1 00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:03,520 Hey everybody, welcome to Vita Springs. 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 If we've not met, my name is Gordon, one of the pastors here, 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,440 and I get to teach. Go ahead and open up your Bibles 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:15,520 to Acts 2, Acts 2, and I got a quick announcement that I want 5 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,400 to add. I help a lot with our youth, our 6 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:19,920 middle school and high school groups. 7 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,440 So an announcement for you. Middle school and high schoolers 8 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,520 are back to school fall party, even though that's been a couple 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,320 weeks ago. We are having a volleyball 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:37,920 cookout, 20 foot water slide all out there next week, free food, 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,680 volleyball water slide. And I texted a lot of your dad's 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:43,480 because all the families are invited. 13 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,080 And I said your kids need to be humbled and this is a good 14 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,640 chance to do it. And one of them responded back 15 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,840 right away, said, oh, I have a lot of ways to humble kids. 16 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,120 So anyway, I hope that you're there. 17 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,480 And then also middle school high schoolers, if you've got friends 18 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,400 you've been hoping would come to church with you, this is like 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,920 one of the easiest ways or things to invite them to come to 20 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,120 church with me next week and stick around after free food, 21 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:17,320 volleyball, 20 foot water slide. All right, all right now into 22 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,960 the teaching for today. We are in a series called Church 23 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:26,240 Anatomy One O 1. If you have taken a high school 24 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:30,640 anatomy class, most of you, except for the middle schoolers 25 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,880 in, in an anatomy, like a true anatomy class, you're getting a 26 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,160 foundational understanding of the body. 27 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:44,200 And whether you go to Med school or not, it's helpful because you 28 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,720 have a body and you're going to have a body for a while. 29 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,640 And so it's good to understand how it works and how it 30 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:51,840 functions best and what's going on. 31 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,280 Similar. If you're a Christian, whether 32 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,760 or not you ever like go into full time ministry or work at a 33 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,960 church, if you're a Christian, you're part of a body, the 34 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,720 church, and you're going to be in it for a while. 35 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,400 And so it's good to understand how it works, how it functions, 36 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,720 And then as parts of that body, what we're to do. 37 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:12,520 That's what we're going to be looking at a lot today. 38 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:18,680 So today we're actually able to go back to a picture of the 39 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,600 original church, the first group of people after Jesus. 40 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:30,040 So that's why we're in Acts 2. Some fun things about being able 41 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,040 to look at an original version. It's not always possible to look 42 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,720 at an original version, but when you look at an original version, 43 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:41,920 it's helpful because it offers a direct, unfiltered glimpse at 44 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:43,960 the creator's intent for that work. 45 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,520 If you think about a painting, if you think about a recipe, it 46 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,440 gives you a direct, unfiltered glimpse at the Creator's intent. 47 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,440 If you look at the original, we look at the original church, we 48 00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:00,000 see that a direct, unfiltered glimpse at the the Creator's 49 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,680 intent for his church. How does Jesus want his church 50 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:06,840 to be? What are the key ingredients? 51 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:09,280 What are they to do? How are they to do them? 52 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:12,080 Those are some things I hope get answered today. 53 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,840 You know the term bread and butter, It's like this is our 54 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,880 bread and butter. It refers to like bread and 55 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,040 butter or things that most people have in the house 56 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,160 everyday, their everyday ordinary. 57 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,080 We're looking at an original church and we're looking at like 58 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,960 some bread and butter everyday, original things. 59 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,640 That just got me thinking about bread. 60 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,920 Some of you think about it random times throughout the day 61 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,440 too. My great grandma, I called her 62 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,480 mom, Mom. She made the best bread. 63 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,200 I came from Both sides of my family are Mennonite, which is 64 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,320 like right next to Amish. And they know how to build 65 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:51,760 things and they know how to cook things and they know how to cook 66 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,560 bread. And so my mom had the best bread 67 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,520 and I actually have the original recipe a family member put 68 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,920 together compiled like all these recipes from my family. 69 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:03,520 I could sell this for a lot of money today. 70 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:09,520 I bet my grandma my mom's bread recipes in there and it gives me 71 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,720 a original, direct, unfiltered glimpse at how bread was 72 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:17,680 supposed to be made. There's pictures in there, 73 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,160 there's recipes, there's details, there's directions for 74 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:27,280 how it was made. This shows us recipe for the 75 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:32,920 original church. So before I start reading 76 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:39,240 through the verses and teach, I want to, as is our norm, just 77 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,680 give us a couple moments to quiet our hearts, get away all 78 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,440 of our distracted thoughts and really prepare our hearts to 79 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:49,240 hear from God. That's what's that's what 80 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:53,280 happens when we open the Bible. And so after a few seconds of 81 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,040 that, then I'll read and we'll dig in. 82 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:23,480 All right, Acts 2, verse 42 And they devoted themselves to the 83 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,640 apostles, teaching, and the fellowship, to the breaking of 84 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:31,920 bread and the prayers, and all came upon every soul. 85 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,160 Many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, 86 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:42,320 and all who believed were together and had all things in 87 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,440 common. They were selling their 88 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,040 possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all 89 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,720 as any had need. Day by day, attending the temple 90 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,000 together and breaking bread in their homes. 91 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,400 They received their food with glad and generous hearts, 92 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:03,960 praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord 93 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,240 added to their number day by day. 94 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,560 Those who are being saved. Jesus, help us to hear from you 95 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,040 now. Give us ears to listen, help me 96 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:15,560 as I teach. And more than anything, I pray 97 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,760 you would build up our church, build up all the Christians 98 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:20,880 here, and build up the ones that are part of Vita. 99 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,280 We want to be strong and healthy. 100 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:25,920 We want to reach maturity. We want to become everything you 101 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:31,480 want us to be. And little by little, week by 102 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,760 week, day by day, you build us up into that. 103 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:39,800 So we look forward to what you're going to do on US today. 104 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:47,920 Amen. All right, So if we were to just 105 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,120 like jump into verse 42, we're missing a lot. 106 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,240 And so there's just a simple question that was coming to my 107 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,720 mind, which is, OK, this is the church. 108 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,960 We've been talking about the that the last two weeks, the 109 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:05,080 people of God. Now this is what they do. 110 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,960 But first, how, how do I get in? How do I get into the church? 111 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,960 What's the doorway not to the building, but what's the doorway 112 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,800 into Jesus's family? And if you look at chapter 1, 113 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,480 chapter 2 leading up to this, it answers it pretty simply. 114 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:26,160 We see also an original glimpse into how you get into Jesus's 115 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,520 church. So for sake of time, I'm just 116 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:36,200 going to do SparkNotes version. So one man came and he turned 117 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,120 the whole world upside down, Jesus Christ. 118 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:44,040 He transformed everything. He died, He rose, He came back 119 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:45,880 to life. And in chapter 1, you see him 120 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:50,200 talking to his 12 disciples, one man, then 12 disciples who are 121 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,680 radically transformed by Jesus. They heard his teaching, they 122 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:57,320 saw his life, they've received eternal life through trust in 123 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,960 Him. In chapter 1 you also see 120 124 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:05,240 people, and in addition to the 12 disciples, there's 120 people 125 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:09,680 that are all in a room devoted to prayer, waiting for Jesus's 126 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,280 promise of the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them. 127 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:19,760 Then in chapter 2, you've got 3000 people that heard the 128 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:24,560 spectacle of the Holy Spirit being poured out and in a in a 129 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:29,320 moment of curiosity and awe and confusion, Peter stands up and 130 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,679 preaches. They too hear about Jesus Christ 131 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:38,120 and they're transformed. And an excerpt from that in the 132 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:42,679 verses right before chapter 2, verse 40 and 41, it says and 133 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:48,880 with many other words, he, Peter bore witness to Jesus Christ and 134 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,200 continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from 135 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,680 this crooked generation. So those who received his word 136 00:08:57,680 --> 00:09:02,520 were baptized and there were added that day about 3000 souls. 137 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:07,920 So now you've got 3120 people and they're gathering and 138 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:09,960 they're Christians, God's people. 139 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,760 Therefore you have the early church. 140 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,120 So to answer this first question, how do I get in? 141 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,360 What's the doorway into Jesus church? 142 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,360 Receive his words? Or I could say simply believe 143 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:28,800 and repent and then be baptized. So believe, repent, be baptized, 144 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,480 believe is assumed because you're not going to repent if 145 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,920 you don't believe these things. They believe that Jesus went to 146 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:38,640 the cross because of their sins. For many of them, they were in 147 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:43,400 the crowd that told Pontius Pilate, give us Barabbas crucify 148 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,160 Jesus. And they just believe that Peter 149 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,400 said that man that you sent to the cross is God, and he rose 150 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:55,000 again, and only through him can you come into the family of God. 151 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,520 They're devout Jews. The text tells us they're devout 152 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:00,240 Jews. They came for this holiday. 153 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,960 And they believe the words of Peter. 154 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:07,640 He's essentially telling them you're not in God's family. 155 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,840 You killed God. Actually, you're in the wrong. 156 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:15,040 For us today, we hear it as our sin. 157 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,160 Our sin is still what made Jesus have to go to the cross. 158 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,080 You believe and that's the only reason you would repent. 159 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,840 You believe that Jesus died. He rose. 160 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:26,880 Death could not hold him through. 161 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,920 Trust in him. He lets us come into God's 162 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,200 family and forgives us of our sin. 163 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:38,280 Romans 10/9 says because if you confess with your mouth that 164 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,000 Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him 165 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,320 from the dead, you will be saved. 166 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:45,960 Salvation by grace through faith. 167 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:53,120 Repent. Part of that is I'm saying I 168 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,520 can't live life the same way again. 169 00:10:55,560 --> 00:11:00,400 Jesus transforms you. Repent is to turn directions. 170 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,160 I'm not going to live my life for myself anymore. 171 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,760 I'm not going to devote myself to the same things anymore. 172 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,120 Jesus, you're my Lord. My whole life is now yours. 173 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,960 Whatever you say goes, Believe, repent. 174 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,400 You're welcomed into God's family right then and there, not 175 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,200 once you get baptized right then and there, Salvation through 176 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:26,080 faith, you're in. But the first act of obedience 177 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:28,520 is baptism. That's the consistent message 178 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:31,320 from John the Baptist, which is caught, why he's called John the 179 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,400 Baptist. Repent and be baptized. 180 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:38,720 Jesus picks up the same message, and then the apostles and Peter 181 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,200 right here repent and be baptized. 182 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,320 And that's what the 3000 people are told to do. 183 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,480 Baptism is their symbolic entry into God's family. 184 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,520 They participate with Jesus as they are buried and their old 185 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:57,960 self is dead, their sin washed away, and their new self comes 186 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:02,520 out of the grave and they're clean, they're pure, they're 187 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,600 made new now they're children of God. 188 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,480 That is why we partake in baptism, because Jesus told us 189 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:11,640 to. It's our act of obedience and 190 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,480 because it's an incredible symbol of what Jesus does when 191 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,880 he saves us. The ordinances or these two 192 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,600 practices that Jesus tells us to do, baptism and Lord's Supper, 193 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,200 many call them visual sermons. That's what they are. 194 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:28,680 You watch them and it tells you a lot. 195 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:34,200 It's your symbolic entry into Jesus's family, the church. 196 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,520 It's also your first practical entry into a local church. 197 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:41,040 When we're talking about membership in the series at its 198 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:45,520 base, to be a member in the church, to be a member in God's 199 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:49,880 family, You've believed, you've repented, you've been baptized. 200 00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:55,040 And then it's so fun to see like a tangible expression of that 201 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,600 when we baptize in a church service where you've got people 202 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:00,960 that go through that burial, resurrection. 203 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:03,720 And then you know what, my favorite, one of my favorite 204 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,160 parts is seeing them come out and then they go and start 205 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:11,680 hugging people like you guys envelope them and there's hugs 206 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:13,760 and there's tears and there's worship. 207 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,640 And it's an expression of them being added into God's family. 208 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:23,600 So a quick thing for any of you who you've not trusted in Jesus, 209 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:29,720 you're not yet in the family of God, believe, repent, and be 210 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,680 baptized. Now some of you, you are in 211 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:36,760 God's family. You've believed and repented. 212 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:41,680 You've not been baptized. This is the first simplest thing 213 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:47,400 that Jesus asks you to do. I, I heard one pastor said it 214 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:52,000 this way, The easiest thing Jesus ever asked you to do is to 215 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:56,880 get in the water. So really practically, if you're 216 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,200 interested in that, it might just be as simple as I'm not 217 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,280 sure where I'm at, but I just want to talk. 218 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,520 I want to have a place where I can ask questions or you can 219 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,560 explain things or or maybe you're confident and you're in 220 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:10,680 and I need to be baptized. Here's what you do. 221 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,480 Your program has AQR code. It says new here, scan that, 222 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,600 fill out our welcome card. And in the bottom line it says 223 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,080 interested in just say I'm interested in baptism and one of 224 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,160 our pastors will reach out. We would love to talk with you 225 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,680 more about that. And our hope is that in the 226 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,840 coming weeks, this fall, we can do a baptism service again. 227 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,400 All right, so that's how I get into Jesus's church. 228 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:39,440 Now our verses, what do we do as members of God's family? 229 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,480 Verse 42, they devoted themselves. 230 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,640 Pause. We're really quick to just 231 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:50,800 jumping the task. Give me the formula. 232 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:55,280 What am I supposed to do? I want rules before any of that. 233 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,040 Just they devoted. I want to make a point here 234 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,960 because that's uncommon today, but this was common. 235 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,920 This was bread and butter for the early Christians. 236 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,880 This is just what they did. They devoted that word devote. 237 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:15,880 It actually means to continue steadfastly in a thing, to 238 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:21,240 continue steadfastly in a thing, or to give unremitting care to 239 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:26,560 and more definitions to continue steadfastly to endure, to 240 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,240 persist, to keep going. There is no such thing at well, 241 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:32,480 hopefully you'll understand what I mean. 242 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:36,600 To devote to something for a little bit, that may be what our 243 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,040 word devote means. That's not what this word devote 244 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:41,400 means. This means to continue 245 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:47,240 steadfastly unremitting is to continue with the same strength, 246 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:52,040 to not weaken. So this is like a captain going 247 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:56,200 down with the ship, continuing steadfastly unremitting. 248 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,240 This is a marathon runner making it to the finish line at a 249 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,280 steady pace, not limping or crawling. 250 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:10,480 That's devotion for Christians, for disciples now as a kind of, 251 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:17,160 by the way, a group of devoted people is not a pipe dream and 252 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:19,680 it's not a fairy tale like something you only hear in 253 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,400 movies or books. It's not a fairy tale like 254 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:27,200 something was special about these disciples way back then. 255 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:31,280 That's unrealistic for us today. It's not a pipe dream. 256 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:35,680 It's not a fairy tale. You've got people that devote 257 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:41,720 all the time yesterday on a football field for a sport you 258 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,760 had, I looked it up for all of college football. 259 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:51,560 You have 15,900 and 6018 to 24 year old men who devote 260 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:56,840 themselves to a sport. Devotion is not a fairy tale. 261 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,520 I was also looking up, I was thinking of other ways that 262 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,160 people devote. You have approximately 263 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:08,040 16,000,000 living Americans who have served in the military, 264 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:12,200 living Americans. That's a 16,000,000 who have 265 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,920 devoted, sacrificed for, continued steadfastly under 266 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:20,680 emitting to A cause to their country or to a sport or to a 267 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:22,640 hobby. And you could think of lots of 268 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,760 ways that people devote. So devotion in and of itself is 269 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,120 not a not a fairy tale. It's not unrealistic for us 270 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:33,480 today. You devote to what you love and 271 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:35,680 you devote to what you deem is important. 272 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:42,440 Think about Jesus as disciples. There are many practices that we 273 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,600 see in the life of Jesus that we want to adopt. 274 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:47,920 And that's right. Like we want to pray because 275 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,240 Jesus prayed. We want to be in community. 276 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:54,040 Jesus was in community, but have you thought about the 277 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,440 characteristic of devotion that's in Jesus? 278 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:59,280 We're going to imitate that, too. 279 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:05,080 Jesus was devoted to his task unremittingly. 280 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:07,560 He did not weaken or lose strength. 281 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:11,240 He continued steadfastly till the end for the joy that was set 282 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,320 before him. He endured the cross. 283 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,800 He went all the way for his task. 284 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,320 You devote to what you love. He loves his people, He loves 285 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,280 his church, and you devote to what's important. 286 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:31,360 The local church is important. God's family, creation, being 287 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:34,680 redeemed, people coming in is important. 288 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:43,560 As disciples, we imitate Jesus because he devoted to us, as 289 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:49,560 orphans, you could say, freed from sin, adopted into a family 290 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,040 because of Jesus's unremitting care to us. 291 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,640 We love him and we devote ourselves back to him. 292 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:03,520 His church is the most I mean, we're doing the most important 293 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,680 work ever. And I might sound extreme to 294 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:10,040 some of you, but I hope you'll be convinced by the end of the 295 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,760 series. The church is the most important 296 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,960 entity doing the most important work there is. 297 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,280 We devote to what we love. We devote to what we deem as 298 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:26,560 important. Now, devotion in and of itself 299 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,520 is not enough. And like a recipe, there's some 300 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:33,200 like main ingredients, but you got to mix some stuff together. 301 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:38,840 So devotion plus I'm going to add two things, devotion plus 302 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,360 heart and devotion in the right things. 303 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:45,600 Devotion in of of itself is how you get a devout person. 304 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,320 That's where that word comes from, Devout to devote to. 305 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,800 You have a lot of devout athletes, you have a lot of 306 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:57,800 devout patriot soldiers. You have a lot of the devout 307 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,480 religious people. That in and of itself not enough 308 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,920 for the full recipe for the original church. 309 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,840 You devote with heart. That's what any coach wants and 310 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,160 his players, they don't just want hours, they don't just want 311 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,120 drills. They want heart. 312 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,080 And that's what any commander would want is heart. 313 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:20,480 And that's what Jesus wants. It's not just that you do all 314 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,120 these things. He wants your heart. 315 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,200 And you can't just devote with heart to just anything. 316 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:31,640 A lot of people do that. You can get a trophy from a 317 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,680 football championship. You don't get to take that with 318 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:35,840 you. It's not going to last. 319 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,400 But you devote with heart to the right things. 320 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,200 You have a lot to show for your life and your devotion. 321 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,160 Growing up in a church. I grew up in a church my whole 322 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:48,720 life. One of our new families, their 323 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:50,600 babies like a week and a half old. 324 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:52,440 They were here last week with a three day old. 325 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,600 That was pretty much me. I grew up in church. 326 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,880 I was there every Sunday. My both my parents at different 327 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:01,880 times worked for the church full time. 328 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,920 My mom still does now. It was important. 329 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:08,840 I saw my grandparents serving. I saw my parents serving just 330 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,400 about every day. I heard my pastor saying 331 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,200 multiple times the local church is the hope of the world and I 332 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,440 believed it. It resonated with me and I saw 333 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,880 it in my parents and those I looked up to. 334 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,840 And so I always knew I deemed it important. 335 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,800 And so church was always just part of my life as a Christian. 336 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:32,840 I got that when I added the ingredient of doing you devote 337 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:38,760 to what you love. When I really loved Jesus, like 338 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,480 something in my heart opened up and I knew why I was doing all 339 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,600 these things. It was different, it was 340 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:51,240 wonderful, it's joy, it's joyful for me and I know my devotion. 341 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,200 At the end of my life, I'll look back and say I'm glad I chose to 342 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,640 devote my whole life to that. And I'm not just saying because 343 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,320 I'm a full time minister. That's what it looks like. 344 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:06,440 There's a lot of you who devote to Jesus, Church, his people and 345 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,160 to Him, and you'll have a lot to show at the end of your life. 346 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,000 You'll look back and be glad you did. 347 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:18,800 The original, unfiltered example of the early church calls for 348 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:26,200 steadfast, unremitting, devoted disciples now devoting to the 349 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,760 right things. There's four things in the text 350 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,640 we'll see. Look at voice, the rest of verse 351 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,280 42. They devoted themselves to the 352 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:38,880 apostles, Apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking 353 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:44,080 of bread and the prayers, the apostles teaching, number one. 354 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,080 They devoted themselves to the teachings of Jesus and the 355 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,640 teachings of the apostles. The apostles were eyewitnesses 356 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,880 of Jesus, sent out to proclaim what he said in the Gospel 357 00:22:57,880 --> 00:22:59,840 message. The word apostle just means 358 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,760 sent. So they devoted themselves to 359 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:09,240 the teaching of the apostles. The apostles appointed by God, 360 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:15,000 chosen by him to carry out this message, meant that the words 361 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,320 they were speaking were not man's words. 362 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,480 They were divinely inspired words from the mouth of God. 363 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,880 Because they heard it from Jesus himself, God, or because the 364 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:30,760 Holy Spirit inspired them in their teaching, they laid out 365 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:37,000 sound truth, pure truth. Not myths, not made-up stuff, 366 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,960 not opinions. Second, Peter, one of the 367 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,760 apostles, writes in chapter 1, verse 16. 368 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:47,840 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known 369 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,360 to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 370 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,160 But we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. 371 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,320 They just told him what they saw, told him what they heard. 372 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,280 Now as we think about this being devoted to the apostles 373 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,200 teachings, I would broaden the apostles teaching and label it 374 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,400 just simply a scripture for us today. 375 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:12,680 The apostles looked at the Old Testament and saw it as the word 376 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:17,080 of God and regularly pulled from it, plus Jesus's teachings, the 377 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:21,040 Gospels, and then the apostles teachings, they're preserved and 378 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:25,240 recorded their letters and books and the teachings are right here 379 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:31,320 and that's the New Testament. So to devote ourselves to sound 380 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:36,240 teaching to Scripture, Old Testament, Gospels, new, I would 381 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,280 say this is what it looks like for us today. 382 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:46,480 First, John 224 says, let what you heard from the beginning 383 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,480 abide in you. If what you heard from the 384 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,760 beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son 385 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:55,400 and in the Father. Now, if we think about it like 386 00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:00,120 this, they're devoting themselves to sound teaching. 387 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:05,960 And I would say the take away here is as disciples of Jesus, 388 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:10,760 we devote ourselves to Scripture, the original 389 00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:18,920 unfiltered sound, pure, main and plain gospel message and 390 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,600 inspired Word of God as taught by the apostles. 391 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,680 We don't come up with their own myths or opinions. 392 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:30,440 We don't veer or stray. We go back to what is inspired 393 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,960 by God, true sound, lasting forever, and remember that word 394 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,320 devote. What it means is to continue 395 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:43,240 steadfastly to abide in what we heard from the beginning to give 396 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:48,160 unremitting care to this that we don't weaken or shrink. 397 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:52,880 Instead we grow and strengthen in our devotion to truth, to 398 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:57,000 scripture. I want to I want to do some 399 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,520 corporate application. I'll call it we application 400 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,240 because these are things that we must do with this. 401 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:10,280 This is a picture of the church and this point for the early 402 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,920 church to devote themselves to the apostles teaching. 403 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,320 That means that I cannot get us there. 404 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,560 We're talking about Vita Springs and us looking like this church. 405 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:24,120 I cannot get us there. You cannot get us there, but we 406 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,520 can get us there. So what do we do with this? 407 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:34,120 We are to continue steadfastly in the simple, clear, original, 408 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:36,720 true gospel message and teachings of Jesus. 409 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:41,520 What we see in the Bible. We are as a local church, we the 410 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:49,760 pastors and teachers and who the people we, we are to guard this, 411 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:54,760 to hold each other accountable. You are to call like to hold me 412 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,840 accountable that if I start straying or I start veering or 413 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,360 you sniff something out that's funky, it's twisted. 414 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:04,520 You have to confront me about it. 415 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:08,600 We have to guard this. Usually we listen to these 416 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,000 things. It's kind of individually, like 417 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,200 I have to devote myself to reading more Bible. 418 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:17,360 That's good, but I think here this is a call for we to guard 419 00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:21,440 this and continue as a church being devoted to Scripture. 420 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,600 If any part of the body starts veering, we will lovingly and 421 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,440 truthfully bring them back in or try our hardest to. 422 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,040 You know, in the Galatian church, the Galatians get a 423 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,760 letter written to them because they are veering from the gospel 424 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:37,560 message. And you know who's held 425 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:39,760 accountable? Who Paul writes the letter to, 426 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:45,200 you foolish Galatians, That's who it's written to, not you 427 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,600 foolish teachers, you foolish elders, you foolish Galatians. 428 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:54,920 And he calls them back to the original, main and plain, simple 429 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:59,920 scripture, truth, gospel, in order to be a healthy church 430 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:03,920 that honors Jesus, in order to get as close to the original as 431 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,080 we can. We're responsible to guard this. 432 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,480 We're just responsible to guard each other. 433 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,520 This is an essential ingredient found in the early church. 434 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,720 Now a question I'll just let you ponder. 435 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,040 How will you know if I'm telling you something wrong? 436 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,680 And how will you know if your friend starts believing 437 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:29,960 something untrue? And how will you withstand all 438 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,320 of the other teachings and your other 166 hours a week? 439 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:40,480 I'll leave you to ponder it. The number two practice we see 440 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:45,480 in this early church, they devote themselves to fellowship. 441 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:51,680 That word means to share with, to partner, to be together. 442 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,920 And we actually see it in some of these verses, a picture of 443 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,920 what fellowship looks like. So go to verse 44. 444 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:08,520 All who believed were together and had all things in common and 445 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,040 they were selling their possessions and belongings and 446 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,040 distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. 447 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,320 Day by day, attending the temple together, breaking bread in 448 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:20,240 their homes. They received their food with 449 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,680 glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor 450 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,880 with all the people. This is a beautiful picture of 451 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,960 community. It's one of the the things that 452 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,240 most eyes see when you read through. 453 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,280 This is why because it's shocking. 454 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:40,240 You have 3120 people and earlier it tells us they're all from 455 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,440 different, like nationalities, they're all from different 456 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,520 languages. And now you've put them all 457 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:48,320 together in a community and they're all getting together. 458 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,080 They had all things in common. They were giving things to 459 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,680 strangers that they didn't know weeks prior. 460 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,520 Beautiful picture of togetherness, fellowship and 461 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,120 this original church. You see all kinds of partnership 462 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:03,720 and fellowship. If you look at the verses and 463 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:07,440 pay attention, you see first literal sharing that word 464 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,960 fellowship to share. You see literal fellowship as 465 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,600 they're giving material possessions and they're giving 466 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:18,280 it cheerfully, voluntarily, because others in their body had 467 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,160 need. They're simply, you could say, 468 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,640 living out the second command that Jesus gave them. 469 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:28,080 Love one another as yourself. Love one another as I loved you. 470 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,360 They're just doing that. They're not loving themselves. 471 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:33,720 They're not preferring themselves. 472 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:36,840 They're saying this is what I would do if I needed. 473 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:38,920 This is what I would want if I needed something. 474 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,720 Here you go. Jesus shared with them. 475 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,640 Jesus participated with them. He partnered with them to the 476 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,480 point that he withheld nothing from them. 477 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,200 And So what are material possessions? 478 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,640 You see a picture of believers. Aside from literal sharing, you 479 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,800 also see a picture of believers in each other's homes, sharing 480 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,280 meals, having experiences together, worshipping and 481 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,680 praising together. You see them attending the 482 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:13,040 temple together, day by day, Verse 46. 483 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,480 And that word attending, It's the same word for devotion. 484 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:23,000 They're continuing steadfastly. I read 111 Way of Reading this 485 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,800 literally would be day by day, continuing steadfastly with one 486 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:31,120 mind in the temple. They're not just attending 487 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:36,880 church together, they're continuing steadfastly with one 488 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,080 mind day by day in their House of worship. 489 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:47,720 They're doing it together. So on a material level, on a 490 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,360 physical level, they're eating together, on a spiritual level, 491 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,920 they have one mind, They're unified in Jesus Christ. 492 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,520 They share the most important things, different languages, 493 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,680 different colour skins, different ages, different 494 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,400 backgrounds. Jesus Christ transformed them. 495 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:14,880 If you reread verse 44 again, like just read it slow, all who 496 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:21,400 believed were together and had all things in common. 497 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:26,120 You don't have to jump there, but I'm going to jump there. 498 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:30,520 Just a couple chapters later. Chapter 2, chapter 4, verse 32, 499 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:35,920 it says now the full number of those who believed were of 1 500 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,400 heart and soul. It's not a good way of putting 501 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,280 it. They're of 1 heart and soul. 502 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,560 I would say when you look at fellowship, what you're really 503 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:54,520 looking at is family. If this kind of fellowship 504 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,440 doesn't seem normal for you, maybe it also feels like a fairy 505 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,360 tale. We don't have a problem with 506 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,240 sharing. You do it for your own family. 507 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,600 This is normal in a biological family, and I know some of you 508 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:10,680 had difficult families that weren't like this, but in its 509 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,120 design, that's what the family supposed to be. 510 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,680 You share with each other. You have meals together when a 511 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:20,240 family members down, you lift them up when they have lack and 512 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:21,840 you have more, you don't withhold. 513 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,800 And so now you're invited to come into the family of God and 514 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,360 look around your brothers and sisters. 515 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,440 Really look around. You think I'm joking? 516 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,200 That's your brother and that's your sister. 517 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,000 That's your spiritual father. That's your spiritual mother or 518 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:45,560 your daughter or your son. If you're a Christian, you've 519 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:49,480 been adopted in the God's family and you treat them like family. 520 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,320 And when you have the privilege of being able to be a member in 521 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:57,800 a local church, those are your brothers and sisters. 522 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:04,240 When they have a need and you're able to give it, you share. 523 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,080 When you think about how to spend your time, who do you want 524 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:09,480 to spend your time with the most? 525 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:11,960 Again, I know some of you didn't have perfect families. 526 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:16,000 You don't like your siblings, but still it's important that 527 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,760 you're together whether you like it or not. 528 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,080 Whether you like it or not, they're your brothers and 529 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,239 sisters. And so you got to go to reunions 530 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,840 and you got to come to family dinner and you got to do chores 531 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,000 and pitch in. This is that's what I see when I 532 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,560 see the fellowship. I just see family as the church, 533 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:37,199 the family of God. The Creator's original intent is 534 00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:39,760 that we would share with each other on multiple levels, not 535 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:44,679 just the 10 church together. Jesus is making us into a family 536 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:52,320 through committed partnership, fellowship, sharing with a group 537 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:59,040 of brothers and sisters. A heavenly family so take away. 538 00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:04,960 As disciples of Jesus, we devote ourselves to sharing with one 539 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,880 another, to partnering, to fellowshipping. 540 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:14,840 I can't force you to, but I hope when you see how special it is 541 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:17,960 that Jesus would invite you into his family, that you would 542 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,520 choose to. And when you look around at each 543 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:22,160 other, you wouldn't see differences. 544 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:26,520 You would see that person Jesus also chose and that person Jesus 545 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,240 also loved. And whether I like it or not, 546 00:35:29,240 --> 00:35:33,560 they're my brother and sister. No matter our differences, no 547 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,800 matter quirks, skin color, politics, age, no matter their 548 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,360 sin, I'm committed to you and you're committed to me. 549 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,960 Till death do us part, we'll end up in different churches. 550 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,200 I get that. But we're part of the family of 551 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:50,800 God. And when death does his part, I 552 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:52,000 guess we'll still be family, huh? 553 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:55,880 Now a little devotion disclaimer. 554 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:01,400 Disclaimer because I think this is something we should all 555 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,920 acknowledge. Realize being in a family is 556 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:09,680 easier said than done, huh? If it were simple, every local 557 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:14,600 church would still be like this. In Acts 2 you have unity and 558 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,640 Acts 4 you have unity and Acts 6 you have disunity. 559 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,280 Just read and a lot of the letters written in the New 560 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:26,120 Testament are to correct our disunity. 561 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:33,000 Many, many, many, many chapters later in 2025, we still have 562 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:38,120 Christians who we haven't achieved this, but I would just 563 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:42,640 call you to as long as Jesus is reigning, He's devoted to his 564 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,640 body and making it, making us into his family. 565 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,520 He's devoted to us. Let's devote with them to each 566 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,000 other. If you've been burned by a 567 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:56,200 church before, I'm sorry. Don't give up on the church. 568 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,160 Find a good church and devote to those people. 569 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:03,280 If you're new to this, I'm just warning you, there's bumps. 570 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,200 Stick with it, and if you've been at it for a while, I'd say 571 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:11,400 just in general for all of us, it's a joyful, fulfilling, 572 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,240 special thing to be a part of Jesus's family. 573 00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:18,640 I've, like I said, I've always loved the church. 574 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,040 Oh, I'm sorry guys, I'm going along. 575 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,640 I got to speed this up. You're with me though. 576 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:28,440 I can tell when I was, I told you I grew up in the church and 577 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:29,880 I've always loved the local church. 578 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:33,720 And I had a moment a couple weeks ago where, you know, when 579 00:37:33,720 --> 00:37:37,560 crisis happens, that's when you really like feel it the most, 580 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:40,600 either when you don't have support and community or when 581 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,240 you do. And in my case, I did and I felt 582 00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:47,320 it. I had home stuff, house leak. 583 00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:50,240 There were there were worries about money, there were worries 584 00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:52,240 about where do we stay while it's being fixed. 585 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:56,720 And we had people that had us over for meals and gave us a 586 00:37:56,720 --> 00:38:00,280 room for like 3 or 4 weeks that we could stay in, plus our two 587 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:03,120 little girls. And we had people checking in 588 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,000 always asking is there any way I can help? 589 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,280 When you need to start doing demo or remodel, just call me. 590 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:10,640 And they did. I did and they came and helped. 591 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,120 There was 1 moment in particular though, where when I was at my 592 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,640 lowest, some of you heard the story at our Discipleship 593 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,120 community event a while, a couple weeks ago when I was at 594 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,680 my lowest, there was one night in particular I called a friend 595 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,080 and it was one of those moments where before I just wanted to 596 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,600 scream and cry, which you've had those moments, right? 597 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:35,440 You just want to scream and cry. It's like I shouldn't, I won't 598 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,320 tell you if I screamed or cried or not, but I did end up calling 599 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:40,880 somebody. I said I could just use some 600 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:42,520 encouragement. Here's what's happening. 601 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,360 And they spoke truth to me. They reminded me of God's 602 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:47,280 promises. They told me it's going to be 603 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:49,680 OK. And I literally felt my like 604 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,240 spirit lift, like it snapped off. 605 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,160 I wasn't discouraged anymore. I felt faith. 606 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:56,960 It'll all work out. It's not that big of a deal. 607 00:38:58,240 --> 00:39:01,200 And after that, there were moments, I think all of the ways 608 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,920 that the local church cared for me, the family cared for me, 609 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,760 they partnered with me. After all of that, I said, you 610 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:08,400 know what? This is all in my head on a 611 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,280 random drive through town. I'm in love with the local 612 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:14,520 church. I don't just love the local 613 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:16,240 church, I'm in love with the local church. 614 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,840 You know the moment when with your significant other, you go 615 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,760 from loving them to being in love with, it's like, I like 616 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,840 you, I love you, and then, man, I couldn't live without you. 617 00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:28,400 I'm in love with you. I couldn't live without the 618 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,120 local church. I couldn't live without you 619 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:32,320 guys. I'm in love with you. 620 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,000 I hope all of you get to experience that. 621 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:40,760 And just quick plug, if you're not a member at Vita, but you 622 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:43,720 love Vita and you want to be a part of this church, we have a 623 00:39:43,720 --> 00:39:46,360 membership series coming up October 19th. 624 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:50,560 So keep your ears peeled for that and I hope you'll join. 625 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,160 Maybe you're already in God's family, but I hope you'll join 626 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:56,880 this local church family. And if not, there are so many 627 00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,440 great local church families in our city that it would be so 628 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:04,480 important for you to. Establish yourself and commit to 629 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:10,080 a local church family. They devoted themselves to 630 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:15,840 breaking bread together. This is likely meals together, 631 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,200 but this is also includes taking the Lord's Supper, that really 632 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:24,760 special practice that Jesus did with his disciples the moments 633 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:28,320 before he was crucified where he broke bread with them. 634 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:30,760 And he said, here I give this to you. 635 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,960 This represents my body broken for you on the cross. 636 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,200 And he gave them wine. He said here, this represents my 637 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:40,160 blood that I spilled willingly so that you could become a part 638 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:43,240 of my family. And he said, do this and 639 00:40:43,240 --> 00:40:47,320 remembrance of me. He said things like I won't 640 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,320 drink from the cup again until I drink it new with you and the 641 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,000 Kingdom. And so it also is a time for us 642 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,920 to look ahead and remember Jesus is coming back for us. 643 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,080 And also one other thing about Lord's Supper I wanted to 644 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:02,280 highlight the Lord's Supper is a way that we fellowship with 645 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:03,560 Jesus. It's really cool. 646 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:07,160 But that same word fellowship to share with the partner, it's in 647 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:10,800 another place in Scripture referring to our partnering with 648 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:16,240 Jesus as we take the bread and the juice or the wine, First 649 00:41:16,240 --> 00:41:18,240 Corinthians 10/16 will be on the screen. 650 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:22,120 It says the cup of blessing that we bless, referring to the 651 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:26,320 Lord's Supper. Is it not a participation in the 652 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:28,000 blood of Christ, the bread that we break? 653 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:32,160 Is it not a participation in the body of Christ, the fellowship? 654 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:36,440 Because there is one bread. We who are many are one body, 655 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,320 for we all, all partake of one bread. 656 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,880 When we take the Lord's Supper together as God's family, it 657 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:46,800 unites us to each other in a really special way and it unites 658 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,080 us to Jesus in a really special way. 659 00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:53,360 It's like if baptism is our coming into the family of God. 660 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:57,080 This is how we regularly commune with God. 661 00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:58,960 That's why it's called communion often. 662 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:04,800 And so we're told as disciples to regularly do this and are 663 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:07,760 really practical application. Today is after the teaching. 664 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,720 We're going to take the Lord's Supper together for all who have 665 00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:14,760 put their trust in Jesus. We get to enjoy this practice. 666 00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:18,280 All right, Lastly, I'm going to keep this one short. 667 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,000 They devoted themselves to prayers short because it's the 668 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,200 most self-explanatory of all. As God's people, we talked to 669 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:29,320 him and here this is talking to him together. 670 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:32,840 This is corporate prayer in the temple and in our homes. 671 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:39,280 Colossians 4/2. I'll just pick one verse. 672 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:44,000 There were many that use the same word devote and about 673 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:47,080 prayer. Here's just one Colossians 4/2 674 00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:51,760 continue steadfastly and prayer being watchful in it with 675 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:54,600 Thanksgiving and it's scattered all over the Bible. 676 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,120 This is our bread and butter as Christians. 677 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:02,760 My boiled down simple application. 678 00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:08,160 Have other Christians in your home or go to their home and 679 00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:12,760 pray together three things pray that his Kingdom would advance. 680 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:17,520 Pray for our city and pray for Vita if this is your church. 681 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:22,720 If not, pray for your church, Kingdom, city, Vita regularly 682 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:26,520 devote yourself to praying. And if you want a simple for 683 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,760 like a outline, there's three things. 684 00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:35,040 Now I'd sum up all of these areas as disciples devote to 685 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,720 Jesus and disciples devote to his people. 686 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:40,040 It's our bread and butter. It's part of the original 687 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,640 design. Now, there's some really 688 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:46,520 spectacular things that Jesus does in the midst of this that I 689 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,760 wish I could highlight. That's for another teaching, 690 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,920 another day. But there is all that grows in 691 00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:58,440 the hearts of the Christians as they enjoy this really, really 692 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:02,360 special community and as they see signs and wonders, things 693 00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:06,680 that only God can do happening in their midst, and especially 694 00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:09,920 as they see more people being added to the Family Day by day. 695 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:17,240 God continues saving. So our conclusion, one man 696 00:44:17,240 --> 00:44:23,560 transformed 12 and 120 and 3000 and it's still happening. 697 00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:29,040 And you know how it happens. Ordinary disciples doing bread 698 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:35,720 and butter things. I pray that we will continue to 699 00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:39,520 be transformed as we devote to these things. 700 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:43,720 And I pray God continues to add to our number around our world, 701 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:47,640 around our country. I pray in our city and I pray 702 00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:54,560 here through this church. You want to take the Lord's 703 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,280 Supper with me. All right, y'all can stay 704 00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,000 seated. Let me give you some directions, 705 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:01,840 worship team, you can go ahead and come up. 706 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,200 And for those of you elders that are helping distribute the bread 707 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,440 and the juice, if you would go ahead and pull these things off 708 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:17,520 for our worship team to grab some and just some notes and 709 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:22,400 instructions for Lord's Supper believers. 710 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:27,280 This is for you, all of you who have put your trust in Jesus. 711 00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:31,800 This is a really, really special invitation from Jesus to join 712 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:38,120 him and the family in a meal. And as you take the bread and 713 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:39,880 the juice, remember what I was saying. 714 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:42,520 It's a reminder of what Jesus has done for us. 715 00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:46,760 It's a reminder of what's coming, what we get to do with 716 00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:48,760 him for eternity in heaven at his table. 717 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,800 And there's an actual way that we're communing with Jesus as we 718 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:57,320 do this. The instruction piece. 719 00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:00,600 When it's time, you'll go out to the left. 720 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:06,520 Which way to the left just to keep it from bottlenecking go 721 00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,360 out to the left and one of our elders will be at the front of 722 00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:14,000 your section to for you to get the bread or the juice and then 723 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:17,680 take it back to your seat and wait and we'll take it together. 724 00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:22,040 OK and then quickly for those of you that are not members of 725 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:25,240 God's family. I want you during this time. 726 00:46:25,240 --> 00:46:30,640 I would ask you that you reflect this is a participating with 727 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:34,200 Jesus. And 1st you have to participate 728 00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:36,720 through that open door which is open for you. 729 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,840 Believe, repent and ask for salvation. 730 00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:44,920 And if you've not been baptized, I would also ask you make that 731 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:49,240 your first step, talk with the pastor about baptism and then 732 00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:52,720 plan to be baptized. And then this is a way that you 733 00:46:52,720 --> 00:46:54,640 get to continue communing with Jesus. 734 00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,520 But this is for believers who have been baptized for today.