WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.920 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:27.679 So, Father, we submit and we surrender to your kingship, your lordship, your beauty, your authority, your goodness, your power. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.880 We say this morning, we align with your rule and your reign. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:39.840 Because in Hebrews it says that by the powerful word of Jesus, the universe is held together. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:45.679 And my confession, and maybe yours, is my words can't hold my world together. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:48.079 So I need your words. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:50.479 I need your ways. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.640 And oh, we submit and surrender to your will. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:57.759 So come, Lord Jesus, come. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.879 Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see and ears to hear. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:09.280 Jesus, would you go before us in this text and make a way? 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:13.359 Together we say the words that ravage your heart. 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:14.799 Speak, Lord. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:17.200 Your servants are listening. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:18.159 Amen. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:20.480 You never see church. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.000 Well, good morning. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:23.120 I'm Chris. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.920 I pop in about every couple months, so thanks for letting me hang out with you. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:31.680 Um, pastor some microchurches in Franklin, Tennessee. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:38.079 Uh, I'm nobody real important, um, but I'm here to give you uh an important word from God's word. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:43.599 Uh praying for Neil as him and Marcy are out leading a marriage retreat. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:47.280 Uh Lord, I need them to come to my house and help us out. 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:48.959 I'd be nice if they could make a stop there. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.400 We'll start swapping. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:02:00.079 Um I was with our microchurch leaders uh just this last Wednesday and just reminded them hey, your microchurch is never going to be healthier than your marriage. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:10.479 So we can do all the equipping tools and techniques that you want, but what God wants done in the church first, he does through his leaders, his marriage, and in your home. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:14.080 So stop asking your church to do what you're not doing in your home. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:16.319 I would never talk to you that way. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:18.319 I talked to them because I have a relationship. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:24.080 I didn't realize how bad it sounded until I heard you guys a oh, I thought it was really encouraging. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:28.080 Might need to pull up on the gas a little bit. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:31.120 Um, you guys are uh in the book of Acts, by the way. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:33.360 I come with my churches and my family's blessings. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:34.479 Uh, they're praying for you. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:36.319 You guys have been such good friends to us. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:38.000 Uh what a what a beautiful church. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:39.919 And I don't mean the building, I mean you guys. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.400 Uh, thanks for the musical worship. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:46.479 Uh, it's just a joy and a treasure to be here, and I want to honor your presence. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:47.840 Uh, thanks for getting here. 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:49.039 It's not easy sometimes. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:53.280 There's a lot going on, uh, and there's a lot of reasons to flake out and fall out. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:58.240 Uh, and you're here, so I pray that you would hear uh directly from your father in heaven. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:00.000 We're in Acts chapter 2. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.120 I want to read a couple verses starting in verse 42. 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:07.199 Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 42. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:15.439 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:19.039 Everyone was filled with awe. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:23.120 It's really hard for me to hear superlatives because I have a teenage daughter. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.800 And it's everyone, always no one. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.159 I'm like, pump the brakes. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:29.759 Can we get back down into facts? 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:30.879 It's not everyone. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:40.319 But this apparently, absolutely, everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:47.360 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:52.400 Sold their possessions and property, distributed proceeds to all as they had need. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:59.759 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:08.639 They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all people. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:13.120 Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.399 I'll say the word of the Lord, if you will say thanks be to God. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:17.759 The word of the Lord. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:20.879 Love that passage, right? 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.079 It's what all of us church planners quote when we go out and oh, we're gonna do the church the right way, okay? 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:27.600 All right, no one's ever tried it. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:30.959 This I'm the first person that ever read Acts chapter two, okay? 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:35.439 And we're gonna get back to a biblical definition of church. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:36.399 It's great. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:40.560 Uh well uh most US church fators are young, cocky, and arrogant. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:41.519 I'm just old. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.319 So uh what that was part of the DNA when we were uh planting local church. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:52.000 We call it local church because I want to be able to say with integrity, your tithes and offerings belong to your local church. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:53.360 Uh no, not a good one. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:54.079 I'll stop saying that. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:55.439 Bad joke. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:05.040 Um, but looking back in here, right, we've got this template of how the church is exploding, and it's an incredible blessing, right? 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:06.879 It's a blessing to each other. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:09.519 God is blessing them, they're blessing each other. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:13.360 And there's a story I'm reminded of by an author, Henry Nallon. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.959 Um, if you're French and snooty, it's Henri Nallen. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:20.240 Um, but I'm neither of those things, so I'm gonna call him Henry. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:24.639 Uh Henry back in the day, he was a prolific writer and teacher. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:41.759 He was at Notre Dame, Harvard, Yale, all those fancy schools, and then he just up and leaves and turns his back on a prestigious academic career, and he goes to Ontario at La Arche Daybreak, which is a residential community for people with intellectual disabilities. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:45.839 So here's like this Ivy League amazing religious professor. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.800 By this time he had some notoriety, Life of the Beloved. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:57.680 He wrote with such honesty and frailty that a lot of people, including myself, were just attracted to his writings about how we are the beloved of God. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:03.120 Well, in this book, he tells a story they're getting ready for evening prayers at the community that he's serving at. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:13.120 And so while he's getting ready, uh Janet, one of the residents, comes up to him and really forcefully interrupts him and goes, Henry, I want a blessing. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.199 Um and he's changed uh trained in the liturgical tradition. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:21.920 So he says, absent-mindedly, I took my thumb and I traced the sign of the cross on her forehead. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.279 And I said, Bless you. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:29.120 And he turns around to do something, and she shouts, No, that won't work. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:31.839 I want a real blessing. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:38.000 And he realized in that moment that he'd kind of been a little bit rote and ritual and demissive. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:39.680 And so he said, I'm so sorry, Janet. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.959 How about after the prayer meeting, um, I'll give you a real blessing? 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.600 She seemed okay with that, went into the room. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:48.000 He thought, I don't really know what a real blessing means. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:50.399 Hopefully, I'll figure it out by the time we get to it. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:59.120 So they get done their prayer meeting, everyone's sitting in the circle, and then uh at the end he says, Uh, uh I just want everybody to know Janet has a special request. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:01.279 She asked me for a real blessing. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:05.920 Before he could get the sentence out of her mouth, she stands up and starts walking towards him. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:07.920 So he does what he normally does, right? 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:15.519 He's got his vestment on, which is a big robe where you can barely see the hands like this, and he puts his hands out like this and begins to speak a blessing. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:25.199 Well, as he's getting the words out of his mouth, she runs and wraps her arms around his waist and buries her head in his chest and looks up at him. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:33.120 And he stops and he looks at her, and he says, Janet, I want you to know that God sees you. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:35.199 He thinks you're special. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:39.360 Your smile is a joy to everyone in this home. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:44.720 I know that you've been feeling sad lately, and I want you to know that that's okay. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:46.319 But you are not alone. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.360 We love you, and God loves you. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:52.879 Tears just start streaking down her face, right? 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.160 So she lets go, he releases her, and he's like, Okay, good. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:58.160 She got a real blessing. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.439 And as soon as she shits down, everybody's hands shoot up. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:05.279 What do you think they wanted? 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:07.600 A real blessing. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.399 He said, So it went on like that for about an hour. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:20.800 And he said, but the most special moment came when a 21 24-year-old orderly who was working in the room raised his hand from the side of the room and said, Am I allowed to have a real blessing? 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:29.199 And he came over, he hugged Henry and he said, John, I just want to let you know your presence in this community is so valuable. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:40.320 I know you get discouraged sometimes by the way that the system works and the effect that it has on the patients, but I want you to know God has a purpose for your life, and we are so glad that you are here. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:43.519 Henry wrote this after that. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:48.799 That evening I recognize the importance of blessing and being blessed. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:09:06.240 We all need ongoing blessings that allow us to hear in ever new ways that we belong to a loving God who will never leave us alone, but will always remind us that we are guided by his love on every step of our lives. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:14.960 I think this is what's happening in Acts chapter 2, and I think it's what you want to happen in your community, a real blessing. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:21.120 When we started out local church, we started out with this question: what would make the gospel good news to our neighbors? 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:29.759 How could we, as real people, really bless the people we are in a relational circle with? 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:44.240 And it's not going to start with the most gifted, skilled musicians and ministers, but it's going to start with ordinary people living ordinary lives on mission and message with Jesus to be blessed and bless other people. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:48.639 And it's especially this for a lot of people who are in my age and stage of life. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:10:00.080 What are we going to say to my children who have looked at our casual and ritualistic Christianity and said, nope, that doesn't work for me? 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.919 I want a real Christ and a real Christianity. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.559 How can we be a blessing? 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:28.480 How can we, full of grace and truth, move into the neighborhood and get skin on the grace and love and mercy, redemption and reconciliation of Jesus Christ and translate it into the everyday lives of ordinary people. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:38.399 Now, the reason I think this text is so important, by the way, is because I think you have here the double helix or the DNA of the church. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:46.480 I think we have some common practices, some common commitments that we need to make sure, hey, this is always going to be present here. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.200 And I think blessing is all over this, right? 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.279 Because that's how this story started out. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:55.120 What God wants more than anything is a family, and sharing makes that family work. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:59.120 And so he creates in Genesis chapter 1, 1, male and female. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.039 What does he do as soon as he creates them? 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:03.759 And he blesses them. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:06.080 That's in your soul. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:13.200 As a man or a woman or a human being, you were designed to receive the blessing from your Father in heaven. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:17.360 It animates you, it releases you, it empowers you. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:21.440 And if you think in some cultures, right, you want to talk about blessing, it's God's favor. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:24.639 We can go through all the Hebrew definitions of Barakul, right? 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:27.279 Barakul Adunai, blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:32.720 But one of the connotations in a Middle Eastern culture is actually a friendly greeting to bless someone. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:36.320 You would see them and you would kiss them on the cheek, maybe hold their hand. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.080 So think about this. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:12:04.720 When Adam and Eve first show up, the first thing they see is joy in the eyes of their father, a smile on his face, and he blesses them with a loving attachment, with provision, with intimacy, with a job, with purpose, with resources, and folds them into their arm, kisses them on their cheek, and says, You are my beloved child in who I am well pleased. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:13.600 I believe that raging in the heart of every human in this room and in this world is a desire for blessing. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:23.679 A desire to be seen, known, loved, to have purpose, to have attachment, to have something to offer, to know that someone else is happy to see me. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:27.600 And I think we're all wrestling for it either the right way or the wrong way. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:28.799 It's fundamental, right? 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:32.559 We saw this when Jacob wrestled with God for the blessing. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:33.840 He's holding on. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:35.279 He's obviously overpowered. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:36.799 His hip is out of socket. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:37.840 But what's he doing? 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:44.639 He's got a five-point submission hold on his fifth metacarpal and going, I'm not letting you go until what? 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:47.279 Until you bless me. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:50.080 Until you give me a new name. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:58.799 Until I know that you see me in the midst of my chaos and confusion and all of my riddled motivations and manipulations. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:06.879 If you're close, I'm grabbing a hold of you with everything I've got, and I'm not letting you go until you bless me. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:09.039 I want a real blessing. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:12.320 One that makes a difference in my real life. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:20.000 And one that I can really stake my life on and find that it's possible to live a different way. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:26.639 Not a moral platitude, not a hand-me-down teaching, not something you think is true. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:32.960 I need an encounter with God that blesses me so that I can bless others. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:40.320 And I think we see this here, them wrestling with the blessing, the outpouring of God's activity in Acts. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:43.360 So here's what I want to do. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:47.600 I'm gonna kind of walk you through something, a tool that was really helpful for me. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:51.919 I talked about it on the men's retreat when I was here, but they've forgotten everything I said. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:59.440 And so I'm gonna try to remind them one of my key axioms in life is I don't need to be instructed, I just need to be reminded. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.519 90% of the things you're telling me, you're like, oh yeah, I know that. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:04.960 I'm not doing that. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:08.320 And it's really hard not to hear my wife's voice in my head right now. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:17.039 But again, uh they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.600 Uh, got this from a guy named Dave Ferguson. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:23.519 And uh, when I was a younger minister, I wanted to be really cool and come up with everything. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:26.960 Now that I'm older, if it's already out there and better, I'll use it. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:31.840 So this is from him, and it's better, and we use it in all of our microchurches. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:33.759 Um, it's called the Bless Rhythms. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:38.399 And so you just look up just simple anachronym, takes the word blessed, right? 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:41.840 Um, and it talks about everything that you'll see in this passage here. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:43.440 And it was really interesting. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:52.480 Um, there's a guy, Jeff Vanderstelt, who did incredible work in missional communities for the past 20 years, who I would consider somewhat of a guru, right? 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:57.360 In small uh communities seeing discipleship and transformation. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.799 And I happened to be at a conference with him, and I'm like, bro, just tell me. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:07.039 The past 50 years, all the things that you've done, like, what is I'm trying to simplify it in discipleship. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.639 If you could simplify one thing and go, this is this is the thing, what would it be? 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:12.320 He said, bless rhythms. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:17.039 I would do bless rhythms in my family, in my church, and in my relational circle. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:18.559 And I went, huh? 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:20.879 Okay, let's take another look at that anacronym. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:22.399 I thought it was a silly anacronym. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:23.039 So this is it. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:24.000 Bless rhythms. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:25.440 B, you begin in prayer. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:27.519 L, you listen and engage. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:29.440 E, say it with me. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:33.440 S, serve, and then s, share your story. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:34.159 All right? 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:34.960 Simple. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:38.159 It's a way that we can bless one another, bless each other. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:39.600 Simple thing at the dinner table. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:41.679 Hey, did anybody get to bless anybody today? 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:42.720 What does that mean? 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:44.799 Hey, did you pray for someone else beside yourself? 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:45.679 Yes, great. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:46.879 You bless somebody. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:48.720 Anybody bless anybody today? 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:50.000 Were you at lunch? 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:55.360 Did you listen and engage with someone and ask them more than two questions, or just wait for your turn to talk? 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.480 Oh, I picked up a pencil for someone who dropped it today. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:15:59.519 Awesome, serve. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.000 That's right. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:00.799 We're blessing. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:01.279 We're here. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:03.840 We are blessed in order to be a blessing. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.840 So now I want to, the context in which this drops into, I want you to see in our scripture here, right? 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:12.960 You got Acts chapter one, which has come before Acts chapter two. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.360 You guys were talking about some of that last week. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.759 God's sovereignty and man's responsibility and Peter's sermon, right? 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:20.720 Acts chapter one. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:23.840 Holy Spirit drops like liquid napalm. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:24.240 Okay? 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:34.799 It burns up doubt and division, and all of a sudden, they are unified, they are together, and they are on fire, and they have a mission and a message that they're going to share. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:41.919 Acts chapter 2, recently reinstated Peter, rips off this sermon, and all of a sudden, what happens? 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:45.600 3,000 people come forward and fill out commitment cards. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.360 Can you believe it? 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:48.639 Right? 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:55.039 And after that Billy Graham revival, that's how we got the church we have today, right? 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:56.320 Wrong. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:16:59.919 You had 3,000 converts, you didn't have any disciples yet. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:04.799 How did the church take 3,000 people who said, Jesus? 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:05.920 Yeah, okay. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:26.559 I believe in him and transform them into Christ's followers, devoted to his mission, his message, and his way, so much so that when Acts chapter 7 happens and persecution breaks out and they can no longer have a large group gathering, it spreads like wildfire through the persecuted Roman Empire, house to house to house to house. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:27.839 How does that happen? 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:35.359 I believe the linchpin is right here in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, and especially with this sentence. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:38.640 And they devoted themselves. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:43.200 And they devoted themselves. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:55.200 And he devoted himself to be salt and light and to surrender and submit to the mission and message of Jesus. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:58.079 Some of us need to reaffirm our baptismal vows. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:01.599 They devoted themselves. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:04.640 It wasn't hard, it wasn't simple, right? 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:10.960 Fellowship, breaking the bread, and the prayers. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:26.240 And they were filled with awe and wonder everything they had held in common together, took care of people's needs, had favor with everybody, and the Lord continued to add to their number daily. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.839 This is how the church moves forward. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:31.839 And so they devoted themselves. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:34.319 God reveals, we respond. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:40.400 God reveals, we God reveals, we respond. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:41.759 That is how it works. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:47.839 That's how intimacy works, that's how a relationship works, and that's how the Church of Jesus Christ will work. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:19:10.960 But here's the problem our stubborn pride, our satanic self-sufficiency, and we don't need anybody else, our isolation and our toxic shame becomes a barricade and a blockade to God's blessing that He wants to pour in you so that He can release it through you. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:14.640 What dare I say, like honey through a rock? 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:20.720 So that people can taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:26.559 How can we become a message that incarnates itself and moves into our neighborhood? 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:30.079 How can you, Grand Parkway, become a community known? 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:32.720 We're wrestling with the blessing. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:41.920 We want to figure out how much of a blessing we can be to put down the kingdom of God on earth in front of our neighbors and our neighborhood. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:49.440 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the breaking of bread, the fellowship, and the prayers. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:56.079 Let's just kind of walk through this uh a little bit, and then you just ask the Holy Spirit kind of to put a highlighter on. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.599 Yeah, I needed to be reminded of that this morning. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:02.400 Yeah, there needs to be some intentionality. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:10.880 Yeah, I need to go home and I need to sit down with my husband, and we need to rework our calendar because right now we're serving our idolatrous kids. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:14.400 I got four kids in four different schools and five different activities. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:16.319 Pure chaos. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:20.960 I'm like leaking hundred dollar bills out of my back pocket. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:24.000 Waiting on having a conversation about leftovers. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:25.200 That's how I'm trying to make up money. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:26.960 My kids are like, I don't want any leftovers. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:28.960 Fool, you've never been poor. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:31.599 Making me mad. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:33.680 Right? 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:42.799 What are I'm telling you, at the end of the day, it's our habits that are gonna produce our holiness, right? 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:52.480 Holiness sometimes means loneliness, but then after that, how can you get together with someone and go, hey, here are the core habits we decided to live by as a family in a church? 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:54.319 And they take priority. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:56.720 I literally have to get my wife's analog, right? 00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:58.079 She wants a paper calendar. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:00.319 Um, we're we're so crazy right now. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:08.880 Um, the one comment that will probably put us back in marriage counseling is if you say it with a sneer, did you put it on the calendar? 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:14.000 I it's been told to me a hundred times. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.559 I said it once and it was a mistake. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.119 But you're looking, you're going, okay, we got this, this, this, this, this. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:23.279 Uh okay, where's family dinner? 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:27.279 Okay, where's our opportunity to serve? 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:38.880 This is who we are as a family, and we're trying to do these things in the context of the community and the commitments that we've made, but sometimes those commitments have superseded the one that we made a long time ago. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:44.000 And that is I'll love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, strength, and my, and I will love my neighbor as myself. 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.079 So B is begin in prayer, right? 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:48.559 We believe in extraordinary prayer and fasting. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:53.200 Prayer always proceeds and then God exceeds. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:55.359 Prayer proceeds, God exceeds. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:57.279 I pray out of God's glorious riches. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.279 He's got He's got a lot of resources. 00:21:59.440 --> 00:21:59.680 Amen. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.680 May strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:14.559 And I pray that you being rooted and established in love together, may have power together with all God's things, to grasp how deep and how wide, how long and how high is the love of Christ, and to know that that love surpasses knowledge. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.119 Now to him who's able to do what? 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:23.759 Oh, exceedingly, abundantly, more than you could possibly hope, think, dream, or imagine. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.200 Kick it up, kick it down. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:26.799 Hallelujah, right? 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:29.359 Extraordinary prayer fasting. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:30.880 Are your prayers too small? 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.440 Like just think what you're asking for. 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:35.440 Chances are God's gonna exceed that. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:40.319 Now it may not come the exact way, shape, form, or fashion, right? 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.119 But you gotta know you're trusting him. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:44.799 God sends that provision. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:45.519 Here's what I need. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:52.319 And sometimes he sends that provision to remind you, and sometimes he builds your character to remind you that you can do more with less. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:57.440 Either way, he's exceeding some of your expectations all the time. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.799 It begins with extraordinary prayer and fasting. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:07.359 When's the last time you skipped the meal and said, God, I'm hungrier for your presence than I am for food? 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:12.559 Why is it the most neglected thing from the Bible that we see that people have done for centuries? 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:14.319 Like, yeah, I can't do that. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:26.559 I'll tell you what, because I recently rediscovered it, it's a forced crisis and it sucks and sabotages you from all your old coping mechanisms and energy to think that you can do anything about it. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:32.799 Problem too is our prayer life, not much life in it sometimes. 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:43.920 We utter dry, lifeless, faithless prayers that pitifully fall out of our parted lips and lie on the floor. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:46.319 That wasn't to God. 00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:49.119 That was to a religious rabbit's foot. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:56.000 What would it take, church, for prayer to be our first option and not our last resort? 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.000 What would it look like to be in constant conversation? 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.799 Whether God is so good that you're not always asking him for stuff, you're actually listening. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:10.960 And going, what do you need from me? 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.440 I just wanted to be close to you. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:16.640 I was 16 years old in my youth group. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:18.880 They asked me to pray one time before service. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:23.039 I got really nervous and said out loud, they're like, uh yeah, please. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:27.920 So I just jumped right in. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.799 Dear Lord, thank you for this day and thank you for this food. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:33.359 Please bless it to our bodies and our bodies to your service. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:35.200 Two things was evident after that prayer. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:36.880 One, there was no food. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:46.480 Two is I had no relationship or intimacy with Jesus. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:52.480 I just spouted off a rote prayer from memory with no engagement and no intimacy. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.799 I think we need a little bit of life back into our prayer life. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:02.319 And again, if you want to have extraordinary prayer, I had somebody tell me this once. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.160 Hey, whatever you're doing now is ordinary. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:05.920 Add one thing to it, guess what? 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:08.079 It's extraordinary. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.960 Keep doing that until it becomes ordinary, and then guess what? 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:14.240 Try something else. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:15.200 Guess what? 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:19.680 You've got an extraordinary prayer life, extraordinary prayer and fasting. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:29.039 So, two questions I want you to, I'll put these all up at the end of this, but two questions I want you to be thinking about is how can you make prayer your first response instead of your last resort? 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:33.920 And then what's one thing you could add this week to your prayer life to make it extraordinary? 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.640 I'm just gonna carry a sheet of paper in my pocket. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:37.759 Oh, so analog. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.920 I'm gonna take the notes section out on my phone. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.880 And I'm gonna ask the Lord to give me five names of people I see this week that start praying for them and bless them. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:46.240 Just see what happens. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:49.759 By the way, see what happens when you start praying consistently for someone. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:51.279 Just watch. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:52.240 Just watch. 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:57.200 Your spiritual intendant is up if things start happening that you you can't possibly explain. 00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:57.920 It's incredible. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:58.880 Have fun with it. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:00.880 Um, so listen engage, right? 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:05.759 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:12.559 And listen, selling their possessions and belonging, and they held all things together in common. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:17.920 Fellowship, and one of the things a fellow fellowship has to have in order to exist is you have to share. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:20.240 A koinonia, that's part of that word there. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:23.920 And part of that is sharing our ears and our attention. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:27.519 And the second one in blessed rhythms, it says, listen and engage. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:33.359 The reason we I think they had to add engage is some of us listen, but we never engage with what we hear. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:35.759 How do they know who has need? 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:40.880 How do they know how to distribute everything that they're sharing? 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:47.279 Someone is listening, and someone is engaging in doing something about it. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:58.480 I think listening and engaging, although we think it is simple, I think it's absolutely critical that we learn how to bless each other with the gift of listening and engagement. 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:03.519 And there was this incredibly bold statement that that led to in this text. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:07.920 And all who believed were together. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.480 Church, have we lost our sense of together? 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:15.680 Who are your together people? 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:31.759 Oh, by the power and the blood of Jesus Christ, may we have the courage to crush the idols of narcissism, consumerism, and individualism, which are wreaking havoc upon our church life in the sense that we have no sense of together. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:34.880 We have no sense of commitment or devotion. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:42.319 We are driven to distraction so much so that we truly can't even listen and engage with the person in front of us. 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:43.599 Mm-hmm. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:44.240 Mm-hmm. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:44.960 Yeah, yeah. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:46.319 Okay, I gotta go. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:49.839 And it's almost at epidemic proportions. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:57.519 And I don't say that um as hyperbole, but like as trying to use scientific language. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:01.599 Here's some stats, and mind you, by the way, this was before COVID. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:08.559 2003, UCLA researchers discovered the physical effects of loneliness on the brain. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:15.039 They discovered that it produces the same sense of physical pain in that part of the brain. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:20.799 That when you're lonely, no one's listening, engaging it, you're excluded or rejected, it stimulates that same area. 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:27.599 Time magazine called loneliness the next great health epidemic, on par with obesity and substance abuse. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:33.839 It's a lot of words. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.599 Let me condense it for you. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:41.119 They said that loneliness reduces stress that leads to inflammation, all this fun stuff. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:48.240 They said loneliness has more devastating effects on your health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:51.519 So here's the good news. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:54.880 If you got a lot of good friends who listen and engage, smoke them if you got them. 00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:55.359 Okay. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:06.079 Just kidding, students. 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:09.440 I know you're vaping. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:16.640 Um I love smoking a USB pork. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:20.559