Sermon Central
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Light The Fire Again
Contributed by Steven Chapman on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: As the disciples waited for the "fire of heaven" to fall on them, they waited with expectation and preparation. It was not sitting still. I was getting ready. We as believers need to be engaged in the same preparation for God to work in us.
Our hearts were made for community. We hunger for the deep, authentic relationships Jesus had in mind when he prayed that his followers would be one. Yet in many churches, the connection we crave is lacking. How can church become a place where nobody stands alone? Through small groups. Like nothing else, they provide the kind of life-giving community that builds and empowers the body of Christ and impacts the world.
Listen to this from Christian counselor, Larry Crabb:
A central task of community is to create a place that is safe enough for the walls to be torn down, safe enough for each of us to own and reveal our brokenness. Only then can the power of connecting do its job. Only then can community be used of God to restore our souls. (The Safest Place on Earth, p. 11)
This sort of community doesn't happen on Sunday morning when we need to hurry home because the roast is burning. It happens when a small group of people commit themselves to spending time together growing together in authentic relationship with one another. And as I spend time with that group, my soul is opened to the movement of the Holy Spirit.
That is why the Elders made the decision to make Connection Groups as principle part of our ministry life at FCC last year. We can’t experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit on our own. We need involvement in community if the Holy Spirit is going to do his work.
How are you doing here? Take a moment and rate your level of participation in group life. How are you doing on this indicator? Are you measuring pretty high? Are you somewhere in the middle? Or are you already in trouble?
2. Daily Time Spent Seeking God in Prayer.
The second indicator follows directly on the heels of the first. And it was of such importance that it was understood as the identity of the entire meeting, "in prayer continually." The second indicator is daily time spent seeking God in prayer.
There's something luxurious about room service in a hotel. All you have to do is pick up the phone and somebody is ready and waiting to bring you breakfast, lunch, dinner, a chocolate milkshake, whatever your heart desires and your stomach will tolerate. Or by another languid motion of wrist, you can telephone for someone who will get a soiled shirt quickly transformed into a clean one or a rumpled suit into a pressed one. That's the concept that some of us have of prayer. We have created God in the image of a divine bellhop. Prayer, for us, is the ultimate in room service, wrought by direct dialing. Furthermore, no tipping, and everything is charged to that great credit card in the sky. Now prayer is many things, but I'm pretty sure this is not one of the things it is.
Again let's take a moment and consider the situation of those gathered in that upper room. Jesus, when he left them, had told them to wait. Nowadays, waiting is akin to wasting time. In our activist age, one would expect that this group, which where to be witnesses to the world, would find some more meaningful activity.
