1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:04,520 We will be in Acts Chapter 2 this morning. 2 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:07,720 Acts 2. If you are using one of our 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:11,360 Bibles there in front of you, it is found on page 909. 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:19,040 So we started this two week series 2 weeks ago, interrupted 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:24,000 it last week for Father's Day. But in that first message, we 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,240 looked at the very beginnings of the early church. 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,520 It was the day of Pentecost, and followers of Christ from all 8 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,400 over the world had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot, 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:41,520 which is the Feast of weeks. And at this moment there were 10 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,880 120 Christ followers of all different backgrounds gathered 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,440 together. The day of Pentecost was special 12 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,320 to them and in this moment God brought even more significance 13 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,640 to this special day as the Holy Spirit fell upon Christ's 14 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,160 followers and tongues of fire sat over each person as they 15 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,200 spoke languages that they've not previously been able to speak 16 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:09,560 before God's presence had come and they were now to take His 17 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,800 presence everywhere that they would go. 18 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,240 So that was the indwelling of the Spirit, the the spirit 19 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,840 coming to permanently live inside someone who has placed 20 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:20,920 their trust in Jesus for their salvation. 21 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,720 Now the goal for each of us is to daily be filled with the 22 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,240 spirits and live each day, each moment in the Holy Spirit's 23 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:34,120 power. So after the Holy Spirit fell, 24 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:38,800 Peter got up, he delivered a sermon and and 3000 people 25 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:40,920 placed their faith in Jesus that day. 26 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,440 So that's the context of what we read here at the end of Acts 27 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,600 chapter 2. If you're able, would you please 28 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:56,240 stand with us as we read from the word Acts 2, verses 42 29 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:01,760 through 47. And they devoted themselves to 30 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,880 the apostles, teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of 31 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,960 bread, and the prayers in awe came upon every soul. 32 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,080 And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, 33 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,520 and all who believed were together and had all things in 34 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:17,320 common. They were selling their 35 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,080 possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all 36 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,480 as any had need. And day by day, attending the 37 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,120 temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they 38 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,000 received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising 39 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,400 God and having favor with all the people. 40 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,160 And the Lord added to their number day by day. 41 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:41,080 Those who are being saved, thank you, you may be seated. 42 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,520 So verse 42 is kind of the conclusion to the whole 43 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,840 Pentecost narrative, and it mentioned 4 specific practices 44 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,640 that the early church had devoted themselves to. 45 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:01,320 Now, we typically understand a devotion as having an affinity 46 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:06,280 or or commitment to something. However, the Greek word that's 47 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:10,920 used here actually refers to to persisting in something, being 48 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:14,760 steadfast in that activity or belief. 49 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,160 Now, when you do this, you are you're, you're making an 50 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,520 intentional effort to believe in something, participate in 51 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:27,000 something, no matter how difficult it may be to engage. 52 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:31,400 That life for members of the early church was it was 53 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,800 difficult. They were seen as outcast by the 54 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:39,080 rest of the Jewish community, but they didn't allow this to to 55 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:43,360 turn them away from the faith. They were persistent in this 56 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,320 newfound faith of theirs, and they were wholly committed and 57 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,600 completely committed to the four practices mentioned here in Acts 58 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,760 2. By the way, I think I forgot to 59 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,200 mention there's children's church. 60 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:03,640 So yeah, feel free to any children who have not already 61 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,080 left. Thank you angels for that 62 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:15,480 reminder. So yeah, something more geared 63 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,600 for them downstairs. So there there are 4 practices 64 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,920 the early church was devoted to. And the first thing that the 65 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:28,520 early church was being diligent to persist in was the apostles 66 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:33,920 teaching. The apostles teaching we can we 67 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:38,040 can deduce that a few things as to what the apostles teaching 68 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:43,400 may have consisted of. First of all, in the Great 69 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,760 Commission, Jesus was speaking about all the new disciples who 70 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:51,040 would be created as as his followers went and told the 71 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:56,040 world about Jesus, there would be all these new disciples and 72 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:00,760 he instructed them to observe or to to keep all these things that 73 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,080 he had commanded. He's he had poured himself into 74 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:09,800 them for three years and he says go and tell them all these 75 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:11,360 things that I have commanded you. 76 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,800 So there's that. And some of the apostles 77 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,480 teaching also would have included for sure the Hebrew 78 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,760 Scriptures is what we call the Old Testament. 79 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,760 Even Peter's message here on the day of Pentecost was was that 80 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,520 Jesus was foretold by the Old Testament. 81 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,400 They knew that Jesus was going to be coming. 82 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,400 Their scriptures had told them about this day. 83 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,840 And then thinking ahead down the road to Paul's missionary 84 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:45,960 journeys, when Paul would arrive somewhere, where did he go? 85 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,440 Paul would immediately go to the synagogue. 86 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,920 It he where, whether he was in in the Middle East, whether he 87 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,840 was in Europe or in Asia, he would go to the synagogue, the 88 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:01,360 place where where the Jews were were gathered together because 89 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,320 he wanted to utilize their knowledge of who the Messiah was 90 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:11,720 to teach them about Jesus and tell them that Jesus is the one 91 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:17,520 that you've been waiting for. Then Jesus life his works and 92 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,240 care would no doubt have played a principal role in the apostles 93 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,880 teaching as well as the nature of our salvation by grace 94 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,680 through faith. So the early church was consumed 95 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,560 by the teachings of the apostles and the natural thing for us to 96 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,160 do is to examine our own context. 97 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,520 We don't have apostles here with us today right So what does it 98 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:44,160 mean for us to apply this to our own lives? 99 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,040 Well, let's, let's make it practical. 100 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,440 I have lots of things written down on the note sheet for you 101 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,000 because I figured that'd make it easier for you to bring 102 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:53,720 something away from this message. 103 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,800 So first of all, regularly attend worship services. 104 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,120 Regularly attend worship services, not just once a month. 105 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:13,120 You know, today regular attenders at church attend about 106 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,760 one to two times a month. Now is is basically how it's 107 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,760 seen that if you're a regular tender, if you can, if you 108 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:28,000 attend one to two times a month. Unfortunately, I think God 109 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,640 desires more of us. Unfortunately, that's the wrong 110 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,080 thing. God desires more of us. 111 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,440 Unfortunately, that's not what God wants from from us. 112 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,040 God wants more and parents with children, you are discipling 113 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,800 your children whether you're being intentional about it or 114 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,200 not. So if you're in church once a 115 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:51,680 month, that's how you're discipling them. 116 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,600 That OK, Hey, going to going to church once a month is enough. 117 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,920 We don't need to be there every week. 118 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:04,160 But if you're making it a priority to be in God's house 119 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:10,360 week in and week out, then we're teaching our children this is a 120 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:15,240 priority. We spend Sundays in God's house. 121 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,400 No, of course we're not talking about legalism here. 122 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:23,000 You know, things happen. But we want to make it a 123 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,120 priority to be in God's house because we can't make we can't 124 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:31,040 just model a once a month behavior and then wonder, why 125 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,480 did our kids walk away from the faith when they went off to 126 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,159 college? We need to do everything that we 127 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:42,440 can as parents to help our children to grow in their faith 128 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,560 and understand what God would desire of them. 129 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,680 And I would remind you that should you be gone. 130 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:50,560 I love when I hear this. I just heard it again this 131 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:52,560 morning. Hey, we just watched last week's 132 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:56,200 message yesterday. Go online. 133 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,800 If you're gone, go online, go to Facebook, go to our YouTube 134 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,640 page, go to our website and catch up with the message. 135 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,880 Catch up with where we are, what we've been studying each week. 136 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,680 It is awesome that we have these resources and that you don't 137 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:13,840 have to wait for those old school cassette tapes to be 138 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:15,560 duplicated and sent to you, right? 139 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:17,400 Who you guys know what I'm talking about, right? 140 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:20,200 We used to have the duplicators back in the day, I know. 141 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,600 But now we have these awesome resources online. 142 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,560 Some of you are like, what's a cassette tape, right? 143 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,600 So another way to be exposed to biblical teaching is to follow 144 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,120 podcasts or YouTube channels that help deepen your faith, 145 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:41,080 that help grow your faith again, my, my dad used to have these 146 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,120 tapes that we would, that we would listen to wherever we 147 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,440 went. There was always a John Maxwell 148 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,720 tape that he was playing in the car. 149 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:51,320 We don't have to do that anymore. 150 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,560 We can just pull, pull up something on our phones or on 151 00:09:55,560 --> 00:10:00,640 our computers. One of my favorites is the Bible 152 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:04,520 Project. Many of you are probably 153 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:09,320 familiar with Bible Project. I love to look into their 154 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,240 content both through their YouTube channel as well as 155 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,080 through their podcast. How you are probably most 156 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,320 familiar with Bible Project is their introductory videos to 157 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:25,320 every book of the Bible They made this kind of it's not 158 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,120 really animated, but it but it's a drawing that that they created 159 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,200 and then they walk through this drawing in a kind of animated 160 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:39,320 way to introduce you to that particular book of the Bible. 161 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,160 So it is an awesome way to get to know what is the purpose of 162 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:44,880 this book? What are the themes I'm going to 163 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,280 encounter? What are maybe perhaps some of 164 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,080 the difficulties in interpreting this particular book of the 165 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:52,880 Bible. So that's the Bible project. 166 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,440 That's one of my favorites. There's so many awesome 167 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:00,680 resources out there online for us to avail ourselves of. 168 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,840 So find something that you love, that something that deepens your 169 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,320 faith and and you derive so much joy from and listen to that. 170 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,320 Watch that. So that was the apostles 171 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,560 teaching. Second is the fellowship. 172 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,160 We're devoting themselves to fellowship. 173 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,760 Allow me to share with you a lesson I learned in 2012, when I 174 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:30,400 was much younger and apparently immature. 175 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:34,920 You see, we were going through a season of transition at 176 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,640 Cornerstone. We were growing in our our 177 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:40,520 Sunday morning format was changing. 178 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:47,440 So I proposed a an opportunity to save a bit of money and get 179 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:58,720 rid of our coffee and doughnuts. I don't. 180 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:00,680 It's almost as though I don't even need to finish the 181 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:06,640 illustration. Like you see, we would spend a 182 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,440 significant amount of money on on these things. 183 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,560 And I don't drink the coffee. That's not my thing. 184 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:14,360 And Donuts, I can take them or leave them. 185 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:16,760 Hertz Donuts last week was awesome. 186 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:21,120 That was great. But otherwise, I don't really 187 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:22,720 care about coffee and Donuts. They're not. 188 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,040 They're not my thing. So when I floated this idea, 189 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,840 we've got some people here who probably may well remember this 190 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:37,080 moment. When I floated this idea, people 191 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,280 obviously there was a lot of kickback against this idea. 192 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:43,440 Like, what are you doing? We need to have fellowship. 193 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,800 Well, yeah, we can have fellowship, right? 194 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,120 You still can have fellowship. They could have just said we 195 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,720 really like the doughnuts and coffee and we would just like to 196 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,000 keep the doughnuts and coffee. They didn't say that. 197 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:04,160 But in their minds, fellowship equals doughnuts and coffee, 198 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:09,800 right? And well, here we are a Baptist 199 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:14,760 Church as well. So I am, I'm sure, especially 200 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:19,040 from your reactions that fellowship can be equated with 201 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:25,880 food, right? Yes, but by the way, we did not 202 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:27,160 get rid of the Donuts and coffee. 203 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,400 So So don't worry, that's not coming in our future here. 204 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,360 By the way, whoever created whoever made those bars out 205 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:42,200 there this morning, thank you. I don't know who does that, but 206 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,920 I took 1 and I have it saved for after the service so I can enjoy 207 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,600 it. So, but thank you too, whoever 208 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,440 did that. But Luke is not talking only 209 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:56,520 about food here. I'm sure food is kind of in view 210 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,920 with some of the other things that he mentions later, but he 211 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:04,200 is talking about actual Koinonia, people sharing in 212 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,160 something together. Koinonia is what happens when 213 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:12,360 when we have a mutual interest with with somebody in the same 214 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:14,840 thing. It's two parties who share in 215 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,840 something. True fellowship is sharing life 216 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,360 with others. The word was used to indicate 217 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,320 the unique type and depth of relationships that the early 218 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:29,640 church had. These relationships served as as 219 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:33,720 basically as a discipleship mechanism in the body of Christ. 220 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:38,200 It was It was me learning from you and you learning from me. 221 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:44,840 Sharing our Christian walk with others is mutually beneficial 222 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:50,680 and encouraging, whether or not there are doughnuts and coffee 223 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:55,520 at that moment. Unfortunately, there there are a 224 00:14:55,520 --> 00:15:00,480 number of people then and even today who want to be Lone Ranger 225 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,320 Christians, but this was never part of God's intent. 226 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:11,960 Hebrews 10 verses 24 through 25 read on the screen, right? 227 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:17,680 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good 228 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,600 works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of 229 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:26,040 some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you 230 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,960 see the day drawing near. Now, the writer of Hebrews 231 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:36,760 mentions a number of things here that if you're by yourself, if 232 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:40,640 you're alone, you can't engage in in these activities. 233 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,880 You can't encourage people to love. 234 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:45,280 By the way, I love the KJV of this. 235 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,560 I would have just quoted it, but what comes out of my mouth on 236 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,000 this one is just KJV and nothing else is ever going to come out. 237 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,440 But the KJV says provoke others to love, provoke them to love. 238 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:58,920 I love that. I love that idea so. 239 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:04,360 But you can't provoke people to love if you're by yourself, if 240 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,760 you're not part of the body of Christ. 241 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:11,080 So God wants us to be together in fellowship as the body of 242 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:16,200 Christ. Now I should come clean on 243 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:21,800 something here for a second. There's this joke about they 244 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:26,360 were, I think it was called the Four CS at Cornerstone. 245 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:32,240 Some illustrations that I would use in all of my sermons and 246 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:36,080 people would take counts of how many of the 4C's I would use. 247 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:40,800 I'm going to unveil one of them this morning, but just in case 248 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:47,840 they pop up at other times. The 4C's are CrossFit, cycling, 249 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:55,080 Chipotle, and cats. I have, I have had other people 250 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,920 mention, oh, you should throw a fifth one of the Kansas City 251 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,760 Chiefs in there. But depending on the week, you 252 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,440 know, in February, you know, I wasn't too keen on them. 253 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:08,599 So so we leave them off the list. 254 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,960 We leave the list at 4 CrossFit cycling, Chipotle and Cats. 255 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,400 All right, You may hear about those things from time to time. 256 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:18,000 So this morning I'm going to tell you about CrossFit. 257 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,920 Louvia and I have been engaged in CrossFit for 11 years now. 258 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,319 When I first got involved in it, I was looking for something that 259 00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:28,200 would give me the conditioning that I would receive from my 260 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:32,040 time in the martial arts and then all my time cycling, as 261 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,680 well as bring in some of the weightlifting that I'd 262 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:40,400 participated in as a teenager. So I wanted something something 263 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:42,760 like that, and CrossFit seemed like it might be the right 264 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,960 thing. So in January of 2014, Luvian 265 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,000 and I stepped into our first CrossFit class. 266 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,280 We enjoy how challenging CrossFit is and that it pushes 267 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,960 us to do things that frankly, we didn't know we were capable of 268 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:01,520 doing. Keeps us young, I like to say. 269 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,120 Now, when we joined CrossFit, though, we weren't aware of how 270 00:18:06,120 --> 00:18:09,360 significant the community aspect of it is. 271 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,600 CrossFit actually is all about environment. 272 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,720 It's not like other gyms where, you know, you go into the gym, 273 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:23,040 you tunnel vision, you go do your thing, don't talk to 274 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,000 people. You get out of there as quickly 275 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,880 as you can. CrossFit, it's expected that you 276 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:31,120 know the names of each of the people that you're working out 277 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,040 with and you engage with them and you talk with them. 278 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:39,440 And encouragement is of the utmost importance in CrossFit. 279 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:45,440 I am often the last one still working out for various reasons 280 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:50,040 and it's cool because all these people who have already finished 281 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:52,880 their workout, we're all doing essentially the same thing. 282 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,520 Other people will just been faster and finished it before 283 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:01,400 me. And what they then do is just 284 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:03,600 give you all this encouragement to keep going. 285 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:08,200 Sometimes you just want to say be quiet, like I'm going as fast 286 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,760 as I can here, but they are encouraging you. 287 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,840 The the last person to finish is always cheered on and encouraged 288 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,520 far more than the first person to finish. 289 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:26,280 And there's something about it's easier to do something difficult 290 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:31,440 when you have other people that you're sharing in that thing 291 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:35,400 with. So for the early church, it was 292 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:42,720 difficult to be to be a Christ follower, but they were sharing 293 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,360 in that following of Christ together. 294 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:48,800 So it was easier for them to endure that. 295 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,480 So how do we make this practical for us today? 296 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,400 First of all, participate with the Body in church life. 297 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,560 Participate with the body and church life Join us at regular 298 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:07,440 weekly worship services and other special events that we 299 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:12,280 have attend connect groups that we have each Sunday morning. 300 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:14,760 Connect group isn't just a Bible study. 301 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,760 Bible studies are great like obviously Bible studies are 302 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,880 great, but a connect group is more than just Bible study. 303 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:27,080 Connect group is is a is a time to sit around in a circle face 304 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:30,800 to face with others and have discussions about the word and 305 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:35,040 have discussions about how the word applies to your life and 306 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,520 get to know other people. So connect groups are great 307 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,360 entry way to getting to know other people in the body better 308 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:48,160 Then when we have things like fire and fellowship or 309 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:53,480 fellowship lunches, maybe an ice cream social that I'm throwing 310 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,440 around in my mind for later in the summer when we have these 311 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,200 events. Come be here if the doors are 312 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,560 open and you're and if at all possible, come join us and be 313 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,160 parts of the body of Christ. Another way to engage in 314 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:13,560 fellowship is to find a ministry to share in and serve. 315 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,200 Find a ministry to share in and serve. 316 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:21,840 There are many options available for ministry here at Pleasant 317 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,000 View. And this may sound a little 318 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:29,720 weird being that I just said that we had 55 workers for VBS 319 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,200 this past week. So I know a lot of you are 320 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,040 engaged, which is absolutely awesome. 321 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:38,680 But there's all sorts of ways to be engaged here. 322 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,320 There's nursery ushers, greeters, Sunday school and 323 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,320 children's church teachers, WANA leaders. 324 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,720 I'm told that we are always in need of a wanna leaders, more 325 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,880 people to listen to memory verses and such. 326 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,800 Worship team, media booth person, that media booth 327 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,040 personnel. I know people often look at the 328 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,320 worship team and at the booth. They say, oh, there's people 329 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,040 there, they don't have a need. Guess what, we would love to 330 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,440 have you on board in these areas, whether it's worship team 331 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,480 on stage, whether it's in the booth, behind the scenes, doing 332 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,920 stuff like that. If you think you have a gift, a 333 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:16,160 musical gift that you'd like to share with the body, hey, let's 334 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,920 talk and see if we can get you connected with the team. 335 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:22,480 If you've always wanted to be part of the team but you're not 336 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,280 musical, then sometimes the booth is the place for you. 337 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:30,440 Whether it's running the lyrics software or running sound or the 338 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:36,280 live stream, there are all sorts of options available for you in 339 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:38,120 serving. Oh, I forgot cameras too. 340 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:44,600 I, I make their jobs hard. I do apologize, but I'm not 341 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,040 going to stand still. That's just how how how it's 342 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,560 always been pretty much so I try to stand still. 343 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:56,120 I just can't, so we need more help there too. 344 00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,360 It'd be great to have more camera operators. 345 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:03,880 So find a place to serve. If you're not sure what that is, 346 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:08,560 pick something, jump in. If it doesn't work, it's OK, you 347 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,080 can jump into something else. So find a place to share in and 348 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,080 serve. My last suggestion for 349 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,280 increasing your fellowship is to participate in a discipleship 350 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:25,000 relationship. A discipleship relationship 351 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,560 could be an accountability partner, a mentoring 352 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,720 relationship, or even something like a discipleship group, which 353 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:36,320 is in which is a different type of small group or Bible study. 354 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,640 Now the goal of a discipleship relationship is to spur you on 355 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:45,480 in your Christian walk. You can study the word together. 356 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:51,080 You can read a book and examine how that book, God Taking God's 357 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,680 Word, applies to your life. You can talk about life and what 358 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,920 God is doing, God is doing in your life, and the challenges 359 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,600 that you're facing. They're all sorts of options 360 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,080 available to us when it comes to discipleship relationships. 361 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,520 But having a discipleship relationship is so important. 362 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,280 Next, we have the breaking of bread. 363 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,560 It's likely that when you hear this phrase, of course we think 364 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:22,360 of enjoying a meal together. However, that's not the only 365 00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:23,960 thing. That's not the primary thing 366 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,840 that's in view here when when Luke writes about the breaking 367 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,840 of bread. See, each week the church would 368 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,120 gather together for what were called love feasts. 369 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:40,760 At a love feast, they would enjoy a meal together, but they 370 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:45,720 would also take communion. It's difficult for us to 371 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:49,000 understand the full significance for them of partaking of the 372 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,960 Lord's Table and its impact on their spiritual growth. 373 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,200 Jesus first instituted communion on the night when he was 374 00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:59,920 arrested. He and his disciples had 375 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:03,280 convened in the upper room for what has come to be called the 376 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:08,680 Last Supper, and on that night they were commemorating the 377 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:10,760 Passover. This wasn't a this was an 378 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:15,280 important night. The Passover was a celebration 379 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:20,040 of how God had freed his people from slavery, slavery in Egypt. 380 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,560 And as they sat there for dinner, Jesus identified himself 381 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,120 with the Passover lamb. When he said this bread is my 382 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:36,200 body and this cup is my blood, he was identifying himself with 383 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,720 that Passover lamb. So sitting at the Lord's table 384 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,040 reminded the early Church of Christ's sacrifice. 385 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,760 And the same goes for us. When we partake of the Lord's 386 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:53,120 table, we're remembering Jesus, and this causes us to draw near 387 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:58,280 to him with grateful hearts and offer our lives back to Him in 388 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:03,200 worship. So how do we apply this idea of 389 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:08,400 breaking the bread to our lives? Well, of course. 390 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,640 First of all, attend worship services on the 1st Sunday of 391 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,720 the month. I think most of you know this, 392 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,840 but if you didn't want to wear on the 1st Sunday of the month, 393 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:25,000 we set aside time in our services for remembering our 394 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,480 Lord's sacrifice through communion. 395 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,320 So try to be here on the 1st Sunday of the month. 396 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:38,920 Next, invite someone over for a meal in your home. 397 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:46,120 Invite someone over for a meal. Having a meal in your home is 398 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:49,040 one of the best ways to develop relationships. 399 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:53,000 So much life can can happen around the table and it's a 400 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:58,840 great place to to strengthen a relationship and it's also a 401 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:03,160 great place to begin a relationship and then to start 402 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,440 to get to know someone around the table. 403 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:13,480 So that's the breaking of bread. So far we've seen how the early 404 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:18,440 church devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to fellowship 405 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,000 to the breaking of bread. And last thing they were devoted 406 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:31,000 to was the prayers is what it says the prayers in Scripture. 407 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,360 There seems to be an emphasis at on prayer at the times of the 408 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:39,400 morning and evening sacrifices and and these sacrifices would 409 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,360 happen at the 3rd and the 9th hours of the day. 410 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:50,400 So basically at 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM is basically when these 411 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:55,120 sacrifices would happen. But then there's also evidence 412 00:27:55,520 --> 00:28:00,080 of 1/3 daily prayer time happening around noon. 413 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,360 In Psalm 5517 King David said evening and morning and at noon 414 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:08,880 I utter my complaints and moan and he hears my voice. 415 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,120 Then in Daniel we see the prophet choosing to disobey 416 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:17,680 Darius ordinance against praying to anyone else except himself. 417 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:24,680 And, and, the writer says in Daniel 610, when Daniel knew 418 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,960 that the document had been signed, he went to his house 419 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,880 where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward 420 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,720 Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three 421 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:39,240 times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had 422 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:44,440 done previously. Now, Jewish culture involved not 423 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:49,360 only the set temple prayer times, so the morning and and 424 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:55,000 evening, but also specific passages to be incorporated into 425 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,400 their prayers. We know one of those passages. 426 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,720 Some, some of them we don't know exactly for sure, but we know 427 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,560 for sure one of them was the Shema. 428 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,760 The Shema is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6. 429 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,520 I want something different for this moment. 430 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:16,520 We're going to read it out loud together. 431 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,480 These next three slides are the Shema. 432 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:23,200 So would you read this out loud with me? 433 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:30,640 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1 You shall 434 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,720 love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your 435 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:39,360 soul, and with all your might. And these words that I command 436 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,920 you today shall be on your hearts. 437 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:47,080 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk 438 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,920 of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the 439 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,800 way, and when you lie down and when you rise. 440 00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,120 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as 441 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:04,080 frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the 442 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,680 doorposts of your house and on your gates. 443 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:16,000 So this was one of the prayers that they would say every single 444 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:20,960 day, literally every day they would recite the Shema. 445 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:25,360 And they also use numerous other scripture passages in their 446 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:31,760 daily prayer times. So by the way, I will add on the 447 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:37,000 back of the note sheet, I always put things to help you consider 448 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,800 further thoughts and reflection and application points. 449 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:42,720 And one of them is to memorize the Shema. 450 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:47,000 For some of us, I'm sure we have like a few lines memorized, but 451 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,520 we would probably have to put in a little work to memorize the 452 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,960 rest of it, something I want to do myself. 453 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:58,440 So I would encourage you to memorize it and commit, commit 454 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,600 that to your memory and incorporate it into your prayer 455 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,360 time. So what does this look like for 456 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,560 us? And again, remember, this isn't, 457 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,200 listen, we're not, we're not trying to be legalistic. 458 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,960 We're not going back to the law. But these are all just 459 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,000 suggestions. Help us grow and deepen our 460 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,600 faith and be stretched a bit. So memorize the Shema. 461 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,280 I didn't realize I put it on the front of the note sheet. 462 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,640 So memorize the Shema. This is one of the least 463 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:32,920 practiced spiritual disciplines in our time, especially as we, 464 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,880 as we now have an age where we can just with a, with a few 465 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,360 finger strokes, pull something up. 466 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,440 You don't have to have it memorized anymore, right? 467 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:51,000 But memorizing God's word has so much value. 468 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:55,560 When we memorize God's word in a moment, the Holy Spirit will 469 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,840 bring that word to our minds and we'll be able to use that and 470 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:03,240 apply that to the situation that we find ourselves in, whether it 471 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:08,120 is a situation of temptation or whether it's God wanting to 472 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:11,240 speak through us by the Holy Spirit's. 473 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,280 So memorize the Shema and other scriptures. 474 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,560 Next, read scripture back to God. 475 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,640 Oh, I think I, I put this on the back of the note sheet. 476 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:24,200 I decided I didn't like the order. 477 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,280 I put it on the note sheet on the back of the note sheet there 478 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,440 at the top. Read scripture back to God. 479 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,720 There's always the option of reading scripture back to God as 480 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,560 prayer. One of the best place places to 481 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,840 do this is of course, the Psalms. 482 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:44,240 The Psalms cover the whole gamut of of our daily life and 483 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:51,240 experiences from the highs to the lows so we can read 484 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:56,240 scripture back to Him. God loves to hear us reading His 485 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,840 word to Him. Next, back on the first side of 486 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:03,280 the note sheet, you know, sometimes you're doing these 487 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,760 things and things don't get finalized until yesterday was 488 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:10,000 when I finalized my sermon and I had to have the note sheet in 489 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:14,280 earlier. So yeah, but develop a prayer 490 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:22,040 habit, develop a prayer habit consistent times where where you 491 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:23,840 are committed to being in prayer. 492 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,760 Then there may also be some various tools that you want to 493 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:33,280 use in your in your prayer. Some people like to write out 494 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,840 their prayers. Some people would not want to 495 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,640 write their prayers out but instead just express their 496 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:45,160 prayers verbally. We can use resources or tools 497 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:51,000 like axe or cats depending on on your preference. 498 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,520 Some people have a preference for one or the other. 499 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:57,640 I had personally have a preference for the acrostic axe 500 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:02,280 which is A is for adoration for confession, T is for 501 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:04,920 Thanksgiving and S is for supplication. 502 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:10,080 With adoration we are starting our prayer time with simply 503 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:14,480 worshipping God is what adoration is just worshipping 504 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,920 God. Confession is self-explanatory. 505 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,840 Confessing sin in my life, making sure that if there is 506 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:28,520 nothing in my life that is impeding my intimacy with God. 507 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:34,600 Thanksgiving, obviously giving thanks for what God is providing 508 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:38,159 in your lives, the way you've seen him work in your life and 509 00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:39,520 in the lives of those around you. 510 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:45,520 And then S the supplication is I think this is at the S is the 511 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:48,159 default probably for for so many of us. 512 00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:51,639 It's so easy to just go straight to God. 513 00:34:51,639 --> 00:34:54,120 Here's my needs. Here's what I need you to do. 514 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,320 Here's how I need you to work in my life. 515 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:02,200 Let's save that for the end. When we start with the adoration 516 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,560 and the confession and the Thanksgiving, oh, it drastically 517 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:11,160 shapes and impacts how we even present our needs to God when we 518 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:14,800 present our supplication to Him. So there's acts, some people 519 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,720 like cats, just changing the order, starting with confession, 520 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,320 then going to adoration, Thanksgiving and supplication 521 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:25,080 doesn't matter, but pick something, incorporate that into 522 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,680 your prayer life and watch God work. 523 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,520 So these are some of the ways that we can enhance our prayer 524 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,960 life. So the early church was 525 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:38,880 committed to performing these 4 practices in community together 526 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:45,040 as the body of Christ. Verses 44 through 46, Look 527 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,280 there, now read. All who believed were together 528 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:51,760 and had all things in common, and they were selling their 529 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,360 possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all 530 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:58,480 as any had need. And day by day, attending the 531 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,760 temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they 532 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,640 receive their food with glad and generous hearts. 533 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,040 Now they say that if something matters to you, it'll be 534 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,000 reflected in two places. It'll be reflected in your 535 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,800 calendar and in your checkbook. Well, this was certainly the 536 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:19,120 case here in Acts 2. The early church was constantly 537 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,720 together and they were sharing their resources, sharing meals 538 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:26,200 and bread, their possessions, money, whatever it was. 539 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:27,880 They were helping each other out. 540 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,240 When I think about the early church sharing their resources, 541 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,320 I'm reminded of the earliest days of our marriage. 542 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:42,000 We were young, broke, living in a 500 square foot apartment on 543 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,000 campus at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. 544 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,320 I was working part time for our church and Louvian was working 545 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:56,720 for the preschool program that was there at the seminary, and 546 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:02,200 the engine on my car seized up, broke. 547 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:07,200 We didn't have the money to get it fixed to replace it. 548 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:15,200 One Sunday morning after rehearsal, the worship team, we 549 00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:20,680 were gathered together to pray and the worship team pulls out a 550 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,520 check, presents a check to us completely out of nowhere. 551 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:31,520 We had never expected anything. A very substantial check which 552 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:36,920 more than covered the cost to purchase a new engine and then 553 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:41,760 they'd already work things out for my brother to install that 554 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:49,160 new engine free of charge. That is the body of Christ 555 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:55,040 sharing together, doing what what God intended. 556 00:37:55,280 --> 00:38:00,240 If you have a need coming alongside helping others out, 557 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,240 that's what they that's the type of thing that they were doing 558 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:07,960 here in the early church in Acts 2. 559 00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:12,920 So when we think about the fact that these early Christians were 560 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,880 continually meeting together at the temple and they were sharing 561 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:18,640 meals together in their homes, it's apparent that they were 562 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,040 committed to both public and private worship. 563 00:38:23,240 --> 00:38:26,880 They were engaged in both public and private worship time at the 564 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:32,080 temple, of course, was their public worship, but that wasn't 565 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:36,600 the sum total of their life, Their Christian walk, right? 566 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:45,160 They weren't just Sunday morning Christians, as it can be so easy 567 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:49,040 for us to do. Oh, I go to church on Sunday. 568 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:54,640 I check that box and forget about God the rest of the week. 569 00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:01,480 That's not God's desire. God's desire is to see not only 570 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,880 public worship, our corporate worship together, but also 571 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:09,400 private worship, our times with Him personally, in our personal 572 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,480 devotions, our times with the body of Christ, whether it's 573 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,480 gathered around a meal or serving in other places. 574 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,360 Whatever the case may be, making sure and being diligent to 575 00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:25,160 engage in private worship. Our public worship cannot be the 576 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:28,840 sum total of our Christian walk in life. 577 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:38,200 No, our public worship needs to be fueled by our private 578 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,320 worship. I have great times of worship 579 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:48,160 publicly because I'm being diligence to spend time daily 580 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:54,520 with God in private worship. So that's what the early church 581 00:39:55,280 --> 00:40:00,560 was engaged in, and that God had done an amazing work in their 582 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:04,080 hearts was evident as they received their food with glad 583 00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:08,480 and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all 584 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:13,520 the people. The late author and theologian 585 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:18,040 Brennan Manning said this. The greatest single cause of 586 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:23,160 atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus 587 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:27,560 with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him. 588 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,280 By their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving 589 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:38,320 world simply finds unbelievable. When we don't live as the 590 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:46,200 church, then people will want nothing to do with the church. 591 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:57,080 But when we live as the church, when we live as the way that God 592 00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:06,400 intended, it's compelling, it's contagious, and it draws the 593 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:13,680 attention of those around us. God was daily adding to their 594 00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:18,680 number as people chose to follow Jesus and lived as the body of 595 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:23,840 Christ. How wonderful it was and is for 596 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:27,520 us to be part of a fellowship of believers and live in community 597 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:31,480 together. This is church. 598 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:38,800 We do community together. We do life together, all growing 599 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:42,520 as Christians on this journey of discipleship. 600 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,560 Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. 601 00:41:55,160 --> 00:42:02,400 Here in this moment, let's let's have a minute to simply look 602 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:11,120 inwards for a second and to see what specific takeaways God 603 00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:14,480 would have for you. Do not try to go out and apply 604 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:19,960 every single thing, But is there one specific thing that God has 605 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:24,040 laid on your heart this morning? Hey, I need to grow in this 606 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:31,240 area. Let's examine our hearts for a 607 00:42:31,240 --> 00:43:03,680 moment. God, we thank you. 608 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:10,480 We thank you be that because of what happened on the Day of 609 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:16,760 Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down to permanently indwell 610 00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:23,560 Christ Followers, we thank you that now we have your presence 611 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:30,480 within us. May we always be diligent to 612 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:34,720 walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, moving and working in 613 00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:41,160 US. Engaged with with your teaching. 614 00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:46,080 Engaged with fellowship with the body, Engaged with breaking of 615 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:49,360 bread and remembering your sacrifice on the cross. 616 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:56,280 Engaged with prayer, strengthening our relationship 617 00:43:56,280 --> 00:44:04,000 with you, Holy Spirit. Would you just continue to move 618 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:12,880 in each of us, grow us in our faith, and may we be diligence 619 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:19,080 because of your grace. May we be diligent to to walk 620 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,400 out this faith in a way that is compelling to the world. 621 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:28,920 So we surrender these things to you. 622 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,200 It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.