Rick Warren - Real Christianity The Model of the First Church—Part One

Hey everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Today Rick's

going to take us back to the very beginning of

the church, and in this message titled, Real Christianity, The

Model of the First Church, Rick is going to guide

us through what authentic faith really looks like, as we

explore how the first believers lived, worshipped, and supported one another,

and how their example still shapes our lives today. So,

let's get started with today's message.

In 33 AD, when Jesus died on the cross, rose again,

and then went back to heaven, there were only a

handful of disciples, handful of believers, about 120 believers when

Jesus went.

Back to heaven.

But within 300 years, those 120 believers had dominated the

Roman Empire. Even Caesar became a Christian. It became the

official religion of the entire known world.

How did that happen?

How did the church grow from just a few people

to the dominant faith in the Roman Empire and now 2.3

billion people, one out of every three people around the

world is a follower of Jesus Christ? Why did the

church grow so fast? That's fascinated me. Now one of

the interesting things is in that first 300 years, it

was illegal to be a Christian. They were under intense persecution.

In fact, being a Christian was not a way to

get ahead, it was a way to lose your head.

More often than not, if you were discovered to be

a Christian, you're gonna be fed to the lions in

the Colosseum. You're gonna be tarred and feathered and burned

on the cross as Nero did for literally hundreds of

thousands of people. They were persecuted ruthlessly for 300 years.

It was not a socially acceptable thing to become a

Christian and yet within 300 years, they dominated the world.

Now the book of Acts in the Bible is the

story of the first church. It started on the day

of Pentecost. That's in Acts chapter 2. Today is the

Acts 2 · chapter mention

day of Pentecost. This is the birthday of the church 2,000

or so years ago. And as you look through the

book of Acts, you discover... eight characteristics of real Christianity.

You know, you guys, there are a lot of people

today who are claiming to be Christians. A lot of

things done in the name of Jesus Christ that God

would say, what? You gotta be kidding. I have nothing

to do with that. In fact, Jesus said in the

Sermon on the Mount that in the last day at

the judgment, there will be people who come to him

and say.

Hey, Lord, didn't we do many miracles in your name?

And he's gonna go, I didn't even know you. Who

are you talking about? You're not part of my family.

There are a lot of things done in the name

of Christianity in the church that Jesus Christ would disavow.

There's fake Christianity. There's phony Christianity. There's pseudo Christianity. What

I want us to do this weekend is I want

us to look at the real deal. What does it

mean to really be a follower of Jesus Christ? You know,

when you were born, you had all the DNA you're

ever gonna get. In fact, the moment that egg was

fertilized in your mother, you had all the DNA. You

don't have any more today than you did the moment

you were conceived. And when the birth of the church

happened on Pentecost a couple thousand years ago, all of

the DNA in the body of Christ was already there.

And as I've studied it, I've discovered how different we

are as Christians in the 21st century from Christians in

the first century. So I want us to go back

and look at what does it really mean to be

a real believer, real Christianity. And here are the eight things.

You might write these down. They're all out of the

book of Acts chapter two. Number one, real Christianity has

supernatural power. Real Christianity has supernatural power. They don't just

talk about God, they experience God. This is what makes

the church different from every organization. We have the Holy Spirit.

Microsoft does not have the Holy Spirit. The United States

government does not have the Holy Spirit. The Red Cross

does not have the Holy Spirit. No other organization has

the power of God in it. God has not promised

his spirit to help anybody or anything else except his church.

Now the background of the birth of the church is

in Acts chapter 1. And here on the screen it

Acts 1 · chapter mention

says this. For 40 days after his crucifixion, Jesus met

with his followers many times. In other words, after he

rose from the dead, he hung around for another 40 days.

And he proved in many ways that he was truly alive.

One time he met with 500 people.

He talked to them about the kingdom of God.

One time while eating a meal with them, Jesus told them,

do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the

spirit he's promised. He said, I've got some stuff for

you to do and I'm going back to heaven, but

don't dare try to do it until you've got the power.

And it's gonna come in my spirit.

He says, I'm with you now, but I'm gonna go

back to heaven and I'm gonna come back in a

spirit form and I'm gonna be in you, not just

with you. Now down in verse eight of the same chapter,

it says this here on the screen. You will receive

power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And then

you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth. Now we've talked

about this before. Jerusalem was the city they were in.

So he says, start in your own city. Then he says,

you go to Judea. That's like Orange County. And then

he says, go to Samaria. That's like LA County, the

county next door with all kinds of different people. And

then he says, go to the whole world. He says,

you expand in increasing circles. And he says the Holy

Spirit's gonna give you the power that you need to

do what I want you to do. So for the

next 10 days, Jesus goes back to heaven after 40 days,

and for the next 10 days, all the people do

is wait. And they meet and they wait and they pray,

and they wait and they pray, and they wait and

they pray for God's Spirit to give them the power

they need for the life that he wants them to live.

Now here's the connection.

There is a direct connection in your life with power

and prayer. The amount of spiritual power you have in

your life is in direct proportion to the amount of

time you spend in prayer.

Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power. No prayer,

no power.

If you don't ever pray, I guarantee you, you're not

seeing any miracles in your life. You're not seeing any

supernatural power in your life. You don't have the energy

to get everything done God wants you to get done.

Prayer is the connection point. It is the point that

you get the power. Yesterday morning, I went down to

the kitchen to make a protein shake, and we got

a brand new blender, and it had like 30.

Buttons on it.

And I'm going, I'm pushing these buttons and trying, and

I just can't get the thing to go. And I'm going, man,

all I need is a blender that has an off

and on switch. I don't need 32 buttons on a blender.

Just give me off and on. I'm pushing all these buttons,

and no matter what it was.

This thing does not work. And then I realized it

wasn't plugged in.

That is an analogy of life. You may be a Christian.

You may be on your way to heaven. You may

be pushing all kinds of buttons. But if you're not

plugged into Holy Spirit power, you don't have any energy.

And no matter how many Bible studies you go to

and how many churches you attend and how many small

groups you're a part of and how much you're involved

in ministry, if you're not plugged in, you don't have

any power in your life. Jesus said, wait for supernatural

spiritual power. And where does it come? It comes by praying.

They prayed for 10 days. Now what do you pray about?

You can pray about anything. In fact, here's the alternative.

You can worry or you can pray. If you prayed

as much as you worry, you'd have a lot less

to worry about.

Don't worry, worship.

Don't panic about that job, pray. Don't tremble, trust. Pray more,

worry less. And you can pray about anything.

I mean, anything.

Let me ask you this question. Do you think you

can pray for God to give you a parking spot? Yes.

The answer is absolutely yes. You know, I was late

coming to the first service this morning. I said, Lord,

I need a green light every way. And I actually

got a green light every way. I think God just said, well,

you're going to be preaching on it. I may well

give you a good illustration. It doesn't happen all the time.

But I'm saying you can pray about any little detail

of your life. If it's worth worrying about, it's worth

praying about. You know, I was actually reading a book

on prayer this week where a theologian says, if you

hear a fire truck coming down the road and you pray, oh, Lord,

please don't let it be my house on fire. He said,

that's a self-centered prayer. And he said, because you're actually

praying it'll be somebody else's house that burns down. And

he said, what you pray is instead you should pray, Lord,

let it be my house, but nobody get hurt. Now, friends,

there's a word for that kind of theology. It's when

you cross a crocodile and an abalone, it's a crocobaloney. Okay,

that is not what God says. The Bible says we're

to come to God as little children. Little children aren't diplomatic.

They just say, I want this. And they're just very,

they're very bold. I want this, daddy, I want it, daddy,

I need it. And they're not embarrassed by the request.

They just blurt out what's.

Ever on their heart.

When my kids were little, they thought I knew everything,

could do everything. and could afford everything. When they grew up,

they realized none of those were true. But your Heavenly

Father can do everything, does know everything, and can afford everything,

and you can talk to Him about anything. The more

you pray in your life, the more spiritual power you're

going to have.

And where do you get that?

You've got to have the blender plugged in. You've got

to have the Holy Spirit living through you. Now, the

arrival of God's Spirit, when Jesus goes back to Heaven

and He says, I'm coming back, as the Holy Spirit

to live inside you, the arrival of God's Spirit on

the day of Pentecost is accompanied by three miraculous signs.

And I want you to look at this. Verse one

of chapter two, Acts.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together

in one place.

This is the 120 people.

Suddenly, a noise like a strong blowing wind. It doesn't

say it was a strong blowing wind. It says it

was a noise that.

Sounded like a hurricane. came from heaven and filled the

whole house.

So there's this big noise going on in their house.

Nobody knows where it's coming from, where they were sitting.

And it says then number two, they saw something like

flames of fire.

It doesn't say it was fire.

It says they saw something like flames of fire that

were separated and stood over each person. Now there's 120

people in the room. So that means there's 120 of

these little flames like things hanging over each individual head.

That's gonna be weird. So what's going on here? Over

each person there.

And then it says, number three, they were all filled

with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak with

different languages by the power that the Holy Spirit was

giving them. Now notice, here are the three signs on

the first day of the church. Noise, it sounds like

a hurricane inside the building. A bright flame that looks

like fire over each individual person. And everybody speaks in

a foreign language, like Germans, they speak in German or

French or whatever.

What is happening here?

Jesus is saying this, my church that I'm starting today,

I will build my church. My church will be powerful, radical,

and multicultural. Powerful, radical, and multicultural. Powerful, you hear this

enormous sound. Radical, like little flames over each other. I'm

gonna set you guys on fire. You are gonna be

on fire for me.

It's gonna be radical. Radical.

And then everybody's going to speak in a different language.

It's going to be multicultural. What does he say? The

church is like no other organization on earth and nothing

you've ever seen before. The Bible says in Acts 2, 43,

everyone was filled with awe.

I guess so.

And many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

You know the problem today? That power is missing in

most churches. A lot of churches talk about God, but

don't ever see any lives changed.

Don't see any miracles.

Don't see any financial miracles, health miracles, physical miracles, emotional miracles,

relationships brought back together, people reconciling. They have talk, but

they don't have power. That's why the Bible says in

1 Corinthians, here on the screen, 420, the kingdom of

God is not a matter of talk, but of what?

Power. Power.

It is something that changes you. It gives you the

power to be the person you want to be. It

is the empowered life. So we're going to spend more

emphasis on prayer because I want to see more power

in you over your habits, your hurts, your hangups, power

to let go of the past, power to move into

the future, power to see changes in your relationships and

in your dreams. That is what God says he wants

to do. He wants to work in our life with power.

Number two, the second mark of real Christianity. It has

supernatural power. Number two, it uses everybody's language. It uses

everybody's language. And we see that in the next verse.

Acts 2 verse 4.

Acts 2:4

It says they all began to speak.

Different languages.

So the Spirit gave each of them the power to

express themselves. Now you need to understand, this is not

talking about speaking in tongues here.

Speaking in tongues.

Is a spiritual gift talked about in 1 Corinthians 12

to 14 that is a private prayer language that says

it's for your own edification, it's for you to talk

to God when you're just going, God, I don't even

know what to say. I can't even think of what

to say. I don't even know what to say and

I'm hurting so much inside.

And I just, I'm just, whatever you say, God, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That's a special gift that God gives to some people.

That's not what he's talking about here.

These are real languages.

People actually heard speaking in French, speaking in Farsi, speaking

in Swahili, speaking in German, speaking in Korean. Whatever it was,

notice the next verse. This was not for growth. This

was for their mission growth. Verse 5, there were religious

Jews staying in Jerusalem at this time who had come, notice,

from every country in the world.

Isn't that convenient?

God had brought them all back together at the day

of Pentecost on the day he's going to start the church.

And when they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered

and they were all excited because all of them heard

the believers talking in their own languages.

They said, look, I'm from Jerusalem.

You know, I'm from Ethiopia and you're speaking Ethiopian.

Why is that? All of them heard the believers.

Speaking in their own languages and in amazement and wonder,

they exclaimed, these people are talking like this are just Galileans.

In other words, they're Jews, they're Hebrews. They only know Hebrew.

How in the world they know Ethiopian? How do they

know that?

And they said, how is it then that all of

us hear them speaking in our own native languages? Down

in verse 11, all of us hear them speaking in

our own languages and about the great things God has done.

What's going on here?

This is the miracle of multichannel and multicultural communication. And

God is saying, on the first day of the church,

I'm gonna do a miracle that shows the good news

is for everybody. It's not just for Jews. It's not

just for red or yellow, black and white. All are

precious in his sight. It's for amazing grace for every race.

So I'm going to give these guys a special gift

on the first day of the church, and we're going

to expand by saying, everybody, here's the good news in

their own language.

Now what is God doing here?

He's doing the exact opposite of what he did in

Genesis 11. He reverses Genesis 11. If you go back

to the Old Testament thousands of years earlier, there was

a time when people said, we don't want God to

be God anymore. We wanna be our own God. We're

gonna run our own lives. We're gonna do our own things.

We don't need God, so we're gonna build a giant

tower to ourselves. And it's gonna go all the way

up to the heaven.

And we're gonna call it the Tower of Babel. You've

heard of this.

The word babbling comes from this word. Like a baby babble, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That comes from mixing up the language. And the Tower

of Babel is built. And God said, you know, as

long as they can all speak the same language, well,

that's not a good thing. Because nothing they do will

be impossible for them. And so let's just go down

and confuse their language. So God goes down and he

changes Babel. We get, by the way, Babylon from this.

They change their names. And he changes the languages. And

all of a sudden, he confuses all the languages. And

so some of the people speak certain languages. They head

off for Europe. And another group, they can't understand each

other anymore. And others moved away to Africa. And others

moved away to Asia. And it all spread out. And

the languages spread out. Now what God is doing thousands

of years later is the exact opposite when he starts

the church. He said, and now, instead of confusing languages,

I'm gonna clarify it. Because I want everybody to know

how much I love them. I'm reversing it. Now, we

don't need this miracle today. Because today, the church speaks

every language. We're in every country. The church is a

global organization, a global family. In fact, it's more global

than anything else. The church was global 200 years before

anybody started thinking about globalization. It's in more nations than

the United Nations. It speaks far more languages than the

United Nations. I could take you to 10 million villages.

The only thing in it around the world is a church.

No school, no business, nothing else, no government, but they

got a church. you take all the Walmarts and all

the Starbucks and every other franchise together, they're a pitiful percentage,

less than a percent of what the size of the

church is. One out of every three people. We already

speak every languages. Shoot, right here in Saddleback, at Saddleback Church,

we speak 63 languages in this family.

So we have Pentecost every week.

Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and

listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you

were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast.

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You know, when I started Saddleback Church over 40 years

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