Acts 2:42-47 - They Devoted Themselves to the Apostles’ Teaching and Community

(upbeat music)

- Well, good morning, Springhouse.

It's a good morning.

There's a lot of mothers here.

Happy Mother's Day for the third,

fourth, eighth time this morning.

But wait, we can't celebrate moms enough.

Is that true?

That's very true.

I am so grateful for the gift of moms.

Welcome this morning.

If you're joining us on live stream,

thanks for joining us as well.

A couple of announcements before we get rolling here.

And rolling, I'm going to get going

because I've got a lot to share this morning.

So, first of all, this is actually for the men.

Father's Day is not today,

and we're not celebrating you today, dads.

But June 15th is Father's Day weekend,

and we're going white water rafting.

And if you'd like to be a part of that,

I need you to register in the app.

We are only going to take the certain allotted amount

that we have registered for this year.

So be sure to register.

This is for fathers and sons,

but you only have to be a son to go, age 14 and up, okay?

And then next week, Father Ray Cash is gonna be with us.

Father Ray Cash will be with us.

He is a faithful friend of Pastor Ronnie's

for a very long time.

And I heard Father Ray teach for the first time

actually at Pastor Ronnie's retirement service.

And one of the things that I appreciated about Father Ray

when he brought the word that morning

is that service that we had to honor Pastor Ronnie,

during his retirement service,

was really to honor Pastor Ronnie.

But when Father Ray came, he really gave a message

and he pointed it to the Lord.

He pointed it to Jesus.

And I was real excited to hear the words that he shared.

And so I've been wanting him to come ever since then.

That was over three years ago.

And so next Sunday, he's gonna come and be with us.

And I believe that he has a word from the Lord for us, okay?

So be prepared for that and come and be a part of that.

And then lastly, some of you know John O'Dea,

but John O'Dea went home to be with the Lord this week.

John is my uncle, it's Mary, Mary Weathers' father.

And we're gonna have a celebration of life service here

on Wednesday night at five o'clock.

So if you have capacity in your schedule

to come and be a part of that,

we invite you to come and be a part of that.

Pray for the Mary Weathers and the O'Dea family

as people are traveling in and we prepare for that, okay?

Sound good?

All right, we're gonna continue in our series, his church,

and we're gonna read the scripture

and then I'm gonna kinda set you guys up

for what we're gonna be doing for actually

between now and June.

So would you stand with me?

And let's read from the book of Acts chapter two.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching

"and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

"Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders

"and signs performed by the apostles.

"All the believers were together

"and had everything in common.

"They sold property and possessions

"to give to anyone who had need.

"Every day they continued to meet together

"in the temple courts.

"They broke bread in their homes

"and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

"praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

"And the Lord added to their number daily

"those who are being saved."

Father, I thank you for the transformative power

of your word.

I pray, Lord, that it would work in us today.

I pray, Lord, that my meaningless stuff

would fall to the ground and be forgotten,

but everything you have for us would change us for eternity.

We love you today.

In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

You may be seated.

So I mentioned that Father Ray Cash is coming next week.

We have been in this series, His Church,

for a few weeks now,

and we have looked at the history of the church.

We've been looking, Pastor Justin talked about the church,

the church, and the church, and we talked about that.

We talked about the purpose of the church.

Last week, Pastor Ronnie brought the mission of the church.

Who is the mission of the church?

You are, you're the mission of the church.

And so we've been laying a foundation,

but if you're anything like me,

and I've been kind of dubbed the object lesson pastor

here at Springhouse,

if you're anything like me, I need a model.

I need to see it kind of working out.

I need to see it fleshed out.

And guess what?

He doesn't leave us high and dry.

He gives us a model on how the church should operate

and should look like, and it's here in Acts chapter two.

And so over the next several weeks,

between now and the end of June,

we're actually gonna break this scripture down

piece by piece, and we're gonna go through

what it looked like in the early church,

and we're gonna see what God would have for us today

in his word through what is modeled

in the early church in Acts chapter two.

Now, I asked Father Ray to come and speak

before I laid out this part of the sermon schedule.

And so here's what's gonna happen.

Originally, the process was going to be,

I was gonna talk today about the apostles' teaching,

and then next week, we're gonna talk about community,

and the next week, talk about prayer.

But Father Ray already has a word

that I believe is an on-time word

for our church for next week.

So today, I'm gonna talk about the apostles' teaching

and community, we're gonna hear from Father Ray

the next week, and then the next week,

we're gonna pick up with prayer and move forward.

You got it?

Okay, so that's what's going on,

and so I'm gonna get on my horse and ride today,

and I'm excited about what I believe the Lord has for us.

My earliest church experience,

my earliest church experience is actually

when I was three years old.

I lived in Hawaii.

My brother, Joey, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

We lived on a base there,

and my earliest church experience really

was living on that base,

because there was this bus ministry,

this church bus ministry that came around

and picked up people for church.

Now, I was only three years old,

and I saw this bright yellow bus,

and I wanted to get on this bus and go to church.

And of course, being three years old,

my mom's kinda like, "I don't know about this.

"I'm not gonna send my three-year-old

"on the church bus to go to church."

And so I was kinda, I believe I was kinda distraught

and upset about that.

Well, the next week comes along,

and the bus comes, and the guy's got candy corn,

and he begins to hand me candy corn,

and I was in probably a pull-up,

and my mom says a long, like a long t-shirt.

I got on the bus, and I went to church.

I went to church.

I remember going to church.

I remember sitting there in the back,

and I remember being, at this point,

of course, my mind has been developed,

I was the only Caucasian in this place,

and it was a happening church.

I'm telling you, they were dancing and singing

and praising the Lord, and I was just sitting in the back,

just so happy, eating my candy corn, one at a time,

just throwing back candy corn.

And so I got back on the bus, got home,

and guess who was waiting for me when I got off the bus?

My mama, okay?

You think my mama was happy that I got on the bus?

I don't think so.

How many of you all would've been kinda scared

if your three-year-old disappeared

for a couple hours on Sunday morning?

At least I was going to the house of the Lord, okay?

At least that's where I was.

And I kinda believe it was prophetic in some way,

because my wife and I run a school,

and so there's the school bus.

I feel like I've been devoted to the church

since that age, and I like candy.

So I mean, you can't go around.

It's prophetic across the board.

That's my earliest church experience,

and I believe that for a majority of my life,

I have been devoted to the church.

The scripture that we read today,

the Bible tells us that the early Christians,

the disciples and the first group

that would identify themselves as Christians,

they were devoted, they devoted themselves, devoted.

You know, we live in a culture that is anti-committal.

We live in a culture, in a society, in a day and time,

where yes doesn't necessarily mean yes, yes means maybe.

Yes means, eh, I'm gonna tell you yes,

I'm gonna let you plan for my yes,

but whether I show up

and whether I do what I said I'm gonna do,

that's up for grabs.

I may do it, I may not do it.

We just live in a saturated society

where our word isn't really our word,

and that's a problem.

That's a big problem.

Aren't you glad that Jesus didn't roll like that,

that you can only sorta believe what Jesus said,

that he was fickle with his words?

No, no, Jesus was very plain with what he said,

and everything Jesus says comes to pass.

But we live in this culture that says

don't worry about actually doing

what you say you're going to do.

We often will devote ourselves

to things that bring temporary pleasure but long-term pain.

We will devote ourselves to temporary pleasure

but things that bring long-term pain.

Being devoted simply means to be loving, loyal,

and faithful to something or someone.

And of all the people groups on the planet

that I can think of that carry and just rock devotion,

and I know that there are some exceptions to this,

but by and large the population on the planet

who knows how to rock devotion is really moms.

Moms know how to rock devotions.

Moms are incredibly devoted individuals,

incredibly, incredible devoted people

when it comes to their children.

Moms take care of their kids,

and we have a lot of rock star moms here.

This is my mom and my siblings,

and my mom is an incredible mom.

My mom is incredibly devoted.

In fact, in this particular season of our life,

my mom gets to serve over at the school

with my brother and me,

and I can just watch her as she's serving.

You know what the fuel is

that keeps her coming back to the school and serving?

It's not the work that she does of her hands.

It's not all of the things.

She serves because, and she loves being there in the fuel,

it's because we're there, and she wants to be with us.

Moms are incredibly devoted.

They are there when their kids need them.

They're there in the midnight hour.

They're there when a kid, their child breaks their arm.

They're there when they need, when they fail,

when they succeed, moms champion their kids.

There's something special inside a mom

where they package and embody devotion.

Being devoted and having a devoted lifestyle

conveys a sense of priority.

It says you are a priority, or this thing is a priority.

Let me ask you a question.

What is your devotion to the Lord this morning?

What type of priority have you placed in on your walk

and in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is your relationship, is your devotion to the Lord

a sometimes when I get around to it type of walk,

type of faith, type of lifestyle?

Or is it day in, day out, 24/7, he's a part of my life,

he is my life, he is my everything?

Listen, there are people who will talk to you

in their free time, and then there are people

who will clear their schedule to talk to you.

Those are two different things.

There are people who will talk to you in their free time,

and then there are people who will free their time

to talk to you.

Those are two different things,

and one of those populations speaks to devotion.

If you are devoted to someone, then you will move things.

You know, I've got a friend right now in my life

that I just literally, in preparing this message,

it just kinda dawned on me,

he's kinda moving mountains all the time

to come and be with me when I need somebody,

and I'm just like, man, Lord, help me to recognize

and appreciate that so much, so much more.

I have people in my life who are devoted to me.

You have people in your life who are devoted to you,

who are devoted to you.

My mom is devoted to us kids, that's,

I get my siblings there, and you know,

we kids are devoted to our parents sometimes, aren't we?

Right, just sometimes, you know,

one of the things that, my mom loves the cicadas.

I'm being sarcastic.

My mom actually hates the cicada.

In fact, the first time that they came,

I remember I went to their house at the time,

and the cicadas were here.

My mom didn't wanna go outside.

She just was not about to go outside

with all of the flying cicadas and everything,

but you know, when she had to go to her car,

my brother and I repaid her loving, caring devotion

by when she going to the car, we would grab the trees,

and we would shake them as hard as we can,

and the cicadas would fly all over her,

and she would scream and be so excited.

Mom, we should try that again today.

Coming over to the house, we'll come over,

we'll shake the trees and let the cicadas fly.

Somebody actually grabbed the cicada this week,

put honey on it and ate it and said this,

I'm John the Baptist, and I said, no, that is not a locust.

It's a cicada, you know, don't eat cicadas, guys.

They're not good for you.

But moms are extremely devoted,

and I would even go as far to say

that mothers are devoted despite how you treat them.

And what a model of our Christ, Jesus, our Savior,

how devoted He is to us despite our devotion to Him.

He is extremely devoted to us to the point of death,

to the point of death.

Moms are extremely devoted people.

I remember when I was seven or eight years old,

I was at the swimming pool, and all of my friends

were dumping into the deep end of the pool,

and I wanted to also jump into the deep end of the pool,

and so I get out there to the edge,

and I was like one, two, three, four, five, six,

and I would go back and forth to the edge of the pool,

and I would get ready to jump,

and I so wanted to start to jump in,

and one of those times after about 30 minutes

probably of trying, going back and forth,

chickening out, I went one, two,

and my mom shoved me into the pool.

My mom was devoted to teaching me,

letting me experience things,

and so I would experience it,

and guess what happened when I got out of the pool?

I got out, and I was able to jump in.

I was able to jump in.

Moms have a way of knowing what you need, right?

They are devoted, and so these apostles,

these disciples, these followers of Christ,

it says they devoted themselves, they devoted themselves,

they were loyal to, they were faithful to themselves

to the apostles' teaching, to the apostles' teaching.

Have you ever had a good teacher in your life?

Who's had a good teacher in your life?

Yeah, teachers really make impacts on our lives.

You know, I had teachers, my favorite teachers

when I was in school, my favorite teachers

were the ones who didn't make us do any homework,

who didn't make us do any work,

who let us just talk in class

and do whatever we wanted to do,

but you know, as I lived my life and I go forward,

I realized that none of those people

actually cared about me.

They allowed me to lean into my temporary pleasure,

but they caused for me a longevity of ignorance and pain,

but the teacher that I respect, Miss Smith,

Miss Coble, who's back there in the back,

Bruce and Jill Coble are here today with us,

Miss Coble was my teacher, there are teachers in my life

who were not going to let me get away with anything,

isn't that right, Miss Coble?

Wasn't gonna let me get away with a thing.

No matter how much I sweet-talked them,

no matter how much presence I gave,

it doesn't matter how cute I was,

you're not getting away with this,

you're gonna be held accountable for the expectation.

I remember my senior English teacher,

she would come around, there's a story she tells

at the beginning of the year,

I don't have time to share it,

but she has this basket of lifesavers

and she would pass them around

whenever we were having a hard day,

but I tell you that midterm paper came around,

I was having a rough season, a rough patch,

and she came around with that lifesaver and she said,

"Get as many of those as you need

"'cause you're gonna turn in this paper

"and it's gonna be on time."

She held me to the fire, but you know all these days,

all these years later, I look back and I realize,

that teacher cared about me, that teacher loved me,

that teacher was devoted to me, she was devoted to me.

Sometimes we would rather be entertained than grow.

Sometimes we would rather come in to the church

and listen to a teacher who will entertain us

with their big time personality than to be challenged

to grow and become more like Jesus Christ.

And I wanna tell you today that if you are here

and all you do on Sunday morning here at Springhouse

is that you're entertained, I wanna tell you

as the lead pastor, I want you to go find another church.

I want you to go find another church

if all your being is entertained because,

guys, I care about your soul and I care about your heart

and here's not the place to be entertained.

Here's the place to exalt Jesus Christ

and become more like him and to become more like him.

And so the apostles, whenever they committed themselves,

they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching,

the conveying of the word, the instruction of the word,

they conferred an authority to the apostles

and they submitted themselves to the apostles' word.

They showed up and they engaged.

They showed up and engaged and in addition to that,

they understood that they were never finished learning.

Guys, you are never finished learning.

You're never finished learning.

Ronnie, Pastor Ronnie, one time I was scheduled to speak,

this was many, many, many years ago,

I was scheduled to speak out here

and I just started reading a book

and I finished the book prior to speaking

and it was a great, great read.

It was a Christian book and man,

it was talking all types of things

to get me hyped up about the things of the Lord

and I wanted the church to be set on fire for this book

and so I gave this entire message and I was excited

and I was enthusiastic and everyone was responding

kind of about how you guys are responding to me right now,

just crickets, you know,

and I was kind of discouraged and distraught

and so that week, Pastor Ronnie,

you know I learned with object lessons,

so Pastor Ronnie pulled me in the backpack here

and he grabbed a sheet of paper and a lighter

and he grabbed a log and he took the lighter

and he lit the piece of paper and it went up in flames

and then he took the lighter and he held it to the log

and he talked to me as he was holding the fire to the log

and he said, "How quickly did that paper disappear

"when I lit it on fire?"

And I said, "Well, of course, it was immediate.

"It went real fast."

And he said, "And how quick do you think this log

"is gonna dissipate whenever I hold this fire?"

I said, "Well, it's gonna take a while."

And I said, "It's gonna probably burn for a long, long time."

And he said, "There are going to be many fads.

"There are gonna be many books.

"There are gonna be many billboards.

"There are gonna be a lot of flash and bang out there

"that you can grab a hold to,

"but when you are leading people,

"never negate the power of a nudge.

"Never negate the power of a nudge."

And it was transformative in my life

and you guys are benefactors of that object lesson

because I realize that it is more important

with a group this size at all different points

in their journey that we nudge along toward Christ,

that we nudge along becoming more and more like him,

then we try to get somebody to jump over

all of the things that they need to grow from

because when you get over here,

you don't know how to handle yourself

and you end up retreating back

to all of the things that you missed.

So there is power in nudging along.

I'm still learning.

Guys, I'm learning from you.

I have sat in your youth pastor's youth group

for the last four months and I have listened to him speak.

James Jansen is a phenomenal, phenomenal preacher.

He's a phenomenal teacher

and over the last two times I was there,

the Holy Spirit was so good in his teaching

that I was weeping, I was crying in the message

because the Lord was speaking to me.

He was teaching me from what this man is saying.

There have been encounters that I've had in the hallway,

in the corridors with you where you will say something

and the Lord is teaching me, he's sharpening me.

Guys, nobody is exempt from learning.

You are never done learning.

Iron is sharpening iron.

When we come into this place,

when we're in our relationships with one another,

we should be growing to become more and more

and more like Jesus, like Jesus.

I cannot stand when people have said,

people have, in the last three months,

somebody said this to me, I've read the Bible.

I've read the Bible.

I know it back in front.

I just, I don't know why God's not working in my life.

I've read the Bible, I've done the stuff.

Can you recommend a book?

(congregation laughing)

You are never finished reading the Bible.

You are never finished reading the Bible.

Guys, the word tells us in Hebrews,

the word of God is active and alive.

It's alive and active.

It's sharper than any double-edged sword.

That means that I can read a passage a thousand times

and the Holy Spirit speak to me a thousand different ways.

It is alive and active.

This book is the book of life.

It is the foundation of our lives.

We stand on this truth.

This is how we know the very God that we proclaim

in the streets and in our lives and how we live.

It is because of the knowledge of his word.

Guys, can I just add to that for just a second?

I think I said this earlier,

but the sufficiency of the blood of Christ

needs nothing added to it.

The sufficiency of the blood of Christ

that covers you and gives you the remission of your sins,

it needs nothing added to it.

We have the word of God.

We've been given the word of God, what a gift.

And the people of God in Acts

were connected around the word of God.

The people of God were connected around the word of God.

When we gather here and whenever we are in our life

walking this journey out with each other,

we should be connected by the word and the truth of God.

The center of our relationship should be founded on him.

We should be spurring one another on in the Lord.

You know, there's these big things happening right now

in church world where churches are marketing

to bring people into the church.

I read a story, I heard a story this past week

how a preacher had a bull ride

in the middle of the sanctuary.

It was a big day.

They invited everybody to come and he got on the bull

and he rode the bull until he fell off

and then probably knocked some sense into his head

when he fell off and then he came up

and he preached the message.

And it was all to get a draw

for people to come into the church.

Now I'm gonna tell you, I don't mind doing special events.

I think special things are fun and I think they're okay.

But let me tell you what the Bible tells us

in John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

If Christ be lifted up, he will draw all men to himself.

We are not here to grow a big great church

with a bunch of bodies.

We are here to exalt Jesus Christ.

We are here to exalt the savior of the world

and he will do the work of drawing all people to himself.

There was another church that I read about

and the church was in massive decline.

It was dying.

It was just a rapid decline.

And so the pastor put up all around town

that he said a flyer that says the church is dying

and we're gonna have a funeral for the church.

We want you to come next Sunday.

There's gonna be a church funeral

because the church is dying.

And so they put all the flyers out.

Do you know that Sunday the church was packed.

The church was packed out.

They didn't have any seats left

because everybody was there for the funeral

of the church that was dying.

And so they had a casket there in the church

and they had flowers on it and all of this stuff.

They did the whole thing.

And he opened the casket and he said,

"I want everybody to come down to the casket

and I want you to pay your respects to this dying church

that we are here to celebrate

and to recognize the death of the church."

And so everybody started to get up

and as they came to the coffin and looked inside the coffin,

they were embarrassed and they were uneasy

as they walked away.

Because inside the coffin,

mounted up on a slant, was a mirror

and a sign that read, "The church is dead because of this."

The church is dead because of this.

Guys, the church is not a program.

It's not the building.

We are the church.

We are the church.

The life of the church is in our interaction

and who we put at the center of our interaction.

And the center of our interaction should be Jesus Christ.

At the center of what we are doing

and what we're about should be Jesus Christ.

And if he's not the center, then certainly the church,

well, you might have a good rally or a good time together,

but you're certainly not growing in the Lord.

We want to be about exalting Jesus Christ.

Here's the thing, the early church, the disciples,

the followers, the Christians at the time,

there was a hunger.

And I believe that hunger is the currency of the kingdom.

Hunger is the currency of the kingdom.

What are you hungry for?

Who are you hungry for?

What is your spiritual diet?

What are you feasting off of?

Are you only eating 30 minutes a week on Sunday morning

and allowing that to sustain your spiritual journey

until you come back here the next week?

That's not enough.

That's not enough.

The disciples, the Christians,

they were hungry for his presence.

They were hungry for his word.

They were hungry for deep relationship and connection.

And I believe that at times, friends,

that we can curb our hunger with counterfeit food

that leaves us spiritually malnourished.

We begin to feed ourselves things that are not of the Lord,

that are of the world.

We begin to put the church in the context

and we view it through the world's lens.

And we begin to pick up junk food.

We're on a Lay's potato chip diet.

I need somebody to get me some broccoli

and some Brussels sprouts spiritually.

I need somebody to be dishing to me some things

that will help me grow and help me develop in the Lord,

that will help me grow to be more like him.

But boys, those Lay's potato chips taste so good.

Lay's potato chips taste good for a moment,

but you're gonna feel it later.

You're gonna feel it later.

We want to be a church that is mature.

We wanna be a church that graduates

from drinking milk to eating meat.

To really diving into the deep truths of our God.

So they weren't attached, the disciples,

the Christians in the early church,

they were not attached to personalities

or platforms or performances.

They were hungry for the word.

They were hungry for the word

and they showed up for church.

They showed up and they engaged.

Can I tell you guys, showing up for church is not a chore,

it's a privilege.

Showing up on Sunday morning, it should not be a chore,

it should be a privilege.

Now some of you made your mama

feel like it was a chore this morning.

(congregation murmurs)

But can I tell you something?

For the moms who are believers here,

some of you are here for the very first time

or very first time in a long time.

Can I tell you that there is no greater gift

that you could give your mama

than to show up to church next week?

Show up to church the next week?

Because there are a lot of mamas who have been praying

for their kids, asking the Lord to reveal himself

in a very, very powerful, real, extraordinary way

so that your life can be transformed.

And so if Mother's Day is a reason to get you to come,

then to your mama, so be it.

She's trusting the Holy Spirit to minister to you.

Showing up for church is not a chore, it's a privilege.

Hebrews 10, 24 says this,

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on

"toward love and good deeds,

"not giving up meeting together

"as some are in the habit of doing,

"but encouraging one another.

"And all the more as you see the day approaching."

And guys, I believe that the day is approaching.

It is coming sooner and sooner, every hour.

After we leave here and we go to lunch,

we are that much closer to Jesus Christ splitting the sky.

Glory, hallelujah, I cannot wait for him to split this sky.

Guys, I want to be yoked with people who are like-minded.

I wanna be yoked with believers who want to spur me on

and are spurred on in growing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

My family and I, when we plan a vacation,

we don't miss Sundays.

Now, that's not a pat on our back like,

"Oh, go O'Deas, you don't miss Sundays."

You know, attendance record, no.

I cannot stand missing being in the presence

of God with you all.

I cannot stand it.

I just, it is more desirous for me to be here

on a Sunday morning with you

than to be on a beach in Florida.

To be at Disney, to be at a theme park.

I want to be here and if for some reason we're not here,

I guarantee you that we are in a church somewhere

yoking with other believers and worshiping the Lord.

I don't wanna miss out.

I'm devoted to the Lord.

I am devoted to church, I'm devoted.

I want to be in the presence of the Lord.

And I want to be worshiping the Lord.

So, what is the litmus test for a sound teacher?

I think this is important because if it's modeled

that we engage and we show up to hear people teach the word,

we need to know that what we're getting is right and true.

So here's the litmus test.

Number one, does it line up with God's word?

Does it line up with God?

Anything that comes from this platform,

it should be lining up with the word of God.

That is the place, that's the foundation.

Now guess what?

You don't know if it lines up with the word of God

if you're not in the word of God, right?

So you need an active relationship with the word.

I don't wanna come up and give you mess

and you not know it's mess, okay?

It's gotta line up with God's word.

Number two, are you challenged more

than you are entertained?

I mentioned this earlier.

Are you challenged more than you're entertained?

I'm so grateful that we have, not me,

but we have some people on staff that can come up

and really get us really laughing and growing

and laughing and going and all that stuff.

And they bring truth though.

They bring it down to a point of truth.

It's okay to have some levity.

It's okay for us to interact in that way.

But if you are leaving here more entertained

than you are challenged, then there is a problem.

Then there is a problem.

We should be growing in our walk.

We should be growing in the Lord.

When you hear teaching, the last thing is,

do you leave thinking about issues or thinking about Jesus?

Do you leave thinking more about issues or Jesus?

And as long as I'm in this position,

I will not render this platform to somebody

who wants to come out and talk all about issues.

Why?

Because Jesus Christ has the answer

to every single issue you can bring to the stage.

And if we will focus on him, he will fix all of it.

He will save you from all of it.

And so, does it line up with his word?

Are you challenged or entertained?

Which is it?

And do you leave thinking about issues or Jesus?

My prayer is that when you leave Springhouse each Sunday,

you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good

and that you think about the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the scripture continues.

It says they devoted themselves to fellowship

and the breaking of bread.

Fellowship is actually becoming a antiquated word,

like the fellowship hall, fellowship,

I'm gonna fellowship, let's go fellowship together.

But the meaning is still intact.

I want you to understand that the fellowship

of the believers back in the early church, guys,

this was not normal.

I want you to understand it was not a normal thing.

Like we sometimes read it and we're like,

okay, I can get behind it.

They were getting together, they were going to church,

basically listening to the apostles.

They were getting together and hanging out together.

They were breaking bread and they were praying, right?

All of these things.

I want you to understand culturally, this was not normal.

Why would they write about it if it was normalized?

That's like me going up to James this morning,

say, hey, James, I woke up this morning, came to church.

He'd be like, good story, great, appreciate it, yeah.

Why would they write something that was normalized?

They're writing to let us know the extraordinary things

that they were doing.

Being a Christian in the early church,

there was no willy-nilly-ness about it

because the minute they walked outside the doors,

they were persecuted.

The minute they walked out of the church door,

they were persecuted and here's the thing,

the things that they were learning inside the context

of the church, inside the context from the apostles

was how to react to the persecution

that was about to happen and you know what it was?

It wasn't get out your sword, it was turn the other cheek.

It wasn't pull out your sword, it was love them anyway.

It wasn't pull out your sword, it was forgive them.

And it was an honor, it was a badge of honor

to be persecuted for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I wonder how many of us have just willy-nilly

gone about our faith because there's not any persecution

in our life so it doesn't really matter.

He gave his life.

He gave his life for you to encounter a dying world

and to convey and model to them

a Christ-like mentality and action

so that the Holy Spirit would have an agent

and a platform to work in their life

so that they could be grafted in for eternity as well.

They devoted themselves to fellowship

in the breaking of bread despite the persecution

that was happening.

Being a Christian, being a Christian,

to be Christ-like was not something

that you proudly proclaimed just so that you could get

a pat on the back.

It was to say I am other than the world.

And it continues to be in a lot of areas

counter-cultural today.

This is Alice Cooper.

You guys know this guy?

He says this, "Drinking beer is easy,

"trashing your hotel room is easy,

"but being a Christian, that's a tough call.

"That's a real rebellion."

I'm here to tell you this morning

that if you are a believer and you're actually living

a lifestyle of Christianity in this world,

you are a rebel.

You are a rebel against the world,

against the world's vices,

against the world's direction.

You are a rebel.

And the world doesn't like it.

The world doesn't like it,

nor does the world know how to handle it

because they want you to fight back

with the way they fight you.

And if you are a believer and you are living

like the Lord tells you to live

and you're following instructions here,

come at me.

Come at me the way that you'll come at me.

And it is an honor for me to be persecuted

for loving you like Christ loved you.

So what'd you learn in church today?

I learned I was a rebel.

What we're really talking about is community.

When they get together and they fellowship

and they break bread,

you're talking about community.

Who is your community?

Who are you in relationship with?

Who are you walking with?

You should never have to convince,

listen, we should never have to convince

the people of God that they need to gather together.

God created us for relationship.

God created you to be in relationship with people.

I remember my friend Ryan Davis,

I remember going to his house as a young adult

for the very first time and I was new to,

fairly new to the church and I went over there

and I was just an insecure teen

and I walked into his house and I didn't have any friends.

And I remember walking in the house,

there were about 25 guys there.

And when I walked in, all of these guys went,

"Kevin, it's good to see you."

They all came up and gave me hugs and things like that.

I remember that moment

because I had never felt that way before.

And if you are walking in community with believers

who see Christ, then you will always be seen

and you will be loved.

You will be heard, you will have dignity conferred to you,

not because they're so perfect, but because He's perfect

and they complete and perfect through them.

And so, we're not gonna like this next statement here,

but God uses people to accomplish His plans.

I'm talking about the person you don't like.

I'm talking about that boss that gets on your nerves.

I'm talking about that person that just you can't stand.

I'm talking about the one who gossips about you.

I'm talking about God uses people.

Wait a minute, He doesn't just use Christians.

Well, He sure used Pharaoh, didn't He?

He will use people.

You know, anybody in here like a planner?

Who's like a good planner?

Like you plan everything out and everything.

I have grown to be a planner in my life.

And in that, you know, you start to go and,

is there anybody who can't stand planners

like they get on your nerves 'cause they expose in you

that you're not a good planner?

Anybody?

Can I tell you that God has probably put that planner

in your life to grow you, to become better at that

so that your yes can be yes and your no can be no?

Listen, see, we have a tendency to shun the people

who are put in our life that bring adversity

instead of recognizing God may be bringing this adversity,

allowing it to happen in our lives

to illuminate something that makes us better,

that causes us to rise up and become more like Christ.

And especially if that somebody is somebody

who actually loves you, surely God's put them in your life.

What a different perspective.

We try to kick, get out of my life.

Stop illuminating my faults.

Right?

God uses people to accomplish his plans

and guys in the middle of that, people are people.

And we know how to people really well.

We are people, people, people.

We tend to take this concept of fellowship and community

and we view it through a worldly lens.

In other words, God has created for us a kingdom

where we can actually have God-given,

God-centered relationships,

meaningful relationships with one another.

And what we do is we take our worldly lens

and we put it on and we say,

I'm gonna navigate this through the world's perspective.

But can I tell you that the culture

has so perverted relationship.

The world has so got its claws in how community is done

that if we're looking at it through a worldly lens,

then we're not going to grow together

the way that God intends us to grow.

In fact, in fact, I would argue if we model community

the way God intends us to model community,

then the world will find that to be infectious

and they will be drawn in.

They will be drawn in.

We belong to a kingdom

and this kingdom is other than this world.

We have a king and he loves you.

He loves you and he's given us everything we need

in terms of how to live our lives.

And so you might have somebody in your life,

if you have somebody in your life,

you might have somebody in your life who is insecure.

I can't stand their insecurity.

I can't stand the way that they act.

I can't stand how needy they are.

Or maybe you have somebody in your life that's prideful.

They don't ever ask for help.

It just seems like every time I'm there,

they just, they don't need help.

They can do it all this stuff.

Or maybe you have somebody that's self-centered

and every action, everything that they choose to do

on their day to day is really,

they think of themselves first.

Any of those things relate to anybody here?

Here's what the God of the Bible would tell us to do

in those situations.

For the insecure person, he would say,

love them above their insecurity.

Love them above anything that they need.

Show them that you're not going anywhere

so that the Holy Spirit can get in

and shore up that insecurity

because you are modeling the love of Jesus Christ.

For the prideful person who doesn't need any help,

guess what, you show up joyfully and help

no matter what they say.

You continue to offer your help.

You continue to show up.

You continue to help.

And whenever they don't thank you,

whenever they look at you and say, I don't need it,

when they get upset because you've offered your,

you've offered your help or whatever,

you continue to show up because the Bible says

pride comes before the fall.

And what's gonna happen is eventually they're gonna fall

and guess who's gonna be there to catch them?

You are.

And whenever you catch them,

you're not gonna be there to say, oh, I told you so,

you should have let me help all along.

No, you catch them and you don't even mention the fact

that they were doing that themselves

and you say, I love you so much,

let me help you get up from this mess.

But what if they continue to be prideful?

Guess what, there's gonna be another fall for you to catch.

What about that self-centered person who just,

man, they just always,

everything that they do in their life,

it's like them first, it's them first, them first,

then everybody else, them first,

and it just seems like they're just so self-centered

or whatnot.

Love them above that.

Let them know, most self-centered people

who organize their entire life based on them,

somebody's walked out on their life.

Somebody has shaken the foundation,

but you can continue to show up and be a constant.

You can show up and love them through that

and eventually the Lord begins to break that down.

The world would say to insecure people,

get out of here, you're too needy.

The world would say to prideful people,

go ahead and do it yourself, I'll watch you fall.

The world would say to the self-centered person,

let's see how that works out for you,

I don't want anything to do with you,

I don't want him to be your friend

because you don't think about me.

So how in the world as Christians, as believers,

where do we derive the power to do these things?

Because it's hard, do you know in relationships,

you get about 80% in a relationship of what you want or need?

And what happens is, is you look at somebody else

and you see the 20% you're missing.

And we will so quickly divorce ourselves from the 80%

to go after the 20%.

And after we walk with the 20% for a while,

we realize we're missing the 80%.

And the 80% is gone.

What gives us the power to stay

when we're operating and looking at this deficiency of 20%?

Let me tell you something, every one of us has deficiencies.

Every one of us is broken, every one of us is human.

What gives us the power in the 20%?

It's the Holy Spirit.

You will receive power

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

We're gonna be dissecting this verse later in the year,

but we need the power of the Holy Spirit

to do this life-giving thing in community.

We need the power of the Holy Spirit.

I can't do it without the Holy Spirit's help.

And you can't do it either.

And so I want to be surrounded with like-minded people.

Who are you rolling with?

Who are you walking with?

Are they other-minded?

Is it foreign for you to be here in the mindset

that you carry on Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning?

Or are you surrounded with like-minded people

who spur you on to be like Christ Jesus?

Worship team, you can come out

'cause these people are getting antsy.

(congregation laughs)

Feelings are fickle, people.

Your feelings change, truth never changes.

Truth never changes.

And when you're around like-minded people,

you don't have to worry about what they say about you

because you've been given the mind of Christ.

When you're with people who are like-minded

and they're focused on Christ,

so many of us will alter the whole course of our day,

the whole course of our action

because we're so afraid of what they might think about us.

But Jesus Christ has some truth to say about you.

And it's in his word.

And if you're around like-minded people,

then when they say something to you, they look at you

and they call out the things that they see in you

that are Christ-like.

They call out the truth in you about who God's created you

to be.

It was really hard, it's still hard for me today

to be around people.

And I get it, don't hear something I'm not saying.

I mean, I get jabbing and being around the guys

and people jabbing.

I can't take put-downs, it's hard for me

because I come from a whole,

there's a whole part of my story

where all I felt was a big put-down and let-down

and judged and walked on and hurt.

And that's a part of my story.

How do you know when you're in a group

of three or four people

and they're just jabbing just for Jess

that you don't know that that's a part of their story

and they start to step on some wounds from the past?

This is why the word tells us,

let nothing unwholesome come out of your mouth, right?

That then strike, he gives us,

he instructs us because he cares about us.

He tells us what we should and shouldn't do,

not because he's out to control our lives,

because he knows what's best.

I want to live in that weird community,

that other-minded community.

I don't wanna look like the world.

I want the world to go,

what in the world are those people doing?

That is, that's weird.

That's a group of people

that really actually love each other

and they're actually more liberated than anything you have.

And that's the community and the fellowship

that we're striving after,

bathed in the word, foundation in the truth.

Over in the book of James, it says,

"A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways."

And guys, if you're linking arms with people

who are not like-minded,

I don't wanna be yoked to instability.

I wanna be yoked to stability, some stable things.

There's enough instability around me.

I don't need to be unstable myself, right?

And so they were together.

They broke bread together.

They went to the table together.

Why did they go to the table?

To remember Jesus.

You think they have problems?

Do you think these were perfect people

getting together all the time, just perfect?

No, but here's the thing.

If you're married, you live with your spouse,

maybe some of you live in houses,

where when you live with someone,

when you spend a lot of time with someone,

it gets hard to hide.

You see the flaws real fast.

This is what they were doing.

They spent so much time together with one another

that you couldn't fake your way out of it.

I've got people in my life that can walk right into my house,

literally just walk in.

They can go to the cupboard, they can go to the freezer,

whatever they wanna do,

and I wouldn't even bat an eye

because I'm in such tight community with them.

That's the type of fellowship.

That's the type of community, the intimate connections

that we're asked to have with one another,

that we would be in each other's lives so much

that you can't hide.

Why?

So that they can call you out on a 20?

No, so that they can take you to the Lord

to get the healing you need, the correction you need,

to teach you what you need to do, because guess what?

They've also got a 20% that they need stuff with.

And you're speaking to each other's lives.

And so, guys, they gather together,

not because they were devoted to just the apostles teaching

or the breaking of bread or fellowship.

The main reason that they gather together

is 'cause they were devoted to Jesus.

Are you devoted to Jesus?

And if you're devoted to Jesus, I encourage you to show up

because there's some real good stuff when you do.

You are seen, you are loved, you are heard,

and it's not because of the broken people sitting next to you

it's because of this Christ Jesus

who's perfect in all of his ways.

Would you stand with me this morning

with those who are gonna minister, come forward?

We're gonna be talking about prayer in two weeks,

but I can't tell you the importance and the power of prayer.

If you've got a prayer need this morning,

you better bet you those apostles are in that room

praying to this almighty God

who hears every single prayer that you pray,

who cares about your needs.

And so if you've got a prayer request this morning,

you need God to do something in your life,

it's your choice to walk out of here carrying that.

Guys, I walked in here with a weight this morning.

I'm liberated this morning.

Come and pray and be set free

from the things that you're holding onto.

God wants to meet with you.

Let's worship.

(soft music)