WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:01.860 Well, thank you so much, I'm so glad you're here. 00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:04.448 Can we just celebrate how good God's been already this morning? 00:00:04.448 --> 00:00:09.371 It is so good to take a break, isn't it? 00:00:09.371 --> 00:00:12.388 It's so good to just kind of rest and relax and be refreshed. 00:00:12.388 --> 00:00:17.225 And so you know what happens when your pastor is resting, relaxing, refreshed. 00:00:17.225 --> 00:00:20.907 The first sermon back, you're going to get it. 00:00:20.907 --> 00:00:23.070 You're going to get double barrel. 00:00:23.140 --> 00:00:26.791 I want to welcome all of you who are working with us online this morning. 00:00:26.791 --> 00:00:29.342 I know we have several families that are out and they're traveling. 00:00:29.342 --> 00:00:32.408 One of my dear friends is in Tennessee, just across the lines. 00:00:32.408 --> 00:00:34.847 I mean, we've got it, we've got you know, we're watching on our phone. 00:00:34.847 --> 00:00:36.899 Others are watching on iPads. 00:00:36.899 --> 00:00:41.585 Some of you are on vacation, others of you you're just, you're part of our extended family. 00:00:41.585 --> 00:00:47.567 You were part of this year and you moved away and you started inviting other families to join in on these Sunday mornings. 00:00:47.567 --> 00:00:53.468 I know a few weeks ago we had four families, I think, from Alaska, that were watching. 00:00:53.468 --> 00:01:05.947 They said, man, we just need the heart of God and the message of God and the word of God that you guys are part of, and so for all of our extended family around the country, really around the world. 00:01:05.947 --> 00:01:09.927 We say good morning to you as well, or good night, whichever time zone that you're in. 00:01:09.927 --> 00:01:13.727 I love you and I'm so excited about this series that we've been doing. 00:01:14.620 --> 00:01:21.088 It's been a fun series for me because, again, as we've talked about, as Jesus did, Jesus was so cool. 00:01:21.088 --> 00:01:28.549 He was the greatest teacher that has ever walked the earth and Jesus could just be walking by a fig tree or something like that. 00:01:28.549 --> 00:01:28.780 He goes. 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:43.795 You know, the kingdom of heaven is a lot like Groot, and he would turn Groot, or roots or a tree, into an illustration of right. 00:01:43.795 --> 00:01:45.140 The kingdom of heaven. 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:47.849 You know, the kingdom of heaven is a lot like this seed. 00:01:47.849 --> 00:01:51.742 Or the kingdom of heaven is a lot like this, or you know what? 00:01:51.742 --> 00:01:54.748 There was this man and he had lots of employees. 00:01:54.748 --> 00:02:14.366 He went away on a long trip and he came back and he was constantly taking the kingdom of heaven, which was invisible, but that came with power and authority, and he was trying to bring it down to tangible things that we could see, we could smell, we could taste, we could feel, we could understand, we could wrap our brains around. 00:02:14.366 --> 00:02:16.586 And it's amazing to me. 00:02:16.699 --> 00:02:21.390 Listen to me, one of my favorite chapters, and all of you all know man acts is such a powerful. 00:02:21.390 --> 00:02:23.508 We spend a whole year teaching through the book of Acts. 00:02:23.508 --> 00:02:25.366 If you have never had that, you could go back. 00:02:25.366 --> 00:02:28.086 I think it was two years ago now and we just taught through the book of Acts. 00:02:28.086 --> 00:02:36.848 But one of my favorite chapters is Acts, chapter 17, where Paul the Apostle one of the greatest preachers that's ever you know, walked the earth beside Jesus. 00:02:38.939 --> 00:02:44.481 One of the greatest minds who understood had most of the Old Town Means, like the first five books of the Bible memorized. 00:02:44.481 --> 00:02:45.907 I don't know if you've ever seen Leviticus. 00:02:45.907 --> 00:02:48.045 Well, that's a tough chapter to memorize. 00:02:48.045 --> 00:02:49.082 That's a tough book. 00:02:49.082 --> 00:02:50.080 But he would. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:03:05.308 He knew the Torah, he understood that and yet was called to reach not only the Jews but Gentiles, to take the gospel to those that felt and were truly far from God, those who didn't have all the cultural understanding. 00:03:05.308 --> 00:03:15.487 They didn't understand all the Jewish practice, they didn't understand the framework of who God was and the way he was working through the Jewish nation to be a blessing to every other nation. 00:03:16.040 --> 00:03:26.842 And Paul, in chapter 17, is finding his way on his first church planting trip, or a lot of our Arthelians call it his first missionary journey, and I'm not going. 00:03:26.842 --> 00:03:32.365 It wasn't just a missionary journey, matt, it was a church planting journey, because that's what he did. 00:03:32.365 --> 00:03:34.829 As Antioch sent him out, they planted a church here. 00:03:34.829 --> 00:03:40.225 He would go and lead someone to faith in Christ, gather a few more that they led to Christ, they would organize a church there. 00:03:40.225 --> 00:03:49.229 Then he came back to Antioch, was there for two or three years and they said, hey, we need to go and check up on all the churches that we've planted. 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:56.984 And in Acts, chapter 17, he was in the midst of that first journey and he is in Athens and he's and he's gone. 00:03:56.984 --> 00:03:59.788 He saw this and he's just going up and down in their businesses. 00:03:59.788 --> 00:04:07.308 He was in their marketplace and he was just trying to connect with how they thought, how the Athenians would understand the gospel. 00:04:07.308 --> 00:04:24.987 And then he finds an area where they have all of these altars, where they were worshiping just multitude of gods, and he finds one of those altars and it said to the unknown god, to the god that we don't even know about yet, and he said, oh, oh, oh, oh, I got you now. 00:04:24.987 --> 00:04:29.966 And then he got invited by some people to speak at the Areopagus. 00:04:29.966 --> 00:04:36.605 The Areopagus was just this public, cool place where they were just always having new people come and teach and think and all that. 00:04:36.605 --> 00:04:38.346 And so they said hey, you ought to come speak. 00:04:38.346 --> 00:04:42.245 And when he goes and speaks he says I've noticed your business practice. 00:04:42.245 --> 00:04:43.384 Talk about their business for a little bit. 00:04:43.384 --> 00:04:45.346 And then he said I know that you're religious people. 00:04:45.346 --> 00:04:52.726 I've even seen all your altars, but one of them was to the unknown god, and that's who I'm here to talk about, the god that you don't even know about yet. 00:04:52.726 --> 00:04:57.249 And then he goes on and then he goes, as even some of your own poets say. 00:04:57.249 --> 00:05:04.569 So now Paul the apostle is quoting the poets of the Athenians in his sermon. 00:05:07.939 --> 00:05:09.565 Now, do you know who our poets are today? 00:05:09.565 --> 00:05:14.247 We quote our poets all the time. 00:05:14.247 --> 00:05:15.543 We just don't think of them as poets. 00:05:15.543 --> 00:05:20.747 We quote lyrics. 00:05:20.747 --> 00:05:31.850 Anybody got that like 60 song that you got like swinging in the air baby, and your wife knows exactly the song that you're talking about. 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:34.168 Take you back to those early days. 00:05:34.168 --> 00:05:35.425 Come on, some of you old folk. 00:05:35.425 --> 00:05:37.805 Or we have some of our rappers. 00:05:37.805 --> 00:05:42.264 You know we got some of that and all of a sudden we just slide into one of those little. 00:05:42.264 --> 00:05:43.088 You know, we're just doing it. 00:05:43.088 --> 00:05:45.528 We're quoting our poets. 00:05:45.528 --> 00:05:48.841 One of the other major cause. 00:05:48.841 --> 00:05:50.427 You know what it's like. 00:05:50.427 --> 00:05:55.081 Bill Ted's the excellent adventure and he's always and he didn't know what to say to get all awkward. 00:05:55.081 --> 00:05:56.940 He would say lyrics, man Lyrics. 00:05:56.940 --> 00:05:58.406 Just quote the lyrics. 00:05:59.783 --> 00:06:13.504 I find the people we quote our music and our movies all throughout our life, that's what we do, and so we're just doing something literally biblical, just so you know, something like going. 00:06:13.504 --> 00:06:15.105 I don't like these movie stuff. 00:06:15.105 --> 00:06:20.262 It's all about Like I thought I was coming to church, all right, all right, we just trying to do it. 00:06:20.262 --> 00:06:21.668 It like Jesus did it. 00:06:21.668 --> 00:06:23.023 We just trying to do it. 00:06:23.023 --> 00:06:24.928 It like Paul the apostle did it. 00:06:24.928 --> 00:06:26.706 Paul wrote half the New Testament. 00:06:26.706 --> 00:06:28.545 So we just trying to do it the Bible way. 00:06:28.545 --> 00:06:30.305 And some of y'all getting all upset about that. 00:06:30.305 --> 00:06:34.322 I can't believe that's a movie that's a Godless man that's not even got the Bible in it. 00:06:34.322 --> 00:06:39.343 Where hold, hold on, and just so. 00:06:39.343 --> 00:06:48.050 You know also that one of our core values for our church I'm talking about stuff that we will to die for is that we ain't afraid to have fun. 00:06:48.050 --> 00:06:49.685 That's one of our core values. 00:06:49.685 --> 00:06:52.365 So we gonna have some fun. 00:06:52.365 --> 00:06:59.086 That's one of our core values. 00:06:59.086 --> 00:07:11.026 So we gonna have some fun when we're talking about who God is and our ability to relate to our cultural messaging and then finding the roots. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:16.487 Did you know every rescue story, every damsel in distress, that's just the message of the gospel. 00:07:16.487 --> 00:07:21.107 Because we, the bride of Christ, were in distress, we were in need, had Jesus, our husband. 00:07:21.107 --> 00:07:23.848 He came to rescue us and set us free. 00:07:23.848 --> 00:07:25.103 That's the gospel. 00:07:25.103 --> 00:07:34.389 You know, superman is just a twisted, turned around version of Jesus, who was like us but from another place, came to us to save us. 00:07:34.389 --> 00:07:44.024 I mean, every movie that has a rescue story is just building off the rescue story of what God has done for us. 00:07:44.024 --> 00:07:53.043 And so let me just say it in the words of one of the great theologians I am Groot. 00:07:53.043 --> 00:07:59.329 You understand what that means, right, cause that's I am Groot. 00:07:59.329 --> 00:08:06.785 So I'm gonna say only three words a hundred times from now to the end of my sermon. 00:08:06.785 --> 00:08:22.966 And of course, you'll know what that means, cause I'll have a different inflection and it will communicate clearly, right, like I am Groot, I am Groot, and so a Guardians of the Galaxy was so much fun. 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:26.685 Guardians of the Galaxy, I love this movie. 00:08:26.685 --> 00:08:27.764 That means not like. 00:08:27.764 --> 00:08:29.242 You know, it's not like Spider-Man. 00:08:29.242 --> 00:08:36.048 Spider-man is one of my favorite cause, spider-man, you know he's not like Batman, batman superhero because of all the stuff he got. 00:08:36.048 --> 00:08:42.965 But Spider-Man got bit and got totally transformed into something else, which I believe is what the Holy Spirit does for us. 00:08:42.965 --> 00:08:45.506 But we'll talk about that, because I didn't get assigned Spider-Man. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.207 That was Pastor Josh who came in and got to speak on that. 00:08:48.207 --> 00:09:06.211 But and I just wanna build on kind of what a pastor or Dr Walker taught us on last week, kind of our Maverick moment Better remember our Maverick moment from last week, really having the feet, you know, not allowing fear to hold us back from stepping into moments. 00:09:06.211 --> 00:09:11.327 Listen to me, I believe that as a church, as a whole body, believes we're at a Maverick moment. 00:09:11.327 --> 00:09:13.381 I really do. 00:09:13.381 --> 00:09:20.662 I believe there's a lot of us, I think there's several hundreds of us already that have registered and we've already been assigned to a team. 00:09:20.662 --> 00:09:21.205 You're ready to go? 00:09:21.205 --> 00:09:22.203 Listen to me, listen to me. 00:09:22.203 --> 00:09:27.062 Those of you who are worshiping online everywhere else, listen, it doesn't matter if you're in another state or the other way. 00:09:27.062 --> 00:09:29.109 Like all of us are going. 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:40.648 We have the opportunity for a Maverick moment this coming week, a Maverick moment to serve and make a difference Now, one of the very practical ways that we're gonna do. 00:09:40.648 --> 00:09:46.109 That is, all of us together next Sunday are going together here for a rally time. 00:09:46.109 --> 00:09:49.508 We'll be out on the front lawn and then all of us are gonna go into these. 00:09:49.508 --> 00:10:05.639 I mean like 28, 30, I don't have any a process we have, but we're gonna go into, we're gonna serve the community because, like Jesus said, right, Jesus said, I didn't come to be served, but to and to, oh, but to serve and to give my life. 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.179 And so we just wanna be like right. 00:10:08.179 --> 00:10:15.085 We want to teach you how to grow up in and grow into what it means to live out the gardens of the galaxy. 00:10:15.085 --> 00:10:17.485 To me there's just several biblical themes. 00:10:18.581 --> 00:10:23.488 It's cool how it really you see them come together as an unlikely team, don't you? 00:10:23.488 --> 00:10:31.302 There's this band of misfits, but when they all come together and they begin to find their place, and then Mantis comes, they got the little you know. 00:10:31.302 --> 00:10:32.206 She's empathin'. 00:10:32.206 --> 00:10:50.346 It's just this cool way you got, you got struggle, you got muscle and you got charm and you got you know technology and you got some who's been experimented on and ticketed in that where the raccoon, which he hates to be called, turns into rocket, which is his new identity, his new name, which, in that goal in and of itself, they keep trying to come. 00:10:50.346 --> 00:10:50.969 Oh a little raccoon. 00:10:50.969 --> 00:10:51.250 He goes. 00:10:51.250 --> 00:10:59.082 I'm not for the million, I'm not a raccoon, but was he kind of a raccoon Kind of? 00:10:59.082 --> 00:11:00.803 But was he a raccoon? 00:11:00.803 --> 00:11:09.888 Because he had been so tinkered with, experimented on and transformed that he was not a raccoon, he was now a rocket. 00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:20.903 And I love how, just this idea of our identity shifting over something that you couldn't just see with the naked eye, except for the fact that the raccoon's talking. 00:11:20.903 --> 00:11:24.811 But besides that, and that's what's happening to us, right? 00:11:24.811 --> 00:11:36.962 I mean, we still physically look somewhat the same, even though some of our sorrow has been turned to joy and some of our fear and insecurity has turned into boldness, because we have a new mission, a new purpose, and I love that. 00:11:36.962 --> 00:11:37.787 As that came together. 00:11:37.787 --> 00:11:51.149 You know, none of them were really superheroes or heroes really whatsoever apart, but when they came together and when each one of them kind of played their part, like they became this band of rescuers. 00:11:52.220 --> 00:12:12.163 And of course, in this, as I've studied, I haven't yet seen it, but this most recent one, you know, rocket falls into a fearful place, and all of them for fear that if rockets are not a part of them, then the team won't be complete and their mission fulfillment won't be, and so they all band together to go rescue rocket from a false god. 00:12:12.163 --> 00:12:14.707 Isn't that incredible, yes or no? 00:12:14.707 --> 00:12:15.750 Just me, just that's all. 00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:18.220 I'm the only one To be a rescue from a false god. 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:27.085 It's kind of a good thing, and in that whoa and then what we're doing, we're really kind of abandoned. 00:12:27.265 --> 00:12:31.566 Anybody like get alone, even on vacation, and you feel good about your resting and all that. 00:12:31.566 --> 00:12:45.386 But then you, you know, like, like I don't know about you, like public corporate worship does some things in us that nothing else in our, our walk with God can do. 00:12:45.386 --> 00:12:50.432 It reminds us that I'm not in this by myself. 00:12:50.432 --> 00:12:56.456 It reminds us we're part of a larger family of faith. 00:12:56.456 --> 00:13:01.397 The household of God is what the scripture calls in Ephesians, chapter two. 00:13:01.397 --> 00:13:21.995 See, you belong here and we want you to experience belonging on your way to believing and being the impact and the catalyst for change in that community around you. 00:13:21.995 --> 00:13:28.749 Reading chapter two describes this really well, but I think acts is where I want us to look at chapter two. 00:13:29.424 --> 00:14:04.738 And now again, we, we, we talked through this for an entire year and and this was one of the passages that really stood out in that entire study was acts, chapter four, verse 13, where he talks about they noticed James, they noticed Peter and and the, the, the religious elite of the day, were astonished by them. 00:14:04.738 --> 00:14:20.972 Now, I don't know if you understand that they, like, they really despise the disciples because they were talking about the things of God and the kingdom of God with authority, when, when they had not been to rabbinical school, they had not studied the scripture, they didn't maybe know all the Torah, like you know, and that apostle Paul did. 00:14:20.972 --> 00:14:25.851 But we were talking and they and here's what they said about them Said, said they were like, like what's going on? 00:14:25.851 --> 00:14:28.874 How can these men speak with such authority and such insight? 00:14:28.874 --> 00:14:34.174 Cause they're just ordinary men, average. 00:14:34.174 --> 00:14:41.517 And they were astonished and they said, but they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 00:14:41.517 --> 00:14:45.375 Oh, oh, you talk like the Jesus who that we just killed. 00:14:46.587 --> 00:14:59.907 And here we have this movement of the kingdom of heaven, this movement that they were a part of, with boldness and authority, at the risk of their lives For the one. 00:14:59.907 --> 00:15:04.027 They were proclaiming that people could be saved in his name, that people were being healed. 00:15:04.027 --> 00:15:08.006 With Acts, chapter three, we're going to go there were starting to act chapter two, right now Act chapter three. 00:15:08.006 --> 00:15:11.596 They healed someone and they said by what authority and what name did you heal this guy? 00:15:11.596 --> 00:15:17.630 And they said by the name of the guy oh, the guy that you crucified, that you killed, and I know you probably have the power to probably get killed. 00:15:17.630 --> 00:15:18.614 Us See what they're doing. 00:15:19.144 --> 00:15:43.028 They were saying the good news of the gospel, the work of the kingdom of heaven, like we're going to be a family of faith, we're going to band together, we're going to be the body of Christ, the community of believers, at the risk that you'll do to us what you did to the one that we follow, and at that risk. 00:15:43.028 --> 00:15:54.195 They loved, they studied the word of God together, they broke bread together and in that breaking of bread they had the Lord supper. 00:15:54.195 --> 00:15:56.548 They celebrated his death, his coming again. 00:15:56.548 --> 00:15:58.307 They ate meals together. 00:15:58.307 --> 00:15:59.490 The Bible says in Acts, chapter two. 00:15:59.490 --> 00:16:05.149 They prayed together, just this family fellowship. 00:16:05.149 --> 00:16:15.697 They just did what families do and they did it with and among those who they loved, enough that they wanted them to come to faith. 00:16:16.384 --> 00:16:25.097 And it was interesting that the way they served each other and the way that they served each other and served those that they loved in the community. 00:16:25.097 --> 00:16:40.797 They served them in such a way and with such heart that acts as day by day Things, in an organic way, their new way of life and loving and serving day by day. 00:16:40.797 --> 00:16:46.573 They were added to the church, those that were being saved. 00:16:46.573 --> 00:16:50.587 They served each other. 00:16:50.587 --> 00:16:51.149 Listen to me. 00:16:51.149 --> 00:16:52.432 They loved one another. 00:16:53.374 --> 00:17:00.317 And when you love family especially the weird uncle when you love them well, did you know when we do that? 00:17:00.317 --> 00:17:06.625 Well, and people who are far from God, who don't have a sense of family, they observe that you know what they do they go. 00:17:06.625 --> 00:17:13.287 I don't know if I believe what you believe, but I sure would like to have a part of how you treat each other. 00:17:13.287 --> 00:17:20.611 I'm so inspired and I'm so lonely. 00:17:20.611 --> 00:17:45.180 I want to be a part of how y'all do life, even if I'm not sure about this Jesus thing, even if I'm not sure about all the things the Bible says, even if I'm not sure about the guidelines that God's given us for true sexual fulfillment and sexuality, even if I don't understand all the quote rules that's how most people see it. 00:17:45.180 --> 00:17:46.506 You got these rules and we go. 00:17:46.506 --> 00:17:47.990 No, it's not about rule keeping. 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:49.273 It's about a new relationship. 00:17:49.273 --> 00:17:52.231 I get to be in a new family, have a new heavenly father. 00:17:52.231 --> 00:18:03.275 I got new brothers and sisters and see, family produces something in me that I don't do what I do out of duty but I do it out of a sense of gratitude for the family I'm a part of. 00:18:03.275 --> 00:18:06.592 Isn't that just way cool? 00:18:06.592 --> 00:18:17.192 Isn't that way better than checking boxes and earning your way to heaven and trying not to mess up so God won't be mad at you? 00:18:17.192 --> 00:18:18.191 Isn't that way better? 00:18:18.191 --> 00:18:20.766 We're the household. 00:18:20.766 --> 00:18:21.528 I love Ephesians 2,. 00:18:21.528 --> 00:18:24.433 We're the household of God. 00:18:24.433 --> 00:18:32.837 The household Now being a family and serving one another, has its unique opportunities. 00:18:33.585 --> 00:18:39.857 Anybody got somebody that's challenging I'm trying to find the right word to love in your family. 00:18:39.857 --> 00:18:45.392 Anybody got somebody that's like oh, are they going to come to the family and go, oh, okay, okay, here's how we're going to do it. 00:18:45.392 --> 00:18:59.070 When you make a plan for how, if you ever get caught talking to the weird owl of Yankovitch of your family, you're like go ahead, if I wipe my head like this or if I start scratching my neck, you come, rescue me, get me away from the weird uncle. 00:18:59.070 --> 00:19:00.910 Anybody understand this. 00:19:00.910 --> 00:19:03.670 Only my family's got weird uncles. 00:19:03.670 --> 00:19:05.415 Anybody else? 00:19:05.415 --> 00:19:06.324 Anybody understand this concept. 00:19:06.324 --> 00:19:08.653 How many of y'all got the weird uncle in your family. 00:19:08.653 --> 00:19:10.049 Let's see, weird aunt, weird uncle. 00:19:10.049 --> 00:19:10.731 Anybody got that. 00:19:10.731 --> 00:19:20.714 If you're not raising your hand, you're the weird aunt, you're the weird uncle and you're like wait a minute. 00:19:20.714 --> 00:19:21.737 Is that why I don't know? 00:19:21.737 --> 00:19:23.271 Anyway, so here we go. 00:19:23.365 --> 00:19:24.910 Acts, chapter 2, verse 42,. 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:26.855 Let me just read and describe. 00:19:26.855 --> 00:19:29.693 I've been listening to somebody like oh, when are we going to get to the Bible? 00:19:29.693 --> 00:19:31.890 I've just been teaching the Bible. 00:19:31.890 --> 00:19:34.076 I've just been trying to paint the picture for you. 00:19:34.076 --> 00:19:35.429 Now we're going to get to the text. 00:19:35.429 --> 00:19:39.251 But some of you, we read the Bible and it looks like cold words on a white page. 00:19:39.251 --> 00:19:43.724 Okay, and you got to read this more as a letter from your heavenly Father. 00:19:43.724 --> 00:19:50.688 You got to read this as your dad's sitting down and handwriting you a note and slipping it under your pillow, and that's not when you put your. 00:19:50.688 --> 00:19:56.452 You're like what is this, oh, dad, and you open it up and you get a little from your dad. 00:19:56.452 --> 00:19:59.289 What was that mean to a daughter? 00:19:59.289 --> 00:20:01.349 It's supposed to be if you didn't have a dad. 00:20:01.349 --> 00:20:03.375 That's what this is. 00:20:03.375 --> 00:20:07.314 It says in Acts, chapter 2, verse 42, isn't this powerful? 00:20:07.314 --> 00:20:07.694 Listen to this. 00:20:07.694 --> 00:20:11.915 Right here, some of you are missing the best book you ain't never read. 00:20:11.915 --> 00:20:12.827 I know I say it all the time. 00:20:12.827 --> 00:20:15.027 You got to read this Bible, dad. 00:20:15.027 --> 00:20:16.391 You just trying to get us to read the Bible. 00:20:16.391 --> 00:20:24.315 Yes, read, learn, study, memorize, live, love, live the Word of God. 00:20:24.315 --> 00:20:26.058 Okay, here we go, acts 2, 42. 00:20:26.905 --> 00:20:32.258 And they devoted themselves to these apostles, teaching and to fellowship. 00:20:32.258 --> 00:20:33.047 Don't you love that? 00:20:33.047 --> 00:20:38.469 They just one of the most important functions of the body price Just being together. 00:20:38.469 --> 00:20:49.051 Like they fellowshiped, but it had a purpose to it, fellowship, but that fellowship had a reason. 00:20:49.051 --> 00:20:51.516 You know, like they were fellowship. 00:20:51.516 --> 00:21:06.663 You know, being and belonging is kind of underrated in our culture. 00:21:06.663 --> 00:21:10.498 Doing is what we worship. 00:21:12.410 --> 00:21:18.682 But here it says they studied the Word of God and they just decided to be together. 00:21:18.682 --> 00:21:59.161 They were practicing being a family and then, out of this being and feeling the sense of I'm a daughter who is treasured in chairs, I'm a son of the most high God, I am loved and I'm going to let myself be loved, because when I am loved, then all of a sudden, loving God, loving each other and loving the loss becomes much more natural, just like, oh well, that's yeah, of course that's what we do, because we're a family and we don't do this well enough, and I just want you to know that this coming next Sunday, some of you are going to serve you. 00:21:59.161 --> 00:21:59.922 You're not signed up yet. 00:21:59.922 --> 00:22:02.357 Some of you are going to come serve because we're a family. 00:22:02.357 --> 00:22:06.160 We're going to talk about it today and you're going to go, okay, pastor says we got to. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:15.431 And when you come and you're going to go out to the, to the, to the, to the, to the four you're right after this and you're going to go to the next steps counter You're going to say pastor says I have a son of this, serve dinner and you can sign up. 00:22:15.431 --> 00:22:16.375 Or we're going to put it up. 00:22:16.375 --> 00:22:20.400 Put it up right now, put it up right now, before we even do this, yeah, or you're going to just get your phone out. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:24.875 You're going to go onto the digital sign up form and you're going to sign up. 00:22:24.875 --> 00:22:25.375 You are. 00:22:26.457 --> 00:22:31.144 Everybody say amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. 00:22:31.144 --> 00:22:31.784 You love us. 00:22:31.784 --> 00:22:32.404 I know you do. 00:22:32.404 --> 00:22:35.959 You ever got that child that we're going to go out and we're going to work in the yard together? 00:22:35.959 --> 00:22:38.895 They got the one child said I think I have to answer a text. 00:22:38.895 --> 00:22:39.698 No, you don't know. 00:22:39.698 --> 00:22:42.134 You don't know right now we're going to serve, right. 00:22:42.134 --> 00:22:43.883 And then after a while you're sweating and everything. 00:22:43.883 --> 00:22:44.587 Oh my gosh, it's so hot. 00:22:44.587 --> 00:22:47.877 And then, if you get done, you look up and you go man, look what. 00:22:47.877 --> 00:22:48.499 That's very well. 00:22:48.499 --> 00:22:50.935 Look what we did, look what we did together. 00:22:50.935 --> 00:22:53.358 And then there's this new sense of bonding. 00:22:53.358 --> 00:23:01.957 You've accomplished something that match together and the togetherness is enriched because of what you did together. 00:23:01.957 --> 00:23:03.815 That's what the Builders trip is about. 00:23:03.815 --> 00:23:21.336 Anybody ever been on our summer Builders trip Like you go and you miserably serve Sweating, cleaning, painting, tearing it up, tearing it down, building it back up, replacing it but in the afternoon didn't even guess what they did. 00:23:22.071 --> 00:23:23.536 Let's talk to Nathan Siggler about this. 00:23:23.536 --> 00:23:26.917 He said my wife's not going, we just need to go do some fun things. 00:23:26.917 --> 00:23:28.415 Like all y'all do is sit around. 00:23:28.415 --> 00:23:30.077 He's just like y'all just talk. 00:23:30.077 --> 00:23:34.425 He's like I didn't ask him for permission. 00:23:34.425 --> 00:23:37.413 So, sidney, I'm sorry, I don't think they're going to let me go. 00:23:37.413 --> 00:23:38.455 I apologize, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. 00:23:38.455 --> 00:23:39.438 I will say it in the 11 o'clock. 00:23:39.438 --> 00:23:40.820 She won't even know, don't tell her. 00:23:40.820 --> 00:23:42.490 I told you this Anyway. 00:23:42.490 --> 00:23:44.358 So Sidney was like why don't we go do some fun things? 00:23:44.358 --> 00:23:46.176 And Nathan's like I don't think you understand. 00:23:46.176 --> 00:23:55.603 See, we serve, we work, we do all this stuff and then we just sit here and what? 00:23:55.603 --> 00:24:00.798 No, we just no, we just we just took it Like we just, and there's this thing that happens. 00:24:00.798 --> 00:24:03.497 Mark, is that true? 00:24:03.497 --> 00:24:05.573 You're just there. 00:24:05.573 --> 00:24:07.198 That's what they did. 00:24:07.198 --> 00:24:09.474 Man, y'all ain't listening fast enough. 00:24:09.474 --> 00:24:09.875 We got to go. 00:24:09.915 --> 00:24:11.381 I got a lot to preach about today. 00:24:11.381 --> 00:24:13.458 I didn't get to the four major points. 00:24:13.458 --> 00:24:14.773 We go you better have your pen ready. 00:24:14.773 --> 00:24:15.154 Here we go. 00:24:15.154 --> 00:24:31.729 The fellowship and two, the breaking of bread and the prayers, and it all came upon every soul and many signs and wonders were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together See that again and had everything in common. 00:24:31.729 --> 00:24:37.717 In other words, they were willing to share with one another, serve each other, because they were aware of each other. 00:24:37.717 --> 00:24:40.759 This is why we want you in a community group. 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:42.362 This is why we want you on a discipleship group. 00:24:42.362 --> 00:24:44.415 This is why we want you on a served team. 00:24:44.415 --> 00:24:45.599 This is why you're a greeter. 00:24:45.650 --> 00:24:47.000 How many of y'all are on the first impressions teams? 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:47.525 Let me see your hand. 00:24:47.525 --> 00:24:49.134 Okay, try this again. 00:24:49.134 --> 00:24:50.673 Number one that is one of the specific teams. 00:24:50.673 --> 00:24:52.438 Everybody's on the first impressions. 00:24:52.438 --> 00:24:54.324 Let's say it again how many of y'all are on the first impressions teams? 00:24:54.324 --> 00:24:57.076 Let me try this one more time. 00:24:57.076 --> 00:24:59.699 Everybody's on the first impressions team. 00:24:59.699 --> 00:25:02.303 How many of y'all are on the first impressions team? 00:25:02.303 --> 00:25:03.730 Oh, y'all are. 00:25:03.730 --> 00:25:05.173 Are you on the first impressions team? 00:25:05.173 --> 00:25:07.978 Okay, all right, my little crayon right here. 00:25:07.978 --> 00:25:08.680 All right, you two. 00:25:10.809 --> 00:25:14.901 But what happens is when you get on the official served team that greets people, this is what happens. 00:25:14.901 --> 00:25:24.094 You're doing something together and we got these kind of these cool things like hey, when they get to 12 feet, you got to make sure to look them and I say greet them and I this is like and they're going to hold the door, we're going to host you and other. 00:25:24.094 --> 00:25:32.538 You're passionate about the next thing, like you're doing something so important and you're doing it together and all of a sudden there's these togetherness moments. 00:25:32.538 --> 00:25:38.541 So you're serving what you get as much as you give. 00:25:38.541 --> 00:25:40.875 That's the question, real quick. 00:25:40.875 --> 00:25:42.559 Where are you serving? 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:47.617 But as you just trying to get to go to work, stop, stop, stop, stop. 00:25:47.617 --> 00:25:49.141 You're going to miss the point. 00:25:49.141 --> 00:25:54.538 Here we go, you ready, and all the believers are together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions. 00:25:54.538 --> 00:25:55.381 Hear this, I love it. 00:25:55.381 --> 00:26:02.557 Out of their connectedness, they saw the needs, they saw the other people in their neighborhoods, they saw people around and they sold things. 00:26:02.557 --> 00:26:06.194 They were selling their possessions. 00:26:07.990 --> 00:26:08.913 I really like my boat. 00:26:08.913 --> 00:26:12.556 I just got my ski nautique. 00:26:12.556 --> 00:26:14.642 I love this boat. 00:26:14.642 --> 00:26:19.814 Yeah, I know I got that one little ding over there where the big wave threw us in the dark, but that's a nice boat. 00:26:19.814 --> 00:26:31.574 But I love this family and they're hurting and then they need some things and they have a child. 00:26:31.574 --> 00:26:32.877 That is like that's a cigarette. 00:26:32.877 --> 00:26:35.035 You know, baby, you know what we could do. 00:26:37.794 --> 00:26:38.438 I've been looking on the. 00:26:38.438 --> 00:26:44.509 You know, I think you know we could go on one of those little titty-totty little things and they got all this research. 00:26:44.509 --> 00:26:48.019 You know, I'm talking about all those places where you can do research, as they don't know the names. 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:52.298 But you go to that and I say, like we could get this much money for that boat if we could sell it. 00:26:52.298 --> 00:26:53.240 You know what I heard? 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:59.500 That's what they need and I think our boat could be just about enough to help them with the medical needs that they have. 00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:07.736 Like what if we sold our boat and then we used to serve these families? 00:27:07.736 --> 00:27:14.815 You know I love about y'all, y'all crazy. 00:27:14.815 --> 00:27:19.176 Y'all do like, listen, y'all do stuff like this. 00:27:20.269 --> 00:27:28.853 I've seen it with my own eyes this last week we had a family that just said hey, we know that there's some non-budgetary we're. 00:27:28.853 --> 00:27:31.240 You know, summertime we're a little behind on the budget giving all that. 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:35.140 But they said we also know that there's some things that the budget doesn't do, can't handle. 00:27:35.140 --> 00:27:39.516 We just like, could we give, like we got some things here, like we can sell these things. 00:27:39.516 --> 00:27:40.819 We want to give. 00:27:40.819 --> 00:27:46.101 I'm not going to tell you how much, because it doesn't matter the amount, but it was a good amount. 00:27:46.101 --> 00:27:50.578 But I'm going to say, and it doesn't matter the amount, matter the heart behind that amount. 00:27:50.578 --> 00:27:51.240 Does that make sense? 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:52.383 You do this. 00:27:54.515 --> 00:27:58.487 You know those of you who are leading these services, I know, at personal cost. 00:27:58.487 --> 00:28:06.049 You have prepared, you have put money together, like you're taking what you have and you're going to serve that nursing home. 00:28:06.049 --> 00:28:08.258 I just sat there, I was so inspired. 00:28:08.258 --> 00:28:17.491 Thank you for telling us more deeply how, when we give as a larger family of faith, they're going to make a difference. 00:28:17.491 --> 00:28:24.173 Because you know, ms Shannon's mom was in a place like that before she went to be with the Lord and I know how important that is. 00:28:24.173 --> 00:28:38.957 And all those families trust me and the daughters and the sons of the people that are living, that we're going to touch all of them in Jesus' name, haven't even got to my point yet, you're still not listening. 00:28:41.049 --> 00:28:48.981 They were selling the possessions and their belongings and they were distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and, day by day, attending in the temple. 00:28:48.981 --> 00:28:50.656 This was all happening day by day, by day. 00:28:50.656 --> 00:28:52.017 This wasn't just a Sunday serve day. 00:28:52.017 --> 00:29:01.182 We're doing a Sunday serve day to pull it all together and to plant the seeds of the excitement and the passion of serving into all of us, so that those seeds will grow. 00:29:01.182 --> 00:29:12.971 And we do it day by day, by day and day by day, attending the temple together, together and breaking bread in their homes together. 00:29:13.392 --> 00:29:19.682 They receive their food with glad and generous gratitude and generosity go together. 00:29:19.682 --> 00:29:31.501 And so, if you don't know that, you having resources, the Kingdom Financial Resource or any other resources time, talent, treasure, testimony, touch or even trials those are Kingdom currencies. 00:29:31.501 --> 00:29:33.395 But a lot of us want to be generous. 00:29:33.395 --> 00:29:37.161 Man, if I had a lot of money, I'd give a lot of money. 00:29:37.161 --> 00:29:40.854 If you're not given of the money you already have, you won't be given a bunch of money if you've got more money. 00:29:40.854 --> 00:29:42.594 Okay, because it's a heart thing. 00:29:42.594 --> 00:29:46.398 But it's interesting that it says that they were glad. 00:29:46.398 --> 00:29:51.799 There was gladness, there was gratitude and, listen to me, their world was not easy in this season. 00:29:51.799 --> 00:30:01.941 They had just saw their Savior be murdered, at risk remember, all this is at risk of their lives. 00:30:01.941 --> 00:30:11.866 They were glad, they were great, grateful they, and that gratitude produced this generosity in them and they were praising God and having favor with all the people. 00:30:11.866 --> 00:30:16.244 And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who have been saved. 00:30:16.265 --> 00:30:20.031 Look at Acts, chapter four, quickly see if I can read this without giving too much commentary. 00:30:20.031 --> 00:30:26.017 Verse 32, the title of this is they had everything in common. 00:30:26.017 --> 00:30:26.486 Listen to this now. 00:30:26.486 --> 00:30:27.770 The full number of those who believe. 00:30:27.770 --> 00:30:28.969 Did you hear what that just said? 00:30:28.969 --> 00:30:30.105 Everybody say. 00:30:30.105 --> 00:30:31.131 Let's read this out loud together. 00:30:31.131 --> 00:30:33.211 Now the say it again. 00:30:33.211 --> 00:30:35.810 Now the say it one more time. 00:30:35.810 --> 00:30:37.528 Now, the oh number. 00:30:37.528 --> 00:30:38.392 You know what that means. 00:30:38.392 --> 00:30:44.613 Oh, y'all, we'll go to that one. 00:30:44.613 --> 00:30:47.211 Everybody, oh y'all. 00:30:47.211 --> 00:30:50.731 I said what did he say? 00:30:50.731 --> 00:30:52.926 Full number. 00:30:52.926 --> 00:31:01.750 Or everybody, dolo, dolo, everybody, oh, y'all, the full number. 00:31:02.070 --> 00:31:07.055 There was not this band of the early body of Christ that was over here like going. 00:31:07.055 --> 00:31:12.557 Yeah, you know, that's what we pay y'all to do. 00:31:12.557 --> 00:31:21.088 Yeah, y'all know. 00:31:21.088 --> 00:31:27.172 I know like some people are really grateful that their sins are forgiven, they're really grateful that. 00:31:27.172 --> 00:31:28.624 Oh okay, they're gonna heavenly father and I. 00:31:28.624 --> 00:31:31.068 They're really grateful and they say, well, I mean God, come on. 00:31:31.068 --> 00:31:33.633 Like, let's live in the real world. 00:31:33.633 --> 00:31:36.829 The Romans don't care, they're like what did he say? 00:31:36.829 --> 00:31:38.406 I got, remember. 00:31:38.406 --> 00:31:40.636 I said no, stop, not too much commentary. 00:31:40.636 --> 00:31:49.689 Here you go Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and look what it produced. 00:31:50.045 --> 00:31:52.690 And no one said that they had anything that belonged just to them. 00:31:52.690 --> 00:31:56.855 Now, this was not socialism, this is not how we take all the wealth and divided. 00:31:56.855 --> 00:32:04.271 No, no, all they saying was that if I have it and I love you and you're part of my family and you need it, like hey, hey, let's just connect the two. 00:32:04.271 --> 00:32:11.191 Like how many we got more stuff in closets that we don't even remember we have Anybody ever been cleaning out a closet? 00:32:11.191 --> 00:32:14.894 Oh, my God, I don't know, I forgot we had this. 00:32:14.894 --> 00:32:28.817 So me and I need to clean your closets out, cause you got stuff in there that somebody else in our church needs and you could go serve them by showing up and saying, hey, you know, if you need this man, please, please, amen. 00:32:36.585 --> 00:32:45.412 No one said anything that belonged to them was their own, but they had everything in common and, with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. 00:32:45.412 --> 00:33:07.874 So this is as they were doing all that with great power, the apostles would stand up and they would declare their testimonies of Jesus' death and burial and resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus and they were telling those that were around them why they were so glad and why they were so generous, which is why we do that. 00:33:07.874 --> 00:33:10.548 So we did that this week. 00:33:10.548 --> 00:33:15.108 Do any of y'all heard here about our soccer camp that we put on this week? 00:33:15.108 --> 00:33:39.451 Some of you don't know that you give generously and radically and because of that, we had over 100 children at Arlanderson Stadium, which the school was super gracious to us to discount me like 90% of the cost of that off and allowed us to do a soccer camp probably it's $500, $600 soccer camp with professional soccer players. 00:33:39.451 --> 00:33:42.673 Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, not yet. 00:33:42.673 --> 00:33:47.374 Okay, you can do just that one, just that one, and did it for $25 a person. 00:33:47.374 --> 00:33:51.335 They showed up there like how are you doing this? 00:33:51.335 --> 00:33:53.950