Acts 2 Why A Healthy Church Feels Like Home

What if church felt less like a weekly lecture and more like a living room where people actually carry your burdens, share your meals, and fight for your hope when your arms get tired? We dive into Acts 2 to rediscover koinonia—real fellowship that is public, messy, joyful, and life‑giving.

We start by flipping the common “minimum vs maximum” questions on their head and ask a better one: how do we best honor God and each other? From there, we unpack the early church’s rhythms—devotion to Scripture, shared tables, persistent prayer—and why they still change lives. You’ll hear stories of ramps built for accessibility, food pantries stocked by surprise generosity, rides given, and neighboring churches stepping in to support one another. This is tangible discipleship: time, tools, homes, and money treated as gifts from God to be stewarded for the good of the whole.

We also talk about rebuilding trust after years of isolation, and why daily presence matters more than perfect programs. Think integrated community: invite coworkers to the game with your small group, turn dinner into prayer, and let friends “irritate” you toward love and good deeds. Underneath it all is the gospel—Jesus accomplishing what we could not, forming a people who confess, forgive, and live visibly different. If you’ve longed for a church that feels like family and mission all at once, this conversation will give you language, courage, and next steps.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs community, and leave a review with one practice you’ll try this week—meal, prayer, or invitation. Your story might be the nudge someone else needs.

Transcript

Welcome, Minimums Vs Maximums

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the City Life Church podcast. We hope it encourages you. If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifeSandiego.org. And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.

The Case For Real Church Community

Acts 2 Context And Reading

Prayer For A Violent, Weary World

Ice Cream, Joy, And Loving The Church

Three Reasons The Early Church Grew

Koinonia Defined And Practiced

Learning Under Leaders And Asking Questions

Eating Together, City Groups, And Prayer

Post‑2020 Walls And Rebuilding Trust

Holding Up Each Other’s Arms

When We Pray Together, God Moves

Sharing Possessions And Needs

Generosity Stories That Change Lives

Churches Helping Churches

Time Together Every Day

Integrating Friends And Daily Life

Practicing Community Despite Anxiety

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Pastors get a lot of questions. A lot. Like there are some questions that we get where the actual question reveals the answer to me. Like one is often based on the minimum, and then another question is based on the maximum. Both are usually signs of a problem. And most of you have these questions, but are probably not brave enough to always ask them. Okay? So first question I get about the maximum. Pastor, how far can I go with my boyfriend or girlfriend? That's one I get a lot. Like, how far can I go? And um it's usually the wrong question. Like the right question is how can I best honor my girlfriend or boyfriend and honor God in our relationship? There's also a minimum question that uh I get as a pastor. Pastor, what's the minimum I can do with the church to be good with God? That's a question I get. Can't I just go to bedside Baptist, watch the sermon online, and be good? And once again, I say that's the wrong question. It's the wrong question. Um, when you say uh you want to do this your own way, uh when you say that you talk to God all the time, you are telling me that you don't want to do faith the way Jesus prescribes for us. And it's crazy because I've talked to people after the service that we're talking to me about the anxiety they have about church. And um, man, it I understand anxiety is a real thing, but I've also learned over time that oftentimes the way we treat anxiety is exposure. Again and again and again and again. You know, you look at a picture of a spider, then you watch a video of a spider, then you see a spider live, then you put the stinking spider in your hand. Now, they don't put a black widow in your hand, you know, but it's exposure, it's exposure that changes things. Um we need to stop pretending, though, a lot of times, that we're obedient to God, but we're not doing what he asks. Um, our attempts to do the minimum for God means we miss out on God's design for us. Like we miss out on the things he wants to bless us with. Like you were made to be known. You were made to be in community. We are supposed to be in each other's business. Now, quick background on today's text in Acts 2. Um, the Holy Spirit had just showed up in a huge way. And Jesus' followers in this moment, right after his resurrection, soon after his resurrection, were speaking in all the different languages of all the pilgrims who had come from different countries to worship God. Um, and in this moment, they decided, huh, we hear you guys saying all this weird stuff, you're probably drunk. That was the conclusion that the people came to. And Peter said, Man, like, it's too early in the morning to be drunk. Not to mention, a lot of that like Jewish wine was like kind of weak. So, like, even if you started drinking in the morning, you weren't there yet. You weren't you weren't gonna be there yet. So then Peter gave a sermon that broke it down. And thousands of people repented of their sins and they were baptized in that quick moment. But then after the baptizing comes the real work, right? Like after the baptism comes the real work. It's the work of being the church. It's one thing to say you belong to Jesus like one time or have like a big ceremony. It's another thing to live it out. And baptism is the first page of the book of your life with Jesus. And for this brief moment, though, the church started to live it out in a beautiful way. And everything went crazy because of that. Now they didn't always stay this beautiful and clean. That's why we got most of our New Testament. It's it's oftentimes pastors saying, like, hey man, could you just knock that off? Things got extremely messy. But what we have in Acts 2 is a vision of the church at its best. It's a precursor to heaven. So are you with me in Acts 2? Anyone have a bound Bible here today? Oh, those are my favorite. I think they're just so beautiful. Zero notifications on them. All right. Uh, if you trust yourself, turn on your Bibles to Acts 2. Let's go. Acts 2, 42. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now, all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Now see, this is a tangible expression of Galatians 6 2, when it says to carry one another's burdens. In this way you fulfill the law of Christ. And in Hebrews 10 24, it says, Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. And if you know this text, or if you've been around me too much, you would know that spur means irritate. Let us irritate each other in love towards good works. So think of a cowboy with a spur, like I don't know if anybody knows about those, but like the cowboy has the spur like on his boots, right? And he would like kick his horse to go faster. That's irritating the horse to go quicker. And so it's interesting that the verse would say, Let us irritate each other in love. Church, let us be nosy and a loving church at the same time. So can you pray with me, friends? Father, we thank you for this moment that we get to be together. Um, that we can try our best to be honest. Um, Father, I feel like every week we come before you uh on the heels of another national tragedy. And at times it feels like our nation is breaking apart at the seams. That every day we see murder and we see shootings and we become desensitized to them. It's difficult when people who claim you are co-opted by violence. And it's difficult that it's been going on for thousands of years, and people look to our church, and we have so little credibility when people do that. People who use your name for power, for nefarious ambitions. God, we hate the ways of those who murder in secret. We hate the ways of those who use your name intentionally to hurt others. We say it is evil, Lord. Um, please change their hearts, turn them to you, and help us to be true peacemakers. Not inactive peace wanters, but peacemakers. Lord, we know that we have sins. We know that we're not perfect, we know that many times our burdens are too heavy for ourselves. We thank you for giving us your son to redeem us. We are blessed because uh you take us and you do great things with broken instruments. God, we ask that you would use these cracked lights to brighten darkness. In our weakness we see your strength, in our messy world, we see your power, your transcendence that sits above it all. And give us reason to hope, please. Reasons for joy, reasons to love well, and teach us this morning. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this all in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, Amen. Well, guys, to have an awful segue from that, one of my favorite foods in the world is ice cream. Iced cream, like its sugar, its flavor, and its fat. And in the first service, um, we had someone from our church, a girl from our church, go, Pastor, you're allergic to that. She's right, but you know, it doesn't matter. Um, I love ice cream. I do. I might be a little lactose intolerant. Um, but I love steak too. Um, but if you want to just destroy me, put some ice cream in front of me. Like, it's worth it most times, and I'll take a little pill for it too. I'm gonna tell you how bad my ice cream uh obsession has become. There is a place called North Park Creamery. The owner knows me. Like, okay, that's not even okay, he doesn't know me. He doesn't know me. He's my friend. We've gone surfing together multiple times. We loan each other books. I consider him a genuine friend. And how did my friendship with Eric start? It's because I love me some ice cream. Like, he even has a gluten-free, dairy-free, ube flavor that tastes amazing. Like, that's perfect for me. It's not even fair. Um, now, how many people out here had parents? Uh, be honest, raise your hand. How many of you had parents that just forced you to eat ice cream? Okay, between two services right now, we've had zero hands go up, okay? Zero hands. Like, you cannot play outside until you finish that hot fudge Sunday. If you want to play your Xbox, you need to finish this peach shake. You sit down. Like, you will stay here all night until that's done. No, right? Your parents didn't force you to eat cookies and cream, jamoka almond fudge, peanut butter, chocolate, gold, metal, ribbon. Those were like classic kid flavors for me at Baskin Robbins. Now, how many uh people here, now it's gonna be a little different, how many people here have been forced to go to church in their life? Okay. Yeah, it was almost like like three-quarters of the people in the first service, too. Um, you know, I've never been forced to go to church in my life. My parents were not believers, and uh so I got to go to church. Like, I believe in God's church. It's weird when people tell me that they don't want to go to church or they're sorry they didn't go to church. Like, Pastor, I'm sorry I didn't go to church today. All I hear is I don't want a magical caramel peanut butter fudge Sunday. That's all I hear. Like, Pastor, I'm so sorry I didn't eat a warm brownie with ice cream on top. Will you forgive me? And I'm like, what? Why would I why would I need to? Church is beautiful. Church is beautiful and complex, it's magical, it's it's tough, it's an adventure of a lifetime. Long before I was a pastor, I felt more loved by God's church than I had felt anywhere else. Sunday was my favorite day of the week. It still is. But I think sometimes we minimize church to a lesson, to a lecture, to attendance. Dude, those things are school. Church is no less than Sunday attendance, but it's more. Some people have been going to an ice cream shop and ordering water every time. Like, man, what are you even doing? Like, I learned how to follow Jesus through the church. I learned that it was good to openly confess my sin because of the church. I learned how to love my wife and my children through the church. Many of my very closest friends are from the church. I was invited to hundreds of dinner tables before I invited any of you to mine because of the church. I was chased down by people who loved me before I knew Jesus because of the church. I was adopt I had adopted fathers who knew Jesus because my dad didn't, and they raised me to know Jesus because of the church. I have a grandfather for my kids in this church, Pastor Mark, because of the church. My kids never knew a real grandfather. Mark is their grandfather. So the church is beautiful. It's why I love her so much more than ice cream. Not because I'm awesome, because she's awesome. The church is awesome, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the church. The church is more exciting and more beautiful than anything this planet has to offer. And I would trade all the ice cream in the world for her every day of the week. I want to see her thrive. Because when she thrives, we all thrive. And so today I'm going to give you three reasons why the early church was infectious and growing. And I realize, like, we have had like four families maybe now talk to me, like, Pastor, not coming. Bad stuff is happening because they're sick. And I'm using a lot of infectious language today. Sorry. Um, didn't see that coming. But um, we're gonna have three reasons why the church was infectious and growing. And my first reason is this they gathered to learn, pray, and eat. Verse 42 said they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now the church prioritized leading, uh learning from their leaders here, the apostles, the sent ones. They made sure that they made time for each other and they ate with each other. They prayed together, and when they were overwhelmed, they saw miracles happen. In other words, they lived open and honest lives with each other. Their lives were woven together, and it was not clean, and everything overlapped in kind of a messy way. So there's a word here for fellowship. It's called koinania. Um, it's a Greek word, and it means community, but it means a lot more than that. Like it means living life together. It means so much more. It's koinia is a beautiful word, but it's it's not always like planned, okay? It's not like planned by church leadership. It often just happens. Um, but it rarely happens without a constant sense of intentionality from all of us. It's stopping by to check in on a friend, it's inviting people to a birthday party for your kid, it's a last-minute movie, but it's not just hanging out. It's not just friendship, it's deeper, it's growing together, it's a family, it's trust, it's a willingness to be hurt by these people. It's having fun, it's weeping with someone, it's people united in prayer for each other and serving each other, and a willingness to overlook our differences and our petty fights in order to bless the people around us. That's koinanea. Friends, if you have been overwhelmed by the news lately, koinanea is calling people and gathering with them to pray over it. Or it's having dinner that turns into praying, or it's standing together for your neighbors who are immigrants and refugees. That's a part of koinonia too. Koinonia is not a suggestion, it's a command from God. Now, Dr. Tony Evans says something. By the way, Dr. Tony Evans said this, not me. I mean, this is Dr. Tony Evans. He says, A disconnected Christian is a disobedient Christian. A disconnected Christian is a disobedient Christian. Koinonia is an overflow of love that comes from the love of Jesus. Our God blesses us to bless others. What a joy we have in Jesus. But it's not just fellowship that was going on, was it? We see in Acts 2 that they gathered to learn under the apostles' teaching. Now they only had the Old Testament of our Bible at that point. During this season, the ones that Jesus had sent out were called apostles, and they would teach on how the Old Testament of our Bible was pointing to Jesus, because Jesus actually taught them this. So they were teaching that stuff. So this was super old information that finally made sense because of the resurrection of Jesus. At this point, Jesus had come back to life after his grisly death on the cross, he had explained everything, sent his students out to share good news, and people were swarming for this good news. Good news, you no longer have to be a slave to sin. Everything happened, everything they did was out of a gratefulness of God. See, because a healthy church is not about performance. It's not about perfection, but it's a grateful people. It's a people empowered by God, woven together to live an honest life with shared burdens, confession, and forgiveness. Now look at verse 42. They devoted themselves to the apostle teaching. Now, for us today, the apostles' teaching is available in the Bible, right? Like that's the apostle's teaching. But when I share with you from the Bible, it's because Jesus also did something in my life. You have leaders. Now, should you just like wholesale listen to everything I say? I don't know. I don't think so. If you do, there's a problem. Um, you should do it with this. Um, hopefully, I've done something to earn your respect, but the moment that I go off the Bible, like, there's a problem. There's a problem. When I share with you from the Bible, though, it's because Jesus did something in my life. Um, and I, in my life, have sat under leaders as well, and I still sit under leaders who mentor and teach me. Um, we should all be this way, right? Like Jesus took this for uh this sinner and forgave me, and I hope to teach you now, because if I don't teach you about what God's teaching me, it makes me want to explode. Like I hope you're willing to sit under leadership just as the first church did under their leaders, but you also get to go home every time and read the apostles' teachings for yourself. It's good. I'm glad. Now there are lots of places for you to learn from our leaders outside of Sunday sermons. We have the foundations class, uh, we have God logic coming in, and I cannot wait to tell you about some of the things we have coming this summer. Um, but we also have an event on Thursday, March 5th. It's called AMA. Now, if any of you guys have uh like been on Reddit, so like if you're under maybe, I don't know, 30, I don't know, they have something called uh Ask Me Anything, and it's where an expert will go on and just anybody can ask questions. Uh we have not an expert, but we have me. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna allow you to send in questions and we're gonna have a time where we just sit down and we just talk. Like you got questions about the Bible, you got some issues with the Bible. Now, the goal is not to chat like this. Is not gonna be one of those like we're not gonna debate. This is one like genuine questions you have that you're wrestling with, we can open the Bible with you and talk through it. That's what we're gonna do on March 5th. Um, and we're gonna see if that's something our church wants. Because I get a lot of questions. I would love to have us go through the questions together. But beyond events, beyond events, you can actually, this is crazy. I know this is crazy. You can call people in this church and just talk to them about the Bible. Like if you have a question about the Bible, there are a group of people in this room that would be so excited if you asked them about it. It gives us joy. And if they don't know, they can help you find the answer or the person with the answer. You could get coffee with them, you can get lunch with them. Speaking of which, you uh you want to break bread together, like I talked about, eat together. Citigroups have potlucks all the time. Find your city group, and oh my gosh, you guys, you have city groups where people are making lumpia, like you and you don't go for that? Like you have city groups, like, well, and there's some things that I didn't even know were amazing. Like, I didn't know that I needed spam-fried rice in my life. I thought that was gonna be nasty. It's amazing. Um, you have people making biria, you have people making amazing foods. Like, this is an important part of like being the church, which by the way, like we had Caleb in our city group. I don't know if you guys know Caleb, but uh he's a he's a very light-skinned guy. And uh I cannot tell you how amazing, how amazing some of his Mexican recipes are. Like, it's really good. So now he's in the Mission Valley City Group, so they get that now. But we've had some people in our group like, did that white boy make this? Yes, he did, and it's good. Those are Mexicans enjoying his Mexican food. This is off topic, it's not on my list. I apologize. Ash Wednesday is February 18th, and we are going to have anyone who wants to bring soup. We'll have signups. Um uh Isaiah's not here with the signups because we're a little bit of an infectious church, but uh, he'll be back next week. Um, and we'll have signups to bring soup. We'll just like put it in that room, we'll have our short uh service for Ash Wednesday, and then we'll just sit and we'll just eat together. Now you can always also just invite somebody to lunch after a service. You can invite them to dinner after uh after the service is uh excuse me, you invite them to dinner uh another night. Like you don't need permission to just engage other people. People. And if you ever see someone alone, sitting alone, like man, I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you, I want our church to be weird. I would rather you go sit next to people and then say, uh, somebody sat next to me in that church than someone ever leave and say, 'I had to sit alone.' Never. Never. People don't want a friendly church, though. They want friends. So you want to pray together? We have an upcoming prayer night, or you could just ask people for prayer. You can always grab someone and ask them to pray with you. Um, you don't need a planned event to pray for people. The early church was an infectious church because they were always around each other. So when it was time to pray while they were eating or praying, like they just did it. They were laughing, they were crying, they were praying, they were eating. It was just constant. But I gotta say, something changed for us in 2020. We saw how the church could become infectious in a different way, right? Not in a good way, in a bad way. And so we we met in parks. Like I remember the first week, we're just doing the best we could. We didn't know all the information. So we were like in the park, double masked, like 30 feet away from each other, just trying our best, just trying to figure out. Like we didn't want to, like we had people in our church in their 90s, we're not trying to get them sick. So that's what we did. But I think that there's been some residual problems that have come from that. I think we put up walls to be safe and we've not taken them all down. We stopped spending as much time with people because we just didn't want to get sick. But guess what happened? You didn't get infected with disease as much for sure, but the church stopped being infectious in other ways. Now I can see us crawling out of this. I'm starting to see some deeper relationships emerge again. But friends, we just have to be around each other. And what that means is it will be infectious in multiple ways. Like we have to irritate each other in love, we have to be in each other's business. And I'm not talking about gossip, I'm talking knowing and loving people where they're at. And we have to do it now to prepare for the moment that we need each other. See, my dad, when he died, I went into depression, which I think is just normal. Like, it's just a normal thing. Like I didn't have time though to go find new friends. Like, honestly, I didn't even want to talk to the Lord. I didn't want to talk to people. I needed friends who would lovingly irritate me toward good works. I needed friends who would show up and bug me with the gospel, friends who pointed with love to the grace of Jesus. You guys may not need the church right now. Some people are gonna need you. You may not need the church right now, but you need to build relationship now for the moment that comes. I can't tell you what happens when somebody who is not built into community feels feels like unloved in that moment because something bad happens to them and nobody knows them enough to feel like they can enter into that. Now, I say try anyway, but it's a problem sometimes. If there's a crisis, you have to build into your community now. We may try uh to show up, but it's not the same if we already knew you deeply. Now there's a Filipino term that I'm gonna mispronounce, and you guys could shout it out if I get it wrong. Okay. Bayanihan. Bayanihan? Bayanihan, okay. Bayanihan. Okay, I tried. I was like, now we are going to listen to this word. Do you guys do that? Do you ever go on YouTube? Now we listen to this word, beyondihan. Like, I'm like, that guy's accent's not Filipino. Um, but this means being in community. Uh but it goes a lot further than that. Like it's helping each other, especially those who need it most. Now I asked a few of you in the church uh who are Filipino about Bayanihan, and one of you said it this way in a quote: communal unity and openness. A reality, a reality where people know, care, and pursue each other. This concept reminds me of what I hope and pray to see the church and the saints acting and living like. It's like they knew my sermon already. Um so when I researched this concept, I learned even more. Um, many times in the Philippines, you will actually see a community rally around someone whose house is in peril, um, or it needs to be moved quickly. Um, and it's best illustrated in some pictures that I got for you. Um this is Acts 2. Um in reality, there's a few of these pictures, but these are people who show up for each other in a beautiful way by the glory of God. This is what true community looks like. But you're probably not gonna do that for someone you've never met. You're gonna have to decide now to be known, and it's difficult, but look at how beautiful it can become. Look at how beautiful it can become. Now, recently, our house uh it had mold in it. We we had decided to buy like the shaggiest carpet in the world, like it's the 70s, um, 10 years ago, because I really wanted to wrestle my kids on the floor and be a cool dad. What I did know is that when our air conditioners broke, they would just be like putting mold into the house. So we had to actually like remove everything. I've been painting furniture like with eight layers of paint, throwing away a lot of furniture. It sucked. Can I say it? It's bad. I don't know if I could say that. But many of you just showed up last minute when we asked in the group me for our partners and for our city group, it was just last minute, and some of you guys showed up. And and you helped us move all our furniture, and we're grateful. Like you just showed up, guys. And um, it was crazy. We were so overwhelmed. And like normally when you do like a moving party, you're like, hey guys, I got beer and pizza, and we're like, we got some leftovers, nasty leftovers. I don't think that we're nasty, but we had leftovers, that's all we had, and people just showed up. Now, I'm a pastor, so sometimes maybe um people might be doing that for me, but when we're doing this right, we're doing it for all of each other, and I have proof that we are doing this as a church for each other. Guys, a healthy church is not about performance, though, or perfection, but it's a grateful people, empowered by God, woven together to live an honest life with shared burdens, confession, and forgiveness. But it's not force. It's not force. See, the church was doing this almost instantly after they came to faith, after they were baptized, it just started happening out of gratefulness. Now, listen to this Indian pastor, Babu Venkaraman. He said this was their spontaneous response to their new faith. It was not something that Peter commanded them to do, for nothing in his sermon promoted this way of life. See, it's like they just understood the assignment. They were filled with joy and they just had to bless each other. See, Jesus calls his church his body. We are his hands on this earth, we are his feet on this earth, we are his body on this earth. So when Jesus says in Matthew 11, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Well, who is me but his hands and feet sometimes? Jesus is going to care for many of you through his spirit, yes, but through his body. And who's that but us? Jesus is going to take care of others in this church through you. Guys, we have to go to God in his word. We have to pray, but what if we have to go to each other too? When we sense one of our friends getting tired, we need each other more. We lift their arms. And when life or anything else feels heavy to us, they lift my arms. We lift each other's arms. Now, some of you may not know the Bible as well, so I gotta go backwards. I've learned not to say, hey, remember that time Moses did a thing? No, no, we gotta talk through this. So some of you may not know what happened when Moses was in the desert. He is taking Israel out of Egypt. And in Exodus 17, this is what happens. Um, they're in a battle, and it says, as long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. You ever try to like hold up even like a one-pound like weight for like longer than a few minutes? Like it gets heavy, man. Um then it says, but whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses' arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and her found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelm overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle. See, those are loving friends and loving family. Moses would have fallen, and so would have so would his people have fallen. God would have taken the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt only to have them die in the desert. And people all over the world would have mocked our God, our good and gracious God. But instead, because of those friends, those brothers held up Moses' arm and they found victory together. See, when we're together, when we gather and we believe in the goodness and the power and the glory of God, that's when miracles happen. I'm not saying miracles can't happen by yourself, but I see a lot more when it's us together. It says everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs will be performed through the apostles. Now, Jesus, he actually told his students in John 14, Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I'm going to the Father, and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Guys, see, when the people of God gather together, when Jesus says there are two or more present, God answers. Now, we know that he answers your prayer when you're by yourself. It happens. God does things, but why does he mention more than just by yourself? Sometimes he does things through us and our prayers together. Jesus didn't do all these miracles on earth, he left a bunch for us. What miracles have we not prayed for, though? Is there someone suffering in this church? We need to gather and pray for them. The book of James says that the elders should lay hands on them and pray over them and anoint them with oil. What miracles might happen, though, if we believe together? What signs might God perform when we gather together in faith and pray to Him to overcome your addiction? Or maybe uh maybe that the cancer would go away forever this time. When the church gathers, God is present. And when God is present, miracles happen. And it brings us to our second reason the early church was infectious and growing, and that is they shared. Verse 44. Now all the believers were together, held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need. So there's no doubt that they had all their things in common. They were sharing their stuff, right? So there's an a there's an American idiom of having things in common, like, but it's a different meaning than what it's talking about here, right? Like the things they had in common was their stuff. Um, but this doesn't mean they had all things in common, like style. They did not have language in common, many of them. They did not have preference or background in common. They were vastly different people. You had Jewish believers that were, they had built a tradition on the laws of God, on top of the law of God. Then you had Greek Hellenistic Jewish believers, and they built on the laws of God, but also they had new other traditions because they lived in different places, dressed differently, talk differently. The Hellenistic Jews. They they had many different uh beliefs. To me, it sounds like me and my like southern friends, like we have uh not a lot in common. Like when we get together, I have like text threads with people that are from the south, and I'm just like, bro, how can you be like this? And he's like, Oh, it's normal. What are you talking about? And we'll go back and forth, and then we say, like, gosh, I love you, man. Like, I love you. And that they might say, like, well, I love you, but it's the same. Even though we talk differently, we love each other. We have one thing in common. One, and it's the most important thing. You have may have one thing in common with the people in the room, but it's the thing that matters. It's Jesus. We may dress differently and we may believe different things about politics and all those other things, but guys, all the stuff we have was meant to share with each other, that one thing in common. And let me just say this: if you have money you worked hard for, it's still because God has trusted you with it. I know plenty, plenty of hardworking people with no money. It's not because you work hard. But God wants us to be unselfish with our things, which is actually kind of painful at times. And let me just say this: if you think I'm trying to get your money, I'm not. I'm not trying to get your money. Like God supports us, and um we we we don't need money from people who don't believe we're gonna use it right. Um, we need people to be generous with each other and generous with others, and generous to the church as well, but but God provides that. I'm not worried. Now, Tim Keller, he says this, and I could just use this quote every week in different ways, but I'm gonna use it financially today. He says, if each if each friend says to the other, I will treat my selfishness as the main problem in this relationship, you also have the prospect for great things. See, what if what would it look like if we treated our selfishness as the problem? What would that do? What would that do? Friends, God is trusting many of you with resources to be shared. Have you ever had all things in common with anyone? Dude, I don't got like a lot of things in common with my wife sometimes. But this is the better way, this is the way God designed it. I don't believe communism would ever have been a thing if the church did its dang job and shared with everyone in need. There'd be no need for the law to do that. I don't think most forms of socialism would exist if the church was doing our job. Like, it's a moot point. Like, who needs the government to do this when we're doing it? Having all things in common benefits everyone, and it's most beautiful in the church. First, think about it. Your house floods, uh, you got a neighbor from your city group that has a shop vac and some pumps. Everything in common. Someone needs a drill. Um, you got the drill. Matter of fact, you can teach them how to handle that drill, which people have done for me. I'm good at music and sometimes talking, but not drill. I'm learning. Um, you need some food. Man, I love cooking. I love cooking. Matter of fact, uh, neither of my kids can eat, like, don't, they don't eat meat right now. I don't know why, but it's a thing. So when I uh make a big old thing, you you better believe I'm using meat. Meat. And and I usually need to share it with people. Now, I don't know how to cook a small amount. So I need to share it. My neighbor, Auntie Vicky, she is so skinny. So part of my job is to fatten her up, put some meat on them bones. It doesn't take me any more work to take her a bowl of soup or two or three. Guys, we are all better when we have all things in common. A city group, um, recently, guys, oh, broke my made me cry. A lot of things make me cry, I realize. Only positive things for some reason. But a city group, one of the city groups in our church, saw someone in our church in need. Their wife couldn't get into the house easily because of her wheelchair. They paid for and built a ramp. When I found out about that, dude, I I broke down. That's beautiful, true community. We are better when we have all things in common. James 1 says, Don't be deceived, brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights who does not change like shifting shadows. See, everything we have is a gift from God to be shared with others. There are people in this church who cannot drive. Do you know what a blessing it is as a pastor when I see you driving each other to Sunday services, to city groups, to doctors' appointments? It makes me want to cry again. When you show up with plenty of food or jackets for your neighbors in our food pantry, it makes me want to cry again. I had a friend in another church take me to Costco on Friday, and he just said, I got I got money to spend um for your food pantry. And so he bought$600 worth of jackets and shoes and soap. I had people, I don't even know who's sending me oil to my house and shampoo, and people sending me um like body wash and stuff like that. It just shows up in my house. If if that's you, like, could we talk? Like, let's ship it here. Um, but guys, it's beautiful, it's beautiful, but it's not unique to our church. It's not, it's God's church. This is what God's church does all over the world. Uh and actually, there's a book called When When Church Was a Family, and in ancient Rome, actors often performed in like festivals for the gods, and they were participating in sacrifices and it like immoral sexual acts, almost like pornography on the stage. But when an actor got saved, his life would become significantly changed. He would lose everything. But here's where the church stepped up, even in the first century, you guys. Now, there was a pastor named Eucretius who took in an actor named Marcus who had recently come to faith. Now, uh there was a bishop in North Africa named Cyprian who told Eucretius that the church should support Marcus as he was seeking to leave acting. And I just want to read you his actual letter, okay? This is what Cyprian said about the actor Marcus. His needs can be alleviated along with those of others who are supported by the provisions of the church, on condition, of course, that he can be satisfied with frugal, harmless fare, and does not consider that he ought to be bought off by means of a pension, so as to break away from his sins. For he is the one to benefit from such a break, not us. Accordingly, you should do your utmost to call him away from this depraved and shameful profession to the way of innocence and to the hope of his true life. Let him be satisfied with the nourishment provided by the church, more sparing to be sure, but salutary. Lots of words there. Um but you get the point, right? He went on to say if the church couldn't help, he would take Marcus into his church. He said, But if your church is unable to meet the cost of maintaining those in need, he can transfer himself to us and receive here what is necessary for him in the way of food and clothing. That's beautiful. And I think it's beautiful the way that you support and encourage each other. But not only that, um, we have other churches that support us. Like, because they love Jesus and they love Mount Hope. How beautiful is that? Like Mission Trails Church, New Hope East Lake, First Baptist Russellville, New Vision Church, King's Cross Church, Red Hill Church in Illinois, Grace City Church and University City. These churches have all shared with us to help our finances or help our food pantry. We share the building with Grafted Church, who meets here on Fridays, Iglesia Alim, who provides cereal in the food pantry. Assemblies of the firstborn church across the street, they wrote a check to help with our food pantry. Come on. Come on. What does that say about our God? Macedonia, missionary Baptist, just down the road. We support each other by promoting each other's trunk or treat events. That's the kingdom right there, you guys. See, every gift you've been given originates from God to use for others. The healthy church is unselfish and caring and sharing. There are people in here who open their homes for city groups. Have you thanked them for getting ready for you every week, for your grubby paws to be touching all their stuff? They are blessing you because they love you and because God blessed them and because they recognize their house is not theirs. Every gift originates from God to use for others. Not just your thing, but your time. And I just want to say, for a lot, I'm so grateful for so many of you who have stepped up. But when you spend your time with someone who is suffering, you recognize your time is a gift from God to be shared. And so our third reason the ancient church was infectious and growing is this. They spent serious time together. Serious time. It said, every day, every day. Oh, I just almost need you to say it. Can you say every day? Can you look at your neighbor and say every day? Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple. Now, let me just say this is telling you what happened. It's not prescriptive, it's telling you what happened. But dang, it was healthy. They broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts because it was it was Ponce and Lumpia, praising God and not really, praising God and enjoying the favor of all people. Every day, and the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. See, there the opinion of the people increased of them, and then God did something with it. Now, many of you do a la carte friendship. I'm not mad at you. I remember as a kid, I would always get the a la carte thing, like one taco and a water. Meanwhile, my dad get the big meal with diet coke. But I, you know, one taco macaroni and cheese and water, the a la carte. It's like separate. That's how we do friendship though a lot, too. Like, and I think it's okay that you're doing friendship that way, but I think it could be better. Like many of you have friends outside the church, non-believers and believers. That's great. But I think sometimes we get a little too much into silos, like, okay, I got this friend here, I got this friend here, I got this friend for watching sports with, I got this friend for church stuff, I got this friend when I go to the farmer's market, I got this friend that I play sports with. But what if you didn't have to like remove any of these friends from your life, but instead you invited them deeper into your life? Like there's a Venn diagram. They could be spending time together. Spend more time with your church family and them. Like at least 75% of you, I would guess, are gonna watch the Super Bowl soon. You can invite people to that from your work and your city group. You can invite people from your family and your church, and you can spend time with everybody together. Like, we don't want to add to your schedule as much as we want to adjust your schedule and who you spend time with. If you're spending time daily with the church, you can still be doing all the other things you were doing. See, that's a fun, cool thing. And if you don't have room in your house, you could probably buy some hot dogs and cook them up at the at the park and invite your friends. The church grew for many reasons. Signs and wonders, but infectious faith. The way they were in each other's lives, they were nosy, they put in time. Koinania is a practice. You have to practice this. And I was talking to someone who was struggling after the service, just saying, I have anxiety. I don't know the answer except practice. I don't. And I'm sorry if you have anxiety, and I'm sorry if it feels like you're just being beat up on. That's not the goal. I just want you to have ice cream, man. That's all. Maybe, maybe don't. Okay, that's all right. Koinany is a practice. Now they've supported each other, they sacrificed for each other, they called each other out on sin and they loved each other. They ate together, they prayed together, they shared stories of what God was doing in their lives. They humbled enough, uh, they were humble enough to listen to their teachers. They read the Bible in community and they saw miracles. And daily people were being added to them. I can't tell you that we're adding people to our um our family daily, but I can tell you it's almost like weekly that people have been getting saved lately. Like I prayed with someone after the service to receive Christ. We gather because of the gospel. We understand that there that none of this is possible without Jesus, without his spirit, without the beautiful gospel that we share. We were dead and now we're alive. We are sinful people forgiven by the grace of God. We gather as a hospital full of sick people that care for sick people in the power of God's Holy Spirit and the instruction of his word. We gather because of the gospel that Jesus proclaimed He was uh He was so like here's the problem. Like when you look at the Old Testament and you look at the book of Leviticus and you see all the things that we are supposed to do to be right with God, you see you can't. You look at all these laws and rules and things like that that were given to Israel, and we think if we could just do that, we would be good with God and yet you can't. There's nothing you can do. The only one who could follow through perfectly was Jesus. And so he did, and he lived the life that we could not live to make the sacrifice that we could not make so that he could die for us and rise again as we could never do. He showed that he was bigger than sin and death, and he conquered it. That was the receipt of his gift to us. He did what we could not do on our behalf so we could have a relationship with him in a way that we could never have without him. Guys, if you want to give your life to Jesus, don't hold back. Pray with us, but count the cock. I'm already telling you, this is what it should look like. Jesus wants your whole life, he wants it to be in community, in the Word of God, learning from teachers who came before you. Jesus didn't want you to be solitary. We're not called to be hermits. We are called to work out our salvation and what it means in community with fear and trembling. Our salvation is a social salvation. If you've given your life to Jesus, the Bible calls us to be baptized. Even that, guys, it's a sign to the world. I belong to Jesus and I want the world to know it. I've had people come up to me like, hey, could I be baptized like by myself where no one knows? No. No. The point is to tell everyone what's changed. That you were dead and you're alive. This is why we get baptized in front of everybody. It's also social, a public proclamation of what God has done for you. And then we live it out in this hospital with broken people. And we invite others into the joy that is Jesus Christ came to earth for all, even me. Even his enemies. The one who used to use his name as curses, that was me. The one who mistreated women, that was me. The one who broke the law, that was me. The one who constantly disrespected my parents, that was me. He did that for me. It's too good not to share. It's Ube ice cream, friends. Your story is too beautiful not to tell anyone about it and not to be in relationship with others. It's a true story of deliverance from evil, and your life in Jesus is too beautiful to live alone. Friends, some of you are here today because of the day family. Mike and Yanni told people about Jesus and they they joined us. Some people are in this room because of Jose, who would love to tell you about how broken he still is, how God is still working in his life and redeeming him. I'm so proud of him. Some of you are in this room because of Karen. God took a hold of her life and threw it upside down. Some of you are in this room because of Valeria. God is doing amazing things through her life. Guys, none of these people would tell you that they're awesome. Matter of fact, probably when I mention them, they're like, oh crap, I'm not good enough for this. They are imperfect. They're not awesome. They would tell you that. But you know who is awesome? The God they serve. And because they share their story, God is working and adding believers to our group all the time. How can you not celebrate that? Now, Pastor Warren Wearsby, he says this. He says, The Christians you meet in the book of Acts were not content to meet once a week for services as usual. Their Christian faith was a day-to-day reality, not a once-a-week routine. Why? Because the risen Christ was a living reality to them, and his resurrection power was at work in their lives through the Spirit. And so I close with this. I remind you, City Life Church and guests, a healthy church is not about performance. It's not about perfection. Not yours, at least. A healthy church is grateful people, empowered by God, and woven together to live an honest life with shared burdens, confession, and forgiveness. Will you pray with me? Father, we we uh we don't claim