you suffering on your own is not what god wants you to do it's prideful you are already weak the gospel reveals that you don't have to fool us we're weak too and we are all going to have needs at different moments in time what your home group is designed to do is to get you close to other believers so they can know you want to tell you a fun fact about me that a lot of pastors may even consider heretical i have this belief that it's a silly it's not a real belief but i almost never preach out of the same bible because for some reason i feel like all the bibles want to be preached out of them so i i'll grab different ones but today i just forgot my bible and so if you don't have a bible we actually have bibles on the back wall if you don't have a bible of your own we want you to have it that's our gift to you studying the bible is such an important part of our culture here at the oasis church that we don't want you to be without so if you don't have one go grab one they're really cool and uh they're totally free if you've got a friend who needs a bible grab a bible off the back wall we restock that thing pray regularly well welcome to church this morning we are in the middle of vision month and what we've been walking through for the last three weeks are these three words gather grow and go and we've been encompassing as a church what it means to come together and be the church that was our first sunday was how important the church is in fact the church is so important christ talks about her the way you would talk about your spouse and so in ephesians chapter 5 paul will say this that marriage is this mysterious thing right this relationship that god creates between man and woman and yet it is a reflection of christ in his church and so marriage is a derivative of what god is doing in his church and so scott so aptly said if you want a good marriage you probably would go home to your wife or to your husband in the same way a christian who skips church neglects the body is not walking with christ because to be in relationship with christ is to be a part of his body and so you're going to hear that theme over and over because we live in a culture right now that is all about you amplifying yourself the things that make you unique they want your individual characteristics your individual desires and traits to be amplified and if anyone comes and says hey hold on god's got a different way god's revealed himself in this word won't you conform yourself to what christ says our culture hates that we want to validate you we don't want to draw you into community but that is not how god talks about you as a believer he says you were born again you were taken out of the dominion of darkness into his kingdom you became a part of his family and families get together they worship together they focus on jesus and so our next week we talked about joy that we are living in a generation that seems to be losing where to get joy at and we talked about how when you focus on christ and you focus on the cross you actually rediscover the source of joy and we are always chasing cheap imitations of joy that may deliver momentarily but they do not sustain us through times of trial suffering and when god actually takes away those things that are not good for us if we don't have our eyes fixed on christ we will forget where to get joy you'll be tossed about by the waves if you don't have your eyes set on jesus so we talked about gathering be a part of the church we talked about joy in christ and then last week scott did an amazing job of opening up the psalms and showing us that as a church we are incredibly committed to the doctrine of the image bearers of god and so this is a first tier doctrine that god made mankind in his image he made you special you are not like your dog you're not like your cat you're not like your hamster you are a higher form of creation according to god's word now your dog your hamster and your cat are reflections of god's creative nature they exemplify his glory we know god through the creation but you are unique you are not an animal you are a human that means something in the bible we live in a generation that has brainwashed a generation of young men and women to believe that babies in the womb are not a part of that image of god and so last week we talked at length when god says you formed me in my mother's womb i am beautifully and wonderfully made we talked about this very key moment that the church right now has to step into and that's fighting for the lives of unborn babies in the womb you may not know our country has killed over 70 million young babies over the last 45 years there's going to be retribution from the lord on that but the church is here to be a prophetic voice to tell the governments and tell the principalities this is not what god wants this is evil this is not good but we also serve a double purpose don't we because there have been men and women who have gone through abortions and god sent his son to die on the cross for their sins so they could be redeemed receive forgiveness and have all the shame and guilt that they are carrying all the pain and hurt removed from their shoulders so they can what focus on the joy of christ and so there's a double pointed mission there to save babies and love moms and dads to get them all to jesus these have been the last three weeks the importance of the gathering joy in christ and our commitment to fight for these unborn children and how important how incredibly important that is as a christian today scott was supposed to preach and so he had a wonderful sermon lined up and he's going to knock you out of the park with it next week i had about 24 hours
i'm so excited though because i've been thinking through what was going to be my last sermon to envision month and so here's the short of it if you wanted to like write this down and walk out you would probably get the main point of today's message you need to be a part of a home group in this church because home groups are the mechanism through which the church survives persecution grows you up spiritually ingrains in you the christian walk and takes what we do here consider this like uh you know school 101 we're all gathering we're getting knowledge but you've got to iron this out and when you iron it out on your own you end up in dangerous places because you will fall into the trap of our culture which says it's all about what you want but it's not it's about you being a part of a family family members know each other the home group is where absolute relationship in the church begins to cultivate and you're going to say wait a minute seth i've never seen the word home group in the bible is that a biblical concept it sure is and we're going to look at it today so here's what we're going to do i thought it would be fun today it's 2022 some of us go to the gym at the new year we've got resolutions i want to give you 22. we're going to go so fast it's going to be great in fact if you've got a sheet of paper around you that's for you you can take that home you can reference it you can write on the back of it you can write in your bulletin i want you to take notes though i'm going to expound these 22 points and we're going to move so fast we're going to look at acts chapter 2 verses 42-47 and i want to teach you how to observe your bible how to interpret your bible and i took all 22 of these principles for christian living from these four verses these six verses you ready here we go we're going to go fast acts chapter 2 let's read it verse 42 and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers 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 things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they receive their food with glad and generous hearts praising god and having favor with all the people check this out and the lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved let's do this i want to pray for you guys i want to ask that the holy spirit would enlighten the eyes of your heart that you would receive his word today and that what we're going to walk through might take true because if you took these 22 things and there's so many things in the new testament in the old testament that you can glean from these four verses these are fundamental christian living principles if you walk this stuff out you are going to grow exponentially with the lord and you're going to be ready to walk into trial and so my prayer for you is that this would take root and so what i want to ask you to do is pray that for yourself as i pray it for you father god as we meet with you in your word today you are present with us holy spirit would you move in our hearts open the eyes of our hearts so we might perceive clearly what you're teaching in your word god help us to not only understand it but to have it take such root in the soul of our heart that we are compelled to do it that we are moved towards action because of what we read help us push back on what culture might tell us religion ought to look like and let us see now what a relationship with you in the context of your church is supposed to look like we love you father i pray that this sermon is helpful and i pray that these things would take root in our hearts in jesus name we pray amen let me give you a quick context on this passage verse 42 comes on the tail end of peter's knockout first gospel presentation in the book of acts so jesus in chapter 1 tells the apostles you're going to be my witnesses in all judea samaria jerusalem to the ends of the world you're going to take my message to the ends of the earth you're going to be my witnesses fun fact about the word witness it comes from the word martha's which is where we get our english word for martyr all right so jesus said you're going to talk about me and we're going to look at their witnessing and end up getting an entomology that leads us our testimony about jesus is going to put us at odds with the world and the world is going to push back it's going to push back hard to the point that all the apostles except john himself are killed because of their faith and john we know was put on an island and tucked away never to be seen and that's where the lord gave us the last book of the new testament the book of revelation now check this out jesus says you guys are going to go do this but the way you're going to do it is through the power of the holy spirit working through you when the holy spirit comes upon you will receive power jesus then ascends he goes back to be with the father and they're waiting the apostles are waiting for the holy spirit to be sent by christ at pentecost weeks later they're sitting and praying the lord sends the holy spirit the holy spirit indwells the believers and they begin speaking in other languages proclaiming the gospel and what happens next is a crowd gathers because when 12 guys start speaking 12 languages saying the same thing and 9 in the morning there's two things one some people assume they were drunk others were like wait a minute what are you talking about so peter stands up and he says guys we're not drunk it's only nine i'm a recovering alcoholic i don't think that's a great argument peter all right however he says listen to me i'm telling you we're not drunk we want to tell you the most sensible rational explanation for the events that just occurred in jerusalem jesus of nazareth you put him to death but he was actually the son of god and he died for you and he gives them the gospel in some fiery straight in your face turner burns sort of language where he's saying look guys this generation is corrupt you have to save yourself by rejecting who you are and taking christ receive the gospel by faith be baptized believe in the name of christ and so he gets done with his sermon and the people it says they are cut to their hearts their hearts are affected by the gospel this will be true for you if you know christ you are affected in the inward person by the gospel when i talk to you about jesus going to the cross on your behalf all of your sin jesus bore you didn't deserve it you didn't earn it there is nothing special about you but god chose to save you by taking your sin this perfect life was a sacrifice for you and then jesus perfectly atoning for your sin rises from the dead securing your eternity with the father for believers when we hear that story we go oh man that's the good stuff that's what spurs on all action if jesus is who he says he is and through the resurrection and the testimony of the holy spirit through the apostles we know he is then everything's changed my heart gets turned on the light comes on the holy spirit enlightens me and i move to god this is what happened to these believers as they listen to peter it says they were cut to the heart and they said what do we do and this is back in verse 38 and peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins you'll receive the gift of the holy spirit when you receive christ god seals you for eternity that's the backdrop so here's the deal three thousand people come to christ that day three thousand people that's amazing that's so cool i want to see 3 000 people in tucson come to christ in a day that is so cool but here's the thing 3 000 jewish people came to christ that day and they existed in a jewish culture that had rituals regulations a temple and a way to do worship the baby church had been born and the baby church was now gonna have to stand up because they were the true representation of judaism you see if you're thinking about god and how he calls the jews and he builds them up as a nation here's the straight path leading to christ and when christ comes and resurrects the jewish community takes a hard left turn into false religion they reject jesus but the church receiving christ by faith is the true representation of israel this is the true faith and for that reason you're going to see the jewish christians do two things they're going to keep going to temple that's where they're going to start preaching first but they're going to do something else they're going to begin to form what we see is the pattern for christian living they're starting to change from jewish tradition to christian faith and we get to see that in real time these principles go outside of acts they go into modern day we can look at the example of the early church and say this is how they grew and this is how they grew close and when persecution comes that's a few chapters away they're going to not only weather it but in the course of 300 years they will take over the roman empire by walking out the faith they've been given from the apostles from christ their salvation are you ready i'm about to machine gun these points at you it's going to be a lot of fun here we go i want you guys to have some principles for christian living because you need to be able to go home today and understand that god has called you to walk with jesus and to do that there's so many simple things you can do let's dive into it the first is this believe the gospel and repent of sin if you have not given your life to christ here's what you do you say lord i believe jesus is the son of god i believe he's my lord and savior i want to receive him into my life and i'm laying my life down on his feet i am sorry for the sins i've committed and i want to walk in righteousness to the help of the holy spirit you start talking to jesus you believe he is who he says he is you read his word you repent of your sin that's step one and that's what they did that was the context of this passage three thousand people said we're corrupt we needed one who is not corrupt and we now want to begin walking as christians number two be baptized obeying the first command given to believers when jesus met with his disciples before he ascended he gave them a great commission he said go therefore and baptize the name of the father son and holy spirit it says go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them the name of the father son and holy spirit teaching them all that i have observed all that i have taught you to observe fun fact if you look through the new testament did you know that jesus gives us over 400 commandments in the first four books in the new testament jesus has so much to say about your life so much a lot of times when you ask christians hey what are some commands god gives we might be able to give you the ten commandments and then we'll get on to the pharisees for their 600 other laws what we don't know is that jesus actually had a lot to say about you he had a lot to say about me because he knows what's best for us he wasn't creating a religion he was creating a way for you to be in relationship with the father he says i'm going to get you the relationship and then i'm going to show you how to walk and be in relationship so here's the first step you get baptized why because baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality in your life in the early church you got baptized by walking down to the river where everybody was at doing things around the river the life absolutely in the middle east like centered around where water was and so everyone saying out the river baptism wasn't just for christians other religions were doing baptisms there were different cults and roman gods and different things baptism was a way of saying i don't belong to me i belong to who i'm being baptized into and so if you're a roman soldier you might go and get baptized in the blood of a bull to the god mithra saying i'm a warrior and i belong to this pagan god and he's going to give me luck on the battlefield but if you look down the shoreline there's bob and bob's in a white robe and he's walking out into the river and he's getting submerged into the waters and a question you might ask is why is bob getting baptized you might go grab bob later that day when he's back at his shop and say hey i saw you down at the river what were you doing you say oh i'm a christian i was identifying myself with jesus jesus set an example for me that i should be baptized into the name of the father son and holy spirit i now belong to god this is an outward sign of what i know to be true in my heart and so christ says that's our first step it's a huge moment of affirmation for the christian to be brought before the church or brought before the community and say i am a christian i want you to hold me accountable to what god says in his word so there you go believe be baptized you're now starting to walk in obedience to the word now check this out the next four have to do with devotion all right the author's gonna give us some things to devote ourselves to and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers now devotion is a really important word if you look it up in good old merriam-webster here is what it says devote to give all or a large part of one's time or resources to a person activity or cause i want you to think about that just let the plain reading of this definition hit you to give all or a large part of one's time or resources to a person activity or cause immediately this is time for you to go sit with the lord and say am i devoted to you am i that's this is an easy evaluation for you sit down the piece of paper list out your day list out your resources list out your time and let's see where jesus is ranking that is a way of taking your temperature am i devoted to christ here's the thing the things we are devoted to are the things that grow in us how do i get a good marriage i spend good quality time with my wife i get to know her i take her on dates i'm invested in her i'm going to go buy her things i'm going to demonstrate my love to her i'm going to devote myself to her i'm not going to stay out all night i'm going to come home when i come home i'm looking to serve her i'm looking to get into her world when i'm tired i want to think that she's more tired and i've got to do something to serve her you can look at devotion in your life here's some things we're all devoted to most of us are devoted to our jobs because we have to make money because we're devoted to our stuff right those are not bad things but if they are your primary things you can already see your devotions are going to be split and so what god is going to do is he's going to take who you are and bring you into unison with the church your job is not a bad thing your job needs to be redeemed for christ your family is not a bad thing your family is to be redeemed for christ your money is not a bad thing your money is to be redeemed for christ your stuff isn't a bad thing it's going to be redeemed for christ because when i'm devoted to christ the things that i'm doing to multiply resources in the world become tools that i use to bless people for god it's the way i begin to walk out how the early church lived so check this out that's the vote all right devoted to give oneself over to give all our large part of one's time resources person so here's what you're going to do devote yourself to the apostles teaching what does that mean read your bible attend church take notes bring questions and observations to your home group the word of god has to be something you invest your time and money into say what do you mean money seth i'm saying if you don't know your bible there are resources available to you that will help you learn your bible in fact there's a book if you don't have this book you should go buy it today it's called living by the book by dr howard hendricks i think it's 13 bucks he will teach you how to read the bible most people don't know how to read their bibles they open it they read it the way someone might read a mystical saying and they say lord i'm not sure what this means but thank you for letting me see it now let me get back to the things that i spent 18 years of my life studying we sent you to first grade through 12th grade then you got a degree and then you went and you got trained in your work you know what it's like to devote yourself to learning you do we all do do that with the word you don't know how to read your bible as well as you think none of us do it's something that takes practice and work and effort but when we devote ourselves to it this thing is life everything you want to know about god is right here everything that's what he tells us in second timothy 3 16 it says that his word is sufficient for godliness that he has given us a true word so that's number one devote yourself to the apostles teaching you can read your bible attend church listen to youtube lectures there's a bunch of free classes i can recommend you from some really good seminaries there are tons of resources for you devote your time and energy to the word of god number four devote yourself to the fellowship what is the fellowship the fellowship is what you were brought into when you were made a christian by god fellowship is when a group of people who have nothing in common get together for a common purpose favorite example lord of the rings right you got oh hey i'm a nerd okay don't laugh at me dwarves elves men hobbits all living in different parts of the world but guess what we got to destroy this ring therefore the first book is called the fellowship of the ring the only reason they're together is because of the ring the only reason we're in this room together is because jesus rose from the dead i have no other reason to be here sunday morning with you except for the hope that christ is going to bring us into glory and we get to encourage one another that we get to learn his word we get to devote ourselves to walking with christ devoting yourself to the fellowship means that you are pursuing that fellowship for the purpose of worshiping jesus it means that i have to look at my schedule and say when do i worship jesus with other christians and we're going to find out a little bit if that's once a week that's like eating one meal a week you're going to be skinny and anemic
fellowship is an ongoing continuous vulnerable intimate relationship with other christians centered around worshiping christ number five devote yourself to the worship of jesus through the lord's supper in fact we do this as a church first sunday of every single month some churches do it every week some churches do it once a quarter what christ tells us is when you do this do this in remembrance of me it's one of the special things about what christ gave us before he went to the cross he said this is a way for you to physically remember what i did on the cross this is a moment of repentance in the church in fact paul says we come and we do this with a right heart and so here's what the lord's supper is we gather together as a body we pass out to you elements some form of bread and some form of wine whether it be grape juice or wine it doesn't really matter what matters is that we're drinking from the vine and we're taking the bread when we take those elements here is what you're supposed to do lord i have sinned this week lord i have sinned today i've got a heart that wants to do evil and you're putting to death the sin of my life will you forgive me because i'm remembering that you broke your son on my behalf and so before i take the elements there are two things i have to do i have to ask god for forgiveness i have to reflect examine my heart the second is this if i know i've got something against a brother or sister in christ i don't take the elements i wait till after service i go find that person and i seek their forgiveness i can't tell you how many sundays i have skipped the lord's supper because of a crossword i've said to michelle i'm not going to take the lord's supper in an unworthy manner the bible is going to tell you that's dangerous for you you're going to harden your heart against god what we do as christians is we humble ourselves and we say christ forgave me so first i need to go seek forgiveness and give forgiveness to others and so there have been many times i will go and i'll pull michelle aside before second service and say can we talk i need to apologize to you i did not do what i was supposed to do as your husband will you forgive me and i'll seek forgiveness with her that's true for all your brothers and sisters in christ seek forgiveness ask god for forgiveness of your sins and then as a body we go wow set your eyes on jesus remember that he broke his body and spilled his blood for us all right so we devote ourselves to the bible we devote ourselves to fellowship we devote ourselves to the worship of jesus through the lord's supper you can do that here once a month devote yourself to prayer first thessalonians 5 17 says pray without ceasing the christian walk is a constant ongoing conversation with god i don't know how much time you spend talking to god but i'm sure when people pull up to pull up next to me at the stoplight i look like a crazy guy because i just sit there and i talk to him when i'm in my car and i tell him all sorts of things i tell them about my frustrations in ministry i tell them about my goals i tell them about the things that are going on in my marriage i tell them about my hopes and my dreams for my children i ask him to do things in the lives of my family members i ask him to to move in your lives i ask him to move in my life i talk to him about what's going on i'm talking to god because god has asked me to talk to him that's immediately right here we are just in verse 42 and already we have got six very clear principles for you you're gonna read your bible and you're gonna learn to study it you're gonna gather in fellowship and encourage others in christ you're going to take the lord's supper asking the lord for forgiveness of sins these are basic awesome things you can do to begin walking with jesus and now i want you to start talking to god some of us because of where we've been and something we've done we've been coming to church trying to earn our way back to god and what you really need to do is go sit down in your room tonight and start talking to him and say hey man i'm i'm sorry i don't want to be far away from you you've asked me to draw near in fact hebrews says that we can draw near with boldness it means if you were to walk into the throne room of god in the very presence of the father himself you could demand an audience on the basis of the blood of his son and he will receive you because you are covered you are atoned for you are not a wretch anymore you are a wretch saved by grace you have been redeemed you now have access to your father in heaven paul will say it this way you have access to every blessing in the heavenly places in fact when we walked through ephesians a while back i said you've got dad's credit card in your wallet take it out swipe it talk to him he wants to fill you he wants you to know him so here's a little something to help you with prayer if you don't know how to pray breathe in the bible breathe out prayer read a verse and respond to the lord by talking to him i like psalm 23 the lord is my shepherd god thank you for being my shepherd lord what does it even mean that you're my shepherd does that mean i'm a sheep what does it mean that i'm a sheep help me understand what i'm reading here where will you guide me the way this shepherd guides his sheep and i might read that verse again the lord is my shepherd god i'm kind of overwhelmed by that i thought i wanted to be the shepherd but you're telling me i need to come underneath you i begin to interact with god's word through prayer something else you can do straight out of nehemiah you praise god for what he's done you repent of your sin you ask him for stuff you say lord i'd like you to intercede on my behalf i need help my family needs help my friends need help our world needs help you can ask god to move and then the last is yield yield to his will god's got a plan and we got to get on board with it but he wants you talking to him getting involved in a relationship with who he is devote yourself to prayer number seven be on the watch for miracles be on the watch for miracles and give praise to god when you see them look back at acts chapter 2. it says in verse 43 and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done to the apostles we're in a special moment in history in acts god is establishing his church through the credible witness of the apostles one of the ways he did that with the apostles is that he used them to do incredible miracles they raised people from the dead they healed countless people of illnesses they were moving mountains like metaphorically they were just moving it and it says that the holy spirit through their work established the early church and so every time you see the church go out in acts you're gonna see this influx of miraculous signs from the apostles now here is the reality god does miracles today he hasn't stopped how do we know that because god is supernatural you live in a natural world that means god has some things in order if you study physics physics if you study science if you study the way god has ordered his universe there's a natural order to the way he runs his world and yet he intervenes in it all the time because god is not a god of enthropy god is a god of radiant eternal glory and he's calling men and women to himself now here's the thing most of us have watched men on tv wave jackets over their heads and pretend to do miracles and it has put a bad taste in your mouth for the miraculous here's the problem we don't acknowledge the everyday miracles of god and we don't give him glory and we don't give him praise when he does small things in our lives that are 100 percent unlooked for in fact did you know in proverbs it says that a blessing from the lord is something you didn't earn that the very definition of blessing from god is you couldn't have earned it and you couldn't have looked for it god dropped it in your lap unforeseen
god is blessing you all the time and yet our culture has propped us up to believe we are the arbiters and the creators of 99 of what exists in our world and it's not true now here's the big one most of the time god's miracles look like a heart that was dead being resurrected to life people don't understand how miraculous salvation is when people come to christ we get really excited but we don't realize a dead person just was resurrected to new life and every single day god is saving miraculously moving someone whose very nature has them at odds with god sets their hearts on fire for him brings them to life and raises them from the dead we have to begin to acknowledge when god opens the eyes of your children to see something in his word that's miraculous paul will say this in 2nd corinthians none of us get this we can we can we can like i could give you the doctrine i could spell it out for you but i won't receive it by faith if the holy spirit doesn't miraculously move in my heart second corinthians chapter 2 says that the wisdom of god is folly to the world the most like in the early church they're going to meet the greeks like the gospel is going to get to the greeks and the greeks are going to go crazy philosophically trying to say you can't say this stuff it doesn't make sense and god says it's not about what you consider to be wise my wisdom is foolishness to the world and so every single day when god opens your heart in his word when he moves you into someone's life when he positions you or puts something in your life unforeseen and looked for we have to begin to expect god to move and when he moves when he does miracles whether he heals you whether he moves you whether he does what he's going to do in your life look for it and praise him because of it what you don't do is if you get the opportunity to experience god's miracles you never turn that back on yourself you're not a healer you're not a soothsayer god is the healer god is a miracle worker and he's going to blow the early church wide open with miracles to show how powerful he is and how true his word is miracles lead us to trust in the word of god all right we're going to move a lot quicker we're going to start be on the watch for miracles praise god when you see him evaluate number eight how god might use your things to bless those in need now everything before this is focusing you on the cross on jesus and getting you into fellowship that is going to be again creating you a heart that wants to serve other people the christian walk is one of service so something you might do tonight sit down and be like lord you have set me up in the united states of america and i have been blessed in many ways some of those things i'm going to use to bless my family some of those things i'm going to use to bless others help me begin to discern what you want to liquidate for your glory what you want to take and use for your glory look how the early church did this it says in all who believed were together and had all things in common now all things in common is not some socialistic program it's what's mine is yours because i see you have a need if i've got two cars and your car broke down yesterday you can borrow my car until your car gets fixed because my car is your car and your core and your car likewise you're offering to me in a time of need that's just an example you could put anything into this thought as the church began to look around they said hey we need to band together and focus on the gospel in order to do that we have to take what god has given us and be willing to use what god has given us to bless and serve other people who are in need and it starts with the church so check this out evaluate how god might use your things bless those in need james chapter 2 says it this way if you see someone without a coat and you tell them hey man jesus died for your sins once you put your faith in christ and they say oh man that's that sounds really awesome thank you uh yeah i'm going to put my faith in christ great have a good day brother the bible describes that as you having dead faith because you did not clothe your brother in need that's heavy if you give someone a message from god and don't actually love them enough to take care of them the way you would your own children you've shown you don't care about them and you're not interested in god what are you interested in religion religion gives you a message or religion gives you an item but christianity puts the two together and says god did something gracious for me on that cross how can i love you serve you and teach you to love jesus go therefore and make disciples and teach them to observe all that i've commanded but if you leave them hungry and unclothed you don't know me that's huge so i have to evaluate to look at my stuff number nine here we go this is the whole point everything else out of this flows from this we want you to join a home group in this church this is vision month you have to understand how important this is home groups are the lifeblood of church because look at what they do it says and they were selling their possessions belongings and distributing the proceeds to all has had any who had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received food with glad and generous hearts where is doctrine worked out where is generosity worked out how do you know who's in need in this church it's through your home group in fact if you're ever sick and you're a part of a home group here you're gonna get fed prayed for we'll watch your kids we'll come over and serve you as much as we can i'm in a group chat with my home group and anytime there's a prayer request we put it out over the air and immediately i know there's 12 to 18 people who are going to be praying for me right then and there and sure enough as soon as that text goes out guys we are in need this is what's going on pray for us only a matter of time maybe minutes before i get another text what can i do what do you need how can we support you and move around you and encourage you the home is where the church began to thrive they would go to the temple the apostles would meet there they would teach the large congregation you kind of got your first sense of church right here that they're gathering together but then they broke up and they went back home to do what to devote themselves the apostles teaching the fellowship the breaking of bread and to the prayers they were doing this in smaller units and everything began to flow out of those relationships join a home group acts 2 46 check this out verse 10 not 10 point 10 be honest and vulnerable with your home group if you're in a home group and you like to say um i don't have anything i need prayer for if you like to be silent or you like to kind of shrink into the background let me just let you know that's not a great way to do home group in fact there's a real warning there silent suffering is sometimes the most insidious version of pride you suffering all on your own is not what god wants you to do it's prideful you are already weak the gospel reveals that you don't have to fool us we're weak too and we are all going to have needs at different moments in time what your home group is designed to do is to get you close to other believers so they can know you be vulnerable say man i'm struggling with what scott said last sunday can you all help me work this out i haven't thought about abortion as deeply as we talked about it i have questions what about this what about this scenario about what about this scenario and in your home group we then open the word and we can take an hour going through what you are struggling with we can walk with you and we can teach you if you're quiet you'll become isolated you'll probably stop going to home group because after a while you'll say hi everyone's too honest and vulnerable i just kind of want to be left alone god doesn't want you to be left alone all right everyone has different needs at different times that's number 11 all right this is just something we're going to move straight through it everyone in the church is bringing their stuff together because it's obvious as you look at culture that there are moments in your life when you're going to suffer more than others if you experience a tragedy later today you're going to be suffering and you aren't expecting it you're going to need the body of christ to gather around and encourage you in the same way there are others who are suffering right now and you have already been equipped by god to step in and meet their needs and so we look around we get to know one another and we acknowledge there's going to come a point in time where i need you and if you need me today you've got to lean on me so that in the future i will learn to lean back on you this is how the church begins to come together all right number 12 this is huge prepare for persecution by learning to help and be helped by your home group and church body let me tell you right now i don't know if you've been following christian news or anything like that but our brothers up in canada are going through a real hard time of it january 8th canada passed c4 after four years of fighting they passed a speech law that is going to put pressure on evangelical pastors not to preach the gospel in canada because it could be legally perceived as violating the rights of lgbtq in transgender ideology you can go read the articles let me give you the basic facts if i meet with someone who is struggling with same-sex attraction and i tell them you know jesus died for all of our sins won't you convert to christianity receive christ that is illegal speech now in canada if you were to transplant our church into canada right now scott and i would be lawyering up because for the last four years we could be arrested for every single sermon we've preached in this building we don't know what the legal system is going to do with that law in canada but understand this if the mob shows up tomorrow and says we're done with christianity in tucson and they burn all the churches down the network the underground network that pushes the gospel right back into the darkness is not this building it's not this sound system it's not that guitar it's your home group when they burn the church building to the ground which house are you going to be at in fact here's a better question when the ideologies move us into hiding how are you going to eat how are you going to do commerce when persecution really shows up we have not experienced it yet church but god is giving you a moment right now to become a part of the church because when persecution comes the church is going to flourish you have no idea how cool the early church flourished and yet they suffered greatly the first thing that happened in the early church was they were called heretics of judaism and they were persecuted by the jews paul is going to go door to door killing believers for their beliefs in christ they're going to be hauled out into the streets but here's the thing that's kind of a glorious level of persecution wouldn't it be nice to be the guy who's drug out and say do you believe in jesus or i'm going to shoot you that's easy persecution you have to understand hard persecution is when other christians who have rejected the word of god start turning you into local authorities and you begin getting starved by the nations because of your beliefs in christ this is what rome did to the christians rome didn't just drag you out of your home they started having trials where you were tested to see if you were loyal to the state and when it was found that christians were frustratingly stubborn about jesus they wouldn't worship caesar they began killing christians for that stubborn faith and they begin spreading rumors about christians one of them following up from last week was that we this is crazy the romans started a rumor in the first century that we ate babies because men and women would leave children on the streets unwanted children were left out to be exposed to nature and they would die that was first century abortion christians would go around the city collect the children and raise them that is the beauty of the early church and so rome said we know how we'll get these guys we'll get their communities to believe that they're actually doing sacrificial things with these children and they started rumors about the character of the church this is how persecution is going to come on in the united states you're going to be accused of being a bigot you're going to be accused of hating the culture around you when all we are doing is saying come to jesus understand that the home group is the network through which we survive persecution when paul writes all his letters to the churches you know who he's writing to the home churches that he planted and 90 out of 10 times he's sitting in a jail cell he's saying hey guys i'm in prison but don't worry here's what's going on thank you for sending a little support thank you for the encouragement thank you for your love thank you for supporting me the encouragement of the home church is what pushed paul all the way to rome where he started converting the praetorian guard the very folks who are spreading these rumors about the early church you need a home group get ready it is one of the ways god is preparing us to survive and walk through persecution number 13 following jesus is done with others on a daily basis okay so here's the good stuff this is what like getting a relationship with another christian can look like we're going to move really quick following jesus meant being intimately connected to jesus ministry if you were one of jesus apostles uh two of the guys who followed jesus asked him should we uh go bury our parents or follow you he says man time doesn't allow you either come with me or not we need to be intimately involved with one another and so here's what you can do everyone needs prayer every single person pray for and pray with another christian every single day your wife your children someone you've met here at church pray with someone in your home group jump on the phone hey man how can i pray for you can i pray for you right now lord thank you for my friend would you move them forward would you help them walk well everybody needs food all right if you stop eating eventually your body's gonna wear out everyone needs food eat a meal and thank jesus for his provision with another christian listen this every day you wanna know what some of the best evangelistic moments are in the christian faith when you and another christian at work like go find them go find the other guy in your office the other lady in your office who loves jesus and be like anyone just like grab lunch can i pray for you hey why don't we invite this other person to come to lunch with us let's pray for them too it is so easy when you've got a friend in christ to invite an unbeliever into a little lunch meeting i've yet to ask someone if they need prayer and have them just throw the book at me they may roll their eyes and say well well actually here's where i need prayer if you're going to do it here's what i actually need this is a moment of evangelism for you grab someone at work when you sit down don't undervalue praying for your meals don't undervalue gathering your family as christians to worship god around the table and this is a good deal if you have a home group bring some food it is prescribed to us in scripture that we eat together it's one of the greatest forms of familiarity is when you eat with another person everyone needs the bible share a verse and insight from your quiet time with another christian every day you're reading the bible don't hog it tell me what you're reading i want to know send me a text message scott and i love hearing from you guys when you get excited about what you read you're you don't realize this but when you text your home group and you reach out to other christians with what you're learning you're spurring them on to devote themselves to the word you're helping participate in their devotion of god while you yourself are devoting your time to god it amplifies
everyone needs the bible share a verse and an insight from your quiet time with another christian
everyone needs encouragement encourage another christian every day here's the deal we don't know what you don't say when you're in your home group you can tell people what you need not just physically we live in a very physically provided for society that's not always where our needs are lying sometimes our needs are i'm struggling in my marriage i've been really prideful with my wife will you pray for god to soften my heart this is a struggle for me i read something in the word and it hit me the wrong way i don't know if i like what god's saying here will you pray for me and then as a believer when i call you on monday i can say hey you mentioned last week you were struggling with this how you doing run after jesus believe the word trust christ he's coming back let's be ready for when he comes encourage one another do that every day get someone in your home group that you can talk to that you can text that you can call and just encourage them these are short conversations
cultivate number 18 cultivate a generous heart by learning to receive others generosity that's a hard one in our culture isn't it i don't need anything i can do this on my own those who are least likely to receive also have a hard time giving because you earned your stuff didn't you why don't you go earn your stuff there's jobs out there my heart is softened when i have to humble myself and receive your charity
it's a way that the lord humbles us we couldn't earn our way to god sometimes you need help let people help you they're doing it out of obedience to god don't rob them the joy of serving jesus learn to be generous by allowing people to be generous
cultivate a learning heart number 19 that can receive honest feedback from brothers and sisters in christ this is a hard one you need instruction proverbs says this that uh the wounds of a friend can be trusted you know what an enemy does it says he multiplies kisses it means if i am just blowing smoke in your direction to make you feel good about you i'm not a good friend to you because the reality is is god saved us from a sinful nature and that sinful nature is at war at with our heart and so we need folks who can help us see our blind spots this is what home groups are all about walking out the word being honest about our struggles and then saying give me some feedback give me some feedback number 20 expect god to change your heart and mind to agree with his number 21 cultivate spiritual integrity by participating in your own walk with christ all i'm saying is you should do this if you do what god asks you to do you will grow in your spiritual walk that's as plain and simple as the bible lays it out teach them to obey all i've commanded now check this out number 22 that's where we're landing the plane invite unbelievers into your life invite unbelievers into your home group into your church and watch god save people as they witness the gospel power of the holy spirit because you know what the holy spirit's doing he's cultivating his church and when people walk in and they see the church they go you guys love each other you guys are like really concerned with one another and you guys are all focused on this guy jesus and you're saying you're you're doing these things because of what he did what did he do this is what he did we lay the gospel out for our unbelieving friends as we draw them into our world you are not a christian on the weekends people don't need to see you as your job you are a christian if someone knows you and one of the first qualifying adjectives is not he's a christian there's a problem because it usually means i've compartmentalized my faith here and this is where people know me as a christian but monday through friday they know me as something else let me tell you something look at what happens praising god this verse 47 having favor with all the people and the lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved god uses his church to pull other dying men and women from the fire and give them new life here we go that's that's 22 things for 2022 take that sheet home look at it evaluate it we're gathered today we're growing in the word and we're asking you to go and become obedient to the word of god if you have any questions about what you've heard this morning come talk to me after the service if you want to talk for a long time let's get together for lunch let's grab coffee our offices are available to you that's our job is to be shepherds and to equip you guys if you have questions come and seek us out but don't be afraid you can start walking this out today and it will radically change your walk and prepare you for the trials that are ahead let's pray father we love you lord thank you for just laying it on in in five verses lord all this stuff that can be drawn out from just observing the early church
god this isn't just a list of things to do this is this is something that you have shown works this is how we apply wisdom in our lives that we can take what you've shown us and it works god if we're not in a home group lord would you take us to the website today and help us call a home group leader and let's get in a home group this week easy money lord if we're in a home group and we've just been hanging back on the edges help us to be vulnerable give us the courage to say something that's actually true about our lives lord if we've been sitting on just our nest egg of stuff and we haven't considered our neighbors we haven't considered other christians we're not even thinking about generosity would you move us to generosity lord if we're in need would you use your saints to come around us comfort us help help us in our need one so that we can receive it but so the world can see how you care for your church and now your church cares for each other we love because you first loved us and lastly god we ask that this church would be a beacon in the light of the gospel to tucson that you would use us for your gospel to go forward we love you lord in jesus name amen
hi i'm pastor scott pastor of the oasis church listen we are so excited that you decide to join us for the preaching and teaching of god's word we just pray that this will stir your affections towards christ but we have one encouragement we want to leave you with please do not allow this to take the place of the local body of believers we pray that you will be involved in a local congregation a local church that you can find yourself submitting under the eldership and the leadership of a local church we pray that you will find yourself stirred towards christ and that your joy in christ will be ever increasing