WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.000 So we're making our way through Acts, the book of Acts in the New Testament. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:08.240 This is the historical record of how the Christian church, how churches started. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:17.039 So how your grandma's church started, how a church in Asia started, how our church started, how a church in South America started, how any church, Christian church started. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:18.079 This is the beginning. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.480 Acts chapter 2, this is the beginning of the Christian church. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:33.200 And so we're going to be talking this morning about how Peter preaches this sermon, and then out of this kind of first Christian sermon by Peter, a church starts and this church grows. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:39.039 And one of the things that it says that this church does is they just keep meeting together. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.240 Like they just all the time, they keep meeting together. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:46.079 Now, when I was in college, uh we had cell phones, but nobody used cell phones. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:47.759 I'm dating myself just a bit. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:55.920 So that was it was the time where like you got a cell phone and you kept it in the glove box for an emergency, but you had like 20 minutes for the month. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:02.719 Remember, and you calculated, you're like, well, I got 30 seconds a day, you know, and that was a big deal when you got to make that call. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:04.079 So nobody used their cell phones. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:22.480 And so I can distinctly remember if you wanted to get together with your people, like your group of people, your community, and say the evening, I can remember you get I'd get home from class and it'd be about noon or say one o'clock, and I'd call my friend Julie, and she wouldn't be there because she'd be at class, and I'd already know she wouldn't be there. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.959 But I would call her apartment and I would leave a message, hey, it's Russ. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.400 I just got home from class. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:29.439 It's 1 p.m. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:30.959 I know you're at class. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:32.480 I'm gonna leave to go to the gym. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.040 This there was no like, hey, it's Russ, call me back, right? 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.040 Like you had to be very distinct. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:38.319 I'm gonna go to the gym. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:43.040 After the gym, I'll be at the intramural fields, I'll be back here at the house from 4 to 6. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.799 Please call me between 4 to 6. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:45.840 We'll hang out. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:46.319 Okay? 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:50.719 So then she would get home at 2, she would check her machine, right? 00:01:51.040 --> 00:02:01.120 Check her machine, and she would hear that message, and she would call me back, knowing I'm not there, to leave a message on my machine, and she would say, Hey, it's Julie. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:02.319 Just got home from class. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:03.120 It's 2. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.920 I know you're at the gym, because I'd already told her that. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.919 And she'd say, Hey, I'm going to the computer lab to work on a project. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:11.599 I'll be there till 5. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:13.280 I'll call you back at 5. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:16.000 I know you'll be at home, because I'd already told her that. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:22.000 And the whole time, while I'm at the gym and I'm at the in the mural fields, she goes to the computer lab. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:23.280 We're not concerned. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:24.479 We're not anxious. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.240 We're not, oh, we can't wait. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:27.439 Like, how are our messages? 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:28.639 And I need to check a message. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.400 There's no anxiety about this. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:31.680 It's gonna work out. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:35.039 We're fine and content to wait for a message. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:38.560 We know this community thing is gonna work out later tonight. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:42.080 And so then I get home at four, I check my machine, right? 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.599 Again, several times a day. 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.560 Every time you come home, I get home, blinking light. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:50.960 It means you have friends, and so blinking light, check it. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:52.719 Julie has the message for me. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.759 I'm like, all right, she's gonna call it five because that's what she told me. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:56.879 So I start studying. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:59.199 She gets home, she calls it five. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:03.280 She knows what Sherry's doing, our other friend, I know what John's doing. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.759 We all get together later that evening, right? 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.159 Like amazing, like an amazing process. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:13.120 A lot of back and forth, but at the same time, all very content that this is gonna work out. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:17.599 And the most amazing thing about it is when we actually get together. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:24.240 When we actually get together, groundbreaking, we're actually together. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:27.280 Because there's not the interruption, right? 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:33.840 Not the interruption of everybody else who's not there that you're communicating with on your phone. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:48.719 And what I mean is this is that your presence and their presence, community, sharing a present moment life, it was not divided at any moment during the entire day or in that evening. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:04:03.360 And you know what I'm talking about, because you've been to lunch with somebody at the canvas sandwich shop, and you invited your friend up there because you've had a rough few weeks, and you couldn't wait to get together with your friend because you needed to share some of your life with your friend. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:08.800 And you got there and you get your tomato soup, and your friend says, Hey, what's going on? 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:10.240 What's going on with your life? 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:11.439 And you start in. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:27.199 And you're gonna you're sharing about the problem at your work or your romance or your marriage or your kids or whatever it is, a school project, the stress, the anxiety, the fear, you start into it and you're barely communicating it without breaking down in Canvas. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:29.519 You're barely making it through. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:36.079 And right right in that moment, your friend looks at you and says, Can I take this real quick? 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:37.120 Boom. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:38.480 Yeah, okay. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.439 Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, okay, great, great. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:42.800 Yeah, oh yeah, I'm at lunch. 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:44.240 Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:44.879 All right. 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:46.399 Yeah, I'll ring you back later. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:47.040 Sounds good. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:49.120 All right, all right, talk later. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:49.519 Bye. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:50.959 And then I look up. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:52.160 Sorry. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:55.439 And you're thinking, yeah, sorry. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:02.399 Because I'm sharing my life about to break down, and you answered your phone, right? 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:10.879 I'm never inviting you to Canvas again to share my life because you broke the community. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:16.240 You you the fully present life together was stolen. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:17.439 Right? 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.199 And I do this to you. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:20.879 I'm not saying I don't do it. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:22.000 I do it all the time. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:25.120 And you do it to me, and we do it to each other, right? 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:28.160 The difference is when I do it to you, it's because I really need to take the call. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:34.560 If you do it to me, if you do it to me, you're just rude, is how that's how it works. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:38.160 But I mention all this because we're looking at community. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:44.959 I don't think we can look at community without looking at the fact that it's probably easier than ever to feel connected. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:57.600 And yet all the research shows that it turns out that all of our connection, while it's really good for some things, it actually creates more isolation for real deep relationships. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:03.600 And it challenges the quality of community when we're actually with people. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.120 So let's look at this text in Acts chapter 2. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.720 They did not have cell phones at the time, just to kind of give you a historical context. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:12.800 Jump in in verse 42. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:22.959 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:48.000 And all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing proceeds to all as any had need, and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:52.319 And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:54.800 So a few points to kind of work our way through this passage. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:56.560 We've looked at this passage the last few weeks. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:00.959 Last week we talked about money, and we even we dived into speaking in tongues. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:02.720 That was fun if you want to listen to that sermon. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:04.560 And then this week, community. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:08.879 And here's point number one community is a reaction to the gospel. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:10.959 Community is a reaction to the gospel. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:17.839 Peter preaches this sermon, and he's telling everybody, and these are different people, different cultures, different languages. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.800 They're here in Jerusalem, and Peter preaches the sermon about how Jesus is finally the relief, the final sacrifice. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:29.519 You don't have to keep sacrificing your life as to merit some position with God. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:37.040 You are relieved of that to a way of grace through faith, and God gives us what we need in Jesus. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:40.800 Their response to this is that's amazing. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:44.800 I just want to keep coming around that message and these people. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:51.759 And there's no berating from a pastor or manipulating to try to get you to sign up for a small group. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:53.040 Like it doesn't even exist. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:59.120 It's not like, hey, let's get 10 signs in the parking lot on the way in to try to get you to sign up for the small group. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:00.720 It's just a reaction. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:02.560 The message is so good. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:07.839 I just want to be around people who know this message and speak it and talk about it. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:09.519 Where can I find those people? 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.360 I'll make time for that. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:13.120 They couldn't get enough. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:14.480 And then that's interesting. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:19.279 On top of that, then there's more and more people being added, just showing up. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.120 Just showing up to this. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:22.879 And you have to ask, why? 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:27.680 Like, what was it about this fringe group that was so attractive? 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:29.759 And I think this is point number two. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.519 Gospel community is a place of pervasive grace. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:36.960 Gospel community is a place of pervasive grace. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.039 This is why the community is about teaching and the fellowship. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.120 They gathered to hear about Jesus, to hear somebody teach about it, talk about him. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:46.399 What was Jesus saying? 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:47.519 What did he say? 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:48.559 What did he mean? 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:55.679 So he taught a way of life, but then he said he was the fulfillment of the law, that he was fully sufficient for us. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:02.960 And they were learning what their lives should look like, not under a covenant of law, which is what they all came out of, right? 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:05.759 Like, like do this and then you will be accepted. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:06.960 That's a covenant of law. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:08.960 We have that in religion, we have that in the world. 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:15.919 Do this, be religious, be good enough, be successful enough, then you will be accepted. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:22.480 And Jesus comes along, and the teaching of the apostles comes along, and it's under grace, which says, no, no, no, no, no. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.519 Through God's grace, you're already accepted. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:28.000 You have all the acceptance you'll ever need. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:31.279 And these people are gathering, they're going to go, like, what does life look like now? 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:35.360 Like, what does life look like if I'm truly forgiven and free? 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.440 Now, what does life look like? 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.039 So you remember my phone calls back in college? 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.799 Let's go back to those phone calls. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:50.240 Because eventually, John and Julie and myself and Sherry, we would get together in the evening and we'd hang out. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:56.480 Now, the beautiful thing about this little group of four was none of us were romantically interested in each other. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:57.120 Right? 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:03.039 So we were free without any pressure of having to impress each other. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:09.919 Now, every once in a while a miracle would occur for me in college, and I would get a date. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:12.879 And it would be a miracle. 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:25.679 This one day, miraculous day, I'm in economics class, 101, huge 200-person class, and I spot across the auditorium this very pretty girl. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:27.679 And so, you know what I did the next day? 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:35.679 I sat across the auditorium, just about right where she sat, and she sat one seat away from me, and it took me about a week. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.679 You know, a little conversation here, there, borrow a sheet of paper, you know, that kind of thing. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:48.320 Over time, worked my way in just a little bit, and I finally asked her, I asked her out, hey, do you want to do something tonight? 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:54.080 Now I that's I thought it's a pretty clear date question from a guy you don't know extremely well. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:56.480 Hey, do you want to do something tonight? 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:00.559 And she responded, and what I thought was very much a date response. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.840 She responded and said, Hey, um, yeah, I would really like to. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.879 I'm working tonight, but it's at my apartment's clubhouse. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:12.799 But why don't we could have dinner there, so why don't you bring dinner there while I'm working, and after dinner, we'll do something. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.799 That's a date response, right? 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:16.960 Date question, date response. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.879 I am so pumped up the rest of the day. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:22.240 I am on this. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:24.720 I am planning what food I'm gonna pick up. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.399 Is this takeouts and not too fancy, but not Captain D's. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:29.600 You know, you're not showing up. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:31.440 You don't want to show up at Captain D's. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:33.200 I'm planning what I'll wear. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:35.840 I'm making a list of my best stories. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:37.759 I am going into this. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:39.759 She was so pretty. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.039 I'm, you know, I am just, I am so, I'm starting getting dressed. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:46.080 I put on Dave Matthews' band to get pumped up. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:47.759 I am going for this. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:54.240 And I don't know what happened between Economics 101 that morning and when I walked into that clubhouse that night. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:03.840 But when I walked into that clubhouse that night, I walked in and it was me, and it was her looking very pretty, and it was her roommate. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:07.360 That is not how you want dates to start. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:10.080 I was not looking for a small group. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.159 I was looking for a date. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:20.960 And the rest of the night, the rest of the night, I'm just doubting everything I had said in Economics 101, reviewing it. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:22.960 Where was I unclear? 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:28.720 Everything I am saying is now that much more pressurized, and I don't have to just impress one person, one girl. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:32.080 I have to impress two girls to win over the one girl. 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:35.919 I mean, I I've got so much pressure, I'm sweating. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.639 There's no margin here for mistake. 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:40.320 I have to perform. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.120 I mean, I was anxious, and then I go home, right? 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.519 You know, you go home after something like this, and what do you do? 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:49.600 You go home, you just review everything. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.799 You're just running everything back through that filter. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.320 How good was I? 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:55.200 How good was that? 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:56.639 How good am I good? 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:57.919 Did I make the cut? 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:00.000 Now, maybe you know the feeling from a date. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:10.799 Maybe you know the feeling from an interview, maybe you know the feeling from a group of friends, or from a church, or from a small group that's just really not that healthy, where you feel like you gotta show up and impress people. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.120 Now, here's the other interesting thing. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:20.799 When I was with John and Julie and Sherry, I didn't feel any of that. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:22.480 None. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:23.919 Like, why? 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:28.000 Like, why so why would I feel it with one group of people and not the other group of people? 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:36.799 Well, because one is a community of law where I had to impress and perform in order to be accepted. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:42.799 And the other was a community of grace, which started out with my acceptance. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:44.799 Right? 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:54.879 And of course, in the community of grace there are standards, of course there are, but the grace overrides any of my failure, and it's the context of the community. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:58.879 So, of course, in Acts chapter 2, they keep meeting together. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:04.960 They finally found a group of people who believe you are accepted before you perform. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:16.159 So they've been bound up in this burden of trying to be enough and perform for so long, and then they hear that Jesus is enough for them for their forgiveness and their righteousness. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:20.559 So, of course, they can't get enough of this and they can't get enough of each other. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:26.799 It's easy to live our lives like we are on that first day, and the roommate showed up. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:35.360 It's easy to live like that, where we're just anxious and we're trying to perform and we're uncertain of our worth or whether we're forgiven or whether we're righteous or we're important. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.279 And so you worry about what clothes you wear, like you worry too much about that. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:46.080 Or what you might say, or you drop that line about where you traveled last week, but you don't drop it to like tell people like where you went. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:49.840 You drop it because you want to make sure that they know that you're kind of important. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.879 Or like you drop the line where you went to grad school or that you did go to grad school. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:04.159 You mention your job, just to impress a little bit, or who you read, or what shows you watch, or what shows you don't watch, right? 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:08.559 Like to make sure they understand, you know, that you're a little more righteous than they are. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:10.960 Right? 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:15.120 Like just giving a righteousness report of some sort. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:19.600 Or you just say, you know what, I'm just, man, we've been so busy. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.399 We've been so we have been so busy. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:25.919 You know, it's kind of like, I am so important. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:28.320 I have so much to do. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.320 I don't know if I'll have time for you. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.120 Because I'm so important and busy. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.200 So busy, so busy. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:39.919 Can't even get to all of the things and invitations. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:40.879 Right? 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:45.039 And it's all, underneath all of that, it's just like, am I enough? 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.200 Do you see that I'm enough now? 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:48.639 Am I lovable now? 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:49.440 Will you love me? 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:50.480 Will you love me now? 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:52.240 Am I righteous now? 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.480 Am I justified now? 00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:00.000 And a community of grace is a place where we already know you do that. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:04.639 You self-justify, and I do that, and I self-justify. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:05.679 And we go, you know what? 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:07.679 Honesty, we all do it. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:09.759 We can say that, we all do it. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:13.200 I'm doing it now, you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it later. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:17.200 We all self-justify, and we can confess that freely. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:27.120 See, in other places we have to hide our issues and weaknesses, and we have to stay strong and stay in control because that's how worth is calculated. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:28.720 But not here, not the church. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:30.879 Worth is not calculated that way. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:38.960 Worth is calculated based on God's grace to you, that it is given, it's received by you, it's imparted to you. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:44.720 Point number three gospel community breaks the bread. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:46.799 That's what it says here. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:53.840 In their community, they're breaking, they're breaking bread like having meals, but they're also breaking the bread as a practice. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:57.200 And the breaking of bread means the Lord's Supper. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:59.519 So we serve communion here every week. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:02.000 We do it for a reason. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:10.240 And it's not tradition, it's part of our worship because the communion table speaks. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:18.559 Even if I mess the sermon up, by the time I get over that communion table and I say pretty much the same thing, or why does he say the same thing every week? 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:19.759 It's on purpose. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:24.000 It's so that if I screw all this up, at least that's right, right? 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.079 Like it cleans it up. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:47.519 To hear once again that the gospel is not us being enough or maintaining something as to merit value as a person or righteousness before God, but to hear that the gospel is God's good grace to us, that in Jesus we are forgiven and free and deemed righteous forever, and then we get out of our seats and we move. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:18:00.559 So our worship now has movement, and we're singing and we're hearing, and then you come forward and you receive it, and you can touch it, and you smell it and you taste it, and now our worship has all of the senses. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:04.799 There is taste and there is smell and we receive it. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:10.319 Now, another word for communion is Eucharist, which means thanksgiving. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:15.200 And I thought that was incredibly fitting because this is our Thanksgiving table. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:20.000 This is our true Thanksgiving table every single week. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:49.759 So, as a community, we break the bread together every week, and we will always, we will always in this church break the bread together every single week, because it is the core of a healthy community to be remembering and thanking over and over and over again that it is by the body of Christ broken for you and the blood of Christ shed for you, that you are deemed righteous by God, secure, and beloved. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:59.440 So, my brothers and sisters, may you receive the Eucharist this thanksgiving as you remember you are the beloved of God because of Jesus. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:00.720 Let's pray together. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:07.920 God, thank you for your good grace to us. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:33.680 Thank you for this great passage in Acts 2 that shows us, that shows us this community of grace forming around the message of Jesus, the life, the death, and the resurrection, that you are the fulfillment of the law that changed people's lives, not because they were enough and they decided to pull their boots up and really make it happen, but because they surrendered to being enough. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:52.799 And they were relieved of trying to be enough and live out of performance and began to receive that Jesus is enough, God's grace to us is enough, we are accepted before we perform, we are accepted before we have fruit as being a Christian. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:20:01.599 Thank you for this good news that our absolution, our forgiveness, and our righteousness is complete. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.119 And for this, we thank you in Jesus' name. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:11.920 Amen.