Forrest: Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast.
Forrest: Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life.
Forrest: We're so glad that you've taken time to join us for this week's sermon.
Forrest: And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message.
Forrest: Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.
Forrest: We've jumped into this series last week, Built Different, as we're talking about what it looks like to be in the body of Christ and for our individual giftings.
Forrest: And I'm excited today for us to keep looking at the example of the church in the early days.
Forrest: But I there's uh no secret on here that I like athletics, and in sports teams, coaches don't only have a playbook, but they also have scouting reports on other teams.
Forrest: And what that looks like is the a scouting report is made about the teams that they're dealing with, and they they build it out, they watch film, look at different plays, figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the other teams, figure out where other teams are dangerous, and the coaches and the players they study these uh playbooks and scouting reports.
Forrest: And in 1999, Mike Leach was on the staff as the offensive coordinator for Oklahoma, and they were playing this Red River game against Texas, which is this big rivalry, and Oklahoma was the underdog, and uh prior and before the game, while all the players were out and getting warmed up, a Texas student assistant grabbed what looked like a script of the first plays of the first couple of offensive series from Oklahoma and took it to the defensive coordinator, Carl Reese.
Forrest: And they started looking at this list of plays, and they felt like, oh man, we we we now know what the playbook is.
Forrest: There was only one problem: it was fake.
Forrest: Mike Leach, who as a coach would always say hilarious stuff, apparently him and his uh and another coach thought it would be hilarious for them to make a fake playbook and leave it in the middle of the field for the opposing team to find.
Forrest: And so after the first two series, after Oklahoma went up on Texas uh 17 to 0 in the first uh beginning of the game, it was only then when Texas felt realized that they had a fake playbook.
Forrest: It was a genius move.
Forrest: It was hilarious.
Forrest: It's like that the Texas, they thought that they had all the answers, they thought they had the insider information, they thought that they knew what was coming, they thought they had the playbook.
Forrest: And for some people, the same is true when it comes to church.
Forrest: People think, oh, well, I I know, I got it figured out about church, like I know what that's all about.
Forrest: I know the language, I know what all the churchy words are, I know the songs, I know, you know, the sermons, I've got the playbook.
Forrest: And it's easy for us to know all that, but there's a difference in knowing and actually living it.
Forrest: The title of my message today is Scouting Report in this built different series as we are a people who are called to be built different, so that we, not that we're better than anybody else, but that we're people who we know who we are in Christ, our gifting and what God is building in and through us.
Forrest: See, a lot of people know how to attend church and know how to show up, how to sit in the row, how to be quiet during the sermon, how to take some tidbits from the message, the things that help, and to leave out without actually applying anything or anything costing anything, or for us to walk out the door and still be anonymous and call that church.
Forrest: But what we're gonna see from the scripture is that what the church is and what it means to be built different is that we just like what we're gonna look at in the early church, God has done something in us to make us a people who are built different so that we can then make a difference.
Forrest: We're built different so that we can actually make a difference.
Forrest: And my goal today is for us to take a look at what it is to be built different and to make a difference in the way that we see in the early church from Acts chapter 2.
Forrest: Now, if we don't take a look at Acts chapter 2, if we don't look at what the early church did, if we don't see how this actually played out after the resurrection and after the ascension, we're gonna miss out on what Jesus intended for his bride, for his body, for his church to look like, to have a rootedness, to have a belonging, to be able to utilize our giftings and contribute to the kingdom to have sustainability and steadiness in our relationship with God, for us to be truly formed, for us to be a part of the body instead of just being around the body.
Forrest: Because it in the American church, uh I like to call it a lot of times crowd Christianity.
Forrest: Where there's a Americans know how to experience the church without ever becoming the church.
Forrest: Showing up when it's convenient, sitting through the service, leading out, not being changed.
Forrest: But but what we're gonna see from Acts chapter 2 is that there's a better way.
Forrest: There's a better way.
Forrest: And it's not just about calling us higher from just like this casual version of Christianity, it's uh an invitation for us to walk in the gifting and in the depth and go deeper in what God is calling us to.
Forrest: And so if your experience for church has been sitting in rows and sermons and quick exits, we're gonna see in Acts chapter 2 that there's a better way, not just attending a service, but us being a part of a people to belong to in Christ.
Forrest: Here's what's going on in the in the scripture today, and we're gonna look through a lot of Acts chapter 2, and we don't normally go through an entire chapter like this, but we're gonna go through several sections of Acts chapter 2 because I want us to see the whole picture of after the resurrection, which we just celebrated a few weeks ago, Jesus' ascension last week.
Forrest: We talked about Acts 1.8, where Jesus says that they were they were gonna receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and be witnesses.
Forrest: And then what we're gonna see in Acts chapter 2 is this moment of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit actually does descend, and what Jesus had promised to empower his people with and empower the disciples and his followers with actually comes to fruition.
Forrest: And Peter preaches a very mediocre message, and then the first church is born and is formed.
Forrest: And Acts chapter 2 is kind of like the scouting report of the early church, and so we're gonna see what kind of church and what happens when the Holy Spirit builds a people and builds a church.
Forrest: And so we're gonna start in the very first verse of Acts chapter 2.
Forrest: We looked at Acts chapter 1 last week, Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 1.
Forrest: When the day of Pentecost arrived, oh yeah, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 2.
Forrest: So grab your Bible, grab your phone, pull this out.
Forrest: I'm reading from the ESV.
Forrest: When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly came from heaven the sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Forrest: And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Forrest: Verse 5.
Forrest: Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
Forrest: And at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one had been hearing them speak in his own language, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all of these who are speaking Galileans?
Forrest: And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language?
Forrest: Let me give you some background of what's going on here.
Forrest: So Jews have gathered 50 days after Passover for this festival called Pentecost.
Forrest: They called it the Feast of Weeks, which was a festival that was celebrating the first fruits offering.
Forrest: And God chooses this specific moment that has a ton of meaning, and a ton of people who have come to Jerusalem from all different parts of the known world.
Forrest: Close to Jerusalem.
Forrest: There are people who are from the Middle East there, from North Africa, from southern Europe, from Western Asia, have all gathered together.
Forrest: And then Jesus is then promising the Holy Spirit that is to come and in this first fruits festival, the Pentecost, the first fruits of the church is born.
Forrest: And what happens is they're all standing there, and the Holy Spirit descends on them as tongues of fire, and they begin to speak.
Forrest: All these people who have different languages, and all of a sudden they're able to understand one another in their different languages.
Forrest: The big theology term for this is xenoglossy.
Forrest: It's when God gives you this miraculous power to understand a language that you didn't previously understand.
Forrest: There's there are uh reports that I have heard many of them from the mission field where somebody was on the mission field and they were sharing the gospel with somebody in a language, and then after they got done, they realized they were speaking a language they didn't previously know.
Forrest: Or that they heard somebody come up to them and speaking to them in plain English, in complete English, and then after the fact realized that that person was speaking not English but another language, but the Holy Spirit gave them ability to understand that language.
Forrest: And what God is doing by this gathered people, all of these Jews, what he's allowing them is for this gospel moment, for the gospel message to be heard and understood, and then to be spread across the world.
Forrest: That people would understand what Peter preaches, what he says, what he calls into repentance, and then that scattered people then go and spread the gospel in all these different nations and all these different places.
Forrest: And there's this beautiful moment, but it's not meant to just stay in a moment.
Forrest: I don't know about you, but uh for me, there are plenty of times where I can get so laser focused on the day to day that I miss the big movement that God is doing in my life.
Forrest: I don't realize, I'm thinking of the hardships and the challenges that I'm dealing with the day to day, and not even thinking about how God's gonna use it in the future or what the big story is gonna happen, and that God has this big plan and movement in my life.
Forrest: And maybe for you, maybe you've had some real moments with God, maybe even some real moments in the church where you've felt something, where you've responded to something, but it hasn't actually turned into a full movement with God and the big picture of what he's doing in your life.
Forrest: And so, if we're going to be people who are built different to make a difference, the first thing we need to do is we need to move from moment to movement with God.
Forrest: It is so important for us to have moments with God.
Forrest: And maybe for you, you think, you know what?
Forrest: Well, there was a time years ago I had this moment with God.
Forrest: And you know, after that, I just kind of fell off or fell away, or you're always thinking about this old timer.
Forrest: Man, that service that I went to one time, it was super powerful.
Forrest: Or man, I felt God in this one season of my life, but the Holy Spirit didn't just create us for specific moments, but he created a people in us, a movement within us, so that we could be a people that don't just stop at moments, but we are built different as we are moving with God and doing what he's called us to do.
Forrest: I want for our church, I want us to have power encounters together as the gathered church.
Forrest: I want us when we come into this place for the Holy Spirit to be among us, for people to be prayed for, to people, for people to encounter God, to worship, to feel the power that is the gathered church.
Forrest: And I also want us to be on a pathway of growing as disciples of Jesus into what he's called us to.
Forrest: The big movement of your life, the big movement of your life with God, with the Holy Spirit, so that we're a people that are built different.
Forrest: Pentecost, which is this this major feast, this first fruits moment where we're literally the Holy Spirit is descending, and the first fruits of the church are exploding onto the scene.
Forrest: And there's there's wind and there's fire and there's awe and there's there's languages and there's amazement.
Forrest: But it doesn't just end there, it doesn't just end with that whole moment happened, and each other looking at each other and being like, wow, that was crazy.
Forrest: Let's just head on out.
Forrest: Glad we had that moment.
Forrest: No, but instead, it ends with a whole new way of life.
Forrest: A people who are then on a spiritual movement together by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Forrest: And for people, we we want to be built different, that we're not just chasing another spiritual high, but we're actually moving with God and what he's called us to.
Forrest: The moment of Acts 2, it wasn't meant to just be this one-time experience, but to move into a people and move with the Lord.
Forrest: And this is what happens as people come to faith in Jesus.
Forrest: Skip down to verse 38.
Forrest: Peter said to them, and begins to preach.
Forrest: And a lot of those verses are Peter's message, and then in verse 38, Peter puts a point on it and says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.
Forrest: And you will receive the gift, everybody say gift, gift of the Holy Spirit.
Forrest: For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself, and with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
Forrest: So those who received this word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Forrest: This huge diversity of people.
Forrest: Now, repent and accept Christ and now become the body of Christ, the church, this big C church.
Forrest: And there's 3,000 people.
Forrest: I mean, I wish that I wish that just happened today.
Forrest: I could just say, hey, everybody, repent and be baptized.
Forrest: Turn from this crooked generation, 3,000 people get saved.
Forrest: That'd be great.
Forrest: This was this Holy Spirit moment.
Forrest: 3,000 people repent and are baptized.
Forrest: If you hate big churches, you're gonna hate heaven.
Forrest: 3,000 people come to know Jesus and become a part of the church.
Forrest: And maybe for you, maybe you're in a spot where you know you've you've been coming to church and you've attended for months and you know some faces and you like the church, but you're you're just kind of staying on the edge of truly belonging to the body and what he's doing through us.
Forrest: And what we have got to do, and our mentality as a church is that if we're gonna be different to make a difference, we have got to move from crowd to church.
Forrest: There's this mentality, well, you know, I I I I go there, I come to this church, or I listen online, or yeah, I've been just in checking it out.
Forrest: I like this church.
Forrest: The the spirit didn't just build a crowd, he built a committed church of people following after Jesus.
Forrest: And as as we're built different, we're gonna be people who are are more than just showing up, but we're actually added to and belonging to the body of Christ.
Forrest: Acts two, there's all there's a there's a lot of there's a lot of noise, there's preaching, people are repenting, people are being baptized, people are adding.
Forrest: There is there is this moment of a whole 3,000 people who are attending, but it doesn't just stay there, it forms into this body of believers who are committed to one another.
Forrest: You know, over the last four years or so, I've kind of noticed this pattern.
Forrest: This isn't like law or always true, but oftentimes something I've noticed is that if people start coming to multiply and they just stay a part of the crowd and they never actually move into belonging and a part of community and group or serving, and they begin to actually participate in the body.
Forrest: Oftentimes what I see is those people disappear after six months or a year.
Forrest: And they they don't they don't stay committed for long, and and even the momentum of the faith of what God's doing in their life, sometimes that that momentum that was happening for six months or a year all of a sudden doesn't become a long-term movement in their life.
Forrest: But when we get rooted, when we are utilizing our giftings with the body, when we are on a team or we're in a small group, or we jump into Frankfurt Forward, all of a sudden we begin to get rooted in the body, and we're belonging, and we're also serving, and we're loving, and we're participating in the body.
Forrest: Just this week, I've heard stories from our church from teams and groups.
Forrest: I've heard a story of a radical generosity in one of our small groups.
Forrest: I've heard the story this week of somebody who's literally using their gift of evangelism at work and praying for and talking to, and have a long-term mentality of somebody at their workplace who's not following Jesus, that they're loving, praying, and talking to.
Forrest: Radical prayers for healing this week in different people's lives and situations, and people utilizing their God-given spiritual gifts to build the kingdom of God just in the last week.
Forrest: This is the movement that I'm talking about.
Forrest: That isn't just on the Sunday morning experience, but it's going beyond Sunday mornings and into our daily lives.
Forrest: That we're a part of the body.
Forrest: A few years ago, I had a coworker that uh just randomly on one day he told us he didn't have a spleen.
Forrest: We had no idea.
Forrest: He said that he was in a terrible car crash and it was damaged when he was a teenager, and I didn't even know that you could live without a spleen.
Forrest: I had no clue.
Forrest: Honestly, I didn't even know what a spleen does.
Forrest: I don't know if I still know what it does.
Forrest: No, I think it filters blood.
Forrest: This guy was he was like more susceptible to sickness and illness.
Forrest: And if you're trying to do church without people rooted and using their giftings, it's like trying to live without a part of your body.
Forrest: It's like trying to survive without a spleen or without some part of the body that's making you more vulnerable than you were designed to be.
Forrest: So, in the same way, the body of Christ, we're this church, and and we're meant to be a people that are growing and moving, and we don't have all the parts we talked about last week the body of Christ, as this imagery of the body, that there are many members, and that and that we all full have a function in the body of Christ.
Forrest: And if we're Disconnected and we're not rooted in what God is doing, all of a sudden we become weaker and more vulnerable than Jesus intended us to be.
Forrest: Because it takes the diversity of gifts.
Forrest: 3,000 people come to know Jesus with Peter.
Forrest: And they're added to the number, but the number wasn't just that wasn't the end of the story.
Forrest: Around here at Multiply, you are not just a number.
Forrest: You are a people, you are a people that God loves, and we are a people that are being built to follow Jesus together.
Forrest: Together.
Forrest: And this is what happens in Acts 2 as the church is born.
Forrest: In verse 42 through 47, we'll see exactly what it looked like.
Forrest: So 3,000 people come to know Christ.
Forrest: All of a sudden, many of them are heading back to where they live and where they come from and their different churches or different countries that they're a part of.
Forrest: And we see different churches that get planted and built.
Forrest: And in verse 42, we see what's happening in Jerusalem.
Forrest: Verse 42 here.
Forrest: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Forrest: And awe came upon every soul.
Forrest: And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
Forrest: And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
Forrest: And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.
Forrest: And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.
Forrest: And the apostle said, I know what we do.
Forrest: How about we do what Jesus showed us to do and how we've been living the last three years, and now we just do that together?
Forrest: Why don't we take not only just the method, just the message of Jesus and what he said, but also his methods and what he actually did with us, and let's do the same.
Forrest: Let's follow after him.
Forrest: And it's so easy for us at times to make a decision or to check a box or to raise a hand and feel sincere, but then not actually then move into a devoted, real, following Christian community.
Forrest: And what we need to do if we're going to be built different, if we're going to make a difference, we've got to move from decision to devotion.
Forrest: They devoted themselves.
Forrest: That's my third point.
Forrest: Move from decision to devotion.
Forrest: They devoted themselves to one another, to the apostles' teaching, to prayer, to loving, to serving, to giving, to caring.
Forrest: And it's easy for us to get in the mindset and say, well, you know what?
Forrest: You know, I made a decision back then.
Forrest: You know, I prayed a prayer one time, or yeah, I believe in Jesus, but I can do this whole Christian thing all by myself.
Forrest: That's not what Jesus has designed us to do.
Forrest: He's designed us to be a body with all the parts and all the members.
Forrest: And as we make a decision, which is so important for us to decide and for us to come and follow Jesus, that is the start of our journey.
Forrest: That's the beginning.
Forrest: And then it's the devotion, it's what actually makes our journey real.
Forrest: Where we actually bear fruit, where we actually show, you know, yes, I am following Jesus.
Forrest: Yes, I'm a part of the body.
Forrest: Yes, Jesus, this is your plan A and what you led us to do.
Forrest: And so we're gonna be a people who are built different so that we're not just staying stuck in just moments or one-time decisions, but devoting ourselves to what you've called us to.
Forrest: In Acts chapter 2, we see this response, this mood to devotion, to teaching, to fellowship, which is uh getting together and encouraging one another, breaking bread, eating.
Forrest: I'm so glad that that's spiritual.
Forrest: Praying together, praying for one another, generosity, worship, daily life together.
Forrest: The early church, they weren't just making a one-time decision, they were building a life with Jesus together.
Forrest: Can I tell you?
Forrest: This is not just a theory for us.
Forrest: Just as last week we got to celebrate four baptisms, praise God.
Forrest: Another today that's coming on Easter.
Forrest: We got to celebrate record attendance, praise God.
Forrest: Thank you, Lord.
Forrest: I'm excited to get to tell you that next month we've been approved to start demolition in the kids wing next door.
Forrest: Come on, somebody.
Forrest: And why that matters is not just because we're just collecting a whole bunch of moments together, but we're making room for the movement of God among us for our families and for our kids and our children's children and for our coworkers and friends.
Forrest: We're not just having church services, we're making room for more people to be disciples of Jesus.
Forrest: And the Holy Spirit is building this church.
Forrest: One of my favorite things ever in the last four years is watching people who have come to Christ or come back to Christ now walking in their purpose and gifting, and now people who said, you know what, if you had told me three years ago that I would be serving at a church, if you told me three years ago that I would be leading a small group, if you told me three years ago I'd be teaching kids about Jesus, I would have never believed you.
Forrest: And some of my most favorite, most favorite aspects and stories within our church because it shows us moving from not just this one-time moment decision, but into the devotion that Jesus calls us into that transforms our lives and the people that are around us.
Forrest: Can you imagine multiply as a room not just of people who attend, but a church that's filled with devoted people?
Forrest: Where first time people they come in, they visit, they don't just leave anonymously, but they actually get to be a found part of the body of Christ and belonging.
Forrest: Imagine us as a people that we're seeing God and Him moving in and through us, and it's not just a crowd.
Forrest: We're being and doing what God has called us to as a church, and it's looking like Acts chapter 2 here in Frankfurt and beyond.
Forrest: Here's the thing, you you don't have to know everything.
Forrest: You don't have to have the whole story and your whole future mapped out and what all God's plans are for you.
Forrest: You just have to answer the call to move with God.
Forrest: And don't just stop on the edge, but jump in.
Forrest: There's an opportunity for you to do that tonight.
Forrest: If you've never gone to the mix, you can come to the mix.
Forrest: It's gonna be tonight.
Forrest: We're gonna have a great time.
Forrest: We're gonna go deep in about the church.
Forrest: If you're new to church, we'd love to have you there tonight.
Forrest: You can find out more at the station about it.
Forrest: I'll tell you this.
Forrest: Something that's just is a challenge for me and uh annoying at times.
Forrest: Man, I wish that I wish that we could just do church as just a crowd sometimes.
Forrest: Like I wish that like we could just do it the way that it's been done and we've seen before.
Forrest: And church culture and all the years of all the traditions and just show up and I preach on Sundays and people get saved and we're good.
Forrest: Like I it's very annoying to me sometimes that I have to go to a small group in the middle of the week.
Forrest: I got I'm the pastor.
Forrest: I don't need to go to a small group.
Forrest: Yes, I do.
Forrest: So I can be and belong to the church and the body of Christ or to serve.
Forrest: It would just be so much easier if we could just be content with just like a crowd.
Forrest: And there are times where I'm like, man, God, is it is it is it really worth it by all the mess getting in people's lives and staying committed to one another and loving people.
Forrest: Can I tell you that it is worth it?
Forrest: It is it is to see what God's done in and through the lives of our church and knowing that God wants to do that so much more for more and more folks and more and more people, man.
Forrest: It would be, man.
Forrest: It's tempting.
Forrest: Hey, let's just have a great show on Sundays.
Forrest: Let's just I'm just gonna work on just preaching the best messages that I can.
Forrest: And that'll be the ministry for the next 10 years.
Forrest: We're not gonna do that, are we church?
Forrest: We're gonna love, we're gonna care, we're gonna serve, we're gonna go outside these walls, we're gonna use the giftings that God has given to us.
Forrest: And so for you, I I don't know what that means for you.
Forrest: To do what Peter said, to repent, to believe, to be baptized.
Forrest: Maybe for you it's a step you need to be baptized.
Forrest: There's a card in the seat in front of you.
Forrest: I'd love for you to check baptism on that card.
Forrest: Maybe for you it's that you've you've just been attending for a while, but you actually need to become part of the body.
Forrest: I'd love for you to find out more about what it looks like to get involved.
Forrest: There's a card in front of you, you can check, and we'll call you and text you and reach out to you.
Forrest: To get you to be a part.
Forrest: Maybe maybe you've just been satisfied with the decisions and the moments of God in the past, but it's time for you to say, God, I I'm I want more of the movement that you want to do in my life.
Forrest: Will you stand to your feet now?
Forrest: God, I pray over moms and dads and grandparents and teenagers and kids, Lord.
Forrest: Who are walking in the plans and purposes that you have planned for us before we were even born.
Forrest: God, thank you, Lord, that you're making us into a people that aren't satisfied with yesterday's moments.
Forrest: But God, that we're we're pursuing you and seeing you, God, move in a mighty way in our midst.
Forrest: God, thank you, Lord.
Forrest: For people that are among us that they would never would never would never believe where they are spiritually now.
Forrest: Because they've gotten rooted and belonging and loving and devotion and faithfulness.
Forrest: So, God, I pray over our people right now, Lord.
Forrest: That we would be that kind of people.
Forrest: And Lord, what we're gonna see in that is we're gonna see, God, you continue to add to our number those who are being saved.
Forrest: So then they can be a part of the body.
Forrest: Jesus, thank you that you gave us a better way.
Forrest: We submit ourselves to it right now and to you.
Forrest: We love you, we praise you.
Forrest: In the strong name of Jesus, everybody said, Amen.
Sallie: We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message.
Sallie: At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived alone.
Sallie: If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey.
Sallie: Visit multiplyky.com to let us know.
Sallie: We love you and we'll see you again soon.