The Method
Transcript
My name is Chet. It's good to see everybody this morning. Excited to be able to meet here and excited for our second time being able to meet here at Glen Forest School. We are in our third week of Dawn of the Church. So we're finishing up today, which feels a little odd because we spent 11 weeks in the book of Colossians.
And so we've only been three weeks walking through the first couple of chapters of the book of Acts. And so it's felt a little short, but it's been I think it's been good. What we wanted to do is just spend a little bit of time and look at some family history. We wanted to look and see how the church started, what it looked like when the Holy Spirit first moved among a group of people, what it looked like for them to begin to follow Jesus, to begin to be the church. And so what we looked at was week one, we looked at the mission that we've been given as a church, that Jesus talking with his disciples says, this is what you're supposed to do.
This is what you're called to do. You're going to be my witnesses. And you're going to start here where they just killed me, which not many people get to say. Like not many people get to say that's where I just died. Like you don't usually get to tell people that you don't usually get to have this conversation. But Jesus had been crucified, he'd been murdered, and he didn't stay dead.
And so he says, you're going to start here where they just killed me. And then you're going to expand out from there. Then you're going to move to a place that you don't get along with these people. You have prejudice against them. And then you're going to move to the ends of the earth. And so we just looked at what the mission is that we're supposed to be witnesses of what Jesus has accomplished to the ends of the earth.
Last week we spent some time looking at the message that we're given to declare. So what the Holy Spirit actually, when he moves, what we point people to, what we talk about. And so today we're just going to look at the method by which that moves forward. The way that the mission, the message moves forward on the mission. And so it's kind of like this. This is a very simple way to think about it.
And so it's going to break down if you think about it too long. But think about it in a very simple way. And this can be helpful. So let's say we were going to make a sandwich and we were going to put some peanut butter on bread. And so that's the first part of what we're going to do. And we're going to put chunky peanut butter on the bread because we're going to eat the sandwich, not throw it away for bringing shame to sandwiches.
So it's going to be chunky peanut butter. And we're going to put that on the bread. And so in some ways the mission is that process. We're going to put chunky peanut butter on the bread. And it kind of answers the what's the overall goal and where. And so the overall goal is to get chunky peanut butter all over the surface of the bread.
And so that's what we looked at week one where Jesus says you're going to spread this message over the face of the earth. And so the message is kind of the chunky peanut butter. It's like the actual content of what's moving forward. And so what we're looking at today is the method, which would be like the knife that you used or the spoon that you used to spread the chunky peanut butter. Or, you know, like three fingers, depending on if you have roommates and or no one's watching. So, like, that's what we're looking at.
And so if the mission is spread the message all over the earth, and that's kind of the bread, that's what we looked at. Like, what are we doing and where is it going? The second week we looked at what's the content, what actually moves forward. And today we're looking at, like, how are we going to do that? How does the church actually accomplish this? And so we're going to be in Acts chapter 2.
I'm going to pray, and then we're going to start kind of looking at this and trying to answer this question. God, we thank you that you did come, that you did rescue us. And we pray that we would appropriately feel the weight of being called into your mission, that we wouldn't get complacent with what it is that we're supposed to be doing as we follow you. And, God, we ask that you would empower us through your Holy Spirit to continue your mission in this city. And we love you. We praise you.
Speak to us now as we have time to open your word and study. In Jesus' name, amen. So we'll be in Acts 2, starting in verse 41. I just want to point out in verse 38. Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. And so then 41 says, So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.
So, Peter says, repent, turn away from your sin, you'll be forgiven because of what Jesus has already done. It's not about what you do, but it's about what Jesus has done. And you'll receive the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit of God will come move and dwell among you. And then it says that 3,000 people became Christians. And so I said this last week.
That's like a logistical nightmare as far as, All right, cool. They had about 120. They're like, All right, we're going to start a church. We're going to do this thing. And then 3,000 people become Christians. And they were like, Okay, let's figure it out.
And so what we're going to look at as we look in this chapter, Luke, who's writing this story, is just going to describe what happens among the church when it first got started. So he's just telling us this is what it looked like. This is what they looked like as they first got started. And so in the Bible, there's prescriptive and descriptive sections of Scripture. So prescriptive is like a doctor gives you a prescription and it's, Go home, take these, rest this way, don't do this.
It's like, do, don't, this is what's best for you. That's like prescriptive. And so the Bible has some of that where it's like, Love your neighbors, be generous, be kind to one another, bear one another's burdens. Like it just straight up just says, do this. And then it has descriptive passages where it just says, It just tells a story, just tells you something that happened. And so sometimes we get confused when we're reading descriptive passages and think it somehow applies to what we're supposed to do.
So like there are times in the Bible, it talks about humans. So it talks about a bunch of messed up stuff. So Cain and Abel, Abel pleases God. Cain gets mad and kills him. And they're brothers. That's not a prescriptive thing.
That's not like the Bible saying, Here's how to handle your brother when he makes you angry. That's not what that is. It's not like, well, I'm going to go all Genesis 4 on this sucker. Like that's not what we get to do. It's just describing what happened. And so what this passage is doing is it's just going to describe for us what the early church looked like.
But in that we're going to get to see what the Holy Spirit does among a group of people that he's taking over, that he's moving in, that he's captivating, that he's changing. And so it's just the Holy Spirit moves in. And this is not. So we're going to look at it. It's going to describe the early church. And what it's not saying is, look at how well they organize themselves.
Look at the great leadership of the apostles. That's not what's happening. What it's saying is, look at what the Holy Spirit does when he begins to change, busted up, broken people, when he moves in and takes over. So we're looking at what the Holy Spirit does in believers as we read through this. We're going to see that the apostles mess stuff up consistently. They're in and out of jail because they're proclaiming the gospel.
So it's not that they're always being able to do great leadership stuff because half the time they're not there. Like people are having to pray, like let's get him out of jail. Some of them are going to be murdered. In Acts 6, they realize that they're not organized well. And so this isn't pointing to how to organize your church, how well it's what the Holy Spirit does among a group of people. Now, we should be organized.
That's one thing that we've seen as we've continued to grow is we're trying to organize ourselves better. We're trying to always train leaders and that sort of thing. So I just wanted to put a shameless plug out there. If you're good at logistical things, that's a Holy Spirit-empowered gift. Like if you can do spreadsheets, the Holy Spirit empowers that. That's a gift of administration.
I'm just letting you know. Biblically, there's a gift of administration. And so some people are really good at that kind of stuff and they feel like, well, I don't know how to really plug in and serve. That's actually how. And so they do try to get more organized. They're not organized yet.
And so we're right in line with Scripture being disorganized. But I want you to see that there's 3,000 new believers. Now, when we look in this section, we don't know how much time has passed. He just begins to describe the early church. So a couple days, some weeks.
Maybe he describes the first months of. Maybe he's describing the church in Jerusalem as a whole over the course of some years. But it basically says 3,000 people become believers, so 41. So those who received the word were baptized. And they were added that day about 3,000 souls. And then he immediately goes into.
And this is what they did. This is what they look like. So the majority of these people had been Christians for, like the apostles had only known and been following Jesus for three years. So think about that for a second. Some of us in here would say, I don't know, I've been a Christian for years. Some of you have been like, I think a couple of weeks-ish, give or take.
And that's what most of the people here were. The vast majority were like, I'm just trying to figure this thing out. And the truth is, that's the way the church should always look. There should always be people who have just become believers and are just trying to figure it out. And it's actually way more fun that way. It's way harder and way more messy.
Like, it's really nice to get 50 Christians who've been Christians for a really long time together and sit in a room. And maybe there's less mess, maybe they understand more, but it's way less fun. And so the whole time here, there's 3,000 new believers trying to figure out what it looks like to follow Jesus. And so it says, And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And so what we're about to look at is devoted themselves. What they devoted themselves to.
And so for us, devotion, like, I don't know if we understand devotion. I mean, we see it in certain places. Like, I want to talk to you about something very important. This week, football comes back. It's here, guys. Thursday.
Like, we got together. My community group meets on Thursday. And we got together and the discussion was, Who's got the SEC network? And somebody raised, We're going to your house. You're throwing a party. I don't know if you knew that.
You're going to be throwing a party because the Carolina game is going to be on Thursday. And you have the SEC network. And so we understand devotion a little bit when it comes to, like, being devoted to a brand. So you have people, like, devoted to Apple products. Who, like, always want to fight people who like Microsoft. Like, people who have apples get angry about it.
Like, I don't know. Like, this is better and I'm mad. Like, that's kind of their attitude. We see devotion when it comes to teams. So we have devotion, like a heart level loyalty.
Care about a team. You want to argue for why your team's the best. You want to argue against other teams. Like, if I see someone wearing orange, I just push them down. Like, that's just kind of how. No, we've got, we've got, I mean, in our church family, we've got people that are Clemson fans.
And every week, as we always do with everybody, we invite them to repent. And we've got Carolina fans that we were devoted. Like, we care about it. But I was talking to my wife's cousin who lives in Alabama. And he's a Clemson grad. And he said, I was talking to him about it.
He's an eye doctor there. And he goes, you know we're just kind of messing around in South Carolina when it comes to being devoted to teams, right? He's like, I'm in Alabama. And it's serious there. He said that he was, he's an eye doctor. He's about to perform surgery.
And he was standing in a room with about ten family members of this guy who's about to cut his eyes open. He said before this moment, he would always, like, have this conversation where it's like, okay, we're about to, y'all are about to have to leave. I'm about to wheel him back here. Does anybody have any more questions? Like, is there any clarification needed? Do you want to pray?
Like, he always just kind of opens it up for whatever's going to take place. And he said, they all just kind of stood there. And nobody asked any questions or anything. And then one by one, they walked by this guy. His name was Johnny. And they were going, Roll Tide, Johnny.
Roll Tide. Roll Tide, Johnny. Just, like, fist pumping and rubbing. He said, Roll Tide. Roll Tide, Johnny. And he said, like, 15 of them.
Roll Tide. And then they just walked out. And he was like, he said he wanted to be filming it, but he thought he might, like, get in trouble or something because he's a doctor. And so we have devotion there. We see devotion in, I think, I've actually gotten to where I like going to weddings. And I know that's weird.
I don't like, there's some things I don't like about it. Like, I don't actually like the whole process. Like, I don't like having to dress up. This past Easter, I was trying to dress up a little bit for when we did our stuff. And I asked Anna, like, how did I look? And she looked at me for a second.
And then she goes, you know, some people are supposed to dress up and other people aren't. And I think you're one of those aren't people. And I was like, that was very hurtful. But it's kind of true. So I don't like dressing up when I go to weddings.
I don't enjoy that process. But there's two things I kind of like about weddings. I like awkwardness. And weddings are awkward. So I always just kind of appreciate awkwardness.
And so when people are standing up doing their wedding, like, they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do with their hands. Everyone's sweating. I enjoy that. And then I enjoy the actual process of what we're doing. Weddings are intense.
It's two people standing up and saying, forsaking all others, I'm devoted to you. Like, it's me and you forever. Whatever comes, whatever's coming after us, like, this is going to be hard. And we're messed up and we're sinful. And this is going to be difficult. And it's not going to always be fun, but it's us forever.
And that's, I think, one of the best pictures we have when people genuinely take marriage seriously of what devotion is. And so what we're going to see here is not what the disciples did. We're actually looking at heart level change that the Holy Spirit did in them. Does that make sense? So it's the Holy Spirit moves in, begins to wreck shop, and changes loyalty and changes love in the hearts of these new believers.
Because it's not about how well they organized themselves and how well they disseminated the word and how well they did all these. It is absolutely, Holy Spirit moves in, 3,000 believers. There's no way this is going to be organized. And then the Holy Spirit changes all of them together to look this way. And so, as we read through this, last caveat, don't read through and think, oh, so that's what I do. That's what I do to work really hard to earn this.
No. This is what the Holy Spirit does in believers. And so if you're sitting in here and you're thinking, I don't really have a desire to do any of that. Some of that actually sounds kind of horrible. The response isn't, I'll work really hard, do those things, and then be a good Christian. No, the response is, repent of sin and place your faith in Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit does this in us.
Does that make sense? Is that fair? Okay. Four things they devoted themselves. Four things heart level change that the Holy Spirit made in them. It says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.
Alright, so what that means is that they were devoted to what the apostles were telling them about Jesus. What the apostles were training them in. And so the apostles were the people who'd been following Jesus around for three years, and the apostles were teaching them, here's what Jesus' kingdom looks like. Here's what it looks like for us to follow him. Here's how this plays out in the world. And so when the Holy Spirit moves in and begins to take over the lives of believers, they automatically begin being sold out to learning who Jesus is, what he did, what they'd been called into, what he'd accomplished on their behalf, what it looked like for them to be the church.
And so for us, that might as well just say, devoted to the Bible. That's why we would spend all summer just walking through the book of Colossians. That's why we study the Bible when we get together in our community groups, because we're devoted to learning and growing and understanding what it means to be Jesus followers. That's one of my favorite things to see this in people. So you see somebody who starts kind of placing their faith in Jesus, and then they'll suddenly start being like, hey, I was reading this in Scripture the other day.
Hey, I was looking at this, and I have a question about this. And it's like, oh, there's the Holy Spirit at work, drawing somebody in to read the Bible, because that's what he does. The Holy Spirit starts working in somebody, and we just want to read. I used to have conversations with Russ, who's one of the guys, one of the first guys to become a Christian as a part of our church. And he would ask me questions. Like one time he looked at me and said, he said, okay, you've got cancer, and your dad has cancer cure serum.
But then he says, I'll give it to you if you worship me. What the crap is that about? And I was like, what? Your dad sounds horrible, Russ. And so he was a very antagonistic approach to who God was, and I had to break all of that down, which was like, that's not at all what's happened here. Jesus came and died for us.
Like he took our cancer and died with it so that we could be cured, and then we would want to worship. So like we had to have those conversations. And then Russ became a Christian, and his attitude changed. So he always had like a bajillion questions about the church and about the Bible, and they were always kind of antagonistic. And then he became a Christian, and he started asking questions like, hey, what do we believe about this? And his whole response was different.
Like it was just like, oh, well, we believe this, Russ. And we would just flip to the thing. He was like, oh, cool. Okay, okay. That sounds good. And then there were other times he was like, really?
I don't really like that. And it's like, oh, yeah, me neither. But that's what we believe. We repent. You know, God's right. We're not.
And so we get to have those conversations. But there's just something that happens in believers that we change to where we're devoted to learning, devoted to reading Scripture, devoted to growing in it. And that's what happened among them. So they were devoted to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship. So they were devoted to each other.
That's great. Fellowship basically means friendship with a purpose, like community with a goal. So it's fellowship. It's friendship around something that kind of holds you all together. And so if you're Lord of the Rings fans, the first book in the Lord of the Rings is the Fellowship of the Ring. It was like a group of people that came together for a goal.
And so that's what they were devoted to being around each other. They made time for it. As we read through the rest of it, it says day by day they were gathering in large groups and they were gathering in smaller groups, meeting in homes. And so they were devoted to, took time out of their schedule to be around church family. They were devoted to each other. The Holy Spirit changed their heart to where they actually wanted to go out of their way to be around each other.
And I think we find this true if you've been a part of a community group. And it's easy to kind of get out of the rhythm of being around church family. And a way I think about this sometimes is when Anna and I first got married, we moved into this really sketchy house that like uneven floors. And if you ran the washing machine while trying to eat a meal, the table was going, and you could just bounce your stuff up and down on it. And we lived there fixing it up instead of paying rent. So it was like, we'll paint and like get rid of the snakes and most of the cockroaches and the mice and you don't make us pay rent.
And he was like, deal. So that was the house we lived in for the first couple of months of being married. And we were painting one of the rooms and it had oil-based paint. So we were painting over it with oil-based paint. If you've ever painted much, oil-based paint is pretty intense. And so we were in this room and we're painting.
And, you know, painting is not fun. So we're painting for a little while. And then, you know, the paint smells horrible. And then you kind of get used to, you don't notice the paint smell anymore. And then we both kind of were like grumpy. And then everything was hilarious.
And so at one point I'm sitting there, we're both like laughing hysterically about something that didn't make any sense. And I was like, that wasn't funny. And I was like, but I think it was funny. And I was like, maybe we should go outside. And so we went outside and that first breath of air, it was like, oh yeah, this is what oxygen is like. This is what this was supposed to have been like the whole time.
And so that's what church community, that's what church family is like sometimes. It's like we get out of it and we don't realize that what we're breathing in and what we're walking in on a daily basis actually isn't good for us and actually isn't healthy and actually isn't right. And then the first time we get back around church family, we go, oh yeah. Oh yeah, this is what this was supposed to be like. Oh yeah, this is what I've forgotten what it was like to be around church family and actually have people I can talk about real life with. And there's something that the Holy Spirit does in us that draws us into that.
And so they devoted themselves to fellowship. Which, isn't that just great though? Like if the Holy Spirit is going to do something in us, isn't it great that he draws us in to be around each other? A bunch of sinful people who know Jesus. And so like, you know I'm going to be sinful. You don't expect amazing things out of me.
And I don't expect amazing things out of you. We expect amazing things out of Jesus. And it's just a group of people to be in life with and be friends with. Like I'm just excited that that's what the Holy Spirit does. So the Holy Spirit draws us into fellowship.
And the Apostle, it so says, That is not what the breaking of bread means. It kind of means two things. And it happens in the context of fellowship. And we'll see it later. It says from house to house they were breaking bread in their homes. What it means is they were devoted to Jesus' presence.
They were devoted to the presence of Jesus. It's an active, intentional process of taking communion together. So they shared meals. Communion meals were meals. They shared meals. We see later in the book of something that Paul wrote that slips my mind now.
I think it's Corinthians. He fusses at them for some of them eating too much. And some of them not having any when they finally show up. And some people drinking enough to be drunk. And so like it's an actual meal that would have taken a while. And they would share meals together with the intense purpose of gathering around the gospel.
So Jesus on the last night before he was crucified said, This is my body. He took bread. He said, This is my body broken for you. And this is the blood of the new covenant which I pour out on your behalf. And so when it says that they were devoted to the breaking of bread, what it means is they were devoted to actively participating in the gospel together. That they intentionally gathered around the gospel.
They intentionally actively sought the presence of Jesus in their fellowship. So like sometimes my community group will get together and we say we're going to gospel each other. Which just means tell us what's going on in your life. And let's remind each other of how the gospel applies to that. Tell us what's going on in your life. And let's remind each other of how Jesus is at work in that.
And how he rescues us in that. And how the gospel works in that. And it can be really awkward sometimes. But it's just us saying we're intentionally going to press into the gospel. We're intentionally going to be centered around the gospel. And that's what happened.
They automatically became gospel centered people. They automatically began to devote themselves to the presence of Jesus. And so that these communities that gathered in homes were around the gospel. Their intense purpose was their intentional purposeful approach to walking. And what it looked like to have the gospel effect who they were. So they devoted themselves to the presence of Jesus.
And the prayers. Which just makes sense. They devoted themselves to prayer. That as the Holy Spirit works in us he draws us towards God. Because prayer is a couple things for believers. It's asking God to work.
To move. So as Christians what we believe is that we didn't fix this on our own. That we didn't rescue ourselves. But that Jesus did. That we needed help. We needed something outside of us to rescue us.
That's why we fill ourselves up with the Bible. Because it's not about finding our inner person who's wonderful. Like that's not what we're shooting for as Christians. I can tell you pretty clearly my inner person is not wonderful. So like y'all don't want to meet more of him.
You want more of the Bible filling me up. And we want more of the Holy Spirit working and moving. And so prayer is just us saying. This isn't up to us. This isn't about us being great. This isn't about us being moral.
This isn't about us being smart. And so we just pray and ask the Holy Spirit to move. Ask God to work. It's just active surrender. And so they devoted themselves to prayer. And all of this kind of happens in the context of community.
In the context of fellowship. They were devoted to each other. Devoted to learning with each other. Devoted to praying with each other. And devoted to intentionally building themselves around the presence of Jesus. And the gospel work in their life.
And that's what the Holy Spirit did in them. That's how the Holy Spirit began to work in them. And so the response again isn't. Cool. I'll do those four things. The response is the Holy Spirit does this in us.
And so if you don't have a desire for that. We just repent and become Christians. We place our faith in Jesus. And the Holy Spirit begins to work. So this is what happens.
This is what they began to devote themselves to. This is what begins to take place in a minute. And then it's going to tell us what they looked like. So 43. And all came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
And all who believed were together. And had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings. And distributing to the proceeds to all. As any had need. And day by day attending the temple together.
So they got together in large groups. And breaking bread in their homes. So then they gathered in smaller groups. And shared meals together to be intentional about. The gospel taking place in their hearts. And it says this is day by day.
Breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts. Praising God and having favor with all the people. So we're going to stop there. So here's what happens.
It says. They devoted themselves to these four things. And then this is what they look like. They had glad and generous hearts. They were being generous to one another. People were selling stuff that they had.
So that they could give more to other people. People were receiving gladly. So here. When the Holy Spirit moves in. Jesus comes after our passions. He actually begins to change in us what we care about.
What we love. Where our loyalties lie. And so then you have a group of people that become generous. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Wait. The God of heaven stepped out of heaven. So that I could have good things. Like he gave up all good things to suffer on my behalf. And he died in my place. Where I deserve to be punished.
Where I deserve to die. He died in my place. So that I could have life. So that I could have joy. And eventually I could go to heaven. Like I could join him in heaven.
He stepped away from heaven. So that I could have good things. Well suddenly that group of people doesn't hold on to their possessions the same way anymore. It's like oh you need stuff? Yeah. I've got stuff.
Oh you need help with that? I can help with that. Because the God of heaven gave up everything. So that I could have everything. And since I already have everything. Everything I have is his.
And yours. That's what happened. They began to sell their possessions. And give things away. So it's like what I had designed in my brain was heaven.
Where I wanted to live. And how I wanted to design my life. And how I wanted it to look. And the possessions I wanted to have. Heaven isn't the same to me anymore. And so I can give these things up.
To be a part of this community that Jesus has changed. And so it says they were generous. They. Everything they had. They had in common. It was like you need this.
You can have it. It's all of the things I have. Are given to me by Jesus. And then it says that they. Distributing the proceeds to any as all had need. And day by day.
Attending the temple together. And breaking bread in their homes. They received their food. With glad and generous hearts. Not only were they generous in giving. And gracious in giving.
They were generous. And gracious in receiving. And so that's actually another way that the gospel works among this group of people. Among Christians. Is it is. Oh.
Everything I have. Everything I've ever been given. Was given to me by grace. So when someone else gives. I can just receive. Because I know how to receive.
By grace. The gospel has changed my heart to where I can receive. Like have you ever noticed that. That there's something in us. Automatically. That when someone gives us something.
We feel like we owe them. You ever notice that. Like someone serves you. Or does something nice for you. And you feel like they. That you owe them.
So like before. Somebody will give you a birthday gift. And you're like. Oh sweet. A birthday gift. Ah.
Crap. I'm going to have to remember your birthday now. So like people give me stuff. I'm like. Dang it. I am never going to remember your birthday.
So I just like. I'll thank them. And be like. Just so you know. I'm not reciprocating. Unless you remind me.
Like. But there's something in you. That feels that. Like when someone's generous to you. You want to. You want to be generous back.
And you almost feel like you owe a debt now. Because someone was nice. And what it says is. They received. With glad and generous hearts. That the gospel actually moves in.
To make people generous. In giving and receiving. To make people gracious. In giving and receiving. And so that they were able to just. Hey.
Yeah. I actually do need. The whole gospel is predicated on the fact. That we need. That we're broken. That we're busted.
That we fall short. And so it's like. Sometimes in life. It's like. I'm. Not only do I need the gospel.
To change me. And to save me. From my sin. But I actually need help. Paying bills right now. And the gospel is that I fall short.
Not that I'm great. Not that I can prove myself. And so the gospel actually frees me up. To walk through life. And get help. Walk through life.
And receive assistance. And not feel bad about it. Isn't that beautiful? And doesn't that just mess. With your Americanness? Doesn't that kind of annoy you?
It annoys me. It's like. No. No. I need to prove that I'm awesome. It's like.
Well the gospel says you're not. So like. When Jesus died on the cross. He definitively declared. Chet is busted. And he needs my help.
Because if there were some of us. Who were going to work it out. He wouldn't have had to die. Like if there were some of us. Who were just going to be good enough. On our own.
He wouldn't have had to go to the cross. And so when he went to the cross. He declared definitively. For everyone in this room. You need help. You're not going to work it out.
You need Jesus. To step in. On your behalf. And that applies to everything. And so then we actually become generous in giving and receiving. And that's what the church did.
It became a generous people. And it says they were glad. Isn't that great? It doesn't say the Holy Spirit came in. And 3,000 people became believers. And they all got really angry.
And mad about morals. And they gathered together. To fuss at one another. And to hit themselves with whips. And cry. Like that's not what it says.
It says the Holy Spirit moves among the people. And they became generous. And gracious. And happy. And that's cool. That's a beautiful thing to be true.
That that's what the Holy Spirit does. Because it wasn't the apostles training them to do this. It was 3,000 people being changed by the Holy Spirit. To follow him. And that's what he does among us. It was really cool.
Last week. I don't know if y'all have gotten to meet. Some of y'all may have been able to meet Billy Briggs. Who's kind of the facilities guy here. And this place has been really gracious with us. And good with us.
But we were talking to him last week. And it was funny. After we had done everything. We were cleaning up. And then there was just a handful. I mean a decent amount of people just hanging out and talking.
Because we always do that. We hang out in our church family and talk. And have fun together. And that's why we brought the cornhole boards in here. Because it was too hot last week to do them outside. So we want to be able to hang out and be church family when we're done.
And so we were doing that. And he was showing Matt and I like how to not tear things up. And how to get in the doors. And get out of the doors. And how to lock stuff. And he stops at one point and looks at me.
And Matt was over talking to people. And he goes, so you're like actually the pastor. Huh. And I said, I was like, well, yeah, Matt and I are. And he goes, okay. He's like, we didn't know.
Because we'd only ever seen y'all. But we thought maybe the pastor was going to show up later. Like riding in on a golden chariot. And y'all were like his henchmen or like lackeys or something. And I was like, I'm glad I threw off that vibe. That lackey henchman vibe.
And so it was like, yep, no, it's us. So I bet you regret your decision to enter into a deal with us now. Like I don't know what his thought process was. And then he was just talking about it. He goes, and we're sitting there. We were walking up.
And we see everybody just kind of hanging out and talking and laughing. And I mean, it's been, you know, 30, 45 minutes after we were done. And they're hanging out. And he goes, well, I think it was good. I think it was a good space for y'all. And I think they enjoyed stuff.
He's like, they're still here. And I was like, oh, this is what we do. I said, a bunch of us are going to go eat now. That's because we like food and each other. So like that's what we're going to do.
And he said, he said, man, that's great. He said, that's what churches should look like. He said, we've had them before, had to meet here in our facility. And like five minutes afterwards, people are flashing the lights. Like, back it up. This is what he said.
He said, flashing the lights like, hey, our God thing's over. The week's about to start. And I was just like, yeah. And like, you don't realize it. I mean, I get into this and feel like this is what it's supposed to be. And this is what the Holy Spirit does among people.
They become glad and generous and enjoy each other and are devoted to each other. And it's beautiful. And here's what happens. So what we've said is God's given us a mission to see the message move forward, which is that Jesus came and died on our behalf and that we weren't going to earn anything. We weren't going to save ourselves. We weren't going to accomplish this on our own through our good morals or our really smartiness.
It's wasn't going to happen. Our amazing religious ideas weren't going to happen. That Jesus had to step in and rescue us. And so the message that was declared is you're sinful. You killed Jesus. He had to die for you.
And he saves you. So he's Lord and Christ. Like he is the one who's rescued us. This is what Peter stands up and declares. And so we have a mission to move that out everywhere. To declare that message everywhere.
That we need Jesus. That we need Jesus. And then what we see is this is how it's done. When the Holy Spirit moves into a group of people, what we've talked about is what they automatically look like. But what he does is he makes communities of people just like this.
And that's actually how the mission moves forward. That's actually how the message gets spread is that there's communities of people just like this. That actually have the Holy Spirit working in them. 47. Well here we'll start at, we'll read the whole thing. Because reading the Bible is good.
42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship. To the breaking of bread and prayers. And all came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings. And distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts. Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
The way the Holy Spirit works in his people to move the message forward. Is communities of people who are changed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. To gather themselves around the gospel. To intentionally practice the presence of Jesus. And to grow. To be in normal everyday life.
It says it was day by day God added to them those who were being saved. Day by day. Day by day. That more and more and more and more and more and more people became Christians. Got around and said no I want to be a part of this. Not only do I hear what you're saying about Jesus.
But I see it. I see generosity. I see graciousness. I see your ability to receive things. And I always feel like I have to prove myself. And I see that you don't feel that.
Why is that? Oh the gospel. I can't prove myself. So it would really be horrible to try to feel like I had to. I'm freed up by Jesus. So there's groups of people that gather around this.
And the communities of people that move this forward. And people get saved. That's how we walk on mission. Is allowing the Holy Spirit to change us. To move in us. And to move among us.
And day by day people become believers. As we devote ourselves. As the church devotes themselves. To growing and understanding what we're called into. Who Jesus is and what he's done. Devote ourselves to each other.
Devote ourselves to intentionally being about the gospel. Practicing the presence of Jesus. And to praying. To asking and begging God to show up. And to do what only he can do. Because it says the Lord added to their number.
At no point is it about how amazing these believers were. And at all points is it about what the Holy Spirit does among a group of people. As he begins to wreck shop and take over their hearts. And that is how God has designed his church to move forward. That's our family history. That's how it got started.
And that's what we get to be in this city. We get to be communities of people intentionally centered around the gospel. Devoted to Jesus and his church. To having the Holy Spirit work in our hearts to change us. That's us. That gets to be us because of the Holy Spirit.
Because of who God is. And it's beautiful. And it's fun. And it's important. To get to invite more people in to what's already been accomplished for us in the cross. Band's going to come back up.
We're going to sing. And then we're going to do this. We're going to be communities of people intentionally centered around the gospel. We're going to gather together in large groups. We're going to meet in homes. Share bread.
Intentionally be about Jesus and what he's done for us. We're going to pray. Because we need Jesus to show up. If those statistics are still true. 48,000 people inside of like a six mile radius. That doesn't include Columbia.
There's like 100,000 people within a five mile radius of the state house that don't know Jesus. We're just talking about the West Columbia area is 48,000. We're not getting into Irmo. We've got a group meeting in Irmo. We didn't even touch people out there with that number. We've been given a mission.
We've been given a message that's actually good news. And we've been given the means by which to do that. The method that God has designed that as communities of people changed by the Holy Spirit. I'm going to pray. We're going to stand up and sing. And then we're going to be the church.
As we respond to who Jesus is. As we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. We've got communion set up. And communion is just. So they intentionally gathered together.
And they partook in. They broke bread together. They shared a meal that was an intentional communion meal. To remind themselves of what Jesus had accomplished. And one of the ways that we do that is we have some juice and some bread set up. Which is just to actively remind ourselves of the need for the gospel.
And so as a large group today we're going to do that. We're going to break bread together. In a very simple way. And then when we gather together in our homes. We're going to share meals together. We're intentionally remembering that we need Jesus.
So if you're a believer. And want to partake in communion. Want to remind yourself of your need for the gospel. Want to celebrate and actively participate in the presence of Jesus. We've got that set up at both sides of the room. If you're sitting here and you thought.
I don't really have a desire to be devoted to any of those things. Then the response isn't work really hard. And you can earn it. The response is realize that you need Jesus. That he actively works in our hearts. That he wants to change us.
And that's what happens among believers. We get to repent. We get to place our faith in Jesus. And he does this in us. God we thank you. For your grace.
And God we ask. As right now the believers in this room. As we devote ourselves to prayer. As we do what we do all the time. Where we pray together. God we ask that your Holy Spirit would.
Empower this in our souls. That your Holy Spirit would work in our hearts. To change us. To make us more. Like you. That you would help us be devoted to these things.
We praise you for your grace. And your love. In Jesus name. Amen.