Shownotes
The early believers DEVOTED themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and to community. Listen as Pastor Kevin shares how that was uncommon, why it’s important, and what it means for us today.
Scriptures Referenced
John 12:32; Acts 1:8, 2:42-47; Hebrews 4:12, 10:24-25; James 1:8
About Springhouse
If you’re looking for a church in Smyrna, TN that is focused on Loving Big, Living Truth, and Healthy Family, we’d love to connect with you. We are home to a vibrant children’s ministry, powerful middle school and youth ministries, and incredible ministries for men and women of all ages. Our local and global outreaches include partnerships with missionaries in the US and abroad, Isaiah 117 House, local retirement communities, and more.
Additionally, we are home to Springhouse Theatre, an award-winning theatre in the Nashville area. Through the theatre, we serve both the greater Nashville theatre community, and thousands of patrons each year, and we are expanding our vision to impact the culture through the arts into additional mediums and through an expanding network of relationships.
We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.
Additional Resources
- Follow the podcast to listen on the go
- Tithes & Offerings
- Join our livestream
- Church website
- Download the church app
Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 10:30 AM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
(upbeat music)
Speaker:- Well, good morning, Springhouse.
Speaker:It's a good morning.
Speaker:There's a lot of mothers here.
Speaker:Happy Mother's Day for the third,
Speaker:fourth, eighth time this morning.
Speaker:But wait, we can't celebrate moms enough.
Speaker:Is that true?
Speaker:That's very true.
Speaker:I am so grateful for the gift of moms.
Speaker:Welcome this morning.
Speaker:If you're joining us on live stream,
Speaker:thanks for joining us as well.
Speaker:A couple of announcements before we get rolling here.
Speaker:And rolling, I'm going to get going
Speaker:because I've got a lot to share this morning.
Speaker:So, first of all, this is actually for the men.
Speaker:Father's Day is not today,
Speaker:and we're not celebrating you today, dads.
Speaker:But June 15th is Father's Day weekend,
Speaker:and we're going white water rafting.
Speaker:And if you'd like to be a part of that,
Speaker:I need you to register in the app.
Speaker:We are only going to take the certain allotted amount
Speaker:that we have registered for this year.
Speaker:So be sure to register.
Speaker:This is for fathers and sons,
Speaker:but you only have to be a son to go, age 14 and up, okay?
Speaker:And then next week, Father Ray Cash is gonna be with us.
Speaker:Father Ray Cash will be with us.
Speaker:He is a faithful friend of Pastor Ronnie's
Speaker:for a very long time.
Speaker:And I heard Father Ray teach for the first time
Speaker:actually at Pastor Ronnie's retirement service.
Speaker:And one of the things that I appreciated about Father Ray
Speaker:when he brought the word that morning
Speaker:is that service that we had to honor Pastor Ronnie,
Speaker:during his retirement service,
Speaker:was really to honor Pastor Ronnie.
Speaker:But when Father Ray came, he really gave a message
Speaker:and he pointed it to the Lord.
Speaker:He pointed it to Jesus.
Speaker:And I was real excited to hear the words that he shared.
Speaker:And so I've been wanting him to come ever since then.
Speaker:That was over three years ago.
Speaker:And so next Sunday, he's gonna come and be with us.
Speaker:And I believe that he has a word from the Lord for us, okay?
Speaker:So be prepared for that and come and be a part of that.
Speaker:And then lastly, some of you know John O'Dea,
Speaker:but John O'Dea went home to be with the Lord this week.
Speaker:John is my uncle, it's Mary, Mary Weathers' father.
Speaker:And we're gonna have a celebration of life service here
Speaker:on Wednesday night at five o'clock.
Speaker:So if you have capacity in your schedule
Speaker:to come and be a part of that,
Speaker:we invite you to come and be a part of that.
Speaker:Pray for the Mary Weathers and the O'Dea family
Speaker:as people are traveling in and we prepare for that, okay?
Speaker:Sound good?
Speaker:All right, we're gonna continue in our series, his church,
Speaker:and we're gonna read the scripture
Speaker:and then I'm gonna kinda set you guys up
Speaker:for what we're gonna be doing for actually
Speaker:between now and June.
Speaker:So would you stand with me?
Speaker:And let's read from the book of Acts chapter two.
Speaker:"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching
Speaker:"and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Speaker:"Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders
Speaker:"and signs performed by the apostles.
Speaker:"All the believers were together
Speaker:"and had everything in common.
Speaker:"They sold property and possessions
Speaker:"to give to anyone who had need.
Speaker:"Every day they continued to meet together
Speaker:"in the temple courts.
Speaker:"They broke bread in their homes
Speaker:"and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
Speaker:"praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
Speaker:"And the Lord added to their number daily
Speaker:"those who are being saved."
Speaker:Father, I thank you for the transformative power
Speaker:of your word.
Speaker:I pray, Lord, that it would work in us today.
Speaker:I pray, Lord, that my meaningless stuff
Speaker:would fall to the ground and be forgotten,
Speaker:but everything you have for us would change us for eternity.
Speaker:We love you today.
Speaker:In Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Speaker:You may be seated.
Speaker:So I mentioned that Father Ray Cash is coming next week.
Speaker:We have been in this series, His Church,
Speaker:for a few weeks now,
Speaker:and we have looked at the history of the church.
Speaker:We've been looking, Pastor Justin talked about the church,
Speaker:the church, and the church, and we talked about that.
Speaker:We talked about the purpose of the church.
Speaker:Last week, Pastor Ronnie brought the mission of the church.
Speaker:Who is the mission of the church?
Speaker:You are, you're the mission of the church.
Speaker:And so we've been laying a foundation,
Speaker:but if you're anything like me,
Speaker:and I've been kind of dubbed the object lesson pastor
Speaker:here at Springhouse,
Speaker:if you're anything like me, I need a model.
Speaker:I need to see it kind of working out.
Speaker:I need to see it fleshed out.
Speaker:And guess what?
Speaker:He doesn't leave us high and dry.
Speaker:He gives us a model on how the church should operate
Speaker:and should look like, and it's here in Acts chapter two.
Speaker:And so over the next several weeks,
Speaker:between now and the end of June,
Speaker:we're actually gonna break this scripture down
Speaker:piece by piece, and we're gonna go through
Speaker:what it looked like in the early church,
Speaker:and we're gonna see what God would have for us today
Speaker:in his word through what is modeled
Speaker:in the early church in Acts chapter two.
Speaker:Now, I asked Father Ray to come and speak
Speaker:before I laid out this part of the sermon schedule.
Speaker:And so here's what's gonna happen.
Speaker:Originally, the process was going to be,
Speaker:I was gonna talk today about the apostles' teaching,
Speaker:and then next week, we're gonna talk about community,
Speaker:and the next week, talk about prayer.
Speaker:But Father Ray already has a word
Speaker:that I believe is an on-time word
Speaker:for our church for next week.
Speaker:So today, I'm gonna talk about the apostles' teaching
Speaker:and community, we're gonna hear from Father Ray
Speaker:the next week, and then the next week,
Speaker:we're gonna pick up with prayer and move forward.
Speaker:You got it?
Speaker:Okay, so that's what's going on,
Speaker:and so I'm gonna get on my horse and ride today,
Speaker:and I'm excited about what I believe the Lord has for us.
Speaker:My earliest church experience,
Speaker:my earliest church experience is actually
Speaker:when I was three years old.
Speaker:I lived in Hawaii.
Speaker:My brother, Joey, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Speaker:We lived on a base there,
Speaker:and my earliest church experience really
Speaker:was living on that base,
Speaker:because there was this bus ministry,
Speaker:this church bus ministry that came around
Speaker:and picked up people for church.
Speaker:Now, I was only three years old,
Speaker:and I saw this bright yellow bus,
Speaker:and I wanted to get on this bus and go to church.
Speaker:And of course, being three years old,
Speaker:my mom's kinda like, "I don't know about this.
Speaker:"I'm not gonna send my three-year-old
Speaker:"on the church bus to go to church."
Speaker:And so I was kinda, I believe I was kinda distraught
Speaker:and upset about that.
Speaker:Well, the next week comes along,
Speaker:and the bus comes, and the guy's got candy corn,
Speaker:and he begins to hand me candy corn,
Speaker:and I was in probably a pull-up,
Speaker:and my mom says a long, like a long t-shirt.
Speaker:I got on the bus, and I went to church.
Speaker:I went to church.
Speaker:I remember going to church.
Speaker:I remember sitting there in the back,
Speaker:and I remember being, at this point,
Speaker:of course, my mind has been developed,
Speaker:I was the only Caucasian in this place,
Speaker:and it was a happening church.
Speaker:I'm telling you, they were dancing and singing
Speaker:and praising the Lord, and I was just sitting in the back,
Speaker:just so happy, eating my candy corn, one at a time,
Speaker:just throwing back candy corn.
Speaker:And so I got back on the bus, got home,
Speaker:and guess who was waiting for me when I got off the bus?
Speaker:My mama, okay?
Speaker:You think my mama was happy that I got on the bus?
Speaker:I don't think so.
Speaker:How many of you all would've been kinda scared
Speaker:if your three-year-old disappeared
Speaker:for a couple hours on Sunday morning?
Speaker:At least I was going to the house of the Lord, okay?
Speaker:At least that's where I was.
Speaker:And I kinda believe it was prophetic in some way,
Speaker:because my wife and I run a school,
Speaker:and so there's the school bus.
Speaker:I feel like I've been devoted to the church
Speaker:since that age, and I like candy.
Speaker:So I mean, you can't go around.
Speaker:It's prophetic across the board.
Speaker:That's my earliest church experience,
Speaker:and I believe that for a majority of my life,
Speaker:I have been devoted to the church.
Speaker:The scripture that we read today,
Speaker:the Bible tells us that the early Christians,
Speaker:the disciples and the first group
Speaker:that would identify themselves as Christians,
Speaker:they were devoted, they devoted themselves, devoted.
Speaker:You know, we live in a culture that is anti-committal.
Speaker:We live in a culture, in a society, in a day and time,
Speaker:where yes doesn't necessarily mean yes, yes means maybe.
Speaker:Yes means, eh, I'm gonna tell you yes,
Speaker:I'm gonna let you plan for my yes,
Speaker:but whether I show up
Speaker:and whether I do what I said I'm gonna do,
Speaker:that's up for grabs.
Speaker:I may do it, I may not do it.
Speaker:We just live in a saturated society
Speaker:where our word isn't really our word,
Speaker:and that's a problem.
Speaker:That's a big problem.
Speaker:Aren't you glad that Jesus didn't roll like that,
Speaker:that you can only sorta believe what Jesus said,
Speaker:that he was fickle with his words?
Speaker:No, no, Jesus was very plain with what he said,
Speaker:and everything Jesus says comes to pass.
Speaker:But we live in this culture that says
Speaker:don't worry about actually doing
Speaker:what you say you're going to do.
Speaker:We often will devote ourselves
Speaker:to things that bring temporary pleasure but long-term pain.
Speaker:We will devote ourselves to temporary pleasure
Speaker:but things that bring long-term pain.
Speaker:Being devoted simply means to be loving, loyal,
Speaker:and faithful to something or someone.
Speaker:And of all the people groups on the planet
Speaker:that I can think of that carry and just rock devotion,
Speaker:and I know that there are some exceptions to this,
Speaker:but by and large the population on the planet
Speaker:who knows how to rock devotion is really moms.
Speaker:Moms know how to rock devotions.
Speaker:Moms are incredibly devoted individuals,
Speaker:incredibly, incredible devoted people
Speaker:when it comes to their children.
Speaker:Moms take care of their kids,
Speaker:and we have a lot of rock star moms here.
Speaker:This is my mom and my siblings,
Speaker:and my mom is an incredible mom.
Speaker:My mom is incredibly devoted.
Speaker:In fact, in this particular season of our life,
Speaker:my mom gets to serve over at the school
Speaker:with my brother and me,
Speaker:and I can just watch her as she's serving.
Speaker:You know what the fuel is
Speaker:that keeps her coming back to the school and serving?
Speaker:It's not the work that she does of her hands.
Speaker:It's not all of the things.
Speaker:She serves because, and she loves being there in the fuel,
Speaker:it's because we're there, and she wants to be with us.
Speaker:Moms are incredibly devoted.
Speaker:They are there when their kids need them.
Speaker:They're there in the midnight hour.
Speaker:They're there when a kid, their child breaks their arm.
Speaker:They're there when they need, when they fail,
Speaker:when they succeed, moms champion their kids.
Speaker:There's something special inside a mom
Speaker:where they package and embody devotion.
Speaker:Being devoted and having a devoted lifestyle
Speaker:conveys a sense of priority.
Speaker:It says you are a priority, or this thing is a priority.
Speaker:Let me ask you a question.
Speaker:What is your devotion to the Lord this morning?
Speaker:What type of priority have you placed in on your walk
Speaker:and in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?
Speaker:Is your relationship, is your devotion to the Lord
Speaker:a sometimes when I get around to it type of walk,
Speaker:type of faith, type of lifestyle?
Speaker:Or is it day in, day out, 24/7, he's a part of my life,
Speaker:he is my life, he is my everything?
Speaker:Listen, there are people who will talk to you
Speaker:in their free time, and then there are people
Speaker:who will clear their schedule to talk to you.
Speaker:Those are two different things.
Speaker:There are people who will talk to you in their free time,
Speaker:and then there are people who will free their time
Speaker:to talk to you.
Speaker:Those are two different things,
Speaker:and one of those populations speaks to devotion.
Speaker:If you are devoted to someone, then you will move things.
Speaker:You know, I've got a friend right now in my life
Speaker:that I just literally, in preparing this message,
Speaker:it just kinda dawned on me,
Speaker:he's kinda moving mountains all the time
Speaker:to come and be with me when I need somebody,
Speaker:and I'm just like, man, Lord, help me to recognize
Speaker:and appreciate that so much, so much more.
Speaker:I have people in my life who are devoted to me.
Speaker:You have people in your life who are devoted to you,
Speaker:who are devoted to you.
Speaker:My mom is devoted to us kids, that's,
Speaker:I get my siblings there, and you know,
Speaker:we kids are devoted to our parents sometimes, aren't we?
Speaker:Right, just sometimes, you know,
Speaker:one of the things that, my mom loves the cicadas.
Speaker:I'm being sarcastic.
Speaker:My mom actually hates the cicada.
Speaker:In fact, the first time that they came,
Speaker:I remember I went to their house at the time,
Speaker:and the cicadas were here.
Speaker:My mom didn't wanna go outside.
Speaker:She just was not about to go outside
Speaker:with all of the flying cicadas and everything,
Speaker:but you know, when she had to go to her car,
Speaker:my brother and I repaid her loving, caring devotion
Speaker:by when she going to the car, we would grab the trees,
Speaker:and we would shake them as hard as we can,
Speaker:and the cicadas would fly all over her,
Speaker:and she would scream and be so excited.
Speaker:Mom, we should try that again today.
Speaker:Coming over to the house, we'll come over,
Speaker:we'll shake the trees and let the cicadas fly.
Speaker:Somebody actually grabbed the cicada this week,
Speaker:put honey on it and ate it and said this,
Speaker:I'm John the Baptist, and I said, no, that is not a locust.
Speaker:It's a cicada, you know, don't eat cicadas, guys.
Speaker:They're not good for you.
Speaker:But moms are extremely devoted,
Speaker:and I would even go as far to say
Speaker:that mothers are devoted despite how you treat them.
Speaker:And what a model of our Christ, Jesus, our Savior,
Speaker:how devoted He is to us despite our devotion to Him.
Speaker:He is extremely devoted to us to the point of death,
Speaker:to the point of death.
Speaker:Moms are extremely devoted people.
Speaker:I remember when I was seven or eight years old,
Speaker:I was at the swimming pool, and all of my friends
Speaker:were dumping into the deep end of the pool,
Speaker:and I wanted to also jump into the deep end of the pool,
Speaker:and so I get out there to the edge,
Speaker:and I was like one, two, three, four, five, six,
Speaker:and I would go back and forth to the edge of the pool,
Speaker:and I would get ready to jump,
Speaker:and I so wanted to start to jump in,
Speaker:and one of those times after about 30 minutes
Speaker:probably of trying, going back and forth,
Speaker:chickening out, I went one, two,
Speaker:and my mom shoved me into the pool.
Speaker:My mom was devoted to teaching me,
Speaker:letting me experience things,
Speaker:and so I would experience it,
Speaker:and guess what happened when I got out of the pool?
Speaker:I got out, and I was able to jump in.
Speaker:I was able to jump in.
Speaker:Moms have a way of knowing what you need, right?
Speaker:They are devoted, and so these apostles,
Speaker:these disciples, these followers of Christ,
Speaker:it says they devoted themselves, they devoted themselves,
Speaker:they were loyal to, they were faithful to themselves
Speaker:to the apostles' teaching, to the apostles' teaching.
Speaker:Have you ever had a good teacher in your life?
Speaker:Who's had a good teacher in your life?
Speaker:Yeah, teachers really make impacts on our lives.
Speaker:You know, I had teachers, my favorite teachers
Speaker:when I was in school, my favorite teachers
Speaker:were the ones who didn't make us do any homework,
Speaker:who didn't make us do any work,
Speaker:who let us just talk in class
Speaker:and do whatever we wanted to do,
Speaker:but you know, as I lived my life and I go forward,
Speaker:I realized that none of those people
Speaker:actually cared about me.
Speaker:They allowed me to lean into my temporary pleasure,
Speaker:but they caused for me a longevity of ignorance and pain,
Speaker:but the teacher that I respect, Miss Smith,
Speaker:Miss Coble, who's back there in the back,
Speaker:Bruce and Jill Coble are here today with us,
Speaker:Miss Coble was my teacher, there are teachers in my life
Speaker:who were not going to let me get away with anything,
Speaker:isn't that right, Miss Coble?
Speaker:Wasn't gonna let me get away with a thing.
Speaker:No matter how much I sweet-talked them,
Speaker:no matter how much presence I gave,
Speaker:it doesn't matter how cute I was,
Speaker:you're not getting away with this,
Speaker:you're gonna be held accountable for the expectation.
Speaker:I remember my senior English teacher,
Speaker:she would come around, there's a story she tells
Speaker:at the beginning of the year,
Speaker:I don't have time to share it,
Speaker:but she has this basket of lifesavers
Speaker:and she would pass them around
Speaker:whenever we were having a hard day,
Speaker:but I tell you that midterm paper came around,
Speaker:I was having a rough season, a rough patch,
Speaker:and she came around with that lifesaver and she said,
Speaker:"Get as many of those as you need
Speaker:"'cause you're gonna turn in this paper
Speaker:"and it's gonna be on time."
Speaker:She held me to the fire, but you know all these days,
Speaker:all these years later, I look back and I realize,
Speaker:that teacher cared about me, that teacher loved me,
Speaker:that teacher was devoted to me, she was devoted to me.
Speaker:Sometimes we would rather be entertained than grow.
Speaker:Sometimes we would rather come in to the church
Speaker:and listen to a teacher who will entertain us
Speaker:with their big time personality than to be challenged
Speaker:to grow and become more like Jesus Christ.
Speaker:And I wanna tell you today that if you are here
Speaker:and all you do on Sunday morning here at Springhouse
Speaker:is that you're entertained, I wanna tell you
Speaker:as the lead pastor, I want you to go find another church.
Speaker:I want you to go find another church
Speaker:if all your being is entertained because,
Speaker:guys, I care about your soul and I care about your heart
Speaker:and here's not the place to be entertained.
Speaker:Here's the place to exalt Jesus Christ
Speaker:and become more like him and to become more like him.
Speaker:And so the apostles, whenever they committed themselves,
Speaker:they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching,
Speaker:the conveying of the word, the instruction of the word,
Speaker:they conferred an authority to the apostles
Speaker:and they submitted themselves to the apostles' word.
Speaker:They showed up and they engaged.
Speaker:They showed up and engaged and in addition to that,
Speaker:they understood that they were never finished learning.
Speaker:Guys, you are never finished learning.
Speaker:You're never finished learning.
Speaker:Ronnie, Pastor Ronnie, one time I was scheduled to speak,
Speaker:this was many, many, many years ago,
Speaker:I was scheduled to speak out here
Speaker:and I just started reading a book
Speaker:and I finished the book prior to speaking
Speaker:and it was a great, great read.
Speaker:It was a Christian book and man,
Speaker:it was talking all types of things
Speaker:to get me hyped up about the things of the Lord
Speaker:and I wanted the church to be set on fire for this book
Speaker:and so I gave this entire message and I was excited
Speaker:and I was enthusiastic and everyone was responding
Speaker:kind of about how you guys are responding to me right now,
Speaker:just crickets, you know,
Speaker:and I was kind of discouraged and distraught
Speaker:and so that week, Pastor Ronnie,
Speaker:you know I learned with object lessons,
Speaker:so Pastor Ronnie pulled me in the backpack here
Speaker:and he grabbed a sheet of paper and a lighter
Speaker:and he grabbed a log and he took the lighter
Speaker:and he lit the piece of paper and it went up in flames
Speaker:and then he took the lighter and he held it to the log
Speaker:and he talked to me as he was holding the fire to the log
Speaker:and he said, "How quickly did that paper disappear
Speaker:"when I lit it on fire?"
Speaker:And I said, "Well, of course, it was immediate.
Speaker:"It went real fast."
Speaker:And he said, "And how quick do you think this log
Speaker:"is gonna dissipate whenever I hold this fire?"
Speaker:I said, "Well, it's gonna take a while."
Speaker:And I said, "It's gonna probably burn for a long, long time."
Speaker:And he said, "There are going to be many fads.
Speaker:"There are gonna be many books.
Speaker:"There are gonna be many billboards.
Speaker:"There are gonna be a lot of flash and bang out there
Speaker:"that you can grab a hold to,
Speaker:"but when you are leading people,
Speaker:"never negate the power of a nudge.
Speaker:"Never negate the power of a nudge."
Speaker:And it was transformative in my life
Speaker:and you guys are benefactors of that object lesson
Speaker:because I realize that it is more important
Speaker:with a group this size at all different points
Speaker:in their journey that we nudge along toward Christ,
Speaker:that we nudge along becoming more and more like him,
Speaker:then we try to get somebody to jump over
Speaker:all of the things that they need to grow from
Speaker:because when you get over here,
Speaker:you don't know how to handle yourself
Speaker:and you end up retreating back
Speaker:to all of the things that you missed.
Speaker:So there is power in nudging along.
Speaker:I'm still learning.
Speaker:Guys, I'm learning from you.
Speaker:I have sat in your youth pastor's youth group
Speaker:for the last four months and I have listened to him speak.
Speaker:James Jansen is a phenomenal, phenomenal preacher.
Speaker:He's a phenomenal teacher
Speaker:and over the last two times I was there,
Speaker:the Holy Spirit was so good in his teaching
Speaker:that I was weeping, I was crying in the message
Speaker:because the Lord was speaking to me.
Speaker:He was teaching me from what this man is saying.
Speaker:There have been encounters that I've had in the hallway,
Speaker:in the corridors with you where you will say something
Speaker:and the Lord is teaching me, he's sharpening me.
Speaker:Guys, nobody is exempt from learning.
Speaker:You are never done learning.
Speaker:Iron is sharpening iron.
Speaker:When we come into this place,
Speaker:when we're in our relationships with one another,
Speaker:we should be growing to become more and more
Speaker:and more like Jesus, like Jesus.
Speaker:I cannot stand when people have said,
Speaker:people have, in the last three months,
Speaker:somebody said this to me, I've read the Bible.
Speaker:I've read the Bible.
Speaker:I know it back in front.
Speaker:I just, I don't know why God's not working in my life.
Speaker:I've read the Bible, I've done the stuff.
Speaker:Can you recommend a book?
Speaker:(congregation laughing)
Speaker:You are never finished reading the Bible.
Speaker:You are never finished reading the Bible.
Speaker:Guys, the word tells us in Hebrews,
Speaker:the word of God is active and alive.
Speaker:It's alive and active.
Speaker:It's sharper than any double-edged sword.
Speaker:That means that I can read a passage a thousand times
Speaker:and the Holy Spirit speak to me a thousand different ways.
Speaker:It is alive and active.
Speaker:This book is the book of life.
Speaker:It is the foundation of our lives.
Speaker:We stand on this truth.
Speaker:This is how we know the very God that we proclaim
Speaker:in the streets and in our lives and how we live.
Speaker:It is because of the knowledge of his word.
Speaker:Guys, can I just add to that for just a second?
Speaker:I think I said this earlier,
Speaker:but the sufficiency of the blood of Christ
Speaker:needs nothing added to it.
Speaker:The sufficiency of the blood of Christ
Speaker:that covers you and gives you the remission of your sins,
Speaker:it needs nothing added to it.
Speaker:We have the word of God.
Speaker:We've been given the word of God, what a gift.
Speaker:And the people of God in Acts
Speaker:were connected around the word of God.
Speaker:The people of God were connected around the word of God.
Speaker:When we gather here and whenever we are in our life
Speaker:walking this journey out with each other,
Speaker:we should be connected by the word and the truth of God.
Speaker:The center of our relationship should be founded on him.
Speaker:We should be spurring one another on in the Lord.
Speaker:You know, there's these big things happening right now
Speaker:in church world where churches are marketing
Speaker:to bring people into the church.
Speaker:I read a story, I heard a story this past week
Speaker:how a preacher had a bull ride
Speaker:in the middle of the sanctuary.
Speaker:It was a big day.
Speaker:They invited everybody to come and he got on the bull
Speaker:and he rode the bull until he fell off
Speaker:and then probably knocked some sense into his head
Speaker:when he fell off and then he came up
Speaker:and he preached the message.
Speaker:And it was all to get a draw
Speaker:for people to come into the church.
Speaker:Now I'm gonna tell you, I don't mind doing special events.
Speaker:I think special things are fun and I think they're okay.
Speaker:But let me tell you what the Bible tells us
Speaker:in John chapter 12.
Speaker:If Christ be lifted up, he will draw all men to himself.
Speaker:We are not here to grow a big great church
Speaker:with a bunch of bodies.
Speaker:We are here to exalt Jesus Christ.
Speaker:We are here to exalt the savior of the world
Speaker:and he will do the work of drawing all people to himself.
Speaker:There was another church that I read about
Speaker:and the church was in massive decline.
Speaker:It was dying.
Speaker:It was just a rapid decline.
Speaker:And so the pastor put up all around town
Speaker:that he said a flyer that says the church is dying
Speaker:and we're gonna have a funeral for the church.
Speaker:We want you to come next Sunday.
Speaker:There's gonna be a church funeral
Speaker:because the church is dying.
Speaker:And so they put all the flyers out.
Speaker:Do you know that Sunday the church was packed.
Speaker:The church was packed out.
Speaker:They didn't have any seats left
Speaker:because everybody was there for the funeral
Speaker:of the church that was dying.
Speaker:And so they had a casket there in the church
Speaker:and they had flowers on it and all of this stuff.
Speaker:They did the whole thing.
Speaker:And he opened the casket and he said,
Speaker:"I want everybody to come down to the casket
Speaker:and I want you to pay your respects to this dying church
Speaker:that we are here to celebrate
Speaker:and to recognize the death of the church."
Speaker:And so everybody started to get up
Speaker:and as they came to the coffin and looked inside the coffin,
Speaker:they were embarrassed and they were uneasy
Speaker:as they walked away.
Speaker:Because inside the coffin,
Speaker:mounted up on a slant, was a mirror
Speaker:and a sign that read, "The church is dead because of this."
Speaker:The church is dead because of this.
Speaker:Guys, the church is not a program.
Speaker:It's not the building.
Speaker:We are the church.
Speaker:We are the church.
Speaker:The life of the church is in our interaction
Speaker:and who we put at the center of our interaction.
Speaker:And the center of our interaction should be Jesus Christ.
Speaker:At the center of what we are doing
Speaker:and what we're about should be Jesus Christ.
Speaker:And if he's not the center, then certainly the church,
Speaker:well, you might have a good rally or a good time together,
Speaker:but you're certainly not growing in the Lord.
Speaker:We want to be about exalting Jesus Christ.
Speaker:Here's the thing, the early church, the disciples,
Speaker:the followers, the Christians at the time,
Speaker:there was a hunger.
Speaker:And I believe that hunger is the currency of the kingdom.
Speaker:Hunger is the currency of the kingdom.
Speaker:What are you hungry for?
Speaker:Who are you hungry for?
Speaker:What is your spiritual diet?
Speaker:What are you feasting off of?
Speaker:Are you only eating 30 minutes a week on Sunday morning
Speaker:and allowing that to sustain your spiritual journey
Speaker:until you come back here the next week?
Speaker:That's not enough.
Speaker:That's not enough.
Speaker:The disciples, the Christians,
Speaker:they were hungry for his presence.
Speaker:They were hungry for his word.
Speaker:They were hungry for deep relationship and connection.
Speaker:And I believe that at times, friends,
Speaker:that we can curb our hunger with counterfeit food
Speaker:that leaves us spiritually malnourished.
Speaker:We begin to feed ourselves things that are not of the Lord,
Speaker:that are of the world.
Speaker:We begin to put the church in the context
Speaker:and we view it through the world's lens.
Speaker:And we begin to pick up junk food.
Speaker:We're on a Lay's potato chip diet.
Speaker:I need somebody to get me some broccoli
Speaker:and some Brussels sprouts spiritually.
Speaker:I need somebody to be dishing to me some things
Speaker:that will help me grow and help me develop in the Lord,
Speaker:that will help me grow to be more like him.
Speaker:But boys, those Lay's potato chips taste so good.
Speaker:Lay's potato chips taste good for a moment,
Speaker:but you're gonna feel it later.
Speaker:You're gonna feel it later.
Speaker:We want to be a church that is mature.
Speaker:We wanna be a church that graduates
Speaker:from drinking milk to eating meat.
Speaker:To really diving into the deep truths of our God.
Speaker:So they weren't attached, the disciples,
Speaker:the Christians in the early church,
Speaker:they were not attached to personalities
Speaker:or platforms or performances.
Speaker:They were hungry for the word.
Speaker:They were hungry for the word
Speaker:and they showed up for church.
Speaker:They showed up and they engaged.
Speaker:Can I tell you guys, showing up for church is not a chore,
Speaker:it's a privilege.
Speaker:Showing up on Sunday morning, it should not be a chore,
Speaker:it should be a privilege.
Speaker:Now some of you made your mama
Speaker:feel like it was a chore this morning.
Speaker:(congregation murmurs)
Speaker:But can I tell you something?
Speaker:For the moms who are believers here,
Speaker:some of you are here for the very first time
Speaker:or very first time in a long time.
Speaker:Can I tell you that there is no greater gift
Speaker:that you could give your mama
Speaker:than to show up to church next week?
Speaker:Show up to church the next week?
Speaker:Because there are a lot of mamas who have been praying
Speaker:for their kids, asking the Lord to reveal himself
Speaker:in a very, very powerful, real, extraordinary way
Speaker:so that your life can be transformed.
Speaker:And so if Mother's Day is a reason to get you to come,
Speaker:then to your mama, so be it.
Speaker:She's trusting the Holy Spirit to minister to you.
Speaker:Showing up for church is not a chore, it's a privilege.
Speaker:Hebrews 10, 24 says this,
Speaker:"Let us consider how we may spur one another on
Speaker:"toward love and good deeds,
Speaker:"not giving up meeting together
Speaker:"as some are in the habit of doing,
Speaker:"but encouraging one another.
Speaker:"And all the more as you see the day approaching."
Speaker:And guys, I believe that the day is approaching.
Speaker:It is coming sooner and sooner, every hour.
Speaker:After we leave here and we go to lunch,
Speaker:we are that much closer to Jesus Christ splitting the sky.
Speaker:Glory, hallelujah, I cannot wait for him to split this sky.
Speaker:Guys, I want to be yoked with people who are like-minded.
Speaker:I wanna be yoked with believers who want to spur me on
Speaker:and are spurred on in growing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker:My family and I, when we plan a vacation,
Speaker:we don't miss Sundays.
Speaker:Now, that's not a pat on our back like,
Speaker:"Oh, go O'Deas, you don't miss Sundays."
Speaker:You know, attendance record, no.
Speaker:I cannot stand missing being in the presence
Speaker:of God with you all.
Speaker:I cannot stand it.
Speaker:I just, it is more desirous for me to be here
Speaker:on a Sunday morning with you
Speaker:than to be on a beach in Florida.
Speaker:To be at Disney, to be at a theme park.
Speaker:I want to be here and if for some reason we're not here,
Speaker:I guarantee you that we are in a church somewhere
Speaker:yoking with other believers and worshiping the Lord.
Speaker:I don't wanna miss out.
Speaker:I'm devoted to the Lord.
Speaker:I am devoted to church, I'm devoted.
Speaker:I want to be in the presence of the Lord.
Speaker:And I want to be worshiping the Lord.
Speaker:So, what is the litmus test for a sound teacher?
Speaker:I think this is important because if it's modeled
Speaker:that we engage and we show up to hear people teach the word,
Speaker:we need to know that what we're getting is right and true.
Speaker:So here's the litmus test.
Speaker:Number one, does it line up with God's word?
Speaker:Does it line up with God?
Speaker:Anything that comes from this platform,
Speaker:it should be lining up with the word of God.
Speaker:That is the place, that's the foundation.
Speaker:Now guess what?
Speaker:You don't know if it lines up with the word of God
Speaker:if you're not in the word of God, right?
Speaker:So you need an active relationship with the word.
Speaker:I don't wanna come up and give you mess
Speaker:and you not know it's mess, okay?
Speaker:It's gotta line up with God's word.
Speaker:Number two, are you challenged more
Speaker:than you are entertained?
Speaker:I mentioned this earlier.
Speaker:Are you challenged more than you're entertained?
Speaker:I'm so grateful that we have, not me,
Speaker:but we have some people on staff that can come up
Speaker:and really get us really laughing and growing
Speaker:and laughing and going and all that stuff.
Speaker:And they bring truth though.
Speaker:They bring it down to a point of truth.
Speaker:It's okay to have some levity.
Speaker:It's okay for us to interact in that way.
Speaker:But if you are leaving here more entertained
Speaker:than you are challenged, then there is a problem.
Speaker:Then there is a problem.
Speaker:We should be growing in our walk.
Speaker:We should be growing in the Lord.
Speaker:When you hear teaching, the last thing is,
Speaker:do you leave thinking about issues or thinking about Jesus?
Speaker:Do you leave thinking more about issues or Jesus?
Speaker:And as long as I'm in this position,
Speaker:I will not render this platform to somebody
Speaker:who wants to come out and talk all about issues.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Because Jesus Christ has the answer
Speaker:to every single issue you can bring to the stage.
Speaker:And if we will focus on him, he will fix all of it.
Speaker:He will save you from all of it.
Speaker:And so, does it line up with his word?
Speaker:Are you challenged or entertained?
Speaker:Which is it?
Speaker:And do you leave thinking about issues or Jesus?
Speaker:My prayer is that when you leave Springhouse each Sunday,
Speaker:you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good
Speaker:and that you think about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker:So the scripture continues.
Speaker:It says they devoted themselves to fellowship
Speaker:and the breaking of bread.
Speaker:Fellowship is actually becoming a antiquated word,
Speaker:like the fellowship hall, fellowship,
Speaker:I'm gonna fellowship, let's go fellowship together.
Speaker:But the meaning is still intact.
Speaker:I want you to understand that the fellowship
Speaker:of the believers back in the early church, guys,
Speaker:this was not normal.
Speaker:I want you to understand it was not a normal thing.
Speaker:Like we sometimes read it and we're like,
Speaker:okay, I can get behind it.
Speaker:They were getting together, they were going to church,
Speaker:basically listening to the apostles.
Speaker:They were getting together and hanging out together.
Speaker:They were breaking bread and they were praying, right?
Speaker:All of these things.
Speaker:I want you to understand culturally, this was not normal.
Speaker:Why would they write about it if it was normalized?
Speaker:That's like me going up to James this morning,
Speaker:say, hey, James, I woke up this morning, came to church.
Speaker:He'd be like, good story, great, appreciate it, yeah.
Speaker:Why would they write something that was normalized?
Speaker:They're writing to let us know the extraordinary things
Speaker:that they were doing.
Speaker:Being a Christian in the early church,
Speaker:there was no willy-nilly-ness about it
Speaker:because the minute they walked outside the doors,
Speaker:they were persecuted.
Speaker:The minute they walked out of the church door,
Speaker:they were persecuted and here's the thing,
Speaker:the things that they were learning inside the context
Speaker:of the church, inside the context from the apostles
Speaker:was how to react to the persecution
Speaker:that was about to happen and you know what it was?
Speaker:It wasn't get out your sword, it was turn the other cheek.
Speaker:It wasn't pull out your sword, it was love them anyway.
Speaker:It wasn't pull out your sword, it was forgive them.
Speaker:And it was an honor, it was a badge of honor
Speaker:to be persecuted for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker:I wonder how many of us have just willy-nilly
Speaker:gone about our faith because there's not any persecution
Speaker:in our life so it doesn't really matter.
Speaker:He gave his life.
Speaker:He gave his life for you to encounter a dying world
Speaker:and to convey and model to them
Speaker:a Christ-like mentality and action
Speaker:so that the Holy Spirit would have an agent
Speaker:and a platform to work in their life
Speaker:so that they could be grafted in for eternity as well.
Speaker:They devoted themselves to fellowship
Speaker:in the breaking of bread despite the persecution
Speaker:that was happening.
Speaker:Being a Christian, being a Christian,
Speaker:to be Christ-like was not something
Speaker:that you proudly proclaimed just so that you could get
Speaker:a pat on the back.
Speaker:It was to say I am other than the world.
Speaker:And it continues to be in a lot of areas
Speaker:counter-cultural today.
Speaker:This is Alice Cooper.
Speaker:You guys know this guy?
Speaker:He says this, "Drinking beer is easy,
Speaker:"trashing your hotel room is easy,
Speaker:"but being a Christian, that's a tough call.
Speaker:"That's a real rebellion."
Speaker:I'm here to tell you this morning
Speaker:that if you are a believer and you're actually living
Speaker:a lifestyle of Christianity in this world,
Speaker:you are a rebel.
Speaker:You are a rebel against the world,
Speaker:against the world's vices,
Speaker:against the world's direction.
Speaker:You are a rebel.
Speaker:And the world doesn't like it.
Speaker:The world doesn't like it,
Speaker:nor does the world know how to handle it
Speaker:because they want you to fight back
Speaker:with the way they fight you.
Speaker:And if you are a believer and you are living
Speaker:like the Lord tells you to live
Speaker:and you're following instructions here,
Speaker:come at me.
Speaker:Come at me the way that you'll come at me.
Speaker:And it is an honor for me to be persecuted
Speaker:for loving you like Christ loved you.
Speaker:So what'd you learn in church today?
Speaker:I learned I was a rebel.
Speaker:What we're really talking about is community.
Speaker:When they get together and they fellowship
Speaker:and they break bread,
Speaker:you're talking about community.
Speaker:Who is your community?
Speaker:Who are you in relationship with?
Speaker:Who are you walking with?
Speaker:You should never have to convince,
Speaker:listen, we should never have to convince
Speaker:the people of God that they need to gather together.
Speaker:God created us for relationship.
Speaker:God created you to be in relationship with people.
Speaker:I remember my friend Ryan Davis,
Speaker:I remember going to his house as a young adult
Speaker:for the very first time and I was new to,
Speaker:fairly new to the church and I went over there
Speaker:and I was just an insecure teen
Speaker:and I walked into his house and I didn't have any friends.
Speaker:And I remember walking in the house,
Speaker:there were about 25 guys there.
Speaker:And when I walked in, all of these guys went,
Speaker:"Kevin, it's good to see you."
Speaker:They all came up and gave me hugs and things like that.
Speaker:I remember that moment
Speaker:because I had never felt that way before.
Speaker:And if you are walking in community with believers
Speaker:who see Christ, then you will always be seen
Speaker:and you will be loved.
Speaker:You will be heard, you will have dignity conferred to you,
Speaker:not because they're so perfect, but because He's perfect
Speaker:and they complete and perfect through them.
Speaker:And so, we're not gonna like this next statement here,
Speaker:but God uses people to accomplish His plans.
Speaker:I'm talking about the person you don't like.
Speaker:I'm talking about that boss that gets on your nerves.
Speaker:I'm talking about that person that just you can't stand.
Speaker:I'm talking about the one who gossips about you.
Speaker:I'm talking about God uses people.
Speaker:Wait a minute, He doesn't just use Christians.
Speaker:Well, He sure used Pharaoh, didn't He?
Speaker:He will use people.
Speaker:You know, anybody in here like a planner?
Speaker:Who's like a good planner?
Speaker:Like you plan everything out and everything.
Speaker:I have grown to be a planner in my life.
Speaker:And in that, you know, you start to go and,
Speaker:is there anybody who can't stand planners
Speaker:like they get on your nerves 'cause they expose in you
Speaker:that you're not a good planner?
Speaker:Anybody?
Speaker:Can I tell you that God has probably put that planner
Speaker:in your life to grow you, to become better at that
Speaker:so that your yes can be yes and your no can be no?
Speaker:Listen, see, we have a tendency to shun the people
Speaker:who are put in our life that bring adversity
Speaker:instead of recognizing God may be bringing this adversity,
Speaker:allowing it to happen in our lives
Speaker:to illuminate something that makes us better,
Speaker:that causes us to rise up and become more like Christ.
Speaker:And especially if that somebody is somebody
Speaker:who actually loves you, surely God's put them in your life.
Speaker:What a different perspective.
Speaker:We try to kick, get out of my life.
Speaker:Stop illuminating my faults.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:God uses people to accomplish his plans
Speaker:and guys in the middle of that, people are people.
Speaker:And we know how to people really well.
Speaker:We are people, people, people.
Speaker:We tend to take this concept of fellowship and community
Speaker:and we view it through a worldly lens.
Speaker:In other words, God has created for us a kingdom
Speaker:where we can actually have God-given,
Speaker:God-centered relationships,
Speaker:meaningful relationships with one another.
Speaker:And what we do is we take our worldly lens
Speaker:and we put it on and we say,
Speaker:I'm gonna navigate this through the world's perspective.
Speaker:But can I tell you that the culture
Speaker:has so perverted relationship.
Speaker:The world has so got its claws in how community is done
Speaker:that if we're looking at it through a worldly lens,
Speaker:then we're not going to grow together
Speaker:the way that God intends us to grow.
Speaker:In fact, in fact, I would argue if we model community
Speaker:the way God intends us to model community,
Speaker:then the world will find that to be infectious
Speaker:and they will be drawn in.
Speaker:They will be drawn in.
Speaker:We belong to a kingdom
Speaker:and this kingdom is other than this world.
Speaker:We have a king and he loves you.
Speaker:He loves you and he's given us everything we need
Speaker:in terms of how to live our lives.
Speaker:And so you might have somebody in your life,
Speaker:if you have somebody in your life,
Speaker:you might have somebody in your life who is insecure.
Speaker:I can't stand their insecurity.
Speaker:I can't stand the way that they act.
Speaker:I can't stand how needy they are.
Speaker:Or maybe you have somebody in your life that's prideful.
Speaker:They don't ever ask for help.
Speaker:It just seems like every time I'm there,
Speaker:they just, they don't need help.
Speaker:They can do it all this stuff.
Speaker:Or maybe you have somebody that's self-centered
Speaker:and every action, everything that they choose to do
Speaker:on their day to day is really,
Speaker:they think of themselves first.
Speaker:Any of those things relate to anybody here?
Speaker:Here's what the God of the Bible would tell us to do
Speaker:in those situations.
Speaker:For the insecure person, he would say,
Speaker:love them above their insecurity.
Speaker:Love them above anything that they need.
Speaker:Show them that you're not going anywhere
Speaker:so that the Holy Spirit can get in
Speaker:and shore up that insecurity
Speaker:because you are modeling the love of Jesus Christ.
Speaker:For the prideful person who doesn't need any help,
Speaker:guess what, you show up joyfully and help
Speaker:no matter what they say.
Speaker:You continue to offer your help.
Speaker:You continue to show up.
Speaker:You continue to help.
Speaker:And whenever they don't thank you,
Speaker:whenever they look at you and say, I don't need it,
Speaker:when they get upset because you've offered your,
Speaker:you've offered your help or whatever,
Speaker:you continue to show up because the Bible says
Speaker:pride comes before the fall.
Speaker:And what's gonna happen is eventually they're gonna fall
Speaker:and guess who's gonna be there to catch them?
Speaker:You are.
Speaker:And whenever you catch them,
Speaker:you're not gonna be there to say, oh, I told you so,
Speaker:you should have let me help all along.
Speaker:No, you catch them and you don't even mention the fact
Speaker:that they were doing that themselves
Speaker:and you say, I love you so much,
Speaker:let me help you get up from this mess.
Speaker:But what if they continue to be prideful?
Speaker:Guess what, there's gonna be another fall for you to catch.
Speaker:What about that self-centered person who just,
Speaker:man, they just always,
Speaker:everything that they do in their life,
Speaker:it's like them first, it's them first, them first,
Speaker:then everybody else, them first,
Speaker:and it just seems like they're just so self-centered
Speaker:or whatnot.
Speaker:Love them above that.
Speaker:Let them know, most self-centered people
Speaker:who organize their entire life based on them,
Speaker:somebody's walked out on their life.
Speaker:Somebody has shaken the foundation,
Speaker:but you can continue to show up and be a constant.
Speaker:You can show up and love them through that
Speaker:and eventually the Lord begins to break that down.
Speaker:The world would say to insecure people,
Speaker:get out of here, you're too needy.
Speaker:The world would say to prideful people,
Speaker:go ahead and do it yourself, I'll watch you fall.
Speaker:The world would say to the self-centered person,
Speaker:let's see how that works out for you,
Speaker:I don't want anything to do with you,
Speaker:I don't want him to be your friend
Speaker:because you don't think about me.
Speaker:So how in the world as Christians, as believers,
Speaker:where do we derive the power to do these things?
Speaker:Because it's hard, do you know in relationships,
Speaker:you get about 80% in a relationship of what you want or need?
Speaker:And what happens is, is you look at somebody else
Speaker:and you see the 20% you're missing.
Speaker:And we will so quickly divorce ourselves from the 80%
Speaker:to go after the 20%.
Speaker:And after we walk with the 20% for a while,
Speaker:we realize we're missing the 80%.
Speaker:And the 80% is gone.
Speaker:What gives us the power to stay
Speaker:when we're operating and looking at this deficiency of 20%?
Speaker:Let me tell you something, every one of us has deficiencies.
Speaker:Every one of us is broken, every one of us is human.
Speaker:What gives us the power in the 20%?
Speaker:It's the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:You will receive power
Speaker:when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
Speaker:We're gonna be dissecting this verse later in the year,
Speaker:but we need the power of the Holy Spirit
Speaker:to do this life-giving thing in community.
Speaker:We need the power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:I can't do it without the Holy Spirit's help.
Speaker:And you can't do it either.
Speaker:And so I want to be surrounded with like-minded people.
Speaker:Who are you rolling with?
Speaker:Who are you walking with?
Speaker:Are they other-minded?
Speaker:Is it foreign for you to be here in the mindset
Speaker:that you carry on Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning?
Speaker:Or are you surrounded with like-minded people
Speaker:who spur you on to be like Christ Jesus?
Speaker:Worship team, you can come out
Speaker:'cause these people are getting antsy.
Speaker:(congregation laughs)
Speaker:Feelings are fickle, people.
Speaker:Your feelings change, truth never changes.
Speaker:Truth never changes.
Speaker:And when you're around like-minded people,
Speaker:you don't have to worry about what they say about you
Speaker:because you've been given the mind of Christ.
Speaker:When you're with people who are like-minded
Speaker:and they're focused on Christ,
Speaker:so many of us will alter the whole course of our day,
Speaker:the whole course of our action
Speaker:because we're so afraid of what they might think about us.
Speaker:But Jesus Christ has some truth to say about you.
Speaker:And it's in his word.
Speaker:And if you're around like-minded people,
Speaker:then when they say something to you, they look at you
Speaker:and they call out the things that they see in you
Speaker:that are Christ-like.
Speaker:They call out the truth in you about who God's created you
Speaker:to be.
Speaker:It was really hard, it's still hard for me today
Speaker:to be around people.
Speaker:And I get it, don't hear something I'm not saying.
Speaker:I mean, I get jabbing and being around the guys
Speaker:and people jabbing.
Speaker:I can't take put-downs, it's hard for me
Speaker:because I come from a whole,
Speaker:there's a whole part of my story
Speaker:where all I felt was a big put-down and let-down
Speaker:and judged and walked on and hurt.
Speaker:And that's a part of my story.
Speaker:How do you know when you're in a group
Speaker:of three or four people
Speaker:and they're just jabbing just for Jess
Speaker:that you don't know that that's a part of their story
Speaker:and they start to step on some wounds from the past?
Speaker:This is why the word tells us,
Speaker:let nothing unwholesome come out of your mouth, right?
Speaker:That then strike, he gives us,
Speaker:he instructs us because he cares about us.
Speaker:He tells us what we should and shouldn't do,
Speaker:not because he's out to control our lives,
Speaker:because he knows what's best.
Speaker:I want to live in that weird community,
Speaker:that other-minded community.
Speaker:I don't wanna look like the world.
Speaker:I want the world to go,
Speaker:what in the world are those people doing?
Speaker:That is, that's weird.
Speaker:That's a group of people
Speaker:that really actually love each other
Speaker:and they're actually more liberated than anything you have.
Speaker:And that's the community and the fellowship
Speaker:that we're striving after,
Speaker:bathed in the word, foundation in the truth.
Speaker:Over in the book of James, it says,
Speaker:"A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways."
Speaker:And guys, if you're linking arms with people
Speaker:who are not like-minded,
Speaker:I don't wanna be yoked to instability.
Speaker:I wanna be yoked to stability, some stable things.
Speaker:There's enough instability around me.
Speaker:I don't need to be unstable myself, right?
Speaker:And so they were together.
Speaker:They broke bread together.
Speaker:They went to the table together.
Speaker:Why did they go to the table?
Speaker:To remember Jesus.
Speaker:You think they have problems?
Speaker:Do you think these were perfect people
Speaker:getting together all the time, just perfect?
Speaker:No, but here's the thing.
Speaker:If you're married, you live with your spouse,
Speaker:maybe some of you live in houses,
Speaker:where when you live with someone,
Speaker:when you spend a lot of time with someone,
Speaker:it gets hard to hide.
Speaker:You see the flaws real fast.
Speaker:This is what they were doing.
Speaker:They spent so much time together with one another
Speaker:that you couldn't fake your way out of it.
Speaker:I've got people in my life that can walk right into my house,
Speaker:literally just walk in.
Speaker:They can go to the cupboard, they can go to the freezer,
Speaker:whatever they wanna do,
Speaker:and I wouldn't even bat an eye
Speaker:because I'm in such tight community with them.
Speaker:That's the type of fellowship.
Speaker:That's the type of community, the intimate connections
Speaker:that we're asked to have with one another,
Speaker:that we would be in each other's lives so much
Speaker:that you can't hide.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:So that they can call you out on a 20?
Speaker:No, so that they can take you to the Lord
Speaker:to get the healing you need, the correction you need,
Speaker:to teach you what you need to do, because guess what?
Speaker:They've also got a 20% that they need stuff with.
Speaker:And you're speaking to each other's lives.
Speaker:And so, guys, they gather together,
Speaker:not because they were devoted to just the apostles teaching
Speaker:or the breaking of bread or fellowship.
Speaker:The main reason that they gather together
Speaker:is 'cause they were devoted to Jesus.
Speaker:Are you devoted to Jesus?
Speaker:And if you're devoted to Jesus, I encourage you to show up
Speaker:because there's some real good stuff when you do.
Speaker:You are seen, you are loved, you are heard,
Speaker:and it's not because of the broken people sitting next to you
Speaker:it's because of this Christ Jesus
Speaker:who's perfect in all of his ways.
Speaker:Would you stand with me this morning
Speaker:with those who are gonna minister, come forward?
Speaker:We're gonna be talking about prayer in two weeks,
Speaker:but I can't tell you the importance and the power of prayer.
Speaker:If you've got a prayer need this morning,
Speaker:you better bet you those apostles are in that room
Speaker:praying to this almighty God
Speaker:who hears every single prayer that you pray,
Speaker:who cares about your needs.
Speaker:And so if you've got a prayer request this morning,
Speaker:you need God to do something in your life,
Speaker:it's your choice to walk out of here carrying that.
Speaker:Guys, I walked in here with a weight this morning.
Speaker:I'm liberated this morning.
Speaker:Come and pray and be set free
Speaker:from the things that you're holding onto.
Speaker:God wants to meet with you.
Speaker:Let's worship.
Speaker:(soft music)
