2024 Vision: "And they devoted themselves..."

Intro

The end of the year is always a great time to step back and look at the year as a whole. What went well? What went not-so-well? What did we accomplish? What more can we do next year?

I love taking time to consider the the overview of the year, especially from a ministry perspective. So my goal this morning is for us to look at the purpose of the church, the mission of our church, and our focus for this upcoming year.

Read with me Acts 2:42-47

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

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

Five Functions of the Church

Within this passage, we can find the five essential functions of a church. And I have got to say, I think we do them well for a small but hearty church.

The functions are as follows: discipleship, fellowship, ministry, evangelism, and worship.

And If you feel up to it, you can add prayer in there, but most just include that as worship.

Discipleship

“to the apostles teaching”

This is any type of biblical education that is taking place here. Our current methods are Sunday morning service and Wednesday evenings.

I would love to see multiple classes going on Wednesday nights and some small group ministry taking shape in the coming months.

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

The KJV reads to “study to show yourself”. Now more than ever, we must be studying deeper and deeper into the Word.

Fellowship

“and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread”

Any chance we get to build relationships here, we need to take. Whether its coming up and eating chili on a Saturday night or helping put up a massive sign, the relationships that we build with other Christians is like no other.

When times get tough in life and we’re faced with hardship, it’s always better to walk through them with others by our side rather than by ourselves, right?

When you just hold it in and bottle it up, you end up crashing and burning. In my experience, you will get bitter then burntout then you’ll quit all together.

We must join together and do life with one another. Let your brother or sister share your burdens and successes. The friendships that are made within the church atmosphere are friendships that can last a lifetime.

I love how well our church fellowships. We take in anybody and they become family here. There’s several of y’all who haven’t been here very long and we’re already super close. I love it.

Ministry

Acts 2:45 ESV

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

These people were so moved by the Holy Spirit that they were selling anything they had to be able to help those in need.

There is such a tremendous need around our community that we can help. Even within this room, there are people who have had an impact made because of the ministry of this church, particularly the food pantry. As often as you can, give to the church. Give generously because we are putting it to good use to help further the Kingdom.

The more you give of both your finances and your time and abilities, the more the Lord will continue to bless you over and over again.

In the last year the food pantry has went from serving 50 people or so to over 300 consistently.

Evangelism

This one is a little bit more sparse within our church as a whole. And I would like for that to change. Evangelism is the sharing of the good news of Jesus.

Evangelism is not inviting someone to church. Evangelism is not praying for someone. Evangelism is not telling someone “God bless you” or anything similar. Evangelism is only the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus. You must share about what Jesus did, why he did it, and what we do about it.

We’ll talk a little more about our evangelism plan in a few minutes.

Worship

There can be a whole sermon series on worship. But I’ll keep it brief.

Worship is not only music. Music is a form of worship, but its not the only way. A lot of times we can get hung up on that and think that music and singing is the only way to worship. But you can worship through prayer. You can worship by being silent. You can worship by just recognizing the majesty of all that God has created.

Now, when we come in here together, unless you’re going through something that you just need to listen to the words to be reminded of how great the Lord is, I expect y’all to be singing praises to the Lord. The biggest book in the Bible is the Psalms, the praise book!

Singing praises to our God is of utmost importance. Because the more we praise, the more he shows up!

Our Mission Strategy

Seek the Lost

When I mentioned evangelism a few minutes ago, I wanted to add in the strategy of how we will go about reaching our neighbors with the Gospel.

First, I would like to start a visitation and canvasing push. One, as your pastor, I’d like to visit yall and spend time with you to build our relationship. But also there are hundreds if not thousands of homes within a 3 mile radius of our church here. I want to knock on every single door possible and talk with the residents. Our primary objective will be to share the Gospel if the opportunity presents itself. If not, then we invite them to church and possibly pray with them.

If you’re interested in joining me on that venture, let me know.

Disciple the Saved

Once we get people in the door and saved, then its time to make them into disciples. Then its time to get them immersed into scripture.

They’ll be getting a taste of it in the Sunday service, but it’s also important for them to be coming on Wednesday nights as well.

Down the road, I want to implement a true discipleship program where new believers get taken under the wing of a more mature believer to be discipled. A disciple is someone who is disciplined in a certain field of study, in this case, Jesus.

Worship the Lord

Meanwhile, we will also be worshipping the Lord. In song, in prayer, in our giving, in our actions, we will bring glory to God.

Acts 2:46 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

They knew the importance of gathering together as a body of believers!

Tell the World

The Gospel of Jesus is not something to be contained within these walls or within this culture.

My goal and vision for us here at Journey is to see the Gospel leave through those front doors and travel globally by our hands, feet, and network. There are numerous opportunities for us to partner with organizations who already have that global reach. I would love for Journey to have a mission team one day that prepares and leads various mission trips both at home and abroad.

Our Mission Phrase

You may be thinking, “all this sounds great Jonathan, but how do we get there? How do we get more people in the church? How do we grow to be able to build new buildings and send mission teams?”

This year, 2024, I want us to have a major focus on one phrase. Some people pick a word of the year, we’re doing a phrase. And it comes straight from Acts 2 where we just read.

“And they devoted themselves...”

This year I want us to devote ourselves in the same manner that the first church did. Devote yourselves to be at church as often as possible. Devote yourselves to being active in the food pantry. Devote yourselves to tithe and give more than a tithe. Devote yourselves to pray for this church. Devote yourselves to studying God’s word more and more every day.

Right now, I have, I think, 3 planned Sunday morning absences for 2024. I’m going to do my absolute best to keep it to that number or fewer. I want you each to commit to be here for 45 of the 52 Sundays this year. Go ahead and plan your absences ahead of time. If you commit to devoting yourselves for the course of this next year, I promise that you will see God move in some crazy awesome ways here.

Conclusion

In closing, we are about to partake in communion as a church family. If you are a born-again believer in Jesus, and you know for a fact that you are going to heaven when you die, you may partake.

If you are not a Christian yet, so if you have not received Jesus as your savior, we ask that you do abstain. However, if you’re in that camp and have been interested or curious about salvation and a relationship with Jesus, we’re going to be singing a song prior to communion, please come and talk to me and I’ll be happy to introduce you to Jesus on a personal level and you may partake.

Communion

I want to remind you before we pass the elements,1 Corinthians 11 says “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

If you have any unrepentant sin in your life, you need to deal with that before partaking. If you don’t please abstain.

We are going to distribute both elements together. I will read a passage then instruct when to partake. We put the bread into cups as well since we’ve had numerous sicknesses going around.

As the elements are being distributed, be examining your life and pray for God to cleanse you of any unrepentant sin. Pray that God would prepare you for a devoted year to him.

In taking this communion, you are symbolizing what Jesus has done for you and that you have received it. The bread is symbolizing his body which was broken for us and the juice symbolizing the blood which was spilled for us.

Luke 22:14–20 (ESV)

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Pray