Living Outloud: Do we really want to be an Acts 2 church?

We wrestle with Acts 2:42-47 as a vivid snapshot of the early church, then ask what it means without turning it into a modern church template. We land on a sharper challenge: stop comparing institutions and start letting this passage expose our devotion, generosity, and everyday witness. 
• reading Acts as the continuation of Luke and a turning point in God’s relationship with his people 
• the story behind getting “stuck” in Acts 2:42 and why the verse still matters 
• asking whether Acts 2 is an ideal to copy or a moment to understand 
• Pentecost context, pilgrims in Jerusalem, and why the intensity may be situational 
• descriptive vs prescriptive, and the danger of using Acts 2 as a battering ram 
• shifting from church comparison to personal heart check as believers 
• devotion as a life orientation, not a Sunday habit 
• core marks of Christian community: teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer 
• generosity that costs something, and why “comfortable giving” misses the point 
• fruitfulness, seed planting, and praying to be used by God in someone’s salvation 

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Transcript

Welcome To Living Out Loud

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's another Living Out Loud, the once-a-week episode where we talk about what we read earlier in the week and specifically how do we actually live this out? What can we do about this? I'm Mike and I'm here with Kelsey.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hi.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

I'm so used to you chiming in there. I don't know. I guess that's just what we do now.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I was doing some uh prepping for our conversation and I was not listening while you were talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

So I would say Kelsey's here, but maybe that's just partially true.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Hi.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

We're uh we started the book of Acts this week, and I love the book of Acts, or like I sometimes call it Luke Part 2, because uh Luke is writing Acts as a continuation of his gospel. Luke.

Why Acts Feels Like A Turning Point

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Of course, John is positioned there in the middle, but that wasn't Luke's decision. So here in the book of Acts, we see the start of the church, uh, which is a really special and unique time in the history of our church and the history of our uh our lives as believers, and this kind of a big step. You know how like you're in a relationship with someone and something happens. Obviously, maybe it's like a being engaged or getting married, but it's like a this is like this is a big step in our relationship. Maybe it's a particular vacation, I don't know. But it's like this feels like one of those moments between God and his people. This is like, whoa, this is it's not gonna be the same anymore. Um, and so specifically, I want to take a look at Acts chapter two.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

It's like in the Old Testament that was God's covenant with Abraham. It was like, from here on out, I've got people.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

It's like, oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

And now it's like, oh, from here on out, I have the church. It's like, ah, that's a whole new system. Whole new thing, whole new relationship.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Acts 242 is a verse that I feel like Kelsey and I are particularly familiar with because uh several years ago, the church that we were at at the time, we had actually just started

The Acts 2:42 Scripture Team Story

SPEAKER_02 1:43

do uh leading a scripture reading team. Like we were reading scripture out loud back then, and um, we were training a team to be able to like here's how we can uh read the word of God out loud and do it in this engaging kind of conversational way, help people understand it. And they're like, Oh, this is great. And uh And the pastor was on board with it too.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

He was like, Yeah, let's have scripture reading every single Sunday, and you'll read the passage that I'm gonna preach, and it'll be great.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

We'll be in the book of Acts, and okay, perfect. And so uh we really just started it uh at that point. He's like, We're doing I'd like you start with Acts 2.42. I was like, okay, and for the uh maybe for the next couple verses, right? And so our scripture team, our first reader, did Acts 2.42. It's like, okay, great. And then the next week he was still in Acts 2.42 because he preached, like, all right, they were okay, stop right there. It says they were. Now who are we talking about? And then he would preach. They were devoting. Okay, stop right there. Let's talk about devotion. I'm like, oh, and that's how it went. And we were in Acts 2.42 for two months.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

I think I think it was two.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

I think it was two months, and so our scripture reading team, everyone had had the chance to do their scripture reading of this verse, but by then everyone had already memorized.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

We're trying to like bring the congregation into it, and it was a call and response, and we were like memorizing. What more can we do with the verse? It's just like the worst possible time to start a scripture reading team. And then we're just in the same scripture every single week for two months, and it was like the same three verses.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

And we kind of fizzled out after that.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

So whenever Mike and I get to Acts 242, we're always like, okay, Acts 2, verse 42. All no, stop right there. Stop right there. And we just laugh. But for real, we're in Acts 242 today, and we we want to dive in deeper with this conversation. I'm living out loud.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

And we're not gonna stay here for multiple weeks. We're gonna have a conversation and we're gonna get out of there. Um, but this this uh 242 and the and the following verses describe this first gathering of believers, this first church now that uh they devoted

Reading The Acts 2 Church Snapshot

SPEAKER_02 3:40

themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. And reverential awe came over everyone, and and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone as anyone had need. And every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved. And this is just an idyllic, like, it just feels like a utopia of a church. It feels just like, oh man, how great would that be? And we have there's a lot of conversations today among pastors and church leaders of like, man, how do we how do we get to that? Like a church, at least in America, and I know elsewhere, has it doesn't look like this. First of all, my question, I'll put you on the spot, Kelsey. Is it appropriate to see this in in Acts chapter two and say that is the ideal and we have fallen away from that? We

Is Acts 2 The Ideal Church?

SPEAKER_02 4:50

need to get back to that. Is that even a question worth asking or pursuing?

SPEAKER_01 4:54

I don't know if you agree with me.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

We're hey, we're going into the water.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and say no.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Actually.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

How so?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Because this isn't an isolated incident. This isn't Acts 2.42 comes after Acts 2.43, which comes acts after Acts 2.41 and 2.42. And and

Pentecost Context And The Pilgrim Theory

SPEAKER_01 5:13

in context, in historical context, this is a response to Peter's sermon that he gave on Pentecost when he was filled with the Holy Spirit and went out and was speaking one sermon heard in many tongues by visitors, right? And it's it was a festival happening that brought in travelers from all over the place to Jerusalem. And so there were people from all over the place, all over the known world. Jews were in Jerusalem, they heard the gospel, and in my understanding, those people, when when it says that that were added to the church that day in verse 41 were 3,000 people.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

There were 3,000 people after Peter's sermon. And then this is kind of describing what they did. And the Lord was still adding to their number, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Yeah, the Lord was still adding to their number, right? But like, but these are 3,000 people. It wasn't 3,000 people in Jerusalem who had been there the whole time. I think, in context, knowing that this was the festival of Pentecost that had a whole bunch of visitors in town, I think the Holy Spirit used that opportunity to bring a whole bunch of people from surrounding cities, surrounding villages, surrounding neighborhoods, from far away from Jerusalem. All these, all these people who are coming to the festival, they heard the gospel, they heard Peter's message. They were then maybe they stayed a little bit longer in Jerusalem. That's why they're staying in homes. That's why they're they're selling everything they have, they're sharing everything because they don't have a home to go to in Jerusalem. Their home is 50 miles away on some farmland somewhere. And so the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

One Jew is maybe hosting a house church here with multiple people from all the all around the world.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I don't think it's 3,000 people that stayed there and had a mega church of 3,000 people, or even a whole bunch of house churches of that spread out to 3,000 people. I think it was a whole bunch of pilgrims coming to Jerusalem, hearing the message, getting saved, then having an intense time of learning from the disciples, an intense time of praying together, an intense time of fellowship, and a unprecedented time of fellowship and building the church so that when those people went home, their intention was not to come to Pentecost or come to Jerusalem for Pentecost festival and stay there. Their intention was to come to uh Jerusalem for Pentecost and then go home. And I think that's why the Holy Spirit showed up on that day in that time during that festival was so all those people would come be there already, hear the gospel, get some intense, like groundbreaking, foundational teaching. Like this is who we are now. We are followers of Christ, and this is what church looks like, this is what fellowship looks like, this is what prayer looks like, this is what the sacraments are going to be, this is the teaching from the disciples, so that they would go home to their farm communities, to their cities, to their towns, to their families, and start spreading the gospel there and developing churches there.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Building a DNA of the church to be replicated.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

To be more fair than just saying, no, I don't think this is a good example or a precedent-setting example. It's obviously a good example. I don't think that this I think it it's a precedent-setting example in the way that it was a precedent-setting example for them, it should be for us. That this is how churches should operate. That does not necessarily mean that in order to that that a measure of the success of your church in your community is that you're 250 Xing like uh your attendance some week. Like if 3,000 people aren't added to your number, then you're not doing it right. And if you're not all selling all of your possessions and meeting in each other's homes, you're not doing it right. I think it was kind of an unprecedented time. And those believers would go home, share the gospel, develop churches in their hometowns, in their home cities, in their villages, and and they would start meeting together in homes and teaching what they learned from the apostles and praying together the way that they did in Jerusalem. But just in the same way that that like when we will go off to a retreat or we will go off into a a camp or like some some sort of spiritual getaway. I for me, I think this was the first like spiritual retreat of the modern day church. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

It teaches Holy Spirit Conference.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yes. Teaching, um teaching the believers how to be church and what that's gonna look like and who Jesus is and how we're gonna teach one another so it would spread. It doesn't necessarily mean that like the level of intensity or the the things that we see in Acts 2 have to be present in today's church in order for today's church to be an Acts 2 type church.

unknown 9:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

But in the same way they were kind of setting precedent for those who are going home, we can take precedent from this. We can learn from this to establish some precedent and to establish some some ways of doing church and some ways of being believers today.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Let's not compare our church. Let's not compare our church with this church. Let's compare ourselves with these believers.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

See, you're so good at like summarizing things. I just blab. And then Mike comes along with like, and to say that real succinctly, you're giving you given the the great raw material, and we'll just repackage it.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Uh but I I I and I I do I do agree with you. I wouldn't have agreed with you even maybe so soon as maybe a couple years ago. But I I I think seeing studying this more and and seeing this, I I agree. Someone might disagree. Honestly, you probably wouldn't have agreed with yourself some number of years ago.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

No, this was kind of a thug even in the last year.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Uh but and yeah, and you may disagree with this, so that's that's totally fine. Uh, but I think we can all agree, like uh we we all like the idea of being an acts to church, whatever that means. However,

Descriptive Not Prescriptive And Why

SPEAKER_02 10:53

uh the problem, the disconnect is that we don't all want to be an axe to believer, if we're being honest. Um C.S. Lewis talks about in in Mere Christianity about this early church here, uh and uh in in this time here in Acts 2, he says, I I think everyone looks at it like it's kind of this ideal thing, but I think it's a bit more it looks more like socialism more than the conservatives would want to admit, and it looks uh way more uh fundamental and traditional than the progressives would want. And so everyone would uh like some parts of the way this church operates, but no one would like all of it. And I I think even as we kind of read through the verses here of of uh oh yeah, I would like to sit under teaching and even share meals with people and pray with them. Oh, that's great. Miraculous signs, that'd be cool. And and then then it's like, wait, they're selling their property? Oh, I don't know if I don't know if I want to do that. Or it's like, oh, I risk I get people's th I things like that. Oh, that's great, that sounds good. But like, oh wait, hold on, I have to you know spend time praying and and praising God and and sit under teaching every day. Every day every day, like I don't every day. I don't have time to do that every day. So there's we like to pick and choose some parts of this that are like, oh, that would be nice, I would do that. But taking a look at the picture as a whole, I don't I don't know if I want all of that. But let's just let it be what it is, a description of what this early church is. Let's neither dismiss it as oh, well, that was just back then. That was that was a a special time that doesn't really apply today, and let's not necessarily say, oh, well, we need to model our church structure after this church structure too, because I don't think that's uh what it's here for.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

I would say this passage is descriptive, Michael, and I'm not convinced that it's prescriptive. Sure. And and I think that there's there's people, friends of ours, very good friends of ours, who want this to be prescriptive and would teach this as if it is prescriptive. And those of us believers who are not selling everything and living in each other's houses are not living up to what the Bible says church.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Sold out to the American church instead of the Axe church.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

And we're not all in. Um, and and I think that that's dangerous. It's definitely describing what happened at the launch of the church. But as I've already just said, I think it's describing that in order to I think that the way this happened was so that it it was it was the Holy Spirit pouring fuel on the fire to spread the church and the message of Jesus as quickly as possible. Um now you and I living in 2026 United States of America, quite frankly, like and I hesitate to even say this because we should we ought not to establish our theology and our our our theology around what church should look like and church operations around our cultural expectations, but there are cultural things that like to reach cultures it it's gonna be different. We aren't we are not selling our all of our possessions and and and living in a commune together. Like we aren't doing that, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect the church to do that. Now, if the Holy Spirit comes and guides us in that direction, we ought to be obedient to live that way. But I don't think that a Holy Spirit-filled church, that a God-honoring church, that a Christ-following church, that a biblical teaching church has to include no one owning anything and everybody living all together. Like I I I just don't think that that extreme has to happen. Um however, there are principles for us to take from this that that we we should want to be pushing ourselves towards uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yes. And here here's the thing. Whenever we come across a list of things like this, this is a list of things. I I think you're right, it's a descriptive list of of of what it was like. We tend to take lists and then make them checklists

Stop Making Lists Into Checklists

SPEAKER_02 15:01

and be like, do we have this and do we have this and do we have this? Yeah. And uh and let's instead uh let these just be a heart check, uh, because I think more important than are we doing all these things in our church today is are we the kinds of people who would do these kinds of things? And at the very least, if not, are we the kinds of people who are doing these things? Am I am I a person of whom this could be true? Could this describe me? Um I willing for it to describe me, where am I not?

SPEAKER_01 15:31

And I think with that lens, we can dig into some of these women's Bible study at our church, and we were going through acts and we came to this and we're having this conversation of like, is this what church should look like today? And and quite frankly, the majority of us women around the room were like, if if we could like go ahead and just do this, like sell everything and like live as a commune and study the word of God together every single day, that'd be great. But we're also like, but are we gonna do that? Like, I mean, this was several months ago and nobody's sold their house and like gone and on property together yet. So, like, there's there's just something that like we want to have this level of commitment to church. We want to have this level of devotion to the word of God, we want to have this level of of fellowship and unity with other believers. Like, we we want that, but there is something like just in our day-to-day, in our in our culture, in our expectations, in our own plans for our lives that don't really allow for this level of intensity, I think that's okay. I really do.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

But don't let it but don't let it relieve you of a of a responsibility to be the kind of person that this could be true of.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Right. And so that's the tension that we're working with here. Where it's kind of delicate. Where it's like, yes, this is descriptive of then, so we don't necessarily have to live this checklist out.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

And if that makes you go, oh phew, good. Well, hold on.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Hold on. There's also a responsibility to be the kind of believer that would go all in like this. And is there something that God actually is calling you to do? Is there something that he's a comfort he's calling you to give up? Is there a higher level, a deeper level of devotion that he's calling you to, a deeper level of commitment to the church and to other believers that he's calling you to that that you're just kind of saying no to because it would just put make you too uncomfortable? Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

And we can say, okay, well, that was true of them then. It's not true of me now.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Right. And so if if if we use this as a battering ram to say you're not devoted if you don't look like an Acts 2 church, that's a wrong that's not appropriate. That's not right. But also if we just are like, well, that was Acts 2, that was a special time, that was just God establishing the church, so I don't have to live like that. That's not appropriate. I think that's also inappropriate too. So there's a there's a a a balance here for us to to to to strive to strike and to ask. Honestly, I think we just need to be taking this in prayer to God and be like, God, what what heart position of this acts two church am I missing out on? Like if I was there, I wouldn't have partaken because of XYZ. I wouldn't have wanted to do that part. I wouldn't have wanted to do that part. I wouldn't like that if you called me to that today. Like, let's let's let the Holy Spirit reveal some things in us that's like, well, if I actually had to go to church every day, I'd be so bored. Like, I don't want to do that. Well, maybe, you know, talk to God about your perception of church and what and and why would you be unwilling to go to church? What are what is it that you're doing with your time that you feel is more important than going to church? And it doesn't necessarily mean you have to be in the church building every day because acts to believers were in the temple every day. But why wouldn't you want to be? And let's wrestle with some of those questions.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

And with that in mind, let's just look at some of these qualities of an acts to believer and see if how well we align with the heart of the acts to believer here. Um not as a model for church, not as a list of things to do or not do, but just as a heart check. That's what we're all about here. So uh it it starts with verse 42, devoting themselves. Okay,

Devotion To Teaching Fellowship Prayer

SPEAKER_02 19:00

stop right there. Um Devoting, though, that is an important word because this isn't just a yeah, I do it on Sunday. Or uh, you know, I do it I like doing it. That's not devotion. Uh it it goes beyond even just the kind of tradition of once a week, maybe on church, but it's it's uh this is what I think about during the week. This is what I do even when I'm not asked or expected or being watched. This is just this is just how I live, and this is that's devotion. That's kind of the level of engagement we're we're talking about. All right, we'll keep going. We're not gonna take forever.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Um and I think that that that level of life, like that level of I I think that that aspect of the Acts to Believer ought to be true of us. That we ought to be and the thing they're devoted to. Yeah. The teach apostles teaching, that's teaching, that's understanding the word of God, that's understanding who Jesus is, that's study, that's a commitment to reading the word and understanding the word and teaching the word and grappling with the word.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

It's not just hearing a sermon on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Right. Um, fellowship, getting together with other people, sharing meals, prayer. Like we ought to be with these things. We ought to be people who are devoted. That we could someone could look at our life and be like, wow, I think the thing you care most about is church and all that that represents.

unknown 20:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

As opposed to being like, I mean, I go to church on Sundays, but the thing I really care about is football. Yeah, or or or my or my kids or my job or my home or whatever. Like, like what is the thing that an outsider would look at you and be like, you know what? She really cares about this. Like his life is all about this. Would they would church even be on the list? And and all that church represents. I'm not saying like the church building that you go to. I'm talking about like the big sea church, the commitment to Christ and and the kingdom of God in your life and expanding his kingdom here on earth. Like, are those things, is the church a fundamentally core part of who you are because you're so devoted to it that people recognize it.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

To put it in other terms, like these are the core values of the church. If you're like in business or started a business or you know, you work at a business, sometimes you'll see the core values like on the wall, and like this is what founded these are the the core values that kind of describe who we are and how we do things. This is this is what this group of believers were really like all about. Like if you knew them at all, you spent any time talking with them, listening to them, watching them, it's like, man, they the apostles teaching, the fellowship, breaking a bread, prayer. Breaking a bread, uh maybe someone more studied than I could clarify that, but I I I believe that refers to kind of two things, both just generally sharing meals together. That's they would break bread, they share share meals together in each other's homes, and also referring to um the like communion, a regular observance of Jesus' uh teachings and commands in that way. And and prayer. And like that's just this is what they're about. And are these things these things should be true of us as believers. This doesn't die in Acts 2. We are are you You the kind of person who you you devote yourself to? I want to hear more about the word of God. I want to learn more. I want to hear what people I trust that they they hear from God, they they know God's word, they handle it well. What are they saying about it? And it's not just what the pastor says on Sunday. It's like, I I want to get into it, I want to hear, I want to learn. Fellowship, do you get together with other believers or are you too busy during the week? It's not just I see you on Sunday. What about sharing meals? Do you invite people into your home? Do you do you and go out after church, maybe, and or sometime during the week and spend time? That's that's like where real conversations happen. Real conversations, unfortunately, don't really happen in church. If you if you do, that that's awesome. That's great. I I the most real conversations I've had have been like at Dunkin' Donuts or like at Applebee's.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Right. And like the second hour in.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Right. Yeah, yeah. Not just like, you know, after the appetizer's already gone and done. Like we're thinking about dessert now, and and the the server is like, are you guys gonna move? Like, are you done? Can I bring the check? That that's the good stuff. And prayer, prayer together, prayer individually between you and God, prayer with other people, one-on-one, small groups. Are these true?

SPEAKER_01 23:17

And this this chunk here, this one verse, I would say ought to describe our churches, ought to describe the gatherings that we're part of. Um, I've been in we we've been parts of a lot of churches because we've been around and and lived in different areas of the country. And some of them have been better as parts of these than others. But I if if you if you and I are part of a church that is not devoted to good, solid biblical teaching, if people don't really get together outside of Sunday, if they never celebrate the Lord's Supper and sacraments, if you are not praying together as a church, like these are those are concerns. Those are, like you said, these are core values. This is the Holy Spirit establishing church and what church would look like. And if those aren't part of the local body of believers that that you and I are a part of, I'm gonna start questioning that church's commitment to living in in the way that God intends the church to operate.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Yeah, it it would be like driving up to a McDonald's and it says McDonald's, but instead of a yellow arch M, it it's like a green letter E, and you walk in and they're serving sushi and stuff, and you're like, I'm sorry, is this McDonald's? Yeah, it's McDonald's. Like, I don't know. I've this is not I know McDonald's, and McDonald's does this and this and this, and I just don't see it here. It's like that's not a McDonald's. And so a a church without these and a believer that's not devoted to these things, yeah. I would question if it's really a Christ such a church and a Jesus following believer. Yeah. Uh but it goes on. Those are uh definitely core, right? And then it goes on to uh to talk about selling property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone. And and here, this is probably the most divisive

Generosity That Actually Costs You

SPEAKER_02 25:07

part of this passage because you get some people are like, uh, that sounds like socialism. And then some people are like, and that sounds great, and other are like I and I don't want to do anything with that. It's like, look, this is not a a governmental socialism. This is not this is not the same thing. Uh but like C.S. Lewis said, it might be a little more socialist than you're comfortable with. Uh because the whole idea of selling your possessions, that's that's a little prickly. And look, you may be someone like that rich young ruler that Jesus talked to and said, You're just missing something. Sell your possessions, give it to the poor, and then follow me. And if that is something that you're holding on to and you don't want to surrender, then that is a then that's a wrestling with God that you need to contend with. Um but that's not necessarily the call on everyone to literally do that.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

But people still had homes because people met there.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Yeah. We're meeting somewhere, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:06

They're just sharing it. And so the idea here is openness. It is the openness to share everything that you have, even to the extent of selling everything and giving the money to the poor. But are you just even coming short of selling it all? Are you willing to share it all? Are you willing to take everything that God's given you and open it up to whoever needs to benefit from your resources and your possessions and the things that God's given you, your time, your attention? Like, are we people who are willing to give all of that for the kingdom of God? Um, I and I I see that that's the the the character here that we ought to be questioning whether or not we really possess as as believers in the modern day.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

We see this as an example of generosity and that the fact that generosity is sacrificial. Like it requ it costs something. Yeah. And that what I how I would consider sacrificial is does your giving hurt a little bit? Is it outside of your comfort zone what you're giving? And that's not a number. That's not a a dollar amount. It's maybe a percentage, but it's also it it's just a okay. What would you be okay with? Like if you gave some amount of money away or to the church or to some ministry, uh, you gave that amount away. Are you like, oh yeah, I can do that. That's okay, I can do that much. Okay. What's the next number up that's like, ooh, I don't know about that. I think that's your target. To for biblical generosity, for faith-filled generosity, and to to have this heart of giving that that reflects the heart of God. Jesus' death was the most sacrificial giving. Just because he was God doesn't mean it was less sacrificial or didn't cost him as much. Like, oh well, he he came back to life, so his sacrifice wasn't costly at all. He got it right back. No, you know how much he gave up to become human in the first place? Like, just be to become one of our smelly fleshbags of humans, he he gave up all the glories of heaven for that to even live here as us. Like, he demonstrates costly generosity, and so I think we as Christians need to not give what's like, okay, I can give that. I think we gotta go a step beyond to where it just hurts a little bit. Like, ooh, I would like to have that back. That's like new tires. Oof, ouch. Yeah, I I that's I'm gonna have to figure out how to pay for rent now. Like, I you know, and that's a how far do you want to go? I don't know if that's between you and God, but like to put yourself in a position where you do then have to rely on God's generosity and be dependent on him, I think is a good place to be. If it allows to be a blessing for someone else. Now, I don't know, we people get weird when we talk about money, but that it's between you and God, but but make it between you and God. Don't just like, well, that's between me and God, and therefore never think about it and talk about it again. Um, but have these conversations. This is this is again uh not um necessarily a model for church in 2026, but it should be a model for a believer in 2026. Am I the kind of person who is engaged by all of these things and is like, yeah, I let's do that. God, how how can you use me like this? How can uh how can I live in such a way so that people look at me and like, man, he or she is all about like they're learning the Bible, they get together with other believers and they're getting their get togethers are like really like positive and different than other than when me and my friends get together. They have meals with each other, so they're praying all the time, like they're praying, they they're praying for me, uh they're they're praying for their mom, they're praying for everybody, and and they get together and they just like they seem to have everything taken care of that they need because they just freely give. Like, uh God, can you help me be that kind of person? Then I think that's then this passage doing its job. I think that's us really relating, letting the Bible help transform our own hearts to line up with the heart of God that we read here.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

And then the result in Acts 2

Fruitfulness Seeds And People Saved

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is that the Lord was adding to their fellowship daily, those who were being saved. And you you might not be in a position where you're seeing someone come to know the Lord and get saved every single day.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

That would be fruitful and awesome.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

But if you're never seeing someone around you get saved, if you're never part of those conversations, if you're if you're just literally since you got saved, you've never seen or part been part of another human being getting saved? That's a question. Because because the the result of this kind of church and this kind of Christian living is more people getting saved.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

And I don't mean someone raised their hand when the pastor at church said, Hey, who here would like to pray that prayer today and you were there? Like that's not that's not your fruitfulness.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Yeah, it's it's have have you had a neighbor come to know the Lord? Have you have you befriended someone who who doesn't go to church and seen them transform their lives and and give their lives to Jesus and seen Jesus up upheave the way they used to live and change? Like, are you seeing fruit like that?

SPEAKER_02 31:23

When was the last time that someone you know was unsafe? A coworker, a family member, a friend? When was the last time that you were part of their coming to Christ? If you can't remember, or if that's never happened, look, it's not about like guilt or anything, but that's something to pray into. God, can you use me like this? Like you use the the believers in this first church. That's the goal here. Or if, and if you're like, oh yeah, it was like last year. Okay, good. Praise God, that's awesome. Is that do you feel content with that? Yeah, or do you want to see more?

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Um and now to encourage you, you might be a seed planter, you might be someone sharing the gospel, sharing your faith, putting Jesus out there in front of people, and you're not actually the one who gets to water or the one who gets to harvest and see that person come to the Jeremiah.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

Never saw anybody like submit to God the way that he was called.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

So we recognize that your role in any individual's life might not be to walk that person through a salvation moment and and see them come to Christ or disciple them. But are you sowing seeds? Are you planting seeds? Are you are you sharing your faith in a way that if that person's day to come to know Jesus was today, they could talk to you about it and know that you're someone to go to?

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Well, it's another case of letting the Bible be a mirror today. Let the Bible be a mirror and see how do we line up with what's being described as, frankly, a group of believers that saw great fruit and great impact. It's not a model for us to necessarily structure every church institution and every life decision around necessarily, but can we use these as prayer points? God, can you help me grow in this way? Can can you help me grow in this way? Can you position me in a place like this so I can grow and help others grow as well? I think then that's a pretty good handling of scripture. So uh thanks for joining us here in this conversation about Acts chapter two. Go back and read the chapter and and see how see how God would would lead you to pray in light of this. And uh and join us next time on the Out Loud

Prayerful Wrap Up And Next Steps

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Bible Podcast.