The Church - 2025 - Pt 4 - A Sent and Spirit Filled People connected in Gospel Centered Community with Gospel Centered Leaders.

GREET EVERYONE-

Good Morning Loved Ones

If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.

The purpose of Stonewater Fellowship, The Reason why we are here, the mission that Jesus has given us both collectively as His church and Individual as His followers:

Is to engage people into a multiplying relationship with Jesus!

INVITATIONS

1- Welcome Home

2 - New members classes

3- Message Card's

LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND

Open it to Acts chapter 2 and verse 42 today as we continue in our current teaching series exposing what God says about His Church -

PRAYER OVER SERIES

Is that every one of us would be

reminded,

renewed

or maybe for the first time it would be revealed to us

by the Holy Spirit through the Word

what the Church is

and as a consequence we would come to realize what the church is not.

I’m Praying that through this series the answer we so fervently give when the question is asked: Who is the Church?

and we answer “We are the church!”

My prayer is that answer will become more and more of a reality to all of us in an ever increasing way so that you and I live out being the church together.

My prayer is also that as we live that out together.

the Holy Spirit would change us in an ever increasing way

from from being consumers of Church to Disciples of Jesus who make up the church.

over the past 70 or so years, to the eternal demise of tens of thousands of people - we have managed to make lots of consumers of Church-

And we have made very few disciples of Jesus who are the church.

I pray that more and more and more, that the Holy Spirit would move us as we would lock arms together more and more intentionally and collectively be devoted followers of Jesus not Just fans of Jesus

our devotion to him will be becasue we experience His great love for us through what He did for us on Calvary and the fact that God raised Him from the dead and He has sent us into the world to proclaim that to all of creation

PRAYER OVER MESSAGE

IS that as we grow in understanding our Identity in Christ -

understanding that if we are His followers?

we are His church

and as His Church we are to designed to be a part of each other lives.

That we are a Spirit Filled, Sent, Gospel Centered People,Given a Gospel Centered Mission - Engaged in Gospel Centered service.

AND Part of that Identity is understanding an important part of how we are supposed to function as this Gospel Centered People.

that being that we are to be a people who lock arms together to advance the Gospel- Connected to each other in Gospel Centered Community

led by Gospel Centered Leaders.

ENGAGEMENT –

Community is an interesting word in our culture.

It seem like community has been formed in so many different ways in our culture that it is not even funny

There is a coffee community - This is what Starbucks set out to create.

Community around coffee -

You see Starbucks realized way back when that it cannot be in the coffee business.

Because it would have to try to compete with Dun kin Donuts who at the time and for decades was the king -

Literally for decades Dun-kin Donuts sold more coffee here in the US and World Wide than ANY OTHER Coffee seller.

Starbucks needed to be in the Community Connection business.

Look at their mission statement - It says NOTHING about good or great or the best coffee or customer service or nothing.

It speaks to Connection which drives community which drives connection, human connection.

Our Mission

With every cup, with every conversation, with every community–

we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection!

And they have done a pretty good job and as such they are making a big move towards being and staying the largest coffee seller in the world.

In fact they do sell more coffee here in the US and in the world than anyone else.

And their mission is not to become to biggest or the best about coffee but to connect people with one another in community and in conversation.

People connect in many different ways around many different things.

Kids Sports -

Adult Sport - either watching or playing them

Leisure

Travel - The RV community

In some cases your neighborhood.

or maybe your occupation!

Here is what is funny about all of the “connections” and “Community” that we can find in the world.

For the most part these all have some similar characteristics.

- They are based on commonalities that are temporary or can be

- Entry into those communities for the most part is easy and relatively expectation free

- leadership is non-existent or so passive there is little awareness that leaders are a part of the group.

- there is little or no vested interest any participant has in the group becasue there are no goals or outcomes. Its just togetherness.

- There is little or no adventure or Quest attached to the group or community for the most part

And for the most part we all like that becasue its easy and we have a sense of control and we can be whoever we want to be or whoever we are and its OK with the Starbucks Community I drink coffee with.

There is no Devotion - There is no commitment - There is no promise - There is no Quest or Adventure - There is no discovery - There is no love.

And we can put up all the boundaries and masks we want to-

at what ever level that make us and keeps us comfortable.

and we will stay in that community and think that is somehow beautiful and satisfying to our souls.

TENSION

And we at some level want Church to be Just like that.

you see we live in a culture that has turned some interesting guns at the Idea that the church looks more like a team on adventure or an army that is on quest than just a community.

you see we live in a culture that has twisted somethings around.

We live in a culture of Skepticism.

A post modern culture that says “be sceptical”

Individual over family

Opinions over truth

Fame and influence over politeness and humility

I heard Matt chandler put it this way”

Clarity is equal to Control

Direction is equal to attempting to exercise dominance over another person.

Accountability is not equal to abuse

Expectations are now considered burdens

and declaring Truth is equal to being racist or discriminatory

and Justice is taking from the victim and giving to the accuser.

LOVED ONES - we are in danger

if we read our bibles

and take into our relationship with Jesus

the same sceptical cynicism that has invaded our culture and the same expectation free, Community expectations that look like Starbucks or some other worldly community we can be engaged with

and hope to define that as to what our Church experience is supposed to look like.

WE will not be Followers of Jesus who are the Church

we will be consumers of Church just like the Starbucks community are consumers of Coffee

ARGUMENT

When you READ your new testament You will hear terms describing Fellow Jesus followers with words like

Family - Adopted

Brothers Sisters

CO Laborers

Fellow bond Slaves -

Fellow servants

Fellow Saints

Love

Devotion

Confession

Prayer for One another

Healing on another -

Sharing resources with One another.

Eating meals together

Going out on quest together 2X2 or 120 at a time or certainly in teams.

Elders - Leaders - To Equip the saints for the WORK of serving Jesus.

That don’t sound like no Coffee community have ever know of.

This morning we are going to Expose SOME of the things that God says about the characteristics of His new community - His Church - His Assembly of the Called out ones

Gathered around the Commonality of HIS Son Jesus -

Locked together On the quest of the Mission of Jesus together.

Some of the Ingredients that makes a Gospel Centered Community led by Gospel Centered Leaders

and What God does in the midst of that kind of Community

BACKGROUND

In acts Chapter 2 this is Ground ZERO for the Church -

This is Day one Moment ONE- Activity ONE - Community ONE.

Jesus has Died and been raised from the Dead.

Jesus has appeared to all of His disciples that He would name Apostles -

He has appeared to over 500 people.

He has been seen in a lot of places - And this is Jesus Physically raised from the dead.

While He was walking resurrected, before He went to heaven He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit.

40 Days after His Resurrection He went back tot he father.

When he did that - The Apostles gathered 120 in the upstairs of a house for a 10 day prayer meeting -

After the 10 days was up - 50 Days after Jesus Resurrection.

The Holy Spirit fills all 120 people and they hit the streets of Jerusalem -

People hear the Gospel in their own language and the Gift of Foreign Language was given to these 120 people and the response was varied -

Some believed and some said “these people were drunk”

Peter stands up - Now Filled with the Holy Spirit and Preaches the White off of the clouds and the blue out of the oceans

and the people listening respond to Peters message with a Question as their hearts were pierced by the truth that peter was preaching.

What must we do? they asked!

Peter responded - “Repent, AND be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

and the Bible says that 3000 got baptized and their souls were added to the number of believers that afternoon.

So first day, first anointing, first preaching - and what did God do?

The Church - The Assembly of the called out ones now is 3120 persons big.

Now that is a lot of people at once.

But Watch what Characterized how the 3120 lived life on mission together.

UNPACKING

Acts 2:42 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Devoted themselves -

The word in the Original Language of the New Testament means

To be loyal to someone - To persist at doing something - To occupy oneself with something - To Pay persistent ongoing attention to something or someone.

In the English there is a sense of volunteering “They Devoted themselves” They Choose to remain loyal to be persistent, to pay ongoing attention to people and activities.

They were not made to do this or coursed to do this by some outside authority - They Devoted themselves! They Volunteered!

Watch what they Volunteerism devoted themselves to.

5 things -

The Apostles Teaching -

What were the Apostles teaching them?

Some Might say - The Bible - Well the Old testament Part was the only one they had - That one was in the Synagogues or the temple and it was kept by the Rabiis and none of the Apostles were Rabiis.

So what were the Apostles Teaching them that they became so persistent a doing or paying ongoing attention to doing.

What were the Apostles teaching that they devoted themselves to?

Some of us might say “Pastor it doesn’t tell us” - That is true it doesn’t tell us here and thankfully we have the whole council of Scripture.

Jesus gathered the Disciples right after His Resurrection and before He went into the cloud to the father and He gave them orders - Orders from His having all authority -

Make disciples, Baptize them and Teach them .

These 3120 had already become Jesus Followers - They Were already initiated into the Community and into the faith through baptism.

and Jesus says “One more thing “Teach them to Obey all that I have commanded”

SO what did jesus command that they were teaching.

If we were to read the Autobiographies of and What He taught we could summarize the teachings of Jesus in to 9 things.

Here is what they would be:

1- Repent and Believe - Repent turn your life over to Jesus and let Him be in charge and believe which means TRUST Him with everything including His forgiven work.

These guys had already living that out.

2 - be baptized - These guys had done that

3- Pray together and individually - They needed to learn that and this is one of the things they start living out pretty fast.

4 - Go make more disciples and Baptize others - Jesus commanded this and the disciples did it and taught other disciples to do it.

5- Love - They needed to be taught how to love like Jesus loves. Sacrificially -

6-Worship through perseverance. Mostly this was a Jewish people this first church and so they enjoyed a little relief from the Romans But now they would suffer as jesus told the Disciples they would suffer and they needed to be prepared for this and how to worship in the midst of this.

7- They needed to learn how to participate in the Table of Jesus, The Lord Supper, The New Covenant Passover meal.

8- They needed to learn how to give to the collective work among their gathering. Give time Give Talent Give Treasure - Jesus spoke fervently in Parables about all three.

and lastly

9 - gather together in Unity - Jesus prayed for this in John Chapter 17 and Jesus called His people His Church - His Assembly of Called out Ones.

SO it is very easy to see that These are th 9 things that the Apostles were teaching them and the 9 things they were devoted to -

You read the rest of the book of Acts this is certainly what happened.

Watch the rest of the verse -

They Devoted themselves to “the fellowship - That means the gathering of people.

They Devoted themselves to the”Breaking of Bread” this can have a couple of meanings - More than likely it was they devoted them selves to participating in Communion - In the Table of Jesus.

Lastly watch - They were devoted to Prayers -

Devoted to prayers -

loves ones we have a decent culture of prayer among us collectively - Here over the year 2025 I am compelled that we will see a bigger devotion to prayer and a more powerful movement of God as a result.

So that was the commitment they made voluntarily to each other -

There aint no Starbucks community that looks like that -

What is even more Awe Inspiring - Watch what happened in them and through them as a community.

Acts 2:43 ESV

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

Awe means “Fear”Fear of the Lord - In the original language of the New Testament it is the word we get our word Phobia - Awe or Fear of God.

I made the observation the other day in conversation that most people in the western church who claim Christ are more afraid of the Devil and his stupid schemes than they are of God.

and As the Awe or Fear of God was among them MANY sings and wonders were being done through the Apostles.

Awe of GOD - means we don't look at God as our best friend - We look at God as the one who is all able and all satisfying and all powerful.

Jesus said - Do not be afraid of the one who can kill the body in Hell. But be afraid of the one who can destroy both the body and Soul in Hell.

Loved ones that aint the devil!

We must be in AWE of God in his presence. WE must Remember the mighty one we serve. We must acknowledge His power and His intensity and His majesty.

AW Tozar puts it this way -

Over the last years suffered one great central loss: our lofty concept of God. Christianity rises like an eagle and flies over the top of all the mountain peaks of all the religions of the world, chiefly because of her lofty concept of God, given to us in divine revelation and by the coming of the Son of God to take human flesh and dwell among us. Christianity, the great Church, has for centuries lived on the character of God. She’s preached God, she’s prayed to God, she’s declared God, she’s honored God, she’s elevated God, she’s witnessed to God—the Triune God. But in recent times there has been a loss suffered. We’ve suffered the loss of that high concept of God, and the concept of God handled by the average gospel church now is so low as to be unworthy of God and a disgrace to the Church.

There isn’t a Muslim alive in the world who would stoop to calling God a “good fellow.” There isn’t a Jew, at least no Jew who believes in his religion, that would ever dare to refer that way to the great Yahweh, the One with the incommunicable name.

Christianity has lost its dignity. And we’ll never get it back unless we know the dignified Holy God, who rides on the wings of the wind and makes the clouds His chariots. We have lost the concept of majesty and the art of worship. We are getting away from God because we have lost the concept of deity that makes everything possible. We’ve lost the awe, the wonder, the fear and the delight of God. Why? Because we’ve lost our high and lofty concept of God—the only concept of God that He honors. A concept of God that yields dignity and worship and majesty, of inwardness, of God’s presence, of fear and spiritual delight.

And what happened in this First community where God was honored as God the lofty God?

Signs and wonders were happening.

Miracles, healings, deliverances, bondage set free - Miraculous works of the Spirit of God is what “Signs and Wonders” are!

Ans watch how they inter acted with each other.

Acts 2:44–46 ESV

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,

44 There was over generosity - SOME things in common? ALL THINGS IN COMMON?

I want to be clear that was not even Stevens for everyone - This was not socialism. This was generocity - Watch what happened -

45 Selling possessions and belongings giving the proceeds to “ALL AS HAD NEED”

NEED - not want - NEED

This community effectively eliminated poverty in this early church setting.

46 - And what was the prevailing sentiment that came with this community - UNITY -

Watch -

Day by Day - some commentators think this means every day - Some think it means just the days that certain things happened still others believe that these believers of the first church were together most every day.

Day by Day as the temple was open they were at temple together -

Day by Day they met in their houses together

Day by Day they ate meal together

Day by Day their hearts were glad and Generous - Some of your translations say Sincerity of Hearts -

In other words these relationship were real and deep and committed and abiding relationships.

That don't sound like no Coffee based, soccor based, kid activity based community to me! That sounds like a community based on Jesus is supposed to sound like and look like.

Loved ones - IT is a rare week that goes by that I do not hear from someone some where about how warm and loving the people of Stonewater Fellowship are.

and that is GOOD but I want you to watch what God was doing -

They were devoted to the teachings of the Apostles - They were devoted to Each other the felloship - They were devoted to taking communion together - they were devoted to prayer -

Awe of GOD characterized this community -

Signs and Wonders were happening!

No one was in need

They Did life together Day - by Day - Temple worship together when temple was open and house to house eating together

Acts 2:47 ESV

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.

All of this togetherness

and watch - They were praising God - They had favor with ALL the people.

The Church - The church who was a community like no other community - This God praising - Devoted - generous - Loving life together community The Text says “was Having (present and ongoing tense) FAVOR with all the people!

and Watch what God was doing with this community “Adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

AS this Assembly of the galled out ones was new - 3120 people the Apostles could lead them and teach them as they were devoted but a problem came into play -

This God praising, devoted, generous, loving and living life together community soon developed in other places becasue it was a Jesus obedient community and it made disciples as God was using Them to add to their number day by day those who were being saved and the Apostles could not Lead them, and they needed leaders -

By the time we get to acts chapter 14 - The Church is assembled in multiple cities across multiple countries - hundreds of Miles from Jerusalem

And it had Incorporated a great sinner by the name of Paul

and Paul and his team were disciple makers on the move - Place to Place - City to City they made disciples and gathered them to gether in these communities and soon realized they needed leaders on the ground -

and so we see something happen in Acts Chapter 14 - This framework of Gospel Centered people, on a Gospel Centered Mission, Engaged in Gospel Centered service, Connected together in Gospel centered Communities -

Now are being led by Gospel Centered leaders - Named Elders

Acts 14:21–23 ESV

21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Elders then were appointed - They were appointed before the faith of the assembly could choose for itself.

This happens later in the histpry of the CHurch - We see this in Ephesis and on the island of Crete in Pauls letter to Timothy and Titus.

And loved ones there is an important thing to remember

“For them” - Loved ones we must remember that Church leaders are FOR us - Your Elders are here For your benefit”

Elders do two things in the life of this Gospel Centered People.

1st Elders Protect - They protect the theology of the Church - Elders make sure that the theology of the Church is Biblical, Historical Christianity.

They Also protect the Ethics of the Church - They protect the Church from the harmful effects of Sin.

2nd Elders, also Equip the saints for the work of Service.

This is what Paul denotes for us in His letter to the Ephesian Church.

Ephesians 4:11–14 ESV

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up 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 mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

THE GOSPEL CONNECTION

This is what the Gospel Does -

The Gospel make us new -

The Gospel Regenerates us unto knew life and saved us from the wrath og God by adopting us into this new family.

The Gospel Changes us - and one of the ways the changes can be marked is by our life desires going from I and me or US and WE.

The Gospel changes us to focus our hearts and lives on eternal things - Community that is eternal.

Maked by self devotion Volunteering joyfully and with sincerity and gladness-

Devoting our selves to Learn to follow and live our the commands of Jesus as Gospel Centered Leaders teach us to do equipping us for the work of Serving Jesus.

Devoting ourselves to each other - the fellowship we have with one another -

Devoting ourselves voluntarily serving one another - Giving to one another - Making sure no one is in need.

Devoting ourselves Voluntarily to taking our meals breaking bread together - Gathering together -

And Lastly Devoting ourselves to Prayer

This is the Community of the saints that we will read of in the new testament.

This is the community of the Saints -

This is what a spirit filled sent Gospel Centered People, on a Gospel Centered Mission, Engaged in Gospel Centered service, connected together in Gospel Centered Community led by Gospel centered leaders looks like -

And the beautiful thing about it all is through all of that - The Church can be looked at once again by the outside world as a particular and peculiar people that we once were in Antioch -

As we live out the mission of Jesus together, Representing Christ and Making Him Known.

Being this - God is worshiped the way he deserves to be worshiped. He is Loved the way he desires and deserves to be loved -

PRAYER TEAM