enjoyed the service so far. That was a new song for many of us that Jared just let us in, but I
think I'd heard it a couple times maybe on Christian radio, but I appreciate the atmosphere
that it helped set for our service, the remainder of it. He really is worth it all, isn't he?
All the getting up on Sunday morning, all the trying to not respond to one another in the flesh
how we want to, trying to be led by the Spirit. He is worth all of it. We are in our final installment
of our series on Christian community, the body of Christ, the family of God coming together
in fellowship, and let's look by way of review back at some of these lessons from the early church
that we have learned to be in community with one another. So I want to remind us before we dive into
it of this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the church is the church only when it exists for others.
God did not establish his mighty, powerful, Spirit-filled church on earth to be a social club.
We are not just to exist for ourselves and our own enjoyment. We are to exist for the glory of God,
for God's purposes, and he has made his purposes very, very plain. We are to be a missional body,
going back to the previous series that we finished a few weeks ago, being on mission for God to the
community around us and to one another. So the church is the church when it exists for others.
Acts chapter 2 and verse 42. Would you mind turning in the Word of God there with me? Acts chapter 2
and verse 42. We'll read it and then kind of recap what we have looked at the past few weeks.
When you've arrived there in your Bible, would you mind joining us in standing if you're able to,
if you're physically able, and we'll read this together out of Acts chapter 2
and verses 42 down through 47.
I'm reading this one from the New Living Translation. It should be similar to what you have
in front of you. Acts chapter 2 verses 42 through 47. Let's read it.
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship
and to sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper
and to prayer. That's kind of been the keynote verse there
for us as we've been looking, breaking down what exactly was this church like?
What exactly did they do?
What are the very practical ways that God moved in their community?
And then we get to see the results of that in verses 43 through 47.
A deep sense of awe came over them all and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.
Man, we want to see God work in miraculous ways, don't we?
Well, we've got to follow His recipe for that kind of success.
And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.
What an evidence of community.
They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.
They worshiped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper
and shared their meals with great joy and generosity,
all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.
And each day, the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
What a picture.
No wonder that movement lasted.
No wonder that still in 2024, there are thousands and thousands of churches scattered around this globe
still trying to follow what this movement started, what Jesus instituted.
We follow Jesus, don't we?
We've chosen the Jesus way.
And that's what we're looking at here in Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47.
So a couple of weeks ago, we looked at this truth.
We study truth together.
Kind of factor number one or ingredient number one in this recipe for how to have Christian community
is we must study truth together.
And our takeaway from that sermon was,
will I commit to grow together?
Grow together with my church community by studying truth together.
And as we launched our discipleship groups that are now a weekend,
we all kind of kicked them off last Sunday.
And Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, a couple different groups meeting.
And then Wednesday night, we had five different groups going on studying truth together last week,
as well as our Sunday school classes,
as well as right here in the morning service and the things that we've already had going.
Grow group that meets Sunday afternoon.
There's a lot of different ways that we've already been trying to study truth together.
And we're continuing to add to that.
We fellowship together.
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at this.
We fellowship together.
It's that word koinonia that we find in the Bible that means fellowship.
And we broke that down.
And our takeaway was, will I commit to partnering,
partnership with my church community in fellowship together?
Y'all please be seated.
I'm so sorry.
Sorry.
We're a little bit out of order.
Usually I read the Bible, I pray, and then you sit down.
I understand that.
I left the prayer part off because we're going to get to that in just a moment.
And yeah, sorry about that.
I just wanted to see what your all cardio levels are right now.
Kidding with you.
All right.
So partnering with our church community together.
Hey, I am amazed by the partnership that y'all just displayed by,
well, they're still standing, so I guess I'll still stand.
It's amazing.
Somebody had to take the lead and say, okay.
But fellowship together is a powerful, powerful force.
And y'all, that's something that we cannot manufacture.
You can't just create fellowship and see it happen.
It has to really be born out of hearts coming together for the purpose of tearing down walls,
learning more about each other, opening ourselves up.
There's a layer of intimacy there.
There's a layer of being willing to be hurt, being willing to be let down,
or maybe even letting down someone else.
But when we break down those walls, we can have Christian community by fellowshipping together.
And then last Sunday, we talked about food.
Talked about eating together.
It was a lot of fun.
And I can't tell you how many times later that week I had people from our church mentioning to me,
hey, we're eating together.
I just wanted to let you know at our D group on Wednesday night,
we ate together and went to lunch with a family in our church right after the morning service.
Said, you know, we talked about eating together.
We should probably eat together.
So it was great to talk about all the different instances in the Bible
where Jesus would eat together with his disciples or with other people that were Jesus followers
or even just in the community, publicans and sinners, the Bible calls them sometimes.
But he knew that that fellowship is created when you eat together or break bread together.
So the takeaway was, will I commit to unite with my church community by eating together?
We do that in homes, gathering together with friends outside of our morning services,
actually reaching across the aisle and saying, hey, would you like to come to dinner with me?
Hey, I'd like to get to know you better.
Hey, I'd like to become closer to you, my brother or sister in Christ.
We also do that at our D groups.
We have at least a snack.
Sometimes I feel like what we had in our group on Wednesday night was a full meal.
That was amazing.
People brought stuff.
The Clarks provided sandwiches.
It was awesome.
But we embrace that difficulty and that chore of providing food because it's worth it to eat together
and the unity that comes from that.
So today, the last one, we pray together.
In some ways, you could say we saved the best for last.
Back in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42,
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals and to,
what's that word?
Oh, y'all can do better than that.
What's that word?
Prayer.
That's right.
They devoted themselves to prayer.
So let's pray right now.
Our good, kind, loving God.
We're able to come to you in the name of Jesus and we're able to cry out to you to teach us because we need it, God.
We crave your truth.
We crave your teaching.
We crave your Holy Spirit's guidance.
Because without it, we wander off.
We go astray.
We are led by our own desires.
We're led by our own thinking, our own priorities.
And we always end up somewhere you don't want us to be.
And we find out that's somewhere we don't want to be either.
So God, pull us back.
Throughout the morning, throughout the afternoon, throughout the evening, even in the middle of the night when we're awakened by thoughts,
I pray that you would pull us back to your side, your presence in prayer.
Make us aware of you as we go throughout our day.
We see the fruit of it.
We know the promises that await us when we turn to you in prayer.
So God, individually and together as a church, make us a community of prayer.
In Jesus' name, amen.
I want to share this quote from you from Bible teacher John Bloom.
He said,
We don't pray enough because we don't really believe it will do much good.
Now, if I took a poll of the room, y'all would probably unanimously, I'm guessing, there might be a couple folks who would vote otherwise,
but more than likely, we would get a unanimous vote that says,
We believe prayer works.
We believe God answers prayer.
We believe that prayer can do a lot of good.
But unfortunately, you and I don't live as though we believe that.
Because if we did, then we would follow Paul's teaching that says,
Pray without ceasing.
But we cease, don't we?
For those of you who are wondering what ceasing means, it just means stop, okay?
It's okay, don't feel bad.
Nobody uses that word a lot anymore.
But pray without stopping.
We stop, don't we?
We hang up the phone, so to speak.
People are like, what does this mean?
It's the old kind of telephone, alright?
They had a receiver here and a receiver here.
Yeah, there you go.
Got it.
So yeah, we hang up the phone with God sometimes.
Frequently.
And oftentimes, we don't go to Him when we feel like things are okay.
We go to Him when there's trouble.
When there's problems.
When all of a sudden, we're made aware of our need for God.
It isn't that we suddenly needed God.
We needed Him the whole time, didn't we?
But sometimes, we become more aware, like flashing lights in front of us.
Hey, you can't handle this.
You need God.
Well, you needed Him five minutes ago, but you still need Him now.
Now you're just more aware of it.
So the truth is, you and I live so much of the time as though prayer doesn't really do that much good.
And even sometimes when we pray, doubt chokes that prayer.
We'll say the words.
Because somewhere in our brains, we believe that, yes, I do have faith that God is there.
I do have faith that God loves me.
I did give my life to Him.
I do believe I'm His child.
And so in my head, I know that I should pray, so I'm going to.
But is it really going to make a difference?
Is He really going to do what I need Him to do?
Thankfully, He never promises to do what you believe you need Him to do.
Thankfully, He promises to act for your good.
Thankfully, He promises to bring all things together for your good and for His glory.
So we have that promise.
So number one, prayer is the key ingredient.
When we're trying to live a life that's honoring to God,
when we're trying to have healthy community in our church,
healthy unity in our church,
getting together because we all believe in the same God,
in the same way of salvation,
there is no other name under heaven
whereby we can be saved
except the name of Jesus.
And if you and I believe that,
then we can have unity.
We can have community.
We can disagree on other things.
But if we all have chosen the Jesus way
and we are asking God to lead us another step down that path,
then you and I can come together in this community
and worship and follow Jesus together.
So the number one key ingredient to be able to do that is prayer.
You and I have to be prayed up.
We have to be protected by prayer.
We have to be guided by prayer.
We have to be led by prayer.
We have to be motivated by prayer.
We have to be tethered to prayer.
We have to be founded in prayer,
grounded in prayer,
surrounded by prayer.
So prayer is the key ingredient.
Let's look at a couple different ideas about prayer.
Luke emphasized the likely writer of the book of Acts,
although there have been some other theologians
that believe maybe somebody else wrote Acts,
maybe it was Paul,
maybe wrote part of it,
maybe somebody else contributed others.
We know that it was inspired by God
and provided and preserved in our word of God
for our benefit.
So the author of Acts emphasized
that this was a community of prayer.
They did not act by gut feelings or intuition,
but by Holy Spirit guidance,
actively submitting to the Lord's direction in their lives.
So prayer is the key ingredient.
Throughout the book of Acts,
throughout the book of Acts,
we see different kind of prayer.
We see both free and formal prayer.
Sometimes this was a gathering of prayer.
Sometimes it was formalized in a prayer,
like we see the Lord's Prayer.
We did a study on the Lord's Prayer a long time ago,
earlier in this year.
Feels like a long time ago.
It wasn't that long ago in actuality.
But the Lord's Prayer is this formal prayer
that is laid out in Scripture.
Is it wrong to pray the Lord's Prayer to God?
Of course not.
Jesus gave us those words as a model prayer
for how to pray,
a guideline for how to pray,
not selfishly, not self-serving,
but a prayer that's honoring to God.
So there are formal prayers.
There are also free prayers.
There are prayers that we can just,
when we don't know what to say,
God helps us.
The Bible even says sometimes
that when we don't know the words to say,
Jesus will step in
and take over and pray on our behalf.
Isn't it amazing to think
that Jesus is praying for you?
But that is a promise in the Word of God,
that Jesus is praying for you.
How many times have you asked somebody else
to pray for me?
Say, pray for me.
I'm going through something right now.
Anybody or am I the only one?
Anybody?
Yeah, right?
We ask for prayer.
Have you ever asked God for prayer?
God, would you pray for me?
Well, we know He is.
Jesus is actively praying or interceding,
interceding, just a kind of a fancy term
for stepping in and praying for someone
in a powerful way for a specific reason,
interceding on their behalf.
So there are free prayers
and there are formal prayers.
There are also public prayers
and private prayers.
There's an example of this
back in one of the parables
Jesus was talking about
how there was the Pharisee
standing there in the temple
in the full view of everyone
and He's giving this big flowery prayer
and He's wanting all the attention
to come on Him.
Now that's not the only way
to pray in public.
And if you're praying in public
to impress somebody else
with your grasp of the English language
or your grasp of the Bible or theology,
then you're not really praying,
you're just spouting off words.
And that's not doing anything.
It's not getting any higher than the ceiling,
you know, just kind of bouncing right there.
But then, by contrast,
there was the sinner
who didn't pray in public.
In that moment,
he didn't feel like he even could.
He got alone by himself
and quietly,
where no one could hear,
muttered the words,
God, be merciful to me,
a sinner.
Sometimes those are the moments
we need in private.
It's just, God,
I'm a mess.
I know I'm a mess.
Maybe my spouse has reminded me
that I'm a mess,
but I know I'm a mess, you know.
And you know most of all, God,
that I'm a mess
and yet you love me anyway
and I stand forgiven in your sight.
So thank you for forgiving me.
I'm claiming your mercy right now.
I'm claiming your grace right now.
I don't know what else to do.
Sometimes praying in public is okay.
Throughout the book of Acts
and even in the New Testament,
we see instances of public prayer.
Sometimes it's one person praying.
Sometimes it's many people praying at once.
But public and private prayer.
Public prayer should never be self-serving.
Should never be pointing all the attention to me.
It should always be pointing the attention to God.
And then there's personal and corporate prayer.
You could say individual and corporate prayer.
Sometimes you might be praying just by yourself.
Sometimes you might be praying together
as a body of believers.
Oftentimes in our church,
we are led by someone on stage
at the microphone praying.
And that's still corporate prayer.
It's corporate public prayer.
Corporate just means together.
We're doing it together.
So both personal, private, individual,
and also corporate, together,
joint, unified prayer.
I think there's something powerful
about a group of Christians
gathered together
and all praying
at the same time.
Now, this church
is not an advocate of speaking in tongues.
And sometimes,
if everybody's in the room
shouting different words
all together at the same time,
that's chaos.
And God is not a God of chaos.
He's not a God of disorder.
He's a God of order.
But regardless of your view
on some of these issues,
you must understand
that praying together
creates a bond of unity.
And it doesn't all have to be
one person praying at a time.
Sometimes it can be.
Because sometimes we want to all listen
to what that person is praying
on our behalf
or the behalf of our community together.
But sometimes,
we just need to lift our voices
quietly to God
at the same time
and pray to Him.
He's capable of hearing it all.
He's not going to get confused.
He's able to single out
and understand
and process and answer.
And He knows in advance
what's on our heart.
He knows in advance
what our prayers
are going to be about.
They prayed together.
They prayed corporately.
They prayed on their own.
And they prayed without ceasing.
The book of Acts,
this early church,
these early Christians
that were joined together
as God is launching the church,
getting prepared
to spread it around the whole globe,
and we are an individual
example of that today.
This church prayed in the temple.
This church prayed in homes.
This church prayed
as they walked along the road.
They prayed
as they encountered sick people.
And the Bible says
the prayer of faith
can heal the sick.
They prayed
before they preached sermons.
They prayed
while they heard sermons.
They prayed
before they heard sermons.
They prayed
after the preaching was over.
They prayed
while they were being persecuted.
They prayed
while the devil
was attacking.
They prayed
while they were being harmed.
Literally,
while their bodies
were physically being assaulted,
they lifted up prayers
to God.
They were a community
of prayer.
They prayed
for each other.
They prayed
before they ate their food
to give thanks.
They prayed
and they thanked Jesus
for forgiving
their sins.
They prayed
for their daily needs.
And they praised God
through songs
of prayer.
we could go on.
We could give
far more examples
of how this church
prayed.
You don't walk far
in the book of Acts
without stumbling
over the church
praying.
Can I talk to our members
and regular attenders
just for a moment?
If you're a guest with us,
don't feel unwanted.
I just want to talk
to this group
just for a second.
If you're unhappy,
with anything
about our church,
could it be traced back
to the fact
that we are not
as praying a church
as we could be?
Could it be
that we must be
more of a community
of prayer?
If you've got something
against another sister
or brother in Christ,
you say,
man,
I just wish
we were better
in this area.
I wish our church
was better in this area.
What if we took
that to God?
What if we fought
the battle
from our knees?
Just like the song
we sang earlier
said.
Martin Luther,
one of the great
fathers of our faith
said this.
Let me get back up there.
Prayer is a strong wall
and a fortress
of the church.
It is the godly
Christian's weapon.
Now,
why would you call
prayer a weapon?
You're trying to harm
somebody?
No.
But like it or not,
you and I,
as Jesus followers,
are in a spiritual
battle.
And if you don't
arm yourself
for that battle,
then you will suffer
needless,
not defeats,
because God
has already won
the ultimate battle.
He's already won
the war.
But you will take
shots,
you will take
hits
that you didn't
have to take
if you aren't
armed for the battle.
Earlier in the year,
we went through Ephesians
and we talked
for a Sunday
about the armor
of God
and putting on
the full armor
of God
and arming yourself
for that spiritual
battle.
Prayer
is first
and foremost
when you're
arming yourself
for the battle.
It is a strong
wall.
It's the fortress
of the church.
And if you need
a weapon
to fight back
your own flesh,
if you need
a weapon
to fight back
the attacks
of Satan,
if you need
a weapon
to fight back
those who seem
to want nothing
but your destruction,
prayer
is the godly
Christian's
weapon.
Now,
let's look at this.
Acts chapter 4
verses 23
through 32.
Would you turn over
two chapters
from Acts 2?
Two chapters
from Acts 2.
We're looking at
Acts chapter 4
verses 23
through 32.
Y'all,
we do not have time
to show you
all the texts,
all the Bible passages
from that list
of examples
of how the church
prayed.
There are so many,
like we said before,
you don't get very far
in Acts
before you encounter
the church praying.
So if we're looking
at the book of Acts
as a template
for how God
wanted this church
to be
and how he wants
our church to be,
then we've got
to model ourselves
after their community,
how did they
commit themselves
to prayer?
We see a huge
example of that
right here
in Acts chapter 4
and verse 23.
after they were released,
talking about
Peter and John,
they had been
arrested for
preaching the name
of Jesus
and then
because the
authorities feared
uprising from the people
because the message
was so popular
and spreading
so much,
this saving message
of Jesus,
they released them
and so after they
released,
Peter and John
went to their own
people and reported
everything the chief
priests and the elders
had said to them.
When they heard this,
they raised their voices
together to God.
What did they do?
They prayed.
First thing they did
was pray.
Master,
you are the one
who made the heaven,
the earth,
and the sea
and everything in them.
You said
through the Holy Spirit
by the mouth
of our father,
David,
your servant,
why do the Gentiles
rage and the people's
plot futile things?
Y'all,
do you realize
they went directly
to the scripture?
They prayed the scriptures
back to God.
What a powerful,
effective way
of praying.
The kings of the earth
take their stand
and the rulers
assemble together
against the Lord
and against his Messiah.
For in fact,
in this city,
both Herod
and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel
assembled together
against your holy servant,
Jesus,
whom you anointed
to do whatever
your hand
and your will
had predestined
to take place.
They acknowledged
God's sovereignty
over it all.
Said,
God,
you weren't surprised
by any of this.
We know that you
predestined for Jesus
to be killed.
We know you predestined
for us to be persecuted.
It was your will.
You allowed it to happen
for your greater purposes.
Verse 29.
You ready?
And now,
Lord,
consider their threats
and grant that your servants
may speak your word
with all boldness
while you stretch out
your hand for healing
and signs and wonders
are performed
through the name
of your holy servant,
Jesus.
You know what they
didn't pray for?
The destruction
of their enemies.
They prayed
for God's
mighty purposes
to be accomplished
on this earth.
They prayed
for God's word
to have favor.
They prayed
for people
to be turned
to the name
of Jesus.
That's what
they prayed for.
Verse 31.
And when they
had prayed,
the place
where they were
assembled
was shaken
and they were
all filled
with the Holy Spirit
and began
to speak
the word
of God
boldly
and the entire
group of those
who believed,
verse 32,
were of one heart
and one mind
and no one claimed
that any of his possessions
was his own.
They held everything
in common.
They were united
by prayer.
If you feel like
there's fracture
between you
and another brother
and sister in Christ,
prayer can heal it.
Uniting together,
not over petty squabbles.
Uniting together,
not because I disagree
in this area,
you see it this way,
I see it this way,
uniting together
by calling out
to God together
and saying,
God,
your will be done.
God,
your word
have its way
in this church
and in this community.
God,
turn people
to yourself
and use me
to do it.
That's
the Christian's
weapon.
We sang it
just a moment ago,
so when I fight,
I'll fight on my knees.
My hands lifted high
because the battle
belongs to you,
God.
But we don't do that,
do we?
We fight through emails.
We fight through letters.
We fight through social media posts.
We fight by private conversations
running down one another.
We fight through gossip.
We fight through anger.
We fight through bitterness.
We fight through resentment.
We fight sometimes physically.
But instead,
God is waiting
for us
to turn to him
and say,
I'm going to use the weapon
that he gave me to use.
I'm going to use prayer.
Because,
believe it or not,
God's a lot better
at fighting his battles
than you are.
God's a lot better
at fighting your battles
than you are.
So,
if we need God
to fight for us,
we fall to our knees
and we turn to him
in prayer.
And what does he promise?
Exodus 14, 14,
the Lord will fight for you.
You need only to be still.
You need to be still.
You need to be quiet
and let God fight for you.
Psalm 46, 10,
be still and know.
I almost believe
that carries the idea
of remember.
Be still and be aware.
Remember and know
that I'm God,
not you.
Not Sam Bunnell.
Not a deacon.
Not a trustee.
Not a Sunday school teacher.
There's no one
in this church
that is God.
He alone
is God.
So,
we have to be still
and let him fight
for us.
We're going to be done.
Y'all give me
two minutes.
Two minutes,
alright?
I don't want you
to miss this.
It's kind of
the wrap up,
the conclusion
to our whole series
here on community.
the results
of healthy community.
We've seen
the ingredients.
We had
eating together.
We had
studying truth together.
We had
fellowshipping together.
And we had
praying together.
The results,
we read it
at the end
of Acts chapter 2.
All
generosity,
joy,
and daily
salvations.
Those were the results
when you combine
those four ingredients
into healthy
community.
Billy Graham,
one of the greatest
preachers we've ever
seen in our day,
said this,
don't forget,
without fuel,
a fire grows cold.
Well,
of course,
right?
If you don't add fuel
to a fire,
it's going to die.
And without the fuel
of the Bible,
prayer,
and Christian fellowship,
our faith
grows cold.
Church,
can I suggest
something to you?
If you feel
like your faith
might be growing cold,
it could be
because you're
missing the Bible,
prayer,
or Christian fellowship.
Or if you're not sure
that your faith
is growing cold,
but you're missing
one of those areas
in your life,
I challenge you,
see how much hotter
your faith could burn
for God
if you prioritize
the Bible,
prayer,
and Christian fellowship.
All.
Verse 43,
back in Acts chapter 2
in verse 43,
everyone was filled
with awe,
many wonders
and signs
were being performed
through the apostles.
This was truly awesome.
We call all kinds
of things awesome.
We might say,
you know,
the Cowboys looked awesome
when they played.
I hope that happens
again today.
I'm not sure
if it will.
We'll see.
They inevitably
let you down
by the end of the season.
But what's truly awesome,
we throw that word
around so much,
right?
But what's truly awesome
is our God.
What's truly awesome
is a community
of believers
from all different
backgrounds
and walks of life
and belief systems
and races
and financial situations
and all of this,
all these differences,
political opinions,
et cetera,
just coming together
and praying together
and uniting
around the study
of the word of God
and crying out to God
in prayer
and fellowshipping together.
That is awesome.
And they were in awe
when they saw
how God moved.
And then generosity.
Right there
throughout the rest
of chapter two,
we see all these instances
where they were generous
to one another.
They didn't hold anything back.
They weren't stingy.
They shared whatever they had
because that is how
the Spirit of God
led them.
So there was great awe.
There was generosity.
And then there was joy.
Now we have joy.
She works in the office
Monday through Thursday.
And she brings great joy
to all of us.
But y'all,
joy was permeating
throughout this assembly.
Verses 46 and 47.
Every day they devoted themselves
to meeting together
in the temple,
broke bread from house to house.
They ate their food
with joyful and sincere hearts.
They enjoyed the favor
of all the people.
This was a community
that was happy
to be around each other.
Do you think
that for the first time
in human history
these people agreed
on every single little issue
in their life?
Of course not.
They were people
just like the rest of us.
They would have
their petty squabbles
but they set them aside
because they were
a community committed
to being a community.
So there was joy.
And then there was
daily salvations.
Y'all,
we've been having
salvations in our church.
Was it daily
like the book of Acts?
No.
But God's still been
giving us salvations
in our church.
We have one this week.
She's going to come forward
at the end of the service
and introduce herself to you
as a candidate for baptism
in a few weeks.
But listen y'all,
God is moving in our church.
We're seeing people saved.
We're seeing people baptized.
We're seeing people publicly
choose the Jesus way.
That's the fruit
of community.
That's the fruit
of the Holy Spirit.
And the more
we commit ourselves
to prayer,
to fellowship,
and to the study
of the Word of God,
we'll see more
of that fruit.
I wanted to show you this.
Anybody recognize that?
The old one there
was have it your way
for Burger King
and now it's you rule.
They're both kind of
saying the same thing,
aren't they?
You're in charge.
You do what you think
is best for you.
Can I remind you
that that runs
completely opposite
to God's commandments.
That might work
at Burger King
and that's great
if you want to customize
your hamburger.
But in the kingdom of God,
you don't rule.
I don't rule.
God rules.
We must follow
His ingredients
if we want to see
a healthy community
of believers
in this church.
We must recommit
ourselves
to His way.
If you cling
to your life,
you will lose it.
If you give up
your life for me,
you will find it.
So,
our takeaway
will be done.
My two minutes
turned into six.
Apologize.
This is it.
Last one.
And we're going to
start a brand new series
next Sunday
on Be a Disciple.
Very excited about that.
Healthy community
will only bear its fruit
in our church
if we individually
recommit ourselves
or maybe commit
for the first time
to what?
To prayer,
to God's word,
and to true fellowship
together.
Folks,
you might not
realize it,
but if you have
a spirit
of disunity
in your heart,
you might be
holding up
the work of God
from having its way
in our church.
I plead with you
to get on your knees
before God
and humble yourself
before God
and say,
God,
I'm recommitting myself
to prayer,
to what your word
teaches,
and to our fellowship
together as a community
of believers.
And then I believe
God can move powerfully
like he's been doing.
Don't you want to see
the floodgates of heaven
opened up?
Don't you want to see
the walls torn down
and God's blessings
pour out
and see what he could do
with our community?
I want to see that.
I want to be a part of it.
So would you join me
in praying?
Let's bow our heads
right now.
Let's bow our heads
right now.
And I want to ask this.
Right where you're seated,
Jared's going to play
a little bit of music
right where you're seated.
If God leads you,
would you quietly
lift up a prayer to God?
I want to emphasize quietly.
If we're all speaking
at the same time,
it would be hard
to keep our minds
focused on what we're saying
and thinking right now.
But would you just quietly,
out loud,
lift up a prayer to God?
Maybe for you,
for a situation
you're dealing with,
maybe for our entire church.
just say,
God,
work in me.
Use me
right now
to bless someone else.
Use me.
Maybe my physical possessions.
Maybe God wants me
to share something
with someone else
and be generous.
maybe God wants me
to be more faithful
in building my walk
with Him in prayer.
Maybe God wants me
to take the plunge
and unite with this church
and church membership.
Partner with us
in what God's doing here.
Take on a
meaningful role
of service
in this church.
maybe God's
wanting me
to get baptized
publicly,
declare myself
as a Jesus follower
and be held accountable
to this church
for walking
the Jesus way.
Maybe God wants you
to recommit yourself
to studying the Word of God
and turning to it
every day,
letting it teach us,
letting it change us
and transform us.
Maybe He's talking to you
about turning to Him
more often in prayer,
never hanging up the phone.
Maybe He's talking about
asking forgiveness
for a brother or sister
in Christ.
Maybe you feel like
you were wronged
but you responded
in the wrong spirit
and you've got to go
make that right,
not for that person's benefit
but for God's benefit,
for your benefit,
for the benefit
of our community together
as brothers and sisters
in Christ.
God keeps a record.
He'll right all wrongs.
He'll have justice.
That belongs to Him.
Whatever God's working
on you about,
I'm going to start praying
up here at the front.
If you'd turn my mic off
and anyone else
who wants to join me
from where you're seated,
would you just lift up
a prayer?
Amen.