Drama
(I started with a dram about 2 people Jan and John who had become disillusioned about the church.)
In the book of Acts the church emerges and enters the world in a powerful way. But somehow, over the years something has changed. Like Jan and John’s relationship the church has lost it’s passion. Our love and devotion have diminished. We are a shadow of the church we see in Acts 2.
What saddens me about that is that I believe the church has the message that can transform the human heart!
It is the message of the love of Jesus…
• The love that conquers sin and wipes out shame…
• And heals wounds and reconciles enemies…
• And patches broken dreams and restores ruined lives…
• And ultimately changes the world, one life at a time.
This radical message of transforming love has been given to the church! The hope of the world, rests in the hands of local congregations like ours.
How can we release this life-transforming message?
The same way the 1st century church did. There was something attractive about the church in Acts 2. Contrast and compare…
(slide)
“They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (slide) Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. (slide) Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. (slide) They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God, and enjoying the favor of all the people. (slide) And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
1. (slide) They were common people with an uncommon spirit.
• They shared everything, They loved each other
• They had everything in common
• Prayed together on a regular basis.
• Hung out together, Had good reputation.
The bottom line: They valued each other!
Because they recognized that God lived in them. And they treated each other like they were temples of the living God!
Illus. Ark of the Covenant. (slide) Celebrated God in a box!
Recognized that the presence and power of God inside!
God is in us! Look at person next to you…God is in them!
We are the new Ark of the Covenant! God in us!
Just as there were rules for how people were to handle the Ark,
God’s word is filled with instructions about how we are to treat each other. We are Holy and should not mistreat each other. When we do, it makes God angry.
The early church loved and valued each other; that was an uncommon way of seeing others. They truly loved each other.
2. (slide) They were scattered, but they were united.
Imagine gang members and drug dealers, racists and sex offenders being transformed by the gospel. Imagine politicians, judges and other influential leaders taking stands based on the Word of God. Imagine hundreds/thousands of people being saved in a single church service!
It all happened in the early church. And it can happen again.
See, the early church was a dynamic, growing church that turned the world upside down!
And they didn’t have a nice building, Sunday School rooms, fellowship hall, PowerPoint, sound system…
The early church didn’t meet in a church building like we do. They didn’t have a place where each and every person gathered together once a week.
They met in houses. They ate and shared and prayed and worshipped in small groups, in homes. (breaking bread: entire meal. Slaves and free sat at table as equals.)
They were scattered physically, but they were united spiritually!
Look at verse 42: (slide)
“They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teachings, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
They were untied because they were all devoted to the things that mattered! (slide)
• They were devoted to learning and doing God’s will!
Have you ever gone to a car show?
Illus. Carlisle PA. Some guys are Chevy guys, some like Ford, others are into Pontiacs, or Oldsmobile or whatever. But when you get to a car show people are talking with each other, “ooh” and “ahh” over cars and engines… Why?
Because they share a like passion. Devoted to the same thing!
When we are devoted to learning and living the Word of God it will draw us together!
It gives us a purpose together. It helps us see progress.
It enables us to help others who are not as far down the road as we are, and to look ahead with admiration and assistance to those who are further along than we are.
Lots of churches in America have loads of people who can say they’ve given their life to Jesus…but are they growing in him?
I’ve been in churches where board members wouldn’t know Matthew, Mark and Luke from Larry, Curly and Moe.
God’s plan for building a great church involves learning and living out His Word.
That’s why, after this Sunday we are going to close out our services the same way….every Sunday.
Last thing we will hear before we leave this place is the chorus to “Ready”. Fran will play it on chimes: (read words of “Ready”)
This is so important. That’s why we have Sunday School. Want to add more classes.
Men’s class, ladies class, quarterly class, teens, children, Membership, leadership class, New Believers Class…
• They were devoted to “The Fellowship”.
Gone to churches that were devoted to fellowship. That’s not what this says. “The Fellowship”.
This is a misused and misunderstood word.
Fellowship…eating, hanging out, talking about ballgames, favorite recipe, clothes, sales, cars, movies…
“Means closeness, feeling of togetherness, of belonging to each other, belonging to the family of God.”
They were devoted to maintaining and building the fellowship. They did everything they could to build closeness.
That means they didn’t gossip about each other, they weren’t judgmental toward each other, they didn’t pick at each other, they didn’t hold grudges toward each other, they didn’t mistrust each other, weren’t critical toward each other, they didn’t say anything unwholesome about anyone else (even if it was true).
How do I know this…
Because earlier it said that they were devoted to the teachings of the apostles. And it says that they were committed to the fellowship.
God’s word condemns each of the things I just mentioned. And even says that those things should not even be mentioned among believers.
God’s family is filled with different people….each a little different from each other…(5 slides) But in our differences we all belong…and we must protect the fellowship! We can be devoted to each other!
Illus. Pastor preaching about unity. Used a new stained glass window as his object lesson. (slide)
Window is made up of many smaller panes of glass. Each pane is important! “You are a little pane, and you are a little pane…”
Many of us don’t really know each other. Others might know enough to consider others in this room to be a little pane…
I recently read a book about disagreements in the body of Christ. Where they come from and how to help resolve them…
The author who had pastored 45 years, and before that spent 20 years as a pastor’s kid says; (slide)
“Every bitter disagreement in the body boils down to disobedience. Sometimes there is an unwillingness to get along, (slide) sometimes an unwillingness to forgive and forget. It might be p[ride, or selfishness, or a spirit of superiority, or of being judgmental. (slide) The bottom line is, there is disobedience. The cause of all disharmony in the body of Christ can always be attributed to disobedience to God.
• They were (slide) devoted to prayer!
(click) “They devoted themselves…to prayer.”
The first century church knew they did not have the power to go out into a hostile world, stand tall and move forward with the Good News they had gained. They knew if it was to be done it had to be done in God’s strength!
Jesus modeled this dependence on the Father.
Often He withdrew to pray!
He prayed for others. He prayed for and with His disciples.
There is a need in the church today for people who are committed to prayer!
When we pray we are making ourselves aware of God’s presence and aligning ourselves with His perspective.
(slide)
3rd Sunday of the month, at Anthony’s on Williamson Rd. we meet at 8 am to talk about how we can better implement a prayer ministry at Valley View. We want to see prayer become the atmosphere of this church!
I would like to see prayer teams cover this place before Sunday School and church! Walking up and down aisle. Praying for seat your sitting in. Your teacher, your child, your grandchild, your Pastor.
Pray that Satan’s influence would drop off at the door, when drive onto our grounds!
Another benefit of prayer: When we start praying we have an investment. Investment = interest = EXCITEMENT!
See. We all want to get to verse 47…
• People were praising God
• Enjoying the favor of all the people
• Lord added to number daily those being saved.
Verse 42 happens first! Can’t just jump to verse 47.
There is a process in becoming a New Testament Church.
There is a price to be paid.
Illus. Mayor of small city driving thru town when noticed two guys behind a city truck. (slide) One dig a hole, other guy filled it back up again. After watching…what doing? “We work for the city planting trees. Normally there are 3 of us, one digs hole, other puts tree in hole, other cover it up. The guy who plants the tree called in sick today. But were here doing our jobs anyway!
Habit of just doing church! Like a marriage that lost joy!
Go thru motions…we show up at church, we sing, we give offering, might even volunteer……if we want more, got to do something differently. Return to first love!
Illus. FedEx ad. KEY: (HEART:DEVOTION!)
Result…
- power of God was experienced in place.(verse 43);
- They had great joy! (46-47a)
Illus. I like spicy foods. The Tabasco sauce people have a means of measuring the spiciness of their sauces, it’s called the Scoville Heat Unit scale. Ketchup = zero on scale, mild green pepper sauce = 600, medium pepper Tabasco sauce = 5,000. Habanero sauce = 9,000 Scoville units. I added up the Scoville Heat Units of the chili I made at the last Chili cook off = 36,300.
If there was a spiritual Heat Unit for our church, what would it be? Is the zestiness of our faith starting to warm up! How hot is your spiritual Salsa? Devote ourselves to the things that will heat us up! Ask God to make us the people he wants us to be…
Grow us! Change us!
• ARE We READY TO BE HIS CHURCH? (“Ready”)
