Devoted to Teaching

Intro

Good morning Church family.

It is good to be in the house of the Lord today.

Have you ever asked or been asked the question “How are you?” and your response is “Busy”?

That is my usual response when someone asks me how I am doing. I respond with “Man I have been swamped…busy…crazy busy.”

Author Brené Brown said,

“When they start having 12-step meetings for busy-aholics, they’ll need to rent out football stadiums.” - Brené Brown

“A 2018 Pew Research survey revealed that six in 10 adults in the U.S. feel too busy to enjoy life. That number has held: In 2023, 60% of some 2,000 Americans believed there are not enough hours in the day to complete their to-do list. That means more than half of Americans never feel like they have enough time in the day.” (https://www.wisconsinmeetings.com/2023/09/27/why-busy-is-bad-for-you/)

The culture in America is simple. We are busy.

This can pose as a problem to not only those outside the church, but also those who follow Jesus.

If we are not careful, we can get o busy that we have little to no time with God and the people of God.

Grandpa - faithful to attend church. Dad - attending church is optional Son - attending church is unnecessary Grandson - Jesus who?

One thing that I have learned over the years is that my church family is vital to my walk with God.

If you take a piece of coal out of the fire, the coal will eventually go out. To reignite that same piece of coal, the only things that needs to be done is to introduce the cold coal to the fire again.

Today we starting a new series for those who may have found themselves wandering out of the church and losing their once on fire passion for God. It is also for those who have not experienced that, but can learn how to keep from extinguishing the flame in their life.

I fully believe that the success of the early church is found in their devotion to four things.

Teaching

Fellowship

Breaking of Bread

Prayer

Over the next four weeks we are going to dive into these four things so that we too can learn how to be a successful church.

Define Success

If I were to put out a poll with the question “what does a successful church look like to you?”, I would get a plethora of answers like:

A church with lots of people.

A church with lots of ministries.

A church with a pastor who can preach.

A church that has kids ministries.

A church that has lots of out reach.

The list would go on and on.

Success in the church is not defined by how many people attend, how many ministries we have, how involved in the community we are, how popular the pastor is, or any other signs of success according to the world around us.

I believe a successful church is one that accomplish two things.

Matthew 22:37–40 NASB95

37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

This is exactly what the New Testament did. They loved God and loved others. When we accomplish this, the rest will follow.

But it takes devotion.

Devotion Defined

Let’s look at our main scripture for this series.

Acts 2:42–47 NASB95

42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Devotion is defined as “love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause”.

The word devoted is a POWERFUL word. A person who is devoted will consistently show strength which prevails no matter the difficulties. A devoted person will endure, persist, and will continue to travel in a fixed direction.

There is no swaying a devoted person.

My wife and I were having a conversation the other day about how we keep getting put into these situations or conversations where others are testing our limits and who are trying to bully there way or ideas onto us.

When my wife knows what she is talking about in a conversation, and she has the knowledge of how to do something, she is devoted to it and there is no swaying her. She will stand her ground and go toe to toe with someone and fight for what she believes in. She is devoted.

I told her the reason we keep experiencing these conversations and situations is because we are not far off where we are going to have to stand toe to toe about what we believe about the Word of God and not be swayed!

Church we are to be the same way when it comes to our relationship with Christ. The day is coming where our devotion is going to be tested and to make sure that we stand our ground and not be swayed is to be ALL IN when it comes to these four things!

Let’s talk about the first one today, then we will pray, and actually practice the other three.

Devoted to Teaching

The first in our list of things the early church was devoted to was the Apostles teaching.

Throughout the New Testament we will find that teaching is an essential part of the church. Jesus himself would teach.

Matthew 4:23 NASB95

23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

Teaching was and is a key component in Jesus’ ministry. Later on in the book of Ephesians, Paul tells us that teaching is a gift that is given by God for the equipping of the church.

Ephesians 4:11–13 NASB95

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Those who teach helps lead the church towards unity, maturity in our walk with Christ, training (equipping to do the work of the ministry), in all reality teachers help us to attain the fullness of Christ.

Those who are not devoted to teaching don’t show up. The person who says, “I don’t need to be taught or I don’t need anyone to tell me how to live as a Christian” will never learn nor grow in their walk with God.

Those who don’t show up will not be equipped to be used by God. It’s like those who play sports. You have to show up to practice to learn how to play and most importantly how not to play. Many are sitting on the sidelines at game time and want to play but can’t because they refuse to show up to practice.

Those outside the church will tell you that church is not important, you can learn on your own, you don’t need a pastor, you don’t need a teacher. Jesus is a teacher and all I need.

If this were true, then why did God see fit that it needs to be included in the Scriptures? When we don’t show up, we miss out.

The reward of teaching is learning. Learning the Scriptures together with other believers was a priority for the early church and something they were devoted to.

Because we live in a busy world many say they don’t have time to learn.

Here is a truth to write down.

You have time for what’s important to you.

You make time for the things that are important to you. I know learning takes time and can be difficult. Learning takes effort on our part, it takes engagement, it takes giving our attention to something that is vital in our walk with God.

I can’t imagine someone who says they follow Christ, say “I don’t really want a deeper understanding of scripture, my faith, or God”.

I don’t know about you, but I want the fullness of Christ. Again, the result of being devoted to teaching:

Ephesians 4:13 NASB95

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Here at New Life we believe in teaching each other. I have learned so much from others in this church about God and I am looking forward to learning more. I don’t know everything.

We are in the process right now of training some leaders to lead small groups that we are wanting to launch next year. In these groups we will have the opportunity to go deeper in our faith and walk with God. But that only comes with teaching.

Jesus very clearly commanded us to do this in the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We teach what Christ taught to each other. The goal? To equip disciples to go and teach other the fullness of the Gospel as well.

It is no wonder the early church grew the way that it did.

Pass Along Teaching

But there is more. Teaching is not just receiving information for the sake of storing up these ideas of God. No, we are to learn in order to pass along what we know.

2 Timothy 2:2 NASB95

2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Sharing what you know about Jesus to others is vital to not only your own walk with Christ, but it is vital to the growth of the Kingdom of God.

If we fail to pass along our faith, through sound teaching, then we will only be a few generations before that the faith expires.

This took place once before. The people of God failed to pass onto the next generation the personal knowledge of who God is/was.

Judges 2:10 NASB95

10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.

The good news is that you don’t have to be a scholar or an ordained pastor in order to share what you already know.

God is not looking for those who have credentials, He is looking for those who are willing.

Think about the people in your life at this very moment. The people you work with or come into contact everyday.

Who has God placed into your sphere of influence? Who can you share Christ with this coming week?

We all know someone who needs Jesus. So why not now? Why not you?

I think the reason we don’t is because we don’t have all the answers.

I will ease your stress this morning. I am an ordained pastor and have a Master’s of Arts in Ministry Studies and I don’t know all the answers either.

But I know Jesus and what He has done for me. And so I step out in faith and speak.

Fully Capable

Here is what you need to know this morning. You are fully complete and capable of sharing Christ with someone.

Colossians 2:10 NASB95

10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

In Christ you have been made complete. You have all that you need in order to share Christ at this very moment.

Paul, who was well educated said,

1 Corinthians 1:17 NASB95

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

Paul reminds us that the power of the Gospel does not depend on our eloquence, but on the message of the cross itself.

All you have to do is be willing. Start with what you know.

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB95

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

All Scripture, no matter how much you know, can be useful to teach someone else.

If you want to learn more you have to show up. We have a men’s and women’s bible studies every week. Celebrate Recovery on Tuesday nights at 6pm is a great place to learn how to deal with your hurts, habits, and hang-ups so you can go and teach others. If you want to learn more about how to pray, then come to prayer on Wednesdays at 6:30pm.

Sundays are great and you should show up, but the early church didn’t just meet one day a week. They were devoted to meet multiple times a week.

Early on in ministry (we were youth pastors) there was a man named Tim Orr who took the time out of his week to meet with me every week or every other week. He taught me how to be an effective leader. I learned a lot from him. The times I didn’t learn from him are the times I didn’t show up.

I am continuing to learn. I am finding out more and more the deeper I go in my relationship with Christ, the more I learn about Him, the more I find I am capable of not only living out my faith, but capable of doing what God has called me to do. Pastor this great church!

Before I close, here is one thing to remember. The greatest example anyone could ever ask for is Jesus. He is fully capable, fully loving, and He alone is fully capable to redeem the worst of sinners.

So when you care feeling discouraged, I know I do at times - there are times I feel like a failure or I feel ill equipped to do something, stop for a moment and remember that you are able, through Christ.

Here are a few truths to write down.

Ephesians 3:20 NASB95

20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

2 Peter 1:3 NASB95

3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Paul said,

2 Corinthians 12:9 NASB95

9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Church, not only may we be devoted to teaching, but to Jesus Christ as well. The One who is fully capable in any situation we face.

Closing

Stand with me this morning.

The early church is a model for us to follow over 2,000 years and it is a model that works. It has been proven time and time again.

It is time we become devoted again. It is time that the coals who lost their flame jump back in.

What in your life has captured your attention and affection that has caused you to lose your fire for God?

Where are you putting your devotion everyday?

If you answer these questions with anything other than your faith in God, then today may a good day to reset your priorities.

No shame, no condemnation, just a willingness to acknowledge that you have drifted away from the faith and towards other things.

I will be the first. There are some things I have drifted from and I need to get back in.

If that is you this morning, God is here and He is ready and willing to receive you back. Just like the father and the prodigal son. He is watching, waiting for you to come running back. And just like the prodigal son’s father, He will come running to you.

James 4:8 NASB95

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

So step out in faith today. Refocus your attention and affection back on Jesus.

If that is you, let’s pray together. Another thing the early church was devoted to. Like I said, I am already up here.