Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY

Acts | Part 39 | Pastor Hunter Deel | Worship First

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On the first day of the week, the believers in Troas gathered to break bread and hear Paul teach, showing their commitment to consistent corporate worship. Even though Paul was leaving the next day, the church made worship a priority—meeting late into the night to share the Lord’s Supper, listen to Scripture, and encourage one another.

During the meeting, a young man named Eutychus fell asleep, fell from a window, and died, but God restored him through Paul, bringing comfort and strengthening the faith of everyone present.

Afterward, Paul continued his journey toward Jerusalem, choosing travel plans that allowed him to be with the believers as much as possible.

This passage highlights how the early church valued gathering together, sharing the Lord’s Table, learning from God’s Word, and being strengthened through the presence and ministry of fellow believers.

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SPEAKER_00:

Well, this morning you can take your Bibles and go to Acts chapter 20. Uh, Pastor Hunter is gonna be bringing our word today. So we uh pray that it blesses you. Every time I get the opportunity to do this, it always makes me want to vomit. But what I will say to you is this is that I cannot disappoint you any more than what the Kentucky Wildcats did yesterday. So I at least have that going for me. So we're coming up on Thanksgiving, and we all know that the day that America has set to be thankful is followed by the greatest holiday on the creation of the universe, Black Friday. So I was talking to one of my friends at work, and I had to ask this question. And I we just he's another pastor, and we was going back and forth, and he's like, Well, what's your intro? And I said, I have no idea. And uh I said, but I'd like to get to have something to do with the Black Friday story. And he said, Well, my family's nuts. Well, and I can relate because my family's crazy, and so and they're here. Um, so I listened to a story and I said, Well, I'm stealing this. So he was telling me that they would cook a massive Thanksgiving dinner and they would eat, and all the family would be there, had all the fixings, and they would go around the table and they would share what they're thankful for. And then they would clear off the Thanksgiving table and they would clean the dining room. And when they did that, that room was no longer called the dining room, it was called the war room, it was called the preparation table. And this was back before we had GPS, so I guess yes, he's old. Uh, he flopped out the map onto the table and they would highlight the route to the stores that they were going to, and then they would highlight the alternate route in case there was traffic. And then the cell flyers would come out on the table and they would circle with Sharpie the things that they are wanting. And then they would take whatever route was available and they would get to the store and they would pass out these flyers to each individual person, and you got was on what was on that flyer, or you was not invited back to Thanksgiving next year. I may have made that part up. But it was a military orchestrated attack. One would flank left, the other would flank right, and you they would acquire the goods for the necessity of Christmas. Operation Christmas. So there was so much preparation required in that. And the main question I have from that story is what do you prepare for in your life to this level? And is one of those things church? It got real quiet. Do you prepare for church by reading the scripture that's to come the week of? We preach book by book through the Bible, so verse by verse, so it's not hard to figure out what's coming next. Do you read ahead? Do you apply it what the sermon was about the that Sunday? Do you apply it the week ahead? Or do you just take notes and put them in your Bible and use them as bookmarks? Do you pray for the people sitting next to you? Knowing that there's somebody broken in this church, do you pray that the gospel would infiltrate a heart and change a life? We may do it for Christmas sales. Prepare, but do we prepare for the things that matter? The main point today I want to bring to you is that real followers of Jesus prioritize worship. We prepare, and we prioritize this in our life. I'm gonna read Acts chapter 20, verses 1 through 3, real quick. And after the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. And when he had gone through those regions and he had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece, and they spent there three months. And when a plot was made against him by the Jews, as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. Now, when we read this text, and I will read it all of it in a minute, we always get Euchus falling asleep, falling out the window, and dying, and Paul bringing him back to life. That's what we get. But I want to touch just real quick that Paul spends time and he encourages people around the church. And we say that point one is people of worship, the people that we worship with. On Paul's third missionary journey, he went from place to place, encouraging the church leadership and the body. Building up the church is vital. Building up one another is essential. If not, you might as well sit home and listen to a podcast. Ephesians 4.11. Pastor Benna had to bring Ephesians into this. Ephesians 4.11, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ. There's a reason we push small groups here. There's a reason we push prayer service, and there's a reason that we push church attendance. I have a conversation all the time that prayer, that church attendance does not guarantee our way into heaven. And it doesn't. But it helps us along the journey. The real reason that we push small groups is because I go to a small group, Jan, don't start with me. We go to push small groups, and that is because I am able to go to a small group and lay my burdens down and have other people lift them up when I can't carry them any longer. I go to a small group to carry their burdens when they can't carry them any longer. I go to a small group to rejoice with them when something great happens to them, and that encourages me. And then I can rejoice, or they can rejoice with me when something great happens to me. It is an encouragement every day. And there's times I don't want to go to a small group. Ron, I'm sorry. There's times I work and I get tired. It's only because Dr. Busky's there that I don't want to go. But it's the point is that we have lives and we get busy. But I know that every time I go, I will not regret it and I'll be encouraged. We push prayer service because it's the job of the church to come together and pray with one another, to lift each other up when other ones or others can't seem to muster a prayer. We pray for people who need it, and then we pray for Thanksgiving. We are here to encourage one another. Church in general, today you are not just here to listen to a mediocre speaker, you're not here to listen just someone preaching the text, but you're here to worship the creator of the universe together by hearing the preached word of God, singing together, worshiping with one another. And that's encouraging. As Pastor Chris said last week, everything in this world is buying for your attention. I listened. As Pastor Chris said last week, everything in this world is buying for your attention. So it is important to keep yourself grounded in the Word of God, keep yourself grounded in prayer. Your alone time with God prepares you for your time of corporate worship. Your alone time with God prepares you for your time of corporate worship. And there's evidence to that. If you don't prep at all, and if you don't pray and you don't read your Bible throughout the week, and you don't do anything to worship with God alone, you're gonna come here and you're gonna say, Well, that church service is flat. 99 times out of 100, the problem is it's not the church, the problem is you didn't put in work beforehand. So to be encouraged at the church, you have to have a sense of a home life of worship. Also, you're coming to a with people who are like-minded, people who believe somewhere to you, and will help you whenever you get in dangerous waters. I have four great other pastors here, and I talk to most of them on a daily basis. They help me whenever I feel like I'm starting to get in dangerous waters, and I help them whenever they feel like they're starting to get in dangerous waters. We lift each other up, we pray for one another, we rejoice with one another when something great happens. It's a community, and that's what the church is. Hebrews 3 13 says, But exhort one another every day as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, and if indeed we hold the original confidence firm to the end. And that is so that you can encourage me and I can encourage you, so that the deceitfulness of sin will not harden my heart. We keep each other accountable, and we walk step by step together. This cannot happen if you're not here. Just can't. You cannot do this alone. Paul went to encourage church leadership and the body. He didn't go do it individually, he went to the meeting place and he encouraged them. Events like Women's Retreat. I have heard, well, I don't know if Carol's here today, but I've heard great things about women's retreat. The encouragement that that brought. But Jerry, Pastor Jerry, who offered to give up his day of hunting. Thank you, Jerry, and he went with us. And him and I had a great time. He told us, he said, we can't go to the hospital together because we have too much of a great time and everybody else looks sad. And we was walking through one of those spinny doors, you know, like in the elf where he just runs around and around and around. And Jerry walked into a big glass wall and just smacked his face on it. I've laughed about that all weekend. It's been the highlight of my weekend. But we was also sitting there and and Miss Connie was starting to get worried about Tommy. And we was there, and we was able to make her laugh, and we was there to talk with her. And whenever I ran out of words, Jerry picked up. And whenever Jerry got tired of talking, which harder ever happens, I would pick up again. And we was there to encourage her and lift her up. We would help bear the burden. And that is what it's about. Ecclesiastes 4:9 through 10. Two are better than one because they have a good reward reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. It is easy to sit at home and be alone. It's hard to be vulnerable to other people. But I'm gonna tell you one thing: whenever trial hits, it is so much better to be here and be vulnerable with someone who can help lift you up than you trying to get up by yourself. Acts 27 through 12. I'm skipping all the names because I can't pronounce them. Honesty. On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. Y'all thought Pastor Chris was bad. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered, and a young man named Eutychus sitting at the window sank into a deep sleep. And as Paul talked still longer, and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. Everybody in the Cronus Crown's nest, be careful. And when Paul had gone up, oh I'm sorry, I'm missing apart. And when Paul went down and bent over him and talked with him and his take him in his arms, said, Don't be alarmed, for he is alive. There is life in him. And when Paul had gone up, he had broken bread and eaten, and he conversed with them a little while longer, longer until daybreak. And so departed. And they took up the youth away, and they were not just a little comfortable. So let's look at Eutychus a little bit. Some theologians think that he could have possibly been a slave. Everything that I saw was unanimous, though, that he was a man of working age at this time. And in an early church, historically, they have met on Sundays since around the day of Pentecost, all the way back in Acts chapter 2. They had no church buildings. So they would meet in people's homes and they would often share a meal together. This young man of working age has worked all day long. Yes, the ancient world would work on Sundays. The Sabbath usually fell on Saturday. So they would work on the Sunday. So service was usually held in the evening time. And he wanted to go listen to Paul. And like any other man who has worked all day, he got sleepy. If I sit on the couch for longer than five minutes with nothing else going on, I start to snore. And I wake myself up. Carrie elbowed dad and make sure he's awake. That man can sleep through anything. But Eudicus made no excuse on why he couldn't come to service that day and hear the priest word of the living God. He sacrificed his own sleep, knowing he had to get up early the next morning. Oh, that's convict to me right there. I sleep like a bear in hibernation. But you know why Eudicus did this? He prioritized worship. So prioritizing worship, your actions prove your priorities. Eudicus prioritized the gathering of believers. He weighed the options and he chose that going to worship God within the community of believers was worth the lack of sleep. He probably had to get up the next morning before dawn to go back to work. It was worth the exhaustion and missing the few hours of precious free time that he would have had. His actions proved his priorities. And that is spending time in the Word of God surrounded by people who may not be perfect, but were there to worship the perfect one. This reminds me of a story I heard not too long ago. I'm gonna read this article to you. There was no way Michael McGuire was going to miss his three-year-old son's first trip to the University of Kentucky men's basketball team in person. Even if it meant, even if it meant showing up to the basketball arena covered in soot from his job at the coal mine. A photo from the game shows Maguire with his face and clothes covered in dust and soot as he watched his son Easton beaming from ear to ear at the players during the Kentucky Wildcats annual blue-white scrimmage game. Coach Cal tweeted, and I think we have it up here. If yeah, there it is. He says, My family dream started in Clarksburg, West Virginia, coal mine. So this picture hits home. From what I've been told after his shift, he raced to be with his son and watch our team. Don't know who this is, but I have tickets for him and his family at Reparena to be treated as VIPs. Let's look at that picture. He looks tired. And I quote the article again, McGuire works long hours six days a week at a coal mine. His coal mine's about 40 minutes away from the arena. They were playing a uh Pike Vault this day. So he was determined to get to the game, even if it meant not having time to wash himself off. And I quote, I didn't want to miss it. I've had to miss so much stuff. McGuire grew up as a diehard Kentucky fan, but kept basketball, uh watching games with his father. So he was excited to carry on the tradition. I love this story. I absolutely love this story. Wholesong. I love the fact that this man desired to spend so much time with his son in a special moment that he's showing up exhausted, covered in cold dust, after working long hours of the day, missing free time in the evening, missing a hot meal that was probably waiting for him at home if this wasn't going on, missing precious sleep, because those games last forever. Missing precious sleep because he probably had to work the next day. I understand this, I can connect with this. Should we not want to even more spend time in the house of the Lord? Show a priority to be here just like that? Show my children that it's worth to be here. Knowing that God has saved us from everything, brought us from darkness into light, brought us from death to life, and that there's only one thing on this planet that's gonna save them in their future. Should I not want to show them that that's priority? Because I'm gonna tell you one thing. My children know Saturday mornings, it's football time. They know what the one thing will be said at my funeral, dad prioritized football. But I hope what's promoted above that is that dad prioritized God. That's what I hope. I hope that he says, I hope they're like Kentucky may never win a championship, but Hunter has won and finished his race, a race, and won the award. That's what I hope is proclaimed. But the sad fact is church becomes the afterthought. That's the sad fact. Church becomes the first thing that we're gonna do, or the church becomes the first thing that gets striked from the calendar when something comes up.

SPEAKER_01:

Come on.

SPEAKER_00:

It is the first thing that we'll get rid of, but it's the first thing that you'll run to whenever your life falls apart.

SPEAKER_01:

Come on.

SPEAKER_00:

People don't want to take time out of their day for this place because it's uncomfortable. You have to be vulnerable to be active here. You have to. People have to know you, you have to do things that are outside your comfort zone. This is outside my comfort zone. I have to you have to share your vulnerable side with people. But we get mad when church goes to 1201. This church doesn't because we always go past 1201. But this is talking about church in general. People get mad because the pastor is preaching or the worship gets extended or someone's getting baptized, and it just took too long. Don't you know the Packers play at noon? I know, I get it. That's why I have DVR. We have to prioritize things that matter. Well, I'm guilty of this. Last Sunday, my girls came here with their hair barely combed. My mom yelled at me, said that they weren't beautiful enough because I wasn't fighting with them. I did not want to be here, promise you. That happens to pastors. I'm gonna be honest with you. I just this is the last place I wanted to come. I was tired, grumpy. Don't you all say amen over there? I'm not always grumpy. And it's the last place I wanted to be. Pastors, do we feel this way too? Sometimes that happens. But you know what? We know what a priority is, and we stand up and we can show up anyway. But I was guilty because I was watching Monday Night Football and then I was praying that it would go into overtime, not caring what time I had to get up the next day. And then God convicted me. I was like, Holy Spirit, why? But that's a sad fact. We want church to get out on time, but we want our sports events to hit overtime. We have to make our actions prove our priorities. And sometimes we don't like the results of that. You we say we prioritize things, but our actions don't prove it. I think Pastor Chris has said this before. I listen to him talk so much. It's the he says, You want to you want me to you want me to know the priorities? Show me your bank account, your calendar. What else? I don't know either. He may not have said that. Oh, you say those two, yeah. And maybe how you surf here. I don't know. I'm gonna make it up. But here's another thing. Put him on the spot. I like that. Do you come here to be engaged in the in the service, listen to the preached word and apply it to your life, or do you do you just come here to check off the spiritual box? I I don't want you just to come here out of obligation, not like, okay, I need to, I need this is something I just need to do. What I want you to come here and do is I want you to be active. I want you to listen, and I want you to apply it to your life. I want you to serve. Not because it helps the church out, it does, but because you get connected and it will help you do one thing that matters more than anything else, and it will help you persevere to the end. And my job as a fellow Christian is to make sure that you persevere to the end. And I can't do that if I don't see you. And Kentucky's like a shoot-on-sight law, so if I go up and try to break down your door, I can get shot. And we ain't doing that. So you have to come here. So I want you to come not just to check off the box, but to be here, be active. So, what should we do when we come together and worship? We have two things that should never change. We have a we see a pattern of worship here in this text. We see that the service that Paul is holding is uh focused around two things, and that's the preached word of God and communion. And we should come to church not to just be impressed by a show or a great performance, but we should be cut to the heart by the preached word of God. The word of God should be preached. If you go to a church service and the word of God's not preached, run. Red flag. That's all I'm gonna say. Red flag. 2 Timothy 3:15 through 17. And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings. Timothy's mom used to read him the writings when he was a child, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for proof, for correction and training in righteousness, and that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. Uh, the word of God is breathed out by God. Sometimes I think we forget that. It's used to help someone who will get wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It's God breathed and profitable for teaching. That's why we don't preach on Martin Luther textbooks. Or any other theologian's textbooks, we preach on the Bible. It's used for correction. If the Bible or the preached word offends you, and the preached word comes from the Bible, and you're like, ooh, I don't like that. You're wrong. It happens to me all the time. I read it, and I'm like, ooh, I don't like that, and then I'm wrong. I just know that. That's what happens. Because the Bible is God breathed. That's what it is. God said it, He's not going to change it just because you don't like it. And it is for training and righteousness that the man of God may be completed, could be complete and equipped for every good work. I don't I don't do anything good with my own doing, but through the help of Christ, I can do good works. And the Bible trains me up for that. Communion, he we see him break bread. Eutychus falls out the third story window and dies. And then Paul raises him from the dead, using that as a live example of communion. Saying, look, just says Eudychus died, he was alive, then he died, and then we brought him back. So did Jesus live, die, and come back for us. Communion should ground our service, should be centered around the gospel of Jesus Christ. The service should be centered around the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ says several things, but what What it does do that we want to talk about now is it transforms the life of the unbeliever and then it renews the believer with hope every time that I hear it, every time that I take communion, I am reminded, renewed with the hope that Jesus Christ will come back to take the church. Communion should center us and should remind us exactly what the gospel did for our life, what Jesus Christ came to do, and he came to live a life that was sinless. He was God of everything, people. That he hovered over the face of the waters and he created everything. And then he saw that creation failed him. So he said, I know that nothing that you can do, I know that you can't apart from me, save yourself. So I will have to come be born, live a life, be mocked, ridiculed, not believed, and then hung on a cross to be killed. Our service should hang around the fact that even though those things happened, it was all part of God's plan that he raised him from the dead. And he rose from the dead, and then he taught to over 500 people who saw him, and then he ascended to be with the Father to do what? To come back and get his church one day. Why would we come here and that not be reminded of? In conclusion, there's we saw three things in this passage. It was people of worship, prioritizing worship, and the pattern of worship. All three of these things should be surrounded by the gospel of Jesus Christ. People of worship, the people should come together, bonded to one another by the gospel and worshiping in like minds because they believe in the gospel. That's what they do. Prioritizing worship, we should prioritize worship because the gospel saved us from the wrath of God. And we want to worship him in spirit and in truth. Worshiping within the community of believers is fuel for us to make it out into the real world and get converts. And then the pattern of worship, the worship service should be focused on the preached word and communion. The service should be all about Jesus and keeping him at the center. So what I say to you at the end of here is prioritize God. He saved. Prioritize God. He saved you from sin and death. He put him, put him first in your life. Love him with all of your heart and follow him. That doesn't mean we don't mess up from time to time. And again, we we don't prioritize other things because that does happen, and I'm guilty of that. But the usual is that we have zeal for God. We have a passion to do to be with his people and serve the purpose of God. That's the point. It's the point for church. Let's pray. Heavenly Father God, thank you so much. So much that you would give us your son, the die on a cross, so that we may have a zeal for you, so that we can be reconnected to you and then have a zeal for you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_01:

Amen.