Growing a Healthy Community

How's everybody doing?

Okay, so we have a, we're trying something for the first time that we've never tried

before, so it's one of the things I love about being a part of this church is we get to try

new things and fail and then see God do amazing things, and so we'll see what God does here.

If you're here for the first time, I want to welcome you to Watermark Community Church.

Um, my name is Tobin Miller. I'm one of the pastors here, teaching pastor, and uh, welcome

back to the students in school. Now, I don't know how you feel when I say that. There was

a part of me as an adult that felt like, well, once my kids get to school, then everything's

good. But what I didn't realize is that when they get to school, I have to help them get

to school. I have to help them get off, and I have to get their clothes ready, and I have

to get every of these things done, and I need to push them out the door and get them

to the bus. And sometimes by the time I start my day, I'm just out of control in my mind,

and I have to spend 15 minutes praying. And then when they come home, I have to help them

with homework and make sure they're doing their homework and making sure they have homework.

And sometimes they say you have homework and they don't have homework. And it's just this

kind of crazy world. And in the midst of this crazy world, one of the things that has

helped us as a family is to come together at night to have dinner together. And so we

try to imperfectly come together for dinner at night and just to kind of have a debriefing

time with our kids. Again, we don't get to do it every night, and sometimes it's an amazing

thing that we can do it. But we feel like it's really important for our kids because we come

down and we kind of debrief their day. It's a day that we, time that we ask them questions

and we get feedback. We try to understand their perspective. And so coming back just

from the States, they have a lot of questions they're asking us about what they experienced

in the States and why don't they experience it here in Hong Kong. And so one of my kids

is always asking me, how come drinks are so expensive in Hong Kong? Because in the States,

drinks are for free or almost for free. And we did this terrible thing this summer. We took

our kids to this restaurant called Chili's. If you have a lot of kids and you go to the States,

never take your kids to Chili's because it will haunt you the rest of your life.

It is amazing food, but they just keep bringing the chips out and the salsa out and the free

drinks out. And my kids are just kind of going crazy. So the chips and salsa and drinks and

refills and refills and it doesn't cost hardly anything. You know, you take them to 7-Eleven

and it costs $1 for a Diet Coke this big and it costs $1.10 for a Diet Coke that big. So

what do you do? How do you choose? And so as we're leaving Chili's and they've had like

15 drinks of soda and they're jumping off the walls, the stewardess, the waitress looks

at one of my kids and goes, do you want a to-go cup? And my kid goes, a to-go cup? What

is that? And she goes, well, we'll give you this cup full of drink and you can take it

with you as you go. And my kid goes, I love this place. How come Hong Kong doesn't have

a to-go cup? It's amazing. And so we have to debrief about those things. We have to debrief

when my kid comes back last night and they're talking and they said, you know, when I was

at, in America and I was talking to people, we went to camp and they were asking where

I was from and we had to ask, you know, they said, well, we're from Hong Kong. And then

the next question was, do you speak Japanese? My kids don't understand why people think

that when they're from Hong Kong, you have to speak Japanese. And I kept it explaining

to them that Americans are geographically challenged and that we think there's America and everybody

speaks English and then the rest of the world speaks Japanese. And so we have these debriefing

times, but one of the things that's been helpful is it helps us to understand where they're coming,

what they're thinking. And a lot of times we just talk about what does it mean to be a

family? We talk about our values. We talk about the things that are important to us. We talk about

things that we want to be about and how we should act and how we don't want to act. And a lot of

times they ask questions like, these people did these things and yeah, we're like, yeah, that's how

they do it in their family, but maybe we shouldn't do it in our family. What do you think about that?

And maybe as Christians, maybe we should do things differently. And so we have a lot of those

conversations at our dinner table. And you know, the Bible is full of those type of conversations.

That's what the Bible's purpose is. The Bible's purpose has two

purposes. It gets us to God. And it tells us then how we act and how we walk as the family of God.

And today we're looking at a passage in Acts 2. We've actually, the last three weeks, we've looked

at this theme. And this theme is, how do we act or how should we react or how do we live in this

in-between time? That Jesus came, he lived, he died, he rose, and then he went into heaven and he left his

disciples there. And then we had this in-between time, this time of we don't know what to do and if he's

coming back and when he's coming back. And two weeks ago we talked about stewardship and we said that the Bible

says that everything that God gives you, every little jot, your intellect, your ability, your health,

your unhealth, your family, your kids, your wealth, your cars, all these things, all these things are

God's. And he gave them to you and he just wants to bless you with them and you can do whatever you

want with them. But in the end he's going to come back and he's going to ask you what you did with those

things. And we said the theme that he does when he gives us these things is he wants us to use them for

his kingdom. He wants us to make his name great. He wants us to do business for him. He wants to set

up shop so that more people understand about Jesus. But he gives us all these incredible blessings.

Last week we talked about prayer. We said that Jesus told his disciples that when I go away you're

going to be lonely and you're going to be discouraged and the world hates you and it's going to crucify me

and it's going to try to crucify you sometimes. Sometimes you feel like that in your office place

as you try to walk with the Lord. You feel crucified. You feel alone. You feel outnumbered.

And Jesus says that's what's going to happen. And I want you to pray to me because I will be there.

I will meet you in a very special supernatural way. I will come in and I'll be with you and you need

to trust me on this. And so we talked about how some of us have a hard time trusting him on this.

Some of us when we look at God we see him more as an unjust God. An unjust judge. Someone who doesn't

want our best at heart. But Jesus kept reminding us that yes he loves us. That God is good. That

he's going to make all things right. All the injustices you feel. All the things bad done to

you. Everything that's happened to you and you're like wow how could that happen if God were really

good and he was here. Jesus said that when God comes back. When Christ comes back. He's going to

make all those things okay. And we have to trust him. He loves us. Today we look at this passage and I

think it's kind of like this seminal passage for us as a church for all churches throughout the

history of Christendom. It's a story of Pentecost. And in Pentecost it's a Jewish holiday. The similarities

are amazing. When you study the Bible it's kind of like stacked on top of each other. So Pentecost means

50. And so if you go to Israel today on Pentecost they celebrate Pentecost. And it is the celebration

of God sending Moses to come and grab the people out of bondage and out of slavery. He takes them

through the desert. He gets to this hill. This mountain. And he gives them the law. That's Pentecost.

Now 2,000 years ago the story says that we're at Pentecost. And in the temple mound there's over

500,000 Jews crammed into his place. It's been 50 days since Jesus died. He rose again. And he went

into heaven. The church has been praying. What do we do? There's only 100 people there. 120 people.

And all of a sudden the same thing happens. God took his people out of bondage, out of slavery.

He takes them to this mountain called Golgotha. He dies to free us from our sin and our bondage.

And on Pentecost instead of giving us the law he gives us God's spirit, the Holy Spirit. He gives us

grace. And this spirit comes in and it rushes in. And it changes and transforms everybody.

And so in the passage what you see is that Peter has gone to the temple mound.

The Holy Spirit is in these 120 people. And Peter starts to share. And he shares the very first sermon

of the very first New Testament. Of the very first some people would say church. Though the church had

been around forever. But this different type of church. The Holy Spirit indwelt church.

And Peter shares the gospel. And he says that Jesus came. He is God's only provision for your sin.

It doesn't matter how good you are. It doesn't matter how great you do. It doesn't matter that you don't

hurt people. It doesn't matter that you have this great score list. He says the only thing that brings

you right to God is Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. Because our sin is so horrendous it separates us

from God. And the minute that people hear that they say what do we need to do then?

Repent. And he says repent and be saved.

And the Holy Spirit comes in and we see from 120 people to 3,000 people come to Christ.

Can you imagine what it would be like in our staff team if we

all of a sudden we had 3,000 people we had to disciple? It would be out of control.

We wouldn't know what to do. And that's what the early church was like. They were out of control.

They had 3,000 hungry new Christians teach us, show us, teach us.

And in Acts 2 it says this is what they did. It said they devoted themselves to four things.

The word devotion is a very deep Greek word. It means to be all in. It means to plant yourself.

It means to give everything. It means to be about it, to be focused on it, to be thinking about it all the time.

It just means, it means just to be all in.

And in the passage it says in verse 24 it says that they're all in on this focus of God's word.

That they're just hungry. Teach us about the Lord. Teach us.

And all they have is the Old Testament, right? They have the Old Testament and they have three years of walking with Jesus.

And so the Bible says that these 3,000 hungry Christians just want to know about God.

And the apostles and disciples are teaching them. They're teaching them the Old Testament.

They're teaching them three years of Jesus. And the people go, tell us more, tell us more.

And it says there was a hunger. There was a thirst.

They hungered for the word of God. They couldn't get God's word enough.

I wonder sometimes if we have that hunger.

If we have that devotion.

What would it look like for us to be a church that would be devoted to God's word?

What would it look like for us to be people who are devoted to God's word that we're hungry for it.

We want to be about it. We want to be all in.

We want to just suck it into our life because we know it's words of life.

What would that look like?

The second thing we see is they come in there.

And in the next verse, they say basically they become devoted to worship.

They start to worship the Lord.

They understand who he is.

And they just focus on what does it mean to worship God?

The passages are verse 42 and 43.

And he basically says they come in and they desire this deep relationship with Jesus.

They have this hunger for Christ.

And they fulfill that hunger in the Lord's Supper.

They take communion together.

And as they take communion, they focus on the cross.

They focus on what Jesus has done.

And this hunger is being satiated.

They have this deep hunger for prayer.

And they're praying all the time.

They're praying wherever they're going.

They're praying in the temple.

They're praying in their houses.

They're always meeting.

They don't just meet on Sunday.

They meet all the time.

Every time they run into each other, they prayer.

And they have this deep awe and hunger and wonder for what God has done.

And I wonder sometimes, if we do, when was the last time we had an awe and wonder of God's mercy and grace?

When was the last time that we just felt this amazement that God came to us and that he sacrificed his own son for us?

When was the last time that we devoted ourselves to worship, to communion, and to prayer?

The next thing the passage says is in verse 47 is that when people came, they knew Christ.

The Holy Spirit filled them.

Their lives were out of control.

It says they had an outward focus.

They focused on the world around them.

They thought about what they could do to fix the things that were broken in the world.

Sometimes we call this evangelism.

Sometimes we call this justice.

But what you see in the passage in verse 47 is that as they did this, as they shared, as they did about God's kingdom,

the church continued to grow and it continued to grow and it started to change society.

And within about 150 years, the Roman Empire went from a pagan empire to a Christian empire because 55% of the people had faith.

Because the people who came to know Christ were indwelt by his spirit and they had a hunger and they wanted to devote themselves to fixing things, to making things right.

And the last thing that we see in this passage is that in verse 42 is that when they came to know Christ, they had a hunger and a devotion for fellowship.

The word there is a new word.

It's never been used in the New Testament or the Bible before.

The word in Greek is koinonia.

Koinonia.

Can you say it with me?

Koinonia.

So this koinonia came in and what it means is it means other focus.

It means to be focused on other people.

It means to be doing things for other people.

It means to be sharing.

It means to be giving.

It means to be living your life with other people.

It means actually to be in partnership.

Koinonia means to be in partnership with God and to be in partnership with each other.

It means to be working together.

It means to be depending on each other.

It means to be thinking of others first.

I wonder what it would be like if we were a church and people came in and instead of saying the very first thing maybe,

what does this church have to offer me?

How are my needs going to get met?

Yeah, I need to go to another church because it didn't really meet all my needs.

I know I'm going to offend some people, but we want to speak truth here.

What would it be like if we came in and instead of saying those things, we said, how can I serve here?

What has God called me to do here?

What are the gifts that God has given me?

How can I make this a better church?

How can I make this a better fellowship?

How can I make this a better community?

What am I going to be devoted to?

What if our attitude was like that of the early church?

And we thought of others instead of ourselves.

As a church, we are on this mission, and this mission is to pursue this devotion, to pursue this idea of being all in,

to pursue this thought of we're here to worship, to make God's name great, to create fellowship, and to be outwardly focused.

And as we've done it, God has brought some amazing staff to us, some amazing staff.

And so you're going to get a chance to hear from some of them about what does it look like for us to pursue this devotion to the Lord.

So I'm going to ask Natalie and Eric to come up first.

Hello, Mark.

It's so good to be here with you this morning, and this is a really exciting day.

So if any of you went to church growing up, do you remember going from kids to youth?

Does anybody remember that?

Alfie does.

Rick does.

Eric does.

Okay.

It's a big deal.

So that's what's happening today.

Some Watermark kids in our surf class are transitioning to youth.

So we're handing them over to Eric.

And Eric will need your prayers.

So we are going to do a little ceremony right now.

And could I have any surf kid that is going to transition to youth come up here right now?

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So before I get started.

So before I get started.

Before we actually talk about this transition and recognize the kids, I wanted to talk about appreciation.

So without our volunteer leaders, these kids would not have grown how they have in the past two years.

And so we want to thank you for the investment that our leaders have made in these kids' lives.

And these kids today stand up in front of you as leaders, as the church's leaders today, and are growing as the church's leaders.

So if you can see, if you look around our church, they do contribute.

So they hand out snacks, and they hand out pamphlets.

And so they are your leaders today.

So we want to recognize them as that.

And as they transition to youth, they are going to become even stronger leaders.

So we're excited about that, and we're excited about how they love Christ and how they're growing in their relationship with Christ.

I also want to charge any of you and encourage you that if you haven't volunteered yet in our kids' program, that we would love for you to just give it a try and come take a look at a class.

Because we do need more leaders.

We pray every week for more leaders.

And it's an amazing investment.

You plant seeds in these kids' lives in order so they can grow to love Jesus and grow to teach others about Jesus.

So we want to just take some time to thank you guys for that.

Eric, do you have a few words?

Yeah.

In terms of the youth ministry, we're super excited to have this many new kids joining us.

Also super terrified.

And I think, yeah, as a church, we have a huge responsibility towards this group of kids.

You know, in terms of the youth ministry, we meet on Friday nights, and we have stuff on Sunday mornings.

And if any of you are interested, there are a lot of kids, so we need lots of help.

But I think even if you're not free to help on those times because you have other ministry commitments and stuff,

we as a church family can definitely invest in the lives of these kids.

Traditionally, youth ministry models said that you want to have one volunteer for every five kids.

But more recent research has actually shown if you really want to impact teenagers for Christ,

you actually want to have five adults investing in every one kid's life.

And it doesn't have to be in terms of like, oh, we have 20 kids at youth groups, so we need 100 adults there.

But just simple things like saying hi to them before and after church, getting to know them, you know,

while we're standing around having coffee, small things like that can make a huge difference in these kids' lives.

So my challenge to you as a church is to welcome these kids and the rest of the youth that are already in the youth group,

to make them feel like part of the family, and not to think of them.

And I think often we say that they're the future of the church.

And so we say we don't really need to worry about them today.

But if you think about it, they're in the church today.

They're very strategically placed in their schools, in their families, among their friends, on sports teams,

to have a huge impact for Christ today.

And the things that we can invest in them today aren't just things that are going to bear fruit 20 years down the road,

but they're things that can impact today or tomorrow in schools and in families around Hong Kong.

So I challenge you as a church family, get to know these kids, invest in them, find out what they love to do,

find out what their family life and school life is like.

Just be a friend to them and welcome them as part of your family.

And so, Eric, would you like to pray for our kids and youth?

And then kids and youth, you will be dismissed after this.

Thank you, church.

All right, let's pray.

Dear Father, we thank you for all of the kids and youth that you have brought to Watermark.

We thank you, especially today, for this group of kids that's moving up into youth.

We thank you for the ways that you've been teaching them and working through the church to help them to know you.

And we pray that for all of our kids and youth that as we continue into the new school year

and as we start up new programs and have kids in new classes,

that it would be a time for them to grow in their knowledge of you and their love for you.

And that we as a church family would come around them and support them and love them

and help them in their journey as they continue to grow.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Good morning.

Good morning, Watermark.

Relationships are the key to a healthy life.

We were made for relationships.

And relationships are the key to what we were really meant to be in our lives.

And for Christians, when Jesus died, he died for people whose relationships had broken down because of sin had turned us in on ourselves,

in on our own desires, needs, and not towards others and towards God.

When Jesus died, what he did, he broke down and he began a restoration project.

A restoration of relationship between us and God and relationships between each other.

And what you see when we're looking in the book of Acts is this.

You begin to see a glimpse of what Jesus' restoration project, Jesus' death has accomplished.

You begin to see what it was always meant to be.

A glimpse of the way our lives were meant to be in restored relationships.

These relationships which are not just centered on ourselves, but are outward focused.

And as you look in Acts, maybe you think, as I do, wow, that looks amazing.

You see how they're devoted to one another, how they just seem to be sharing everything.

And it sounds like, I wish that could be true.

I would really long to see a community that was like that.

But then you walk out of the door and the reality of Hong Kong life just hits you.

And you settle for the same old way of doing church that you've always done.

And yet, why are we like this?

Why, when Jesus' death is meant to change everything, is life sometimes so like that?

In Hong Kong, life can often be so busy because what you're doing is, and what I'm doing,

and what we're all doing is, we're filled up with so many different things.

We have, if you're a Christian, there are so many meetings to go to.

There are Bible studies to go to.

There are ministries to be involved with.

And on top of that, you have social gatherings.

You have kids' classes.

You have X, Y, and Z.

There are so many different things.

And then when you hear us talking about community group,

and what it means to be involved in a community like you see in Acts,

it feels like, okay, maybe I have to go to community group.

But community group becomes just a meeting you go to.

Maybe just you attend it for a couple of hours.

It's nice.

Maybe you have a couple of social gatherings outside.

But we don't necessarily invest our lives in each other.

No one really knows my issues.

No one really knows what's really going on in my heart.

No one knows me deeply.

And I'm not investing deeply in other relationships.

And so what we see is the community that Jesus died to create,

which was meant to be a glimpse to the rest of the world

of how amazing Jesus' death has been in restoring us,

what we see is sometimes we can be just like everybody else in Hong Kong,

just busy,

and not investing in those deep relationships like we see in Acts.

But imagine,

imagine if we stop seeing church as simply a meeting we go to for a couple of hours a week,

or even a community group meeting where we just go,

we talk about Jesus for a couple of hours,

and then we go and live the rest of our lives the way we do.

Imagine if we saw church as people and relationships.

Think about your family.

Imagine if you in your family,

you said,

okay,

3pm till 5pm Sunday we're going to be family.

Now maybe that happens in your family,

but that's not a healthy family.

But often that's the way we view church.

And yet God's vision is far bigger.

So sometimes we make that division between our lives and church,

and we say,

church is asking me to do a lot of things at the moment.

Because we haven't understood that actually church is people and relationships.

And when we become a Christian,

we become part of God's family.

And that means we have family responsibilities to one another.

Responsibilities to invest in each other's lives.

At Watermark,

how are we going to grow these deep relationships like we see in Acts?

Well, our vehicle for doing that in Watermark is our community groups.

This is where you can invest in people's lives.

Not just go to take,

but go to invest.

And Alistair's going to just share something about what it could look like

to be investing in relationships.

Yeah, so Chris has shared with us about how we can see what happens in Acts,

that people are devoted to the apostles' teaching,

to the fellowship,

to the breaking of bread,

and to prayer,

how we can see that come into our church life.

So as he said,

we want to take the responsibility not just to turn up,

but to invest in each other's lives.

And so I'm going to talk a little bit about what that might look like,

how we could do that.

So you know that in investing,

there's a cost that's involved.

You actually have to put something in to invest,

and then you seed it there,

and it germinates,

and it grows,

and then you get a reward out of it.

You reap something from what you sow.

And so with investment in people,

we also need to spend the time that there is for us,

what seems like a cost that's involved.

And indeed that was the case for God as well.

As he came and invested in us,

it cost him the life of his own son.

But as we invest in relationships,

we will begin to reap the gospel community,

a beautiful community that will arise out of that.

A community like we see in the book of Acts.

If you're not already in a community group,

then let me encourage you to have a look around

and find one and join one.

At the back, each Sunday,

Chris is there with a list of community groups

that are all arranged by location,

and you can find one that is close to you

that you can come to.

And if you really struggle to make one of the meeting nights,

then don't just give up at that point and say,

well, it's obviously not for me.

Think about it as people,

not just an event that you go to.

You can meet up with people,

one or two people from within that particular community group,

and get to know people from there at different times.

Arrange to have lunch with them on Sundays.

Remember, it is the relationship that we're looking for,

and not just a meeting.

You can so seed by joining a community group.

But if you join with just a transactional mindset,

an attitude that says,

I'm coming to take what I can from this group,

and then I can discard it,

then that's not investing.

Join it.

Join a community group.

But join it with a view

to wanting to invest in relationships

with people that are there.

And even if it seems like the group is too big

for you to get to know everyone at once,

well, get to know one or two people in it,

and spend the time there,

and then let the relationship spread out.

For those of you who are already in community groups,

community group members,

or ICF members,

for you guys in university,

are you actively engaged

in inviting other people to join your community?

Whether they're a member of this church,

and yet not part of community,

or whether they don't come to this church at all.

They don't know Jesus.

People are more likely to feel welcome

if they have a personal invitation from somebody

to come along to join them.

And so if you meet someone at church over lunch,

or someone you know who is not yet part of community,

then take the opportunity to invite them along

to one of your gatherings,

or one of your social outings,

with no strings attached.

People can come,

and if they like it,

they can keep coming.

I want to talk a little bit about listening as well.

How often do we spend so much time speaking

that we actually don't get a chance

to listen to one another?

How well do you know the stories

of people in your community group?

The stories of those around you,

those you know at church.

You might know them on a superficial basis,

but do you know what they struggle with?

Do you know what drives them?

What they fear?

What they really enjoy?

Take an opportunity to invite somebody out for a meal

and get to know them in this way.

Ask them these things.

What do they enjoy,

and what do they struggle with?

What can you pray for for them?

Sow a seed by taking the time to listen

and to get to know people?

In these things,

what we often find is that

everybody's waiting for somebody else to ask, right?

And so let's break that cycle

where everybody's waiting for everybody else

by you taking the initiative to ask.

And while we're at it,

we don't just listen to one another's stories.

As a church community that is centered around Christ

and what he's done,

we listen to God's story

and find ourselves as part of his story.

So when we meet up with each other,

then why don't we take the opportunity also

to share and to listen to God's story

and our experience of being part of that story.

In Sydney,

we used to do something called

the One Minute Bible Study.

I'll explain it.

So we used to have groups

that would meet before work

or during lunchtime

with people kind of in our building

or close by,

and we would meet to share

to encourage one another

to pray for our colleagues

who didn't yet know Jesus.

And what we would also do

is we would have this One Minute Bible Study

where everybody would bring to the group

something to share for one minute

on one verse

that had touched them during the week

that they might have read or heard somewhere.

And it was just something easy and simple

that we could do.

So yeah, that's something that you could try.

I also want to talk about

leisure

because everybody needs to eat

and everybody has

time kind of they spend

with friends, family and so on.

And this is time

that we can actually invite other people in.

It really struck Chris and I

as we were looking at that Bible verse

that the early Christians

were devoted to the breaking of bread.

They were devoted to eating

with one another.

It sounds a bit like

kind of what we do in Hong Kong, right?

Devoted to eating.

Well, why don't we take the opportunity

to invite people along

as we share in it together?

Not just the same people all the time

but different people

that we might not have met yet

or might not know as well.

People from within the church,

from within the community group,

from a neighbouring community group,

from those who are not part of our church.

Or invite them to enjoy

the things that you enjoy.

Invite them into the craziness

of your family time.

If you go to the beach,

if you go swimming,

if you play badminton or squash,

feel free to invite people along.

Another family or another person

from church, a community group

or neighbouring community group.

Our own group is planning

to kind of reorganise ourselves

around these things.

Breaking bread,

sharing and fellowship,

teaching and so on.

And one of the things we're going to do

is we're going to spend time each month

gathering socially together,

doing something around Hong Kong

so that we can invite people along to it.

Keep sowing those seeds

of investing in relationships.

As we do,

we will reap

a beautiful and genuine

community life here

at Watermark in Hong Kong.

And it's that genuine community

that adorns the gospel

and it attracts outsiders.

Because as Jesus himself said,

this is how everyone will know

that you are my disciples

if you love one another.

Thank you, Alistair.

A large part of being the church

is not only to worship

in these weekly worship services,

not even just to be in community,

but to actually worship God

and serve God

by being a community

that serves

the broader community around us.

The community you see in Hong Kong

outside of the walls of your home,

your workplace,

and all of that.

And that is a big part

of Watermark's vision.

You know, for many of us,

our daily lives

don't really involve

brushing shoulders

and engaging

those who are poor,

those who are hungry,

the homeless.

The abandoned,

the outcast,

the marginalized,

the lowest rungs

of the social ladder,

so to speak.

But God tells us

that religion

that he accepts

as pure and faultless

is this,

to look after orphans

and widows

in their distress.

And in the early church,

those people represented

the most vulnerable groups

of society.

You know,

we may not see it regularly,

but there actually

are genuine physical needs

in Hong Kong,

even in a relatively

wealthy area

like the West Island area.

In the Central

and Western District alone,

over 26,000 people

have a monthly income

of less than $10,000.

Hong Kong.

Over 14,000 households

have a monthly household income

of less than $10,000.

So an entire household.

There are nearly 7,000

single-parent households.

And as we should know,

the reality is that

whether you're rich materially

or you're poor materially,

the underlying poverty

is spiritual.

There's an emptiness

in the human heart

that only God's love

can fill.

And so one of the community groups

in Watermark

saw this reality,

and they've been responding

by supporting an organization

called St. Barnabas Society.

And it's a Christian non-profit

that serves the poor

and the needy

all across the Western District

and Central as well.

And out of the dedication

of this one community group,

we, as the body at large,

now have an amazing opportunity

to begin planting seeds

in something so much greater

than any of us could imagine.

So basically,

we want to help St. Barnabas

expand beyond serving

the elderly and the homeless.

As important as that is,

we want to begin reaching out

to disadvantaged children

as well as their families.

Their community center

actually has an upper floor

that isn't really being used right now.

It's a bit dilapidated.

It's kind of unrenovated.

And we want to take that place

and turn it into a dedicated space

where kids can come get tutored,

they can come learn and hang out,

and even have their parents join in

so that they can actually be served

a family meal together

and be united around that.

And in other words,

this is a huge opportunity

for us as Watermark

to bring children,

at-risk children,

into a safe,

nurturing environment.

You know,

to give disadvantaged kids

actually a chance

of better education,

to unite parents

and children together,

even if it's over one meal.

And really, ultimately,

to speak and show God's love

to every vulnerable group

and individual in that group,

the kids.

And nuts and bolts,

you can find out more

about how you can get involved

by going to the church website,

pens, iPads, paper, whatever.

Please just write down

watermarkchurch.hk

slash community service.

watermarkchurch.hk

slash community service.

And of course,

you can speak to myself

or Mike Rivalin

from the Kennedy Town

community group.

And as you walk

on this journey with us,

as you look into this,

this idea of community service,

I really want to encourage you,

don't,

please don't just serve

because, you know,

you're presented directly

with opportunities.

We really encourage you

to pray and be sensitive

to the things

that God is also

burdening your hearts with,

things that he's speaking to you.

Talk within your community groups.

About things you can explore

as a family.

You know,

what might it look like

for you to plant a seed

in your community?

You know,

what might it look like

for an entire church

of community groups

on a mission together

all across Hong Kong?

I want to close with this.

Matthew 5,

Jesus says,

you are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill

cannot be hidden,

nor do people light a lamp

and put it on a basket,

under a basket.

But they light

the lamp

and put it on a stand

so that it gives light

to all in the house.

In the same way,

let your light shine

before others

that they may see

your good works

and give glory

to your Father

who is in heaven.

And what this means to me

is ultimately,

community service

is not ultimately

about doing good

or alleviating poverty.

It's not even about

just taking care

of the vulnerable.

It's really about

worshiping God.

God.

I know that for every

homeless person

you and I feed,

every lonely grandmother

you and I spend time with,

every disadvantaged child

that I tutor,

whatever it is

that you and I can do,

our God is a God

who loves them

infinitely more

than we do.

And so we just need

to serve our God.

We just need to give him

everything that he's given

to us

so that he may be glorified.

God is the same God

over all people,

rich and poor,

those who are content

and those who feel unworthy.

So may we give freely,

may we give without fear

or discrimination.

And as we worship

in here this morning,

my prayer is that

this worship

would really overflow

into the poorest

and darkest corners

of Hong Kong.

So you've heard

a little bit about

the old

in the New Testament church.

You've heard a little bit

about what it means

for them to be devoted

to what God is doing.

You've heard a little bit

about what God is,

we feel like God's doing

in Watermark here,

what we feel like

he's called us to be about,

what we're praying

that everyone will be about here

as we walk with the Lord.

Let me ask you a question.

And this isn't in the sermon

at the beginning

this morning

as I was praying through it,

I just feel like

I need to ask this

because I need to ask

myself this question.

I hope that you listen

to what I say

very carefully

because I know

that it will be

misunderstood maybe.

But what if you're

in here right now

and you're listening

to this passage

about how the church

was going to come together

and they came to Christ

and the Spirit filled them

and all of a sudden

they started to

worship the Word

and worship

the Lord

and to serve each other

and to give

and to be outwardly focused.

What if you've heard

these passages

right now

and you're hitting

here right now

but you have

no desire

to do that?

I mean,

what if you

prayed the prayer

long ago

and you invited Jesus

into your life

or maybe your mom

prayed it with you

or maybe

you went to a youth group

and you were baptized

or your parents told you

you were always raised up

in a Methodist

or a Catholic

or a Protestant

or a Lutheran church

and so that's who you are

but what if you

don't have a desire

for that?

I mean,

what if you have

no desire

and no push

to devote yourself

to serve?

What if you have

no desire

to devote yourself

to hear God's Word

and to devour it

and to understand

what it means

to be a follower

of Christ?

What if you have

no desire

to worship the Lord?

What if you're sitting here

and you're saying,

yeah,

I've heard these things,

I see these things

but you know,

I just,

I have no desire

to do that.

I don't want to do that

and I've never done that.

I don't want to be

other focused.

I don't want to be

a steward of the resources.

What if I've never tithed?

What if I never realized

that all the money

that I have

isn't really my money

but it's really

God's money?

And I hear these messages

and I say,

so what?

I'm going to keep it

to myself

because God isn't good

and He won't take care of me.

What if you're here

right now

and you feel that way?

What if you're listening

to this passage

and you realize

that you used to do

these things?

I mean,

you came to Christ

one time in your life

and you were all hungry

for God's word

and you used to hunger

for His word.

You used to love

to come to worship.

You used to pray

unceasingly.

You used to look at ways

that you could serve

in the church.

You used to be other focused.

You used to use your money

because you knew

it wasn't your money

but it was God's money

and you used to be

a steward of that.

You used to pray

for other people.

You used to be concerned

about the world around you

but now you're not.

What about us?

The passage here

says really clearly

that the walk

with the Lord,

the Christian life

is about a relationship

with God.

It's not about doing

or being

but it's about

knowing

the risen Lord.

And the scripture

is really clear

that if we know God

and His spirit

is in us

that our life

will start to manifest

these things.

We'll start to be

other focused.

We start to be

other thinking.

We will start to serve.

We start to give.

We start to realize

that our money

isn't our money

but it's God's money.

We start to worship Him.

We start to know

and read His word

because that's where

He meets us

and that's where

He changes our hearts.

And if we're not

doing that

the Bible

basically says

that you

and I

we have a heart problem.

And we need to come back

to the Lord

and see

do we really

understand

what it means

to walk with the Lord?

Do we really understand

what it means

to be called

a child of God?

Do we really understand

that everything

that He's given us

is an amazing blessing

especially His Son?

But we're not to hoard it

or to give it

to other people.

And if we don't

understand that

and if we don't do that

this passage

and all the rest

of the Bible

says you have

a heart problem.

And you probably

don't have the relationship

with God

that you think you do.

And we don't want you

to leave here

thinking that

everything is alright

when God's word says

but it's probably not.

And you need to do

some serious thinking

and coming before

the Lord

and praying.

Our prayer is

that you wouldn't

leave this time

you wouldn't leave

the meal

that we're about

to go into

without doing that.

There's going to be elders

and there's going to be

leaders

and there's going to be

staff

who would love

to talk to you

and they'd love

to talk to you

about what it means

to come to know

the Lord

and what it talks

about

what it means

to trust Him

and go on a journey

with Him.

What it talks about

what it means

to talk about

planting the seed.

You know we place

these things

these bookmarks

in your chair

because this is a verse

that's meant a lot

to us as a staff

because the very fact

that you're here

right now

when we started

this church

43 people came over

from another church

now about 30 of them

aren't here anymore

they've been shipped

out to London

and other countries

but the very fact

that you're here

right now

is because they

invested their lives

they invested

their finances

they invested

their gifting

for that little time

that God

had them here

and this church

is here now

that you're taking

part of

and our prayer

is that you

would think

and pray

and think about

what it means

for you to go

on a journey

with the Lord

what does it mean

for you to be

all in

what it means

for you to give

everything that He's

given you

for His service

and for those

who don't know Him

and for this world

that's lost

and needs to be redeemed

what would it look

like for you

to go all in

and to plant a seed

these next four months

just for four months

I'm going to get

in a Bible study

we're going to start

some studies right now

my wife and other people

are doing these Bible studies

for new beginners

and for old beginners

and they're going to be

being rolled out here

again it's not a program

but we just want to get

people deep

what if you decide

hey we want to serve

what if we want to

get into a community group

what if you just do that

for four months

and you trust in the Lord

for that

would your life be different

we think it would be

because the Bible says

that as the church

did these things

as they worshipped

as they prayed

as they gave

as they served

as they sacrificially

went to other people

as they did these things

society and the world

changed

and it changed mostly

because of a relationship

the relationship

was what they had

with Christ

and the relationship

was what they had

with each other

and when people saw that

it changed everything

and so we're praying

for all of us

as a church family

that we would be all in

that we would realize

that God is good

that we can trust him

that he gave the most

precious thing to us

his son

and that the life

he wants for us

is so much greater

and far beyond

anything that we are

experiencing right now

Father we thank you

for this day

and we come before you

and we worship you

we desire a relationship

with you

because we know

that if that relationship

is not there

no matter how much

we try to perform

no matter how much

we try to do

no matter how much

we try to create

it is just cosmetics

because our heart

stays the same

and so we thank you

that you gave your son

to deal with the true

problem of the universe

it's not poverty

and it's not corruption

and it's not unfairness

and it's not unequal

distribution of resources

the true problem

of the universe

is sin

in our broken hearts

because if that was fixed

then all the other things

would be taken care of

as it was

in your early church

and so we pray

Lord that you would

meet us

and change us

and convict us

and heal us

and we're so thankful

that you are merciful

for your grace

and your mercy

and that you never

give up on us

you always come towards us

you are the God

of second chances

and so we worship you

this day

we pray all these things

in your son Jesus name

Amen