Devoted: What It Really Means to Be the Church

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Pentecost Sunday

Good morning, church — and welcome to a new day. Today is Pentecost Sunday — the day the Holy Spirit was poured out and the Church was born. But what started with wind and fire didn’t stop there. It moved into daily life — into how the early believers lived, loved, worshiped, and prayed together.

So today, we move from our faith being cold, as we discussed last week, to being on fire this week, kicking off a new teaching series called Being the Church. Not just going to church. Not just tuning in. But becoming the kind of people God calls His Church to be: devoted, rooted, and Spirit-led.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll walk through four simple but powerful practices from Acts 2:42 — the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. These aren’t just church traditions — they’re the heartbeat of a devoted life. And I believe God is calling us to return to that heartbeat.

So whether you’re full of faith today or feeling a little dry, I want you to know — God meets us in devotion. Let’s lean in together and ask Him to make us into the Church He had in mind all along.

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Opening Prayer

Opening Song

Kids Time

Oliver, Charlotte, and Elliot.

Hey kids!

Today we celebrate Pentecost.

The Bible says that while the early Church people were gathered in a house, all of a sudden,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested

Can you imagine a tongue like fire on your head?

It was a sign of the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit, let’s let Douglas tell us all about Him.

Sermon

Devoted – What It Really Means to Be the Church

Series: Being the Church Anchor Text: Acts 2:42 Supporting Texts: Romans 12:1-2, Luke 9:23, Matthew 22:37, 1 Corinthians 15:58

What does it really mean to be the Church?

Do you remember the old song, “We are the Church?”

I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together!

All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we're the church together!

The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.

We're many kinds of people, with many kinds of faces, all colors and all ages, too, from all times and places.

And when the people gather, there's singing and there's praying, there's laughing and there's crying sometimes, all of it saying: I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together!

At Pentecost some people received the Holy Spirit and told the Good News through the world to all who would hear it.

I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together!

All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we're the church together!

The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.

Big Idea:

The Church isn’t something we go to — it’s something we are. And the early Church was marked by devotion — not convenience, not occasional attendance, but consistent, Spirit-led commitment.

What were they committed, or devoted to? What did they do that we can learn?

Scripture Reading:

Acts 2:42 ESV

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

But it all began with an amazing moment, the birth of the Church, what we call “Pentecost,” and we find it in Acts 2:1-4

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Pentecost

Lexham Theological Wordbook πεντηκοστή

A Jewish festival that takes place 50 days after Passover; also known as the Feast of Weeks.

The word πεντηκοστή (pentēkostē) literally means “50th.” This festival is celebrated 50 days after the Passover. It is one of the three pilgrim feasts mentioned in the Law. The word occurs three times in the NT (

People came from all over the land to Jerusalem for this celebration, and in arriving, they hear the people in this house gathering speaking in their own language, speaking in tongues.

On Thursday night we talked about tongues in 1 Corinthians 14, which refers to a spiritual prayer language. But here in Acts 2, the word used is dialektos — meaning actual human languages. God enabled these early believers to speak in languages they’d never learned so others could hear the Gospel in their own native tongue.

Then Peter is empowered by the Spirit to get up and preach, and he gives a teaching telling the crowd that this is a move of God, whose Son, Jesus, they crucified, and this Jesus was the Messiah prophesied in the Scriptures.

Acts 2:41 ESV

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

This was then the birth of the Church, the body of Christ, a fellowship of believers.

And Luke goes on to tell us what was special about these people telling us...

Acts 2:42 ESV

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

Sermon Outline:

1. The Church Was Born in Power, But Grew in Devotion

The movement, was sparked at Pentecost. The Church exploded on the scene, but they didn’t live off of this one moment and that was it.

They devoted themselves to these Spiritual habits, or disciplines.

Devotion wasn’t an emotional moment — it was a daily decision.

In fact, looking up the word, it means, “to continue with intense effort,” even when it's hard. It's not passive. It’s a persistent, deliberate choice — daily, not just emotionally.

Key phrase: They devoted themselves — voluntary, ongoing.

This the difference for many today who have made the claim that they repeated the Sinner’s Prayer as we know, and maybe experienced some sort of emotional moment, but their lives weren’t changed. They weren’t changed to become “devoted” to the Lord. And so they end up giving up on their faith.

If there’s no change in our desires, no growing devotion, we’ve got to ask — did we truly surrender? Salvation is a starting point, but devotion is the path forward.”

Paul speaks of devotion in the Romans 12:1 as the believer becoming a “living sacrifice.” To live a life devoted to God, holy and acceptable, not conformed to this world, but transformed.

When you first came to Christ, were your desires truly changed? Or did you just pick up a few new habits?

2. Devotion Is a Heart Posture, Not Just a Habit

A devoted life is not just taking on new habits, it is a wholly renewed heart posture, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

You can show up to church services and churchy events and still not be devoted.

Devotion flows from love — Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…”

Devotion is an all in attitude and posture.

It’s relationship-driven, not religious obligation. It’s about our heart for Him, not a checklist of things to check off.

Like marriage, I can share a house with my spouse, but if that’s all then that’s not living a devoted life with her, in relationship. To be in relationship, we share life together. Most of what I do is with her in mind. The same goes for the Church. It isn’t just about sharing space together, it is being together in one heart and mind for our devotion to the Lord and His Body, each other, the Church.

3. Devotion Costs Something

I sacrifice for my wife. I also sacrifice some things due to my devotion to the Lord and His Church.

Devotion costs something. Salvation is free, indeed, but we were bought with a high price… the blood of Jesus Christ.

And Jesus says, that if we are going to follow Him, we must “deny ourselves, and take up our cross daily.” Luke 9:3

Devotion to the Lord to God’s will for our lives, means laying down our own. It may mean saying “no” to comfort and yes to Christ and serving, living in relationship with, and for, His people.

Verse 45 says they “gave,” they sold their own possessions and belongings, to share the proceeds with one another.

Are your possessions and comforts keeping you from sacrificially giving to the Body, the Church? Or are you just giving what’s left over from making your own life comfortable?

Many of us want the “favor” of God, and the “growth” we see in Acts 2:47, but we want it without the foundation of Acts 2:42. We want His favor and growth without Him and His Church being who or what we are devoted to.

When you survey your life, what’s competing for your devotion? What’s getting your best time, attention, and affection?

I’m not trying to convict you. In truth, I wrestle with this conviction all the time. I’ve shared about my wrestlings about our church growth and reach, desiring to serve and be the Church with and for those who are suffering from loneliness due to isolation, and yet we haven’t grown as I’d hoped. Maybe it isn’t my hope that’s the problem, and maybe it’s my devotion. Maybe I need to devote my own self to more of our fellowship, more prayer, more time spent with Him and his Word.

I live in the same world as you, and live a self-absorbed life at times, seeking my own comfort too much at times just as you do.

How does God grow His Church?

4. Devotion Is How God Grows His Church

It’s through His devoted believers. The Church.

Acts 2:42–47 shows us the result of a devoted Church: unity, generosity, miracles, and new people coming to Christ daily.

How many of you desire with all your heart to see more people come to Christ, more people find a loving community, through Innovate Church?

God blesses what we consistently surrender. Are you a living sacrifice? Have you wholly surrender your heart, your life, and for some of you even your deepest desires for the cause of Christ?

1 Corinthians 15:58: Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Devoted...

“to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of despite difficulty – 'to devote oneself to, to keep on, to persist in'”

That’s steadfast. Immovable. Continually doing the work of the Lord.

Closing Challenge:

Ask: Are you devoted… or just involved?

What would shift in your life if your heart was fully surrendered — if your time, your focus, your energy, your love — were truly given over to Jesus and His people?

Over the next few weeks we are all going to be challenged in our devotion and commitment to the Lord and His Church, as we break down and examine this Scripture, the early Church, and find encouragement that we can be what the Lord has called us to be as His Hands and Feet, His Body in the world, together.

The Church began with wind and fire, but it grew through hearts that burned with daily devotion. Let’s ask God to stir that flame in us today.

Closing Prayer:

Invite people to repent of half-hearted faith or distraction.

Pray for a renewed fire to be the Church, not just attend one.

Closing Song

Closing Encouragement

Pentecost Sunday — the day the Church was born. But it didn’t stop there. It moved into daily life — into how the early believers lived, loved, worshiped, and prayed together.

So today, let’s live lives that are fully and whole heartedly devoted. Not just attending church. Not just tuning in. But let us become the kind of people God calls His Church to be: devoted, rooted, and Spirit-led.

Post-Service

Optional Application Questions (for Bible Study/Zoom or follow-up email):

What’s one area of your faith where God is calling you to greater devotion?

What’s something in your life that’s been getting more devotion than it deserves?

How can we practically encourage each other to stay devoted in the coming weeks?