Better Together | In Courage

Amen. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen. God is good. This is just a little something that we try to do at Kahaluu and kind of have everyone wake up. God is good And all the time, do you know that God is great every day? And every day, God is great. Do you know that God is awesome? Tell somebody that God is awesome. Tell somebody that God is awesome, and whether that's on the best day of our lives or even on the worst days, that we are able to know that we know that God is good all the time, and hopefully we tell somebody how good and awesome God is. Good morning, church.

It's good to see everyone here this morning. If I missed you in the back, I try to get every or try to say good morning and not jump scare everyone here this morning as I come up to the pulpit, because if you're thinking that someone else would be here, Pastor Brian would be here. Surprise! It's me. I'm Pastor Nia. I'm from Kahalau UMC, and we're part of this pulpit swap better together series with our Windward Churches. So that's myself in Kahaluu, Keolumana, Parker, and Kailua here in Kailua, but it's a joy to continue together in this series that we are sharing with churches across the windward side called Better Together. And I just want to recap that we looked at Acts chapter two verses 42 through 47 with the theme connected together by grace, and that should that was our first theme when we introduced this series to our churches was connected together by grace, found in Acts chapter two verses 42 to 47. We saw the beauty of the early church. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and they devoted themselves to fellowship. They broke bread together, and they prayed together. And Scripture says that they were together with glad and sincere hearts. It was the fellowship of believers. And today we're going to see what happens when that fellowship gets tested, because it's one thing to be together when everything is going well, when when the atmosphere is good, when there's something to celebrate, but it's another thing when things aren't going so well. What happens to that fellowship then? What happens when following Jesus becomes difficult, or what happens when your faith costs you something, or what happens when somebody tells you to stop talking about Jesus? And this is where Acts four takes us, and we realize that the church is better together-not just when we celebrate, but when we are under pressure. We're better together in fellowship, in worship, and in serving. And today, we're better together in courage, because biblical courage isn't always about standing alone.

Sometimes, the greatest courage is knowing where to go when you're afraid. And Acts 4 shows us where the early believers went. They went to their own people, and when they got there, they prayed. Here's what happened. Peter and John had gone to the temple. They encountered a man who was unable to walk, and in the name of Jesus, this man was healed. That miracle drew a bunch of people, a large crowd, and Peter began preaching. But he didn't take credit for this healing. He pointed everyone to Jesus. It wasn't their power or their holiness; it was Jesus. And the leaders threatened them, Peter and John. They seized them and they told them not to proclaim Jesus. And eventually, because they couldn't find a way to punish these two, they released them. In verse 23, in the beginning of our lesson, when they were released, they went to their own people. They didn't go home and isolate. They didn't disappear. They didn't say, "I'm done with church, or "I don't need anybody, or "I'll handle all of this by myself. They went to their own people and they prayed. When life gets hard, go to your people. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people. That phrase is simple but powerful.

They went to their own people, and the first thing we learn about courage is that courage grows in community. The two apostles had just been threatened. They stood before powerful authorities and the leaders and elders. They were told to stop preaching Jesus, and when they were released, they ran toward the community.

That's important because I know many times when we're under pressure, one of the greatest things we do as human beings is isolate. We isolate ourselves.

We're hurting. We isolate. We pull away. When we're embarrassed, we go and hide.

When we're struggling, we think,"I don't want anybody to know.

I'll figure it out by myself. I don't want anybody born." Bothering me, and I don't want people asking questions. I recently went on a trip on a vacation, and I quote unquote because I had planned it. And sometimes when you plan a vacation with other folks, it doesn't really feel like a vacation. It's more of a vacation for the other folks on the trip as well. But for the planner, it's a responsibility and it was a stressor. And some people joke that the oldest daughter in the family becomes the family manager. And I think in the introduction it said that I'm the only only eldest daughter, but I'm the only daughter of my parents. I have four brothers, and I'm the only girl in our family. Whether that's true of being a family manager for everyone or not, I know it's true for me, and more so because I'm the only girl in my family. And I know it was shared. Oh, yeah, I know it was shared, and I naturally feel responsible for everyone as the only daughter. On this trip, I wanted to make sure that my parents were okay, that my brothers were doing well, and what I mean, my brothers are doing well. I mean doing the things that are supposed to do, that they're supposed to do after I tell them what to do.

That's what my brothers. That's their role and my role in our family. But on this trip, we actually went to Washington D.C.

I have a baby brother. He's not a baby. He's 22 years old, but he is going to seminary to graduate school in Washington D.C. where he'll be attending the Wesley Theological Seminary.

And so that was the trip that I was planning. And so I was planning on which airport to fly into because I was told that there's multiple airports, not like over here. We only have one, so it's easier for us, y'all. Then I had to plan and coordinate our our stay, our our transportation, all of that thing, and making sure that we got a return flight home. There were so many moving pieces on this trip, and I become what some people call an overfunctioner. I assume responsibility for everything and everyone until eventually I'm overwhelmed. I convince myself that if I don't hold it together, everything will fall apart. But the enemy loves isolation because isolation makes our problems feel bigger than they really are. When life gets hard, go to your people. In this sense, my people was my parents. During this stressor and this planning, when I was planning this trip and I was feeling overwhelmed, I remember that I'm not the only one that's going on this trip. There are other people who are on this trip, and I said a little prayer. I said, "God, here's my stress. My parents, who are also going on this trip, can also pay for their own trip, or maybe even half of our trip. And I really didn't need to stress the way that I did. But because I was isolating myself, I put this on myself. This was the problem I had, made bigger than it really was, and so when life got hard at that moment, I went to my people, and you know what they said when I told them that we're also we're all going on this trip. They said we were waiting for you to let us know when to give you our card, when we can pay for our our own stuff too, and that was such a huge style of beauty for me-a huge dress off of my shoulders. And our passage today gives us this picture: when Peter and John are first released, they go to their people. We need our people, so go to your people, and together pray bigger than your fears or our fears. And the next verse is verse 24 says, "When they heard this, when the community heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

Together, they heard what happened.

The community heard the threats made to Peter and John, and they prayed. But what really catches my attention is what they pray for. They've just been threatened, and so we or I expect them to pray. God, get them, make our lives easier. God protect us from everything uncomfortable, or maybe even we don't even pray. We don't even expect the community to pray at all, you expect them to retaliate in a more human way.

Instead, the community, the people prayed together to God, and their prayer starts off with Psalm two. I'd just like to note that their prayer starts off with Psalm two, recognizing and understanding the connection of the song and what has taken place in regards to the elders and leaders of and their opposition of Jesus, and as they continue their prayer, verse 29 says, "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with gratefulness. They don't deny the threats; they don't pretend.

That the threats are not real, they say, Lord, consider their threats. In other words, God, you know what happened, you know what we are facing, you know what we are afraid of, and so they ask God to give them boldness, not to remove any threat, but to give them courage in the middle of these threats, they pray together bigger than their fears. One of the biggest lessons I've learned this year, in my first appointment in this church at Kahaluu UMC, is how my church became my people. Even within less than a year of knowing one another, they have become my people. When I needed folks to pray for me as a first-time pastor in this first appointment, they became my people that I went to. When I needed prayers for my family, when my younger brother suffered a seizure earlier this year, when my auntie needed to be rushed to the hospital, when my baby brother graduated from college and is on his way to graduate school, I went to my people so that we can pray together. The people I run to to pray for me and pray over me, and we pray together to God, and we're still praying together as the church together. We pray bigger than our fears, and courage then is empowered by the Holy Spirit. And then we get to the climax of our passage in verse 31. It says, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. They gathered, they heard, they prayed, and God responded. The Holy Spirit was filling them up, and they spoke boldly. It's the courage of this passage. It's not just a personality. It's the Holy Spirit empowering ordinary people to do extraordinary things and become extraordinary people as well. And that's the good news for us because sometimes we think, "I wish I could be more courageous. I wish I could be more outgoing and speak like that person and speak with more confidence. I wish I could be like Pastor Brian, but the message of Acts isn't to become a naturally courageous person. The message of Acts is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, because courage isn't something that we can manufacture. It's something that God can produce in us. As I was preparing for our pulpit swaps, I was thinking, "Yeah, it's gonna be cool. It's gonna be okay. It's chill. You know, this is just an extension of Kahalu'u. So every church that I went to, I just kept thinking, or I would think that it's just an extension of Kahaluu, of Parker, of Keilumana, and eventually here in Kailua, and I realized that I was moving further and further out of Kahalami until I'm here in Kailua, and hopefully getting and getting a bit more comfortable. The farther I got away, the more comfortable practice I would get if anything. But as I was talking stories with someone, I shared about the pulpit swaps, and they knew about it too. And I was coming here, and they were like,"Oh, that's so good for you! It'll be a good experience to get up and get out there and get out of Kahaluu and go out into the bigger eastern or windward side of our churches, there's a good number of attendants, and they're really lovely people.

You know, Parker and Kielomana, they have AC. Kailua doesn't have AC. They have a good breeze, probably like us at Kahaluu, but they do have a bigger sanctuary. They've got a lot more people, and I thought, okay, great, no pressure at all.

No, no pressure. I also watched a couple of the services. I think I mentioned it to some of you or a couple of you that I that I had watched some services just to see like how the worship service runs and how Pastor Brian preaches and stuff. And I noticed some cool things and differences too. That the camera is mostly just focused up here to the Pastor Brian and the worship team, the praise team, and it's like cool, wow! And I never really got to see any faces. We don't get to see any faces on the on the live or anything. But I also was watching some of the sermons as well, and I thought, wow, Pastor Brian is a good pastor. That was such a great sermon as well.

This is a great pastor. He doesn't read off of a paper. He doesn't even stay behind the pulpit. I saw a surface where he was sitting on the stool. So I was looking for that stool, but it's back here. So I'm glad that you don't expect me to sit on the stool at home. But I started to realize that going into my second year of ministry and leading Kahului UMC, I'm kind of realizing that I'm really hanging with the big dogs, the heavy hitters, the veterans, if you will, of ministry on the windward side, where there's Reverend Brian. Reverend Joy and Reverend Sione, who was just here, you know, Reverend said,"I'm here. Pastor me, I'm from Kahaluu YMC. But and I was starting to get nervous and kind of anxious throughout the weeks because I realized that Kalua is a big place. But I was rereading this passage, rereading this passage, and the title reads"The Believers Pray. After John and Peter are reading, they go back to their community, back to their own people, and report what they have just been fixing, what just happened, and they begin to pray, pray for boldness and courage, and to open, to be open. Verse 31 says, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Even me, who in my nature I am shy and timid, but when it comes to the people of God, into the Word of God, and try to speak more out, speak up, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because after going to my people, after praying together, bigger than our fears, I remind them of the courage that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. And I think this message is especially appropriate for us as the churches on the windward side, that we may come from different congregations and different backgrounds and traditions and even different worship styles and personalities, but the biggest thing, something bigger than all of those differences, is Jesus.

When the church on the windward side stands together, not competing or comparing, we become a picture of what Jesus intends for His church to be.

Better together doesn't mean that we need to be exactly the same. It means we belong to the same body. Like Parker cannot always try to be like Kahaluu.

Kahaluu cannot always try to be like Kailua or Keolumana when one church prays for another church. That's fellowship of the same body of Christ. When one pastor prays and encourages another pastor, that's that fellowship. When one congregation celebrates what God is doing in another congregation, that's fellowship.

And I was also reminded that next year will be Kailua's 100th year anniversary, and congratulations! This is 99, so this is pretty far already. We are also celebrating our 95th this year, so we're not too far behind for you folks. But when your prayer becomes my prayer, your burden becomes our burden together, your joy becomes our joy, and when we pray together, we find courage together. The church, the early church in Acts, prayed together, and God gave them boldness to keep going.

And may these four churches on the windward side continue to do

standing together, praying together, loving together, encouraging one another and courageously living out our calling as the body of Christ. We saw how the early church is together and how they devoted themselves to fellowship. We see what that fellowship looks like when life gets hard. Peter and John are released and they go to their own people. And I hope you've been thinking about your own people that you get to run to as well. These two apostles go to their people and they pray. They run toward one another. They don't allow the threats to divide them. In fact, their threats make them go deeper into community. And they pray, God, make us bolder. And then the Holy Spirit fills them, and the place shakes, and the gospel continues, and the church

better together in fellowship, in prayer, in mission, better together in courage. Amen.