September 13, 2026 - The Way - Acts 8:1-25

Welcome to the Fourth of John Alliance Sermon Podcast.

I'm Nick Perry, the youth pastor here at the church.

We're so glad you've joined us today.

Our desire as a church is to become a community of people who practice the way of Jesus together, and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we live on a mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us.

Each week we gather as a community to worship and learn from God's Word and to be encouraged in our walk with Christ.

In this podcast, you'll hear the latest message from our Sunday service.

Whether you're listening from right here in Fort St.

John or from afar, our prayer is that God will speak to your heart and strengthen your faith.

Let's lean in together as we hear today's sermon.

I'm gonna actually ask you to stay standing.

Sorry.

Today, for the reading of God's word, we are in Acts chapter 8, verses 1 through 8.

Acts 8:1–8

On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.

But Saul began to destroy the church, going from house to house.

He dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.

When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.

For with shrieks impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

So there was great joy in that city.

This is the word of the Lord.

We may be seated.

Well, good morning, everybody.

It's good to be with you today.

If you are good morning.

If you are new here, welcome.

Just so glad you've been able to join us.

Um just hope you feel right at home.

My name is Dan, and uh just really hope this feels like a really good experience for you today.

Uh, if you're watching online, welcome as well.

Glad that you're with us today.

Uh I just need to have a little sip before I keep going.

Oh, that made a funny sound.

Uh I don't know about you, but it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks as the fall has kind of gotten rolling, right?

You know, we've got uh two kids in school, and you know, it's just felt like there's just been lots going on.

Um every school year, there's this nervous energy that I feel as we kind of start the year for the kids.

Uh for you know, those at schools who work there, for just I'm just you know, there's this way of having to get back into routine, right, to navigate things like homework relationships.

You know, if you're at a school who teaches, it could be a lot as well.

And so I just thought this morning, before we dove in, I'm just gonna pause to pray for our kids.

I'm gonna pray for our schools or teachers, um, just that we would take a moment together as a church family.

And so um, just that we would just, I'm gonna end in prayer for them here as the year gets going.

So if you happen to be sitting beside a teacher, a student, a parent, I'm just gonna invite you, if they are okay with it, just to have a hand on their shoulder, just as we pray for them.

Okay, so let's let's pray together here.

So, Jesus, we bring before you our kids, students, teachers, staff, and families in our schools.

Thank you that you know each one by name, and that you are present with them in every classroom, every hallway, out in the playground, every moment of conversation, and every challenge.

Lord Jesus, watch over our kids.

Protect their bodies, their minds, their hearts when they experience anxiety, loneliness, discouragement, pressure, or rejection.

Remind them that they are deeply loved by you.

Give them courage to face difficult things, wisdom in the choices they make, and friendships that encourage them toward what is good and true.

Lord Jesus, would you form them into those who look more and more like you?

Teach them to practice your way and how they treat others, and how they respond to conflict, and how they include those who are left out, speak about one another and make everyday choices.

May your fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control become increasingly evident in their lives.

Father, we pray as well today for teachers and administrators and those who work at school, Lord, and everyone who serves students.

Give them wisdom, patience, compassion, creativity, and strength.

When they are tired, give them everything they need.

Help them to see the needs beneath what they see on the surface that they encounter and to recognize the dignity and intrinsic worth of every student entrusted to their care.

Lord, as well, we just want to pray today for families and parents.

Give us wisdom to know what our kids need and grace to lead them well.

When we are anxious, help us to trust you.

Form us into those who listen well, who respond with patience, who advocate with kindness and model the way of Jesus in our homes and in our relationships with our schools.

Lord Jesus, make us a blessing wherever you have placed us.

Open our eyes to the students, families, teachers, and staff who need encouragement.

May we not only speak about your love, but embody it through the way that we serve.

Holy Spirit, form us into the likeness of Jesus.

Teach us to practice your way in ordinary places of our lives and empower us wherever we find ourselves to meet the needs of those around us.

So, Lord Jesus, we love you and we just thank you for our kids, for our schools, for teachers.

We ask your hand of blessing on them.

We ask these things in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you for that.

Just want to invite you if you have your Bible with you.

Just turn to Acts chapter eight.

We're gonna be sitting in there for the majority of our time here this morning.

And while you're getting there, I have a question for you.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation that stretched you, that pulled you out of what felt comfortable?

A number of years ago, we were on a holiday, myself and my wife, and we were down in uh California.

I had just finished uh six months of uh chemo and radiation therapy for um for stage three cancer at the time.

And so I'd just been finally given a clean bill of health.

And so as a way to celebrate God being good and kind to us in that season, we decided to get away for some rest and fun.

And after arriving at the airport to get to the hotel first that day, we decided to go to a pirate-themed dinner show to celebrate the night.

If it, if by chance you've ever just just, you know, if by chance you have actually been to one of these kinds of shows, you'll know that from the moment you walk in, everything is meant to immerse you in the experience of it, right?

The entire just, I mean it's staff, they're all wearing costumes like pirates, the music, the decor on the walls, everything is designed to bring you into the world of being a pirate, 18th century piracy.

And I love getting lost in story.

It's so much fun.

It's just such a good experience.

And so as the show started, though, Christy and I, we took our seats in the front row because that's where I picked ahead of time.

And and when I looked behind me, though, I can tell it was a little bit of a slow night.

Uh, it was only about a third full.

And so I kind of feel bad for those on stage because you're trying to give your best to kind of a not full room.

It can be difficult.

But um, as the show started, it was so great.

There was all kinds of fun happening on stage.

They brought up the food, there was rice and this small type full-size bird thing that I couldn't even tell you what it was.

It was delicious, though.

I love good fowl.

So, but as the show kept going, all kinds of action, singing, treasure hunting, all the things you'd expect for pirates.

Maybe not singing, but but you know, all the things you'd expect looking at pirates.

And as the show was coming to an end, I could tell it was starting to build up because the captain of the ship told the crew it was time to hoist the mainsail.

And so it's kind of this big, huge number.

And then he starts to shout, we need more hands.

And so, based on my knowledge of what I know about boats, which is very limited for what I've watched on movies and Disney Plus and such, is I could tell that there wasn't enough crew to raise this sail based on what he was asking.

And so I'm anticipating at this point that there would be a flood of people coming up from the backstage that would be willing to help raise this main sail.

And to my horror as an introverted soul, some of the pirates came to the audience to recruit the hands that are now going to be hoisting the sail.

It was at this point when I realized that pre-ordering the front seats was a big miscalculation on my part.

And right away one of the actors points at me, which brought all kinds of anxiety boiled up in my heart.

And so he invited me to come with him.

And at this point, I have one of two options, right?

Like I can either sit back in my chair, I can shake my head no, maybe I can avoid eye contact, which some of us might do, just pretend we don't see him, or I can get up, I can choose to be a part of the story that's happening in front of me.

I can lean into the uncomfortability of the moment.

I can stretch myself, I can join in to what's happening because I have no idea where I'm going.

I have no idea what's happening next.

So much of what happens to us in life is out of our control.

It's out of our hands.

How much you get just, you know, at school when it comes to things about the homework, when it comes to work, all the things that might change at work might be out of your hands.

This winter, when it comes to hopefully not as much snow as last year, and how much we have to shovel, out of our control.

Whether it rains on a day you plan to go for a hike, maybe something in your body that's not quite right, some kind of a crisis in your health or the actions of other people.

So much is out of our control.

And all you can really control is how you respond, is how you answer those moments.

And when you are being pulled out of your comfort zone, when you are being stretched in new ways, when Jesus is inviting you into his mission, into the story that he's telling, you can either sit back or you can lean in.

And so the way that we respond to God is so similar, right?

When Jesus is calling us to more, when he's inviting us to a deeper formational season in our lives, or if he's inviting us to follow him for the very sur the very first time, we either sit back and we lean away from the challenge and we sit into comfort, and or maybe just despite the risk and the uncomfortability, we decide to lean in.

We hear the voice of Jesus and we respond with our yes.

We give him what he's asking for.

And so this morning, whether you've been with Jesus for a long time, or maybe you're new to faith, or maybe you're just here just to say, I don't know what this is all about, but I want to learn more.

My prayer for you is that you would lean in this morning, that you would lean in in this next season, actually.

That you would hear the voice of Jesus inviting you into the story that he is telling.

And respond with your yes, that little by little, in the ordinary parts of your life, you would catch a vision for what it looks like to reorder your life around Jesus in his way.

And that all together as a church, we would become the kind of people who would practice the way of Jesus together, who are empowered by the Holy Spirit and live on mission to meet needs wherever we find ourselves.

And so this morning we're gonna lean in together.

We're actually picking up our series called The Way.

It's been a journey through the book of Acts, and it's looking at the early church and the cultural moment that they find themselves in.

And the big question it's asking is what does it look like to live counter-cultural lives and be the church where Jesus is calling us?

This is the same question that we're being asked today.

And the book of Acts has three movements to it, right?

So when Jesus says early on in the book, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in uh uh uh Judea and uh Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, the book moves through each of these spaces in three different ways.

The first movement where we find the early church is in the city of uh uh uh uh uh Jerusalem.

And so Jesus has ascended, right?

The gift of the Holy Spirit has come, they are empowered, they are on mission, their numbers are growing, people are being healed and baptized, he's dealing with sin among them.

Like there's good things happening.

And yet in the midst of that, they are facing persecution, they are facing ridicule.

But this early church is devoted, right?

They are in it no matter what has happened.

Look at what's said about them in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread into prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possession and goods.

They gave to anyone as they had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes, they 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 were being saved.

This is a good story.

It's a great expression of the church.

And the word to just be the word uh uh devoted in the Greek doesn't just mean that they made it important, but rather it speaks of a consistent, regular practice.

It's a habit they got into.

It is a way of life they were living.

It is changing the way that they live their lives, it's changed the way that they spend time with each other, their finest, their time, their desires, are all realigned to reflect the way of Jesus.

And so put simply, it is about reordering your life around him and his church and what is most important, that you might fully devote yourself to God and his kingdom.

It's choosing the way of Jesus over everything else.

This is what the early church practice.

But don't forget, this is a real group of people.

They bring real life with them.

They have just as much just of, they have just as much of a uh uh uh capacity to bring their sin, their hurt, their anger, their bitterness, their resentment, their anxiety, and their preferences.

And yet they are fully devoted to following the way of Jesus, that through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, they would be a witness wherever they find themselves and what it looks like to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

They are putting the most important things into practice, they're living this way together, they are intentionally choosing to lean in to the things that Jesus is asking of them and to give him their yes.

But at the end of chapter 7, the what they're experiencing now raises in intensity.

They are being almost hunted down to this point.

And when Stephen, a leader in the church, finds himself giving a masterclass in preaching, he accuses the Jewish leadership of completely missing out on Jesus and uses scripture to drive home his point.

And at the end of his sermon, with the crowd fully enraged at him, a man named Saul oversees Stephen's death by stoning.

Right?

Now understand, this is a fragile moment for the church.

This is deeply important.

They have faced just, I mean, a persecution before.

They faced jail and ridicule, right?

Opposition is something that they are used to, but now it moves from following Jesus in life to now following him in death.

Now it amps up, right?

Now the stakes have never felt higher, and how they respond matters.

And so, just for the remaining moments we have, what I want to do is just a sensory reading of this passage this morning.

I want us to imagine that you are in their shoes and be asking yourself, what would I do if I was faced with what they were facing?

Right?

To look at how they responded to this moment, and then we're gonna look at what it means for you and me.

Okay, so in chapter 8, verse 1, this is what Luke tells us.

On that day, a great uh uh uh persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.

But Saul began to destroy the church, going from house to house.

He dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Now, just for a moment, just imagine in our context, imagine a Christian leader in our community, killed for their belief in Jesus.

And the majority of us pack what we can, leave town for other spaces and places in the area, searching for safety because there is a mob of people led by one man going from house to house, looking to put you in jail for what you believe.

You know, as a husband and as a dad, I couldn't imagine the fear that some of these men and women must have had.

This is something I think in our Western eyes that we have trouble grasping, but just consider that according to the uh global uh Christian relief, for so many in the Christian world, this is a lived reality, actually.

So far in this year alone, 388 million believers face high levels of persecution globally.

224,000 Christians were internally uh uh displaced or became uh uh refugees.

67,000 Christians were physically or mentally abused for faith-related reasons.

15 countries now rank at extreme levels of uh uh uh persecution, up from 13 last year.

And so far this year, 4,849 fellow, just sorry, so far this year, 4,849 Christians have been killed for their faith.

All in 2026.

The year's not over yet.

Daily, there are people just like you and me that are faced with the question, is Jesus and his church worth it?

They're being asked that question every day, and the cost is high to the answer to that question.

This is the question that the early church is faced with as well.

And this is their answer.

This is their response to the moment of asking, is it worth it?

This is a verse four.

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

They leaned in.

They leaned in.

But Luke is always careful with his words, the way he describes them.

The word just I mean it's scattered here, implies a gardening metaphor.

Where you and I see the word, it may come across as negative because they were sent to all these bases, but Luke sees scattered as positive.

It's a positive word, the way he uses it.

Like when, just like in the same way though too with Jesus, when he talks about his word being just, I mean, it's scattered like seed on the hearts of people and on our own hearts.

Now he's scattering his church, he's planting them where they need to be, all around the region.

That instead of just concentrated on one city, God is using the tragedy of this moment for his glory and his good.

When Jesus tells us to go and make uh uh disciples of all nations, his followers understood what he meant, that wherever you find yourself, wherever you are, wherever God has placed you, wherever you are in the current moment, make disciples.

That's the command.

It's not necessarily to go far away and do it.

It says, wherever you might be, wherever God has uniquely placed you, make disciples.

And so they are doing that.

They are leaning in, they're not pulling back, they are living out what Jesus commanded them to do.

They are practicing his way.

And it's not easy.

At a time when we wouldn't just, I mean, I blame them for just looking out for themselves, backing into what's comfortable and safe, they are choosing to be a part of the story that God is telling.

They are leaning into the difficulty, to the pain, to the uncertainty.

So, where does Jesus scatter his church?

It says this in verse 5.

Philip went down to his city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.

When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.

With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics, and those who were uh uh uh uh crippled were healed.

So there was great joy in that city.

You see, Philip sees opportunity.

He goes to Samaria, an area about 70 uh kilometers north of the city, where there is a tremendous amount of racial tension between Samaritans and Jews.

Right?

Samaritans have this mixed ethnicity, and so they don't really fit in with Jewish people, they don't really fit in with Gentiles.

They're kind of this in-between space according to those around them.

And so over the years, they have practiced their own way of worship, they've decided to build their own just I mean, a temple.

And to a Jew, these people are not equal.

They're not equal at all.

They don't do anything with one another, they don't associate, they don't hang out with one another, they do nothing with one another.

And yet throughout Jesus' earthy ministry, it was clear he loved Samaritan people.

He deeply cared for them.

From his visit to seeing a woman at a well to one of the most famous stories of the good, just um uh uh uh uh Samaritan.

Jesus was including them in God's redemptive story.

And so Philip chooses to go to Samaria to reach people with the good news of Jesus that others would normally avoid.

In fact, most people most of the time would walk around that area.

You wouldn't go through it, you would cut around it and it would take you longer.

But Philip chooses to go there.

People are being saved, set free from all kinds of oppression, they're being healed.

God has taken this moment of persecution, what man meant for evil, and he is using it to build his church in such a significant way.

But this is often the way the good news of Jesus breaks out, not when the church is comfortable, but when it feels the most uncomfortable.

When it feels the most costly to follow Jesus, all throughout church history, the church has thrived when we have found ourselves on the margins.

Did you know that?

We have grown more when it's been harder than when it's been comfortable.

We have experienced the most growth during hard times of persecution.

It's experienced the most just, it has seen just just such a move of the Holy Spirit when we're facing opposition.

When we lean into those seasons, the kingdom breaks out.

We see that time and time again.

And Philip continues to lean in.

He encounters a man named Simon.

Simon is a just, he's a just a uh sorcerer who performs all kinds of magic.

But when Philip shows up in Samaria, Simon is in awe of the miracles and signs, right?

Like he's looking at Philip and he just thinks to himself, I need that kind of power.

I need people to look at me the way they look at Philip.

Like I need that kind of notoriety, I need that kind of status.

And so Simon gets baptized and so seemingly on the outside is doing all the normal things that what you would do to follow Jesus.

Everything looks good outwardly.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the church back in Jerusalem hear about what's happening in Samaria and they head north to see for themselves.

And in verse 14, this is what it says When the apostles heard that uh uh uh Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them.

They had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Again, understand the importance of this moment.

Samaritans are accepting and following Jesus, but this is a fragile moment for them and the church.

Like this is really on edge.

Samaritans represent the bridge between Jews and Gentiles because they're half Jew, half Gentile.

They're kind of in between this space, and without some sort of moment in which church leaders come and confirm what's going on and say, yes, what's happening to them is real, this small church within this region faced the risk of being seen as less than.

If those from the larger church, so to speak, don't come and say this is authentic, this is real, they face being on their own, out in the cold, with nobody supporting them.

So God in his kindness sends Peter and John to Samaria, where these new, just I mean, believers experience for the first time the power of the Spirit, and then Peter and John can then say to the larger scattered church, these folks are with us, they have the same spirit.

This is why it plays out this way.

That God knew that they needed this moment of we're with them.

And so he gives that to them.

But Simon sees this, right?

Simon is still there in the midst of all these things, and he sees the power of the Spirit fall on all of these folks.

And he says, How much does that cost?

Right?

That's this question, how much does that cost?

I will pay for that kind of power.

I'm willing to give money for that.

And look at what Peter says in verse 20.

He answers, May your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money.

You have no part or sharing this ministry because your heart is not right before God.

Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord.

Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.

For I see that you are full of bitterness and you're captive to sin.

Then Simon answered, Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.

You see, Simon doesn't see God as being relational but transactional.

He sees it as what I can get, and less about who I get to be with.

He's just a means to an end for Simon.

I follow Jesus to get fame, money, notoriety, popularity, whatever it might be.

Simon even says to Peter after his warning, after Peter invites Sermon further into relationship with Jesus, after he invites him in, he says to, he says, Can you pray those things for me, Peter?

Right?

You see, Simon sees Jesus just as a means to an end.

Not a relationship.

To get good things.

As you and I read that, we might understand, I think, at an intellectual level, how wrong Simon is.

It's clear as we read that.

But if we're honest, this is one of the greatest dangers of the Western Church, and if and as well in our own hearts.

The idea that Jesus is a means to an end is prevalent.

It's not something that's just on the side.

It's something that even for some of us in this room, we actually tend to lean to.

That if we follow Jesus, we'll have a hope of a comfortable life, that things would be easy, that Jesus is here to make me happy, that I wouldn't have any problems.

Or one of the ways that's the most just, I mean, a transactional is that I follow Jesus so that I can go to heaven when I die.

We say that often.

And while it's true that there is just while it's true that there is just, I mean, heaven is just, I mean, waiting for those who follow, trust, and practice the way of Jesus.

We don't follow Jesus to get heaven, we follow Jesus to get Jesus.

He is not a means to an end.

And Simon needs to hear that as much as you and I do, to be reminded of that.

That it's not about what he does for us, it's that we get him.

The God of the universe wants to know you, that he wants to have a relationship with you.

He longs to be with you.

And so for just I mean, Peter and John, they go back home and it says this in verse 25 when they had testified and shared the word of God, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

Right?

So here's a recap.

As chapter 8 gets going, it's difficult, right?

Just, I mean, a persecution is rapidly breaking out, the church is scattered.

And yet they lean in to this moment.

They see where they are placed and they say, God has us here for a reason.

The good news of Jesus is shared, and the kingdom is advancing in the face of death.

Right?

The spirit is on the move in unlikely places.

The people who were far from God are now close to him.

And how did that all happen?

Where did that start with them?

Did they just all of a sudden wake up when all that then started and say, you know what, I think we're gonna do this today?

It starts with devotion.

Early on, you see, they leaned in, they chose to reorder their lives, to become the kind of people that look more and more like Jesus.

They chose the way of Jesus over everything, over their time, their resources, their relationships, their practice, their rest, everything.

They devoted themselves, they put into practice so that when this moment came, they knew what to do.

They were ready for it.

In fact, just as a reminder, this is what they did.

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.

All the believers were together and they 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.

They ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all people.

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

You see, this is a good story, right?

Like I love this story.

I love leaning into this part of the book of Acts because it builds faith in the room.

It can paint this picture of what many of us hope for when we think of following Jesus, that we would belong to a group of individuals, to a group of people who from all kinds of walks of life who are desiring to be formed in the way of Jesus and would make an impact not only in this space but in the world around them.

That is the ideal church we all desire to be a part of, we all long for.

And yet it's easy to disconnect from this story.

Because while we might face a culture that at times is hostile towards the church, for the most part, we live pretty safe lives here in Fort St.

John.

No one is at the door here, like trying to arrest me or trying to arrest any of you.

We're not forced next week or two to move away or anything like that.

The only cost, really, to being here for most of us is it's gonna cost us our morning and a little bit of time.

The real danger for you and me is our complacency.

It's our own desires, it's the temptation to order our lives around our own comfort, to make that the most important thing.

And all the while we miss out on all that Jesus has for us, all that he's inviting us into, a deeply formed life of peace, joy, contentment, and hard things that are marked by the grace of Jesus.

And so Jesus is inviting you, just as he's inviting me, just as he was inviting the early church, just as he has been inviting the church all throughout history to be a part of the story that he is telling.

Something we say around here often is that the most important thing about you is who you are becoming.

I like to put this way the only thing God gets out of your life is the person you become.

The only thing God gets out of your life is the person you become.

So here's a question for us this morning.

For us as a church, this is what I want us to sit with over this next season.

What does devotion look like for Fort St.

John Alliance Church?

What does devotion look like for you and me who would call this church home that we might say, this is what it looks like to practice the way of Jesus together?

How do we practice what it means to be the church?

If we were to look at the description here from Luke on what it means to be just, I mean, devoted to the church, I think it gives us some practical things to hold on to for you and I.

And so what I want to do is just briefly call you to some ways to lean in into this next season.

Some things that I think are important that if you call this church home, this is what we ought to be doing, actually.

And so here's just a few things that I want to share with you.

Number one, practice the way of Jesus together.

This would be big.

In this next season, we have some ways in which we want to help you do this.

We're gonna have a season of prayer starting this fall here, in which we're going to lean into what it means to be devoted and to consecrate ourselves to the Lord, which means to reorder your life around Him.

And so one of the ways we want to invite you to be a part of this is prayer.

We're gonna have all kinds of moments of prayer all throughout this next year.

Starting in October, on the 4th, there's gonna be a uh prayer and worship night.

We want you to come out.

We're gonna have regular nights like that all throughout the year.

We want to encourage you to come out and pray with the church.

Sing with the church, worship with the church, pray with us in those unique ways.

On top of that, as well, we're gonna do something different as well.

Started in October, we're gonna show you a little bit more.

We're gonna invite you in how to just, how to just, I mean you practice the way of Jesus together through a course that is offered on exactly that thing.

Practicing the way of Jesus course.

And so it's gonna start in October.

It's gonna be available for everybody to be a part of.

We're gonna hold it here at the church, and we are excited for you to be a part of that.

It is ways for you to learn even more in your ordinary day-to-day.

How do I practice the way of Jesus in my home, at my work, with my neighbors, with my extended family?

How do I do it well?

And so we're gonna learn these things together to reorder our lives around Jesus.

Number two, be in uh uh uh uh uh community, right?

So here's the big thing you cannot do faith on your own.

There's no such thing as a lone wolf in this building.

You were made to be in relationship with Jesus and with one another.

We all desire to be seen and to be known.

Everyone has that.

And so this fall we want to try some newer things, even, but also expand on some of the things we've been doing.

We're gonna have uh men's breakfast in October.

There's a women's faith and fellowship night coming up in October, there's a senior's luncheon happened at the end of this month.

Youth have all kinds of things going on.

There's all kinds of happenings that we want you to be a part of it.

And there are these slightly larger gatherings of between 30 and 50 people that help you to get to know faces in the room.

Because one of the things that I recognize is that some of you may have been here for a long time and you still don't really know anybody.

I want to encourage you, come on out to those spaces to get to know people, to see who they are, start to make friends, start to there.

And from there, once you start to get to know people, that you might find yourself in a smaller group of people, right?

To share meals, to study the word, to pray and do life together.

We currently have 11 groups that are happening right now in the church.

It'd be great to see a lot more.

And I know some of you are maybe in a stage in which you kind of know people, but now you need to take it to the next level and maybe be known a little bit more.

This is the way to do that.

And so I want to encourage you, have a look at the back of the room there.

We have that all in the back.

Have a chat with Aaron about what it means to be involved in a small group, to lead a small group, to be a part of one.

That's one way you can do it.

Number three, gather together on Sunday morning.

This one's really important.

Sunday morning gatherings are key, and I recognize that for some of us, we have every now and then we decide we're to get away for holidays, all that sort of thing.

I get that, I get away for holidays too.

Here would be my ask, when you are here that you show up to be here with the rest of us.

Because I just think there's something really uniquely special about the church gathering together.

I think it's really, really unique in a time in which we all do things separately in culture that as the church, we would live radical and say we're actually going to meet together and make it important.

That's what it means to be a part of the church, is to gather together on Sunday.

Number four is to serve, right?

It's this idea that says that I am here to give of my time and my talents and my abilities, both inside and outside the walls.

We have all kinds of needs here at the church.

Youth, we have needs at our tech booth, we have needs for like our live stream, we have needs for those up front to greet, we have needs everywhere.

And you are placed uniquely here to use your giftings.

You were not made to sit in the background to be a spectator.

You were meant to participate, to give of your gifts, your talents, and your abilities in those ways, both inside and outside of our walls.

And then lastly, is give.

You see, in the Bible, what we see is that is that like there is a bar for giving of what we have in our finances, and it's usually about the just uh the um uh uh uh the the bar is um uh 10%.

And so for many of us who've been doing that for a long time, but maybe you're new here and you're not sure where to start, even just start with 1% if you're new here, just to start a practice of tithing, if you haven't ever done it before.

Or maybe you've been here for a really long time, and maybe every month, maybe just have a deposit that comes out of your bank account, and that's great.

Maybe it's an invitation for you to ask Jesus, where can I be giving maybe a little bit more than what I usually give?

That maybe he's asking you to give a little bit more than what you have.

And I recognize the awkwardness of me wanting to just write, this is awkward as a pastor talk about money.

It always is.

But know that as your pastor, I will never ask you to do anything that I'm not actually currently doing myself.

And so I want to encourage you to lean into this space if that's you.

And so I'm gonna invite the band up here just as we close here this morning.

They have one more song for us, but back to the pirate show for a moment.

When I got up from my seat at the pirate show, I was ushered to the back room to put on a pirate shirt, a pirate hat, an eye patch, to look the part, and then ushered back out to be a part of the story.

There's probably only about 15 of us, and we're all pulling on these ropes together.

And as we're pulling, we're watching this sail come up together, all in unison as we're pushing or as we're have the ropes.

And here's the thing: I could have stayed in my seat.

Right?

I could have watched the whole thing from a safe distance.

I could have avoided eye contact with the pirate that was really staring me down if I wanted to.

I still would have seen the show, I still would have known the story, I still would have watched it play out in front of me, but I just would not have been a part of it.

I wouldn't have been a part of it.

And I wonder if sometimes that's how we approach following Jesus.

Is that we can sit back and watch, we can know the story, we can come to church, we know the right things, we even look the parts.

But Jesus is inviting you to step in.

He's inviting us to something more than just watching from the crowd, he's inviting us to get out of our seats, to hear his voice, and to give him our yes, to reorder our lives around him, to practice his way, to be formed by him, to join him in what he is doing in the people and the places around us.

Because the story that Jesus is telling isn't something we're meant to watch from a distance.

You were not made to sit in the crowd.

You were not built for that.

You were made for so much more.

Something that deep that Jesus invites us into.

And so when Jesus calls you from the crowd, when he stretches you beyond what's comfortable, when he invites you to take another step of obedience this fall, when he's asking you to lean in a little bit a little bit more, will you stay in your seat or will you get up and be a part of what he's doing?

Will you lean in?

So let's pray together.

So, Lord Jesus, we thank you today for your word.

We thank you that you are continuing to build your church just as you have from the very beginning.

And that, Lord, you've taken ordinary people who chose to reorder their lives, to consecrate themselves to you, to lay down their wants, to lay down their desires, and to put you first in everything.

And Jesus, what a beautiful picture we see of the early church of these ordinary people who live radically, who are choosing to focus on you and your mission, who are living in such a way that must have been so strange to Rome.

So odd that they would take such care in one another.

So odd that they would care for those in need.

So odd that they would gather together regularly.

Lord Jesus, I pray for us as a church that we might look strange to the world, that we might live in such a way where people start asking questions, where we reorder our lives around you.

Jesus, that we don't wait for a moment in which we feel like it's costly, but that we understand right now there's a cost.

Jesus, I pray for each one in this room who may already be in the space in which they're feeling like they're just, I mean, going through the motions with you.

That maybe years ago they said yes to you, maybe they decided to just say yes to you, so I'm gonna follow you.

But life to this point has just felt like it's just routine in tradition.

Lord Jesus, even for those here who have been actively with you, who have been walking with you, who feel like they're moving closer towards you, where they are really just, I mean, becoming more and more like you.

Jesus, no matter where we fall on the spectrum, even for someone who is far from you today, who's maybe just here because they just want to understand a little bit more about you, Jesus.

I pray that you might invite us into the next right step in our walk with you.

Lord, for some it's actually come to a men's or women's event or a seniors' event or a youth group.

Lord, for others, it's meant to come here and learn what it is to practice your way together.

Jesus, for some it's the next step of learning how to pray more, learning how to steep in that.

For others, it is learning how to give more of our time, our finances, our resources to serve.

All of these things are available.

Jesus, I pray that you might lead us towards what is the next right step with you.

So, Lord Jesus, would you build your church?

Would you mold us into the people that you want us to be?

Would you sanctify us?

Would you mold us and shape us and form us in all the ways that you are?

So, Lord Jesus, may we live this way.

May we decide to devote ourselves to you and devote ourselves to one another.

So, Lord Jesus, we love you and we just ask these things in your name.

Amen.