Good morning. It's wonderful to be back with you again. We have had a fantastic week in Hong Kong.
To everyone that we have met and has hosted us, thank you so much. It's been wonderful to be here.
In a good Watermark tradition, let me introduce myself. If you're new here, my name is Kevin.
I'm not one of the pastors. I'm a visitor from Cape Town. I've listened to lots of Chris's sermons,
and he does that every week, right? And so it's good to be with you.
I wonder if you can pray with me. I know we've prayed a bit this morning, but I feel like I would love some prayer.
I'd love for us just to pray. Will you join me? I'm going to pray for 30 seconds.
Heavenly Father, Christ the Son, Holy Spirit, we want to hear from you this morning.
God, we don't need to hear from any individual. We don't need to hear the opinions of man.
We want to hear from you and from your Word. God, why don't you take the words of your Scripture.
Why don't you apply them to our lives? Why don't you help us to hear from you this morning?
God, challenge us where we need to be challenged.
Encourage us where we need to be encouraged.
God, you know where we all are at in our different stages.
Some of us are joyful, and some of us are mourning.
Some of us are celebrating, and some of us are grieving.
God, why don't you speak to us this morning, and come and have your way.
In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.
Now, as a church, you know that if you've been coming for a while, you are busy working through the book of Acts, which is fantastic.
And last week and the week before, we looked at Acts chapter 2.
And Acts chapter 2 is really the time when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the church in power.
And the church is baptized in the love and the power of the Holy Spirit.
The church is empowered by the Holy Spirit for the ministry and the work to which God calls them.
And Chris and I have argued over the last two weeks that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not just for some people.
It's not just for those that are extroverted or the young people.
It's not just for the Pentecostals or the Charismatics or those that enjoy having a good time.
And, you know, the rest are the chosen frozen.
Do you know that phrase?
Okay.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is what it means to be a follower of Jesus, to walk with God and to know God.
And more than that, we see that if we go back to the beginning of the Bible,
we see that actually to walk with God and know the presence and the love and the power of God
is part of what it means to be human.
And so the ministry of the Holy Spirit is so necessary and powerful and needed in the church.
And without the person and the work of the Holy Spirit, the church is not the church.
We're just a gathering of people that believe the same things.
But it's the life and the power of the Holy Spirit that takes the wonderful truth of the gospel,
the truth of Jesus, and actually makes it real in our lives and applies it to us.
And so that was the beginning of Acts chapter 2 that we've looked at the last two weeks.
Now, the scripture that Echo read to us is a wonderful scripture.
And we're going to look at what happens when God the Holy Spirit is poured out in His church,
when the gospel is preached, and when God is at work in His church.
And let's just recap briefly the story in the Bible where we're at.
Remember that for hundreds of years, God has been speaking to His people, promising to give them His presence.
Through the prophets, through Joel and Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel,
God's been saying that there will come a time when I will no longer,
the words of God will not just be on the pages of your Bible, but they'll be written in your hearts.
You will know what it means to walk with God and to love God and to trust God,
because I will give you the Holy Spirit.
So God's been promising this for centuries for His people.
And then Jesus comes, and Jesus promises to pour out the Holy Spirit.
And He says it like this.
He says,
If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
For whoever believes in Me, as the scriptures have said,
out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
And then John adds,
This He spoke about the Holy Spirit, who had not yet been given,
because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
And so then just a little bit later, in Acts chapter 1,
Jesus says to the disciples,
Wait here in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit,
which my Father promised,
and John baptized you with water,
but I will baptize you in the Spirit.
And then a few days later, this happens.
Pentecost, Acts chapter 2.
And the result of Pentecost is that the disciples are full of the Holy Spirit.
They are joyful.
They are celebrating.
They are bold.
And the people around them think that they're drunk.
And so Peter stands up and explains what's going on.
And he says,
They're not drunk.
They've encountered God.
And the result is that Peter invariably preaches the gospel.
And then look at what happens.
Acts chapter 2, verse 36.
Peter says,
Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him,
both the Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.
It says,
When they heard this, they were cut to the heart.
They said to Peter and to the other apostles,
Brothers, what shall we do?
Peter said to them,
Repent and be baptized,
every one of you,
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And those who received his word were baptized.
And there were added that day about 3,000 souls to the church.
And here's the question I want to ask us.
What happens?
What does it look like to a community of people
when the Holy Spirit is poured out,
when the gospel of Jesus is preached,
and when God is at work in a city?
What does that look like?
What does that manifest as?
Well, in some senses, a new community is born.
On this day, straight after the Holy Spirit is poured out,
the church is born.
In fact, this is the first church gathering
that Echo read to us about.
And it's a very famous and well-known passage.
And I know that Watermark really cherishes community.
I'm sure this is a passage you've probably preached on
many times over the years.
But what this passage shows us
is that when the Holy Spirit is poured out,
when the gospel is preached,
when God is at work,
something unique happens.
God births a new community is born.
But it's a very unique community.
It's different from just your colleagues at work
or the community around your housing estate
or your alumni at your university where you study.
This is, when the church is working at its best,
it's an exceptional community.
But we need to be careful.
We need to be careful that we don't just hold up Acts chapter 2
or print it out and distribute it in the bulletin
and then say,
there we go, Watermark,
go and do likewise.
In some ways,
the Bible says that every verse in the Scripture
is good for learning and for teaching,
for us to learn from and for training.
But Acts chapter 2 is not a church planting manual.
The Holy Spirit didn't just say,
let me give you a manual how to be the perfect church.
There it is.
Go and do it.
Acts chapter 2 is not a prescription of the perfect church.
It's a description of what happens
when God is at work in people's lives.
Do you see the difference?
It's a historical description.
The Holy Spirit is writing,
or Luke is writing,
and saying,
this is what happened
when God poured out His Spirit in people
and when the people of God encountered God,
the gospel is preached
and God is at work in the world.
This is a description of what happens
when the beauty of Jesus is made known,
when the cross of Jesus is preached
and when the Holy Spirit is given.
And what makes this community distinct?
What differentiates them from,
like we said,
your colleagues or your housing estates
or your sports friends
or the guys you go running on the mountain with?
What differentiates these people?
Well, the key is found in verse 42.
If you've got your Bible,
look at it with me.
Look what verse 42 says.
It says,
they devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching,
to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread,
and to prayer.
What makes this community so distinct,
so unique,
is that this church,
in Acts chapter 2,
and every true church,
is made up of men and women
who give themselves away.
Who give themselves away.
The ESV,
which is the version we read,
says they devoted themselves.
And the word to devote,
it actually comes from the same word,
to consecrate yourself,
to set yourself apart.
But what it means is
to continuously give of yourself
to a purpose,
to something else.
In fact,
in all the translation of the Bible,
it says,
in this verse,
it says,
they gave themselves,
the apostles' teaching,
to fellowship,
to breaking of bread,
and to prayer.
They gave themselves.
Just like in Acts chapter 6,
it says,
the apostles were so busy,
they didn't have time
to give themselves
to the ministry of word
and to prayer.
And so they appointed some deacons.
They said,
deacons,
please come and help us
and run the ministry
so that we can give ourselves,
we can devote ourselves
to these things,
to prayer and to preaching.
They gave themselves
to that which is important.
They devoted themselves.
And here we see
that they gave of their property.
They gave of their time.
They gave of their resources.
They gave of their wealth.
They gave of their personal space.
They invited people
into their homes.
Here is a group of people
characterized by giving.
I'm not exactly sure
on all the ins and outs
of Hong Kong culture,
but in most major cities
of the world,
and this is certainly true
in the West
where we come from,
but I suspect
it's probably not that different
here in Hong Kong.
Most main cities
of the world,
there is the idea
that the good life,
what James K. Smith
calls the good life,
the life of contentment,
the life of happiness,
the life of joy,
is found in consuming things,
right?
Consuming products,
goods and services,
consuming experiences,
all found in the relationships
around us.
If we can just have more things,
if we can have more space,
if we can experience
more wonderful things,
if we can have
the right relationships
and the right connections,
if we can know
the right people,
then our lives
will be worthwhile.
Then we'll really be happy.
And when we're not happy,
we are told that
all we need to do
is to find more things,
to get another person
in the house
to help us,
to get some more space,
to buy another gadget
or MacBook
or car
or something
of that nature.
As you think about
the conversations
in your workspace
around the water cooler
or around the lunch table,
is that the understanding
below the surface?
that the road
to more happiness
and contentment
is found
in more things
and more experiences
or in knowing
the right people.
Is that true?
Is that true in our lives?
We've got a friend
in Cape Town.
Her name is Julie
and she used to work
in one of the big
global advertising agencies.
And she told us
many years ago
that one of the
underlying principles
in advertising,
I really apologize
if you're in advertising,
but anyway.
She told us
one of the underlying
principles in advertising
is to rob somebody
of their self-contentment
and then sell it back
to them
in the form of a product.
Does that make sense?
So in other words,
an advert's message
might be,
you know,
you're not really
going to be respected
or you deserve
to be respected more
but you're never
going to get the respect
you truly deserve
unless you drive
the right car.
Here's a BMW.
Or you're never
really going to be
appreciated
unless you look
magnificent.
Here's a diamond necklace.
Or unless you experience
the world
and get to see
and travel
and experience
different cultures,
you're such a bore.
You're never going to
have an exciting life.
You want a trip to Japan?
Right?
So advertising sometimes,
not everyone,
robs people of their
self-worth,
their self-contentment
and sells it back
in the form of a product.
Friends,
the reason why we
often buy so much stuff
and buy often more
than we need
is not because we
fundamentally need
these things.
It's because we're
looking for a version
of the good life.
We're looking for
contentment.
We're looking for
satisfaction.
We're looking for
something to please us
and to satisfy us.
But friends,
the narrative of the
Christian life
is very different.
The narrative of
the Christian life
because the narrative
of the gospel
is that joy is found
not in getting
but in giving.
The life that God
has called us to
is not found
in consuming.
It's in giving
of ourselves.
It's in devoting
ourselves to the
contentment and the
joy of others.
As we give of ourselves
to others and try
and secure their
blessing and their
joy and their
happiness,
in that place we
find our own
joy and contentment.
And that's what we
see in the book of Acts
and nowhere more
poignantly than Acts
chapter 2 as we've
read today.
That the very core
of the first Christian
community were these
two fundamental truths.
One, for God so loved
the world that he gave.
That he gave himself.
And two, the joy and
contentment and happiness
that so many of us are
looking for are found
not in consuming but in
giving.
Here were a bunch of
people that devoted
themselves.
They gave of themselves.
They spent their lives
giving to the people in
the community around
them.
Friends, at the heart of
the Christian gospels
that because God so
loved the world, broken
and marred and sinful
as it is, he did
something about it.
But he didn't send his
driver.
He didn't send an
ambassador.
What did he do?
He sent himself.
He gave himself.
He gave his son, Jesus
Christ, to die on the
cross.
To be smashed with
nine inch nails through
his hands.
To be so bloody that
you wouldn't even
recognize him as a
human body.
He gave himself that
you and I could find
life.
Jesus didn't just come
as an obedient son.
He did that as well.
But he gave of
himself.
Jesus didn't just come
because his father
asked him to and as
an obedient son you
obey your father.
Jesus gladly and
willingly gave of
himself.
In Matthew 20, Jesus
says, the son of man
came not to be served
but to serve and to
give his life as a
ransom for many.
Galatians chapter 1,
Paul writes, grace to
you and peace from
God our father and
the Lord Jesus Christ
who gave himself for
our sins to deliver us
from the present evil
age.
Galatians 2.20, I have
been crucified with
Christ.
It's no longer I who
live but Christ who
lives in me.
That's a wonderful
verse, isn't it?
Now why is that true?
Why is it that I can be
crucified to myself?
Why is it that I can go
into my work week
tomorrow no longer
looking after myself
and no longer me in my
life but Christ living in
me?
On what basis can I do
that?
He goes on to say, for
the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by
faith in the son of God
who loved me and gave
himself for me.
Friends, at the heart of
the gospel is a God who
though he made everything
and therefore he owns
everything and everything
belongs to him and
everybody is accountable
to him.
This sovereign and
majestic God to whom
one day all creation
will one day bow down,
this God gave.
For God so loved the
world that he gave.
Kelly Capik wrote an
amazing book from where
I got that phrase, for
God so loved the world,
for God so loved that he
gave.
And this is what he
writes.
He says, the God who
created and perfected the
world and whose world
turned from him has brought
restoration through giving.
The Father loved the world
and gave the Son.
The Father and the Son
gave the gift of the Holy
Spirit into the hearts of
humanity.
In other words, the gospel
is shaped by giving.
God's generosity buys us
out of bondage and brings
us into the blessing of
belonging to him.
But the good news is not
only that God made us to be
recipients of his
generosity, but also
participants in the
movement of his divine
generosity.
Isn't that amazing?
God redeems the world by
giving.
God puts right the wrongs
of the past, not by
punishing, not by
teaching, but by giving.
But more than that, God
doesn't just give and put
right the wrongs of the
past.
See, the problem with our
rebellion, the problem with
our sin, the problem with
the brokenness of the
world, is that sin, it
doesn't just cause problems
in my life, though it does
that.
It leaves me separated from
God.
I'm existentially divorced from
my Creator.
The problem with sin is
that it also causes a part
of my soul and my makeup
to die.
It leaves us spiritually
dead.
That's why Ephesians
chapter 2 says, as for
you, you are dead in your
trespasses and sins.
But it also says you are
slaves to the enemy, slaves
to the prince of the power
of the world.
And so sin does a couple
of things.
It leaves us spiritually
dead.
It makes us slaves to sin.
And it mars our hearts.
It disorders our loves.
And so when Jesus brings us
back from the grave, when
Jesus died to rescue us and
to save us, he didn't just
forgive us of sins.
He did that.
But he makes dead people
alive again.
That's Ephesians 2.
As for you, you're dead in
your sins, but by the grace
and the kindness of God, God
has made those of you who are
dead alive again.
We are now alive in Christ
Jesus.
And so when Christ brings
us back, he doesn't just go
off that which is lost and
make it found again.
He goes off to dead people,
makes them alive again.
Now, friends, the problem
with the worldview that says
happiness and pleasure are
found in consuming more
things and in getting more
things and experiencing more
pleasures outside of God is
that it always leads to death.
It leads to the death of our
relationships.
It leads to the death of our
marriages.
It leads to the death of our
families.
Something inside of us and
something around us always
dies when we look to other
things for our pleasure and our
satisfaction.
You know what it's like to be
used by somebody?
Someone uses you for their own
career advancement or to gain
some benefit?
What happens to that
relationship?
It doesn't flourish.
It dies, right?
Because a life that is based on
getting, a life that is based on
consuming, a life that is based
on using, consuming, it promises
life, but it robs us of life.
And in the end, it leaves us
dead.
But the countercultural,
counterintuitive message of the
gospel is that God gave and he
brought back life.
In him giving of his life, he gave
us life.
And friends, that's true for
community life as well.
As we give of ourselves to those
around us, in that place, the
community comes alive.
In that place, we flourish.
A few years ago, Harvard Medical
School published a report in the
Harvard Health Publication.
And it was called this, money can
buy you happiness, but only if you
give it away.
This is how the report starts off.
Here's a finding that may be
surprising.
Spending money on others makes
people happier than spending it on
themselves.
This was the conclusion of
researchers at the University of
British Columbia and Harvard
Business School who conducted three
studies to determine the relationship
between spending habits and
reported happiness.
Friends, didn't Jesus say the same
thing?
Acts chapter 20, the apostle Paul
goes to a little village called
Miletus, just below the city of
Ephesus.
And he calls the elders from the
church in Ephesus to come down to
Miletus where he is.
He's at the harbor port.
And they have a discussion.
And Paul says to them, I'm getting
on in age.
I'm probably not going to see you
again.
I don't think I'm going to come to
Ephesus again.
And they are all distraught.
This is their father in the faith,
the guy that started the church.
They love Paul.
They're very upset.
And they're all crying because he
said, I'll never, you know,
I'm probably not going to see you
again.
And then so Paul gives them these
kind of final words.
These are his last words.
He says, now I commend you to God
and to the word of his grace, which
is able to build you up and give you
an inheritance amongst those that
are sanctified.
Sounds like a good benediction,
right?
And then after that, he says, wait,
wait, there's one more thing.
Remember the words of Jesus, who
said himself, it is more blessed to
give than to receive.
One of Paul's final words, he says,
friends, I want you to live a life of
giving, not consuming.
I want you to devote yourself, to
give of yourself for the well-being
of those around you.
Paul says the same thing in 1 Timothy.
Timothy is a young pastor in Ephesus,
and Paul writes to him.
And in Timothy's church, there are a
whole lot of very wealthy people.
And Paul wants to help young Timothy
know how to pastor and shepherd these
wealthy people in his church.
And so he writes to him and he says this.
He says, Timothy, for those who are
wealthy, encourage them not to put their
hope in the uncertainty of riches,
which is so unstable, can go up and down,
but their hope in the faithfulness of God,
who will look after them.
And encourage them to be generous and to
share, to be ready to share, and here's
why.
Why should they share?
He says, because, encourage them to do so,
so that they may take hold of that which
is truly life.
You hear that?
Paul here says, I want you to experience
life.
I want you to flourish.
I want you to maximize your joy and your
satisfaction in life.
So give it away.
Okay.
Here is a church.
In Acts chapter 2, that we're committed
not to consuming, but to blessing.
Not to taking, but to giving.
To give themselves to the well-being of
those around them.
And friends, that's true of money, but it's
true of every area of life.
It's true with our time.
It's true with our relationships.
It's true with our resources.
It's true with our networks and our
connections.
This lifestyle of a generosity is what has
characterized the early church.
And I think of just Henrico sharing around
university ministry.
And I loved what Henrico said around, we can
think of this ministry strategically.
Who are the up-and-coming leaders?
Who are the people that are going to
influence Hong Kong?
Who are the people that are, you know,
maybe we should really try to influence the
business, the finance guys.
The guys are going to do well and that will
pay dividends back into church in years to
come.
And we can strategically think about this
thing.
But even you can do ministry from a consumer
aspect.
You can even think about church, about how do
we maximize our church?
How do we grow and grow trajectories?
You can even think about ministry in that
way.
And I loved what Henrico said and said, hey,
maybe this won't pay dividends.
But here are people made in God's image that
Jesus died for.
And we're going to serve them.
And we're going to love them.
And we're going to give up our time for
them.
Now, let's look at Acts chapter 2 again.
And let's see what is it that they devoted
themselves to.
Acts chapter 2.
Verse 42, it says this.
Firstly, they devoted themselves to the
things of God.
So they devoted themselves to the apostles'
teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking
of bread and to prayer.
Notice four things that they gave themselves
to.
They gave themselves to the apostles'
teaching, which means that they gave
themselves to knowing and understanding
God's ways and God's word.
Psalm 19 is one of the most beautiful
psalms.
And Psalm 19 says this.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
It revives the soul.
Anyone feel tired and exhausted?
The word of God revives our souls.
Then the psalm says, your word is more
desired than gold, even the most precious
gold.
It's sweeter than honey and the drippings
of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by your word is your servant warned.
In keeping them, there is great reward.
Friends, the little I know about Hong Kong
is that time is precious, right?
Time is one of your most precious commodities.
And time is finite.
It comes to an end each day.
You can't prolong it or buy any more of it.
It is what it is.
And I know that in Hong Kong, many of you
work very long hours.
Many of you have demanding jobs.
Some of you have demanding bosses.
Some of you may even be demanding bosses.
But time is precious, right?
And when there's a lot of pressure,
something's got to go.
You can't do everything that you always want to do
in the amount of time that you have.
Time is precious.
Friends, can I ask you not to give up on God's word?
This is one of those things that it's so easy
to let slip when time is little,
when you're under pressure.
Friends, can I ask you not to give up on giving
yourself to God's word?
Your relationship with God and the state of your soul
is too precious to let that slip by the side.
I want to encourage you, don't cut back.
Wake up early.
Get into God's word.
Devote yourself to the teachings of the saints
and to God's word.
Secondly, they gave themselves to godly fellowship
and community.
They gathered together for community lunches.
CG wasn't just a program in the life of the church.
This was a community that gave themselves to each other
and they spent their time and their energy
investing in one another.
Opened up their homes and invited each other in.
And the truth is that sometimes investing
in community is costly.
It does cost you.
But it's so beautiful.
It's so wonderful when community comes together.
And in Jerusalem, notice that Jerusalem was a major city.
It was a city where people were coming and going.
People would come for trade.
People would go back to the outlying villages.
And it was probably a very transient city, right,
in the context of the ancient world.
Sounds familiar to Hong Kong, right?
And I guess these people might have thought to themselves
from time to time,
I don't know if I'm really going to build friendships
with that person.
They're just going to be here for 18 months
and then their company's going to transfer them back to,
I don't know, some other town, Ephesus, right?
JP Morgan's going to move them to Ephesus.
I'm not going to build a friendship with them.
Or should I really invest in this friendship?
Who knows how long they're going to be here?
Here's a community that opened up their homes
and they gave themselves.
They devoted themselves to one another.
And then notice also the diversity of cultures.
In Jerusalem, there was people,
we told them earlier in Acts chapter 2,
people from every region in the known world came together.
And they didn't just give themselves
to those that were like them.
They didn't just give themselves
to those that were the same socioeconomic class,
those that had studied overseas
or those that spoke the same language.
Here was a diverse group of people
that gave themselves to each other.
Thirdly, they gave themselves the breaking of bread.
And this is communion.
And Chris led us so wonderfully in this this morning.
And in the ancient world,
when you had communion together,
you didn't just have a tiny piece of bread.
You had a whole meal together.
It was a feast.
And you'd bring your food together
and have a long table.
And everyone would take an hour or two
around the table feasting together,
celebrating relationships,
celebrating the many becoming one,
like Chris led us in this morning,
but also celebrating what God had done in their midst.
And they would sit down and celebrate,
but right at the heart of the community
was the gospel, the truth that Jesus had died
on the cross for their sins.
And then notice they gave themselves to prayer.
They devoted themselves to prayer.
Friends, I want to say that you don't become
the person that God's called you to.
You don't become the man or the woman
that God's called you to without prayer.
And Romans chapter 15 talks about laboring in prayer.
Any ladies here have been through labor?
Any men watched your wives going through labor?
I've watched my wife go through it twice.
And I remember Claire saying at the end,
that was the most difficult thing she's ever gone through.
And yet, what is the result of labor?
It's life.
It's new life.
And Paul here talks about laboring in prayer.
Friends, sometimes prayer can feel like that.
It's hard work.
It's a discipline that we give ourselves to.
And yet, by laboring in prayer,
we see the power of God at work.
And notice what they prayed for.
The church in the book of Acts believed two things.
One, they believed in the power of prayer.
They saw the power of prayer.
They prayed for Peter to be released in jail,
and he was released.
They prayed for people to encounter God
and the power of the Holy Spirit, and they did.
They prayed for miracles, and they saw them.
They prayed for boldness, and they experienced it.
They prayed for deliverance from attack and oppression,
and God delivered them.
These people really believed in the power of prayer,
and so they gave themselves to prayer.
But then also, they believed that prayer doesn't just change God's heart.
It changes our hearts.
And so in Acts chapter 6, it says the apostles gave themselves to prayer
because they knew that the power of God was in that.
And they knew that they needed a change.
God didn't need a change.
And so they gave themselves to prayer.
And then two last things we see.
Remember, notice how they gave themselves to one another,
and we spoke about that.
They gave themselves to each home.
They sold their possessions.
They sold their resources.
They gave to those who had need.
They gave to anyone in the community.
And in many ways, they knew that being part of church
meant being part of a family, being part of a community.
It's one of the most beautiful things that we've experienced about Watermark.
Watermark is such a community church.
And it's easy to put a label on the side, right?
Watermark Community Church.
It's easy to put up a banner and say, we believe in community.
It's another thing to live it.
And I think Watermark lives it so beautifully.
And then finally, they gave themselves to mission.
And it's not immediately clear from this chapter,
but in the preceding chapter, we see how the Holy Spirit is poured out.
And what does Peter do?
He stands up and he tells everyone about Jesus.
We spoke about this last week, right?
He tells them about the wonder of Jesus.
He tells them about the sin and the cross and how God died for us.
And he makes much of the wonder of Jesus.
And then Acts chapter 2, it says,
this new body of people found in Jesus come together.
They devote themselves to prayer and the sacraments and God's word and community.
And then it says, the Lord added to their number,
day by day, those who were being saved.
And in the next chapter, chapter 3,
Peter and John are on the way to the temple.
People, and they see a man begging for money.
And they don't say to him,
sorry, I don't have any money on me today.
What do they do?
They tell them about the wonder of Jesus.
And they pray for him.
And that man comes to faith.
And other people see this man, life change, and they come to faith.
And friends, here was a community that hadn't just accepted Jesus.
They hadn't just converted from one religion to another.
They hadn't just become church people.
They devoted themselves.
They spent themselves.
They gave themselves to the Lord, to the church, and to the city,
to help the city find and follow Jesus.
William Temple was the Archbishop of Canterbury many years ago,
and he famously said this,
the church is the only organization which exists not for itself,
but for those who live outside of it.
Now, that's maybe not the only reason why the church exists,
but it is true.
The reason the church exists is to join God in the renewal of all things.
The reason the church exists is to join God in the rescuing and redeeming of this planet
and restore all that's gone wrong.
To join God in making everything horrible and painful in the world untrue.
And by bringing the hope of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit
and the love of God to our city and our world.
Friends, I don't know all the ins and outs of Hong Kong.
I don't know all the cultural dynamics that's going on.
But what I do know is this.
In every city of the world, in every corner of the globe,
the wealthy and the not so wealthy,
the educated and the not so educated,
male and female, every one of us are longing for the maker that made us.
Every one of us are longing for a sense of transcendence.
Every one of us are longing for the balm that our souls need.
We long to feast in the living waters of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.
And this city is full of people that don't know God.
And here was a church that devoted themselves.
They gave themselves to Christ, to each other,
and to the city in which they lived.
Inviting those that had never encountered the life of God
to experience Him for the first time.
Friends, we have the hope of the world.
We have the healing balm that every heart longs for.
We have the golden treasure that every heart seeks.
And His name is Jesus.
Can we be a church that gives ourselves,
that devotes ourselves to Christ,
to His Word,
to each other,
and to the cities in which we live?
Let's pray together.
We're going to pray in a minute,
but just as I was preparing for today,
a couple of groups of people I thought about.
Maybe those of us who have been giving.
You've been giving and giving and giving.
You've been serving, serving,
and you're exhausted.
I feel like God just wants to empower you
and refresh you.
Maybe you so understood this,
that being a follower of Jesus is not about consuming.
It's about giving.
It's about being a blessing.
And maybe you're exhausted from all the serving.
God wants to refresh you.
He wants you to sit at His feet,
like Mary,
not like Martha.
He wants you to sit at His feet.
Martha said,
Jesus,
tell my sister to come work with me.
And Jesus said,
she has chosen the better thing.
One thing is required.
And I feel like God says,
for those of us that are exhausted,
come and sit at my feet,
and come and encounter me.
For those who feel like they want to give,
but the cost is just too high.
God wants to give us His grace.
And to help us see that
it's the greatest blessing
to be those that follow Jesus
and don't take but give.
Maybe for those whose relationships
have been marked by getting and taking,
your relationships are struggling,
maybe your marriage is hurting,
maybe some other relationship is strained.
God, we pray for those people.
We pray to come and bring healing
and wholeness, Lord.
We pray, Lord Jesus,
won't you come and
bring freedom in those relationships, God.
God, we pray for those of us here
that are hurting.
We pray, Lord God,
for those that are tired and exhausted.
Holy Spirit,
won't you come and refresh us.
We pray, God,
for those of us that we feel like
we want to be this community that gives,
but God just feels like
the cost is so high.
God, won't you help us to see
that you gave us you.
You're all we need, Lord Jesus.
And then finally,
for those of us that don't even know Jesus.
Maybe you know Christianity,
you know religion,
you know the Bible,
but you don't know Jesus.
Friends, without Jesus,
there's nothing.
Without the power of the Holy Spirit
opening our eyes to see Jesus,
we have nothing.
If you don't know Jesus,
why don't you right now,
just say,
Jesus, I want to know you.
This God that so loved me
that He gave Himself for me.
This God that so loved me,
He died on the cross for me.
I want to know Him.
If that's you,
what do you tell God that?
Say, Jesus, I want to know you.
Say, Jesus, I'm sorry for my sin.
Sorry that I've lived my life
for my own pleasure
and my own glory.
God, I want to live for you.
I want my life transformed by you.
Christ, I pray,
won't you make us
that kind of church, Lord?
Thank you for
the tens and the hundreds
of men and women
that are already living
this kind of life,
the selfless,
community-giving life.
Thank you, God.
God, won't Watermark
be a light on a hill?
Won't we be salt in our city?
Won't we be counterintuitive
and countercultural?
A people that give
and not take.
A people that live
for the benefit of others
and not ourselves.
Holy Spirit,
come to work in our hearts,
we pray.
In your name.
Amen.