Connection Through Fellowship

[SPEAKER_01]: Acts chapter 2, verse 41 through 47, it says this, it says, so those who accepted his message were baptized in that day about 3,000 people were added to them, and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to the fellowship and by say fellowship.

Acts 2:41–47

[SPEAKER_01]: to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then fear came over everyone and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now all the believers were together and help things and common, they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as anyone had a need.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every day, everybody said every day.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every day, they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex and broke bread from house to house.

[SPEAKER_01]: They ate food with a joyful and humble attitude.

[SPEAKER_01]: Man, some of us need to read that one more time.

[SPEAKER_01]: With a joyful and humble attitude.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, anyways, praising God, having favor with all the people and every day, the Lord added to them those who were being saved.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is connected through Fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: Connected through Fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray, Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day, we thank you for everything that you have already done in this room today.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're so thankful.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're so grateful for your presence.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're so grateful, Lord, that you would choose to come and be with us, spend time with us, that we can be with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have to go seeking and searching and going this direction and going that direction just to find you, but we can turn to you and there you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we thank you for being here with us this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: We pray, Lord, that you would continue to speak through us, Lord, or that you would give us ears to hear what the Spirit of God would say unto us this morning, and Lord, that we would receive your word today, Father, so that we would receive the revelation and the knowledge and the wisdom that we need, that we would leave here completely changed and transformed by the power and the authority of your word.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we thank you, Lord, for it, in Jesus' name, everybody said.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Connected through fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we know that there's a scripture, Peter says that the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking those who he may devour.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a scripture, Peter.

[SPEAKER_01]: And as we touched on last week, the devil is looking for those who are isolated.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those that are positioned in a place of being alone being isolated away from others, the ones who got disconnected from the pack, so to speak, the ones who walked away at the wrong time, the ones who strayed a little at a time until they were far off on their own.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we can all say probably in this room that we've all been in moments or times or seasons of isolation, where we have found ourselves whether we meant to or not in a place of isolation, where we felt like we were alone.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were away from God's people, away from God's presence, maybe away from God himself, we thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we've found ourselves in a place of isolation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, how many of you know that the enemy doesn't need permission to get you isolated to devour you?

[SPEAKER_01]: The enemy don't need your permission.

[SPEAKER_01]: He don't need to ask you, is it okay if you can get isolated right now?

[SPEAKER_01]: As a matter of fact, the enemy never once will come up to you and say, is it okay if I try to devour you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it okay if I try to devour you and take out your car?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it okay if I try to devour you and jack up your finances?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it okay if I try to come in and mess with your family and devour your family?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: The enemy never asks for permission to do any of those kind of things.

[SPEAKER_01]: And for some, the enemy may hit at the right moment in devour.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I say unto you, not you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not you, not your household, not your family, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not your finances, not your job, not you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say not me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, we got to be in a constant place where we're reminding ourselves, but we're also reminding the enemy, you can't take me out.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't devour me, thank you, bud.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't come into my household.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't come into my finances, you can't come into my property for you do not belong here, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so oftentimes we have to be in a place in a position where we remind the enemy that he doesn't belong.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I want us to be in a place where we boldly full of faith can wake up every morning and say, you may not devour my household.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may not devour my marriage.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may not devour my kids.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may not devour my job.

[SPEAKER_01]: For you can't touch anything that the Lord has blessed me with.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to remind you of that this morning because sometimes the enemy shows up and he thinks he can touch the thing that God has given you and cannot tell you the enemy cannot touch the things that God has given you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever God has blessed you with, the enemy has no right and he has no authority to touch those things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now that's a weak aim and he should have really shouted right there if you really believe that.

[SPEAKER_01]: nor the blessing that God has bestowed upon you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever that blessing looks like.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so for you to say, well, the devil just keeps attacking me.

[SPEAKER_01]: He just keeps taking everything from me.

[SPEAKER_01]: The devil just keeps coming in my house, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah

[SPEAKER_01]: Because if you stand in a total place of faith and victory, you know that the enemy has no rights over you as a son or a daughter of Jesus Christ, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to encourage you in that this morning because we give the devil way too much credit for his attacks.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, he's just attacking me.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, you're allowing it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we got to stand, and we got to stand boldly, and when he tries to come and tries to devour us, that's when we got to rise up in faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we got to say no, you're not gonna have it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not gonna have my family, no you're not.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not gonna take my kids, no you're not.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not gonna rob me of what God has given me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, listen, think about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever God has blessed you with, whatever God has provided, whatever God has given you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Never once, as he thought, I might need to take that back.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the only one that could ever steal that away is the enemy, but the only one that could ever let the enemy come steal it away is you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise he has no authority in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if first Peter or five eight, that says that he's seeking for those he may of our, if that's true, that means that there are some that have opened a door to be taken out.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it also means that there are some that he cannot get to.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, seeking who he may devour, not who he will, who he may devour.

[SPEAKER_01]: That means there has to be some sort of permission that is granted to the enemy, to devour you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And not once, what God ever say, oh, it's okay, double go ahead.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, he would never do that to his beloved.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, if he's seeking who he may devour, the only way that he can devour is if you say you may.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may, you may take my finances, you may take my family, you may take my this, you may take my that God has blessed me, you can just have it, devil.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, come on, I declare over you, not you, not your household, come on, not your family, not anything that God has blessed you with, not you, and Jesus' name, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: So hear me, the difference is not in your spiritual strength or your duration of time, or you've walked with the Lord, but it has everything to do with your connections.

[SPEAKER_01]: Has everything to do with your connections?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't mean to bust your bubble today, but you didn't get this far because of how awesome you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hold on, wait a second, let me add to that because you didn't get as far as you are because of how gifted you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: Pastor that hurts.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's really blessed me with a gift.

[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't get this far because of the gift that you have or How cool you think you are how strong you think you may be You got this far by the grace of God and the grace of God alone

[SPEAKER_01]: But beyond that, beyond his grace, you got this far by connecting to the right people, and being connected to who you're connected with.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are people that have been a part of your life, whether they're in your life right now or not, that have rescued you out of some misery.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, how many are grateful not just for God, rest to you, but how many are grateful for the people that stepped in when you needed it, that prayed for you, that helped you, that interceded for you, that said, I'm gonna get you up out of this, you don't belong there, Jim, I'm gonna pull you out of this mess.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, how many are grateful for that?

[SPEAKER_01]: How many are grateful for the praying mama's and the praying grand mama's and the praying grand daddy's come on in the empties and the uncles that said, I know he's messed up right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know she's far away from God right now, but I'm going to still be prayer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm grateful for the people.

[SPEAKER_01]: that we're able to pull me out of a mess.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are times in life where we're not strong, when we're weak, and we need those who are strong to help carry us through.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can say, oh, I got God.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just me and him.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get through it.

[SPEAKER_01]: While that's true, and he will help you get through it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can certainly expedite the process by linking arms with the right people and say, I need you right now in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: I need to connect to you right now because there's something that's going on on the inside of me or there's something that's taking place all around me and I need the help of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's why fellowship is so important.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because see, the enemy is aware that if he can get you out of fellowship in your isolated, you won't have the people that you need when you need them the most.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this is why we got to stay connected to fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, we all need friends sometimes.

[SPEAKER_01]: That will snap us out of the stupidity we put ourselves in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, not me, pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't make dumb choices.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we make dumb choices sometimes.

[SPEAKER_01]: We say dumb things, we do dumb stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we need people to help pull us out of some of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: We will make mistakes.

[SPEAKER_01]: We will fall short.

[SPEAKER_01]: We will do things that we wish we never did.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm thankful for the people that God surround us with in life, for those that we are connected to and fellowship, that can say, I'm going to pray you out of that mess.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna encourage you, even though it's tough right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm gonna help you in that situation.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna bless you, you know, whatever it may be.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so connection really is a powerful thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's important to know that being a part of this household, this household of faith believing people in this church, there is a covering that is over you.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a covering that's over you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, because for some of you, you may have stepped outside of the covering.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when you stepped outside of the covering, when the attacks came, you were no longer protected.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's why being connected to a household of faith, to a church, to a body of believers, to a fellowship, is so crucial to your, not just your spiritual wellbeing, but your wellbeing all around.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I've seen people that have been attacked spiritually, and then that turned into a physical thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or it turned into a mental thing, or an emotional thing, or a family thing, all because they stepped outside of where God needed them to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's a covering over you, but it's also a strength that you can tap into.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you're a connected and fellowship, you're not just covered, but you're also strengthened.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in moments of weakness, you can tap into the fellowship and you can find strength again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And here may come into church, should not be something that you dread.

[SPEAKER_01]: It should be something that you get excited for.

[SPEAKER_01]: Something that you excited for.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be excited to come into the household of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to come on Sunday morning and be so excited to be here that it just shows on my face.

[SPEAKER_01]: That it shows in my actions.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it shows in the way that I talk, the way that I feel, the way that I act, that you can tell that I'm happy to be here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you're pastor, don't want to be here, then there's a problem.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it probably means that if your pastor don't want to be here, it's because there's too many people in the room that don't want to be here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I'll take a drink to that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, come off of this nice relaxing trip and the enemy tries to rob me of my voice.

[SPEAKER_01]: Heck no, not today in Jesus' name, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when you come into the household of the Lord, let me tell you, you find joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a supernatural joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And not only do you find joy in the household of the Lord, but you find strength in the house of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you not only just find strength, but you also begin to find your purpose.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you begin to do things unto the Lord and all of a sudden they get you excited.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you get stirred up and the more that you get excited and stirred up and fulfilling your purpose and getting strengthened and finding that joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: You want to be here more and more and more and you want to do more and you want to get here earlier.

[SPEAKER_01]: You want to show up at 830 for the classes on Sunday mornings.

[SPEAKER_01]: All these things begin to change all of a sudden

[SPEAKER_01]: You can excited, hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I can't be the only one that's excited to be here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you excited to be here?

[SPEAKER_01]: I had to ask because I didn't get any response when I said that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, geez, maybe they're not.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when you miss, you should only miss because you're real sick or something.

[SPEAKER_01]: if you miss just a miss if you miss because you don't feel like going to church let me tell you if you miss because you're tired I'll remind you you know we were up at 4am yesterday taking a flight to come here and got no rest and was up late last night and burning midnight oil come on somebody and still woke up and was the first people at the building today at 730 without zero complaints

[SPEAKER_01]: But yet there were people that will miss church and they'll say, oh, pastor, I'm just so tired.

[SPEAKER_01]: I had a long week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Get over it!

[SPEAKER_01]: Get over it!

[SPEAKER_01]: Get over it!

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm excited to be here!

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just setting your alarm and actually getting up when your alarm goes off will probably help quite a bit of you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, anyways, Pastor, you're off-topping, no I ain't because, see, listen to me, you appreciate most what you put value into.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you set your alarm for work because you value your paycheck, and you make sure that you're at work on time,

[SPEAKER_01]: And you give all of your effort and all of your attention to making sure that I get there, and I do my job, and I do what I got to do, and I wake up the next day, and I do it again.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then when it comes to Sunday morning, you say, Lord, I'm just going to give you a little bit of my leftovers this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to give you what I have left in the tank.

[SPEAKER_01]: If I want to sleep in today and not show up to church, it's OK. You know, Lord, I've had a tough week at work.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I can only imagine, I'm not saying this is true, I can only imagine that it breaks the father's heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: When he says, you'll give everything in your attention and you'll make sure you're dedicated to other things, but when it comes to my house, you give half effort.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't wanna be an individual or even corporately speaking a church that only gives our leftovers of, or half of what we have unto the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want us to remember that this is how we start out strong every week.

[SPEAKER_01]: that this sets the precedence for what our weak will look like.

[SPEAKER_01]: We live the opposite often times and we say, oh, I had a rough week, so therefore I need, now I need to go to church and I need to try to give it to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna worship and hopefully he speaks to me about, we do it all backwards.

[SPEAKER_01]: When in reality we should give 100% to our Sunday morning and we should say, I'm going all out for God today, so that way he is with me the rest of the week when I need him most.

[SPEAKER_01]: If we just shift our perspective and start living differently and start living that way, I promise you things will get so much better.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when you get connected to true fellowship, not only do you get strengthened and you get covered, but you also get surrounded.

[SPEAKER_01]: You get surrounded by the right people.

[SPEAKER_01]: You get surrounded by the people that you need most in whatever season you're in or whatever you may be dealing with.

[SPEAKER_01]: And hey, you don't even like people, but yet somehow you get surrounded with people and it does something on the inside of you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I always laugh when people say I'm an introvert.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in an introvert, God didn't make you an introvert, he made you to communicate and fellowship with one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may be kind of shy or timid, but you're not introverted, you are a child of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he put something on the inside of you that when you start connecting to the other people that you're in fellowship with all of a sudden something comes out.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I always laugh because I think, man, the people who say they're introverted are actually the most talkative people in the room.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're the ones that want to talk to everybody, and everybody wants to talk to them, and they want to communicate, and they want to walk around, do all of the things because something happens supernaturally, when you come into connection with the people that you're fellowshiping with.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you can no longer say, I'm introverted.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, all of a sudden stuff just starts flowing, and coming out of you and you say, I thought I was a quiet person, now you ain't.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now you wait, you're connected to a fellowship and all of a sudden life is starting to happen in your communicating and you're doing this and you're doing that and we're hearing about your week and we're hearing about your life and you're hearing from other people and there a week and there life and what's going on and God's doing all this and all of a sudden you leave here so much with so much joy because you were connected in fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the devil tried to convince you that he had you surrounded but we know that the devil is a liar because you haven't been surrounded by the enemy you have been surrounded by the kingdom of God and the people of the kingdom of God come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, at least for this church, I don't wanna ever hear I'm out here alone on an island trying to deal with these situations all by myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, you have a community of people who are in fellowship with you that wanna stay connected to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when you're going through hell, they're gonna jump right in and go with, go through hell with you and help you get on the other side.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, and when you're having a really good weekend, a really good day, they're gonna congratulate you and celebrate you through it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing better than that.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing better than that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if I, Melissa will tell you, if I could, we'd do this thing every day.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'd see your faces every single day.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if I could, I would, I'm telling you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I really could.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would be all for it because there's just something that ignites on the inside of you when you're

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's an amazing thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's three things that I want to teach you today if you're taking notes.

[SPEAKER_01]: I still got an hour so don't worry.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just kidding, you're not gonna preach another hour.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if the Spirit of God moves for an hour,

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't blame the preacher.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want nobody to get mad because they miss kick off.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, I want to kick it off with the Holy Ghost.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Woo!

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, that deserves a woo!

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, let me hear you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's good.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that'll do, yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm complain about how long I preach.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, that's why I love Justin.

[SPEAKER_01]: So even if it's just me and Justin, Justin's dead center, I'm gonna preach to you all day, brother.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's right, it's got nothing to do with it being the presence of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody, hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the first saying that connection produces number one is devotion to teaching.

[SPEAKER_01]: devotion and teaching.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now this is coming straight out of the text that we read.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at Acts chapter 2, verse 42 again, and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.

Acts 2:42

[SPEAKER_01]: So through their fellowshiping and through their connection, they were able to devote themselves to the teaching of the Word that was coming forth.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, to the teaching that was happening with the apostles, the things that were being taught, the things that we were being said, they were able to connect to that and they were devoted to the teaching because they were in fellowship with one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: And here me church, the church in the book of Acts cannot get enough devotion with God.

[SPEAKER_01]: They cannot get enough communion with God.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were communing with the Father every single day, all day long, and they were completely sold out for it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me ask you this, when was the last time you were sold out to true real raw devotion with the Father?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because that's what he's looking for in this hour.

[SPEAKER_01]: His people that will rise up and say, I am sold out to complete devotion with the Father.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: If that means that I'm playing a worship music on the way to work, and I got to pull over because the presence of God is so strong in my car, and I just got to be in communion with Him, and have some devotion with Him coming, and that's what it will take.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were completely sold out to devotion.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I could tell you that it's easier to run after the Father's heart and be intimate with Him when other people around you are doing the same thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody around you is running after the heart of the father and being intimate with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It makes it really tough, it makes it real tough.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when you realize that you are connected in fellowship and in that fellowship, there are people just like you that are devoting themselves unto the Lord and spending time with him, it becomes way easier.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not that it's a hard thing to do, but it just becomes easier to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, that's not to say that, you know, I can't have devotion on my own and have, you know, your own prayer life and your own prayer time and worship time and all that on your own and develop that thing by yourself, no, you need to be doing that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I can certainly tell you that it's 100 times easier to dedicate yourself to devotion unto the Lord when others close by are doing the same exact thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: what they're experiencing, how the Lord is meeting them and touching them and speaking to them and what they're learning through their time of study or their time of worship, what God did or how God's showing up and just answering prayers or whatever it may be.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm listening church.

[SPEAKER_01]: God never intended for you to run this race alone, but He did intend for you to run this race together.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there's something truly special about running after Jesus with other people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I love corporate worship.

[SPEAKER_01]: To me, to me, you may have your own opinion.

[SPEAKER_01]: To me, there is nothing better in the whole world than corporate worship.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not even one on one worship is great.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying corporate worship.

[SPEAKER_01]: When we can come into an atmosphere like we just experienced, not too long ago this morning, and we can all just go after it and worship, man, there is nothing better.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is nothing better than that, I'm telling you, and when we're in corporate worship like that, and it helps our spiritual walk, but we're growing as a believer, but we're also growing with each other in the spiritual realm.

[SPEAKER_01]: Things are happening.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is why nowhere in the Bible does it say that the church is one singular person, but it's a group of persons

[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you think the enemy hates and attacks the body of Christ so much?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because when we get together, our graces get mixed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our, our, our, listen to me, our oil gets mixed.

[SPEAKER_01]: All of a sudden, our gifts get mixed.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we begin to do things together that otherwise we couldn't do on our own.

[SPEAKER_01]: because we're mixed together with other people, come on somebody, that are trying to figure this thing out with Jesus on their own too, and they're chasing after him, and all of a sudden we find ourselves with a group of people that are just like me, and oh I'm trying to do is please the Father!

[SPEAKER_01]: All I want to do is worship him.

[SPEAKER_01]: All I want to do is be at his feet.

[SPEAKER_01]: All I want to do is just give him all the glory on him praise.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in the midst of that, I find to my love and to my right and in the front of me and behind me, there's so many that's doing the same exact thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I tell you that so much better than sitting at a bar and having drinks with people?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll drink to that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's so much better than partying all night long with people, or doing this, or doing that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, fellowshiping with people, come on, and getting connected, come on, and a spirit of fellowship, and going after the Father's heart, I'm telling you, there's nothing that can surpass that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go try it, and let me know, but it's not going to work.

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't go try it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't be foolish.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord rescued you from all that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, I said he rescued you from all of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whoo!

[SPEAKER_00]: Whoo!

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah!

[SPEAKER_01]: Robert, when was the last time you touched all that crap?

[SPEAKER_01]: How many?

[SPEAKER_01]: 15 years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: I could go around the room and ask plenty of people, but the point of the matter is that

[SPEAKER_01]: It's way more fulfilling and changing in your life, transforming in your life, when you're connected to the right people and you're doing life together with them, you're experiencing a joy that you can't get anywhere else.

[SPEAKER_01]: So number one was devotion to teaching.

[SPEAKER_01]: Number two, the second thing that we learn from this scripture, I'm going to go out of order, but I'm doing it out of order on purpose, is devotion to prayer, devotion to prayer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Today, as we sit here, I think, and I could be wrong, but I think that you're in one or two categories.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're either one that needs to start praying, or two, you're one that needs to keep praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there is not a third option presented to stop praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: You either need a start praying, or you need a keep praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, where are my intercessors at in the room?

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: But nobody needs to stop praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have time to allow our prayer lives to sink.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because the Bible says that the ferment prayers come on of the righteous man, availeth much.

[SPEAKER_01]: The fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not when you've prayed and you didn't get the answer, so you gave up and you stopped praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's unrighteousness.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's not me indedicated to the Lord, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: The fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are we the righteousness of Jesus?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we are.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the only option that we got is to keep on praying, baby.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when you don't want to pray, you keep on praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when you've prayed a lot, and you thought that you've prayed a lot, and you say, I don't know how I can pray anymore, you just keep on praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now you've been set free Robert for 15 years, but how long did somebody have to pray for you before that 15 years?

[SPEAKER_01]: twenty years or whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I mean, we may not see the result of it immediately, but thank God for the people that don't stop praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to encourage you at that this morning because you don't have an option to stop praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we got to pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got to pray, fervently.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if that means we're praying the same thing

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to keep praying the same thing over and over and over again.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody because the Lord doesn't just say, let me see if I want to listen to their prayer today.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, he doesn't.

[SPEAKER_01]: He hears every single prayer that's prayed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on and it's intercepted in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you don't see something happening right now in Jesus name, touch whoever they're going to and the mighty name of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we don't have time to stop praying or allow our prayer life to sing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at Jeremiah 33.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love this scripture.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jeremiah 33 says, called to me and I'll answer it now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hold on.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't say call to me and I'll think about answering or I might answer.

[SPEAKER_01]: or maybe one day I'll answer, no, call to me and I will.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say, will, I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things, you do not know.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't know right now, so you got to call upon the Lord so that you can know.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we call upon him through the form of prayer, praying without ceasing, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when we pray without ceasing, and we call to the Lord, he will answer us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I don't know if God's hearing my prayers are answering me right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, he is.

[SPEAKER_01]: He may not see what he's doing, but behind the scenes, he is working all things out for your good because he's doing things you don't even know that he's doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah!

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, turn to the person next to you and say, he's really preaching good today.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, anyways, there's power and prayer.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what's the point about prayer pastor?

[SPEAKER_01]: The point is, heaven is making known to you the desire and the need for a prayer partnership with you today.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not in partnership with heaven in your prayer life, you need to get there.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need to get there promptly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if that means you only pray one prayer a day, that's a great start.

[SPEAKER_01]: start there and move up and progress from there okay but you need to have a prayer life okay and you know you're only prayer shouldn't be when you open up your eyes and say oh god thank you for waking me up this morning yeah that's good I like that one too you're old if you're the only prayer you pray all

[SPEAKER_01]: Yikes.

[SPEAKER_01]: Something's wrong there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so are we increasing our prayer life in this season?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's the person next to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you increasing your prayer life?

[SPEAKER_01]: He's looking for someone on earth to come into agreement with his power and heaven to do something

[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to do something, he wants to move mildly, he wants to move powerfully, but he's looking for you to come into agreement with him so he can do so.

[SPEAKER_01]: Heaven has already checked it off.

[SPEAKER_01]: Heaven has already signed it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's already been approved.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's just waiting on you to say, I'm coming into alignment with what Heaven is saying about my situation right now, about my family right now, about this or about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just coming into alignment with what Heaven is already saying.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's all it takes.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not you having to go lock yourself away and get on your knees and setting a timer for an hour and say, God, I'm giving you this hour right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing's going to distract me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now don't make it a religious thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't make it a religious whatever you want to call it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But just have a prayer life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, church, you shouldn't be waiting on God to make a move for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You should make a move and watch what God can do for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Make a move.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, spiritually, in your prayer life, in your time with him, make a move.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it comes, it comes first through prayer, amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, in the third thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Number three is this is devotion to fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I skipped this one and I went out of order based on the text, but I did that on purpose.

[SPEAKER_01]: Devotion to fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in Acts two, not only did the early church devote themselves to the teaching of the apostles that we read, but they also devoted themselves to fellowship with one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were devoted to it.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were dedicated to it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was a thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they had to have it.

[SPEAKER_01]: They had to be in fellowship with one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: They understood that if they weren't in fellowship with one another, they were out of line.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so they did fellowship in the form of breaking a bread.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what the Bible says.

[SPEAKER_01]: We read it just a minute ago.

[SPEAKER_01]: They broke bread together.

[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, instead of saying the best is yet to come, and you just, and go home, what they did is they said, okay, now how can I go and get in fellowship with somebody?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who can I fellowship with?

[SPEAKER_01]: Now the sermon may be over.

[SPEAKER_01]: The service may be over, but now I need to fellowship, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they invited some church folks to go eat some chips and salsa with them after church.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hello.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm going to make you hungry right now, but that's okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: If somebody comes up to me after church and says, pastor, what are you doing for lunch today?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say, I don't know, but what are you doing?

[SPEAKER_01]: the pressure is on.

[SPEAKER_01]: We just went on a trip, brother.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got a recoup.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the people in the book of Acts just simply did life together.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, one of the greatest things that I love on Sundays is when people stick around after service and they just hang out and talk.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or all of a sudden, you know, people will say, during the week, oh, after church, I went to, you know, such as such, restaurant was so-and-so person.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love hearing that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, nothing makes me more happy than knowing that we're still in fellowship with one another, even no service was, but done, that we're still connected, that God can still move and work through us with one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's an amazing thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, my all-time favorite is when people say, you know, where are you going, pastor?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I say, I don't know, and I say, where are you going?

[SPEAKER_01]: And they'll say, oh, we're thinking about going so-and-so.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'd like to bless you today.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I say, really?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that really gets me excited.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was already going somewhere, but now, now, if the blessing is there now, oh, yeah, you better believe we're going.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I love doing that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love when I love when I can say to somebody, hey, come on, let's go, it's all nice.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have my wallet today.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so if we can just do that, you know, it doesn't have to be lunch.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what I'm saying is, if we can just fellowship with one another and, you know, not show up at 10 o'clock, come in, have service, service ends, boom, you're gone.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're like, I didn't even get to say buy that person, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: That happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even get to say buy them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, like, that's not in fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we have to be connected with one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm not saying you have to stay here, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not pressuring you in that way.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what I am saying is that it's a beautiful thing when you could do life together after Sunday service.

[SPEAKER_01]: It really is.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't wanna just know you want Sunday mornings.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wanna know you at city groups.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to know you at the restaurant after church.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to do life with you and get to know you.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is not a pastor Austin thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a God thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is how God designed it to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: 3000 people were added to them every single day because they were constantly fellowshiping.

[SPEAKER_01]: And listen, the Bible says every single day, they broke bread together.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you are like, I just, I can have all I can handle with just seeing them once a week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh Lord, if that's how you see your church family, we need to intercede for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ought to say, I can't wait to see them again on Sunday, and I'm going to invite them to go have lunch with me too, because that's how much I love them, that's how much I care

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Pastor Eric, he started coming to this church.

[SPEAKER_01]: Pastor Eric says all the time, I didn't know what any of this fellowship thing like, you know, until I started coming here.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, y'all, y'all go to eat after every single thing we have as a church.

[SPEAKER_01]: I said, yeah, that's exactly right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because of Christians are good at anything in life.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's number one.

[SPEAKER_01]: worship in Jesus, and number two, in tacos, baby.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're really good at eating.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I promise you, if the Barnum group decided to do a study on that one, I was saying I'm gonna talk about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe some of you who know where I was going with that, but,

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, all jokes aside, I want this house to be connected in ways outside of this room that it really bruised up an excitement and the people of God has simply do life together.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to just, you know, just live this thing out with you and say, well, we had a good church services.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to say we enjoyed life together.

[SPEAKER_01]: We did life together.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, pastor, I don't like doing all those extra things all the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, listen, Mr.

[SPEAKER_01]: Complains a lot, because I got rebuked this past week for always saying, like, you know, always making it sound like a woman.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, misses, misses, whiny pants, or misses this, or misses that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got rebuked this week by fellow church member, who's not here today.

[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe I should use misses.

[SPEAKER_01]: But, anyways, I got rebuked this past week and say, why don't you say, Mr.

[SPEAKER_01]: every once in a while.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I like all of our guys here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to say, Mr. No, I love the women too, don't worry.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK, so I'll use Mr. today.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need to listen to me, Mr.

[SPEAKER_01]: Complains a lot.

[SPEAKER_01]: You better get it down here, because when we get to heaven, the first thing that will happen is the marriage supper of the lamb.

[SPEAKER_01]: If for you to say, I don't want to be in fellowship with people, you're not preparing yourself for what's coming in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because when we get to heaven, we're going to be feasting with Jesus and feasting with one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to be in constant fellowship.

[SPEAKER_01]: People say, no, when we go to heaven, all we're going to do is worship.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, that's not all we're going to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be hanging out with each other.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be doing life together.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a beautiful thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so you don't get to just do it here.

[SPEAKER_01]: You get to also do it there.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you might as well start practicing good fellowship now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they went daily daily house to house.

[SPEAKER_01]: This person's house, next person's house.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I don't know how big those houses were back then.

[SPEAKER_01]: Certainly there weren't that big.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you are like, I don't want no people in my house, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's okay, two inches on.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, some people like, I can only handle about five in my house and no more than that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, they had 3,000 people go in house to house with no complaints, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we got a cake.

[SPEAKER_01]: Add it, there, yes.

[SPEAKER_01]: The theologian himself.

[SPEAKER_01]: But listen, I'm almost done, don't worry, fellowship and connection requires proximity.

[SPEAKER_01]: It requires proximity.

[SPEAKER_01]: I cannot be in fellowship with you if I'm away from you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I cannot be in fellowship with you if you're far from me and I'm far from you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's impossible.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't work that way.

[SPEAKER_01]: It works and it operates only in proximity.

[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, you can't build connection with the people in this room if you're choosing to distance yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have got to get in connection with one another and you got to get close.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got to get close.

[SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't mean you got to give them your whole life story and tell them a daily report of what's happening in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, you don't have to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what you do have to do is you have to get close with some people.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now the grace that's on our lives is that we get to pick and choose who we want to get close to.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's great.

[SPEAKER_01]: But choose who you want to get close to and get in proximity with people.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's amazing things that happen and take place when we're close to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: When we're close to him, there is amazing things that take place, but there's also amazing things that take place when we're close to his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City Podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.