One Year Celebration | Acts 2:42-47 | Jarryd Cole

Welcome to the Ambassador Church Podcast, a church in the city for the city, on Milwaukee's east side.

We pray this message meets you where you are, challenges your faith, and draws you closer to Jesus.

All right, you guys can go ahead and find your seats.

Take a seat, take a seat.

And hey, as the room's buzzing, not to be a bummer, but just to let you know, um, if there's someone with a black Toyota Avalon uh who parked over here in this area, I think you parked in front of somebody's driveway.

And I would hate for you to get your car towed today, okay?

So not for the birthday celebration.

So if that's you, make your way up, black Toyota Avalon, go move your car.

Should be really fast.

All right, all right.

Don't even announce yourself.

You're fine.

It's okay.

It's okay.

All right.

Well, hey, welcome again to Ambassador Church.

I know it's getting tight in here and a little hot and muggy, maybe.

So I want to get through this here pretty quickly and get on with the celebration.

Um, but here's what I want to do.

As I look across this room and I think about this last year, the first word that comes to my mind is grateful.

So much today in year one to be grateful for.

And so today, what I want to do is just spend some time looking back on what God's done over the year.

Some of you are new in the room, and so you have no idea, but there's many of you who've been here from the very beginning, and you've just kind of seen the move of God, the hand that God has had on this place and in the people in the life of this church as we've been here in the city of Milwaukee.

And so I want to spend some time doing that, looking back on what God has exactly done.

And then I want to spend some time looking forward, okay, to this next year and even a little bit beyond, just to see what we're seeking from God and asking from Him in this next season, okay?

But before we do that, I want to spend some time honoring a few groups of people in the room.

Okay.

I want to honor our launch team.

If you move here from somewhere else intentionally to help start Ambassador Church in this last year, would you stand up for me really quickly?

I didn't prep you guys for this, but I hope you stand up.

There's many of you in the room.

So we're grateful.

Please stay standing for just a little bit.

Stay standing.

I want you to receive some of your honor.

Um, I am entirely grateful for you.

And the city of Milwaukee, I believe, and Ambassador Church as a whole, is made better because you are here.

You made a sacrifice.

You were one of the people who said, Hey, I will come to a new place, I will sell my home, I will move my kids to different schools, I will come to a place I've never been before, move myself just so I can see a fresh gospel movement happen in a place where I've never been.

And so you need to know that you are honored, we're thankful for you.

And quite literally, nothing here at Ambassador Church could happen if it wasn't for your sacrifice to come.

And so we're honor and grateful.

Give it up for the people on the launch team who said yes to coming out and doing this.

And there's people on our staff team.

I want to honor them as well, okay?

And many of them might be in the room, maybe not.

They're probably around because there's many things to do on a day like today.

Uh, but I want you to hear this.

Maybe you can listen back to it later on this week.

But here's what I want you to know Kelly, Micah, Lauren, Mac, Shelby, and even Julia now on staff.

I want you to know that you are honored and we're grateful that you are here.

Um, if there's anybody in the room, yes.

If there's anybody in the room who's tired of me and putting up with my stuff week in and week out, it's these people and they do it uh gladly, joyfully, at least they show me that they're joyful about it, okay?

Uh but I just want you to know I'm honored and grateful for you.

Um, the way you lead this church, the way you support me, even, um, the way you carry some of the load in this church.

There's a lot to carry.

Uh, just know that you're seen and you're valued and you're loved, okay?

And last but not least, I want to honor my wife, Trisha.

Yes.

Clearly, if you've met Trisha, she's the better of us too.

Okay.

I think she's upstairs, though, helping out with the kids.

She's not in here, or maybe, or she's there.

She is.

Look, fingers in the back.

I love that.

Thank you for your help.

There she is.

Uh, babe, I love you.

Grateful for you.

Thank you for your sacrifice.

You sacrifice more than any of us.

And I'm honored at the last year of what this church has become.

And it couldn't be that without you.

The way you love on these women, the way you show up in this space, the way you even care for and support me, even when I don't deserve it.

Um, I'm honored and thankful.

So thank you for being a great pastor's wife.

Give it up to Trisha.

All right.

Is anybody crying?

I'm not.

That's just onions.

Okay, let's look back on the year.

I have a handful of pictures that's gonna pop up here on the screen in just a little bit.

And many of you were here for these things, but I want to look back on just a couple uh different things that kind of happened over the year, okay?

And um, this isn't the right picture, but you can just cycle through them, okay?

I'll just talk about them as you cycle through.

Um, the first thing that we did when we moved here, January 25th, we had our very first launch team gathering, okay?

And we were in our home.

We live over by uh MLK Drive, and there's a picture, you'll see it pop up eventually.

Maybe this one right here, hold it right here, okay?

This is the very first picture that we took as a launch team uh in our living room.

We had our very first launch team gathering, January 25th, 2025.

And there's a group of 40 people right here who were the ones who planted the seed to say, Hey, yeah, we'll be the ones to help start Ambassador Church.

And as I look at this room right here, I'm looking at that picture, and I'm just like, man, only God can do something like that.

Take a group of 40 people and do something like this to have a room like this of people who are hungry and desiring a new move of God.

On May 25th, we had our commissioning Sunday from Doxer Church.

Those of you who don't know, uh, we're not a church that just popped up out of nowhere.

We're part of a network of churches, and we spent some time at another one of our network churches for a season, and we got sent here.

Okay.

And so we spent some time on May 25th down at Doxer Church being commissioned.

We had a lot of our launch team go down there and we were prayed over to be commissioned to come here to the city of Milwaukee.

And so something I want you to know is that the thing that we've done, church planning, this isn't just something we've thought up in our own minds.

This is just part of our DNA, okay?

We're part of a church planning network that has church planning churches that sends church plants, and we are one of them.

And our hope, okay, is not that we just be here and that stops with us, but our desire is that we would do this all the same.

That we will one day have a group of people and leaders who come up in this church that we're commissioning at some point, and we're even sending them to be the next people to help move the gospel forward through our network and even through our church.

Okay, church planning is in our DNA.

Next, I want to talk about our first preview service.

Okay, we spent some time here.

We came here and we did some things and we didn't jump in right away.

We did some training, some launch team gatherings.

We had our very first preview service uh in June of 2025.

I think this one is from uh our our September uh preview service, but we did four of those in that season one in June, July, August, and September.

And God was so kind to show us, I think, the core of the people that were gonna begin to be the people who made up this church.

And so I even want to honor you guys, those of you who who came in from the beginning on our October 4th launch, thank you.

But man, the people that came in even before that, before that day was even established.

I just want to honor you in the room too, because some of you have been here since June of last year.

And I want to honor you and thank you.

Give it up for those people who even came just to try out and see a new church to see what is this place even about.

You're not even meeting weekly yet.

Like, what is this thing?

That takes boldness, that takes courage to be like, hey, can this be a church that hasn't even been established yet that I can kind of be a part of, bring my family and all those kind of things.

So grateful for you.

On September in 2025, we had our very first salt company gathering.

Any salt company people in the room?

We love Salt Company, Salt Company, if you don't know.

Uh, this is our college-age ministry.

Every Tuesday night, right here in this space, we have a college ministry that happens at 8 o'clock p.m.

for 18 to 22 year olds only, mainly.

Okay.

And so if you're in between that age, come out, man.

We'd love to, we'd love to see you.

But we kicked off our very first one um last year in September, and we had about 130 people come out for that kickoff.

Uh, this year we're averaging, I think, just over 80 people coming in here on every Tuesday night.

And that warms my soul, okay?

Because part of our values and mission at Ambassador Church is to be a church for the next generation.

Our hope is that the gospel that we've received doesn't stop with us, but it goes to the people who are coming after us.

And the way that we put our money where our mouth is with that is we say, hey, we want to pour in intentionally to the 18 to 22-year-olds around us.

Why?

Because there's something unique about them.

They're gonna come to a place like this, they're gonna give their time to a campus for four years, but they're not gonna stay here, they're gonna go somewhere.

And the thing about that is we're not even trying to keep you here.

We actually want you to go.

And as you go, we want you to go with the gospel on your lips, okay?

We care about the next generation.

Salt company started.

And October 4th, we had our launch day.

Okay, give it up for our birthday.

A year ago, we were doing something like this.

We had over 430 people come out that day, and we celebrated the birth of a new church on the east side of the city of Milwaukee.

Friends and family, many of them came out to help celebrate that day.

Many new people found a church home that day, and we're grateful for you in the room now.

So, since then, just a couple things that God's done.

Uh, my favorite thing to point out is that we've baptized 29 people since the launch of our church.

Can you get it for baptisms?

Over the course of a year, 29 people going public with their faith.

We love that.

Uh, we've truly become a church in Milwaukee for Milwaukee.

Many of you know this is one of our main slogans.

We partner with many church partnerships around the area, nonprofits and ministries who are doing meaningful work in the city, and we love to come alongside them and help uh maximize their impact.

We have become a diverse church here, making up different corners and neighborhoods of Milwaukee, different ethnicities, all of that.

This is one of our main goals, too.

Like our hope is that we be a church that when we lift up the name of Jesus, like John 15 says, that all people will be drawn to him.

And I'm grateful now that Ambassador Church is becoming a church like that.

And we have over 150 people here that raise their hand every week to be willing to serve.

Like that's crazy.

150 people fill out our search team forum to say, hey, if you need anything, let me know.

I could serve.

Over 130 people are in city groups right now, all across the city of Milwaukee, different places.

If you're a group leader, could you raise your hand really quick?

You guys are getting us started.

Yes.

Christina, I'm excited about that.

Is anybody excited about that?

Discipleship happening in the city of Milwaukee.

We love that.

So many other firsts at this church, our first Christmas, our Good Friday service, our Easter, our worship nights, our team nights, so many different things that we've been able to celebrate as we be a worshipful and celebratory church of who God is and what he's done.

God has done a lot in the life of ambassador church only in the last 12 months.

But here's what's true: I don't want to be a church that gets to year one and we look back on all these kinds of things and we just fizzle out, but I want to be a church that's celebrating God and the work that He's doing, life Ambassador Church and through us and see of Milwaukee for the next 15 years, 20 years or more.

Can you imagine those of you who've been in this space, what God can do not in just one year but five?

And not in just five, but 15.

Like when I talk to my staff team about this kind of stuff, and we come here early and we do a little staff team prayer and we're talking about what God's doing and how we're looking back across the year.

Like the thing that we want to not do in our minds is think, hey, we've reached some kind of pinnacle, that we've reached the top of the mountain.

But no, we're just another faithful step on the journey.

Just one more step.

And so I want to be a church that's looking at the future and thinking, hey, we're just want to take one more faithful step as we look forward to the vision that God has for me.

20-year vision, 15-year vision.

It's hard for me to even imagine that, okay?

And I'm the vision guy, all right?

Vision's not my problem.

And it's hard for me to think, even 20 years from now, what could Ambassador Church be?

So as we look forward, here's what I want to do.

I want to kind of switch gears and I want to draw your attention to one of the marks of a disciple that we have here at Ambassador Church.

Okay, we have many of them.

You probably heard them as I've dripped them over the course of the year, but I want to point out just one, and this one is holy ambition.

One of our marks of a disciple is holy ambition.

And here's what's true about ambition, because some of you who come from different backgrounds, you probably heard me say ambition, and you're probably like, hey, that word doesn't belong in church.

You shouldn't say that word.

Christians, no, like meek, mild, humble, don't do that.

I don't true.

And hear me, I don't think those words are against what the Bible would show us that it is holy ambition.

I know ambition can have a negative connotation in the space, but we know there's actually two types of ambition.

There's a selfish ambition, and there's a holy ambition.

And I want to define these for us really quick.

Selfish ambition is gonna pop up here on the screen.

Here's what a selfish ambition is a selfish ambition is a self-centered drive to advance one's own status, recognition, comfort, or power, often at the expense of others or apart from God's purposes.

So when we talk about ambition, we're not talking about this clearly.

Okay, and I'm backed up by the Bible when I say this, because even Paul says some of this in Philippians 2, verse 3.

Philippians 2:3

It's not gonna pop up here, but just listen.

Paul says, Hey, do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, consider others as more important than yourself.

And you want more?

There's the brother of Jesus, James, in James 3:16.

James 3:16

He says, For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder in every evil desire.

So I want you to know, hear me, when I talk about ambition, anytime you hear me say anything like that, I'm not talking about selfish ambition.

I'm talking about holy ambition.

And here's how we define holy ambition: holy ambition is a God-centered passion to see his kingdom come and his will be done, even at personal cost.

It's a desire to use your gifts, your energy, and opportunities to glorify God and bless others.

And we have some help from Paul even on this in Romans 15, 20.

He says this about even his own holy ambition.

He says, It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known.

Like Paul is talking about this insatiable desire that he has to reach the lost, especially the Gentiles, if you know his story.

As he proclaimed to be a self-proclaimed minister to the Gentiles, this is his desire.

That the people who are so far away from God, who are so cast out from the promises of God, his main desire, his context was to be a person who went to them and said, Hey, there's something that's new now because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross for us.

His body that was broken, his blood that was spilled for you is not only just for us the Jews, but it's also for you, the Gentiles.

He had a holy ambition to make sure anybody and everybody knew the way to get into eternal life.

Second Corinthians 5 9, he says this, therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim.

In that same word, the same words from Roman 15.

He says, I have this ambition.

We have this ambition to be pleasing to him, be pleasing to God.

Paul's ambition, let God's name be known.

Paul's ambition, his life as a sacrifice to be pleasing to God.

There's a difference between selfish ambition and holy ambition.

And what I want us to know is an ambassador church, I want us to be a people who have a holy ambition.

And so if you're wondering, even in your own personal life, should you be someone who has a holy ambition?

The resounding answer to that is yes.

Here's some examples.

Having a holy ambition is having an ambition to know and study the word of God.

That's a holy ambition.

Having the ambition to love and lead your family well towards Christ, seeking the opportunities to share your faith with the people around you, taking radical steps to cut sin out of your life, saying yes to even go on a church plan.

Those things are all holy ambition.

And my prayer is that we are a people of holy ambition, believing God that He can do far more above than we can ever ask, think, or imagine.

Amen.

And so the question I want to ask today is what does holy ambition look like for ambassador church?

We're Bible people.

So if you have your Bibles, you can get those out now.

We're gonna be in the book of Acts.

As you're making your way to the book of Acts, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

It's right there at the fairly at the beginning there.

And we're gonna be in verses 41 through 47 mainly today.

Acts chapter 2, verses 41 through 47.

Acts 2:41–47

You have the Bibles in front of you to summon the pews as well.

If not, we'll have the words appear on the screen.

But I want to talk about this passage for us.

Many of you know this passage, the common passage when it comes to talking about the life of the church.

When people are talking about what does it mean to be the church, many people point to the book of Acts and they look at Acts chapter 2 at the very first church ever born, and they say, hey, this is kind of what it looks like to be the church.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And I want to let us know right now that as you look at the book of Acts, some of the things in the book of Acts, yes, they are prescribed for us.

They're things that we should and do and and do like on a consistent basis.

But some things are described for us.

And I even think that there's some things in the first church that are just described to us.

But I hope as we come through and out of this, what we get to see is a couple principles from the first church that we can say, hey, I think they had a holy ambition for something, and it would do us well to have a holy ambition for something like that as well.

So Acts 2, verse 41, here's what it says.

Acts 2:41

I'm gonna begin reading all the way through 47, then we'll come back and unpack it, okay?

Here's what it says.

Those who accepted his message were baptized, talking about Peter, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them.

There's a reason we're starting there, we'll come back to it.

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

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.

And now all the believers were together and had all things in common, and they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need.

And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and they broke bread from house to house.

They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people every day.

The Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

That's the reading of the text this morning.

And I'll start in verse 41.

I wanted that on purpose because every time I read this narrative in Acts chapter 2, I don't know about you, but I'm often surprised and taken aback about how many people in this very first church were saved on day one.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Do you guys see that number in the text?

3,000 people.

That's a lot of people.

A little bit of context about this.

At this point, Acts kind of picks up where the gospels end.

You read any of the gospels, especially Luke, because Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and he wrote Acts as well.

They're written by the same person.

So you get to the end of it, and the next chronological thing that happens is this right here.

It's the book of Acts.

And as you look over the first couple chapters of Acts, what's happening is Jesus is now ascending into heaven and he's giving his disciples their marching orders.

He said, Hey, don't leave Jerusalem quite yet.

Stick around for a little while.

Go back to where you were, stay here until you receive the Holy Spirit.

And so the disciples heed that call.

They go back to where they were.

And what happens is they go up into this upper room, and Pentecost happens while they're there.

If you don't know about Pentecost, what happens is the Holy Spirit comes for the first time and he indwells all the believers of Jesus at that moment.

Okay, the Holy Spirit comes.

As I was doing some study on this, there's so many things that like the New Testament Pentecost and the Old Testament Pentecost kind of correlate and intersect.

And as a Bible nerd, I was just like, I don't know if I could bring all that to the pulpit, so I can't.

But if you are like me, go do some of the research.

It's absolutely amazing, okay?

But I don't have time to do that today.

But here's what we do need to know when the Holy Spirit came, the disciples received a certain spiritual gift.

They began speaking in tongues.

Ooh, speaking in tongues.

And we got to know like what this means in the text, okay?

There's a couple different ways you can read tongues in the New Testament.

Um, they're Greek words, hard for me to say, but I'm gonna let you know them.

Uh, the first one is xenoglossia, and the other one is glossolalia, okay?

And so the term that's used right here in this text is xenoglossia, which is different than glossolalia.

And xenoglossia is this kind of way that tongues were used where it's not like what you would be thinking of it is, okay?

It's not like an unknown private prayer language, although I have room for that in my theology, okay?

But it's not what the Bible is talking about right here.

And here's how you know it's because the people who came from all over the known world to celebrate this kind of Pentecost happening right here, when this Holy Spirit came on the disciples, they received this gift of tongues.

What they began hearing wasn't any kind of intelligible dialect, any kind of intelligible words.

What they heard was the gospel being proclaimed in their own languages.

They were in awe.

They were like, yo, what's going on?

They were so in awe.

And I want us to kind of see this unpack in the text.

It's a little before where we kind of kicked off.

You can see it back in verse 8.

Look at that with me if your Bibles are open.

Here it is.

It says, How is it?

This is what the crowd said as they heard.

The disciples preaching the gospel in their own languages.

They shouldn't have that knowledge.

He said, How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

Great question.

Look at this.

It says the Parthians and the Medes and the Elamites, those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea, in Cappadocia, Pontius in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, in the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.

Verse 12.

They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, What in the world does this mean?

Now I love the Bible because this next verse is also in here, but some of them stared and said, Man, them dudes must be drunk.

They must be drunk on that new wine.

They're tripping.

I love that that's in the Bible.

Like what a wild accusation.

A bunch of Galileans with the immediate gift to speak after other languages, and the best explanation the crowds can come up with is, you know, they on they own one, they own some other stuff.

But I love what happens next, because right after that, Peter stands up.

Remember Peter?

We talked about Peter a couple weeks ago, he has a wild story, really funny reactions with Jesus.

He even denies Jesus because reinstated, all of that.

And I bet even in this moment, Peter's looking back on his recent life and he's thinking, like, I don't know if I can do this.

And he definitely couldn't do it in his own power, but now that he's filled with the Holy Spirit, he stands up.

And what he does is he gives one of the greatest sermons the Bible records, at least one of the most consequential sermons the Bible records.

And we just read the result of it.

Look back at verse 41.

It says, after Peter stands up and gives his keynote address at Pentecost, and what happens, verse 41, we just started with it.

It said, So those who accepted his message, those who heard Peter, those who heard the gospel, those who heard it proclaimed, those who heard his message, they were baptized.

And that day, look at this, 3,000 people were added to them.

3,000 people, almost all of which weren't from the area.

They got saved, they were baptized, and they didn't immediately return back to where they were.

So you can imagine as the first church is starting, this church of 3,000 people, immediate mega.

Many people in the room, like, ah, mega.

Immediately mega.

So what do they do?

Verse 42 and 43, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings, to the fellowship, the gathering, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

And everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.

The first church were born of newly found spiritual nomads who had no other choice but to be in this type of community that is now going to be established and talked about through the rest of this passage.

And you know what I believe?

I believe this early church had a holy ambition for what it looked like to be the church and care for what grew from 120 to 3,000 overnight.

So, as ambassador heads in the year two, I think we can take a cue and be informed by this early church about what a holy ambition can look like.

As you unpack the rest of the text, here's what I want us to know: three things about a holy ambitious church.

A holy ambitious church is a generous church, a holy ambitious church is a gathering church, and a holy ambitious church is a grubbing church for the alliteration purposes.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Grubbing means exactly what you think it means, okay?

Eating in this thing.

All right.

Firstly, a generous church.

Verse 44 through 45, look at this again.

It says, Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.

They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all and any who had need.

Okay, so just a reminder, as you're looking at this text, you're probably like, hey, that's a that's a high call.

Like they sold the things that they have, they distributed everything.

Like that's a lot of people among 3,000.

Everybody was doing that.

Like, don't forget, this is 3,000 people left their home, left their land, left their people, left their families here now in this new place.

Like, what would you do?

If that was you, what would you do?

You would give yourself to the fellowship.

You would start asking people for things that you don't have anymore.

You wouldn't be taking the trek back to wherever you came from.

No cars, no trains, no planes, no, nothing like that.

You're here now.

What are you gonna do?

Give yourself to the fellowship.

All kinds of people, different walks of life, different ethnic backgrounds, different economic statuses.

The church became a place that cared for the people's needs organically.

They were a generous church.

They operated generously out of necessity, but it was an intentional step that marked the DNA of the early church.

And I pray that Ambassador Church become a church like this.

If you stick around for any amount of time, Ambassador Church, we will unashamedly challenge you to be a generous person.

Like we're not gonna ask you to sell your dog or nothing like that, okay?

Like that's not what we're about.

But we will challenge you to be generous, both to the church for the advancement of our mission and vision, but also for you, just personally as a human being, as you grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Those of you have been coming around Ambassador Church for a long time, you know, like we don't pass a plate when it comes to our services.

We don't pass a bucket when it comes to our services.

There's many ways you can give to Ambassador Church.

Online, there's giving boxes in the back, but by conviction, we don't pass a plate.

Why?

Because we don't want to communicate the message that we need your money.

Like God doesn't, God doesn't need that to do the work that he's going to do.

You guys believe this?

But what he does want is for you to become a generous person as you follow him.

Why?

Because we serve a generous God.

And so on Ambassador Church, what we proclaim is that we want to see generous people and generous disciples made why?

Not because you want to give and be a part of a local church, but because Christ has gotten a hold of your heart.

God has been the most generous to us, more generous than we can ever be to anybody else.

And a Christian, a person that is touched by that reality, the only thing that they want to do now should be well up with this idea of God, what do you want me to give?

That should be a common question on our hearts.

We should desire to be generous people.

Like we truly believe that Ambassador Church that we want more for you than from you.

And the greatest thing that we want from you is for your heart and your mind and your will to be continually conformed to the mind, heart, and will of God.

Your will laid down, God's will resurrected in your life, and that includes becoming a generous person.

And here's what's true I love this church because there's so many stories here already about people sacrificing and generosity.

People have opened up their homes to others who needed places to stay.

They've provided food and nurturing care when new moms have had babies.

They have helped out with some home projects, they have lent their cars and other possessions in a time of need.

Our small groups have started.

We recently kicked those off.

We love small groups around here, city groups.

And we have people every week right now who are sacrificing and being generous with their resources, opening their home, providing meals, providing so many things in the life of their home.

Why?

To benefit the people that are gathering weekly in their homes.

And you want to know what's going to happen as people continue to find groups and get plugged into groups.

What's going to happen?

Group leaders here, this, and you probably know this already, but I want to remind you that eventually there will be people who show up in that place who have needs.

Who are going to say, Man, I'm down out of my luck, or this happened, or this is an immediacy of mine.

And you want to know what I'm hoping that's going to happen in the life of ambassador church groups, is that groups step up to be at Acts 2, 44 through 45 church.

To provide and be generous and offer gifts and offer financial resources in order to help the people who are coming to your home to be there week in and week out.

And I can say this wholeheartedly, and I believe it's going to happen through our groups.

Why?

Because I've seen it done even for me.

I've seen it done with my wife and I.

I've seen it part of other groups and churches I've been a part of.

See, generosity, not seeing your things firstly as yours to own, but yours to steward, isn't this like, hey, the church needs your money kind of thing.

It's a the gospel has changed my heart thing.

So what if as we grow in a community at this church, there really does become no one among us who has any need for anything?

I believe God can do that.

We have a holy ambition for that.

We have a holy ambition to be a generous church.

Secondly, a holy ambitious church is a gathering church.

Look at verse 46.

The beginning of this verse, it says, every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple every day.

All right.

I mentioned descriptive versus prescriptive.

This is one of the descriptive elements of the church, okay?

It's described to us.

I'm saying, hey, you're not prescribed to gather every single day in the life of the church.

Although, hey, if you guys want to come hang out, the door is open.

Come in.

And I know many of you, you probably grew up in uh denominations like this, right?

Different practices like this, where you went to the church and your life was like, yeah, I'm at church on Sundays, but then I'm at church on Mondays, then I'm at church on Wednesdays, and then I'm at church on Fridays, right?

Like, like you're like you, you hear this and you have like trauma from your childhood coming up in church, okay?

Just to let you at ease, new people, our regular diet is normal Sunday gatherings.

That's it.

Okay.

Once a week on Sundays.

We do have rhythms where you can gather more than that with the people in life of this church, but nowhere where we're saying, hey, would you come here to gather with all the people ambassador church?

So I don't believe the point here is the amount of times you're gathering.

That's not what the early church is trying to say.

I believe the point is that the gathering isn't neglected.

Don't neglect the gathering of the body of believers.

The point here is that the early church gathered and it was expected that they would gather.

I think this is a prophetic word for us in today.

Why?

Because we live in a day and time where you can get a church experience anywhere.

You can hop online, hop on YouTube, hop on Instagram, Facebook, whatever it is, and you can find a church experience, a phenomenal pastor, someone who can preach way better than I can, a phenomenal worship team, even better than the worship team that we got.

You can find that anywhere.

You're a click away.

So I think in today, 21st century America, the burden that's on us is that we not be a people who neglect the gathering of the church.

And listen, I'm not one of those pastors that's like, hey man, you can't listen to Philip Anthony Mitchell.

Don't be listening to that kind of stuff.

You can't listen to Matt Chandler.

Listen, okay, I'm not that kind of guy, but I am the kind of pastor that will tell you that you need more than an online church experience.

Listen, I have some favorite pastors of my own.

I've got some favorite worship experiences and leaders and all that kind of stuff of my own.

But you want to know what's true?

They have no idea who I am.

I don't know anybody in their churches.

They can't speak to me, they can't care for me, they can't love me, they can't Acts 2, 44 through 45 me.

They can't do any of that.

So we shouldn't be people who neglect the gathering.

We should gather.

And it's not about the quantity of how often you gather, but it's actually you don't neglect the gathering.

And the reason why the Fair Church gathers is so that you are part of a family that does life and all the things that Christians do together.

We worship and glorify God together, we grow under the word together, we serve one another together, we work through conflict together.

Speaking of one of my favorite pastors, he's a little bit more than an internet pastor to me, but not much.

Okay, but he says this the New Testament knows nothing of a Christian that's not a part of a local church.

The New Testament knows nothing of a Christian who says, Jesus and me, ride till I die.

All I need is my Bible in a dark room.

That's it.

The New Testament knows nothing of that kind of a Christian.

So here's my charge to the room.

If you're here today and you're visiting, don't leave here without getting more plugged in.

If nothing else, have a conversation with a staff member, somebody you came here with, somebody you just met in the meet and greet, have a conversation.

Don't leave here without getting further plugged in.

And listen, if you leave here today and you're like, man, the worship wasn't good enough, man, the preaching wasn't good enough.

I didn't have a good enough time jumping in the bounce houses outside for the block party.

Y'all only had tacos and grilled cheese for the taco trucks, for the food trucks.

If there's you and you're like, Ambassador Church ain't for me, listen, that's fine.

Come holler at me, I'll get you plugged in somewhere else.

The fact isn't that you gather here, the fact that you gather somewhere.

Do not be a people who neglect the gathering of the local church.

Yes, that's somebody.

That's somebody.

So holy ambitious church is a generous church, a holy ambitious church is a gathering church, and lastly, a holy ambitious church is a grubbing church.

Look at verse 46.

It says every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple.

Here's what they did: they broke bread from house to house, they ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

The last thing we get from a holy ambitious church to be the first church in the book of Acts is this they just ate together.

Now I love the flowery language you get to see in this part of the text.

Look at this, it says, They ate food with these kind of joyful and sincere hearts.

They were praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, okay?

How many of you know you can be in agreement with this text and be like, hey, food just makes everything better, right?

Amen.

Like food just makes it better.

That's what the text wants us to know.

We just finished a three-week series on discipleship last week, and we talked about our discipleship strategy, growing our new identity, gather around the table, go to the and when we say gather around the table, like we mean this: that there's something special that happens when you gather around the table with the people around you, when you share a meal, the drinks come out, you share drinks, you share a meal, like all this kind of stuff.

Like there's just something that happens when the conversation starts.

The things you're able to share, the things that pop up in your heart, the things that come out of your mouth, stories, invitations, things that's happened, the goodness of God in your life, struggles.

Gathering around the table doesn't mean that you're just always going to have like a high and mighty, lofty kind of experience.

Like, I think there's something about the joyful language here and the sincere language here, that's like, hey, there's this type of authenticity that can happen, but when you gather around the table, that food and drink just tends to often bring out in people.

And many of you know this because you've sat down with people, you've invited people into your homes, all that kind of stuff.

You've gone out and had coffee.

And this has happened for you.

You found some of your best friends.

Why?

Because you said, hey, do you want to come over to the house?

Sit in my living room, you're gonna go out for lunch, let's go grab a coffee, let's go on a walk, run, run a club.

You've met some of your best friends because of that.

Holy ambition.

To be a grubbing church, you gather around the table with one another.

Can you imagine the types of stories that were told around the tables in the first century?

I can't imagine that.

I don't know why God made food like this, but He did.

It's a unified that brings people together.

It provides a delicious but also intimate setting, like nothing else quite can, that opens an environment for just intimate settings and context conversations and storytelling.

People in the room, when was the last time you just sat across from somebody and just shared your story?

When was the last time you heard somebody else's story?

Some of you are afraid to do that.

You're afraid to be vulnerable and open up and share what's going on in your life.

Let me just tell you something.

Eating something helps.

Okay, it just breaks natural ice breaking.

You ain't even gotta ask a question.

Tackles?

Yeah.

Love it.

We live in a fast-paced world.

Dinner times are rushed, or they don't even happen.

Inviting someone to lunch feels more like a chore than a blessing.

Having someone over to your house feels daunting.

Why?

Because it feels scary and exposing to hosts in your own home.

Here's a thought.

What if you just stopped thinking and you just did it?

What if you just did it?

What if you just slowed down enough for just a little bit?

What if you were okay with some of the things not getting done?

What if it all wasn't just lined up perfectly how you would want it before you actually did the thing?

What if you didn't let the cleaning that you didn't do to tear you away from the time to gather around the table with other people, to share a meal and to share a drink, and dive deep into conversation and storytelling and to be an ambitious person for God?

You never know what would come from sacrificing in that way.

And so a holy ambitious church is a generous church, a gathering church, and it is a grubbing church.

There's a little bit more to the text, and I want to get us into this, but it it's not necessarily a church that's ambitious, not like what a church of ambitious does, but it's actually the result that we see of a holy ambitious church.

You see this?

Look at verse 47, the very end of it.

It says, Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Every day the Lord added to the number those who were being saved.

So the text is saying is that a holy ambitious church is a generous church, a gathering church, and a grubbing church.

And when we give our life and our time and attention to these kind of things, what inevitably happens is that the church begins to grow.

That the gospel moves forward, that the people who need to hear about the goodness of God and the only thing that Jesus Christ can do in our lives, that tends to happen when we have this holy ambition to be generous and to gather and to eat with one another.

This is just what ends up happening.

You meet people, you have relationships, and you live life on life, and you do this kind of thing that the first early church has this intimate context for.

And what happens is you bump shoulders with other Christians.

And if you're not a Christian in the room, you can begin to bump shoulders with Christians, maybe even for the first time.

And the thing that they were gonna have for you.

Yeah, a meal, and that's gonna be bomb, but it won't even be the best thing that they have for you.

The best thing they're gonna have for you is the message of the gospel.

The fact that whatever you're experiencing, whatever you're going through, whatever you have right here, listen, the thing that you want to be the answer, it will never be the answer.

But the thing that can be the answer is you're in close proximity to it.

Why?

Because it indwells the believer and it's the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's what Jesus Christ has done on the cross.

When we're generous people and we gather and we grow up with one another, we have the opportunity to share the gospel.

And when you as a person receive this holy ambitious idea that that reality shouldn't only be just, hey, the pastors and the ministry workers in the life of the Christian faith, but that's also yours, owners of the holy ambitious reality of what Acts 2 was trying to tell us.

And by result of that, more people get saved, the kingdom of God gets more populated, and just a sidebar benefit, the church grows.

So here's what I want you to know in this room today.

If you've never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you can place your faith in Jesus Christ today.

You can be a part of the new family, not just the family here at Ambassador Church, but you can be a part of the greater family of God.

And listen, I can wax eloquent about Ambassador Church all day.

This was a brainchild for many years.

We're here into this thing.

But ultimately, you want to know what?

This is not about me.

We have mission statements, we have vision out the glory for you.

But the main thing that we want for the people in this room is that you come to know Jesus Christ and Him as your Lord and Savior, and that and that only.

That you begin to take steps and what it means to follow Him, that you take steps of obedience, that you even say yes to getting baptized, that you be counted not just in the 3,000 number from Pentecost, but you be counted in the immeasurable number of the ones who've placed their faith in Jesus Christ over the millennia.

This is our greatest desire.

This is our greatest.

Hope God has saved many people in this church.

He has comforted many more, and I pray He'll do that same even today, and even beyond today.

So here's the application for the room for people who've been here.

The last year, even more than that, just two words.

Keep going.

Just keep going.

Keep being the people who are generous.

Keep being the people who are gathering.

Keep being the people who are grubbing and sharing your table with one another.

Keep being that kind of person.

Keep sharing the gospel.

Never forget the story of your own salvation.

You want to know it's true?

God has given you the greatest tool in your tool belt to share about the goodness of Him in your life.

You know what it is?

It's your own personal testimony.

Would you be someone who receives that and keep going and be this kind of holy ambitious person?

But not only that, be someone who opens your mouth and proclaims the gospel to the people around you who desperately need it.

Just keep going.

And to the new people who are here.

Maybe you don't know Jesus.

Give your life to Jesus today.

But if you're just trying out a church like Ambassador Church, here's the call to you.

Don't let today be the only day you step foot in here.

Listen, today's gonna be fun.

We're about to sing again.

This is gonna be amazing.

We're gonna go outside.

It's a beautiful day, my goodness.

All three days the last couple days, like absolutely incredible.

We're gonna have food, we're gonna have conversation.

The kids are gonna have a great time with the bounce houses, all of that.

We have pool noodles we might bring out.

I don't know, maybe those hurt kids.

We'll ask Lauren, she'll know the answer.

But don't let this be the only day that you come in here.

Give it a year.

You don't know if God has a church home for you by coming in on the most celebratory day of the year, but you know He has a church home for you if you come back week after week.

Give it some time.

Meet somebody new, commit to the life of ambassador church and say, Hey, God, is this something that you have for me?

Come back next week in the week after and see what God might do.

So let's be a church of holy ambition, generous, gathering, grubbing, as we lean into year two and beyond.

Listen, I'm grateful for today.

I'm grateful for what God has done.

But again, I don't want to be a church that sees year one as the pinnacle.

This is just another faithful step in what God has for us.

And so, as ambassador church, if you call this place home, hey, go all in.

Come in with me and say, hey, let's see what God can do in year 15.

Let's see what he can do in year 20.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Father, we love you.

And we're grateful for this morning.

We're grateful for this opportunity.

We're grateful for not having burned down the building yet.

We're still here.

We're grateful for what you've done in the life of Ambassador Church this far.

And we know and trust that you will do it all the more.

And so I pray you get us out of the way, that your glory go forth, that your Holy Spirit does the work.

And the people of this room will forever hear the sound of your voice, will forever be called to follow you, and they will give their lives to you, and they will commit to doing that for the rest of their lives.

Father, we love you.

We're grateful.

We praise in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.

Thanks for listening to the Ambassador Church Podcast.

To learn more, visit ambassadormke.org or follow us on Instagram at AmbassadorMKE.

And if you're in the Milwaukee area, we'd love to see you this Sunday at 9 or 11 a.m.

at 2308 East Bellevue Place.

Grace and peace.