Devoted
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Hook:
Review of Previous - HS came: Rushing wind, Filled Disciples, Disciples Pour out, Chaos/Multi Languages, Peter Preaches, Great Harvest
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Could you imagine that?
Church in the Park - 3000 People Trust Jesus - What do we do with them? - Baptize them? Yes!
If you would like to be baptized (First Command to do; Identifies what is true inside and expresses it on the outside; Identifies you with Jesus and the Universal Ekklesia/Body of Christ) Talk/Email/Text/Call Me or another elder and we will get you set up
That is what they did - Baptised 3k people - Then what?
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.
Devoted
Devoted
They Devoted Themselves
What does it mean to devote themselves? Greek this word is actually made up of 2 independent words and 2 words made into 1 word. That is Greek for you. but after all the research the words mean they were consistently steadfastly enduring what ever came up making the things they were focused on a higher priority than anything else. in other words They were characterized or known by others as being bonded, attached, or adhered to
To the Apostles Teaching
To the Fellowship
To the Breaking of Bread
To the Prayers
in other words they were devoted. They did not care what eles came up, they made these things a higher priority than anything else no mater the consequences. Each person made this decision. if one made it but no others what good would that be? no each person of the 3k made the decision they would be bonded to these elements.
They probably did not even think about it. They were considered essential and implemented the directly into who they were. What are these that they were so connected to ?
They were devoted essentially to these Core Values
Core Values
Core Values
The Apostles Teaching - All they had to base their life on was the Torah (5 books moses wrote OT), the Prophets (the rest of the Accepted OT), and the Apostles Teaching. These people would have known the OT Scriptures. Each child was raised in these things. They went to school, were partnered together and learned these things from a young age. They talked about the law/Scriptures like we talked about sports. Activly, Excitely, Passionatly.
The Fellowship - This new Ekklesia; body realied the need to be together and connect together. Imagine you body if each cell decided it need to be together to be your body? so each cell just stopped sticking toger. You would be a slime puddle on the sidewalk somewhere. Yes you can be a bleiver with out others but you are not a better dicilpse with out others. You will exist but you will not excell. We need one other.
Judism is a significantly community focused. It is practiced in an community. These new belivers had grown up in communityes like this. They knew the importance of community, fellowship, connection. We know this for the simple fact that they were in jeruselem for the feast of weeks. they had already gathered to celbrate one thing and were rechanneled into something greater; the body of Jesus.
The Breaking of Bread - This term is focuses on two factors 1) practicing the lords supper/ communion. Even just after Jesus accended they were remembering His return. 2) Most likly a meal after. gathering, and eating build community and relationships and the early Ekklesia was into both of these. This was even more important beacause you had 3k new people, all strangers gathering and eating. they needed to build relationships.
The Prayers - Prayers were key in the early church just as they are today. later in the chapters of Acts we will see how God moved in those early days powerfuly answering the needs and requests they made. Prayer then and today changes our hearts and alligns our motives to those of God, while also giving us a chance to communicate with our creator. We can express anything like a child in the lap of their Father; needs, pains, and even wants , but all in His hands.
At Crossroads we base our Core Values off of the Early Churches Core Values. We are Devoted to:
Being Bible Centered - The Center of Crossroads is in God’s Word; it defines how we do life together in and outside the ekklesia (is that even possible? we are always the ekklecia - In and out of the orginizational part), how we live life everywhere else, how we allocote our resorces, how we decide our disagreements.
Relational Prayer - Prayer is massivly important. Prayer is when we talk to God. We share our needs and wants. We have our own hearts impacted as He brings into alignment with His will. That the prayer is relational means on one side we are praying to a God that wants a relationship with us. On the other side is we are praying for one another. we are not self focused but focused on others in the body, the community, the state and nation, and the world.
Engaging Fellowship - Just like the early church needed to connect so do we. We cannot be random body parts that declare we are just fine connecting with God in the woods without others because all the rest of the body parts are morons and hypocrites. A body with its parts spread out everywhere is hardly a body, it is useless and most likely a crime scene. At the same time teenagers are often dragged to events but they do not engage. with a flip of the hair and a roll of the eyes all engagement and fellowship rolls off. At Crossroads like in the early church we do more that just show up, we engage with others; we have engaging fellowship.
Active outreach - one thing we have as a core value that you do not see is Active Outreach. this is on purpose, and hails to what we will talk about soon… the mission Jesus gave to the Disciples and thus to us Disciples years later. We are not lax or accidental of the mission (at least not on purpose) we actively tell others about who Jesus is, what He has done, and how others can have a relationship with Him today and forever.
Why were these the core values they were focused on? Why are these the core values we are focused on?
These core values work directly with the Mission Jesus gave them and us. What is the Mission?
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
What is the mission? To be Witnesses and To make disciples. In the ancient world witnessing was done the normal way. By bringing God up. By talking about Him, by showing others what a lifestyle lived in accordance with His ways looks like. But Discipleship was done in a way that is a bit different than we think of today.
Today when w think about teaching someone we think of a classroom. open the brain, insert the knowledge, bam you know it. one of my favorite scenes is from the movie the matrix. In the movie, everyone thinks they are in real life but actually they are all in a giant simulation of the world. Their bodies are in pods but their mind is in a giant internet like thing. Early on Neo has to learn to fight so they take a computer disk, load it into the drive and upload it. you see his eyes roll back, and his head shake a little, then his eyes open to with him saying the line “I know Kung Fu.”
Wouldn't that be great though? download some info and have skills, knowledge, and ability instantly? But that is not how it works. learning, developing, and growing happens best in community.
This is where we see everything come together. In their Methodology
Methodology
Methodology
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.
First we see them take care of one another. Now there is a common misconception that some draw from this passage. Some have said this is a biblical backing and endorsement for the political system of Marxism or the forms that most commonly spawn off of it as socialism and communism. The bible does not support these views, however these verse have been expressed for years as to why they are valid systems. There are three key differences between Marxism (and thus Socialism and communism) and What is happening here.
The giving between the Christians was voluntary not required. later we will see a couple who sell a field and try to gain prestige in giving it to the ekklessia so it can be given away, but the HS was going to have none of the trickery and they end up dead. Peter says something very interesting there...
While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
The early church belivers were not required to sell and give. It was their land before it was sold. It was their money after it was sold. Both were more than acceptable. The lying they did was not.
b. As we can see here but also further down in the passage, believers had homes and land. they were not required to sell them.
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.
They used these homes to meet in, to fellowship in, to help others; but none of it was required from a religious stand point and defiantly not from a governmental one.
c. Marxism can only be successfully run in a situation with extremely high levels of accountability due to humanity's natural bend toward evil. There was an accountability with in the new community to know what a person needed verses what they wanted or craved.
However! Though there is no governmental/religious requirement to help others in need, voluntarily doing so is seen as very commendable and we should seek to emulate it.
We do see another practice in this passage though. the belivers met together regualry.
they did this in a large group and in small groups. 3k would not fit into a home, but it would in the temple.
How often did they meet? day by day, their lives revolved around meeting together. They met in large groups in the temple, the met is small groups in homes. This constant meeting helped them grow in their becoming disciples and as as social community. This concept is consistent with how Judaism is practiced even today. It is not just a personal commitment but involves living in a community.
Now do we think that is what we need to do? Spend every day together? no, but we encourage meeting together regularly. Meeting in large group is important. Being in person is best but digitally is good. If you are not going to be in town, Join us online. If you feel you cannot engage with the world due to covid or in ability, join us online. If you cannot find a body near you that teaches the word of God, join us online; and then engage while your there. Type in the comments. Engage with the other viewers. The Church/ The Ekklesia is not just a repository of knowledge. It is also a social community. It is both social and knowledge.
Meeting in small groups is also important because in those small groups we grow and relationships are formed. Small Groups will launch again in September and we urge you to join one if you are not yet engaged in one. We dont even need to be having something official, just get together! Relationships based on Jesus last for eternity!
What is beautiful are these methodologies fed the devotion that we started off talking about.
Today we looked at
the devotion of the early church - Each person individual commitment but was built off the Core values the early church had.
We looked at the Core values they had and compared them to our core values today and discovered they were based off the mission Jesus gave us.
at almost the end we looked at the methodologies the early church used; specifically meeting together regularly in large and small environments there by growing in the core values bulidt off the mission of Jesus.
Lastly we realized by doing the methodology the early churches devotion was strengthened and the cycle started over
BL:
Lets Emulate the Early Church by Meeting Together and Carrying out the Mission of Jesus
Lets Emulate the Early Church by Meeting Together and Carrying out the Mission of Jesus
Bulletin/Youtube Description
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BL:
Small Group/ Personal Study Questions
We grow best in the community. When we gather and discuss God’s word in a safe environment we grow more like Him. If you are here at Crossroads we encourage you to join a Small Group and talk over the Questions below. The Questions in Bold, are great places for your group to start. The other questions are for further study. May God Bless you in your pursuit of Him - Pastor Neil
1) Do you know someone who belives they do not need to gather with a local church body? is that you? Why do they (or you) belive that?
2) Read Acts 2:41-47
3) What is Luke talking about in this passage? What did the early church devote themselves to? Why these things? How would you define devote? Look it up, how does it compare to your definition? How important was meeting together according to this passage?
4) Read Hebrews 10:23-25
5) What sticks out to you from this passage in Hebrews? How do the Acts and Hebrew passages compare? Why is it important to gather together? Does it have to be physical gathering? why or why not? Does it take more, less, or the same amount of work to connect when we cannot see each other? Why do you say that? Does the amount of work make it more or less valid? why or why not?
6) Who comes to our mind as needing to be connected with? Who else? Who do you think needs encouragement? Would you commit to connect with at least 3 other people from our Ekklessia this week? Need help? Ask us, we want to help :)