How to Build a Great Church - May 4, 2025

I want to talk with you today about uh I'm giving give you a little bit of an uh introduction here, and then we're gonna be in Acts chapter 2, and in a moment we're gonna read verses 42 through verses 47, but let me give you a little bit of an introduction first.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Um, Victory Baptist Church is an amazing church.

It really is.

God has blessed you with a great pastor, great staff.

There's an atmosphere here, there's a vibe here that you don't see in every church.

It's a place that has an atmosphere of love and acceptance, and it's it's contagious.

It's it just it's it feels good to be here.

By the way, uh our favorite song, my wife and I, our favorite song is God's Been Good, which is the last one that we sang today.

And uh every time, every time we go somewhere, in fact, uh not often, but occasionally, when I'm pastoring, when I'm preaching somewhere, the pastor will say, uh, what do you have any songs you'd like for us to sing?

We always say, God's been good.

Uh that's that's our that's our heart song.

I mean, God has been so good to us, so much better than we than we deserve for all of these years now.

But um there's something about this church that's very contagious.

Now, I've been I've had the privilege of being in ministry for over 50 years, 53 years now we've been in ministry.

Uh I've been around long enough to see churches that have excelled, and I've also seen churches that started well, but eventually they dwindle and they cease to exist.

So, what is it that makes a great church in the eyes of God?

Uh that's what I want to talk to you about today.

What what what what makes a great church?

Now, we often associate greatness with size, with buildings, with popularity, but the kingdom of God doesn't, doesn't, it's not that way for them.

In the kingdom of God, greatness is defined differently.

I think we can look at the first church in Jerusalem and understand the characteristics of a great church.

And so the church in Jerusalem has the distinct privilege, in Acts chapter 2, we're gonna read in just a moment.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

The church there has the distinct privilege of being the absolute the the very first New Testament church in history.

The first church in all of history, New Testament church, is this one that we're gonna look at.

I mean, it's amazing.

And in fact, at that time, there was no other church.

There weren't two churches at the time.

There was one church, the church at Jerusalem, and this church had been founded by Jesus Himself.

Jesus had founded this church, Jesus had led these people to himself, and he had discipled them, and during his three and a half year ministry here on this earth, and then after this three and a half year ministry, of course, this church is going, and Jesus was crucified, as you know.

He died on the cross, and three days later he was resurrected on that first Easter Sunday.

And that that that resurrection was indisputable proof that he was not just a man, but Jesus was the God-man or is the God-man.

The Bible says in Romans 1 4, for example, that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God.

He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

So after Jesus rose from the dead, he proved that he is God, was God in human flesh, that he is the Messiah.

After he defeated death and hell by resurrection, he stayed here upon this earth for at least 40 days after that, and he appeared to thousands of people, I mean, at least hundreds, if not thousands of people.

On one occasion alone, he appeared to five hundred people after his resurrection, showing that he had resurrected from the dead, that he is more than just a man, he's God, he's the Savior.

At the end of those thirty days, he ascended back to heaven.

And when he gave ascended back to heaven, he gave instructions to this first church, the only church.

He said this to them You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you.

You shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, under the uttermost part of the earth.

So they went back to Jerusalem.

Jesus ascended back to heaven.

The church, which by this time had grown to about 120 members, they went to Jerusalem, they began to pray.

They were in a 10-day prayer meeting.

At the end of that day, at the end of that prayer meeting, the day of Pentecost took place, and the Holy Spirit came and fell upon the church in such a powerful way that Simon Peter and the other apostles were able to preach in languages that they had never heard.

That's the gift of tongues.

They were able to speak in languages that they had never that they had never learned, and yet the people were able to hear in their own language the message of the gospel.

Now, in that service, over 3,000 people were saved and baptized in one day.

So in one day, the first church in history grows from 120 members to 3,120 members.

From this church, from that one church, more than 2,000 years later now, we're here today, and there are literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of local churches all over the world preaching the gospel.

And they all came from this one church.

This is the first one.

Jesus leaves and leaves them in power with the power of the gospel, and they now have spread out to the point where we have thousands of preachers, of churches, if not millions of churches, all over the world.

Now, so this morning, I'm gonna look at seven characteristics of this great church.

They began a movement that is still transforming the world today.

Look, if you would, please, at Acts chapter 2, and we're gonna read verses 42 through 47.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

The Bible says that well, that's in fact, I'm gonna start at verse 41.

41 says, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.

The same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, breaking of bread and in prayers, and fear came upon every soul.

Many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

And all that believed were together.

They had all things common.

They sold their possessions and goods, imparted them to ever all men as every man had need.

And they continued they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, having favor with all the people, and all the and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you again for your love for us.

Thank you for the great privilege of being able to be here at Victory Baptist Church.

Father, thank you for our pastor and for what he's doing here and his wife and their children, their family, and all the people that you've gathered together, the staff and Lord, so many, so many uh people that you've brought into this ministry.

God, I ask that you might bless them, continue to work in their lives.

I pray, Father, that Victory Baptist Church might continue to be the lighthouse that you would have it to be here in this area and around the world through their missions giving as well.

Meet with us today, Father.

If there's anybody today that's in this service today, they don't know you as their Savior.

Lord, I pray that this might be the greatest day of their life.

May they come to Jesus today before it's eternally too late.

Receive Christ as their Savior, be born again for all eternity.

Bless this time together.

Help me, Lord.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Seven thoughts I want to give you, and I'll try to go quickly through these.

Seven characteristics of this great church.

Number one, I want you to see that a great church, the foundation of a great church is the word of God.

Look at verse 42 again, if you would please.

The Bible says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.

And they're talking about the Word of God.

They stayed continually in the Apostles' doctrine.

A great church is grounded in the truth of Scripture.

The most important thing in your life is to be able to know that Jesus is your Savior.

The most important thing in your life is to be born again, to receive Christ as your Savior, have your sins forgiven, and you'll become a part of the family of God.

Nothing is more important than that in your life, that you be saved.

If you're not saved today, listen, the most important thing you could do today is to come to Christ.

Receive Him as your Savior.

Call out to Him and admit your sin.

And ask God to come into your house.

Ask Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sins.

Nothing is more important than that.

But once you're saved, salvation is not the end.

It is the beginning of a journey that will ultimately lead to an eternity in paradise with God Himself.

And you know what you need along that journey?

You need this book.

You need the Word of God to help you grow and to have abundant life that your Savior is planned for.

You need the Word of God.

And you need it not only once a week or twice a week, you need it every day.

We need the Word of God.

2 Timothy 3.16 says this all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

Now listen to this.

It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

We need the word of God.

This book has been given, left for us for our sake, for your sake to grow.

Psalm 119, 105 says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Again, the word of God is not optional.

It's essential for both your personal and church health.

You're not going to grow in your life, in your Christian life, without the Word of God.

We need to be in the Word of God.

Again, daily, not just one side.

Look, God's church should be shaped by biblical truth.

What makes a great church?

A great church is a church that is following the Word of God.

We're shaped by biblical truth.

We're not shaped by the culture of the world.

We're not shaped by culture of what's going on, but we are our our foundation is the word of God.

Number two, a great church is not only focused upon the word of God, the foundation is the word of God, but a great church is deeply connected in fellowship, picking it up again in our passage.

In verse 42, they continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.

Notice this, and in fellowship.

And in fellowship.

Not only do we need the word of God, but we need fellowship.

They were in fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayers.

They were connected to each other.

A great church, we're not just a crowd.

A great church is not just a crowd.

And by the way, God didn't intend for us just to be a crowd of people that come to church on Sunday.

This is a family.

When you get saved and you come into the local church, you become a part.

A place where we're meeting together.

We're a family of God.

We're God's family meeting together.

A healthy family loves each other.

A healthy family helps each other.

A healthy family helps each other to be better than they could be without them without by themselves.

You need a spiritual family.

My friend, you need that spiritual family.

You need the church every bit as much as you need your physical family.

I wasn't raised in a Christian home.

I was raised in a dysfunctional family.

My family was about as dysfunctional as you can get.

I'm sure many of you could could give the same testimony.

I remember whenever I was uh whenever I was a teenager, my parents came in and they said, uh, said, Dwight, we're gonna, we're gonna we're gonna divorce.

Which one, you want to live with mom or you want to live with dad?

And I said, I don't want to live with either one of you.

I don't like either one of you.

I mean, we were just we were a mess, just totally dysfunctional family.

Um I got I got kicked out of school when I was in the ninth grade, I got kicked out of school again when I was in the tenth grade, I got kicked out of school again when I was in 11th grade, and finally they just said this to me.

They just said, hey, just go away.

Uh we don't want you to come back.

And so I'm a I'm a high school dropout at the age of 17.

Dysfunctional family, don't know the Lord, don't know anything about spirituality.

I mean, just totally a mess.

I'm while I was in Watsonville, California.

I was walking down the streets there in Watsonville, California one day, and and uh, you know, I should have been in school, but I I'd been expelled from school.

They wouldn't let me in school anymore.

And so I'm just walking down the street, got nowhere to go, nothing to do, it's just what I did.

I'd walk, I'd walk the streets.

And so I'm walking down the street one day, and there's a man, I see a man standing there and he's got a uniform on.

And so I walked on by, and as I walked by, he said, Good morning.

I said, Good morning.

He said, uh, would you like to stop and talk to me?

And I said, No.

And he said, uh, I kept walking.

He said, I'm walking by.

He said, You want to stop and talk?

I said, no.

I kept walking.

He said, We got donuts.

I said, Whoa.

You got donuts?

He said, Yeah, come in, have a donut.

I walked in, sat down, and had a donut.

Next thing I know, I had a second donut and a third donut.

After a while, I had lots of donuts, and I had my pen out, and I was signing on the dotted line, joining the United States Army.

And that's how I got into the Army at the age of 17.

By the way, don't ever, don't ever believe an Army recruiter.

I just don't ever believe them.

If there's any Army recruiters here today, you're different.

You know, you tell the truth, but that one did not.

So I'm there with this guy, 17 years old, and he says to me, Hey, you do you have a girlfriend?

I said, No.

He said, Oh man, you need to join the army.

He said, You're gonna the army.

He said, The girls are gonna, they love, you they cannot resist a man in uniform.

Wow, really?

Oh yeah, you have more girls than you want to do with.

And then he said, uh, uh, he gave me several other things.

He said, in today's modern army, we have over 300 different uh uh places that things that you can learn, and these are gonna help you in your job.

You're gonna have a good career.

300 different careers you can learn.

And I said, wow.

He said, he said, oh yeah, it's wonderful.

And uh he said, let's do a few tests, and we'll do a few tests and we'll find out what career would be best for you, what you're best suited for.

I said, okay.

So I took the tests, I went, I got the paperwork, I went home, had my mom and dad sign it.

I came back the next day to find out what I was best qualified for when it came to schooling.

And so he looked at my uh, he see, he looked at my uh my uh my uh schooling things and he said, here's what's best for you.

The best school in the army for you is also happens to be the, he said, it's not only the best school for you, it's the best school in the army.

I said, Wow.

He said, Yeah, you're good, man.

You're good.

And I said, Well, what school is it?

He said, it's called jump school.

I said, jump school?

What's that?

He said, Oh, that's the best school in the army.

He said, That's where you get to jump out of airplanes.

Oh, really?

And I said, that's gonna be helping me in my future.

He said, Oh, yeah, yeah, that's gonna help me for you.

He said, You got a girlfriend again?

I said, No.

He said, remember, you're gonna have somewhere.

He said, when you get your you go to jump school and you jump out of airplanes, he said, when you come back to Watsonville, you're gonna have this little little uh little uh what do you call that thing, baby?

We're gonna have this little patch on your arm or arm on your shoulder, and it's a parachute.

That's it right there.

I jumped out too many times, hit my head too many times.

He said, You're gonna when they see that little parachute there, and he said, not only that, you get to wear this little little little parachute, and he said, You get this and that, and he said, and you get to the girls are just gonna fall all over you.

I said, Wow, really?

He said, Oh yeah.

And then he said, and there's one more good thing.

He said, not only that, but after you go to jump school, that means you don't have to go to Vietnam.

I said, Wow, really?

I mean, everybody's going to Vietnam in those days, 1968.

They were going to Vietnam.

And he said, and he said, No, but not you.

I said, Why is that?

He said, Because there are three airborne units in the Army.

There's the 101st, the 173rd, and the uh 82nd Airborne.

He said, the only the 101st is in Vietnam.

They're the only unit in Vietnam.

The 82nd Airborne's not there, and the 173rd airborne is not there.

He said, so you got two out of three chances that you're not going.

You only get one chance out of three that you'll you'll have to go to Vietnam.

You're gonna be, you're gonna be in the two.

I said, okay, I signed up.

I went to Vietnam.

Immediately out of jump school.

As soon as I got out of jump school, they sent me to Vietnam.

And uh I spent two tours in Vietnam.

I've lost, uh unsaved, don't know anything.

I spent two tours in Vietnam, they put me with the 75th Rangers, put me into the into a uh into a LERP team, Long Rangers Reconnaissance Patrol.

And so I ended up there in Vietnam.

Now, while I'm in Vietnam the first time, did two tours.

While I was in Vietnam the first time, something happened.

Somebody came by and knocked on the door and started witnessing to my mom and dad.

And they got saved.

And my brothers and sisters got saved.

And I came back home from Vietnam, and here was this messed up home that I had left, and a year later, it's totally changed.

I'm telling you, Jesus changes everything in your family, he'll change everything in your life.

You let you let Jesus you get a hold of Jesus and he gets a hold of you, you're never gonna be the same again.

So honestly, I came home and and and and all of a sudden everything was changed.

I thought they were crazy.

I thought they were religious fanatics.

I mean, I went back to Vietnam.

Said this is Nam was better than this.

Went back to Vietnam, said a second tour.

But here was the difference.

On my second tour in Vietnam, I knew, because I'd gone to church with my parents, I'd listened to them, I'd heard the gospel, I knew that if I died, I'm going straight to hell.

You see, the first time I didn't, I didn't know.

I thought, well, if I die, I'm just dead.

It's just like a dog, you're just dead.

The second time, I'm telling you, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm scared to death.

I'm thinking all the time, if I die, if that if that preacher's right, I'm going to hell.

If that Bible's right, I'm going to hell.

And by the way, if this Bible's right, you're if you're that Christ, you're going to hell if you could die.

I'm not being unkind.

I'm just trying to tell you what this helped me for somebody to tell me this.

And by the way, this Bible is right.

This Bible is true.

It's correct.

It's proven.

I couldn't wait to get back to America.

I didn't understand you could get saved right there in Vietnam.

I thought you had to go back to the church, walk down the aisle, lift the altar, ask Jesus to save you.

That's how you got saved.

I'm telling you, I got back, I walked the aisle, trusted Christ as my savior, totally changed my life.

God will change your life.

Everything changes when you come to Christ, when you receive Him as your Savior, and you know Him as your Savior.

Um so I'm saying that He is the one that makes the change in your life.

And then you get into the church, and that fellowship is something that you need.

You need that church fellowship to help each other grow.

Now, I get saved, and I wanted, I wanted that fellowship.

I needed that fellowship.

I wanted to be to be to be a part of the family.

I didn't have a good family.

I mean, up until this time, our our my whole life, I our family had been very dysfunctional.

We used words that we shouldn't have used, and one of the big biggest ones was hate.

It was constantly in our heads.

I hate your guts.

I hate you more.

I hate you, no, I hate you like my wife will tell you that after we got married and we had children, we had a we had a law, a rule in our house.

And I said to our children, there's two words you're never allowed to use in this house.

You never use the word hate.

Don't ever say it.

Don't ever say, Oh, I hate this food.

You can say, Mom, I strongly dislike this food.

And by the way, sometimes we strongly dislike the food.

Only when she made some really crazy stuff.

But normally we strongly loved the food.

But uh, you can't use the word hate, and you cannot use the word quit.

Don't say those two words.

Don't ever say I quit, and don't ever say I hate.

Um it just I I need I wanted a family.

But you know something?

In that church where I got saved, the family was there.

I I wanted it, but I almost lost it.

I needed a family, I wanted a family, but in this church, a church I got saved in, and I'm gonna say this this is gonna be true about this church.

It's here for you.

This church is willing to allow you to become a part of it and to and and to have a have a new family.

But I just didn't think that I was worthy of it.

My thinking was if these people, you know, the the I was 20 years old when I got saved, and I'm thinking the the young people around, the the young adults around, the my age, if they knew what I've done, if they knew who I am, if they knew my background, they wouldn't want me around them.

I thought they were all just a bunch of people that had grown up, you know, loving Jesus from the time they were born or something, you know.

Um I almost lost it because I didn't understand it.

You don't ever let the devil tell you that you're not wanted in this church.

I'm telling you, you are loved here, you are wanted here, you are valued here.

This you are important to the rest of the family.

Don't don't back off.

Allow people to become, to let you become a part of this church.

Fellowship means more than just small talk.

It's life shared, burdens carried, joys celebrated.

If you're a new believer, let this church love you as a part of the family.

One verse, one verse I'll read for you and then we'll move on.

Hebrews 10, 23, and three verses.

Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Listen to this.

Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.

This is the local church.

Let us consider one another.

To provoke and to love unto good works.

Not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another so much the more as you see the day approaching.

Listen to these words.

Consider one another.

Think about one another.

Provoke one another to love unto good works.

Encourage each other.

Not forsaking the assembly.

Don't forsake the assembly of yourself together.

But exhorting one another, helping another, encouraging each other.

You need the local church, and the local church needs you.

Church members, I ask you the question: are you a consumer or are you a contributor to this spiritual family?

Do you reach out to those who come into the church and offer this friendship or help with them?

I preach in a lot of churches, and I'm telling you, virtually every church that I ever go to thinks that they are a friendly church.

If you ask any church almost in America, hey, is this a friendly church?

The members say, oh yeah, we are.

But I'm telling you, they're not.

Most of them are not.

And I can I know that because I'm coming in as a guest speaker, and I'm coming in and sitting down, and nobody says a word.

Nobody says hello, nobody says, Hey, are you new here?

But yet you ask that church, oh yeah, we're a friendly church.

They're friendly to each other.

But reach out to people, let them know that they're welcome here.

I will forget forever, forever, forever thank God for Jack Wilkins.

Jack Wilkins was my first pastor.

He was the man that led my parents to Christ, he led me to Christ.

Now, Jack Wilkins took me under his arm and he helped, he discipled me.

I would go to his house after as a new believer.

I would go to his house and I would sit down in his home and we would drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, and study the Bible.

No joke.

I didn't know it wasn't right to smoke cigarettes.

I didn't know it was bad for your health.

I didn't know you probably ought not to do that.

Uh I smoked cigarettes.

My pastor smoked cigarettes.

It was not an independent fundamental Bible-believing church, but it was a good Bible-believing church.

It was some kind of Bible-believing.

But I'm just telling you, I won't, I didn't know, I I am, I don't have very many things that I will be known for when I die in the independent movement.

But Pastor, I think there's one thing I will I may be known for.

I am probably the only independent Baptist man who ever offered a cigarette to the to the college to his college professor.

I offered a cigarette to my first Bible college I went to.

I offered a cigarette to one of my professors.

In fact, he was the head of the college.

And I'm telling you what, I found out very quickly in that Bible college, oh, we don't smoke cigarettes around here.

They did it in my church where I got saved.

And so I didn't know.

When he sent me off to Bible college, I didn't know.

I walked into a Bible college, offered my president of school a cigarette, and he was not very happy.

So I know, I mean, by the grace of God, I learned you're supposed to stop smoking.

By the way, I'm not I'm not saying if you're if you smoke cigarettes, I'm not being critical of you, and I'm not saying that that you know you're gonna you're gonna die and go to hell or something like that if you if you smoke cigarettes.

In fact, if you smoke cigarettes, you might get to heaven faster.

So I'm not saying you I'm saying, I'm saying, man, reach out to people.

Let them come in, help them grow, let them develop, don't criticize them, don't kick them out the door because they smell like a cigarette or something, you know.

Uh I used to smell like cigarettes before too, now I don't.

I smell like other things now.

But uh great churches, they're grounded in the Word of God, they love each other, part of the family.

The great churches are faithful in prayer.

Verse 42 says, and in prayer.

The early church prayed constantly, boldly.

Prayer was their first instinct, not their last resort.

Uh I mean, they just finished the 10-day prayer meeting when these 3,000 people were saved and baptized.

When you track the uh church to the New Testament, you find this constant reliance on prayer.

They believed that God had both the power and the willingness to answer prayer.

I believe that as well.

What would happen today if prayer became our very first instinct, not our last resort?

Miracles and unity follow a praying church, praying together.

God answers prayer.

He is still on the throne, and he's as capable of answering prayer today as he has ever been, and he always answers prayer.

The greatest characteristics of the church are found in the Word of God.

Great churches are they're they're in the Bible.

They're fellowshipping with each other, they're faithful in prayer.

Number four, a great church lives in expectation.

Listen to verse 43.

Verse 43 says, Fear came upon every soul.

Many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

I mean, these people were were, God was doing some great things.

Um when it says this passage here that says, Great fear came upon every soul.

The word fear in this verse has the meaning of awe, a feeling of respect or reverence mixed with dread and wonder.

The great, great fear, great awe, great, great uh uh expectation came upon all of them.

They expected God to move.

They expected God to work, and God did.

Miracles followed their faith.

I'm telling you, the reason we're sitting here today with hundreds of people together is because your pastor and his wife, they expected God to work.

They started this church and they they believed that God was going to do something great.

They had faith in him, and he has that, and he does do great things.

I've been a follower of Jesus for 55 years.

I'm here to tell you he is alive.

He is loving, he is kind, he is full of grace and truth, he will work miracles in your life if you simply ask in faith.

If you trust him, he will work in your life.

He'll work in your life.

He's alive, and he's faithful.

Number five, a great church lives generously.

Again, verse 44 says this.

They continued steadfastly and daily with one accord in the temple, in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.

They were praising God.

They were having faith, they were, they were, I'm sorry, verse 40, I read the verse, wrong verse.

Verse 44.

All that believed were together, they had all things common.

They sold their possessions and goods, they parted them to every man, all men, as every man had need.

They were generous.

Now, this generosity that we see in this early church, it wasn't forced.

It wasn't because they had to do it.

Um, it flowed from love.

They gave their time, they gave their talent, they gave their treasure, they gave their finances easily, freely.

Their tithes and their special offerings were not motivated by pressure.

It wasn't because the the apostles were preaching to them that, hey, look, if you you're not right with God, if you don't do this, this or that.

No, they weren't, that wasn't, that wasn't the motivation.

They were motivated by love.

They had a love for what for each other, they had a love for Jesus, they were thankful for what Jesus had done for them.

And that's the way our giving needs to be.

Our giving should flow from hearts of love and gratitude to God.

When the Apostle Paul was encouraging the church at Corinth to give a special missions offering, here's what he said.

He said, he reminded them that Jesus had sacrificed for them.

And not to give, not of necessity, not because you have to give, but because of a heart of love.

He said this, 2 Corinthians 8.9.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Why do we give?

Why do we support the church?

Because he has given to us.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.

How rich was he?

He had everything.

He's the creator of everything.

He had it all.

But he gave, he made himself poor.

How poor?

Oh, he left it all.

He lost it all.

He left heaven, he came to this earth, he walked on streets of dirt.

So someday we can walk on streets of gold.

He sacrificed his own life.

He gave everything for us.

And so now we give back to him, not because we have to, not because we're gonna be criticized if we don't.

We give it back to him because he's given to us.

And because we want to show our love to him.

We want to help to send out the gospel.

A great church has joyful worship and real relationships.

Verses 46 and 47.

I started to read a moment ago.

They continued daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.

Now look at this.

This is that sixth thought.

Praising God, having favor with the people, and the Lord added the church daily such as should be saved.

They were joyful worship.

They had real relationships.

They broke bread in the homes and they ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

Joy marked their gatherings.

Their worship happened in the homes and in the temple and wherever they were.

Relationships were sincere, not surface level.

You know, we so desperately, we need to have genuine, sincere relationships.

We crave for that.

I do, and I and you do as well.

We're humans.

We want sincere, genuine relationships, but they don't happen by accident.

We have to work on those.

We need to create some spaces for real joy and genuine relationship.

My wife and I, we we recently, five years ago, we moved to Florida.

In a long story, but we had gone, we'd gone from California to to to uh to China.

We stayed there for several years, started this ministry, this Barnabas 1040 ministry that we have going now where we support all those national pastors.

And then during the COVID and other things happened, we we we had to come back to the States, and so we did.

And we moved into a place where we know we don't know anybody.

But we we we don't know anybody there.

We knew nobody.

But we found a little church, and you know what we do?

Now, a lot of Sundays we're gone, I'm out preaching somewhere, but if we're there on a Sunday, we invite some we invite somebody over to our house after after after church for lunch.

And we're and we just we're just bringing people over to around.

You know why?

We want to get connected.

We don't want to just be there.

We want to we want to have real connection with people where we have loving relationships with others around us.

Your pastor so and his wife are so good at that.

I mean, just incredible, just amazing.

Um, preacher, I I can't, I you asked me to stay at your house.

I I can't.

I don't need have we ever had anybody ask us to stay at their home?

We've had pastors say, no, pastors, we've had pastors say, I put you with uh Joe Joe Blow over here in his house.

We've had that.

I never had a pastor say, Well, put you at our house.

Whoa.

I thought maybe I was in trouble.

But uh it's it that's just wonderful.

Having this joyful relationship with each other, this becoming your your spiritual family.

One last thought.

A great insurance, a great church impacts the world.

Wrapping it up in verse 47, it says, praising God, having favor with all the people.

Now look at this.

The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Every day, people are being saved.

How many people should would you like to see saved?

I'd like to see about seven a week at least.

I mean, if you're gonna be like them, every day, somebody's getting saved.

People are being saved daily.

Um great churches don't just grow by people from other churches coming in.

They go, they go out, and they reach people with the gospel.

In our home, in our neighborhood neighborhoods, in our in our jobs, uh we're we're talking to people.

We're sharing the gospel.

They're seeing something's different in us.

And we're and we're gladly talking to them about the difference that Christ has made.

And I'm not talking about being a nutcase out there where you're standing on the street corner screaming and yelling at people.

Um we used to do that.

Let's not do that anymore.

We used to do that as independent fundamental Baptists, right?

Let's don't do that.

Um let's let's uh I mean I I shouldn't say that.

If if you if you just you still do street preaching?

If you do, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

That's okay.

I don't mind if you do, but be nice about it, will you?

I mean, at least don't at least don't just spit at people or something, you know, as they go by, you know.

I I I've I've I've done some of that.

Don't don't do it.

I uh God's God's finally got me to the point where I remember one day some guy, I was I was trying to do street preaching, and the guy says to me, he comes up to me, he says, you know what, he says, I don't want to hear that.

I said, you know what?

Ten seconds after you die and go to hell, man, you'll wish you had heard it.

He just really moved his heart to me.

I mean, after that, he just said, Man, I love you.

What is it that you'd like to tell me about Jesus?

No, actually, he tried to hit me.

So, so you know, let's put let's be let's let's put out the gospel, but let's be kind to people.

Let's reach out to them with love the way Jesus would.

Great churches, they go.

Evangelism is the natural overflow of healthy discipleship.

And whenever we reach out to people with love and concern and grace, they respond to it.

Let's try to follow Jesus.

So, how are we doing on reaching those that are without?

Let me wrap it up.

Great church is not built on personalities, it's not built on performances, it's not built on programs, it's built on devotion to God, connection with each other, passion for the world.

I've been talking to followers of Jesus today, but perhaps you're not yet a follower of Christ.

Maybe you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as your savior.

Let me just tell you something.

You are loved here.

You're loved here.

You're welcome here.

I came into that, into that little Baptist church, landmark missionary Baptist Church in Watsonville, California at the age of 20.

Messed up high school dropout, two tours in Vietnam.

I mean, not I'm talking about combat tours in Vietnam.

And I come walking in the door, and I thought to myself, nobody there's nobody here like me.

There's nobody here that even really wants me here.

I'm here because my parents come to church here, and they're the ones who invited me in today.

But I was so wrong.

Those people, they loved me, they welcomed me, and it's the same thing for you.

You come inside this door, you're seeking something, you're seeking someone who can feel the emptiness in your heart.

I was.

I needed something inside.

I knew something was wrong.

I just didn't know what it was.

And that night, on a Wednesday night, at the age of 20, I walked down the aisle at the invitation time, and I knelt at the altar and I said, Dear God, I know something's wrong with me.

I got a problem.

And I don't know, I don't know how to fix it.

And Lord, if you're real, would you please come into my life?

I believe in you.

I believe you died for me.

Would you, would you, would you change it?

Would you fix me?

Would you help me?

Would you make me your would you make me your child?

And I'm telling you, I got up off the my aisle, my uh my knees at that altar on that Wednesday night.

I was still in the army at the time, waiting to get to be discharged.

And that Thursday morning when I drove back over to the army, it was not the same man.

I'm not talking about that God, you know, I was reformed.

Oh no, no, I was not reformed.

I was totally transformed.

I was changed.

God will change you as well.

He'll fix that thing that's messed up inside you.

But you gotta let him.

You gotta be willing to come to him and ask him.

And if this morning you would be willing to say, Lord, I need you.

I know something's wrong.

I can't fix it myself.

Would you please come into my life and would you be my savior?

Would you make me your child?

He will.

He said this, he would in no wise cast out anyone who comes to him.

And nobody, nobody who comes to Jesus is ever turned away.

Never.

You're not gonna be the first one.

You come to Christ and He'll receive you and change your life for the better.