Well, did you make any plans for personal improvement this new year?
It's a good thing to do, and the first of the year is a good time.
A lot of people do.
Most of us, whether we did or not, we do things like that from time to time, don't we?
We make plans to improve ourselves, what, physically, financially.
We make plans to improve vocationally, academically.
Some parents here wanted me to say that academic part.
It's the beginning of the new semester.
Don't get behind this semester, they wanted me to say.
We make plans.
Sometimes we'll even write them down.
Develop a well-thought-out plan for improvement in some area of our life.
Let me ask you this.
Have you ever made plans to grow spiritually?
Have you ever thought about, actually maybe wrote down a spiritual wellness plan?
Well, that's what I want us to look at this morning.
I want us to think about that, and if that might be helpful to you, write it down.
Now, what we're going to do, we're not going to just pull something out of thin air.
We're not going to make it difficult.
What I want us to do is look at something.
I want to use a model that's in the newsletter every week.
That's at the bottom of the order of service every week.
It's our church's mission statement.
You can see it there.
It's on the screen now.
Pickens First Baptist Church exists to be a worshiping, evangelizing, learning, and loving family of faith to the glory of God.
You see in the newsletter that it's based on several different passages of Scripture, mainly the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and Acts chapter 2.
I want you to turn with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 2 this morning because that's where we're going to just camp out.
In looking at that statement, there still on the screen, I want you to keep in mind, when you see Pickens First Baptist Church, we're not talking about a building.
Because the church is not a building, as you well know.
The church is people.
Right now, Pickens First Baptist Church is gathered collectively.
Part of us was in the 8 o'clock service.
Some that are not in here now were in Sunday school.
But right now, a large number of our church family members, we're gathered collectively right here in this building on Main Street.
But most of the time, we're scattered.
Most of the time, Pickens First Baptist Church is scattered throughout Pickens County and beyond.
It might surprise you.
A lot of weeks, part of this church family is not just in other states.
Part of this church family is even in other countries.
And that's not a rarity.
Well, the acronym WELL.
We are a WELL, or we desire to be a WELL church.
That acronym helps us as a church to remember who we are and to stay focused on these God-given priorities of worship, evangelism, learning, and loving.
Well, today, I want us to say that that little word WELL, that acronym, can help us either begin or stay focused on our own personal spiritual wellness plan.
Turn to Acts 2, beginning in verse 42.
I want you to see where those words, worship, evangelism, learning, and loving come from.
They're being lifted right out of, not exactly those words, but as you'll read the passage, I'm going to look at one other thing before we dive into it.
You'll see that our purpose statement is based on what the early church was doing.
Let's read it.
It's the first summary statement of what was going on in the early church in its infancy.
And they, that is the believers, over 3,000 people were converted prior to this.
You can read just a few verses above it.
But the church, the people who trusted Christ, the church family there in Jerusalem,
they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
And awe came upon every soul.
And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
But note the next verse.
They still owned their stuff.
This is not communism or socialism.
Look at verse 45.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings.
They were doing it because they wanted to.
They were doing it because they chose to sell their possessions and belongings
and distribute the proceeds to all as any had need.
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes,
they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
praising God and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to their number day by day,
those who were being saved.
This is the first summary statement of what was going on in the life of the early church.
John Hammett teaches theology at Southeastern Seminary,
says that this is the most appropriate text in the New Testament
for identifying and understanding the ministries that the Lord's church should be involved in.
He says this passage.
And he also quotes Richard Longnecker, a New Testament scholar,
in his commentary on Acts.
He also says they describe the habitual, ongoing practices of the early church.
What many people who study this,
John Stott, some of you have read his books,
another New Testament scholar.
Many people look at this passage of Scripture and say,
this is not just something they were doing at this point in time.
This is an example of how the people of God gathered together as a church,
made up of individual Christians.
This is how they lived.
This is how they developed and grew spiritually.
They worshiped.
They evangelized.
They shared the gospel.
They learned.
They studied God's Word.
They listened to the apostles.
And they loved.
One another in a great, life-giving kind of way.
But also other people.
I put together several years ago a chart
that shows how several respected pastors of various denominations
look at what we're looking at in this section,
Acts 2, 42 through 47,
and identify what they call either the priorities or purposes or objectives of the church.
The chart is not as big as I wanted it to be because I wanted it there all at one time.
But you notice on the very end, if you go back to that last slide there,
on the very end, Greg Laurie and Harry Reader,
they actually use the acronym WELL to describe what's going on in the early church.
Worship, evangelism, learning, and loving.
Rick Warren, the first slide there,
he describes those things using five words.
Worship, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and ministry.
James White does something very similar in the middle.
Chuck Swindoll just uses four words.
Look at it.
The second column, worship, evangelism, instruction, and fellowship.
When Swindoll writes about that,
he actually says the purpose of the church
or the priorities of the church,
he uses the word WIFE.
Worship, instruction, fellowship, and evangelism.
Now, I'm pointing that out to say
this is not something that I or some obscure person
thought up a catchy little phrase or something.
As we think about what God has called us to be and do as a church,
and the church is made up of people,
what God calls you and me to do
as priorities in our spiritual relationship with Him,
in our growth and our maturity.
We're going to grow and mature.
We need to focus on worship, evangelize,
learning or discipleship,
loving, which is fellowship,
and service or ministry.
Let's look at it now.
Let's look at the passage,
and what I want us to do,
is think about it.
These are spiritual priorities for every Christian.
As we go through this,
and we think this is what was happening
in the lives of those first Christians
in that early church in Jerusalem.
And that is how Christians have grown and matured ever since.
It's what God expects of us.
It's the way He intends for us as Christians,
to know Him better,
to know how to please Him,
to serve His purpose.
So, these are spiritual priorities for all Christians.
They can serve as the foundation
for your personal spiritual wellness plan
if you don't have one,
if you want to begin one today.
Let's look at it.
Let's look at it in the order in which they come in the passage.
First of all, it's a priority of learning.
Look back now at verse 42.
It says,
And they devoted themselves,
excuse me,
to the apostles' teaching.
This phrase is more literally translated,
in the New American Standard,
they were continually devoting themselves
to the apostles' teaching.
This was not something they just did occasionally.
This was something that they considered a way of life.
They were serious about it.
They were devoted
to listening to the Word of God
as it came through those apostles.
Look at the object of their devotion,
the apostles' teaching.
That's what we have in our New Testament.
A good way to just think about the apostles' teaching
here in verse 42,
well, we've got it now.
What God wants us to have
in the form of the New Testament.
And most of you know
the Old Testament was the apostles' Bible,
and they quoted it liberally
in their writings in the New Testament.
So we can apply this,
the idea of devoting ourselves
to the apostles' teaching.
We need to devote ourselves to the Word of God.
We need to be serious students of Scripture.
Now, as a church,
we need to make sure
that we are teaching the Bible.
That's our playbook.
It's our primary source
for what we believe
and how we're to live as Christians.
But as individual believers,
we need to make sure
that we are reading and studying
and actually learning
what God is saying to us
through His Word.
Note,
this is the first thing mentioned
in this passage
because it's the Word of God
that informs us
how to do everything else.
How we worship.
How we love.
How we express love.
How we practice evangelism.
Think about worship.
Sometimes we will say,
and well-meaning,
and I understand what's being said
when someone says,
maybe in a prayer,
maybe around the 4th of July,
I thank God that in this country
we can worship God as we please.
I understand.
That's being thankful for freedoms
to assemble and worship.
But I want you to understand something.
We do not worship God as we please.
We worship God
if we worship Him
in an acceptable way.
We worship Him
as He has revealed Himself
and as He tells us to
in Scripture.
We need to make sure,
and some people may not think about it this way,
but we need to make sure
that what we think about God,
our image of God,
is not something we just dreamed up
or just heard somewhere.
We need to make sure
that our understanding of who God is,
how He is,
how He works,
is the way He has revealed Himself
to be in Scripture
and specifically in Jesus.
God calls us,
and He enables us
to be well Christians.
He instructs us through His Word,
and then He enables us
or empowers us
through His Spirit.
Now, in our full church mission statement
or purpose statement,
we go on to explain
how the only way we can do
what God's called us to do
is through His power,
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Look at it.
We say in this statement,
through the power of the Holy Spirit
and prayer.
Prayer is how we access God's power.
Sometimes we,
as Jesus Himself said,
we do not have
because we do not ask,
or James tells us that.
Sometimes we miss out
on some things,
spiritually speaking,
we miss out on some things
that maybe God would give us,
but we don't ask.
We don't seek,
as Jesus said.
We don't really care enough
to talk to God about it
and be serious
in our asking Him about it.
But it's through the power
of the Holy Spirit and prayer.
We will seek to accomplish
our purpose through a vital
worship encounter
with the living God,
evangelistic outreach
to the unsaved,
learning experience
with the Word of God,
and loving involvement
with both our family of faith
and the world.
Now, I want you to think.
Do you need to make
the priority of learning
a part of your spiritual wellness plan
for this new year?
Are you consistently reading,
seeking to understand
what God's saying in His Word?
I'm going to say,
if you are not,
it's because you don't want to.
Now, I know,
life is busy.
And it may be
that you don't read the Bible,
you're not really into the Word
as much as you want to.
You just can't put in the time
that you would like.
There's not enough hours a day.
I could understand that.
But if you rarely pick up the Bible,
if you just sort of give it
sort of a casual glance,
five minutes a day,
I'm going to say,
that's what you want to do.
Because deep down,
bottom line,
we do what we want to do.
We make what is important to us
a priority.
We may not can do
everything we want to do,
as much as we want to do.
I make time
to spend with my wife.
I make time to spend
with my grandchildren
every week.
There's people that I'll say,
no, I can't do that.
Because I'm going to be
doing something
with my grandson
and granddaughter maybe.
Because they're a priority.
And I'm going to make time
for them.
And you do that.
You make time
for people in your life.
Maybe not all the time
you would like.
But you make time
for people
and even things
in your life
that's important to you.
And if we don't spend
any time with God,
virtually no time
with Him and His Word
just because
we don't want to.
But if you think,
I want to want to.
I would like to have
a greater desire.
I know I am a Christian.
I want to know God.
But maybe you're just
a lazy reader.
Maybe you're easily distracted.
I want to encourage you
right here.
It's just still the,
what, the 14th day
of a brand new year.
Ask God to give you
a greater desire.
to know Him better
and develop your relationship
with Him
more deeply
by being able
to spend time
in His Word,
reading it,
and listening to Him.
Ask God to help you
to find that time
to put forth the effort
to stay awake,
to stay alert
so you can read
and listen
and just look at your
Bible reading
as an opportunity
to get to know God better,
to discover how to
please Him,
to discover how to enjoy,
I mean really,
enjoy a relationship
with Him
as your Heavenly Father.
Now,
if you are just
reading the Bible,
to say you're reading it,
I want to
caution you here.
as great as it would be
to read through the Bible
this year,
if all you're going to do
is read a large portion
of Scripture
and just check it off,
or you're just going to read
and try to just fill your mind
with more factual information,
that's not really going
to help you
grow spiritually.
I want to encourage you
to ask God
to help you
to not just be
a reader of the Word,
but as James tells us,
be a doer of the Word.
Read it with the idea,
I want to understand
what God wants me
to believe,
because there's all things,
all kinds of things
competing for your belief
right now
in this world.
Ask God to help you
understand
how to actually put
what He's teaching
into practice
in your life,
in your home,
where you work,
in school.
Make
being a
learning Christian
by studying,
listening to God,
studying His Word,
listening to Him
as He speaks to it,
it's vitally important
for you as an individual
and for us together
as a church
to be learning Christians.
The next priority
is the priority of loving.
Look at verse 42 again.
They devoted themselves,
later on,
to the fellowship
look at verses 44 and 45.
And all who believed
were together
and had all things
in common,
and they were selling
their possessions
and belongings
and distributing
the proceeds
to all
as any had need.
And then the first part
of verse 47,
and having favor
with all the people.
Now you know
the idea of loving here
comes from the word
fellowship.
It's referring to
what we have in common.
And these people,
small walks of life,
what they had in common
was their common commitment
to love for Jesus
as their Savior and Lord.
They had a common commitment
to one another
because they were brothers
and sisters in Christ.
They had the most important
relationship in all their life,
their relationship
with the Lord Jesus.
That brought them together.
And what we see
in these verses
is love in action.
No one forced them
to sell their possessions.
No one forced them
to take the money
they got for their possessions
and give it to the church,
so to speak,
to give it to other people.
They had such a love
for one another
that when they saw
people in need,
people doing without food maybe,
people who couldn't,
who were not getting
their basic needs met
and they had more
than they needed.
They were selling
some of the things
that they had,
not everything they had.
They were selling things
and giving the money
to make sure
that real needs
were being met
in that fellowship,
in that church.
That was real love,
sacrificial love in action.
And it was taking place
among the believers.
It was taking place
there among the Christians,
but it impressed
all kinds of people.
As that last verse
we looked at,
having favor with all the people,
even unbelievers
were impressed.
Wouldn't you be impressed
if you knew
a group of people
in a church
or in any kind
of organization
that they so loved
one another
that they gave
of their finances.
They gave of their wealth.
They gave up something
so that other people
could have their needs met.
It was powerful.
The apostles
emphasized love
as the priority,
character, quality
of Christians.
Paul wrote
that great chapter
in 1 Corinthians 13
on the priority of love,
and he explained
what that was,
1 Corinthians 13.
They learned that
from Jesus.
Note what Jesus
told his apostles.
A new commandment
I give to you
that you love
one another
just as I have loved you,
you are also
to love one another.
And by this,
all people will know
that you are my disciples
if you have love
for one another.
That's how we're supposed
to be known as Christians,
by the love that we have
for one another.
The question is,
are we as a church?
Are you as an individual?
You know,
one of the best definitions
of love
that I've ever heard,
simple,
is love is
meeting needs.
If you love somebody,
you're going to try
to meet their need.
And that's exactly
what was going on here
in this early church.
I see it sometimes,
or you do too.
We see it sometimes
in our church.
Some of you,
some of you,
your gift,
your spiritual gift,
your ability,
you're just a real
empathetic kind of person.
you have what might be
called the gift of mercy.
You can identify
with somebody who's hurting.
And you can just
be there with them,
encouraging them,
helping them.
You're just that friend
who just stays there.
And just your presence
is giving a gift to somebody.
Some of you have a gift,
hands-on kind of gift.
When you know someone's in need,
there's actual things
you can do
to fix something,
to take care
of a particular need.
Some people have
the financial,
or have the financial resources
to give
and meet a need.
And some people do it
in our church,
and they don't let
anybody else know it.
You don't have to do it
in honesty.
I'm not saying that.
But more of that is done
than you might realize.
There is real love
and action taking place
among God's people
everywhere,
including in this church.
The question we need
to ask ourselves now,
is you need to ask
yourself personally.
Do people see
such love in me?
Am I demonstrating
practical,
need-meeting love
to other people
as a priority
in my life?
If not,
then you need to make
it a greater priority
in your own personal
spiritual wellness plan.
And the way to start
may be for you
to just pray
and ask God
to help you
to take more interest
in other people.
It may be that you need
to pray and ask God,
Lord, help me
to not be so self-aware
help me to be aware
of people around me.
Help me to notice needs,
especially needs
I might could meet.
Help me to have
genuine concern,
empathy, sympathy
for people around me.
Take an interest
in other people.
Open your eyes.
Don't be afraid
to see needs
and then step forward
and try to meet that need.
One way to do that
is to pray for people.
Focus on them
by praying for them.
And if you are
a loving person,
don't get complacent.
Like I said,
a lot of people
in our church,
they love,
they demonstrate it
in all kinds of ways.
Sometimes we can sort of
get complacent in it,
sort of,
just sort of,
I've done my part.
Look at what Paul
reminds us of
in his letter
to the Thessalonian Christians.
He's being very
encouraging.
He's affirming them
in what they're doing.
Look at it.
Now concerning
brotherly love,
you have no need
for anyone
to write you
for you yourselves
have been taught
by God
to love one another
for that indeed
is what you are doing.
He's affirming them.
They're doing great.
But we have a tendency
in things we do great
to slack off,
to become complacent.
So he says,
but we urge you brothers
to do this more and more.
Keep on, he's saying.
Let's look at the third
priority we see
in this passage,
the priority of worshiping.
It says,
and they devoted themselves
to the breaking of bread
and the prayers
and all came upon
every soul.
Then in verse 47,
praising God,
that little praise.
I want you to note
two things in verse 42.
The breaking of bread
most likely is a reference
to the Lord's Supper.
A part of their worship
was celebrating
the Lord's Supper together
on a regular basis.
The prayers were
prayer gatherings,
corporate prayer,
church family prayer,
and it may have included
regular prayer times
in the temple.
But what I want us to see is
what is being described here is
these Christians
were focused on God.
They prayed,
and they praised
as a church family
and as individuals.
They truly experienced
the presence of God
in their lives.
And it was an awesome
experience, it says.
Is worship a priority
in your life?
Is the worship
with God's people
like we are right now,
is this a priority?
I mean,
being here
on a regular basis,
participating
when you are here.
You know,
just because we come
doesn't mean
that we worship.
We can come
and we can count
the columns,
we can count the grooves
in the columns.
When I was growing up
in church,
I have to be honest with you,
when I was growing up
in church,
there was some kind
of dental mold
in the back of the church
where I grew up.
There were 27 pieces
that came down
like this.
I counted them
a hundred times.
I didn't worship.
You come in here,
and let me say this,
if we're going to worship
on Sunday morning,
it's got to start
before we walk
in this room.
You can't stay up
half the night
on Saturday night,
get up at the last minute,
rush in here,
and sit down
and catch your breath,
and truly worship God.
We've got to prepare.
We've got to come here
wanting to join together
with others
and focus on God
and actually praise Him
for who He is
and thank Him
for what He does
in our lives,
in our church,
is worship,
corporate worship.
Is it a priority to you?
By your attendance,
by your attention?
What about private worship?
Do you spend time
with the Lord?
Maybe just quiet time
there at home somewhere,
riding down the road,
maybe listening
to some Christian music.
You really get into
praising God.
Do you ever worship God
in such a way
here at church
or privately,
at home,
out somewhere,
however you like to do it,
and you're just in awe
of who God is,
His greatness,
His goodness,
His sovereignty,
His power,
His personal presence
and some details
in your life.
Real worship will be
about God.
It'll be God-focused.
Real worship won't be
music-focused,
it won't be preaching-focused,
it won't be person-focused.
Real worship
is always all about God.
Focusing our praise,
our love,
our thanks,
whatever it is,
to Him.
Because we realize
who He is,
what He has done
and is doing.
Does making worship
a greater priority
need to be
a part of your personal
spiritual wellness plan?
I'm talking about
your personal private worship,
your corporate
church family worship,
maybe even your own
family worship
in your house,
you and your spouse
and your children.
That needs to be
an important part
of our lives
as Christians.
Well,
if we're going to be
spiritually healthy,
personally,
and as a church,
we've got to make much
of worshiping God
along with learning
and loving.
But I want us to look
at one more thing,
the priority of evangelizing.
Look at verse 47.
And the Lord added
to their number
day by day
those who were being saved.
The priority of evangelism
is different
from the others.
In one way,
we can think
the people did nothing
in this passage.
In one way,
when you read that,
you can think
the growth of the early church,
the Lord added,
God was saving people,
that it was an overflow
of everything else
the church was doing.
It was an overflow
of their learning
and loving
and worshiping.
That certainly is implied
by the way
it's expressed
in verse 47.
But we also see
in other parts of Acts
that nearly everything
that the church was doing,
nearly everything
these Christians were doing,
it had an evangelistic
emphasis to it.
They were living
like Christians
and they were talking
about what God
had done in their life.
They were sharing
the gospel.
That's what Jesus
told us to do.
That great commission
that you're familiar with
in Matthew 28,
one way to think
about that is,
Jesus said,
as you go,
make disciples.
As you go,
make disciples.
Evangelism is not just
a responsibility
that we have,
it's a privilege.
Think about it,
God uses us,
who we are,
how we live.
He uses our words,
sharing the gospel.
He uses us
in his process
of changing people's lives.
Do you need to make
the priority of evangelism
a part of your
spiritual wellness plan?
If you're not involved,
you do.
And the way to start
is demonstrating
the difference
that Christ makes
in your life.
If our lives
are not credible
testimonies
to how God works
in someone's life
to save them,
we can't be,
we aren't witnesses.
Or we're poor witnesses,
put it that way.
We need to demonstrate
by the way that we live,
the way we treat people
around about us,
the way we do our job,
the way we go about
whatever it is
that we do.
We need to demonstrate
that we do what we do
for the glory of God.
We do other things.
We do what we do
to make a positive impact
in other people's lives.
We're going to make
evangelism a priority.
We've got to develop
relationships with people
who are not Christians.
Develop relationships,
meaningful relationships.
We need to learn
to share our testimony,
how the Lord saved us,
the difference He makes
in our lives.
We need to learn
to actually explain
the gospel.
One way to make
evangelism a greater priority
is to pray for people
you know who are not Christians.
Pray for them.
Pray that they'll be
convicted of their sin.
They'll be open
to your witness.
Invite them to church.
Invite them to Sunday school.
Invite them to anything.
Just invite them
to be a part of your life.
Let me ask you.
Do you plan
to grow spiritually?
Do you plan,
do you desire
to become a more
faithful follower of Jesus,
a more Christ-like person
in this new year?
Are you seeking God's guidance
as to what you need to do
for that to happen?
Well, if you don't have
your own plan,
I want to encourage you
to develop a spiritual
wellness plan
that includes what we see
in the lives
of these early Christians.
Seek to be,
ask God to help you,
show you how
to be a worshiping,
evangelizing,
learning,
and loving Christian.
And together,
we need to be
seeking to be
this worshiping,
loving,
or worshiping,
evangelizing,
learning,
and loving family
of faith
that glorifies God
by the way we do this
and the people's lives
we impact this way.
I want to encourage you
to make
the same kind of commitment
we see in these people.
they were devoted
to this.
I want to encourage you
to devote yourself
to being a well Christian
or develop your own plan.
But right here,
just in the, what,
14th day of the new year,
let's plan personally.
Let's pray.
Let's put forth the effort
to grow spiritually
as a child of God
because that will
please God.
And if we're really
Christians,
that will please us.
And if we grow
as Christians,
we're going to
positively
affect and influence
people around us.
Both other Christians
will encourage them,
but also
unbelievers.
God will use us
to touch their lives
and we pray
change them
for all eternity.
Let's pray together.
Dear God,
show us right now
how we should respond
to you
and what you're saying
to us
about our own
spiritual wellness.
Father,
give us the desire
to be more like Jesus,
which is what we're
talking about.
Give us the desire,
dear God,
to make you
knowing and doing
your will
our priority.
Father,
show us how we should
respond.
Help us to make
that kind of commitment.
Father,
for some people
in this room,
what they need to do
is to admit
they are not believers,
repent of their sin,
change their mind
about it,
turn from the way
they're living.
Help them,
dear God,
to do that
and to put their
trust in Jesus
and really
understand
and depend upon
that when Jesus
died on the cross,
He paid the penalty
for their sin.
He took their punishment.
Help that person,
man or woman,
boy or girl,
to call upon Jesus
right now
to save him
or her.
And let's just
stay in an attitude
of prayer,
all of us,
and respond to the Lord
as He speaks to us.
I'd be happy to pray
with you during this time
if you'd like.
I'll be here at the front
and just would consider it
an honor.
So let's just be still
and quiet
and listen to the Lord
and obey Him.
Amen.