Good morning everyone, it is so good to be here this morning with you all. Right now we get to send out the kiddos to their class where you have the opportunity to learn about God in a way that makes sense to you. Then, remember, you gotta pay attention real good so that you can come find me after service and tell me something you learned today. Then of course we also want to welcome those of you joining us online, etc.

Ok everyone…I hope you all ate your Wheaties this morning because it’s about to get real…Youngins, Wheaties was a cereal that all the athletic champions were on the box of (picture of Ali on Wheaties). This was like the real deal back in the beforetime, ok…no cap…Anyway, so this morning we’re gonna do something to get our blood flowing a little bit…Football season is coming up here pretty fast and I know that there’s a bunch of folks that are getting anxious about that and pretty excited about that coming up…So I used to be a youth pastor and as a youth pastor I would typically get the teens to get up and move around. Im not gonna make you all do that, but Im gonna ask you to be real about your “team”, I’m gonna ask all of the Bear’s fans to just stand up where you are right now…Come on, be proud of your boys…All right, now you can sit down, now we need all the Packers fan to stand up and be proud of your boys…Ok, well it seems like there are more (whoever had more standing) fans here this morning. Now what about this one, let’s see what kind of Baseball participation we have here today…If you’re a White Sox fan go ahead and stand up…Now Cubs fans…Ok, like you guys are proud of your team…I love that. Ok, Ok, what about Ford…if your a Ford person, show me some love….Alright…Chevy folks let’s see what you have…Alright, now Dodge…Nice. Ok, Ok, here’s one…What about, those of that would choose McDonald’s…don’t be embarresed, show some love to your fast food choice, especially those fries…Now, what about any other fast food BUT McDonalds stand up…Ok Ok…We see that there are times that you love what you love, right? I mean, Isabel back there has a McDonald’s backpack as a purse…clearly she loves McDonald’s. Then you wear your team jackets in the fall and winter, you never miss the games no matter the weather. I was talking to a guy one day that told me, he loved his high school team so much that he was always in the stands…it could be raining, sleeting, snowing…man he was there to watch his local high school team. That’s some love for your team isn’t it! Where’s the love for the church though? I mean, publically, where’s the love for the church. Both your church as well as The Church. I mean our culture is rapidly turning anti-church, so where’s the love? Culturally we will see what else is happening on Sunday before we decide to go to church or not. Maybe it’s a really nice day and you don’t wanna “waste” it inside, so you go to the park instead of church. (ouch…I can’t believe he actually said that).

Well, this morning we are going to start a new series where we are going to be looking at the church and really why we should love the church. I’ve titled this series,

I LOVE MY CHURCH. That’s the title because in the same way we love our teams, and we love our trucks, or we love our McDonalds, we should love our church, right? I mean think about it for a second…When you are out somewhere you love, you are posting on social media almost bragging that you got to go to that place. Showing everyone what you are experiencing because it’s awesome and you’re excited, right? We went to the Creation Museum and the Ark and our family posted a few things because we were excited and wanted to share about what we were doing. So where’s the love when it comes to church? Are we excited about what we’re doing here, or is this one of those things that we do in secret? Like we love it, but we know our friends wouldn’t understand so we don’t talk about it. Maybe we have the feeling that we don’t wanna “push religion” on others, so we just kind of whisper about that one while we’re loud about everything else because everything else is more culturally acceptable.

Well, this morning we are starting this brand new series where it is my hope that we will each be reminded about why we should be excited and proud about not only being a part of LRBC, but more importantly being a part of The universal Church and wanting to share that with everyone that we come into contact with. Are we willing to “wear the team jacket” or are we with good sneaking in on Sunday and quietly doing our thing? That’s the question I hope to answer as we move through this series together.

Now it has been said that talk is cheap and that you gotta put your money where your mouth is sometimes. In other words, you have to have some skin in the game, you have to do what you talk about otherwise you’re just an opinionated loudmouth…you know, like a pastor :) I had a boss one time, I’ll never forget it, but I had this boss one time that really appreciated all of the work I did for him. I came in and turned his business around and he started making significantly more money…Well, almost daily he would tell me how much he appreciated me and everything I did for him…great words, and it was encouraging. Then one day he was talking to me and he said that he realized that talk is cheap and that next pay period there was a $2,000 bonus in my check. He told me that he needed to put his money where his mouth was and he began to take care of me financially much more than he was previously. He started to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. You see, talk is cheap…That’s not just a saying, look at what the Apostle John writes in his letter we call 1 John. This was a followup to the Gospel of John, so let’s take a look at

1 John 3:16–18 (ESV)

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

That’s what I wanna talk about this morning.

Love Through Action

So if we put that all together, I love my church through action. Now in order to talk about the action of the church, we need to take a look at the Scripture that tells us what the church should be doing. This is something that I have talked about before, and this is a pretty common theme in churches, but it is always good to be reminded about what we should be doing. After-all…we are not building our own kingdom here, we are simply a part of what God is doing all around us. So, let’s go ahead and take a look at the passage here and see what we can learn about the actions of the church.

Now, I need to give you a little context before we read this section of Scripture. So, here we go. You see this happened after Jesus has been crucified, buried, resurrected, and has returned to the Father in the Heavenly places at this point. Then the apostles were hanging out and telling others about what happened. After Peter told everyone about what Jesus did, 3000 people repented of their sin and were baptized as new beleivers. Then this happened.

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.

Did you see that…the new beleivers were devoted to certain things. There were four actions that these beleivers took in order to put their money where their mouths were. I think it’s so interesting to see this and really gives us a bit of a model of what we should be doing as beleivers as well. Really, this passage is widely seen as the core functions of the church. Now if these are the core functions of the church, then these are the core things that we should be about doing, right? Of course these four things lead to other things, but these were the starting point of this brand new group that was starting. They were all learning together, living together, sharing together, and praying together. This is the anchor passage for this sermon series because, again…these seem to be the core actions of the church…so, let’s look together at what all of this actually means…

First of all we really need to look at the overarching action being one of devotion. You see, these beleivers were devoted because of what Christ had done for them. So, lets take a look at the fact that these believers wore the team jersey and

They Devoted Themselves

Of course that leaves the question of, what does it mean to devote yourself? Well, this is a bit of a hard explanation, so bear with me here. On the surface to devote means to give all, or most, of your time or resources. However, there is something else going on here that is kind of important. You see, this word in the Greek is actually a bit more intense. When Luke wrote that they devoted themselves, he is indicating that the literarily all gave everything that they had or desired into these practices. In other words, to devote yourself to these things then that was their identity. There is a reason that the governing authorities labeled them as a group together. Actually, for those of you that don’t know this, Christian was a derogatory term at one time. Yeah, look at this in

Acts 11:26 (ESV)

and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

When Peter was in a town called Antioch there were people trying to make fun of them so they called them, “Christians” as a way of calling them, “little Christs”. They were making fun of this group of people that were devoted together. Those men and women there wore that title as a badge of honor in light of what Jesus had done for them. You see, as believers, if you actually believe what you say you believe, then you owe everything you have to Jesus. If you owe everything you have to Jesus then you’re gonna be excited to join together with those that have joined you in that reality. Amen…So these new beleivers were devoted together…but what were they devoted in doing together…that’s what the rest of this morning is about. Check this out…

1. Teaching

Pretty self explanatory, right. I mean the early believers were so focused on the teaching of the Apostles that they actually wanted to learn what was being said. Now, if they wanted to learn what was being said, that means that did absolutely everything they had to do in order to be at the temple whenever there was an opportunity to hear from the Apostles. What they were learning had weight in the lives of the early beleivers. Remember, they have just realized the truth of who Jesus is. Now the Apostles are teaching about the Old Testament prophecies and teaching about the miracles of Jesus. They were teaching about Jesus’ resurrection and everything that they had personally seen and heard from Jesus. Basically, as Jesus had given to the apostles, they were giving to the believers. Vs. 46 tells us that day by day they were going to temple…day by day, in other words all of their free time was spent learning as growing as believers. Of course they had jobs, they had to tend to the flocks, they had to plant and harvest, but when they were done working…they went to the temple so that they could learn more about what Jesus had said and done.

I’ve said this before…Jesus was like a good book that they just couldn’t put down, a good movie they just couldn’t wait to come out. Everyone here either enjoys movies, tv shows, or books, some of you enjoy all of the above. Well, what happens when you watch a movie, and it is left on a cliffhanger? What happens at the end of the season of your favorite tv show when they left questions unanswered? What about your favorite book series that you just finished reading the 1st book and now you just can’t wait to read the next book. You see, that is the excitement that the early church is experiencing. They have just learned that Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament, and now they cannot wait to hear all of the stories and how all of these encounters happened. They have just seen the beginning and they are truly excited to see what happens next...

That’s not all they were devoted to though, no, the next thing they devoted to was...

2. Fellowship

Now as they are learning and growing as beleivers they saw a need for fellowship. What exactly is fellowship? Well, here fellows refers to having a close association with each other including both being involved with the same things and having relationships with each other. In other words, fellowship is more than having a cup of coffee on Sunday morning. No, fellowship means that they actually lived their lives together and were involved in each others lives. You see, this is actually something that the modern church does not do a great job of. We do so well at making everyone feel welcome and a part of a spiritual family on Sundays, but the modern church kind of leaves it right there, don’t we. This is really important becuase it is actually a pretty big part of progressive sanctification, thats the term used for growing as a Christian. You see, if you are actually involved in the lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ then you are able to help hold them accountable to Scripture and they are able to hold you accountable to Scripture as well.

So while that is a big part of fellowship, it is not the only part of fellowship. You see, this term fellowship also would refer to helping each other. We actually see Luke go a little further into this concept in vs 45-45 when he talked about having all things in common and selling possessions to give to those in need. The Greek idea of fellowship would involve sharing of goods, and so Luke shows us that is a part of fellowship. Just to be clear though, this passage is not a call to some utopian socialist ideal. A lot people use this passage as a proof that the Bible teaches a socialist or communist political structure. That is a false teaching…You see, the Bible does not teach any political structure. Scripture teaches us individual responsibility and progressive sanctification. What we see here is a voluntary care and love for each other and living together in all things, good and bad.

The concept of fellowship with one another that Luke is describing here is a concept of true spiritual family. This is a concept that is truly played out in the final two aspects of discipleship. Let’s look at these together starting with...

3. Breaking Bread

Breaking bread is another thing they were devoted to. This would have been a part of true christian fellowship. You see, there is a true level of trust and unity built when you break bread together. That is why you see dating relationships happening frequently around a dinner table of some sort. The conversation and the intimacy that is felt when you break bread together is at the root of Christian fellowship. This also shows us something that is actually very important. You see, the early church gatherings would take place not only in the temple, but also in the homes of individual believers. This concept of breaking bread together would have also included taking communion together by having a meal together with the Lord. This is the level of fellowship that is being experienced by the early church, and this is the level of fellowship that we should be striving for as beleivers today. Listen…you need to be paying attention because there’s a lot that’s going on around LRBC, and you will begin seeing more and more opportunities to do some of these things together…I want to ask you today to start readying your mind to say, “I’m in”, and not make excuses as to why you can’t participate.

That also is not the end of their fellowship. They did something else that was far more important than breaking bread together when they were joined in fellowship. They were devoted to...

4. Prayer

This is an amazing part of their fellowship together. We can see in vs 47 that this prayer did not only include the petitions of needs, but the praise of thankful hearts as they are joined together in Christian unity. Through this we see more than just a continuation of the formal temple prayers, which were important, but the true sharing of prayers in their private home worship gatherings. Now, in order for a group of people to join together in prayer, there must be a level of unity and trust between these beleivers. When you are joined together in prayer you are also joined in conversation and growth in relationship together. The only way to know how to lift a fellow beleivers up to the Lord is for there to be conversation about that beleivers life and struggles. The only way to truly praise God for his work in another believers life is to understand how God is working in that persons life. This only happens with the fellowship of beleivers who truly desire to have all things in common. There is something more at work than simply giving a list and reciting that list in a prayer to the Lord. No, this necessarily includes relationship together.

This type of devotion we see in the early Christians is amazing. They are devoted to the Lord and they are devoted to each other as beleivers. This is exactly what Jesus told his disciples in

John 13:35 (ESV)

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is not only how we grow as beleivers, but it is how others learn about Jesus. This is the type of devotion that only comes in the context of the local church, for us that means Leaf River Baptist. In other words, Leaf River Baptist Church is where we show the Lord this devotion to Him and to each other. What more do we need to love this church? I love this church because this church is my family! I love this church because I get to express my devotion to the Lord through this local group of beleivers, and that is far better than anything else I could imagine. While we were on vacation I was thinking about LRBC, not because it’s my job, but because I love my church!

Now this is all real life and I want us to be encouraged by all of the ways that we are each involved in the life of the church. You know sometimes it’s easy to feel alone and feel like you’re the only one that’s experiencing the things you’re experiencing, and so this morning we are going to see just how not alone we all are when it comes to loving our church.

Before we get there though, if you are here, or watching online and you have never experienced this level of Christian fellowship then I would like to ask you to reach out to me or to one of the elders in order to understand your relationship with the Lord first. For everyone else, I want to ask you to be honest about about this question. Are you living a life that reflects the devotion to the Lord…or are you attending church on Sunday? You see, there is a difference. Anyone can attend church on a Sunday…However, it takes devotion to be a growing Christian.

So, this morning we looked at what the early church was devoted to. This is the origin of the universal church. All of that starts right here at LRBC…so, we are going to be a little active with the Lord today and be honest. You see, every chair has a comment card on it. I want to ask everyone to write down the areas that you are actively loving your church. The ways you are participating in the life of LRBC…here’s a few things up on the screen to get you started, but that’s not everything, you know what you’re doing…write it down.

Then! We’re gonna do something a little different because I want us to be encouraged (and challanged)as a church...

Walk down and uncover the table

To that end, I have these little pom-pom’s up here on the table, and we have this huge jar. I’m going to ask the worship team to play and while the team is playing I’m going to ask you bring up your card that is filled out and place it in this basket representing your commitment to the Lord through LRBC. Then, take a little pom-pom and drop it in the jar for each way you are loving your church through your actions.

Let’s see if we can fill this jar with with our love for the Lord, in action here at LRBC this morning…

Let’s pray—pray that our devotion to the Lord continues to increase as we grow in our relationship.