The Path of the Called: Devoted to Teaching and Prayer

This past week we defined the word “devoted” .

The idea of making something a priority or placing something as a high personal value.

In Romans 8 we see that we are “The Called” so we have been looking at this idea of how the called should live their life.

We looked specifically at Acts 2:42 as a framework for the lifestyle of the called.

Acts 2:42 CSB

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

If you notice with me in this verse the two categories relating to relationships, fellowship and breaking of bread are sandwiched between the apostles teaching and prayer.

We looked at the importance of being devoted to forming meaningful relationship within the place in which God has called us too. If He has called us to Cooper River Baptist Church than we need to be devoted to building meaningful relationship here.

I mentioned 4 ways to begin these types of relationships

Regular and faithful church attendance(the first step)

Engaging in the fellowship opportunities offered by the church(even if the activity doesn’t interest you)

Invite people into your life.

Stop waiting for relationships to come to you.

Now if I were to ask you to form a scale in your mind and on one side you put relationship and then the other bible study and prayer probably most if not all would naturally place the weight on bible study. But I think its important not that this passage has a symmetry about it. Instead of putting fellowship and the breaking of bread on one side of the scale and teaching and prayer on the other, I think its more likely that the scale is divided right down the middle of this verse with teaching and fellowship on one side and eating and prayer on the other equally balancing out the scale. In other words, its not as if worship is one side and fellowship on the other but rather all of these things are part of the other.

Truth will guide must guide our gatherings and our fellowship will be held together by prayer.

So if we look at it from this perspective we are no longer asking what is most important but rather what does a healthy balanced church look like?

Well an imbalanced church has the propensity to be all fellowship and no prayer and Bible study or all bible study and low fellowship. If we are going to be more than what we are today we must learn how to be dedicated to both.

So I want us to do some internal investigation this morning?

What do I see as my level of dedication to these things?

On scale of 1 to 5 how dedicated am I based upon how I currently prioritize my days.

1 being I’m a Christian but inactive

5 being I’m all in?

This isn’t a question of how devoted have I been in the past. Its easy to look back at spiritual wins and say but look what I did instead of looking at the current condition of our heart. So that is what I am asking this morning currently how devoted are you to these things?

Ephesians 1:18–19 CSB

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

In This passage you can sense the apostles emotions here. He wants so badly for God’s people to once again be amazed by the Gospel and it’s mission.

Enlighented has the idea of seeing everything clearly. Not through the dirty lense of a conflicted heart plaqued by misplaced priorities, but that we for even just a moment see a clear picture of the following things.

The hope of his calling. - The beauty of the Gospel. The reality that there is better things to come than this current crazy world through the gospel. The hope that as we have been called to the Gospel , God is also calling those around us into a relationship with him.

2. The wealth of his glorious inheritance - The greek word “riches” has the idea to be “full or satisfied.” The word “inheritance” refers to promises that are only given to God’s people. They are exclusive and special both in the gifts that God gives us but also the divine mission in which he sets us on.

3. Immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Notice his the word toward us. His power is used for the purpose of empowering his people to be called into the birthright given through Christ our inheritance. In other words, we need nothing more than God is both our mission and our source of power.

Now what does this have to do with

Acts 2:42 CSB

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Notice with me the inheritance of the promises, The immeasurable greatness of his power and strength was not just given to us alone but to all that have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

When we gather we must be guided by the truth of who we are in Christ. We are a people given a hope, a unshakable inheritance, and a glorious mission. From our oldest to our youmgest we are a people on mission. We are also held fast to each other and this mission by and through prayer.

You see a church is not good music, good services, good programs and ultra dynamic preaching. Yet how often do we define a “good” church by these things. A church is a group of people that God has uniquely brought together, uniquly gifted for the sake o his eternal purposes.

We become “good” not when we improve our organization and methods but when our eyes are opened to the glorious hope and mission of God to accomplish his will together as a family.

What if our focus wasn’t on the internal structures of Sunday Morning but on living together in a gospel community determined to live out our purposes our calling together.

What if everytime we got together with friends it ended with a short time of prayer. Praying through Ephesians 1:18-19. Lord weve just enjoyed watching the game together and building this relationship but now Lord remind us of our hope, help us to live in the promise of our inheriance and let us do all things through your immeasurable strength.

Church are you hungry for something more? Im not talking about more people, better programs, music etc. I’m talking about divine purpose our inheritance together, if the answer us yes

Than its time to be fully devoted to the word- obedience, to each other, and to prayer. Imagine with me what God wants to do with us, what he can do with us not when we are bigger, not when we have more people. but right now through his immeasurable power.