 left behind. And so as we begin our series in 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:33.280 Acts, we start with verse 8 in chapter 1. If 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:34.819 it's underlined, I'd love for you to read it 00:03:34.819 --> 00:03:37.479 with me. But you will receive power when the 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:39.919 Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:42.620 my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:45.419 Samaria and to the end of the earth. So right 00:03:45.419 --> 00:03:48.300 there, Luke is telling us where this story goes 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:50.979 before it even begins. But here's what I want 00:03:50.979 --> 00:03:53.120 us to notice this morning. Jesus doesn't say, 00:03:53.180 --> 00:03:56.699 go build a great church. He doesn't say, go create 00:03:56.699 --> 00:03:59.259 an awesome strategy and erect these beautiful 00:03:59.259 --> 00:04:01.419 buildings. He doesn't say, go develop a strong 00:04:01.419 --> 00:04:05.900 ministry program. What Jesus says is, you will 00:04:05.900 --> 00:04:09.500 receive power and then you will be my witnesses. 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:12.360 And we said it a few weeks ago, if you're a witness, 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:15.000 you have a responsibility to go and tell the 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.620 truth about what you saw. And so when Jesus says 00:04:18.620 --> 00:04:20.660 you'll receive power and then you'll be my witnesses, 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:23.339 what he's saying is you have a responsibility 00:04:23.339 --> 00:04:28.060 to use this power to do something special, but 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:30.100 it's not going to be your own strength. It's 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:33.420 not going to be your own genius. It will be God's. 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:36.019 And so what I will say to start us is the church 00:04:36.019 --> 00:04:40.959 doesn't begin with human initiative. It begins 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:46.339 with divine promise. What we find is that it's 00:04:46.339 --> 00:04:49.399 not the power of Donovan. It's not the power 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:52.480 of you. It is the power of God that begins this 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.980 whole thing. And what Jesus says is when you 00:04:54.980 --> 00:04:57.079 have the power, then the word will be spread 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.259 in Jerusalem and then all the earth. And so it 00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:05.000 begins with God's promise. Nobody in that room 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.560 was smart enough, was capable enough to organize 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:12.959 this. to do what we're taking part of today. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:17.019 They weren't able to make that happen. God started 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:19.519 the church and what he started, he intends to 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.639 empower and sustain. And I know that to be true 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:25.319 because it started 2000 years ago and it's still 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:29.120 going today. And that could only happen by the 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.420 power of God. So I want you to hold on to that 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:32.759 because we're going to come back to it later. 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:35.120 So now we come to the day of Pentecost in Acts 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.860 chapter two. Pentecost was already this major 00:05:37.860 --> 00:05:41.959 Jewish festival. And so Jerusalem was packed 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:44.579 with these Jewish pilgrims that they wanted to 00:05:44.579 --> 00:05:46.680 come to Jerusalem so that they could celebrate 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:49.279 this festival. And so they came from all over 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:51.600 the world. And what Luke tells us is they came 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.720 from at least 15 different regions. Every culture, 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:59.399 every language, every skin color, everything 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:03.420 imaginable all represented in those streets to 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:07.310 celebrate. Pentecost. And on that day, the disciples 00:06:07.310 --> 00:06:09.410 were all together in this one place. They were 00:06:09.410 --> 00:06:12.170 in that waiting room in Jerusalem waiting for 00:06:12.170 --> 00:06:14.790 the promise. And like I said, it's starting to 00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:16.889 happen. And here's what we find in Acts chapter 00:06:16.889 --> 00:06:19.750 2 where it begins. And suddenly there came from 00:06:19.750 --> 00:06:22.730 heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and 00:06:22.730 --> 00:06:25.029 it filled the entire house where they were sitting 00:06:25.029 --> 00:06:27.949 and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them 00:06:27.949 --> 00:06:30.410 and rested on each one of them. And they were 00:06:30.410 --> 00:06:33.029 all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to 00:06:33.029 --> 00:06:37.889 speak in other tongues. Now, I want to be very 00:06:37.889 --> 00:06:40.610 careful here because we get so caught up in the 00:06:40.610 --> 00:06:43.410 spectacular nature of what's happening that we 00:06:43.410 --> 00:06:46.389 might miss the real point of this moment. That 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:48.850 if we're not careful, we get caught up in all 00:06:48.850 --> 00:06:52.069 of the supernatural that we forget that there's 00:06:52.069 --> 00:06:54.189 something special here that we really need to 00:06:54.189 --> 00:06:58.089 focus on. This wasn't some mysterious, like indecipherable 00:06:58.089 --> 00:07:00.649 language. What was happening is they were speaking 00:07:00.649 --> 00:07:03.189 human languages. They were just speaking languages 00:07:03.189 --> 00:07:06.000 that weren't their own. They were speaking languages 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.379 that the people from these 15 different regions 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:10.939 could understand. So this would be like if we 00:07:10.939 --> 00:07:13.579 had people that spoke Spanish, people that spoke 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:16.319 French, people that spoke Chinese, and people 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.680 that spoke English all in the same room, and 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:22.079 we started talking, each person would hear their 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:26.079 language. And so the languages of the pilgrims 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:28.379 that were standing outside in the streets, the 00:07:28.379 --> 00:07:30.959 people that were from Egypt to Rome and everywhere 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.319 between, every one of them was hearing the gospel. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:37.000 The disciples declaring the mighty works of our 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.019 good God, they were hearing these words in their 00:07:40.019 --> 00:07:42.800 own languages. And I think that's significant 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:45.240 because when you think about language in the 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:49.420 Bible, language was first divided in humanity 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:51.980 in the Tower of Babel story. In Genesis chapter 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:55.319 11, humanity... was full of pride. Humanity thought 00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:57.360 we're going to do something special, make a name 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.339 for ourselves, and we're going to build a tower 00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:02.300 that will ascend into heaven. And what God does 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:03.899 is he looks at this and he's like, this can't 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:06.959 happen. So he scatters the people, he confuses 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:09.540 their language, and from that moment on, we have 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:12.480 different languages. And now there is a divide 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.959 between humanity. Well, right here in Acts chapter 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:21.990 2, The reversal of Babel happens. Pentecost is 00:08:21.990 --> 00:08:25.290 the reversal of Babel. And at Babel, God scattered 00:08:25.290 --> 00:08:26.750 a people that were trying to build for their 00:08:26.750 --> 00:08:29.310 own glory. At Pentecost, God gathered a people 00:08:29.310 --> 00:08:32.830 to proclaim his. And so the church is, from its 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:37.190 very first breath, the anti -Babel. It's the 00:08:37.190 --> 00:08:40.960 uniter of humanity. It's the proclaiming of God's 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.980 glory and not our own. It's a community that 00:08:43.980 --> 00:08:47.220 exists not to make a name for itself, but to 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:50.980 declare the name that is above every other name, 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:54.299 to declare the glory and the goodness of God. 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:58.240 It was many languages, many cultures, many backgrounds 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:02.720 and testimonies, all united in one gospel, all 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:06.870 united with one Lord. formed into one community. 00:09:07.070 --> 00:09:09.649 And so Peter, he stands up and he preaches the 00:09:09.649 --> 00:09:11.590 gospel and they're hearing it in their own language. 00:09:11.710 --> 00:09:14.250 And I love that they are so energetic. They're 00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:17.690 so emphatic and honestly so wild that the crowd 00:09:17.690 --> 00:09:21.009 around them says, are these guys drunk? And they're 00:09:21.009 --> 00:09:23.129 like, no, they're just full of the spirit. And 00:09:23.129 --> 00:09:24.809 I think that's pretty cool because like later 00:09:24.809 --> 00:09:26.950 on in scripture, Paul will say, don't be drunk 00:09:26.950 --> 00:09:29.049 with wine, but be full with the Holy Spirit. 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:31.399 And so that's what we're witnessing here, that 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.000 Peter gets up and preaches, and he's so enthusiastic 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:35.899 that people think, this guy's been drinking at 00:09:35.899 --> 00:09:40.539 9 a .m. Could you imagine? And so Peter, he gets 00:09:40.539 --> 00:09:42.539 up there, and he doesn't give them this self 00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:45.759 -help message. He doesn't give them this feel 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:48.080 -good, you're going to be okay, and you were 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.179 made for this. He doesn't do that. What Peter 00:09:50.179 --> 00:09:53.139 does is he preaches Jesus. He preaches Jesus 00:09:53.139 --> 00:09:57.500 crucified, resurrected, and exalted. He connects 00:09:57.500 --> 00:10:00.200 what they're witnessing now to the ancient prophets 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:02.279 of old. And he's saying, you've heard these stories 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:05.220 since you were a child. You know what God has 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:08.039 promised. Well, it's been fulfilled. It's being 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:13.159 fulfilled in the person of Jesus. And he looks 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:16.039 at the crowd, which would have been filled with 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:20.340 people who were there shouting to crucify Jesus. 00:10:21.899 --> 00:10:23.940 He looks at the crowd and he sees the people 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:26.539 that spit on Jesus and he sees the people that 00:10:26.539 --> 00:10:28.919 picked up stones ready to throw them at Jesus. 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:31.480 He sees the people that shouted for the release 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:33.940 of a murderer so that Jesus could be put on the 00:10:33.940 --> 00:10:37.360 cross. He sees those people and he proclaims 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:40.539 the gospel to them and he says, let all the house 00:10:40.539 --> 00:10:43.419 of Israel therefore know for certain that God 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:46.360 has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:52.200 whom you crucified, whom you crucified. who you 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:55.899 put on the cross, who you killed, who you murdered, 00:10:56.059 --> 00:11:01.139 who you slandered. He did this for you. And it 00:11:01.139 --> 00:11:02.720 says that at that moment they were cut to the 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.440 heart. They were convicted, that their minds 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.519 were stirred, their hearts were stirred, and 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:09.320 they asked, they said, brothers, what do we do? 00:11:09.899 --> 00:11:11.980 What they're saying is how do we respond to this? 00:11:12.059 --> 00:11:14.679 What do we make of this? You just said that God 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:17.980 sent Jesus to die for me in all of my sin, in 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:21.279 all of my evil. God... would proclaim or would 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:24.100 reclaim my life. And the disciples are like, 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:26.960 yeah, he would. And so they're like, well, what 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:29.759 do we do with this? And then Peter says, repent 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.039 and be baptized every one of you in the name 00:11:32.039 --> 00:11:35.000 of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:37.700 And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit 00:11:37.700 --> 00:11:40.600 for the promises for you and for your children 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:43.519 and for all who are far off, everyone whom the 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.240 Lord our God calls to himself. I want you to 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.649 notice something there. Peter doesn't just offer 00:11:49.649 --> 00:11:52.129 forgiveness. He's not just telling them about 00:11:52.129 --> 00:11:54.830 the forgiveness of sins. He also tells them about 00:11:54.830 --> 00:11:57.350 the gift of the Holy Spirit. And what he says 00:11:57.350 --> 00:11:59.710 is like, this stuff that you just witnessed us 00:11:59.710 --> 00:12:04.649 do, this energetic and chaotic and crazy drunkenness 00:12:04.649 --> 00:12:07.570 that you see in us, it's available to you. This 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:10.110 ability to proclaim the gospel in a way that 00:12:10.110 --> 00:12:12.570 connects with every tribe and every tongue, this 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:15.799 is available to you, this power. It's available 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:18.419 to every single one of you. If you will give 00:12:18.419 --> 00:12:20.779 your life to Jesus, if you repent, turn away 00:12:20.779 --> 00:12:23.519 from your evil ways, be baptized and give your 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:27.480 life to Jesus. This power is available to you. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:31.240 And I want you to think about what else the promise 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:33.600 contains. Yes, it's the forgiveness of sins. 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:36.159 And yes, it's the gift of the Holy Spirit. But 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:38.539 there's something else. And there's something 00:12:38.539 --> 00:12:42.850 that for me is a huge blessing. And we think 00:12:42.850 --> 00:12:45.309 about Jesus blessing the disciples before he 00:12:45.309 --> 00:12:47.289 ascends into heaven, and we described it or defined 00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:50.250 it as bestowing benefit. Well, for me, this has 00:12:50.250 --> 00:12:53.409 been a huge benefit in my life. It is a community. 00:12:53.409 --> 00:12:56.129 I want you to see what we read in Acts 2 .41. 00:12:57.049 --> 00:12:59.950 So those who received his word were baptized, 00:12:59.950 --> 00:13:03.750 and there were added that day about 3 ,000 souls. 00:13:04.629 --> 00:13:09.769 Added. They were added. Added to the kingdom. 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:14.580 to the community, to the family. They were added 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:17.799 to the body of Christ. Baptism isn't just a transaction 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:20.360 between you and God. It's not just an agreement 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.500 between me and God. Baptism is the moment that 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:26.159 we are brought into something far greater than 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:30.340 ourselves, something so beneficial, something 00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:33.620 that if it were not for the community, the church, 00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:35.799 if it were not for that, I would not be here, 00:13:35.899 --> 00:13:38.000 and I would go as far as to say you probably 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:41.220 wouldn't either. Because life is way too hard 00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:43.919 to do on your own. And God knows that. So he 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:47.460 gives us this family. When you come out of the 00:13:47.460 --> 00:13:50.539 water, you're not just forgiven. When you come 00:13:50.539 --> 00:13:52.500 out of the water, you don't just get this gift 00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:55.179 of the Holy Spirit to use for yourself. You are 00:13:55.179 --> 00:14:00.659 given a new community. And on that day, 3 ,000 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:04.519 people were added from 15 different regions, 00:14:04.620 --> 00:14:07.759 all kinds of different languages, people that 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.049 had different stories. people with different 00:14:10.049 --> 00:14:12.610 baggage, people with different home lives, people 00:14:12.610 --> 00:14:14.549 with different family structures, people with 00:14:14.549 --> 00:14:17.610 different socioeconomic statuses, people from 00:14:17.610 --> 00:14:22.909 all over. Every type of person added to this 00:14:22.909 --> 00:14:29.690 one family. That's the power of the gospel. That's 00:14:29.690 --> 00:14:31.590 the power of the spirit. That is a power that 00:14:31.590 --> 00:14:36.070 only God has. It's not just to save individuals, 00:14:36.169 --> 00:14:39.440 but it is to form a community. A community that 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:42.759 the world would not be able to explain. Because 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:45.299 the world looks at the church. And they look 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:46.860 at the church and they say, how can all those 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:50.879 people sit in the same row? How can the biker 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.480 with the tattoos sit next to the banker? How 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:58.580 can this happen? It's the gospel. And that's 00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:00.539 what the Spirit was doing from the beginning. 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:03.309 And so before I get to our key text, I just want 00:15:03.309 --> 00:15:05.590 to pause and I want to say something about the 00:15:05.590 --> 00:15:07.870 Spirit's movement in history because we can look 00:15:07.870 --> 00:15:09.690 at this and we can say, well, that's really cool 00:15:09.690 --> 00:15:11.690 that that happened way back then. And we can 00:15:11.690 --> 00:15:13.730 look at it and say, man, God used to work in 00:15:13.730 --> 00:15:15.750 some awesome ways. Well, I want to make it very 00:15:15.750 --> 00:15:18.789 clear that God didn't just work that way 2 ,000 00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:22.330 years ago. As recent as the 1800s, we have the 00:15:22.330 --> 00:15:24.809 Cambridge Revival where people were falling out. 00:15:24.850 --> 00:15:26.509 They were weeping because of their conviction 00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:29.649 by the Spirit, their conviction of the gospel 00:15:29.649 --> 00:15:31.590 where they give their life. lives and thousands 00:15:31.590 --> 00:15:34.429 of people give their lives to the gospel. We 00:15:34.429 --> 00:15:36.669 can look at the 1900s with the Welsh revival 00:15:36.669 --> 00:15:39.009 where this young untrained man, which I want 00:15:39.009 --> 00:15:41.429 to note that often revivals start with young 00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:43.230 people. So for my young people in the room, we 00:15:43.230 --> 00:15:45.929 got some work to do. This young untrained man 00:15:45.929 --> 00:15:48.129 named Evan Roberts, he gets up and he starts 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:50.470 preaching. And within months of this, thousands 00:15:50.470 --> 00:15:54.389 of people in the nation of Wales give their lives 00:15:54.389 --> 00:15:56.990 to Christ and they become faithful followers. 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:00.440 And I want you to know there are many people 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:04.059 today, historians, scholars, ministers, and ordinary 00:16:04.059 --> 00:16:07.559 people that believe right now we are in the midst 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.840 of a revival. They believe that the Spirit is 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:12.440 working, that the Spirit's been working since 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:14.740 the pandemic. Who would have thought COVID would 00:16:14.740 --> 00:16:17.279 be the thing to bring about revival? And I'm 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:19.879 not here to say we are or we are not in a revival, 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:23.460 but my point by saying that is that the Spirit 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:26.000 didn't just work 2 ,000 years ago. It is still 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.399 working today. And if we believe the Spirit can 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:32.840 work, I believe revival can happen. So I just 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:35.620 want to throw that in there as we look at this 00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:38.460 Spirit -empowered church because the church was 00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:41.299 put here to proclaim the goodness of God. And 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:44.299 we can do that in an exponential and an incredible 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:48.840 way if we will rely on the Spirit's power. So 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:53.919 we get into our text. Acts 2, 42 through 47. 00:16:54.649 --> 00:16:57.090 As we look at this idea of what the church looks 00:16:57.090 --> 00:17:00.649 like, of what the church is supposed to be, this 00:17:00.649 --> 00:17:04.289 is what I read. This is what comes to my mind 00:17:04.289 --> 00:17:06.230 every time someone asks me, what's the church 00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:08.630 for? This is what I want to think about because 00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:11.549 Luke, he paints this portrait of what the church 00:17:11.549 --> 00:17:14.349 looked like in its first days, not as this ideal 00:17:14.349 --> 00:17:17.269 to admire or to say, man, that was really cool, 00:17:17.349 --> 00:17:19.690 but as a blueprint for what this is supposed 00:17:19.690 --> 00:17:22.500 to be. So read this with me. And they devoted 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:25.240 themselves to the apostles' teaching and the 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.559 fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:30.799 the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:32.779 many wonders and signs were being done to the 00:17:32.779 --> 00:17:35.319 apostles, and all who believed were together 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:38.500 and had all things in common. And they were selling 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:40.539 their possessions and belongings and distributing 00:17:40.539 --> 00:17:44.000 the proceeds to all as any had need. And day 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.299 by day, attending the temple together and breaking 00:17:46.299 --> 00:17:48.660 bread in their homes, they received their food 00:17:48.660 --> 00:17:51.500 with glad and generous hearts, praising God and 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:54.160 having favor with all the people. And the Lord 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.940 added to their number day by day those who were 00:17:56.940 --> 00:18:03.990 being saved. That's an incredible passage. But 00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:05.390 you could be sitting there and you could think, 00:18:05.430 --> 00:18:07.069 well, of course, a Christian writer is going 00:18:07.069 --> 00:18:08.710 to say that. Of course, a preacher is going to 00:18:08.710 --> 00:18:11.329 say that because it fits their initiative. Well, 00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:13.269 I want you to know it wasn't just Christians 00:18:13.269 --> 00:18:15.609 saying this about the early church. In fact, 00:18:15.769 --> 00:18:18.490 the church was an enemy of Rome. Rome wanted 00:18:18.490 --> 00:18:20.930 to get rid of the church. They wanted to exterminate 00:18:20.930 --> 00:18:24.630 every Christian. And so the Roman emperor, Caesar, 00:18:24.930 --> 00:18:29.200 he sends a spy to infiltrate the church. reports 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.740 back to him saying this, they love one another 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:34.539 and he who has gifts to him who has not without 00:18:34.539 --> 00:18:37.140 boasting. And when they see a stranger, they 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:39.160 take him into their own homes and rejoice over 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:41.920 him as a very brother. And if there is any among 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.160 them that are poor and needy, and if they have 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:46.859 no spare food, they fast two or three days in 00:18:46.859 --> 00:18:49.140 order to supply to the needy their lack of food. 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:53.180 Such, O king, is their manner of life. And verily, 00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:56.690 this is a new people. And there is something 00:18:56.690 --> 00:19:02.309 divine in the midst of them. That guy has no 00:19:02.309 --> 00:19:06.650 motive to say good things about the church. That 00:19:06.650 --> 00:19:10.470 guy does not benefit from saying good things 00:19:10.470 --> 00:19:12.700 about the church. In fact... He's supposed to 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:14.619 be coming back to Caesar and saying, yeah, it's 00:19:14.619 --> 00:19:17.279 all a hoax. Yeah, it's just a cult. Yeah, it's 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.039 just crazy talk. Yeah, they're all a bunch of 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.759 drug addicts and they're hallucinating. They're 00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:23.960 off their rockers. He has no reason to say good 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:26.039 things about the church. He definitely doesn't 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:28.000 have any reason to say these things about the 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:30.880 church, but he does. Why? Because it was true. 00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:35.339 This is history. This is not the Bible speaking. 00:19:35.500 --> 00:19:38.059 This is history speaking about what the church 00:19:38.059 --> 00:19:44.690 looked like. It was a community. It was a family 00:19:44.690 --> 00:19:48.029 that is so different from the world, that's so 00:19:48.029 --> 00:19:51.009 different that the only explanation is there 00:19:51.009 --> 00:19:54.329 was something divine about them. There was something 00:19:54.329 --> 00:19:58.549 supernatural going on among those people. They're 00:19:58.549 --> 00:20:03.329 not crazy. They're not lunatics. They're empowered. 00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:08.380 They are spirit -filled. There is something divine 00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:10.279 among them. And I ask the question, can people 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:13.640 say that about us? Can people say that about 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:16.380 this group of people? When people walk in this 00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:18.279 room trying to figure out what this church thing 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:20.980 is all about, can they look at us and say, there's 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:23.759 something divine about these people? We've sang 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:25.660 the song before, there's a sweet spirit in this 00:20:25.660 --> 00:20:29.660 place. Is there something supernatural about 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:34.849 us? So today I want to anchor this message on 00:20:34.849 --> 00:20:37.650 three things that I think if we can figure these 00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:40.529 out and if we can rely on the Spirit, maybe the 00:20:40.529 --> 00:20:43.470 world will be able to see something divine among 00:20:43.470 --> 00:20:46.789 us. And the first thing is the early church was 00:20:46.789 --> 00:20:49.529 devoted. Verse 42, that's what it says. They 00:20:49.529 --> 00:20:52.230 were devoted. And right there, that word devoted 00:20:52.230 --> 00:20:56.880 means to persist. To hold fast, to continue steadfastly 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.339 or refuse to let go. When I was in college, I 00:20:59.339 --> 00:21:02.160 really liked this girl. And I just really, I 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.799 mean, I could not think about anyone else. And 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:09.500 people would say, dude, just let go. But I was 00:21:09.500 --> 00:21:12.900 persistent. And thankfully, my persistence paid 00:21:12.900 --> 00:21:16.519 off. Because I got the girl after three years 00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:20.569 of trying. And so the disciples, they were devoted 00:21:20.569 --> 00:21:23.250 to the word. They were devoted to the teaching. 00:21:24.470 --> 00:21:26.710 They would not let go when people would say, 00:21:26.750 --> 00:21:29.930 dude, you just got to give it up. I can't. I 00:21:29.930 --> 00:21:31.650 can't get enough of this teaching. Dude, you 00:21:31.650 --> 00:21:34.730 just got to let go. I can't. Because something 00:21:34.730 --> 00:21:37.269 that they're teaching, it's what I need. They 00:21:37.269 --> 00:21:39.509 were committed. They could not let go of the 00:21:39.509 --> 00:21:41.769 word. They were not just devoted to the word. 00:21:41.869 --> 00:21:44.240 They were devoted to fellowship. They couldn't 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:46.559 get enough of being together. They could not 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:48.660 go a day without talking to their church family. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.440 And I think that's pretty convicting because 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.299 I can go an entire week without touching the 00:21:53.299 --> 00:21:56.980 life of somebody in my church family. They were 00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:58.900 devoted to the breaking of bread, to being in 00:21:58.900 --> 00:22:01.599 each other's homes, having meals together, celebrating 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:04.680 the Lord's Supper. They were devoted to being 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:11.839 a church family. The early church was a community. 00:22:12.460 --> 00:22:17.259 that could not help but be committed. They couldn't 00:22:17.259 --> 00:22:21.000 help but be devoted. And not only were they devoted 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:23.660 to each other, but they held all things in common. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.980 That they had, what they had was what their brother 00:22:27.980 --> 00:22:29.859 had and what they didn't have, their brother 00:22:29.859 --> 00:22:34.440 didn't have it. They were together. They shared. 00:22:34.970 --> 00:22:39.069 in all things. Verses 44 through 46, it teaches 00:22:39.069 --> 00:22:42.369 this idea of being in common. They were selling 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:44.390 their possessions to make sure that if their 00:22:44.390 --> 00:22:48.119 brother had a need, that need was met. They were 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:50.519 giving up their own things so that their brothers 00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:52.339 could have, so that their sisters could have. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.599 They were in the temple together. They were breaking 00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:57.099 bread in each other's homes. And it wasn't like 00:22:57.099 --> 00:22:59.619 they were living in a monastery. I always say 00:22:59.619 --> 00:23:01.920 like, man, I wish we could just like buy a giant 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:04.140 piece of land and just live in our own little 00:23:04.140 --> 00:23:07.079 world. But we can't do that. We weren't called 00:23:07.079 --> 00:23:09.319 to do that. We were called to live in the world. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.559 But when the world would see us in the temple 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:13.640 together, when the world would see us gathering 00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:15.559 in each other's home, when the world would see 00:23:15.559 --> 00:23:17.779 us feeding each other and making sure each other 00:23:17.779 --> 00:23:20.240 had what they needed, when the world saw that, 00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:25.220 it was attractive because the church was reorganizing 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:29.410 their lives around each other. It wasn't, I can't 00:23:29.410 --> 00:23:31.369 make it, I've got a ball game. It wasn't, I can't 00:23:31.369 --> 00:23:33.609 make it, I've got a function. It wasn't, I can't 00:23:33.609 --> 00:23:36.369 do this because I've got this. It was, I can't 00:23:36.369 --> 00:23:38.210 go to the ball game because I've got a church 00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:41.150 gathering to be with. And I'm not picking on 00:23:41.150 --> 00:23:43.990 sports. I love sports. What I'm saying is, is 00:23:43.990 --> 00:23:46.230 we've gotten convinced in this world that the 00:23:46.230 --> 00:23:49.309 church is a part of our lives. But for the church 00:23:49.309 --> 00:23:53.369 in Acts, the church was their lives. It was who 00:23:53.369 --> 00:23:56.730 they were. It wasn't... Like they didn't separate 00:23:56.730 --> 00:23:58.910 it as I've got my family and my church family. 00:23:59.009 --> 00:24:01.910 My church family was my family. It wasn't I've 00:24:01.910 --> 00:24:03.690 got my work friends, I've got my school friends, 00:24:03.829 --> 00:24:06.589 I've got my gym friends, I've got my golf friends, 00:24:06.690 --> 00:24:08.970 I've got my church friends. It was just I've 00:24:08.970 --> 00:24:12.869 got my friends. And my friends were my church 00:24:12.869 --> 00:24:16.089 family. It was my community. They had all things 00:24:16.089 --> 00:24:19.069 in common. And because of how radical this was, 00:24:19.329 --> 00:24:22.990 because of how crazy this was, it wasn't something 00:24:22.990 --> 00:24:25.339 that turned people off. Like I've heard people 00:24:25.339 --> 00:24:27.339 say, man, if we talk like that, we're going to 00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:29.200 turn people off. People are going to think we're 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:31.380 a cult. People are going to think we're, I don't 00:24:31.380 --> 00:24:34.160 think it's that crazy because I look at the church 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:38.200 of Acts and it says daily they were adding. They 00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:42.359 were adding because it was attractive. Because 00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:45.220 when people see, and Greg said this in his communion 00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:49.119 talk, when people see this, they say, man, I 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:53.259 want some of what they've got. Because the world 00:24:53.259 --> 00:24:56.799 is, they're hungry for belonging. People are 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:59.339 hungry for purpose. People are hungry for community. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:01.940 They're hungry for people that will love them 00:25:01.940 --> 00:25:04.259 and support them and cheer them on. I think about 00:25:04.259 --> 00:25:08.339 my kids' T -ball games. Like, we're at these 00:25:08.339 --> 00:25:11.240 T -ball games, and we've got 20 church members 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:14.740 at these games just for Easton or just for Peyton. 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:19.460 And so when they get a hit, it's a roar of fans 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:23.250 cheering. And then I noticed when the other kids 00:25:23.250 --> 00:25:26.890 hit, the other kids hit just as well, but it's 00:25:26.890 --> 00:25:30.109 not as loud. The difference is, is my kids had 00:25:30.109 --> 00:25:32.009 a fan club and it was all their church family. 00:25:33.910 --> 00:25:37.849 That speaks volume. That speaks volumes to the 00:25:37.849 --> 00:25:39.509 world around us because they look at it and they 00:25:39.509 --> 00:25:42.410 say, what the heck's going on with these kids? 00:25:42.529 --> 00:25:43.809 Why do they have so many people cheering for 00:25:43.809 --> 00:25:45.690 them? They've got a really good church family. 00:25:48.509 --> 00:25:52.119 It's attractive. It's something that people look 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:56.859 at and they say, man, I need that. And I want 00:25:56.859 --> 00:25:59.319 you to notice Luke doesn't say anything about 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:01.539 the production value of their worship gatherings. 00:26:01.819 --> 00:26:03.940 He doesn't say anything about how good their 00:26:03.940 --> 00:26:05.680 preacher is. He doesn't say anything about how 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:07.759 good the worship leader is. He doesn't say anything 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:10.039 about how comfortable the seats are, how nice 00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:12.140 the building is. He doesn't say any of that. 00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:16.480 He talks about what they did and who they were, 00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:23.019 not what they had. And that's important. And 00:26:23.019 --> 00:26:26.839 because of how attractive it was, the Lord added. 00:26:28.019 --> 00:26:31.240 The Lord added. And I want you again to notice 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:34.400 it wasn't the elders added. It wasn't the preacher 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:37.539 added. It wasn't the missionaries added. God 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:43.559 added. And the Lord added to their number day 00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:47.079 by day. Daily, he added those who were being 00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:51.230 saved. Growth in the early church was not the 00:26:51.230 --> 00:26:54.029 work of people. It wasn't anything that the people 00:26:54.029 --> 00:26:57.730 did. It was simply God. The way I would explain 00:26:57.730 --> 00:27:01.329 it is when we work, when we do what God has put 00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:05.890 us here to do, God produces the fruit. The church's 00:27:05.890 --> 00:27:09.490 responsibility was simple. Be faithful. Worship 00:27:09.490 --> 00:27:12.029 together. Be devoted to each other. Be generous. 00:27:12.150 --> 00:27:17.769 Pray together. Live life together. And God added. 00:27:18.569 --> 00:27:20.390 And what I'm not saying is that the church should 00:27:20.390 --> 00:27:22.670 be passive. I'm not saying we just sit here and 00:27:22.670 --> 00:27:25.309 have prayer meetings 24 -7. I'm not saying we 00:27:25.309 --> 00:27:28.329 just wait and we say, well, God will do the adding. 00:27:28.470 --> 00:27:30.150 That's not what I'm saying. In fact, the early 00:27:30.150 --> 00:27:33.650 church was anything but passive. They were out 00:27:33.650 --> 00:27:36.069 in public proclaiming the good news. They were 00:27:36.069 --> 00:27:38.349 in each other's homes proclaiming the good news. 00:27:38.490 --> 00:27:40.410 They lived lives that were radically different. 00:27:40.529 --> 00:27:43.349 They were not passive, but the source of growth 00:27:43.349 --> 00:27:46.250 was always God. And I would simplify it by saying 00:27:46.250 --> 00:27:49.750 this, human faithfulness. makes way for divine 00:27:49.750 --> 00:27:52.890 activity. When we're faithful, when we do what 00:27:52.890 --> 00:27:54.730 we were put here to do, when we do what we were 00:27:54.730 --> 00:27:56.950 called to do, when we live the life that God 00:27:56.950 --> 00:28:01.569 has called us to live, God will produce. There's 00:28:01.569 --> 00:28:04.140 a story in the Old Testament where the prophet 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:06.759 Elijah, he stands on a mountain, and he's confronted 00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:09.880 by these hundreds of prophets of Baal, and this 00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:12.019 Baal is this false god, and these guys, they 00:28:12.019 --> 00:28:15.240 believe in Baal. And so they're challenging Elijah, 00:28:15.460 --> 00:28:17.480 and Elijah's challenging them because he believes 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:20.059 in the one true God. And so they're arguing about 00:28:20.059 --> 00:28:22.960 whose god is real, and whose god is really the 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:25.759 most powerful. And so what they do is they decide, 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:27.539 they're going to, okay, we're going to put this 00:28:27.539 --> 00:28:30.990 to the test. Which god can make fire? And so 00:28:30.990 --> 00:28:33.970 what happens is Elijah builds his stack of wood. 00:28:34.130 --> 00:28:36.829 The prophets of Baal, they make their stacks 00:28:36.829 --> 00:28:39.289 of wood. But Elijah is not just going to take 00:28:39.289 --> 00:28:41.890 his stack of wood and call on God to put fire. 00:28:42.069 --> 00:28:44.109 No, Elijah is going to take it a step further. 00:28:44.289 --> 00:28:47.890 He digs a trench around his stack of wood. And 00:28:47.890 --> 00:28:51.210 he pours water all over his wood until it is 00:28:51.210 --> 00:28:53.700 soaked. And I'm not talking like he didn't just 00:28:53.700 --> 00:28:56.380 like sprinkle water on it. And this wasn't gasoline 00:28:56.380 --> 00:28:59.599 disguised as water. This was water and he douses 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:02.720 his wood with it so that if fire happens, there 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:06.000 would only be one explanation. And so the prophets 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.839 of Baal, they call on their God to bring fire 00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:11.700 and nothing happens. But when Elijah calls on 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:14.559 his God to bring fire, it lights up a flame. 00:29:17.220 --> 00:29:19.940 There is only one explanation for Elijah's fire. 00:29:21.500 --> 00:29:27.200 God. And I say all that to say, when it comes 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:30.339 to the church, we can talk about all the stuff 00:29:30.339 --> 00:29:32.460 we want to do. We can talk about all the things 00:29:32.460 --> 00:29:35.319 we need to do. We can develop the programs. We 00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:38.059 can establish the ministries. And we can do all 00:29:38.059 --> 00:29:40.480 of that, but the fire will not come if it is 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:47.619 not from God. We can do all of these things. 00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:52.519 We aren't called to be passive. We have a job 00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:57.000 to do. But it's not going to be us that brings 00:29:57.000 --> 00:29:59.660 the fire. In fact, what I want to be clear is 00:29:59.660 --> 00:30:03.180 Elijah did not produce the fire. God did. Elijah 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:05.640 simply stacked the wood. And so if I could give 00:30:05.640 --> 00:30:08.960 you one word this morning, or I guess it's two 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:11.500 sentences. If I can give you two sentences this 00:30:11.500 --> 00:30:13.900 morning. that I hope you will take with you and 00:30:13.900 --> 00:30:15.759 that we will take with us as a church family 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:17.480 throughout the rest of this series and hopefully 00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:20.200 the rest of our lives, it's this. We cannot bring 00:30:20.200 --> 00:30:23.339 the fire, but we can stack the wood. We have 00:30:23.339 --> 00:30:26.160 work to do. That's why I'm preaching. That's 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:27.880 why you're doing the things you're doing. That's 00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:30.460 why we have people that are leading devotionals. 00:30:30.500 --> 00:30:32.200 That's why we have people that are leading Bible 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:34.539 studies. That's why we have our missionary efforts 00:30:34.539 --> 00:30:36.900 that we support. That's why we're prayerful as 00:30:36.900 --> 00:30:38.799 a church about what we're going to do for the 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:41.180 next generation. How we're going to support the 00:30:41.180 --> 00:30:42.859 next generation. Are we going to hire a youth 00:30:42.859 --> 00:30:44.539 minister? What are we going to do? That's why 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:47.259 we do these things is because we're trying to 00:30:47.259 --> 00:30:51.079 stack wood, faithfully expecting the Spirit to 00:30:51.079 --> 00:30:55.700 bring fire, faithfully expecting God to bring 00:30:55.700 --> 00:30:57.779 growth, and not just so we can fill the seats, 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:02.000 but so that we can save souls. And so we've got 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:05.460 some wood to stack. We've got some work to do. 00:31:06.009 --> 00:31:08.529 But I'm a believer, and I hope you are, that 00:31:08.529 --> 00:31:11.269 if we stack the wood, God will bring the fire. 00:31:12.289 --> 00:31:15.109 I'm a believer that if we will raise our sails, 00:31:15.150 --> 00:31:18.190 the Spirit will push us forward to where God 00:31:18.190 --> 00:31:22.430 needs us to go. So let me bring us back to where 00:31:22.430 --> 00:31:26.869 we started. You're in that upper room. You've 00:31:26.869 --> 00:31:29.289 been waiting for Jesus or for the promise that 00:31:29.289 --> 00:31:31.369 Jesus gave you. You've been waiting and you've 00:31:31.369 --> 00:31:34.490 been praying. And suddenly the wind comes, the 00:31:34.490 --> 00:31:38.269 fire falls, and everything you know changes. 00:31:40.349 --> 00:31:43.369 And then shortly after that, your little group 00:31:43.369 --> 00:31:48.089 of 100 or so people explodes to 3 ,000 people. 00:31:49.410 --> 00:31:52.230 And within weeks, a community is formed in Jerusalem 00:31:52.230 --> 00:31:55.380 that the world cannot understand. that the world 00:31:55.380 --> 00:31:58.059 cannot explain, that the world has never seen 00:31:58.059 --> 00:32:00.619 before. People from every tribe, every background, 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:04.960 men and women, old people, young people, all 00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:07.259 gathered in this room singing the same songs, 00:32:07.420 --> 00:32:09.900 praying the same prayers, thanking the same God 00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:12.940 for the same salvation, the same gifts. making 00:32:12.940 --> 00:32:15.319 sure that nobody's going hungry, nobody's going 00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:17.559 without, that everybody has a place to lay their 00:32:17.559 --> 00:32:20.339 head, making sure that everyone knows the goodness 00:32:20.339 --> 00:32:23.119 of God and is taken care of by the gracious and 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:25.819 generous gifts of the church. You're in that. 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:29.319 You're there. You're witnessing all of that happen. 00:32:30.180 --> 00:32:34.339 And you're hearing the world ask, what in the 00:32:34.339 --> 00:32:40.380 world is happening here? That's the church Jesus 00:32:40.380 --> 00:32:44.670 intended. That's the Jesus church. And as we 00:32:44.670 --> 00:32:46.210 go through the rest of this series, we're going 00:32:46.210 --> 00:32:48.670 to look at different facets and kind of break 00:32:48.670 --> 00:32:53.329 that down and see how can we more closely align 00:32:53.329 --> 00:32:57.430 with the church of Acts. Because it wasn't about 00:32:57.430 --> 00:32:59.690 the building. I'm not saying, hey, let's go look 00:32:59.690 --> 00:33:01.849 at their architecture and see how they did it. 00:33:02.250 --> 00:33:04.849 It wasn't about the organization. It wasn't about 00:33:04.849 --> 00:33:07.289 the programs. It wasn't about the things that 00:33:07.289 --> 00:33:11.119 they did, but it was about who they were. And 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:13.660 what they were, who they were, was a living, 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:17.779 breathing, spirit -animated community that bears 00:33:17.779 --> 00:33:21.680 witness to the resurrection by the way it lives 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:24.200 and by the way it loves. So here's what I want 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:26.980 to leave you with today. The question I want 00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:29.279 you to carry with you into this week and into 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:33.319 this series is simply, are we willing to be the 00:33:33.319 --> 00:33:36.759 kind of community that the Spirit would work 00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:40.769 through? Are we going to stack wood? Are we going 00:33:40.769 --> 00:33:43.910 to raise ourselves? Are we going to open ourselves 00:33:43.910 --> 00:33:47.890 up so that when the spirit moves, the world sees 00:33:47.890 --> 00:33:52.849 something crazy in a good way? Are we willing 00:33:52.849 --> 00:33:54.990 to be that kind of community? I believe we are 00:33:54.990 --> 00:33:57.430 from a leadership standpoint. I wouldn't be here 00:33:57.430 --> 00:34:00.609 if that weren't the case. And I'm going to be 00:34:00.609 --> 00:34:02.569 completely honest, and I'm not just saying this 00:34:02.569 --> 00:34:04.430 because I'm hoping for a raise. I think we've 00:34:04.430 --> 00:34:07.910 got some good leaders. We have a great eldership. 00:34:07.910 --> 00:34:10.730 We've got some great deacons. We've got some 00:34:10.730 --> 00:34:13.070 great men and women in this church that aren't 00:34:13.070 --> 00:34:15.769 in leadership positions that are doing some great 00:34:15.769 --> 00:34:20.190 things as leaders. But then there are some of 00:34:20.190 --> 00:34:22.809 us that we aren't in leadership positions. Are 00:34:22.809 --> 00:34:26.150 we on the same mission? Are we willing to be 00:34:26.150 --> 00:34:29.369 that kind of community? It starts with all of 00:34:29.369 --> 00:34:33.030 us being on the same page of stacking wood together, 00:34:33.210 --> 00:34:37.610 raising ourselves together. And if we'll do that, 00:34:38.440 --> 00:34:40.559 Or if we're at least willing to become that, 00:34:40.780 --> 00:34:44.300 then I do believe the God who added 3 ,000 souls 00:34:44.300 --> 00:34:48.000 in one day at Pentecost is not finished adding 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:52.519 and he's not finished transforming. There's a 00:34:52.519 --> 00:34:55.199 county out there. There's a state out there. 00:34:55.219 --> 00:34:58.260 There's a country out there that needs transformation. 00:34:58.699 --> 00:35:03.400 I'll say it, needs revival. And I believe our 00:35:03.400 --> 00:35:06.679 God can do that. I don't just believe he can, 00:35:06.780 --> 00:35:10.369 I believe he will. But it takes people like us, 00:35:10.389 --> 00:35:13.090 churches like us saying, we'll let the spirit 00:35:13.090 --> 00:35:18.829 work. We'll stack the wood. In a moment, we're 00:35:18.829 --> 00:35:21.969 going to sing. We're going to sing what we call 00:35:21.969 --> 00:35:24.369 a song of invitation. And what I want to say 00:35:24.369 --> 00:35:26.449 is I don't want you to let the moment of singing 00:35:26.449 --> 00:35:30.869 pass without looking at what God is doing or 00:35:30.869 --> 00:35:33.670 listening or feeling what God is doing. I don't 00:35:33.670 --> 00:35:35.610 want you to let the moment pass without responding 00:35:35.610 --> 00:35:40.849 to God. Those 3 ,000 people at Pentecost, they 00:35:40.849 --> 00:35:43.150 didn't wait. They didn't have it all figured 00:35:43.150 --> 00:35:45.110 out, and they didn't wait until they could get 00:35:45.110 --> 00:35:47.969 it all figured out. They simply heard the gospel. 00:35:48.150 --> 00:35:50.510 They heard the message, and they said, what do 00:35:50.510 --> 00:35:54.889 we do? How do we respond? So as we sing, I want 00:35:54.889 --> 00:35:56.550 to speak to three different types of people. 00:35:57.170 --> 00:36:00.090 Maybe you've never been baptized. You've never 00:36:00.090 --> 00:36:03.449 accepted the gift of the gospel. And today, I 00:36:03.449 --> 00:36:05.829 would say it's the perfect day to be added to 00:36:05.829 --> 00:36:08.409 that number, to be added to that community, because 00:36:08.409 --> 00:36:10.869 the promise still stands. If you give your life 00:36:10.869 --> 00:36:13.590 to Jesus, He will save you, He will give you 00:36:13.590 --> 00:36:15.630 a gift of the Spirit, and He will add you to 00:36:15.630 --> 00:36:20.409 an amazing family. And then, maybe there's those 00:36:20.409 --> 00:36:22.610 of us that were once devoted, but we've kind 00:36:22.610 --> 00:36:25.670 of drifted, and maybe you've wandered. Today's 00:36:25.670 --> 00:36:28.570 a good day to come back home. And there's no 00:36:28.570 --> 00:36:31.650 shame about it. In fact, it is a very noble and 00:36:31.650 --> 00:36:33.769 honorable thing to say, I've walked away, but 00:36:33.769 --> 00:36:37.409 I need to give my life back to Jesus. And then 00:36:37.409 --> 00:36:39.989 maybe you're not in a boat where you've drifted. 00:36:40.309 --> 00:36:41.929 You're not in a boat where you've never given 00:36:41.929 --> 00:36:43.969 your life to Jesus. You're a follower. You are 00:36:43.969 --> 00:36:45.909 a disciple, but you're really struggling and 00:36:45.909 --> 00:36:48.110 you're carrying some heavy burdens. Well, I want 00:36:48.110 --> 00:36:50.090 to take you back to that community in Acts 2. 00:36:50.570 --> 00:36:53.389 It said, whatever your burdens are, we'll carry 00:36:53.389 --> 00:36:56.920 them with you. That's the church. That's what 00:36:56.920 --> 00:36:59.840 we're here for. So this morning, however the 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:01.860 Spirit's moving in you, however God is stirring 00:37:01.860 --> 00:37:04.460 your heart, whatever it is that you need, we 00:37:04.460 --> 00:37:06.500 sincerely offer you an invitation to respond, 00:37:06.940 --> 00:37:10.340 to lay your burdens down at the foot of the cross, 00:37:10.579 --> 00:37:13.239 to ask for prayers from your brothers and sisters, 00:37:13.500 --> 00:37:16.539 to have hands laid on you, to have leadership 00:37:16.539 --> 00:37:19.659 walk beside you and say, we're with you. Whatever 00:37:19.659 --> 00:37:22.559 you need, come now as we stand and as we sing.