Thrive | Devoted To The Essentials (January 10th, 2021) - Mike Armstrong

Now, if you would grab in your or grab your Bible, you got a copy of it close by, turn it to Acts, though it's not maybe where you think we might be.

We're kind of pausing our normal Acts series and we're gonna be jumping backwards a little bit into Acts chapter two.

And so if you could turn your Bibles uh over to there, that would be so great.

We're gonna look at uh uh really just one verse here this morning.

Now, maybe you are uh one of the many people who enter into a new year with you know some plans and some goals that you have in mind that you want to achieve to help you thrive, to help you thrive over the next uh, well, 12 months or so.

And so oftentimes we talk about these as resolutions, but but maybe for you, it's in the area of health.

It's in the area of of food or or fitness.

The the holidays were kind to you when it comes to food and not so kind to you when it comes to food.

And so for you, you've got a plan to kind of get that back on the rails.

I'm trying my best uh to do that uh right now as well.

Maybe for for yourself, it's it's fitness goals and it's get outside and get walking or get running or get the home fitness plan going, watch some videos, start moving.

Uh, for you, it's you know, the the goal for you this new year's is to pick up a new hobby.

And it could be something like like sewing or or or or it's it's planning to golf in the spring or just getting out and hiking and camping.

It doesn't have to be an outdoor thing, it could be anything, but maybe that is something that you are looking forward to achieving.

For you, your goals in an area that you really want to thrive is in the area of your finances.

It's with your with your career, and and you've got some goals around that, or or just in the in the area of money.

And because uh we're in lockdown right now, for you it's an opportunity to save more and to get back into the black.

You know, it's it's well, we're not driving, we're not really going anywhere, and so we can save on gas money and you're thinking and you're planning and you're scheming about how you can use those extra funds.

Perhaps for you, your goal and your plan that you want to achieve has to do with friends or or family and more of a the a social focus for you.

And and for you, it's like I can I it's easy to get locked down and just watching Netflix and staying home and watching movies and never going out and talking to anybody, but but you want to take some steps in that and and growing as a family in that or as as an individual.

Now, again, the the idea behind any kind of of goals or or plans like this is that you're really looking to thrive.

That's the idea, that's the mindset here.

Because you realize that that a better experience in one of or or more of these areas is is available, and so for you, you're putting in the thought power, the the energy, the focus, the intensity, and the effort to really get there.

Now, why do I talk about thriving?

Well, because in Acts chapter 2, in verses 42 and 40 uh to 47 specifically, uh we see there a church that is thriving, a thriving church.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

We see what they were committed to.

We see what the Lord accomplished in them and through them.

And though it wasn't all that long ago that we just looked at this passage, it was back in May of last year.

Uh what we're gonna do is we're gonna start off 2021 uh by spending the next five weeks here reexamining these verses, this passage, so that we too can thrive as a church community.

That we would be, my prayer, my heart for us is that we would be determined and and also very deliberate in our attempts to do so to thrive.

And personally, I just I just really get this sense that that this is so crucial for our church.

Because I I think we might be tempted to think that that that thriving isn't very realistic for us these days as people, as a country, even.

Because maybe for us it's it's just more about merely surviving.

Man, let's just let's just get through the virus here.

Let's get through these lockdowns and the difficulty that it's been for us as people and at work and and and socially and and all of that, as we've talked about uh many times.

Maybe for you you're just thinking it's it's the long, cold, dark days of winter, and and can we not just kind of weather all of that and and and make it out into the spring alive?

Okay, but I want to put forward here for each one of us that we should and actually can thrive as Christ followers, as a church.

Okay, none of what we're dealing with uh these days uh in our country, politically, uh personally, none of it means that we should allow ourselves to really drift or or flounder spiritually.

Okay, whether that's as an individual, you listening and watching this, or or us as a church body as a whole.

Okay, and so what we're gonna do here, uh starting today, is look at how a thriving church grabs hold of or seizes the opportunity to do and really to be what God calls us to do and and be.

And again, to really, maybe for you it's gonna take a shift of of mindset and attitude here.

Okay, we're we're we're getting rid of the mentality, the the attitude of man, like there, there's there's things I got I gotta do here, like I have to do this, uh.

And more shifting to, hey man, there's something I I get to do.

There's there's an area of my life that I get to give some attention and some focus to.

All right, so what we're gonna look at here today is just one simple kind of point or big idea.

One of the things that we're working towards over the next, for sure for this series, uh, but for this season here where we're meeting, especially over at the office and in these small groups, we're looking to really shorten our services and tighten them up.

And so we're we're gonna, for the next little bit here, have I'm kind of aiming for about 15-minute messages here.

So I'm not gonna give you like, hey, seven points or or whatever.

It's gonna be like one, one kind of tight point.

So here it is.

Uh you'll see it on the screen here.

A thriving church seizes the opportunity to be devoted to the essentials.

Okay, so where are we where are we at here in Acts chapter two?

I know we've gotten a little bit further down the line in our in our regular series, but back in Acts chapter two, I'll just give us a bit of a recap here.

Uh the Holy Spirit had fallen on the believers uh at Pentecost, and and you remember he fell on them.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to proclaim the gospel, the mighty works of God in various languages and different tongues, and and they spilled out into the streets.

The apostles did, and they were they were proclaiming, and people were wondering what was going on, and some of them mocked, and and some of them gave them a hard time uh for this.

Uh, and then Peter took the opportunity to preach this fiery, passionate gospel message proclaiming Jesus Christ and his death and the resurrection, and called out the very people who who had had put him to death, and and and through that, as they were broken and they were they were repentant, they got saved.

It actually says that about 3,000 of them got saved that day and were added to the church.

And so the church just exploded and grew in in numbers.

And so the passage that we're looking at now follows that very thing, and we get this snapshot really of what the church looked like, generally speaking, uh, for uh for a season and what they did and what they looked like, and again what God did uh in them.

And so I want to just read the passage here uh really quickly, but we're gonna really just focus on 42 today.

But here's what it says, Acts 2, 42.

It says, And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings, and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Alright, so those five verses there we're gonna unpack over the next five weeks.

But for today, let's jump back up to the top of that again and look at verse 42 in a little bit more detail.

Here's what it says as and they devoted themselves.

Okay, that word devoted there is such a good one.

It means literally to persist obstinately.

Okay, love that, love that definition right there, to persist obstinately.

It means to be like stubborn about it.

They they devoted themselves stubbornly to a number of things.

We're gonna see four of them here, but they were they were obstinate in their approach.

They weren't gonna get sidetracked by by distractions.

They were they were resolute, they were going after it.

Nothing was going to stop them.

They were they were obstinate.

Our family just picked up a uh a dog a couple of weeks ago, which I know I said I would never ever do, and so you are right to mock me, church, for this.

But my dog is the perfect picture of obstinence.

Okay, and I know we often think of obstinence as a negative thing, and in his case, it is a negative thing.

Whether it's him being being stubborn and obstinate about um insisting on nipping the kids, right?

Or me trying to take him on a walk and he just sits there and he moans and he complains he doesn't want to move, and I kind of got to drag him, and we're trying to figure out how to get him going.

We often think of obstinence as a negative thing, but in this case, it's a positive thing.

To be committed and so focused and going after some things is such a good, great characteristic of this church and really any church.

And so, what were the things that they were devoted to?

Well, it gives us four.

The first one you see it there is it says that they were devoted to the apostles' teaching.

Okay, the apostles being the key leaders of the church, the disciples.

Now you might be wondering, well, what was their teaching exactly?

Well, their teaching was teaching the the Old Testament, all right, through the lens of what Christ taught.

So Christ's teaching and the Old Testament as interpreted through the grid, the lens of the gospel.

That is what they taught.

They're like, we need to understand and know the gospel, not just look over some key points of what Jesus did in the cross and the resurrection, but but the gospel is so important because it is, again, I like that word lens, it is the lens through which you and I understand all of life.

It is the lens through which we understand who God is.

It's the lens through which we understand ourselves.

Through the gospel, we get our identity.

It's the lens through which we uh see ministry and how we live in this world.

And so they were devoted.

No, we listen, we gotta understand this, we've got to be able to unpack this, we've got to know it, and then be able to apply it in everyday life.

And so this is one of the things that they were extremely devoted to.

Okay, what else?

Well, it says, and the fellowship.

They were devoted to that as well.

So, fellowship, I think sometimes that that word gets watered down a little bit uh in today's day.

We pretty much call anything and everything uh fellowship.

Uh, but fellowship is really a partnership, okay?

It's it's uh it's this close mutual association, uh, a sharing of uh of one another's lives.

Okay, we live in a in a day and age that's so ruggedly individualistic, and so it's it's hard for us to invite people into our lives.

It's it can be even harder for us to share our lives with other people.

We don't we don't want to show weakness, we don't want to show need or any type of of that at all.

And and so and so we often we often don't engage in deep fellowship, but we see here that they they were, they lived life together.

What else did it say?

It said to the breaking of bread.

They were devoted doggedly to that.

Now, breaking of bread, specifically referring to a communion or the Lord's supper.

Okay, back in this day, it certainly would have been also paired together with just eating meals in each other's homes.

And so you see this again, this life together aspect of the community.

The fourth thing that they were devoted uh to, we see it there, the the prayers.

Okay, the prayer.

They prayed, they were they were uh a community that prayed passionately, constantly to the Lord.

They recognized that they needed him, and so we've got to pray.

This would have involved corporate prayers in the temple.

We know that that temple prayer happened uh on a scheduled basis.

In the mornings and in the afternoons, they were doing that together.

They were doing that in smaller groups, certainly in each other's homes as well.

Okay, so hey, as we read this and as and as we choose to view this next season of ministry as an opportunity to really thrive as families, as individuals, as the church, the question I think is will we be devoted, determined, you know, and devoted to these very same things?

See, one of the I think the great things that I've heard some of you say is that these, you know, these lockdowns and this pandemic and the virus, you know, as not ideal as all of it may be, they've really been an opportunity.

I've heard you say this, an opportunity for you to devote yourself to certain aspects of life that that can often get kind of pushed aside or neglected.

Right?

For you, I've heard some say that, man, this has been such a great time with my kids.

I wasn't expecting that.

I was expecting that we'd be in each other's throats, and and maybe there has been some of that, but it's also been like a like a sweet time.

You're with your kids, and it's family time constantly.

Maybe you've really enjoyed that.

For for some, it's been, man, I've been able to devote more time to you know working out and and and and getting in shape, and I've got this home gym kind of set up or running outside, and you know, I'm spending less time on the road and away from home, and so I get to do this.

Again, maybe for you you've you've emphasized saving money and putting some money away for uh when you really need it.

Okay, the point here, though, is that is that you've taken what has been a challenging time for for our society and and you're making the most of it.

And and that's how we should really be rev uh viewing our relationship with Christ and the church these days.

And so do we realize that over the next however long it's gonna be here, and and beyond that, even, that you and I can really seize the opportunity here to be devoted to these very same things that we see in the scriptures.

We can be devoted to the apostles' teaching as well.

Again, I kind of just said this, but but for some of you, you're like, you're not on the road as much anymore, so guess what that opens up?

More time to be at home in God's word.

You can get up and instead of being up early to leave the house, you can be up early to get into God's word.

Have you sensed that, man, I just I really need to be, and and and there's this desire in me to get into God's word, to study the gospel, to understand it, to work, to apply it to my life so that not I don't just know it, but that I'm transforming and changing and get a passion to deliver it to my neighbors and friends as I evangelize.

Man, seize the opportunity in these days, church, to get into God's word.

Don't put that aside.

I would hate to think that any of us get through the other side of this pandemic and think, man, I really blew an opportunity here to get into God's word more and to talk about it with my family and have discussions and times just reading this.

Do we realize that we have uh an opportunity here to be devoted to fellowship?

Now maybe you're thinking, wait a second, this is like the hardest time ever to be devoted to true fellowship.

Like, like, how do we connect with people when we're supposed to be at home and not doing a whole lot?

Well, as we said before, I think it certainly takes some creativity to be able to do this.

And I think we need to think about unique ways that we can be in touch and care for each other.

And and trust me, there's gonna be more to come on all of this as we come up with ideas about how we can love each other as a church in uh two weeks' time.

We're gonna focus on more of this topic.

Okay, we also have this opportunity to be devoted to the breaking of bread.

And again, specifically, this is talking about communion.

Okay, and we're actually gonna be taking communion up uh together very soon.

And uh, we're gonna be doing this.

I know it's gonna be a little different being kind of online, but I would even encourage you uh to start thinking about how you can get at home some crackers, maybe some juice, because we're gonna be doing this uh online.

We're gonna be doing this at the church office and getting community and having that, or communion and having those things available uh to you, but really celebrating our unity in the gospel around that.

Okay, for us, this season, I think, is is gonna be an opportunity uh to be devoted to prayer.

And that's something that I'm particularly wanting us to stress as a church uh this season as we start off 2021.

And that is exactly what we are going to do uh at the tail end of each one of these services.

I know it was just a few weeks ago, uh before Christmas, we had this kind of emergency prayer time as we knew that the church was going to be going into lockdown, and the people in this room were gathering in the little small groups and their families and groups that came, and we were praying, praying, and man, was that ever a sweet time.

I just I so cherished and valued that, and I thought it was so powerful to just hear the church praying in groups, and so that is what we want to do uh right now, and at the again, at the as the final part of each one of these series coming up, and so I want to explain a little bit about what that is going to look like.

If you're at home right now and and you're uh with your loved ones, I'm gonna really encourage you and challenge you to not just you know end the live stream or end the video as as it's completed, but really take the next five, 10 minutes, gather your kids, gather your spouse, and and begin to pray.

We're gonna have some prayer requests on the screen that you can work through at the end of all these, and you can see uh those there.

These prayer requests are really just the four things that we see the church devoted to here in verse uh 42.

And so these are gonna be up on the screen.

We're gonna have something like this each and every week for us, and we would encourage you to pray as families or at home.

We're encouraging the group at the office to gather and pray.

We want to still follow the rules and keep the distancing thing and all of that in place.

We're gonna encourage you to just gather and pray through these lists as we have them on each Sunday.

Now, what if you're home and you are uh by yourself?

Well, you can pray by yourself if that's what you want to do, but we also want to let you know that we have uh a Zoom link that you can follow, you can click on on our website, and uh in just a moment, I am gonna be joining you for that and we can pray together.

So if you're looking, even as a family, if you want to join that Zoom uh prayer time with our church family, we would love to have you do that because I think this is such a key time to just be in prayer and ask that the Lord would do uh more than we could ask or think during this season.

I think we're heading, again, kind of into maybe more lockdowns and stricter lockdowns here.

And it's again very easy to think this is just gonna be harder, it's gonna be painful, nothing good is gonna really happen of all of this, and and and we and we kind of lose our hope in the Lord in that, but I really think that the Lord wants to do great things.

I really think that the Lord wants to build his church during this season.

And so I I I call upon you as individuals and as families to pray.

We're gonna focus heavily on that over the next several weeks, and uh, we are going to do that uh right now as well.

I'm gonna pray.

Pray first.

I'm going to close this down and we're going to head into prayer.

So let's pray right now, Lord.

Thank you for this time together as a church.

I pray that you would bless us.

I pray that you would move and work.

I pray that you would show us your grace and your kindness and your goodness to us, Lord, that you would encourage us and that you would use us.

God, give us wisdom in these times, I pray.

God, we pray all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen.