What Made the Early Church So Powerful? // David Swart

Let's read the word of God together, will you?

Before you sit down.

Acts chapter 2, verse 36.

Acts 2:36

I want to read these verses for us as we get it started.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, talking about Jesus, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

So those who received his words were baptized, and they were added that day about three thousand souls.

And when they had div and and they had 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.

I would like to pray as well.

Father, thank you for your word.

This morning, Lord, as we open up the book of Acts and Acts chapter two specifically, Father, would you speak to every single one of us?

Would you reveal to us where our hearts are at and where you want us to step into more or step away from?

Wherever you are calling us, Lord, I pray that only what you want to be heard will be heard today, only what you want to be said will be said.

In Jesus' name, I pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Exciting day for us here with our first day of free services.

So welcome to the 1030.

Lovely, lovely to see you.

And uh yeah, it was good.

8:30.

I was like, who's gonna show up at 8:30?

Uh, apparently a lot of people showed up at 8:30.

So that's been amazing.

Uh, thank you for uh continuing to journey with us as we do this for the next nine weeks.

Uh, trusting that as we open room for more, that more people will hear the gospel, more people will come into the local church, and that's why we're doing this.

Good.

Anybody went to the retreat last week?

Okay, that's the crew.

I was there for like a day and a half.

It was so much fun.

It actually was amazing.

Um, and we we had a blast.

Uh during one of the sessions, though, I think it was Saturday morning, I stood there and I felt like, you know, I I know a lot of the worship team members, I know a lot of you, and I felt like God just one by one reminded me of it of people's stories that I saw on stage.

And I looked around the room and I was like, whoa, the testimony here, testimony there, what God has done.

And it just flooded my mind of what God has been doing in this church, in the college retreat, at the ret uh in the college nights.

Um, and it's incredible.

The the testimonies are amazing, and I'm here to say God continues to save, to heal, to deliver, to set free, to place people into family.

I mean, one guy I saw uh practically was an atheist a few years ago, had an encounter with the Lord at home, and then somehow read the Bible for like the next eight to ten hours through the night, could not get enough.

Next morning he called his buddy and he's like, I need to go to church.

Can you can you help me how to how do I take this step into this?

And now is is a part of our church and serving.

Another guy I saw was the only one saved in his family, and he when he tells the story, he gets emotional of how is it that God saved him from what could have been a completely different story.

And emotion flooding this guy as he tells the story.

Thankfully, a few months ago he was able to lead his mom to the Lord.

Now there's two in his family that serve the Lord, and that is a testimony from just this year.

Another person left Islam a year ago when she encountered Jesus at a college night, and that came at a great cost to her.

A few people in our church over the last few years that that the stories came to my mind came in, walked in here in same-sex relationships.

And though we we we preach what what scripture tells us, we don't make a big deal about it, but the Lord made a big deal in their hearts about it, and they surrendered their hearts to the Lord in that area, and have seen much healing and change and hope in their lives.

While I was at the retreat, I counted seven PKs.

Anyone know what a PK is?

Pastor's kid.

Yeah, if you're sitting up front here.

I mean, that in itself, the reputation PKs have for serving the Lord is not a great reputation.

But there were a number of them in the church, which was amazing.

One guy, I thought of this story from a couple years ago, right here.

I remember where he was sitting.

Came in because a friend invited him to church, was not a churchgoer at all.

Mom was Hindu, dad was uh, I think United Methodist or something, and uh he came and he encountered Jesus here.

A few weeks later, gave his life to Jesus in a life group, and now all of them are in the church serving the Lord together.

I've got so many testimonies, and I was wondering which ones to share with you.

But there are people who've been walking into this building, burnt out, visionless, directionless, not sure what God has for them, but they've found Jesus in this place and they found purpose and meaning in their lives.

I'm so excited about the local church.

And this is just a few stories from the last few years, but I felt to remind you and us and me of what God is doing in the local church, what God is continuing to do in 2026.

And when I'm whenever I speak out of uh from a in in other churches where there are not as many young people as you, I have to remind these churches over and over, I'm about as excited about Gen Z and Gen Alpha as I've been in about a generation ever, because I can see what the Lord is doing in this church, and it's an exciting, exciting thing.

So, if the church were in the SP 500, I'm buying.

I'm all about it.

I want to talk to you today about the local church.

You have to be a stock guy to know that one.

So uh, I want to talk today about the local church.

I know we're we're just finished our series on the era of kings.

Next week, we start our series on the era of waiting, and we've been going through the Old Testament all year long.

Well, next, as we start next week, we're in that final five, six hundred year period before Jesus comes, where there were no kings and there was really not a lot of hope.

There was just prophetic words of waiting.

The Messiah is coming.

So that's where we're going to be kicking off next week.

This week I wanted to talk about the local church, the beauty of the local church.

I love the local church, what the local church is, what it should be doing, and I want to encourage you to step in to the local church, whether it's 614 or wherever God has placed you on this planet.

It is one of the most exciting and important things that you and I can be part of.

I'm going to camp in two portions of scripture.

I'm going to read for you now Ephesians chapter 3, verse 7 through 10.

Ephesians 3:7–10

But then I'm going to go back to Acts 2, where I started, and we're going to pick out things that the early church did to see what kind of church should we be and what time uh what should we aim towards.

So let's start here in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 7.

Ephesians 3:7

Paul wrote this book and he's talking about the church, and he's on a train of thought here, but I want to start in verse 7.

He says, This of this gospel, I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me by the working of his power.

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what was the plan of mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.

Look at this.

He's been called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and verse 9, to bring to light for everyone.

What is the plan of the mystery hidden in ages for ages in God who created all things?

Here it is, verse 10.

So that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Let me read that again.

So that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places.

Now, I know the church, Capital C church, has taken some hits of late.

I know there's been scandals, there's been abuse, there's been terrible things, and I feel like I grieve and we should grieve every time one of those things comes to light.

It hurts the church, it hurts people in the church, it hurts the reputation of the church, it hurts the name of the church and the distrust that is continuing to grow for any kind of institution that we see around ourselves.

But that is not the just because we're seeing the abuse, just because we're seeing the harm, doesn't mean it should now shape and rewrite our theology of how we do the uh Christianity.

We have to continually go back to the word of God and find out what is the plan and the will and the ways of God for how you and I should order our lives.

This is his idea.

And yeah, we're going through a rough period where in America church attendance has dropped for the last 25 years quite significantly, except for the last couple of years, and the data is beginning to come back that there is a resurgence happening in this country.

But but we're still so far from until everyone knows Jesus.

We're still so far from every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

That is his plan, and the creator of the heavens and the earth, uh, what he says is gonna happen.

Amen?

Okay, amen.

I preached last week in a Pentecostal church.

Can we try that one more time?

Amen?

Okay, you can do it.

We're gonna be a holler back church, it's kind of fun, and I like when we get involved in the preaching today.

So I want you to know that this idea of the local church is not a David idea, it is not a Rock City idea, it is not a Lutheran church idea, it is not a Catholic church idea, it is God's idea that through the church his wisdom will be made known.

So, if that's the big picture, what does that mean for you and I today?

Let me start though, first things first.

The gospel is first.

Jesus Christ is first.

The gospel, Jesus, born of a virgin, who lived a sinless life, who preached repentance and faith, Jesus who died on a cross, Jesus who rose from the death, Jesus who then conquered death itself, being resurrected and now seated at the right hand of the Father, that is the main thing.

That is the primary thing.

Jesus is the door into the church, Jesus is the door into eternal life.

So we've got to understand this is the rock upon which the church is built.

It is the church is not the main thing.

Jesus is the main thing.

The church is the vehicle for how you and I walk out what God has saved us into.

Amen?

So that's really, really important.

Jesus is main.

But there is no capital C church without a little C collection of local churches.

It doesn't work for you and I to say, I'm saved into the Capital C church, but there's no local expression of a people who know you, who do life with you, who preach to you, who hold you accountable, where you serve, where you grow, and you do life together.

I know we have online church, and I'm so glad you're with us.

Honestly, I'm so glad you're with us.

But there is an expression of you bringing your body into a people of believers where this is what the church looks like.

It is coming together.

Now I'm gonna be as bold to say that if there's no people who know you weakly, who know you in a consistent way, who teach you, hold you accountable, what you are is a lone ranger.

And a lone ranger is doesn't like accountability, doesn't like anybody else telling them what to do.

And your growth is going to be stunted.

It's going to be stunted.

Try and do this thing alone.

Usually, when people leave the church, they get offended by something, I'm just gonna do this myself.

Within a few years, they're no longer serving the Lord.

And I don't know why, but in God's wisdom, in his infinite wisdom, he places you into a family.

You need one another.

I need you, you need me, we need one another.

We need to be able to walk this out because walking alone in this faith is too hard.

There's too much opposition against you, there's too many ideas out there on the internet that are gonna take you left and right and left and right.

What should I follow?

God has placed us into a local family.

Now, yeah, I'm here representing 614 Church.

I would love for you to be in 614 Church.

Obviously, you're welcome.

If you're visiting your kids, move here.

I like it.

Come on, like this is amazing.

My friends, I just met outside.

Okay, come on down.

But if if if you're not here, wherever God has placed you, find a church there where you can do life with and get involved with.

Even if you're in Columbus and you're here, but because you ran away from another church because some pastor held you accountable, or someone said something that you didn't like.

If there is pure sin, obviously you've got to deal with that.

If there's abuse and things, yes, deal with that.

That's not what I'm talking about.

But Columbus is known for people church hopping, just like, oh, you know, new church, oh, new music, new this, new that.

I'm just gonna go from here to there to there.

They've got the new thing, the new vibe.

Friends, can the Lord move you on when the Lord wants you to move on?

Or is our preferences gonna move us on when we get offended?

When they say something we don't like.

Just okay?

You're not gonna grow if you're not rooted somewhere.

You're not gonna grow if you're not rooted somewhere.

I am the worst gardener in the world, but I know this when I try and take my plant and move it from here to there without tending to the ground, without it getting rooted, without it getting into the soil, it dies.

To just go from here to there to there and think, well, I'm part of the Capital C church, I'm good.

Friends, there is a local expression of how we walk this out, and this is what I want to talk about here today.

Now, I'm already so far off my notes, so we're gonna have a little bit of fun here today.

I'm gonna pull out seven things from Acts chapter two of what the early church did.

Seven things we can go through them a little fast.

I trust that whatever it is you need to hear today, you will it'll take root because I got a lot here.

You with me?

What are we?

Holler back, church.

Amen?

Okay, all right.

Acts chapter two from 36 to 37.

Let me pull out a few things of what the early church looked like.

Number one is this bold preaching.

Bold preaching.

What does the early church do?

Look at Peter.

Dude was not holding back.

Verse 36, he says, This God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus who you crucified.

I'm like, Peter, dude, be secret sensitive, buddy, because they're not going to join your movement if you call them that.

He didn't care.

He's like, this Jesus whom you crucified.

He is speaking boldly the truth of what happened to them.

Look at verse 38.

They're like, what should we do?

Okay, I'm cut to the heart.

What should we do?

He says, Well, repent.

Like, dude, again, ease up on the the repent language, you know?

Like, this is this is kind of hard.

No, no.

He's like, repent and be baptized, every single one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.

For the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Look what he says in verse 40.

Save yourself from this crooked generation.

There is not a sensitivity here to the circumstances and the environment.

He is boldly proclaiming the word of the Lord.

I'm gonna go as far as to say that America has had a generation of soft and gentle preaching with what I would call the failed experiment of seeker sensitivity.

And in the secret sensitive movement, we thought let's make the gospel as acceptable and as nice, as culturally relevant as possible, so that maybe people will tiptoe their way towards Jesus.

It doesn't seem to be the way of the word, it doesn't seem to be the way of the New Testament.

Repent of your sins and be baptized, and then you will be saved.

Save yourself from this crooked generation, Peter tells to them.

You guys, you religious bunch, he's talking to them the most, you crucify Jesus.

There is a boldness here in speaking the truth of God, and that is something we are going to be committed to in this church, and it's something the church should be committed to.

Not rude, not mean, not like just trying to get people, but standing on what is true, and then we can move forward and grow into what God has for us.

You see, the gospel has power to save, but I believe we weaken the gospel by our oversensitivity to offense.

At the end of the day, we're speaking to dead people, wanting them to receive the gift of life from Jesus.

This is not about make your life marginally better.

This is not like you're kind of dirty, we want to make you kind of clean.

We were dead in our trespasses.

We need a bold proclamation of the gospel.

The consequences are too great and too terrible for us to think about.

Why didn't you tell me?

Scripture tells us that we will hear.

What about why did you hold back?

Why did you hold back on preaching?

There was someone I used to work with before.

Tara, bold lady, uh kind of like Catholic.

No, I mean she was Catholic, but she didn't go, her words.

And she heard that I was telling people in the in our office about the church and that I was inviting them.

And I didn't invite her.

I didn't invite her because she cussed like a sailor, and I just didn't think there was much of a chance for her.

And then she heard I was inviting other people, and she pulled me aside one day.

She says, Why don't you invite me to your church?

You don't think I need this?

She didn't want to come, but she was just being a little confronting.

But what if that's the story?

What if there's people who want to be invited?

What if there's people who need to be invited?

What if there are people who are running one direction into eternal hell, eternal anguish, eternally being separated from the love of God, eternally being separated from anything that is good?

That is what our Bible tells us is the other side of the story.

There has to be an urgency in us preaching boldly the gospel.

Amen.

Number two.

You see, I'm never getting through my seven.

How are you doing?

Second one is baptism and communion.

Some people call this the sacraments.

Uh the theologians say a church is a church if the sacraments are being administered if the word is being preached.

Baptism and communion, I want to camp a little bit on baptism here for us this morning.

I know we just celebrated baptism with two people.

Wasn't that awesome?

Yes.

Look at verse 41.

Verse 41 said, So those who received his words waited for six months or three years, or when they were ready, or when they could get the Instagram reel ready, and then they were baptized.

Is that what it says?

Those who received these words were baptized, and they were added that day about a thousand, about three thousand epistles.

Verse yeah, verse 41.

You see, in the New Testament church, friends, believers got baptized.

It was very likely the first thing they did after they received Jesus as their Lord and as their Savior.

We get baptized because Jesus commands it.

We get baptized because Peter says this is what believers do.

Because Paul says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, that you may be saved.

When we get baptized, we reenact his death and his resurrection.

We go into the water, we are crucified with Christ.

We come out of the water, we are raised into a new life, we are baptized.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The word baptize is this word for immersion.

If you think about our conference, this immersion into God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

If this is your church, would you allow me to speak to you for a minute as your pastor?

If you call Jesus your Lord and your Savior and you have not been baptized, you are missing out on the blessing and the promises of the Lord that come with obedience to what Jesus has called us to do.

There are many people every week, people responding to Jesus in this room and giving their lives to him.

But the number of people taking the next step into baptism is a fraction of the people who put up their hands and respond to him.

I want to encourage all of you, if you have professed your faith in Jesus Christ, get water baptized.

Get water baptized.

Make the public declaration.

In your heart, determine I will follow all the things Jesus said.

Whether it makes sense to me for get it to get into water in 2026 in my genes or not.

It doesn't matter if it makes sense or not.

And we got a fresh t-shirt for you.

Amen.

Guess what?

We have another service coming today.

You can get home and come back and get baptized today.

The waters are warm.

Amen.

I encourage you with all I am.

Let's not just pick and choose from scripture what we're going to obey.

Let's not just be our little G, little God, deciding this is what the Bible actually means.

I like this part, I like that.

No, I don't like that part.

I like this.

What?

Paul, no.

That's what we do, friends.

It is crystal clear.

When you put your faith in Jesus, get baptized.

If you got baptized as an infant, I'm gonna go as far as to say you probably didn't have much say in that.

Am I right?

And I honor your parents, I honor your parents or whoever got you baptized as an infant for dedicating to want to raise you in the ways of God.

Fine, good.

But what the Bible teaches us is repent, believe, and be baptized in that order.

Amen.

Good.

Number three, learning God's word together.

I know I skipped over communion.

I'm just trying to pick here this morning where we're going, okay?

Communion is super important.

We also break communion, share communion.

We remember what Jesus did.

We do it in rhythms here in our church every at least once a month.

Sometimes when we preach about it, sometimes in our life groups, communion is a practice of the church to remember what Jesus has done and partake in his body and in his blood.

Amen.

Number three, learning God's word together is the third thing I want to pull out of here.

Look at verse 42.

It says, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

And this is why we're so committed to preaching the word of God here.

We are not self-help, motivational, get your itch scratch kind of community.

We want to preach the word of God over and over and over in this place.

We need to allow the word of God to challenge us, the word of God to be a mirror for us, the word of God to change and transform us from one degree of glory to another.

This is what the word tells us to do.

And what we what I want to highlight here for a second is the fact that the second word here, and they devoted themselves.

Say that with me.

They devoted themselves.

In Bible times, and I would say for most of the church history, growing in the Word of God together was a communal activity.

It was something they did together.

It was some way of growing together.

Here's why I say this.

Does anyone know when the printing press was developed?

Anybody?

Shout it out.

Close.

1500 and something.

Somewhere 1500.

I mean, it's close.

18 is close to 15, right?

Uh 1500.

Why do I bring up the printing press?

Because before the printing press, the way to get a copy of the scroll was to sit down with a scroll.

You were a super wealthy person at that point, and then you began to rewrite the thing word for word, and then take that scroll to some other community so you can learn and grow.

There were not that many scrolls available like we have today with the Gideon Bible in every hotel, and how many five Bibles you know each of us have on our bookshelves?

Often unread.

Let that one marinate there just for a second.

Growing in the word of the Lord together, biblically, was a communal activity.

They would go to church, they would open the scrolls, they would read a few verses, and they'd be like, What?

There'd be a campfire that night.

I'd be like, What?

What was the third word?

I can't remember.

Oh, it was this.

Great.

I've got the seventh word, I've got the fourth verse.

Let's put it all together.

What does this mean?

And they would sit together and they would discuss it.

And dads and moms would go home and they would take the word of God.

They would memorize Deuteronomy.

Can you imagine that?

Did you know it's possible to memorize more than a song lyrics of Taylor Swift?

You can memorize Deuteronomy and then go home and you read it to your children, and you're teaching them.

It's a communal activity.

We have made Bible reading a devotional activity where we only do it yourself for 10-15 minutes in the morning with the right music on the background.

Biblically, it was a communal activity.

We friends need to devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching.

This time when it was written, the New Testament wasn't written.

Right?

They were writing it with their lives.

Acts was being written as they worked it out.

So they were reading the Old Testament.

They were explaining what Jesus had said when he preached for 40 days on the kingdom of God before ascending to the heaven.

They were unpacking what happened in Jesus' time.

They were growing together in the Word of God.

This is what the early church should be doing.

Number four, fellowship.

Fellowship in the synagogue and homes, meeting regularly.

Regular fellowship, regular.

Does anyone use the word fellowship in your everydaily vernacular anymore?

You invite someone over to your house for Friday night fellowship.

You know, can we put some fellowship on the grill on Saturday afternoon?

No, we don't.

What fellowship is, it's coming together.

Let's hashtag eat together.

Let's get together and do life group together.

Let's commit to come to church every Sunday.

Let's fellowship.

Let's do life together.

The early church was a church, look at verse 42, they devoted themselves to one of the four things was fellowship.

Verse 46, day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.

I may step on a few toes with this one, but friends, the local church actually looks like a community a lot, day by day, week by week.

I think the average church attendance in America right now is like twice a month.

I'm like, that to me is not fellowship.

That's ticking off a box and doing your religious duty.

Fellowship is doing it in the synagogue, in the church building, day to day in life groups, around the Chipotle burger sandwich.

Okay, easy, easy.

Easy.

Stepped on that, you know, holy Jesus chicken corporation.

No.

Hebrews 10, 24 says, do not neglect the gathering of the saints.

It is a burger.

It's a chicken burger.

I mean, isn't that the same thing?

Okay, why is sandwich so much more special than burger?

It's a chicken.

Oh, did I say chipotle?

Sorry, I thought I said Chick-fil-A.

Okay, now it's making sense.

Hey, I'm glad you're listening.

Let me just say that much.

This is good.

Friends, we have rhythms in our church of life groups, church, college night, prayer meetings, and we're trying to model our church rhythms to what we see here in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And we've seen through the years of experience the thing that's going to grow in your life is not what's greener on the other side.

You know that expression?

The grass is greener on this side.

Now tell you what is greener.

The thing you water.

What's going to grow in your life is the thing you give attention to.

You want to grow in your relationship with the Lord, give attention to it.

You want to grow in your understanding of the word, give attention to it.

You want to grow in being family.

I know there's our church is getting bigger, and every now and then I hear people like, I haven't found my people.

I haven't found community yet.

And my next question is, are you serving anywhere?

Are you in a life group?

No.

I'm like, dude, you're not going to grow in community if you don't water that.

Get yourself uncomfortable.

Go into someone's home.

Get serve here together.

What will water what we grow what we water will grow.

Your community will grow if you give yourself to it.

Amen?

So that's where we're at.

Number five, prayer.

Verse 42, they devoted themselves to apostles' teaching, to fellowship, the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

And I think I got that order wrong now, but those are the four things.

They devoted themselves to prayer.

They devoted themselves to prayer.

This is this context here is communality.

Earlier on in the Gospels, you see Peter and John were going to the temple at the hour of prayer, roughly three o'clock in the afternoon.

There was a practice of getting together to pray.

Now we have busy lives here in Columbus, so we tried a seven o'clock on a Wednesday morning, but devote yourself to prayer.

This is what the early church does.

This is what the local church should be doing.

Prayer needs to be a part of what we do as a church if we're going to order our church rhythms biblically.

Now, we have three services now.

I pray one day we'll have three morning services because we've got to fit everybody in because they're coming to pray.

Until then, we got one and we got space.

Come and pray.

It's an hour.

Come and start your day in prayer.

Come and start your day.

I okay.

You with me?

Amen.

How does Jesus describe the church?

He says, My house will be called day?

House of prayer.

House of prayer.

It's one of the few things that Jesus used to describe the activity of the local church.

My house will be a house of prayer for all nations.

We are in this house devoted to prayer.

We pray eight o'clock on a Sunday morning.

We pray seven o'clock on a Wednesday morning.

We pray in our life groups.

Sometimes we call fasts and prayer together as a church.

Prayer has to be a part of our church.

Number six, caring for one another.

Caring for one another.

This is the sixth thing I want to pull out.

Look at this, verse 44.

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, actually fed one another in their homes.

They received their food with glad and generous hearts.

This is a picture of community.

This is not a law that now you have to go sell everything you do to be a Christian.

That's not what they're saying.

What this is saying is if this is your community, if this is your family and you see a family member in need, let's help us.

Let's help us.

Was anyone here two weeks ago when I said I'm uh jokingly, starting 614 Carvana?

Okay.

I had like three people on the list who wanted a car.

By the end of that week, I had ten people on the list who wanted a car.

So I'm like, okay, it was supposed to go the other direction.

But there are people in this, I don't know why.

Suddenly we all need cars.

If Columbus can get its public transport better, maybe we don't.

But here we are.

Guess what?

Somebody got a car last week.

Yes.

Somebody said, Hey, I got a car.

Somebody said, Hey, I need a car.

And a third person said, Hey, I'd like to pay for that car for somebody else.

So this person got a car for free.

This person got his car sold, brought it to the church, and said, Hey, how can we help out?

And someone, one one, one name off my list.

I'm trusting, it's just the beginning of a generosity that pours out in this church.

The person who received the car just told me it's the third car they've ever received.

And I'm like, I've never received a car like that.

I'm like, pray for me, brother.

But it was in the other two situations, it was confirmation for the from the Lord for them for a season that they were in, and this car came, and now they had been making a big decision in their life, and they said this is confirmation.

They said, Can you please tell us who paid for the car?

I said, No, they said, I can't.

They're like, How do we do this?

Anyway, so may this just be the beginning.

614 Carvana, free cars.

Amen.

Alright, so you got a car lying around, I got people for you.

You got extra cash lying around, I got people for you.

I'm not gonna be holding cash and doing it, so I'm gonna point you to people.

Amen.

Let's go.

This is what the church looks like.

Number seven, and I'm almost done.

Growing.

Verse 41.

So those who received his words were baptized, and they were added that day about 3,000 souls.

Verse 47, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Friends, growth is the result of us doing church this way.

Growth is not our goal.

We are not trying to become a church of this number, that number, this number.

We are trying to be a church that is reaching our city.

What is our mission statement?

Until everyone knows Jesus.

There is no building big enough for that mission statement.

So we're gonna just keep going and trusting that our homes fill up, that sites get started, that churches get started, that churches that are no longer have more than 10 people in them, give us churches so we can fill them with the gospel that is boldly proclaimed, prayer that is happening, community that is happening, sharing that is happening, prayer that is happening.

This is the church that Jesus is building, and this is the one we get to be a part of.

Amen.

Now, I'm out of time, but but but I wanted to finish with two quick thoughts.

If this is a community we're being invited into, you and I are gonna have to contend for it.

We're gonna have to contend for it.

Contending for unity in a church, contending for unity in a family.

I got four kids.

The six of us sometimes need to contend for it, and we're blood relations.

Sometimes we fight, sometimes we're mad, sometimes no one cleans their rooms when I tell them to.

Um joking.

Not joking.

I don't want to lie, but we have to contend for it.

In this family, we gotta contend for it.

Do you know how we contend for it?

You and I get very comfortable with a few phrases that we repeat very often.

Here it is.

I forgive you.

I forgive you.

Will you forgive me?

Will you forgive me?

And then when you think it's dealt with, we say, I forgive you.

Another memory came to mind.

Another hurt came to mind.

I know there's people sitting in this room, you've been in places, abusive leadership situations, hurting, maybe friends, maybe family.

You you've been in hearts for us to stop community because we've been hurt is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The plan of God is to show off his wisdom to the heavenly realms through the church.

This is God's idea, so let's contend for it.

Amen.

Maybe we gotta get comfortable and familiar with saying, maybe they're just having a bad day.

The way they spoke to me kind of cut a little bit, but I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe they just had a bad day.

And then next thing I'm gonna do, if it happens again, I'm gonna say, hey, let me take you out for a Chick-fil-A.

Let's talk.

What's going on, man?

Like, I want to help.

Like, let's work this out.

We have to begin to contend for unity if we have any chance of showing unbelievers that this is the right way.

It's unity in the church.

Amen?

I'm gonna skip that last picture.

Can we stand for a second, please?

I want to invite the worship team up, but I want to invite you.

If you if you don't know Jesus, I'd like to pray for you.

The church is the bride of Christ, the church is the family of God, the the church is is his people.

The church is is a he's the shepherd of the sheep.

We are the sheep.

But the way we step into all of that is through what the Bible calls the door, the way, the truth, the life.

The only way to salvation, it's through Jesus.

The only way we get to enter into community in the way we're talking about is through the person of Jesus.

Bible actually says that some people will try to get into this family by getting over the wall or finding some other way, like thinking community is the main idea.

Community is not the main idea, it's how we do this together.

Jesus is the main idea.

And if you're standing here and you've done church, but you haven't surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Savior, friends, all this is fine, and you're getting some benefits of it all, but your name has not been written in the book of life, and there's no security for you whether you would actually be in heaven should your days on earth end.

Jesus is the way.

Now I want to invite everyone.

Would you close your eyes for a second?

We read this today.

Repent and believe, and you'll be saved.

Repent, believe, you'll be saved.

If you want to give your life to Jesus, if you want to have security that Jesus is your Lord and your Savior, we start with a recognition that we are sinners, that He died for our sins as the Son of God, and that we want to submit our lives to Him.

So with every eye still closed, if you want to give your life to Jesus, I want to lead you in a prayer that gives you some language for that.

Would you put up your hand so I know who I'm praying for?

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, ma'am.

I have some leaders here who are looking around as well.

Thank you, ma'am.

And we want to give you a little card for what this looks like as well.

In the balcony, if I was you, could you rave your hand so I know if if you if I see you?

This decision is the single biggest decision you will ever make in your life.

Who do you say God is?

Who do you say Jesus is?

And are you willing to submit your life to his lordship and his salvation that he offers?

One more time before I pray.

That you will you pick up your hands so I know who I'm praying for.

If that was you, if you lift up your hands, will you pray this with me?

Say, dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, and I ask you to forgive me.

I receive your forgiveness, Jesus.

I believe, Jesus, you are the Son of God.

I believe you died for me, and you rose, you conquered death that I may live.

Jesus, I want to follow you all the days of my life.

Will you help me?

That's where you are.

Begin to talk to God.

And it doesn't have to be eloquence, it just has to be from your heart.

Tell him you need help.

Tell him where it is he's been speaking to you and just talk to him.

One of our leaders want to sit with you and just spend two minutes with you and help you with what next steps look like.

For everybody else in this room, I want to ask you.

I believe God's been ministering to some of you today.

Where is the area of forgiveness that you haven't yet walked in fully?

Where is the area of offense that it seems louder than the truth of God?

What have you been running away from?

Where the Lord has put you into a family, but it's hard.

Community is hard.

We're gonna close with a song.

But the prayer ministry team will come up now.

Come and stand with somebody, come and pray with somebody, come and kneel here if you need to.

Just come and do some business with the Lord before we go out from here.

The Lord has placed us into a family, the Lord has placed us into an identity, into a name.

And sometimes it's hard because we are all sinful people trying to work this out together.

But the Lord is committed to this idea.

So as we close here, we're gonna worship.

Would you do a few minutes and just spend time with the Lord?

Just speak to him while we sing, bring your burden to him.

Come and pray with somebody.

If you gave your life to Jesus today, celebrate it with somebody, tell somebody what just happened.

Let's worship.