WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Tonight, we are taking a break from the Ten Commandments 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.719 because we're halfway through and it's a holiday weekend. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:11.359 And we're gonna take a moment tonight to look at Acts chapter two 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.359 and think together about a very specific application, 00:00:14.359 --> 00:00:17.719 which is what Acts chapter two actually has to say to us 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:19.440 about our city groups. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.559 So in preaching class, when you go to seminary 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:24.879 and you take a preaching class, 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:28.719 you learn that there is a difference in a sermon 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:29.799 and a Bible study. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:33.679 And the difference between a sermon and a Bible study 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:35.119 is a very thin line. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:37.200 It's a very fuzzy border. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.200 And it's hard to say. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:40.960 It's almost one of those things where you know it, 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:43.560 you know it when you see it, but it's hard to capture it. 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:46.439 Where's the border between a sermon and a Bible study? 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:49.000 It's hard to say. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:50.480 It's an art more than a science. 00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:53.320 Tonight, we are definitely on the border 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:54.920 between a sermon and a Bible study. 00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:57.679 So we're taking a moment to look at this 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:00.079 and to do a Bible study that will hopefully 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:01.079 roll into a sermon. 00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:04.120 It is a sermon, but you can decide it then, I guess. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.519 This is a really classic text that we read. 00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:12.319 It is one of the most important texts in the book of Acts 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:14.680 because it gives you a summary of what the early church 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:17.280 was up to at the very earliest moment. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.079 So the first sermon has just been preached. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:23.359 The first people after Jesus's resurrection 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:25.120 have just come to faith. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.439 And as soon as you read Acts 2, 42 to 47, 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:31.480 you're being told what the very first church got up to 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:33.840 at the very beginning of church history. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.600 So it's really important for that reason. 00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:37.680 What does the body of Christ do 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.680 as soon as the spirit comes down at Pentecost 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:41.520 and fills them up? 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:42.920 What's the very first thing they do? 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:43.840 And this is it. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:45.960 We just read about it. 00:01:45.960 --> 00:01:47.719 So the question before us tonight is 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:52.240 what does a spirit-filled body of Christ look like? 00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:53.080 What do we do? 00:01:53.080 --> 00:01:53.920 What do we look like? 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:56.640 How do we learn it from this passage? 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:01.640 You can look at what we're about to see in Acts 2, 40 to 47 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:06.079 and read church history and look at the seasons 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.400 in church history where revivals have taken place, 00:02:09.400 --> 00:02:11.599 where God has particularly come in 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.280 in certain places at certain times 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:16.000 after a period of stillness 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.400 and intensified the work of the Holy Spirit in a community. 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.759 And typically what you'll find is that the church 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:25.639 in that community returned to pretty much 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:29.519 exactly the model we read here in Acts 2, 42 to 47. 00:02:29.519 --> 00:02:31.000 So this is a spirit-filled church, 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:33.959 a revival-centered church that we read about. 00:02:33.959 --> 00:02:35.599 It's the very first church. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:38.599 And what we're trying to do tonight is ask, 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.680 what does this tell us particularly about one aspect? 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:45.439 So all of our application will be on one aspect 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:48.759 of what we see here and that's really just small groups 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:50.639 because we do find those right here in the passage. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:51.599 Why do we do them? 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:52.719 What do they exist for? 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.560 We call them city groups for a very particular reason. 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:57.799 So we're gonna think about that, but to get there, 00:02:57.799 --> 00:03:01.120 we have to ask first, we have to see first 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:04.639 that Peter here tells us about a crooked generation. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:07.519 So he says, beware and save yourself 00:03:07.519 --> 00:03:09.959 from the crooked generation, that's the first thing. 00:03:09.959 --> 00:03:13.599 And then secondly, that we are a counterculture. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.159 That's the second thing he tells us. 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.199 And then finally we can think what that means 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.639 for city groups here in our city. 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.519 Okay, so let's do that first. 00:03:22.519 --> 00:03:25.719 You can look down at verse 40 and 41 and see. 00:03:26.679 --> 00:03:28.919 One of the first things Peter does is he says 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.799 in our passage, the very last thing he does in a sermon, 00:03:31.799 --> 00:03:33.119 it says, well, in many other words, 00:03:33.119 --> 00:03:35.599 Peter bears witness and continues to exhort 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.879 the people in Jerusalem saying, 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:42.000 save yourselves from this crooked generation. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.439 Now, why does Peter conclude his great sermon 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:49.239 by saying, now all of you need to save yourself 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:53.080 from this crooked generation that's all around you. 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:55.680 What does he talk like this? 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.320 This word generation here in the Greek text 00:03:59.320 --> 00:04:04.320 is a word that means something very similar to culture. 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:06.640 So he says something like save yourself 00:04:06.640 --> 00:04:09.680 from this crooked culture, this crooked generation. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:14.680 Now, we talk about generations and cultures simultaneously 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:16.759 when we say the word generation. 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:19.040 So when we talk about generation, 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:24.040 we think about baby boomers and Gen X and Gen Y, 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:28.920 AKA millennials, that's what I'm a part of. 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:30.520 I'm an elder millennial. 00:04:30.520 --> 00:04:34.520 And then Gen Z, and I don't know if you know, 00:04:34.520 --> 00:04:38.320 but the newest generation that's alive today 00:04:38.320 --> 00:04:43.320 is anybody born from 2012 to 2024 is part of Gen Alpha. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:45.840 So we've gone from Gen Z, which ended in 2012, 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:50.239 1996 to 2012, and now Gen Alpha back to the top of the alphabet, 00:04:50.239 --> 00:04:53.719 the Greek alphabet, oh, Gen Alpha, that's where we are now. 00:04:53.719 --> 00:04:57.119 Every single generation is also a culture. 00:04:58.479 --> 00:04:59.639 Generations have cultures, 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:01.599 and you could think about your own generation, 00:05:01.599 --> 00:05:03.839 whether you're a baby boomer or Gen X or Gen Y 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:05.839 or Gen Z or Gen Alpha, 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:09.199 and talk about the distinctive features of the culture 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:10.799 that define your generation. 00:05:10.799 --> 00:05:13.279 So Gen Alpha, for instance, 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:16.519 will be the first generation in human history 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:19.559 that is holistically born within the domain 00:05:19.559 --> 00:05:21.399 of what's called the technium, 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:23.599 meaning a world that's completely immersed 00:05:23.599 --> 00:05:25.119 into the digital age. 00:05:25.119 --> 00:05:27.199 They'll be the first ones, 2012 and on. 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:29.639 What will that mean? 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:31.959 Well, it's a particular culture, definitively. 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:34.639 We could talk about that type of culture for days and days, 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:36.919 and we could talk about other types of cultures, 00:05:36.919 --> 00:05:39.439 and that means that in every generation, every age, 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:41.359 in every particular place, 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:43.720 there is a generation or a culture 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:45.199 that happens all around us, 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.280 and that means that there are distinct aspects 00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:51.720 of language, assumptions, institutions, icons, 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:54.280 codes of ethics, how you define celebrity, 00:05:54.280 --> 00:05:56.639 how you define the moral order all around you, 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:01.000 all of those things are heavily, heavily weighted by culture, 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.560 and by the intermixing of distinct cultures. 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:08.160 Now here in Acts chapter two, this is the generation. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.720 Why does he say, beware, save yourself 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:15.600 from this wicked, crooked culture, generation? 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:18.040 Well, for one, this is the culture in Jerusalem 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:22.360 that had put Christ on the cross 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:26.760 and had rejected in large cell the Messiah afterwards, 00:06:26.760 --> 00:06:28.840 all sorts of people, and now Gentiles and Jews, 00:06:28.840 --> 00:06:31.520 people from every nation are standing there 00:06:31.520 --> 00:06:33.440 in front of Peter, and he's saying, 00:06:33.440 --> 00:06:35.840 don't do what the culture around you has done. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:38.560 In other words, what he's saying is that 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:40.239 if you listen to the sermon, 00:06:40.239 --> 00:06:43.839 I've just preached the sermon about Jesus, 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:45.879 and he's risen from the dead, 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:49.679 and we all, he said in Acts chapter two just before this, 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:53.559 even if you weren't in the city, 00:06:53.559 --> 00:06:56.159 he looks out at hundreds of people groups 00:06:56.159 --> 00:06:57.879 all around him in Jerusalem and says, 00:06:57.879 --> 00:06:59.919 even if you were not here, 00:06:59.919 --> 00:07:02.359 not very many days ago when Jesus was crucified, 00:07:02.359 --> 00:07:04.479 you put him on the cross. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.879 He says, you all, he uses the y'all, the plural you, 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.200 and he says, all of you, every single one of you, 00:07:09.200 --> 00:07:12.480 you put him on the cross, you're all part of it. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:16.200 He said, sin cuts through every single human heart, 00:07:16.200 --> 00:07:19.800 and we're all part of it, and he said, but save yourself. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:24.200 Reject it, reject this culture, this generation 00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:26.200 that you've been a part of instead, come. 00:07:26.200 --> 00:07:29.600 And the very next thing he says is, come and be baptized. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:31.439 And it said that many, many, many of them 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:33.439 were coming by the thousands at the time, 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.879 and being baptized, and he said, you know what that means? 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:39.839 It means that as soon as you believe in Jesus Christ 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:44.839 and you're baptized, you are initiated into a counterculture, 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:46.639 a culture that stands against the culture, 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:48.639 a culture that both looks out at the culture 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:51.639 and says there's lots of good things about my culture, 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:54.240 but there's also a lot of corrupt things too. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:56.199 And you immediately become a community 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:59.839 that's both in the world, in the world, but not of it, 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:01.199 your counterculture. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.800 That's what Jesus talks about in John 17. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:07.479 And so as soon as the spirit and the truth 00:08:07.479 --> 00:08:11.479 come into your life, you're initiated into a new community. 00:08:11.479 --> 00:08:13.000 And that's what we're reading about right here. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:15.800 What is this new community, this counterculture, 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:20.000 this spiritual family that gets birthed? 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.599 And every single week, we talk about, 00:08:24.599 --> 00:08:27.680 at least twice a month, we talk about something here 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:28.879 at St. C's called city groups. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:30.000 Now if you're visiting tonight, 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.200 this is in-house discussion, but we're happy you're here for it. 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:37.600 We have city groups and city groups are the fact 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.399 that we've separated the entire city into communities, 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.399 into sections, into parishes, that's the old word. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:47.799 And every week, even if city groups not on, 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:51.200 we have the idea that we go out and we live as the organic 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:55.000 church out in different parts of the city, in ministry, 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.200 for the Lord in whatever little place 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:00.200 that the Lord has put us out in our city. 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:01.600 And that means that if you come here, 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:03.200 and this is your spiritual home, 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:05.200 this institutional church, St. Columbus, 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.000 and then you go out into the city, whether you're here 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.640 or whether you're out there, you are part 00:09:11.640 --> 00:09:15.640 of a living counterculture, called, 00:09:15.640 --> 00:09:18.600 called to be a living counterculture 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:21.000 in the midst of a crooked generation. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:22.500 And they're always crooked. 00:09:23.400 --> 00:09:24.900 You're called to be a counterculture, 00:09:24.900 --> 00:09:25.840 to be a living counterculture. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.139 And that's the basic idea of the city group. 00:09:28.139 --> 00:09:31.399 The city group simply says that we exist, 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:33.300 we exist to not just worship here, 00:09:33.300 --> 00:09:35.740 but to go out into the city and to exist 00:09:35.740 --> 00:09:39.000 in every single pocket of the city as a living church, 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:41.899 a living city of God, salt and light, a city on a hill, 00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:43.840 a counterculture, wherever we might be, 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.040 whatever tiny little community God's put you in. 00:09:47.040 --> 00:09:47.800 That's the first thing. 00:09:47.800 --> 00:09:49.399 The second thing is, okay, 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:52.800 how does this counterculture, the church work? 00:09:52.800 --> 00:09:55.600 How does it exercise this counterculture? 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:57.200 How does it do it? 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.700 Well, that's what verses 42 to 47 are. 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:03.340 Now, here's where the very Bible study S dimension comes in. 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:05.940 I'm just gonna run through and list 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:10.279 all the different things I can find in verses 42 to 47 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:12.700 that the counterculture of the church does, 00:10:12.700 --> 00:10:13.700 anything that it does. 00:10:13.700 --> 00:10:15.399 And this is what we learn. 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:19.240 Verse 42 tells us that the church teaches and trains 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:20.100 and educates. 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:22.940 Verse 46, that the church comes together, 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:25.000 Christians come together constantly, 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:26.200 even daily. 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:30.700 Verse 42b, 44a, that there are relationships. 00:10:30.700 --> 00:10:34.399 And those relationships are of mutual support and fellowship. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:36.539 And so that word fellowship in 42 00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:38.139 is the Greek word koinonia, 00:10:38.139 --> 00:10:41.100 that that's at the heartbeat of the counterculture. 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:43.399 There's a family, a fellowship, a faith 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:45.799 that he calls the koinonia, the fellowship. 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:48.139 Verse 46b, he says that they're meeting 00:10:48.139 --> 00:10:50.940 in house to house and in large groups. 00:10:50.940 --> 00:10:51.799 They had small groups. 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:53.240 They were meeting in each other's homes, 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.100 breaking bread together, eating meals together, 00:10:56.100 --> 00:10:57.299 feasting together. 00:10:57.299 --> 00:11:00.000 Verse 46a, they got together as a large group 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.039 attending the temple, like a church service together 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:03.899 at the very beginning. 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:07.500 This is an early form of gathered congregational worship. 00:11:07.500 --> 00:11:11.200 Verse 42, verse 46, they practiced the Lord's Supper. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:11.899 How do we know that? 00:11:11.899 --> 00:11:13.500 It said because they committed themselves 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:16.000 to the breaking of bread. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:17.500 And that definite article there means 00:11:17.500 --> 00:11:21.000 the Lord's Supper, the sacraments. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:24.700 Verse 42d, there were tons of prayer, 00:11:24.700 --> 00:11:26.899 lots and lots of prayer, group prayer, 00:11:26.899 --> 00:11:29.100 small group prayer, large group prayer, 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:31.539 prayers for the city and all way, ships and form. 00:11:31.539 --> 00:11:35.039 Verse 45, a radical commitment to mercy 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:36.639 and stewardship of resources. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:38.340 They were selling the things they had 00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:39.840 and sharing with one another. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.240 The boundaries were blurred on their resources 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.600 inside the family, inside the counterculture of the people. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.940 Verse 46 and 47 teaches that they have 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:50.539 a general spirit of joy. 00:11:50.539 --> 00:11:51.899 They were happy people. 00:11:51.899 --> 00:11:54.639 Joy permeated their midst. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.599 They were evangelistically effective. 00:11:57.599 --> 00:12:00.399 Verse 47, people were very attracted. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:03.500 People on the outside looked at the joy of the community 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:05.099 and the counterculture out in the city 00:12:05.099 --> 00:12:06.539 and they wanted to be a part of it. 00:12:06.539 --> 00:12:08.099 They were evangelistically effective. 00:12:08.099 --> 00:12:11.339 Verse 47, conversion then was always 00:12:11.339 --> 00:12:14.899 unto the community, never isolated. 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:17.240 Anytime they shared the gospel with somebody, 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:20.539 they tried to get that person attached to the community, 00:12:20.539 --> 00:12:21.940 the counterculture, the people of God. 00:12:21.940 --> 00:12:23.940 They brought them in, they incorporated them 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:25.200 into deep relationships. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:27.039 Okay, that's everything I could find. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:29.700 That's what the early church did. 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:30.539 That's what it looked like. 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:33.700 Now, I just wanna focus for a moment on two, 00:12:33.700 --> 00:12:35.440 just two of these things, 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:39.060 because this is the heart of why we do city groups. 00:12:39.060 --> 00:12:41.139 And at the very heart, we learn here 00:12:41.139 --> 00:12:43.460 that the counterculture of the church, 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:46.820 whether it's gathered or sent out into the city, 00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:51.820 has at its heart this work of fellowship, coinonea. 00:12:52.780 --> 00:12:54.720 And he says that, he says fellowship. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.960 And fellowship here is when you've experienced 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.020 the good news of the gospel, 00:13:01.020 --> 00:13:03.700 you become a member of that community, 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:05.500 part of the counterculture, 00:13:05.500 --> 00:13:08.740 and immediately you engage, you are, 00:13:08.740 --> 00:13:12.400 no matter, you are, you're part of the body of Christ. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:16.840 And so there's a call in that to deep, 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:20.559 abiding Christian friendship. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:23.159 That's the fellowship that's being talked about here. 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:26.179 And we learned in verse 42 that it was intense. 00:13:26.179 --> 00:13:28.519 It says they devoted themselves. 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:30.980 There's a real intensity in that verb. 00:13:30.980 --> 00:13:33.240 To the apostle's teaching and to the coinonea, 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:36.019 the fellowship, the commitment to one another. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.079 And it says in verse 46, 00:13:39.079 --> 00:13:41.399 they didn't just see each other on Sundays, 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:44.600 that it was daily, that they were in each other's homes, 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:46.639 house to house, day in and day out. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:49.240 That's exactly what we read in Acts 5.42, 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:52.360 that day in and day out, they went house to house. 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:54.439 They were amongst one another in their houses. 00:13:54.439 --> 00:13:57.819 This was real living, abiding Christian friendship. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.240 And it was economic and spiritual. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.600 And so anybody that had any need, it was covered. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:07.439 The Christian friendship went so far, they said, 00:14:07.439 --> 00:14:09.480 you know, Jesus has done so much for me. 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:10.840 I'm willing to give up my time 00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:12.639 and my talents and my resources and my treasures 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:14.399 for everybody else in this community. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:15.720 And so nobody had any needs. 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:17.440 It was economic and it was spiritual. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:19.600 Verse 44, they feasted together. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:22.080 They broke bread in each other's homes. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:23.600 They sacramended together. 00:14:24.680 --> 00:14:27.320 In verse 46, they worshiped together 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.160 in small group settings and they evangelized 00:14:30.160 --> 00:14:31.420 as a community. 00:14:31.420 --> 00:14:34.440 So they went out and shared the gospel in communal ways, 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:36.440 in communal forms. 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:40.840 Acts 20, 20, Paul says as he is leaving 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:42.600 the Ephesian elders for the last time, 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.460 he thinks he's going to die in Jerusalem on his way back. 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:47.520 And he says, I want you to remember that. 00:14:47.520 --> 00:14:51.880 I went and taught regularly, daily, house to house. 00:14:51.880 --> 00:14:53.160 I went house to house. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:58.040 There was certainly a model in the early church 00:14:58.040 --> 00:15:02.160 in the earliest days for gathering as a large group 00:15:02.160 --> 00:15:04.120 in worship, as a corporate body, 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:07.179 and then going out into different areas of the city 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:09.560 and gathering in those spaces 00:15:09.560 --> 00:15:13.000 as smaller church communities, as small groups. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:15.120 We call them city groups. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:19.560 And they were incredibly sensitive to each other's needs, 00:15:19.560 --> 00:15:21.620 to the calling of Christian friendship, 00:15:21.620 --> 00:15:24.220 and to the call to evangelize together 00:15:24.220 --> 00:15:27.080 in whatever area of the city they were sent to. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.120 Now, here's the, that's the first one. 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:32.759 Second one and we'll move to the final thing. 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:36.399 Not only did they go forward in deep abiding fellowship, 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:38.319 Christian friendship, but we also learned 00:15:38.319 --> 00:15:40.120 that that dynamic ministry, 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:41.919 and I just want to focus on this for a moment, 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:45.279 was based in both words and deeds. 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:48.679 And so you can see that here in the passage 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:51.519 that it was a dynamic ministry 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:54.279 in that they were longing, praying, searching, 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:57.480 going out, looking to bring people into the household of faith. 00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:59.840 They were looking for conversions. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:01.480 They wanted to evangelize. 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:05.840 And they were so highly attractive 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:08.200 because of two big reasons. 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:11.519 Larry Hurtado, who was a scholar, 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.639 a New Testament scholar across the street at New College 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:15.340 that died a few years ago. 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:19.600 He wrote a book called The Destroyer of the Gods 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:20.759 before he died. 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:23.600 And in it, he has the basic question. 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:25.600 He records the movement of the gospel 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:26.720 in the first and second centuries 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:28.159 and asks one basic question. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:32.199 How in the world did this tiny little movement 00:16:32.199 --> 00:16:34.919 called the Way become the dominant faith 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:37.480 in the Roman Empire within three centuries? 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:38.399 That's the question he asked. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:41.159 And he says ultimately it was about two things. 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:45.679 One, they went forward and carried a unique message 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:47.399 that had never been heard before, 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:50.360 the message of the resurrection. 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:53.039 And he says, and secondly, the earliest Christians 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.199 in every generation were people of radical mercy. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:01.920 They showed so much mercy, good deeds before others. 00:17:01.920 --> 00:17:04.240 When the plagues hit the city and everybody left, 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:05.840 the Christians stayed. 00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:07.759 And many of them got sick and died. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:09.880 Everything bad that took place in the empire, 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:10.920 they stuck it out. 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:12.840 They got through it. 00:17:12.840 --> 00:17:15.700 The emperor Julian writes a letter a couple of centuries later 00:17:15.700 --> 00:17:17.480 to one of his pagan priests. 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:19.600 And he says, I'm so upset 00:17:19.600 --> 00:17:21.600 because everybody's becoming a Christian. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:25.080 And he says, how, oh priest, 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:28.199 oh bishop of the pagan religion of Rome, 00:17:28.199 --> 00:17:30.839 how do we win the people back? 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:32.519 And he tells them, he says, here's what you're going to do. 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:34.919 You're going to set up hostels and hospitals 00:17:34.919 --> 00:17:36.879 because that's what the Christians keep doing. 00:17:36.879 --> 00:17:39.639 And you're going to show mercy to their poor 00:17:39.639 --> 00:17:42.559 because they keep showing mercy to our poor. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.199 You see, he said they keep winning souls 00:17:44.199 --> 00:17:46.559 because they have this message of resurrection 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:48.799 and they're so kind, they're so merciful. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:50.799 They do so much good for the city. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:52.679 And you see in the very beginning right here 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:56.720 and next to 40 to 47, we learn that the fellowship, 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.160 the Christian friendship of the church 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:02.680 moved out into the city in the witness 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:06.480 of word and deed interdependently. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:08.000 That we carry a great message, 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:09.400 the message of the resurrection, 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:14.080 and we carry it through word accompanied by signs 00:18:14.080 --> 00:18:17.720 and wonders, deeds, good works, mercy. 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:19.000 That's how it worked at the very beginning. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.880 Now, we didn't go through every single one of these, 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:23.280 but let me just list for you. 00:18:23.280 --> 00:18:26.560 If we were to spend more time and go through, 00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:30.640 there are about five vital signs of a healthy church 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.080 that I think you can take away from this. 00:18:33.080 --> 00:18:34.520 And I'll just list them for you. 00:18:34.520 --> 00:18:37.640 They tell us that a healthy church ministers 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.200 through worship in the Holy Spirit, 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:42.000 joyous, spirit-filled worship. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:42.840 That's the first one. 00:18:42.840 --> 00:18:46.160 The second one we learn here is that a healthy church 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:48.480 has a ministry of theological depth, 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:52.200 learning the truth, being devoted to the apostles' teaching. 00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:55.799 So a ministry of teaching and preaching, things like that. 00:18:55.799 --> 00:18:58.960 The third thing we're told here is that a healthy church 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.360 has a ministry of loving fellowship 00:19:01.360 --> 00:19:03.759 that's based in Christian friendship, 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:05.400 where people really do care about one another. 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:06.640 They love one another deeply. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:11.559 Koinonia, and then finally, a witness by word 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:13.240 and a witness by deed. 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:16.039 These are the five great ministries of the early church 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:17.400 that we see right here at the very beginning. 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.960 Now, let's apply, finally, city groups. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.519 We're trying to cast some vision tonight 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:27.280 for our city groups, why we do them, why we have them. 00:19:27.280 --> 00:19:29.120 We've already seen why we do them, 00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:31.560 but how best can we do them? 00:19:31.560 --> 00:19:33.280 That's really the question. 00:19:33.280 --> 00:19:38.280 And we read in Acts 542 that in the early church 00:19:38.280 --> 00:19:41.040 the Christians were going daily house to house. 00:19:41.040 --> 00:19:44.560 They were deep in communion with one another. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:49.159 In other words, they had smaller subset communities 00:19:49.159 --> 00:19:50.879 set throughout all the city. 00:19:50.879 --> 00:19:52.720 There's moments in the book of Acts 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:57.240 where there may have been as many as 15,000 new converts 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:00.200 to Christianity at one time, 15,000. 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.720 And how do you worship? 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.079 They didn't do the mega church. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:07.480 They instead were worshiping in small communities 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:09.759 and then breaking out into even smaller communities 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:11.240 all across the city. 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:12.079 That's how they do it. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.279 And so that's the exact model that we try to take up 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:16.240 here at St. Columbus. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:18.399 And at the heart of that ministry 00:20:18.399 --> 00:20:20.839 is the fellowship, Coenonia. 00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:22.960 So here's the first thing, the first thing to say. 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:26.639 Our city groups, we long, we long here 00:20:26.639 --> 00:20:31.240 that St. C's city groups would be fundamentally 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:32.720 about Christian friendship, 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:38.200 about deep abiding relationships 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:40.559 with dear Christian friends, 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:42.599 that we would grow together in Christian friendship 00:20:42.599 --> 00:20:46.000 over the course of the periods of time we're together 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:49.759 so that we can help one another 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:51.599 when we close our eyes for the last time 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:54.839 in the hospital bed, go home to be with King Jesus. 00:20:55.679 --> 00:20:58.119 You need Christian friendship in your life. 00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:00.000 You need worship and you need to go out into the city 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:01.480 and have dear Christian friends 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:02.959 so that you can walk alongside 00:21:02.959 --> 00:21:06.439 and they will help you make it all the way to the very end. 00:21:06.439 --> 00:21:08.559 And that's the fundamental heartbeat, the Coenonia, 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.480 the fellowship of the city group, 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:12.839 that we go out into the city 00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:15.400 and that's what we exist for, to help one another, 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:18.200 encourage one another in deep Christian friendships. 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:20.480 They're for cultivating fellowship. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:22.680 Now, that's the baseline, 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:25.759 but let me now give you something. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:30.759 Derrick in 2014 made a document about the difference 00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:36.720 in a Bible study home group in a city group. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:40.440 And it's right out of Acts chapter two, 42 to 47, 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:42.799 in Acts chapter five, in Acts chapter 20. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:43.960 And here's the difference. 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:44.960 And just listen to this, 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:47.600 this is the vision we have for the city group 00:21:47.600 --> 00:21:51.240 that Derrick cast from this passage a long, well, 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:52.720 a while ago. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.320 And here it is, a house group. 00:21:55.320 --> 00:21:58.720 On the one hand, a house group tends to be a weekly meeting. 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:02.519 People talk about the house group night, 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:04.080 the night that you meet for it. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.360 It's the evening in which you do a Bible study, 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:11.119 a small group together in which you attend. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:14.000 Now, that's a baseline, that's a very good thing. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:16.079 But a city group is not to be thought of 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.399 as a meeting but a movement. 00:22:18.399 --> 00:22:19.319 We long for city groups, 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:22.240 not to just be a meeting but a movement, a movement. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:23.719 In other words, a gospel community 00:22:23.719 --> 00:22:25.159 that's about a shared life, 00:22:25.159 --> 00:22:28.599 real deep abiding networks of Christian friendship. 00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:32.519 A community of people that are actually doing life together 00:22:32.519 --> 00:22:34.319 beyond just the weekly meeting. 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:36.079 That's the first thing. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.279 House groups are typically centered 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:41.639 around just the time of the Bible study. 00:22:41.639 --> 00:22:43.439 Now, in our city groups, we have Bible studies 00:22:43.439 --> 00:22:44.919 and Bible studies are baseline. 00:22:44.919 --> 00:22:46.879 They're so good, so important. 00:22:46.879 --> 00:22:50.759 The Bible is central to the life of a gospel community. 00:22:51.879 --> 00:22:54.199 But we want it to be a shared life 00:22:54.199 --> 00:22:55.879 where the Bible isn't just read on the one night 00:22:55.879 --> 00:22:57.639 and looked at together on the one night, 00:22:57.639 --> 00:23:01.119 but the real heartbeat of success in a city group 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:02.759 is when the people in that city group 00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:05.720 are organically breaking away 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:08.880 in even smaller groups and deciding, 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:10.000 well, we're gonna get together 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:11.839 and we're gonna pray and look at God's word together 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:14.440 on a different day beyond this 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:16.319 because we're trying to encourage one another. 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:17.960 We're just Christian friends. 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:20.400 We're just meeting at the cafe in the middle of the day 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:22.240 beyond the city group meeting. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:24.640 You see, it's no mere Bible study, but a shared life, 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:26.600 a living relationship. 00:23:26.600 --> 00:23:30.039 The third thing, house groups are often insular 00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:34.360 and focused exclusively on the mutual care 00:23:34.359 --> 00:23:35.639 of their own members. 00:23:37.439 --> 00:23:38.839 That's very important, that's the baseline. 00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:40.919 Pastoral care of the members of every city group 00:23:40.919 --> 00:23:41.759 is so important. 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:44.679 We want that, we desire that, but a city group. 00:23:44.679 --> 00:23:47.319 A city group is a community of faith 00:23:47.319 --> 00:23:49.599 that doesn't just care about the needs of the members 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:52.719 but longs together to move outward 00:23:52.719 --> 00:23:54.699 into the community God's placed them 00:23:54.699 --> 00:23:56.839 for the sake of evangelism. 00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:58.399 So it's a community that's trying to go outward 00:23:58.399 --> 00:24:00.079 and take the gospel further 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.879 than just the insular community that's gathered forth. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:07.080 And finally, house groups are normally managed centrally 00:24:07.080 --> 00:24:08.880 by the church leadership. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.040 The leaders are often doing a lot of the organizing 00:24:13.040 --> 00:24:14.840 and stirring things along. 00:24:14.840 --> 00:24:17.040 But in a city group that's a movement, 00:24:17.040 --> 00:24:21.160 the gospel communities are given a mandate 00:24:21.160 --> 00:24:24.720 to exist and reproduce organically. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:28.320 And so we gathered our leaders a couple of weeks ago 00:24:28.320 --> 00:24:30.200 and we talked about this and we said, 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:31.880 when city groups are at their best, 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:33.400 when city groups are healthy, 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:36.520 it's when people like me and Derek 00:24:36.520 --> 00:24:38.640 have nothing to do with it. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:41.320 We just hear the great news about what's going on 00:24:41.320 --> 00:24:42.840 in this city group and that city group. 00:24:42.840 --> 00:24:45.320 We hear that these people are doing this ministry 00:24:45.320 --> 00:24:46.160 in that part of the city. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:48.160 We hear that this group is gathering here. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:49.440 We hear that this group decided 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:50.600 that they were gonna do something different 00:24:50.600 --> 00:24:53.120 and meet on a different night because it would fit better 00:24:53.120 --> 00:24:55.200 with the hopes and dreams of the evangelism 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:56.760 in their context. 00:24:56.760 --> 00:24:58.440 And we just hear about it. 00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:01.200 And that's when city groups move from a house 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:03.559 group meeting to a movement, a movement. 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:04.720 And that's the real goal and real hope. 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:08.039 So let me conclude now with this. 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:10.200 That means that in city groups going forward, 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:13.840 we're longing to match as close as we can 00:25:13.840 --> 00:25:16.840 to Acts chapter two, to getting a vision from that 00:25:16.840 --> 00:25:19.000 by good and necessary consequence. 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:20.120 And so that means in city groups, 00:25:20.120 --> 00:25:25.120 we want to have more focus on evangelism, 00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:27.880 an evangelism component where at every city group, 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:30.279 there's time where everybody, if you'd like, 00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:33.639 has a chance to talk about what's going on 00:25:33.639 --> 00:25:36.720 in your personal ministry, wherever you are in the city. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:40.839 Right, in other words, we want to really focus on 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:44.279 the fact that in every single one of our lives, 00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:49.279 God has put us somewhere into uni, into the workplace, 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.279 into this group of flats, into this hobby. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.039 And some of you have dear, dear friends 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.839 in the midst of the hobby that you've come to grow and love. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:01.359 Now, what the city group movement calls on, 00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:05.799 every one of us to do, is to define the area God has put us 00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:08.919 and say, that's where I'm gonna go be a minister. 00:26:08.919 --> 00:26:10.879 That's my area, be limited. 00:26:10.879 --> 00:26:13.599 Don't try to save the whole city, just save a small. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:16.240 Just go forward and word indeed towards a small 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:17.399 segment of the city. 00:26:17.399 --> 00:26:20.399 And then when you gather as a city group, talk about it. 00:26:20.399 --> 00:26:22.319 What's gone well, what's been hard? 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:24.359 Who are the people in your life you're praying for? 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:27.240 Invite the city group to pray with you alongside of them. 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:29.200 An evangelism component, that's really the focus 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.000 that we want to add to the heartbeat 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.079 of the city group meeting. 00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:35.359 All right, so here's some final takeaways, 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:36.240 and we'll be done. 00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:40.640 If you're not going to city group, 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:43.480 maybe tonight, think about it, consider it. 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:45.559 Consider it based on the simple fact that we see 00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:48.120 in the book of Acts, that there is a calling 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.079 towards small groups, towards house to house fellowship, 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:54.000 towards coin and nea that takes place 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.440 throughout the city that God's put us in. 00:26:56.440 --> 00:27:00.120 These are places, Lord willing, you can be known. 00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:01.400 You can be deeply known. 00:27:02.360 --> 00:27:07.320 Second, come to city group then with a mindset 00:27:07.320 --> 00:27:10.660 that God really has given you a ministry, 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:14.880 and that you're expectant in that ministry, 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:16.920 and that there's gonna be news, 00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:19.519 every single city group you come to, good news, 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:22.120 about what's taking place in somebody's ministry 00:27:22.120 --> 00:27:23.680 in the midst of your city group. 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:26.080 Come expectant for that, have a mindset. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:29.159 Take on a mindset for that, the mindset of the book of Acts. 00:27:30.919 --> 00:27:34.720 Think about developing intra-community discipleship 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:37.639 in even smaller groups than your city group. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:42.439 So one way to think about this is that 00:27:42.439 --> 00:27:43.480 you could define your community. 00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:46.599 You could say, some of you are, 00:27:46.599 --> 00:27:47.919 this is very in-house Saint Seas, 00:27:47.919 --> 00:27:49.759 but some of you are live in Leith, 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:52.679 but you go to city group in Stockbridge, for example. 00:27:52.679 --> 00:27:53.759 Where do you live? 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:54.799 What part of the city do you live in? 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:55.960 Do you live in Stockbridge, Newtown? 00:27:55.960 --> 00:27:58.200 Cumbly Bank, Inverleith, South Queensferry, 00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:01.920 Fairy Road, Trinity, Cannon Mills, Broughton, Leith, 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:03.600 Easter Road, Old Town, Newington, 00:28:03.600 --> 00:28:05.519 Marchman, Newtown, Meadows, The Grange. 00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:08.279 We could keep going, right? 00:28:08.279 --> 00:28:10.400 What subset? 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:11.880 The city group covers a wide area, 00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:13.640 but you live in a community. 00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:15.799 And so within your community, 00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:18.039 who are the other people that you could even gather with 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:19.640 in even tighter circles? 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:23.880 You could gather with just the few folks 00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:26.520 that live in your little section of the city 00:28:26.520 --> 00:28:28.720 and pray for your little section of the city. 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:31.600 And talk about ministry in your little section. 00:28:31.600 --> 00:28:33.040 And then you come to the city group 00:28:33.040 --> 00:28:35.360 and you talk with the bigger section of the city 00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:37.560 about all that might be going on. 00:28:37.560 --> 00:28:40.440 All right, so consider in your little section of the city, 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:43.080 developing even smaller groups. 00:28:43.080 --> 00:28:48.080 Lastly, one more is to consider then, 00:28:48.280 --> 00:28:50.680 for the sake of the city group in the ministry, 00:28:50.680 --> 00:28:53.080 committing to things like prayer walk, 00:28:53.079 --> 00:28:56.199 prayer walking, praying, praying for your area. 00:28:56.199 --> 00:28:57.240 But a prayer walk is a great way 00:28:57.240 --> 00:28:59.519 because on a prayer walk, you can go out 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:01.119 and you can say, this is the area 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:05.439 that I've seen God has put me, this building maybe, 00:29:05.439 --> 00:29:08.480 this whole neighborhood, and you can walk it and pray 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:11.039 and surround it in prayer and lift it up to the Lord. 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:12.960 And it will help you, it will help grow you 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:14.919 into the ministry mindset of the city group, 00:29:14.919 --> 00:29:17.119 the city vision, the movement that we seek. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:23.879 Now, the last word is this. 00:29:23.879 --> 00:29:27.399 When I look at this, when I look at this, I say, I don't know. 00:29:27.399 --> 00:29:28.639 I don't know if I have time, 00:29:28.639 --> 00:29:33.000 I don't know if I can get that active prayer walks. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.799 I'm not sure about this yet. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:39.679 And I'm not sure who wrote this, 00:29:39.679 --> 00:29:43.079 but I have it across many of my notes in different occasions. 00:29:43.079 --> 00:29:46.119 And I'm not sure the original author of the quote. 00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:49.319 But one author writes this, he says, 00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:54.479 do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor. 00:29:54.479 --> 00:29:57.079 So he says, don't start with the question, 00:29:57.079 --> 00:29:58.399 do I really love my neighbor? 00:29:58.399 --> 00:30:03.079 Instead, just act as if you did. 00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:05.759 As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:08.839 When you are behaving as if you love someone, 00:30:08.839 --> 00:30:13.000 you will presently come to love that person. 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:14.959 And you say, you know, I don't know 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:17.720 if I've really thought about my workplace, 00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:19.720 my neighborhood, my section of the city, 00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:21.319 as my ministry outpost. 00:30:21.319 --> 00:30:25.200 And I don't know how much, we have mixed motives, 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:28.519 oh boy, do I have a heart for that? 00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:31.759 And sometimes, sometimes we're being told here, 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:34.720 the decision is just go love your neighbor 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:37.840 even when you don't feel like it. 00:30:37.840 --> 00:30:40.360 And you will presently come to love them. 00:30:40.360 --> 00:30:41.799 So wherever you live, wherever you work, 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:44.759 wherever God has called you, who is your neighbor? 00:30:44.759 --> 00:30:49.119 Everybody around you, anyone and God has put into your life. 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:53.559 And the command is to love them, to seek them out. 00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:55.359 Where will you get the power for this? 00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:01.440 Lean into city group because your city group community 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:04.720 will help, Christian friendship will help 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:08.119 give you lower case P power to do this. 00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:11.200 But even more than that, the power underneath the power 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:14.559 is to say tonight, is to see tonight. 00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:19.480 I can only go forth and love because he has first loved me. 00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:22.240 To see tonight that Jesus Christ 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:24.720 loved you to the uttermost, that Jesus Christ, 00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:30.720 Jesus Christ loved you when you were least lovely. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:32.559 You know, he loved you, he knows you to the bottom, 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:35.920 he knows everything about you, all the way to the bottom, 00:31:37.080 --> 00:31:40.440 to the secret sins in the misdeeds dark, 00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:43.160 and he loves you to the sky, he loves you right through it, 00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:46.640 right through the heart of the cross itself. 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:47.759 And that's where you get the power, 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:49.559 that's where you get the power to say, 00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:53.360 I wanna love my neighbor, I want to go forth 00:31:53.360 --> 00:31:55.160 and love because I've been loved. 00:31:56.080 --> 00:31:57.720 And just like this morning, if you were here, 00:31:57.720 --> 00:31:59.279 we said, where are we gonna get this power? 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:02.960 Only by every single day, stepping across the threshold 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:04.680 and contemplating the cross. 00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:07.600 Let's pray together. 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:10.519 Lord, we ask that you would bless our city groups 00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:13.240 and we ask that you would turn our city groups 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:14.919 into a movement. 00:32:14.919 --> 00:32:17.119 We give thanks that you've done that. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:20.279 We know of moments and times in our city groups 00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:22.919 where people have been stirred and come to faith, 00:32:22.919 --> 00:32:24.279 where evangelism has happened, 00:32:24.279 --> 00:32:27.759 where prayer groups have multiplied. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:29.039 You've done this work, Lord. 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:32.240 We're talking about it because you've already done it. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.559 And so we ask for more, we ask that in each of our hearts, 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:38.000 we would give us a vision to see that city groups 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:40.279 is a way of fulfilling the mission. 00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:43.240 So give us deep, abiding Christian friendship, Lord, 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:47.519 and a big heart to go out in word and deed ministry 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:48.839 in our little community. 00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:51.039 And we pray this in Christ's name, amen.