Well, welcome to the gathering of Redemption Church North
Ogden. Now I specifically said it that
way, the gathering of the church to to make a point because this,
this building, this wonderful blessing of a, of a building
here and even this service that we are are in now don't define
this church. Even the individual believers
here don't make this, this church.
So today we're celebrating our, our, our first year as a church.
And so we're going to take just a A1 week hiatus from our study
of the, the Gospel of Matthew that we've been in for the last
probably about six months now to we're going to take a hiatus
from that to, to remind ourselves of some important
points. And and I want to take a look at
at what does define the church then?
It's always me we on there we go.
So this is a this is a quote here from a book that that Eric
and John and I have been been reading from from Tom Hicks and
and the section on the church started off like like this.
And I and I really I, I went back and I read it several times
and I wanted to share with with you guys here.
It says the church is the bride of Christ joined to him in the
new covenant to receive all his graces, to grow in his likeness,
to worship and commune with him forever and ever.
When Adam sinned and the whole human race fell in Adam, God
could justly have left us to die in our sins, but instead He
graciously chose a particular people to bring back to Himself.
He did not merely choose individuals, but He chose those
individuals to be gathered into a people, His church, to bring
them back to Himself as a community of redeemed believers.
So this church is the gathering of the people who are committed
to each other in light of and within their relationship with
Jesus. It isn't, it isn't defined
simply by attendance to a service or, or you know, in a
building. It is the, it is the gathering
of believers with purpose. Now, our word church, you'll
hear this often from the Pope, but we like to talk about Greek
words and things like that. The, the, the word church comes
from the Greek word ecclesia, which specifically means called
out from. And it's, it's very importantly
making the case for the people who have been called out
different from the world. And, and that's who Christians
are by definition, followers of, of Jesus who are different from
the world, people who, who prioritize Jesus will and, and
Jesus desires above their own. And one of the reasons why I
want to be careful in communicating this is often I
think maybe we take a little bit too much liberty in our approach
to church. Common mistake that humanity
makes is to define and value something by the the way that it
influences their situation. In our sinful nature, we are
self focused beings. I think every one of us
understands that. So we can quickly form an
opinion about the value of church by our experiences there
rather than our purpose there. We can ask questions often
things like does the church fit my opinions and and does it fit
my beliefs and, or does it make me feel good?
Right. And because we often use this
incorrect yardstick to measure the value that we associate with
church, we often jump to the incorrect and quite frankly, the
unbiblical conclusion that church is optional.
Well, let me tell you, my friends, for the believer, it is
not optional. I'd be willing to bet that many
of us, if, if not all of us, if we're, if we're honest, have at
some point put significantly more importance on our
experience at church than we did on God's purpose for church.
Throughout the New Testament, we have nearly two dozen letters
written directly to the various church bodies, to collections of
believers, and even to individual believers.
And these letters are given to the churches to help them
understand how God expects us to approach our relationship with
Him through with other believers, through other
believers. In Second Timothy 3, starting in
verse one, going through through verse 5, Paul writes some words
of warning to the church. And at the heart of it, it, it
recognizes A facade, right? Like a, a fake front for those
Amelia always, you know, accuses me of using big people words, a
facade, you know, a fake front that that looks one way but but
really isn't. And it's speaking to hypocrisy.
And here's what it says in Second Timothy 3.
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times
of difficulty. For people will be lovers of
self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient
to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not
loving, good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the
appearance of godliness but denying its power, Avoid such
people. And that last verse that that
phrase in there having the appearance of godliness is is
talking to hypocrites that say that they are Christian but are
not and guys, this is a letter to the church.
He's he's talking to the church. These people are within the
church. When we read Colossians 416
says, and when this letter has been read among you have it also
read in the Church of the Laodiceans and see that you also
read the letter from Laodicea. See, these apostles were through
the divine Spirit of God, delivering direction to the
churches with authority, but not just to the churches that it was
addressed to. They clearly intended these
letters to be shared amongst all churches and used as guidelines
for their conduct. So we can also use these letters
to help us understand God's schematic, if you will, for his,
his church. And all too often these days
and, and really, you know, for the last two millennia, people
have felt at liberty to, to redesign and to, to re envision
the church ignoring the fact that that these letters were
given to us to to help us understand those God-given
guidelines. And Paul says as much when he
writes in his first letter to Timothy in in first Timothy 3
verses 14 and 15. He says, I hope to come to you
soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I
delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household
of God, which is the Church of the living God, a pillar and
buttress of truth. And again, Paul isn't talking
about a physical building and yet he makes it clear that the
church is a pillar and and buttress of truth.
You know, pillar and buttress are are synonyms for supports,
right? Like those those columns that
you would see that would hold up a a roof.
And he's saying that the church supports the the truth.
Paul's right in this because he is keenly aware that people can
and will come to different opinions regarding how they view
church, what the responsibility is to the church, and why it
matters. Now maybe that seems silly to
think that people might come to church with the idea that they
can act however they wish or that that worship may be done in
whatever way suits them. But we've probably all seen
that. We've probably all seen many
times in one manner of another. Even with it laid out plainly in
Scripture, there are still often differing opinions about how
these things are carried out and and interpreted.
In fact, I mean, we, we see examples of silliness that
people bring towards their to towards church all the time.
We can see it on the Internet, the mockery that people make of
of this process. As I said, I think we often take
too much liberty in our approach to church and, and, and so I
believe that we should often look back to these epistles to
do a check up on ourselves and and ensure our ideas and
opinions are in line with Scripture.
And that's why we're doing it here on our, on our anniversary,
we before we launched, we spent weeks, months going through
these things of what a healthy church is, because we wanted to
plant a healthy church when we want to stay a healthy church
and we want to, to grow healthier as a church.
And then we want to spin off and, and, and, and send out
other healthy churches. So we want to do this, this,
this this review often as we as we as we continue to grow.
And I believe there is scriptural evidence that tells
us a lot about the makeup of church, what we should hope to
aspire to as a body of believers and and what God has planned for
his church. So today I want to start off
with a a passage that we see at the very beginning of the New
Testament church in the book of Acts that we just read from just
right before I came up here, part of what was read anyways in
Acts chapter 2 and it said it this is just verse 42.
We read 42 to 47, but verse 42 is what I want to focus on
today. It says, and they devoted
themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and the prayers.
This passage, guys, is not describing life outside of the
church, but rather it's describing the life of those who
were a part of the church already.
And I, I want to work through this verse today as we continue
to, to define and grow as God's church, our, ourselves.
And I, I and, and I think that that's the, you know, the main
thing that we, we can pull out of this passage and others that
support it is that throughout Scripture, there is a
demonstrated devotion and, and commitment to worship, to
obedience and discipleship that Scripture calls the church to.
And God uses that devotion to grow his church.
But before we get into these 4 characteristics, let's define
that word, that word that we see in that passage, devoted, right?
What is devotedness? Well, here's what the here's
what the dictionary says. Devotedness is the quality of
being dedicated, loyal and committed to a person, cause or
activity, often to the point of placing their needs or interests
above 1's own. It implies a deep affection,
steadfastness, and an unwavering dedication as seen in a lifelong
commitment. That doesn't seem wavering it or
or short lived. That seems more than just a
passing interest that we would show in a right.
And let's remember that that Jesus at the time that this was
written, Jesus has has just been publicly beaten and crucified.
All of the apostles except John were later martyred for their
beliefs. These disciples in the early
church and Acts were not participating in their faith
lukewarm. They were devoted, it said.
So what were they devoted to? That's we'll get to hear the the
first point is they were devoted to the apostles teaching as they
wanted this teaching, they craved it.
Our Acts 2 passage that that we read comes right on the heels of
of the apostle Peter giving a powerful sermon at the end,
after he gives a sermon, people ask, well, well, what should we
do? And and Peter's response is
repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit.
It's a question all of us have asked or will ask at some point
in our life when we hear the gospel is well, then what should
I do as a response to that? Repent of your sins and be
baptized. And, and after that, Peter goes
on and says, this is what being called by God.
This is what being set apart by God is and it says that about
3000 people were added to the church that day, added to the
body of of believer. So no wonder they were devoted
to the apostles teaching. They were teaching something
powerful. They were teaching the Bible and
the people wanted that. They wanted to hear God's word
and and Psalm 42 verses one through 2 says as a deer pants
for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you.
Oh God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
See guys, we, we learn more about God by hearing from God.
And that's what this is. This is where we hear from God
about God. There's a recognition that there
is a supremacy of Scripture over our feelings, over our, our,
our, our opinions, even over the opinions of others over other
writings that are not Scripture. This is supreme.
Romans 10 verse 17 says so. Faith comes from hearing and
hearing through the word of Christ.
We pant like like a deer pants for, for water.
We pant for, for, for, for God. We thirst for, for knowing God.
And that faith in God comes from hearing the the message.
And the message is heard through the delivery of the word about
Jesus. And I believe biblical preaching
must be centered on Jesus because all of the Bible is
about Jesus. Now, of course, if you were to
go through and pick a, a specific verse or, or section or
something, it might be about a, an individual person or a group
or, or an event or something. But in context, within the
totality of the text, it is all centered on Jesus.
Now today's message is, is a topical message, meaning that,
that I've, I've developed this sermon on a topic that we as
pastors chose on, on, on the church, right?
As opposed to what we would generally prefer to do, which is
expository preaching, going verse by verse through God's
word and learning what and, and how God gave us the message in
context and not skipping over the tough topics or simply
making the message what we want it to be.
This was exemplified a lot for Eric the last couple weeks
preaching on, on, on murder and hatred and adultery and lust,
right? That those are those were heavy.
There was a heaviness about that.
And he didn't get to skip over it and make it be what he
wanted. He had to preach the truth.
What, what the gospel says. Now, let me just say, how can
how? Let me ask this rhetorical
question. But I'd like you guys to think
about this as you go about your week.
And I don't want to make anybody feel guilty if this is you, but
how can you be sure of what the pastor is saying?
What I'm saying up here is an accurate representation of the
scripture that I'm referencing. Unless you follow along in your
Bible, right? It would be very easy for me to
put anything I want up here. And if you're not in your Bible
reading and making sure that I'm saying it right or that I'm
representing it right, how can you hold me accountable and make
sure that what I am feeding you and your family is, is right?
Biblical preaching requires a high view of, of Scripture.
And if you've read our statement of faith and, and I hope you
have done that or I hope that you would make a time to do
that, you'll see that that it says the Scriptures are the
authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life
practice and doctrine. And we would be the healthiest
if each of you had your Bible open today.
And we're following me in these passages and ensuring that the
pastor is properly handling the text.
We can't have a hands off approach to pastors.
Church has a responsibility to hold pastors to the standard
laid out in Scripture, both in qualification and in
responsibility. So part of this biblical
preaching, a part of the apostles teaching is
understanding that pastors have an important role.
In Ephesians 4 verses 11 and 12, it says, and he gave the
apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and
teachers to equip the Saints for the work of ministry, for
building up the body of Christ. Now that word shepherd, there is
the same word that's used pastor or overseer or elder, It's the
same, the same word there. And you know, Scripture says
that there are qualifications to be a pastor.
Are you familiar with those qualifications?
Again, just a rhetorical question to maybe think about
this week. Are you familiar with the
qualifications that you're supposed to hold me to that
you're supposed to hold John and Eric to that we find in
Scripture. Here they are first Timothy 3
verses one through 7 there this isn't the only place that they
are. This is just one of the places
that we that we find them in first Timothy 3 verses one
through 7 it says the saying is trustworthy.
If anyone aspires to the office of overseer again, that's
shepherd pastor. He desires a noble task.
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach.
The husband of one wife, sober minded, self controlled,
respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not
violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of
money. He must manage his own household
well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.
For someone does not know how to manage his own household.
How will he care for God's church?
He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with
conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that
he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
As this is important not just for the elders to know, but for
all of us to know, to hold them accountable to this standard.
Let me just a couple months back, we had vacation Bible
school here that, that we held here.
And I, I got to witness something and I shared this
with, with a couple of people. I, I actually pointed it out and
I got to watch John as, as I, I watched him maneuver through one
of his boys was just having a moment right as, as all of our,
our kids do. And I watched from across the
room. I told John this and I, I told
Noel this and I told a couple of people that day.
I said we're blessed. To be able to watch this and I
got to see him, sorry, John, to throw you out here like this,
but we got, I got to see him parent his child through a, a, a
little bit of a hardship, right? For a, for a small child, it was
a hardship for him. And I got to see him with
compassion and care. I got to see his shepherding
first hand. And I thought that was a
blessing to be able to watch, to be able to be in relationship
with each other, to be able to see this man exemplify the
things that we talk about, the things that we teach.
And it was my honor to be able to watch.
And I don't mean to embarrass him by that.
And I didn't know that I was going to get emotional about it,
but it was beautiful. And it's it's part of our family
to be able to be part of this, to grow from that.
OK, so we know what the qualifications are, but what's
their job? You ever wondered that what's
the job of a pastor? Well, in Hebrews 13, verse 17,
it's here's this passage that helps to to define to clear up
and define the roles of the pastors in in in one way.
And it says obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are
keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an
account. Let them do this with joy and
not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Now, I guys, I'll just tell you, I'm a guy who doesn't like
people telling me what to do. Some of you have experienced
this. Some of you have experienced
this today, and I'm sorry. Amen.
I said I was sorry, but we get to see this.
The, the our pastors are, are those who are going to stand in
front of our Lord and Savior and give an account one day for
their shepherding, for their watching over the souls in this
room. And that's hard work.
But it says here, let them do this with joy and not with
groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
So when a, when a pastor, when a shepherd comes and speaks to you
and speaks the gospel to you in whatever ways that you need to
hear, know that that's an act of love.
In Ephesians 4, that passage that that I, I, I mentioned just
a bit ago, it says also to, to equip the Saints for the work of
the ministry. And that work, that work of, of
the ministry can be divided up into, into two main categories,
discipleship and evangelism. Discipleship in a nutshell, is
our relationship with and to the body of believers.
And evangelism is sharing the gospel with the unbelieving
world. And we'll talk about this more
in our next point here, which is that what those first disciples
were also devoted to fellowship. Now, the Greek word that's used
here is the word Koinonia. We've mentioned this many times.
We'll, we'll mention it, you know, a million more over the
years. And, and Koinonia means the
close association between persons, emphasizing what is
common between them. So, So what is common amongst
those who belong to Christchurch?
Well, here at at Redemption, John shared this with me just
the other day. All of our different serve teams
and our and our, our areas of ministry, we have purpose
statements or mission statements so that we can be always
reminded why are we doing this? What is the specific goal of
this team of this area of ministry?
How do we honor God and serve other people in this?
And this is this was the one for our worship services that we are
in now. Is this to gather as the visible
church on the Lord's Day to glorify God and to encourage and
equip the Saints through the singing, reading, praying,
preaching and displaying of the Word?
See, there is intentionality and and purpose behind what we do
together. And not just at Redemption North
Ogden, but as the Universal Church has the big body of
believers, there's intentionality and purpose
behind our fellowship with each other.
What's common with amongst us is being a faithful follower of
Jesus, of being a Christian. But the fact is, according to
the Pew Research Center, I just, I just read this this week and
it wowed me. 63% of Utahns claim to be Christian.
Tragically, guys, that's not what Jesus says.
He didn't specifically talk about the state of Utah, but
here's what he said in Matthew 7, verses 21 through 23.
And this is some people think that this is the scariest, one
of the scariest things, you know, in all of the Bible.
Here's what it says. Not everyone who says to me,
Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but the one who does
the will of the of my Father who is in heaven on that day.
Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name
and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your
name and then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart
from me, you workers of lawlessness.
Many people admire Jesus. Many people enjoy you know his
teachings. They they they read the Bible,
they they have bumper stickers about it.
Whatever they would say that they follow much of what he
says, but we don't get to pick and choose what we believe.
We don't get to redefine who Jesus is an equal but distinct
part of the triune God. Like like Eric mentioned in that
in that prayer a little bit ago, we don't get to indiscriminately
submit to some parts of God's word and then just throw out the
rest. We don't get to to add to it and
change the path and plan of salvation and cheapen his
sacrifice by elevating our works.
We don't get to do that. A true Christian is a person who
has has put faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus
Christ, including his death on the cross as payment for our
sins and his resurrection on the third day.
That's what's common between those in the church rather than
just at the church. Maybe that's not you.
In fact, maybe even hearing that and realizing that you fall in
the category of those people that Jesus is talking about in
this passage. Maybe maybe that's the first
time that you've ever heard that.
Maybe it scares you. Maybe it even offends you.
And I can understand that guys, but I can categorically tell you
that it would be far more offensive to you if I stood up
here and tickled your ears with a watered down message.
But please, please understand this, there is still time to
become part of Jesus Church. There is time to be part of the
bride of Christ. But the fact is, none of us know
how long we have here on earth. So I hope that you will make
this a priority of your life today because there is something
joyfully wonderful that we want you to be a part of.
If you were here with us a year ago, when, when we when we
planted, when we launched, you might remember that the that the
Apostle Paul used this word Koinonia a few times in his joy
filled letter to the church at Philippi that we studied for the
first like seven months that we that we were here.
He talked about that that word several times and and we see
that in in Philippians 1 verses 3 through 5, he says, I thank my
God in all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine
for you all making my prayer with joy because of your
partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Now a partnership is the word Koinonia.
This like minded fellowship is something that Paul is
prayerfully thankful for. Guys, listen to this fellowship
with our church family is not a chore.
It is not something that we would choose to avoid.
It is a blessing. If we are in a place of
resenting the fellowship, then we're in a place of significant
spiritual need. In Chapter 2, Paul goes on and
implores the readers to recognize that their fellowship
with Jesus should be demonstrated outwardly amongst
them toward each other as well. In verses one and two he says,
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from
love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and
sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having
the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
So again we see Koinonia translated here as
participation. We are called to be living out
the example that we see in Jesus going on in Philippians 388
through 10. He says in order that I may gain
Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith
in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and
may share his sufferings becoming like him in death.
Paul goes he even goes so far as to proclaim that that
fellowship, this Koinonia I keep mentioning that they are called
to is so wonderful a thing to experience that he even desires
to fellowship with Jesus in his suffering and death.
So what does this devotion to fellowship look like in our busy
lives? Well, at the end of the the the
first point, I shared those two examples of what the the
shepherd and teacher is equipping us to do.
I said evangelism and discipleship.
Right now, those those two things are are utilized in our
fellowship. They're a big part of it.
Excuse me. Evangelism, as I said, is
sharing the gospel with the unbelieving worlds.
Now, if any of you have ever faced a, a daunting medical
diagnosis and had a doctor come in and say, hey, hey, we have a
really good chance of, of beating this right?
They, that doctor would have, they have some enthusiasm and
sharing the treatment plan with you because there's hope in it.
And then evangelism, we have a similar dynamic.
We are sharing the answer the the the treatment or the cure
with a sick world and we should be enthused about that.
Now I don't know what the actual stats are on how many people are
truly Christian in our in our community or or in our state or
in in that you know the whole world.
What I do know is that there are far too many that are not that
fact should break our hearts wide open.
People in your life, maybe in your home, in your the cubicle
next to you, the house crossed the fence.
People in your life that are desperate to hear the good news
of Jesus. And guys, if you if you use the
excuse of I don't know how to go and share it with them, then
fellowship with other believers. Be devoted to being equipped for
the work of the ministry and don't put anything.
Don't put anything else in a higher priority than being a
part of that Koinonia with the body of believers and with God.
Discipleship, as I mentioned, is our relationship with and, and,
and to the body of believers. Now, guys, this is where we get
to experience and demonstrate those characteristics that we've
seen in Jesus in his life and ministry and the things that
those characteristics about God that we see all through through
Scripture. We get to teach each other.
We get to come alongside each other as we experience life and
the and the stuff, you know, the stuff that comes with life.
We get to we get to give grace when it isn't deserved and we
get to be forgiven when it isn't owed to us.
We get to step in and serve other people and we get to tire
ourselves out. We get to wear ourselves out
completely working to, to to help each other.
And that is not a bad thing. All of this, all of this
experience with each other, being Christ's church, being his
body, allows us to add depth and context and, and, and clarity to
the characteristics in the example of Jesus.
We get to know him better ourselves.
So that's the point. All of this points back to Jesus
and our relationship with him. OK, Now besides being devoted to
growing together with other disciples is a devotion to one
of the ordinances that mark out being set apart.
And that's our Third Point here today, which is their devotion
to the Lord's Supper. Now we observe 2 ordinances here
at Redemption Church. An ordinance just simply being a
ceremony or a rule. I guess you could call those
those, those ordinances that we observe our baptism and the
Lord's Supper. Now we did a stand alone sermon
on each of these ordinances back in I think it was February.
You can go and find those those recordings of those sermons.
And I would recommend that you do if you have questions about
either of these two things. But in in our in our Acts 2
passage that we focused on today, it only mentions the the
disciples being devoted to the Lord's Supper.
So what's the deal with that? Well, as I mentioned, that
passage is describing those who were already part of the body
and, and you know, Eric has put it a couple of times before from
up here, he's explained faith and baptism is like a person
walking through the front door. And the Lord's Supper is the
family meal. Obviously you can't be a part of
a family meal if you're not part of the family yet.
Well, baptism is a ceremony that we do upon someone placing their
faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and
being born again. Scripture says for that new
believer to go and be baptized as a public declaration of their
new faith. That is the entry into the body
of believers, into the family. The Lord's Supper, then, is a
ceremony done for those within the body of believers.
So the Lord's Supper was first instituted the night before
Jesus was arrested and crucified, and he gathered
together with his believers to observe a Passover meal.
But he led them through something a little bit different
too. While they were eating, Jesus
took some some bread and he blessed it.
And he told the disciples that the bread signified his body
that would be given for them his his his body that would be
brutally ripped open and beaten. And they gave him wine to drink.
And he said, this wine represents a new covenant in my
blood, which is poured out for many.
And Jesus told them to do this in remembrance of him and his
sacrifice that he was about to make.
Now, this was hours before the crucifixion, so they couldn't
possibly comprehend the, the, the hatred and the violence that
they were about to witness. But but these were two very
tangible and visible examples of symbolism in the broken bread
and the and the blood red wine that Jesus told them to do.
To intentionally gather with other believers to hold these
representations in their hands and to reverently look back at
the single most horrific and and terrible and wonderful and
beautiful act that anyone would ever do.
And to remember that it was it was done for us, for those of us
who have entered into the body of believers to look back on an
act that was meant for for us. It was meant for to cover my
sins and and to also serve as a reminder of the peaceful and
safe perfect Kingdom that awaits us where we get to spend
eternity with our Savior. Guys, it would be irreverent to
bring people in to participate in this, that we're not yet
participating in the common faith.
John 635 Jesus talking and says, Jesus said, I am the bread of
life. Whoever comes to me shall not
hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
The disciples were devoted to the Lord's Supper because it
reminded them of their fellowship with Jesus and with
another, with one another in Jesus.
And so we get to our final point, the last thing that's
listed in Acts 242 that the early church devoted themselves
to, which was a devotion to prayer.
Excuse me. And and prayer is a little bit
different in, in each of these other areas.
We experience something from each other through our common
relationship with Jesus. And although there's there,
there is value to corporate prayer, right prayer meetings
and and prayer groups. We have a prayer group that
meets at at 9:30 every Sunday morning down the hall, which
you're invited to. I'd like to see you next week.
But but there's value to all of that that we can benefit from
because, you know, our, our our prayers are are US communicating
to God. They aren't a way though they
aren't a way to passively aggressively say things to each
other under the guise that we're talking to God, right?
I think we've probably all experienced that a time or two.
They aren't a means for us to to brag about our own holiness like
the the Pharisee praying on the street corner.
So we pray together as a body for each other.
But does God hear all of our prayers?
I might challenge your beliefs about prayer here.
And first, John, well, so, so let me just say this prayer is
only for those who believe that God is personal and who want a
personal relationship with him. Christians know prayer works
because they have encountered a God who who declares talk to me
and I will listen, right. And the apostle?
John confirms this in in first John 5 verses 14 and 15 says,
and this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we
ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that
we have the requests that we have asked of him.
Now, in itself, that passage might seem to suggest that God
hears the prayers of everyone. And, and, and to a point I'd
agree. He knows everything.
So he knows what you know, what your requests and your prayers
are. But first, John was a a letter
written to Christians. So where it says we, we should
remember that, that it's a letter to the church calling
them to refine their their theological understanding and to
heighten their devotional intensity.
In the book of James, that was that was also written to
Christians, but in the in the context of, of delineating
between those truly living for God and those who were living
like the world but weren't actually following Jesus.
So in in James chapter 4 verse 3, it says when you ask, you do
not receive because you asked with wrong motives, that you may
spend what you get on your pleasures.
In Proverbs 28, nine, it says if anyone turns a deaf ear to my
instruction, even their prayers are detestable.
So in in that first one in James 4/3 it it says that our prayers
might not be answered. And in this one in Proverbs 28
it it it says that that God doesn't necessarily enjoy your
prayers right If you are rebellious.
And then in Isaiah 1, verse 15 says the Lord says when you
spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you.
Even when you offer many prayers, I'm not listening.
Your hands are full of blood as the the early church was devoted
to prayer because they wanted their hearts to be in line with
Jesus heart like like that Psalm that I mentioned earlier that
said that there's that their their souls pant for God like a
deer pants for a flowing stream. Prayer is is our wrecked hearts
crying out to God for for what only God can provide through
humility, not pride, not because he owes it to us right, but
because it's only him who can give it to us when we recognize
that our hearts are are are wrecked.
And so in closing in John 17 immediately before Jesus was
betrayed by Judas and and arrested by the soldiers and the
and the Pharisees and the scribes, Jesus prayed this in
verse 11 of of chapter 17. He said, Holy Father, protect
them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that
they may be one as we are one. This is Jesus, this is the Son
praying to the Father, distinctly different, yet
absolutely unified in the Godhead.
And that the prayer that he prayed, this intercessory
prayer, meaning that it was on our behalf that Jesus offered
moments before dying for his followers, was for unity amongst
them in him. And after his death and
resurrection, his gift to his followers was the church body.
Now, as we read in that that first quote that I shared early
on in the in the the message, it said he graciously chose a
particular people to bring back to himself.
He did not merely choose individuals, but he chose those
individuals to be gathered into a people, his church, to bring
them back to himself as a community of redeemed believers.
So my hope for you today is that you see in scripture that that
the church is not a chore forced upon us.
It's not a man made institution designed to exercise sinful
power and position. You might have read in some meme
on Facebook or something like that.
It is a God-given opportunity to live out the ideals and and the
principles that Jesus demonstrated every moment of his
life and an invitation to grow closer to him, to his to his
glory and, and, and for our good.
And we primarily focused today on, on what the early church was
devoted to in our message from, from verse 42 in, in Acts 2,
right? But, but in our Scripture
reading before the message, it went on to describe what
happened as a result of that devotion.
And, and it it said, so this would have been verses 43
through 47, it said. And awe came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were being done through 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 the 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. So our challenge then is to step
up our, our devotion to the apostles teaching and to
fellowship and to the breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper.
We'll do this next week here on, on Sunday morning and and our
devotion to prayer, right. And historically, we see that
that that God uses that devotion to grow his church.
We are the bride of Christ. We should we should be preparing
ourselves for the the coming groom.
It's not about our, our programming at church or our
digital resources or, or having services that that you know,
resemble a concert or a lounge act at a casino.
So let's demonstrate to God and the world that we are set apart,
that we are devoted to God's will rather than ours.
And let's see if the Lord adds to our numbers day by day, those
who are being saved. Will you guys pray with me?
Lord, I thank you for your for, for your body of believers.
I thank you for the people in this room or that you that you
picked that you gathered together to live life together
in your name because of you in a way to the best of our ability
to to to demonstrate those characteristics, those traits,
those examples that we saw in you.
Lord I as we as we continue to grow and moving into our second
year and subsequent years. Lord, I I ask that you would
continue to grow us that you would continue to to have us
look to to be looking joyfully and and I thirstily.
I don't know if that's a word thirstily towards the apostles
teaching that we would that we would crave your word and we
would crave hearing the preached word on the Lord's day.
Lord, that we would look forward to the gathering, to the
fellowship that we get to experience with one another and,
and, and, and really truly the mess that comes with that
sometimes because it's in that mess that we get to experience
those, those things like grace, have forgiveness, like I
mentioned earlier, or help us to look forward to the breaking of
bread together to the communion of looking back at your
sacrifice that you did that you gave for us all those years ago.
And looking forward to the Kingdom that we have for so many
for eternity to look forward to. And Lord, as we, as we pray,
help us, Lord, to be in tune with you to, to bear our hearts
with you. We know that you already know
what's in our heart. But Lord, help us to come to you
in, in knowing that communication is an important
part of a relationship, Lord, that we want to develop the
habit of sharing with you what's on our mind, our struggles, our
fears, our concerns, our hopes, our dreams, whatever it is.
But in order to, to tell you, Lord, what we feel and what we,
what we worry about, and then preparing our hearts as we go
back to your word to hear from you, Lord.
And we, we just hope that that through all of this, you use us
as a body to grow your body that you would continue in, in
pleasant view in North Ogden in Utah to help us to have
influence, to be able to reach people and grow your Kingdom
just like those, those disciples got to experience that amazing
growth of, of, of numbers in those in those early days.
And we know it's not about numbers.
But Lord, we want as many people as possible to know you and be
in relationship with you. And so we give this service to
you and the future of this church to you in Jesus name,
Amen.