Who is Caring For Your Soul?

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts 2:42-47

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

We are excited today as we are strting a new sermon series called Soul Care

There is an emphasis in our world today about mental health and physcial health

These definitely need to be talked about, learned about, and cared for

But what seems to be overlooked, even sometimes in the church, is the caring of the soul

While some may not believe in a soul - as a church we believe that God has given us a soul and that it is to be cared for

Last week we looked at the fact that our soul is sepearte from the body

Our soul is given by God and it is the soul that God wants unified with him

And because we are born spiritually dead, God, in his pursuit of us, redeems our soul through Christ

And so Peter gives the first Christian sermon here in Acts 2 where he is magnifying Jesus as the Christ

Jesus was the promised Messiah for our souls

And once our hearts are changed and we put our faith and trust in him - the Holy Spirit dwells within us and we repent of our old ways, we are obedient in the beautiful ordinance of baptism, and we live a life in which we are to steward our souls

Theologian R.C. Sproul writes - Not only do we have souls, but the nurture and care of our souls is a top priority for the Christian life.

And so I ask the question - Who is caring for your soul And how should it be cared for?

To care for something is to nutrure and keep safe - How do you feed your soul and protect it?

How often do you feed your soul and protect it?

What are you nurturing your soul with? What safegaurds do you have in place to protect it?

My cousins are starting to have babies (Dont ask when we are having one)

But my cousins are having them and I am seeing first hand how they are intentional in having regularly scheduled naps

I’m not sure if the one year old knows what a french fry is yet - I only seem him eat spinach and green things

And they buy these huge, expensive, carseats and cameras to make sure that they can see them and that they are safe

And when we go out on date nights - I do love holding them and playing with them but the babies definitely know who their mom and dad is

And if I am holding them, no matter how much I tell them to be good and not to cry

They know who feeds them and takes care of them - so they turn around looking for mom and start to fuss when they are in need

And what we find in scripture is that our Heavenly Father loves us, and he knows what we need as his children

And so, in his love for us, he has set in place instructions, directions, and rules, for us to follow in order for our souls to be nurtured and protected

In order for our souls to be continuously in a posture that is unified with Him

That is unified with His will and purpose for us

And this what we are going to look at today - The people at pentacost have had hearts that were changed - over 3,000 souls were added the family of God

And they repented and were baptized - but whats the next step?

How are they to steward their souls day in and day out until their death?

How are we to do this?

If you are able to stand, I ask that you please do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it as you follow along,

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

This is the Word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Word of God

Devotion

Our text says that “they devoted”

And the greek word for this phrase means to be in a state of being

Their entire being - both physically and spiritually were devoted to learning how to follow Jesus and to continuously gather

Teaching of the disciples

It was to their benefit - it was for the best care of their souls that people dedicated themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship

They did not have the Holy Bible - but what they did have were the apostles who walked and talked and learned from Jesus himself

He taught them how they are to live as followers of Jesus

And so these poeple who are now followers of Christ - are learning from those who have first hand experience and teachings from Jesus

And so the apostles were simply teaching the people Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven

They were teaching what Jesus meant when he said I am the vine, you are the branches

And they were teaching them what The Lords Supper is and how Jesus prayed

Generally, when we read the breaking of bread - in context it is often used as a physical meal that people partook in together

But the breaking of bread here is the literal breaking of bread that Jesus did as the disciples communed with him at the Last Supper

So the diciples are to teach the people - Here is the bread and here is the cup - this what they symbolize and this why we take it

And then we do know that Jesus often withdrew and prayed - he would wake up early and pray

We will talk about this further in the upcoming sermons

But it is evident that prayer was of great importance

Fellowship

So the people learned from the apostles and then they regularly gathered

They gathered to meet in fellowship and uplift one another and encourage one another

And because they were in a posture of repentance - there had to of been constant accountability -

A constant posture of staying right with God

And because they individually had this state of being - they collectively had all things in common

Signs and Wonders

Now, lets address verse 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And so the primary way in wich the people learned to live and steward their soul was the apostles teaching and the gathering with one another

And then in the secondary - at the same time that they were primarily devoted to the apostles teaching and the gathering

They were witnessing the signs and wonders that were being done by the apostles

The people themselves were not doing the signs and wonders even though they had the same Holy Spirit

Rather - it is clear that the signs and wonders given to the apostles through the Holy Spirit as a secondary means to grow the church at that time

And so I want to submit to you 2 things -

3,000 souls did not come to Christ because of signs and wonders - 3,000 souls came to Christ because of the piercing of the heart and the gospel of Jesus being preached

Our text states does state though that the believers were in a position of awe

This posture of awe and seeing the Holy Spirit at work through the apostles had to of been a great confidence booster to their faith

And - at the same time that the believers were in awe - it is likely that that that awe did not translate to the unbleilievers

Rather - there would be a fear as to how these miraculous things were occuring

It would cause someone to second guess their unbelief

Second - the signs and wonders that occurred were acts of mercy or a primary way to reach the lost as Jesus performed

Listen, I agree that every miracle Jesus performed was for his own glory and magnified him as the Christ

And if we look at Jesus’ miracles - they magnify Jesus as the Christ as he displays having mercy on another

And even though Jesus did do miracles - the miracles were not his primary way for witnessing

The miracles that Jesus performed were affirmations of Jesus’ teaching and proclaiming that He is the way, the truth, and the life

Apostolic teaching

So now we have the apostles supporting the teachings of Jesus and carrying out acts of mercy

Their teaching were the very breath and word of God and the signs and wonders were supporting the teachings by showing the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that that now dwells within every believer

And seeing the Acts of mercy that support the teachings of Jesus

The natural and only response to that is that we must love, and care, and bear, and uplift each other as Jesus would

And having this in common - the believers lept into action

45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Integrated Life

The believers had an integrated life with one another - they took care of one another

They went tot the temple

They ate in their homes and had glad and generous hearts

And ultimately everything they were doing was to praise God

And in their praise, in their following of Christ, in their helping of each other - other people saw what was going on

It is a beautiful thing that the first century church was all about gathering and ministering

And in their actions, other people see and experience what was happening

And the Holy Spirit draws the unbelievers in - And just by simply ministering to people they found favor with believer and non believers

And then the Lord supernaturally changes their hearts

and more souls are added to the Kingdom of God

This here is a blueprint and a model for us - Who is caring for your soul?

We first submit that Jesus has saved our soul and holds us eternally

This is the hope and promise of Christ

John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus has done the hard part of giving his life for you and reconciling you to God

You can live life knowing and resting that you are secure in Christ

But that does not mean you can live however you want

We have responsibility to steward our soul in the rest and security of Christ

We are to become more like Christ as we continue to rest and find security in him

Read Your Bible!

Now I am going to say something that you may get tired of me saying every Sunday

If you grew up in the church - youve probably heard it every Sunday

But this has to be the number one way to nurture and protect your soul

That is to read your Bible!!!

Didn’t see that one comming -

But we have to understand that we are not a congrgation led church

We are not an elder led church

we are not a pastor led church

We are a scripture led church

And that is because we believe that this book is God’s very word for us

The reason why we do not believe in modern day apostles

They were necessary because they learned and followed and shared Jesus’ teachings directly

They did not have the full cannon of scripture that we have today

We have the entire and complete word of God right here

The early church devoted! - Is your state of being longing to know God’s word

Devote yourselves to Christ - Devote yourselves to the reading of scripture for it is the word of God that your soul needs

And look, as a shepherd of this church, as one who is held accountable and will be judged stricter - I have to be continuously pointing to God’s word for it’s his word that is final - not mine

You do not want to solely rely on the John Colunga commentary

But you can rely solely on the infallability and the sufficiency of scripture

So you will continue to hear me encourage and exhort you to be in God’s word

And maybe you might roll your eyes because you were a perfect 7 for 7 in reading last week

But there could be a fellow brother or sister in this room who really needs the encouragement

Who the Holy Spirit will convict and move to lead them closer to being in God’s word

And if we are to hold to the Word of God first, as the primary way in which God speaks to us - then the signs and wonders will appear

Sign and Wonders are second

But we must be careful how we approach the signs and wonders conversation

As we read and understood before, the apostles were the ones doing the signs and wonders

And the signs and wonders were acts of mercy that pointed to Christ or preached Christ

And now that the apostles are no longer with us - how is it that signs and wonders still appear for us?

This is where I stand on the shoulders of Dr. James Montgomery Boice who taught on this and set me on a trajectory to enable me to articulate what I believe

And in his teaching - he taught as I believe that I do not like to put God in a box

And so I do believe that supernatural healings occur where the Dr. gave a diagnosis and somehow a patient is supernaturally healed

I do believe that God called me to be the Pastor here - That is supernatural

He didnt explicitely tell me - he didnt show up in a dream - but as I prayed and as I sought his guidence - he made a way for it to happen and for me to recognize and be open to saying yes

I believe that every conversion story is a miracle - I hope you are in awe every time someone comes to Christ

We must be careful that we do not claim to perform signs and wonders nor should we expect them regularly as if its a thus sayeth the Lord

If someone has cancer - and I pray with them that their cancer be healed, that the Lrod grants them mercy and healing - and God chooses to miraculously heal that person -

That does not mean that I have the gift of healing

That does not mean that I have more faith than countless others who had prayed for that person

Rather, in God’s soverignty, divine glory, power, and mercy - at that moment in which the person was healed - God saw fit and decided to heal that person. It had nothing to do with me and everything to do with God

Because at the same time, there will be people that I pray for - and he chooses to not physically heal them and to call them home

They dont die because I was lacking in faith or that they were lacking in faith

I believe that if God wants to communicate to you clearly in a dream - he can

But we cant be expecting that as a sign every time we lay our head down at night

To expect that and to elevate that as a primary way that God speaks is dangerous

I had a dream some time ago that I was back in High School

And in my dream, Mrs. Brenda Marsaillis was my High School teacher

Why? I dont know.......

But can you imagine if I was expecting God to speak to me in my dreams and then I woke up from that and then I went to Mrs. Brenda and said Mrs. Brenda, God gave me a dream and I believe he wants you to go back into teaching

I can tell you the look that she would give me

And I’m sure the response she will give me is that GOd can tell me that himself!

In relation to our soul - It will do our souls well to be concerned with what God’s word says

That we pray and ask God to reveal himself to us and to go to scripture for his truths and answers

And if he so chooses to give a sign and wonder - for us to be in awe - to give him glory

And then to go right back to his word and teachings

And we also get his word and teachings every Sunday

Go to Church

I will not stay here long as we just had a sermon over going to church but notice how our text said that the people were devoted to the apostles teachings and the fellowship

And they met in the temple and in each others homes

So I exhort you not to minize the Sunday gathering in the nurturing and protecting of your soul

To come along side fellow brothers and sisters to sing God’s word, to hear God’s word, to pray God’s word

That we do The Lord’s Supper together and pray with one another

That we do baptize and encourage one another

That you first submit your soul to God’s word and then trusting others to help you in the shepherding of your soul

That is where your leadership and my role comes into play in your soul care

That I am tasked as as an earthly Shepherd called by God to help shepherd the souls at New Day Church Pasadena

That I submit to Christ first is my primary calling and then my secondary calling is to preach the word of God here

Fixing lights are important but your soul is my priority

Door Knocking is important but your soul is my priority

Casting a vision is great but your soul is my priority

You come to church to worship and glorify God - And it is my hope and prayer that in that worship - That the Lord would use me to help shepherd your sould to have a deeper love for Christ

To have a deeper understanding of who He is

And to be equipped to go out and do the work of ministry

Trust Community

And then as you come on Sundays - we hope and pray that you want to continuously meet and grow with each other

In the early church there is just as much an emphasis in gathering outside of the temple as there is gathering inside the temple

We say it all the time that the church is not a building and yet we sometimes try to only meet in the building

But the early church was meeting regularly in homes and at the temple

They were regularly meeting and serving - and the watching world was seeing what was going on and was attracted to what was happening through the power of the Holy Spirit

And in our time today - we too should be meeting inside and outside the church building

We should be eating meals together

We should be trusting each other in helping to steward our souls

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

And it is no coinscidence that in the full armor of God the sword is the word of God

Ephesians 6:17 “and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”

Are we helping each other in the understanding and obeying of scripture

We just talked about legalism - how do we help each other not fall into legalsim and learn how to bear with one another

Do we ask scriptural questions with one another?

And so that is what we do in our community groups - we go deeper into God’s word to sharpen each other

We ask how each other are doing? (not superficially)

We ask what is God teaching you right now?

Groups are important for us

Responsibility in Living the Christian Life

In answering the question - Who is caring for your soul?

We have first noted that God cares for us through his word

We have noted the caring of your soul by local shepherd

We have noted the caring of your soul by fellow believers

And now we are going to end with personal responsibility to live as a changed soul

You are responsible for nurturing and protecting your soul by living out the Christian life

Being a Christian is a daily denying of yourself to walk in obedience of Christ

Philippians 4:8–9 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

We will circle back to this later in our sermon series but the overarching theme is this

Jesus Christ has given us peace

And the appropriate response to that is obedience

When you are drained, when you are weak, when you are tempted, when you are stressed, when you are overwhelmed, when your fleshly desire is at its peak - obedience to Christ is what is necessary for your soul

In life, we develop habits - we develop postures - we develop natural responses

And when we are obedient - even in crazy circumstances - there is still peace because you are still God’s will

But when you give into the weaknes, the tempation, into the flesh - the separation is there and must be made right by asking for forgiveness

Growing up I did watch veggietales and I remember watching Larry Boy and the fib from outerspace

And in the story one tiny fib given lead this young asparagus to tell another fib and it got easier and waier to lie until the fib grew so big that it became a problem for everyone

But we are called to squash all of that - dont let yourself develop a pattern of sin - but set your gaze on obedience to what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable,

And a pttern of righteousness and peace for your soul, will follow

Announcements

Connect Card - Please fill out, we want to connect with you

We want to be Kingdom Minded what is your response? - giving, serving, response to Christ

Next Sunday Aug. 27th we will be ordaining Dillon we are excited about that

Community Group Sign Ups - (Sept.) Meet Every Wednesday (1st Wednesday Midweek gathering)

September 6th is the first Mid-Week gathering

September 13th is the first community Group gathering individually

2 Groups (Deer Park/Pasadena and South Houston/Pasadena area)

Sign Up out in the foyer or Online

New Guests Connect Class - Starting Sept. 3rd 9:15am

‌New Day Reading Plan - Mon-Fri - 2 Corinthians 7-11

Ephesians 3:17-19 “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”