February 16, 2025 • 43 mins
What does it truly mean to be Spirit-filled, both as an individual and as a church community? Join us as we unpack the core aspects of a Spirit-led life, drawing wisdom from Acts 2:42-47 and diving into the spiritual disciplines that empowered the early church.
Standing firm amidst cultural currents, we explore the unwavering truth of God's Word, likening it to the nourishment of "spiritual broccoli"—not always palatable but essential for growth. The sermon goes beyond hearing the Word, urging the importance of actively doing it, and highlights the vital role of "koinonia" in fostering a vibrant, unified Christian community. This episode invites both personal and collective reflection, urging us to question whether our lives and our church truly mirror the principles of a Spirit-filled fellowship.
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Speaker 1 (00:17):
Okay Acts, chapter 2, starting in verse 42.
, and they were selling theirpossessions and belongings and
distributing the proceeds to allas any had need and, day by day
, attending the temple togetherand breaking bread in their
homes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts,
praising God and having favorwith all people, and the Lord
added to their number, day byday, those who were being saved.
(00:39):
You may be seated.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm going to hang out here just for a minute.
There's a voice in my mic.
Can I just tell you today thateverything that could possibly
go wrong since service startedhas gone wrong.
I couldn't hear my ears,monitors got messed up.
One song just disappeared frommy music.
Panic mode, right, but how manyknow that when?
(01:09):
How many know that that stuffdoesn't matter.
The Lord is worthy to bepraised.
Amen.
We can still make a joyfulnoise without a sound system.
Off pitch, on pitch, we canstill make a joyful noise.
Amen.
Check one, two.
(01:34):
Can you hear me All right?
You know, when things go wrong,it just means something good is
about to happen.
Amen, amen, all righty.
Things go wrong, it just meanssomething good is about to
happen.
Amen, alrighty.
So one of the taglines of ourdenomination, the Assemblies of
God, we call ourselves people ofthe Spirit.
(01:56):
How many want to be a person ofthe Spirit?
How many want the real lifecommunity church to be,
quote-unquote, a Spirit-filledchurch?
Often, when we talk about beingSpirit-filled, what we mean is
we know every believer has theindwelling of the Holy Spirit,
(02:17):
but we're generally referring tothe gifts of the Spirit.
You know the charismatic gifts.
So we still believe.
We are continuationists, webelieve in all of the gifts of
the Spirit, that those willcarry on until the Lord returns.
Do you believe that?
But there's another way in whichthe Bible talks about being
(02:39):
Spirit-filled, and let me giveyou an example.
In Ephesians, chapter 5, paulwrites these words be, ye, not
drunk on wine, which leads todebauchery, but be what Filled
with the Spirit.
And so there's a comparisonthere, meaning that if you are
(03:03):
drunk on wine hopefully that'snot you this morning then you
are controlled by strong drink.
Like, if you've ever been drunkand your life passed before
coming to Christ, then you knowthat you will do crazy things.
You'll say things you didn'twant to say.
You lose all inhibition Likeit's crazy, right?
(03:25):
You might wake up even the nextmorning, not even remember what
you did until people startcalling you.
Well, in the same way, jesussays don't be drunk, or Paul
says don't be drunk on wine,don't be controlled by wine or
strong drink, but be filled orbe controlled by the Holy Spirit
.
But be filled or be controlledby the Holy Spirit.
(03:46):
If you are filled with anger orrage, you are controlled,
generally speaking, by thatanger.
So I want to talk about being aSpirit-filled church.
In that context We've alreadydealt with the power and the
gifts, so now let's talk aboutbeing spirit-filled in this
other context, being controlledby the Spirit.
(04:08):
See, I don't want to be achurch that just practices the
gifts of the Spirit.
I want to be a church thatwalks in holiness and I want to
be a church that walks inspiritual discipline.
Amen.
In our text today, the HolySpirit has just been poured out.
At Pentecost, 3,000 people aresaved, and immediately following
(04:32):
this we come to verse 42, andwe see that these 3,000 became
immediately committed to somespiritual disciplines.
And so today I want you tolisten corporately because,
remember, we're evaluating ourchurch.
There are some immutable,unchangeable principles of the
(04:53):
early church that those thingsneed to be part of the local
church throughout the church age, and that's what we find here
today.
So I want us to look at ourchurch and say does our church
possess these signs of beingSpirit-filled?
And then I'd like you toevaluate your own life as well
and say am I someone who isfilled with the Spirit or
(05:18):
controlled by the Spirit?
Are you with me?
All right, got a lot of peopleout today, so you're going to
have to be louder than that.
Are you with me?
All right, there we go, foursigns, if you're taking notes of
a spirit-filled church or aspirit-controlled church,
however you want to say it.
Number one, the first sign of aspirit-filled church is
(05:39):
devotion that leads to spiritualgrowth, or you could say,
christian maturity.
Look with me at verse 42.
And they this would be the3,000, devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to thefellowship and to the breaking
(06:02):
of bread, and to the breaking ofbread and to the prayers.
The text here assumes that theapostles have started the
discipleship process.
Of the 100, or, excuse me, ofthe 3,000 that were just saved,
how many know that the Biblecalls us to make?
(06:23):
Not converts but what Disciples?
Could you imagine celebratingthe birth of a new baby and then
handing that baby a diaper bag,being like child.
I am so glad you were born.
This is great, one of the bestdays of my life.
We celebrate your birth.
Here's your diaper bags.
(06:44):
We've got everything you needin there.
Good luck, be crazy Childwouldn't survive long.
Yet that's what we do so oftenin the church.
We celebrate the new birth andwe're glad you're saved.
And you know what we say.
Here's your Bible.
Good luck, beloved, we arecalled a disciple.
(07:05):
So you know, a spirit-filledchurch will disciple the people
who are saved.
But then there's responsibilityon the part of those who come
to know the Lord.
You've heard the expression youcan lead a horse to water, but
you can't make it drink.
And I would say to you, ourchurch can be great at
discipleship but we can't makeyou walk in that pattern of
(07:33):
discipleship.
So you've got responsibility aswell.
So there are four, let's say,devotions or disciplines that I
see first and just in this verse, verse that the early
Christians were committed to.
Number one, they were devotedto the truth.
Devoted to the truth, verse 42,.
(07:53):
It says they continued or theydevoted themselves to the
apostles teaching what is that?
Well, the apostles had at thetime the old Testament and, like
Jesus, they would often correctthe religious leaders'
understanding, the Jewishpeople's understanding there in
the first century of the, orlet's say, misunderstanding of
(08:15):
the Old Testament.
Remember, in the Sermon on theMount, jesus would often say
you've heard it said, and he'dquote the Old Testament.
But I say to you and so in thatJesus correctly brought correct
interpretation to the law.
So in some part, at least inpart, the apostles were teaching
the correct interpretation ofthe Old Testament.
(08:37):
And then they were teaching thepeople how to live as
Christians under the newcovenant.
And now we have those lettersthat were written.
We call it the New Testament.
And so together, the apostles'teaching is the Word of God,
your Bible.
Now it may sound obvious to youthat a Spirit-filled church must
(09:01):
be committed to teaching theBible, but it's not so obvious,
is it?
Many pastors aren't trained indoctrine.
They've raised up a biblicallyilliterate people.
And there's two real problemstoday in the American church
when it comes to Bible teaching.
One of the problems you couldcall neglect and the other is
(09:22):
amendment.
So on one hand, you have thisproblem of neglect, where on a
Sunday morning you're going tohear nothing more than a
glorified motivational speechWith just a little scripture
peppered in there so that theycould call it a sermon.
On the other hand, you haveamendment.
There are pastors, churches andwhole denominations.
(09:43):
You know what they're doing.
There are pastors, churches andwhole denominations.
You know what they're doing.
They're trying to make theBible fit the culture better.
They're trying to reinterpretthe Bible.
As here's what they're doing.
They're trying to make it morepalatable.
Are you with me?
I mean entire denominationshave done this.
(10:04):
Well, let's look at this again,because they're trying to make
the Bible progressive.
Beloved God's Word isinfallible.
God's Word is unchanging.
His truth does not change withculture.
So we should not let culturedetermine how we interpret the
Bible, but we should raise theBible as a banner of truth
(10:30):
across our culture, amen.
So can I remind you that noteverything that's good for you
tastes great.
Nikki and I, a couple of weeksago, we ordered McAllister's and
I really wanted to order macand cheese or potato chips as my
side.
But, praise the Lord, by God'sgrace, I ordered broccoli and I
was eating it.
I said, nicky, I said I reallydon't like broccoli, like I like
(10:53):
almost anything, I just don'tlike broccoli.
But I eat it semi-regularlybecause of the health benefits.
But I will tell you that noteverything that's good for you
tastes good.
Are you with me?
So it is with the Bible.
Do you know that?
(11:14):
I mean you read through theBible.
There's some rough parts.
It's convicting.
Not all of it tastes good, butcan I remind you that every
chapter, every verse, everyletter, every word is good for
you.
And so we are to devour to love, to savor, to preach the whole
counsel of God, amen.
(11:37):
So a Spirit-filled church isdevoted to the Word and, by the
way, that means not only do youhear the Word but you do the
Word.
That's important.
Number two a spirit-filledchurch is devoted to Christian
community.
In verse 42, it says theydevoted themselves not just to
the apostles' teaching but alsoto the fellowship.
(11:57):
Now that word fellowship, thereis the Greek word koinonia,
very popular word in the NewTestament, and here's what it
means Koinonia means fellowship,community, joint participation
and unity.
It denotes unity we are to bejoint participants in the
(12:21):
mission of Christ Amen.
There are three facets, quickly, of koinonia that I see here in
the mission of Christ Amen.
There are three facets, quickly, of koinonia that I see here in
the text.
Number one is corporate worship, verse 46, they said they
attended daily in the temple.
They attended the templetogether Daily.
How are you doing?
(12:43):
It's hard to get people here onSundays consistently.
You know we have about 35% ofour church out every single week
and I know sometimes you'resick and thank you for not
coming in those times andsometimes you travel.
But I mean it's like I had alittle case of the sniffles last
night.
Or it's too cold outside, orit's too rainy or it's warm, and
(13:07):
we wanted to enjoy the sunshineand go to the park.
I found out in the Americanchurch there's like a certain
temperature.
It's like four degrees in themiddle, somewhere where people
actually come to church.
Degrees like in the middle,somewhere where people actually
come to church.
In the early church they valuedcorporate worship so much that
(13:28):
they met together daily.
Isn't that crazy?
Daily Beloved YouTube is notenough.
I know you can watch sermons athome, but it is not enough.
So you have this part ofkoinonia as corporate worship.
The second facet of koinonia isI know you can watch sermons at
home, but it is not enough.
So you have this part ofkoinonia as corporate worship.
The second facet of koinonia isfellowship.
(13:49):
Verse 46 tells us that theywent from house to house.
In other words, they did lifetogether.
You know, in the name of ourchurch.
It's real life.
What Community church?
Because we so value communityand if there's anything we do
well, just to brag on you for aminute and say thank you If
(14:13):
you've been here any time.
You know we do community reallywell.
Here we live life together andit is such a pleasure.
So I won't stay on that reallong because we do this?
I mean, it's amazing.
The third facet of koinonia istaking care of one another's
needs.
Look at verses 44 and 45,through 45.
(14:34):
And they were selling theirpossessions and belongings and
distributing the proceeds to allas any had need.
How you doing Verse 46.
Day by day, attending thetemple together, breaking bread
in their homes, they receivedtheir food with glad and
generous hearts.
Let me go back to 44.
(14:55):
And all who believed weretogether.
They had all things in common.
Now let me say this is notBernie Sanders theology Okay,
this is not socialism.
One, this is theology.
Okay, this is not socialism.
One, this is voluntary.
Two, this is not equity.
This doesn't mean thateverybody in the church is given
the exact same amount of money.
We know this because Jesus saidyou will always have the poor
(15:16):
among you.
But what was happening in theearly church is that those who
had bless those who had not.
Imagine if your child you knowyour adult child, let's say,
newly married, you're driving anew SUV, you're getting ready to
go on a big vacation, but yourchild, who works hard on a
(15:39):
single income, new baby, can'tpay the light bill, the electric
bill.
Are you going to go.
Well, sorry, no, you're goingto say whatever we have to
sacrifice, we're going to helpyou out.
Think about this in the church,some of us are driving $80,000
(16:01):
vehicles and I'm not listen.
There's nothing wrong withhaving nice things, don't
misunderstand me.
And then we hear somebody whois really struggling, a single
mom who's part of our familycan't pay the bills.
And what do we say?
We'll pray for you and we gooff on our $15,000 vacation.
In the early church theyrecognize we're family.
(16:26):
We're not going to let anybodygo hungry.
We're not going to let anybodypay the bills or not be able to
pay their bills.
And this doesn't devalue work.
I mean, the Bible says if youdon't work, you don't eat.
What if somebody is willing towork and out of a job, do you
get?
What's happening here Withinthe context of koinonia, it
(16:47):
means we really listen and payattention to one another's needs
and we meet those needs, as Godhas blessed us.
It's real quiet right now, oneof the primary ways that we know
that someone's faith is genuine.
You know what it is.
It's their love for the localchurch.
(17:07):
Jesus said that to hisdisciples.
Here's how they will know thatyou're truly my disciples, that
you speak in tongues.
Is that what he said?
That you go to church everyweek.
Is that what he said?
No, that could be part of it,though you can memorize that you
have memorized so muchscripture.
(17:29):
Is that what he said?
That's how you'll know what hesay.
Your love one for another, thegreatest evidence of your
salvation, is your love for theglobal body of Christ and the
local church.
Hb Charles, great preacher,said it like this.
He said spiritual counterfeitsare exposed by their abandonment
(17:51):
of the church.
Just sit with that for a moment.
You're here, so you're okay,all right.
So they were devoted tofellowship.
Number three they were devotedto the Lord's supper.
It says the breaking of bread.
And the breaking of bread inthe New Testament can talk about
sharing a meal together, or itcan talk about the Lord's supper
(18:12):
, communion, and here scholarsalmost all agree.
In verse 42, they're talkingabout communion.
When they talk about breakingbread, I think in verse 46, it's
likely that that's actuallysharing meals together.
Let me just say it like thisSpirit-filled Christians take
communion very seriously.
Are you with me?
(18:34):
Why do we take communion everyweek in this church?
Let me just quickly give yousome reasons.
Number one, christ fellowshipswith us at his table.
When Ron led us in communiontoday, christ not bodily but
let's say pneumatically sat atthe table with us.
(18:54):
In the ancient world, eatingtogether was like a big thing.
Like if you ate with somebodyyou were saying to the world I
value this person, I receivethis person, I accept this
person.
That's why the Pharisees wereso appalled that Jesus would eat
with gluttons and drunkards andsinners.
(19:16):
But you know what communionreminds us of?
That Jesus invites people likeus to his table because he died
for our sin.
Come to me all you who areburdened and heavy laden, and
I'll give you rest.
Come to my table.
It's a beautiful thing.
First, corinthians, 10, 16, and17,.
(19:38):
Paul writes the cup of blessingthat we bless.
Is it not a?
Now pay attention to this wordparticipation in the blood of
Christ, the bread that we break.
Is it not a?
What?
Participation in the body ofChrist?
You know what that word is inthe Greek, it's koinonia, the
(20:00):
same word for fellowship inverse 42.
When we come to the Lord'stable, the Lord participates
with us.
Do the bread and the wine orthe juice literally turn to the
body and blood of Christ?
No, but there is a mysteriousway in which Christ dines with
(20:22):
us at the table.
I don't understand it, but Iknow it's a blessing.
Second reason we take communionweekly is because it bolsters
unity, or it should Think aboutthe etymology of the word
communion.
You have the prefix com and youhave the word union.
The prefix com means with ortogether, and then you have
(20:49):
union, which is simply unity,the action or fact of being
joined together around thecommon interest.
You know what communion doesevery week.
It should do when we take it.
How many of we all I mean?
Look around just for a second.
You got people that lookdifferent, that act different,
that have different preferences,that come from different
(21:11):
backgrounds and differentcultures.
We even have part of our churchpeople who grew up in different
countries several people and sowhen we come together for
communion, we're reminded that,though we're different in many
ways, what we love most and whatwe're pursuing most we have in
(21:32):
common.
So every week, when we takecommunion together, we're
reminded that we're supposed tobe one body, and that's messy
sometimes, but that's whatcommunion does it brings us
together.
Weekly communion helps us alsoremember Jesus.
(21:54):
Jesus said when you do this,remember me and you know what I
like about remembering Jesuslike this every week.
It makes us forget aboutourselves.
It reminds us he's worthy of itall, for from Him are all
things and to Him are all things.
He deserves the glory Churchisn't about you, it's not about
(22:17):
me, it's about Him.
Your life, if you're aChristian, is about Him.
It takes us to the gospel everyweek communion does, which is a
beautiful thing.
And finally, one of the reasonswe take communion every week is
because it offers us weeklyopportunity for introspection,
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because Paul says in 1Corinthians 11 that we should
search our hearts before takingcommunion.
And it's just an opportunity tosay God, is there any sin in my
heart?
As Ron said earlier, pastor,ron, lord, is there sins of
commission or sins of omissionin my life?
It's a great time to repent.
It's a great time to bereconciled with somebody.
(23:02):
Jesus said if you're at thealtar, leave your gift.
If you have aught with yourbrother, leave your gift.
Go, be reconciled and come back.
It's a great time to search ourhearts.
Now, the pushback that I'vereceived from some people and
I've heard through the grapevineusually people don't come
directly to me with this why dowe do it every week.
(23:30):
It's going to become soritualistic.
Look at me If you get tired ofhearing about the blood and the
body of Christ given for you, ifyou ever become mundane to the
hearing of the gospel beloved,that's not on me.
If you took communion every day, you should never get tired of
it.
It ought to move your heartevery week.
It ought to pierce your heartevery week you ought to cry out
thank you, jesus.
(23:50):
So a spirit-filled church takescommunion very seriously.
The only reason you should notparticipate in communion is if
there's sin in your life thatyou have not repented of and we
will not judge.
As a matter of fact, I'llrespect you for that.
The better option is to repentof it and then celebrate what
(24:12):
Christ has done for you, amen.
But I know some of us grew upand it's just like, ah, it's
just a symbol, it doesn't matter, and we just take it flippantly
.
No, a spirit-filled churchreceives the Lord's Supper very
seriously and reverently.
The fourth discipline here isit says they were devoted verse
(24:35):
42, to prayer, and I talkedabout this a couple of weeks ago
, so I'll just spend a fewseconds here.
Honestly, jesus ascended toheaven 40 days after His
resurrection.
(24:56):
Pentecost was the 50th day.
There were 10 days in betweenJesus' ascension and Pentecost,
when the Spirit was poured outand the church was birthed.
The question is, what did thedisciples do in the meantime?
Well, let's just go out andchill, and, you know, hang out
and go bowling Nothing wrongwith those things.
But you know what they did.
They had a 10-day prayermeeting and I would just submit
(25:16):
to you, if Acts chapter 1, theprayer meeting, would not have
happened, perhaps Acts chapter 2would not have happened.
Oh, chapter two would not havehappened.
Oh, I know that God's sovereign, but do you know that he uses
very ordinary means to bringabout his will?
And one of those means isprayer.
And I'm grateful I'll say thisagain, I'm grateful for those of
you who come to our Wednesdaynight prayer meeting and I want
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to challenge those of you whodon't.
If you're able, man, come andpray with us.
It's powerful, all right.
So, number one, the first signof a Spirit-filled church, is a
devotion to these spiritualdisciplines which, by the way,
is ultimately a devotion toChrist.
It's about loving Christ,treasuring Him above all things,
(26:00):
which leads me to my next point.
Treasuring him above all things, which leads me to my next
point.
The second sign of aspirit-filled church is awe.
A-w-e that leads to generosity.
Look again at 43 through 45.
And awe came upon every souland many wonders and signs were
being done through the apostles,and all who believed were
(26:23):
together and had all things incommon and they were selling
possessions and belongings anddistributing the proceeds to all
as any had need.
So that word all can mean fear.
It can really.
It comes down to reverence andI fear we've lost that.
In the american church Like I'mnot extremely high church, but
(26:46):
you know me, I've harped on thisfor about a year we don't take
what we're doing today seriouslyenough.
You know I won't get into that,but we need to be more reverent
.
We don't need to just roll outof bed and come in here last
(27:06):
minute without ever preparingour hearts, not engage in the
music, not sing, not pray, notparticipate.
We're here to meet with theKing folks.
We ought to treat this time assuch.
We're here to meet with theking folks.
(27:29):
We ought to treat this time assuch.
The spiritual disciplinesmentioned in verse 42 led to all
.
Can you put verse 43 on thescreen?
Oh, here it is.
You read my mind.
Good job Baruch, and all cameupon every soul.
And what's the next word?
And Notice?
It's not because it doesn't sayall came upon every soul,
(27:50):
because many signs and wonderswere done.
It says and so it's not justsigns and wonders, though they
could cause all, but it's verse42 that caused the all.
As these 3,000 are devotingthemselves to Christ and they're
praying and they're worshipingtogether and they're reading
God's Word and celebrating God'sWord and they're taking
(28:12):
communion together, theiraffections are raised for the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The question is why would achurch full of you know, maybe
formerly selfish people andindividualistic people sell
their possessions and lay themat the feet of the apostles?
(28:32):
There's one reason it's becauseof their all for Jesus.
Remember that old song Turnyour Eyes Upon Jesus, turn your
eyes upon Jesus.
Sing it if you know it.
Look full in His wonderful faceand the things of earth will go
(28:53):
strangely dim In the light ofHis glory and grace.
These people were so enamoredwith Jesus.
Three thousand of them repentedand were baptized.
They were so enamored by Jesusthat the things of earth grew
(29:14):
strangely dim.
So they just bring their extrastuff and say apostles here, we
don't need it.
Other people need it more thanus.
Jesus is enough.
He is sufficient.
So I'm going to just pastor youfor a second.
If you're visiting, I apologizehere.
You can tune out for a second.
(29:34):
I've been here 10 years.
You guys know me, you know myheart, I think, going on 11
years, goodness gracious, timeflies.
Guys, you are awesome in many,many ways and I love you more
than I could ever express, butgenerally speaking not all of
you, but generally speaking, youstink at giving.
I heard Matt Chandler tell hischurch this, so I can tell you
(29:59):
this.
Maybe it's good a lot of peoplearen't here today.
No, I hope they watch it online.
It's awful.
If it weren't for about eightfamilies in this church, the
doors would shut because theseeight families are hyper
generous.
Now, I'm not thinking of any ofyou in particular, because I
(30:21):
don't purposefully.
I don't make a habit of seeingeach week well, so-and-so gave
you know.
So if I ever don't call youduring the week or ignore you,
don't think oh, he knows howlittle I gave last week in the
offering.
It's not that.
Do you know that if people gavein our church at least a tenth
(30:41):
of their income, that means onedollar out of every ten.
I don't care if it's gross ornet.
This building would be paid off.
We'd be able To do so much morein this community.
So here's what I just want tochallenge you with Between you
and God.
I want you to look at yourgiving statement and your W22
(31:03):
and say is this pleasing to theLord?
Do you know?
The average Christian inAmerica today I've said it
before, but it's worth repeatinggives less than the Christians
did in the Great Depression.
Well, pastor, I just can'tafford it.
Listen, I know some of you havecome to me and you have said
pastor, I just want you to know,we're on a single income right
now.
I really can't give, and I haveso much respect for you for
(31:26):
doing that.
I had somebody just a coupleweeks ago said I feel really bad
, I can't give, I want to giveextra of my time.
Now, generally, we don't get tochoose.
Well, I give time.
This person gives treasure, butI love the heart of this person
that they said we really wantto give and so I just want to
(31:47):
dedicate more, and theimplication was when we're able
to give more than we willfinancially, it's awesome.
But many of the people that say, well, I just wish we could
give.
We're just not in the spot.
You know what they're doing.
They're carrying in Starbucksevery day.
They're going out to eat.
Every Sunday after churchthey're stopping by the gas
(32:07):
station getting food they don'tneed to eat anyways.
That stuff adds up, folks, andI'm just going to say it's God's
money, not yours.
So you just look at your W-2,look at your giving statement
and say is the Lord pleased withthis?
And I just want to challengeyou I know we're not under the
old covenant, I get that thetithe law.
(32:29):
The tithe, by the way, inMalachi was 23%.
Notice, it says tithes plural.
There was two 10% offerings andthen a 10% every three years
came out to about 23%.
But even before the law we havethe principle of tithing and I
(32:50):
would challenge you with this aswell Give to God first, because
what we do is we give God ourleftovers.
Malachi talks about this.
You give him the lame and blindsacrifice he says that you
wouldn't even give your governor.
So I just want to challenge youwith that.
Now.
I don't harp on givinggenerally.
You know this.
I don't even take offering,hardly ever.
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One of our other pastors doesit and they're nice, Most of
them.
I was getting ready to sayexcept one, but beat me to it,
you're quick.
But beat me to it, you're quick.
So why don't I harp on givingmore if giving is so bad here?
Let me tell you my philosophy.
(33:32):
You're not supposed to giveunder compulsion.
I'm not taking an offering atthe end of service today.
I'm not trying to guilt tripyou.
You know what I focus on.
I focus on preaching Jesus,because here's what I believe If
you guys hearing me preachJesus every week will ever just
get a glimpse of his glory andbeauty and infinite worth, you
will give, and it won't be undercompulsion, because the things
(33:54):
of this earth will growstrangely dim.
You okay.
Everything good for you doesn'ttaste good, all right.
Third sign of a Spirit-filledchurch and I'm going to move
quickly is thanksgiving thatleads to praise.
Look at verse 46.
Day by day, attending thetemple together and breaking
(34:15):
bread in their homes, theyreceived their food with glad
and generous hearts.
Verse 47, doing what?
Praising God and having favorwith all people.
We ought to be a church ofexuberant praise.
Well, pastor, what if peopleget fanatical?
To quote HB Charles again,someone asked him that.
(34:38):
He said I'd rather tame afanatic than raise the corpse.
Come on, we ought to be apeople of praise.
But let me say this Remember aSpirit-filled church, a sign of
a Spirit-filled church isthanksgiving.
That leads to praise In thecharismatic church.
(34:58):
Since I've been in, you know Iled music for at least 15 years
in charismatic churches and Iwould hear people say all the
time I still hear this todayPastor, you got to sing at least
30 minutes.
Well, why?
Well, because you got to workpeople up.
You know what.
They come in and they're tiredand it takes them a few songs to
get into it.
Okay, and that's not untrue.
(35:20):
But you know why that is Okayand that's not untrue.
But you know why that isBecause we're not living seven
days a week as worshipers.
If I have to sing, you happy.
You haven't done your jobduring the week.
The first note played, thefirst song sung.
(35:41):
Praise ought to come from yourmouth, and let me show it to you
here.
You know what Music isn't evenmentioned, though music is
important here.
That could be part of thepraising God here, but it's not
explicit.
Day by day, attending thetemple together verse 46,
breaking bread in their homes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts
(36:15):
praising God.
Let me just paint you thispicture.
A meal is set before them.
Nobody's singing them happy.
A meal is set before them.
Glory to God, hallelujah God,you are the provider.
Glory to God.
Hallelujah God, you are theprovider.
You are the one who is thegiver of every good gift.
We praise you, we honor you.
Now some of you are cookingDina, you're cooking might make
me go into praise like that.
And my wife, I should say thatshe's in here.
(36:41):
Listen, do you get the point?
And my wife, I should say thatshe's in here.
Listen, do you get the point?
Here we ought to be so againenamored with Jesus, so grateful
that we just pray.
It's Thanksgiving that leads toprayer.
If you are a negative, nancy,negative all the time, always
(37:03):
think listen, there's times weneed to address what's wrong.
But if I was consumed with whatwas wrong, I couldn't even walk
in the room.
Today, when I walk in thischurch, I don't look for what's
wrong, because the Bible says inPhilippians that we are to find
whatever's good andpraiseworthy and true and noble
and we are to do what, meditateon those things.
So when I come in here, there'slots of flaws.
(37:24):
But you know what I do, Ipractice thanksgiving.
How many times, elders, do Iwell, all of you do I say how
much I love this church.
How many times do I talk aboutthe good of our people?
And when you are thankful,praise will just come out of
your mouth.
And we could sing one song orno songs in a service and you
(37:47):
would praise the Lord, all right.
Finally, final sign of aSpirit-filled church is
evangelism that leads torepentance.
Verse 47, I love this, thesecond part.
And the Lord who?
And the Lord added to theirnumber, day by day, those who
(38:10):
were being saved.
Now this text, this verse,assumes the gospel's been
preached.
Isn't that what happened inActs, chapter 2?
Peter, after the coming of theHoly Spirit, peter preached the
gospel.
And then it's.
What did it say?
(38:33):
Many were cut to the heart.
Who does that?
God, the Holy Spirit?
And then they asked Peter, whatdo we do about this?
Like we're moved and listenwhen you share Jesus with
somebody, make sure to tell themwhat to do about it.
What did he say?
Acts 2.38, repent and bebaptized for the remission of
sins and the gift of the HolySpirit.
So do you see here theChristian or the preacher?
All of us really have a job.
(38:55):
The sinner has a job and Godhas a job.
We have to preach the gospel.
The Lord awakens the heart andthe lost person responds in
faith.
You see how this works together.
And here's what I love.
In verses 42 through 47, wefind all of these spiritual
(39:18):
disciplines.
We find the Bible being lovedand cherished and lived out.
We find prayer and communionand fellowship inished and lived
out.
We find prayer and communionand fellowship in all of the
Lord and signs and wonders, andI mean we can go in this
generosity and when that was thefocus the Lord added to the
church daily.
Isn't that beautiful?
And I would just say this if wejust get our eyes on those
(39:40):
things that are so important,would the Lord not do that for
us?
It's worth considering.
In closing, I want to quoteDavid Platt.
I just found this yesterday.
It's pretty great.
So, david Platt, he rewroteActs 2, 42 through 47, as if
(40:04):
Luke were writing about thecurrent state of the American
church.
You ready, this is great.
And they devoted themselves tocoming together whenever it was
convenient on their busycalendars.
They came not all together, butat different times.
They walked into theair-conditioned building,
grabbed a cup of coffee andcomfortably sat down.
(40:29):
They nodded to the other peopleon the row and some offered a
smile, but they hardly looked ateach other again.
Instead, they fixed their eyeson the stage.
Then they sat and watched andlistened to someone speak a
while, until they stood to sing.
Some of them sang, after whichthey peeled back some strange
(40:53):
cellophane to uncover a smallsnack.
I'll give you a second.
As soon as they were finishedeating and drinking, they got
out of there as fast as possiblein order to beat the traffic.
Then they waited to do it againnext week or whenever it would
work again with their schedule,and they called it church.
(41:14):
Just sit with that for a moment.
I'd like you to evaluate yourown life today.
It's how we'll close.
Are these four signs part ofyour life?
Are you devoted to Christ, likenot just Sunday, but are you
(41:36):
devoted to the Word of God,fellowship with other believers,
prayer?
Do you take communion seriously?
Are you in awe of Christ, somuch so that the things of this
world go strangely dim?
Or are you always thinkingabout money, trying to keep up
(42:00):
with the Joneses, selfish,stingy?
Do you practice thanksgivingthat leads to praise?
I encourage you to do that man?
Keep a blessing journal orthanksgiving journal?
Do you practice gratitude?
Do you come to church ready toworship?
Finally, the area of evangelism.
(42:23):
Are you burdened for the lost?
Do you share the gospel withlost loved ones?
Maybe you say, well, I don'tknow how to do that.
Well, we've got great news,pastor Ron and Kay, once a month
, right Before church on Sundays, once a month, they'll teach
you how to reach the lost withthe gospel.
Well, it's awkward.
(42:44):
It's going to be more awkwardwhen they're cast into the lake
of fire.
Dang man, I'm brimstone today.
I don't know what's wrong withme.
It's this weather.
Just blame the weather.
It has not been a good day.
The next time it's not going tohave been a good day.
Gentlemen, one of you canpreach, but the Spirit-filled
(43:05):
church is not marked first bysigns and wonders.
It's marked first by devotionto spiritual disciplines and all
of Christ, radical generosityand a heart for the lost.
So may real life be aSpirit-filled church and may the
Lord add to our numbers dailyeven those who are being saved.
Okay Acts, chapter 2, starting in verse 42.
, and they were selling theirpossessions and belongings and
distributing the proceeds to allas any had need and, day by day
, attending the temple togetherand breaking bread in their
homes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts,
praising God and having favorwith all people, and the Lord
added to their number, day byday, those who were being saved.
(00:39):
You may be seated.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm going to hang out here just for a minute.
There's a voice in my mic.
Can I just tell you today thateverything that could possibly
go wrong since service startedhas gone wrong.
I couldn't hear my ears,monitors got messed up.
One song just disappeared frommy music.
Panic mode, right, but how manyknow that when?
(01:09):
How many know that that stuffdoesn't matter.
The Lord is worthy to bepraised.
Amen.
We can still make a joyfulnoise without a sound system.
Off pitch, on pitch, we canstill make a joyful noise.
Amen.
Check one, two.
(01:34):
Can you hear me All right?
You know, when things go wrong,it just means something good is
about to happen.
Amen, amen, all righty.
Things go wrong, it just meanssomething good is about to
happen.
Amen, alrighty.
So one of the taglines of ourdenomination, the Assemblies of
God, we call ourselves people ofthe Spirit.
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How many want to be a person ofthe Spirit?
How many want the real lifecommunity church to be,
quote-unquote, a Spirit-filledchurch?
Often, when we talk about beingSpirit-filled, what we mean is
we know every believer has theindwelling of the Holy Spirit,
(02:17):
but we're generally referring tothe gifts of the Spirit.
You know the charismatic gifts.
So we still believe.
We are continuationists, webelieve in all of the gifts of
the Spirit, that those willcarry on until the Lord returns.
Do you believe that?
But there's another way in whichthe Bible talks about being
(02:39):
Spirit-filled, and let me giveyou an example.
In Ephesians, chapter 5, paulwrites these words be, ye, not
drunk on wine, which leads todebauchery, but be what Filled
with the Spirit.
And so there's a comparisonthere, meaning that if you are
(03:03):
drunk on wine hopefully that'snot you this morning then you
are controlled by strong drink.
Like, if you've ever been drunkand your life passed before
coming to Christ, then you knowthat you will do crazy things.
You'll say things you didn'twant to say.
You lose all inhibition Likeit's crazy, right?
(03:25):
You might wake up even the nextmorning, not even remember what
you did until people startcalling you.
Well, in the same way, jesussays don't be drunk, or Paul
says don't be drunk on wine,don't be controlled by wine or
strong drink, but be filled orbe controlled by the Holy Spirit
.
But be filled or be controlledby the Holy Spirit.
(03:46):
If you are filled with anger orrage, you are controlled,
generally speaking, by thatanger.
So I want to talk about being aSpirit-filled church.
In that context We've alreadydealt with the power and the
gifts, so now let's talk aboutbeing spirit-filled in this
other context, being controlledby the Spirit.
(04:08):
See, I don't want to be achurch that just practices the
gifts of the Spirit.
I want to be a church thatwalks in holiness and I want to
be a church that walks inspiritual discipline.
Amen.
In our text today, the HolySpirit has just been poured out.
At Pentecost, 3,000 people aresaved, and immediately following
(04:32):
this we come to verse 42, andwe see that these 3,000 became
immediately committed to somespiritual disciplines.
And so today I want you tolisten corporately because,
remember, we're evaluating ourchurch.
There are some immutable,unchangeable principles of the
(04:53):
early church that those thingsneed to be part of the local
church throughout the church age, and that's what we find here
today.
So I want us to look at ourchurch and say does our church
possess these signs of beingSpirit-filled?
And then I'd like you toevaluate your own life as well
and say am I someone who isfilled with the Spirit or
(05:18):
controlled by the Spirit?
Are you with me?
All right, got a lot of peopleout today, so you're going to
have to be louder than that.
Are you with me?
All right, there we go, foursigns, if you're taking notes of
a spirit-filled church or aspirit-controlled church,
however you want to say it.
Number one, the first sign of aspirit-filled church is
(05:39):
devotion that leads to spiritualgrowth, or you could say,
christian maturity.
Look with me at verse 42.
And they this would be the3,000, devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to thefellowship and to the breaking
(06:02):
of bread, and to the breaking ofbread and to the prayers.
The text here assumes that theapostles have started the
discipleship process.
Of the 100, or, excuse me, ofthe 3,000 that were just saved,
how many know that the Biblecalls us to make?
(06:23):
Not converts but what Disciples?
Could you imagine celebratingthe birth of a new baby and then
handing that baby a diaper bag,being like child.
I am so glad you were born.
This is great, one of the bestdays of my life.
We celebrate your birth.
Here's your diaper bags.
(06:44):
We've got everything you needin there.
Good luck, be crazy Childwouldn't survive long.
Yet that's what we do so oftenin the church.
We celebrate the new birth andwe're glad you're saved.
And you know what we say.
Here's your Bible.
Good luck, beloved, we arecalled a disciple.
(07:05):
So you know, a spirit-filledchurch will disciple the people
who are saved.
But then there's responsibilityon the part of those who come
to know the Lord.
You've heard the expression youcan lead a horse to water, but
you can't make it drink.
And I would say to you, ourchurch can be great at
discipleship but we can't makeyou walk in that pattern of
(07:33):
discipleship.
So you've got responsibility aswell.
So there are four, let's say,devotions or disciplines that I
see first and just in this verse, verse that the early
Christians were committed to.
Number one, they were devotedto the truth.
Devoted to the truth, verse 42,.
(07:53):
It says they continued or theydevoted themselves to the
apostles teaching what is that?
Well, the apostles had at thetime the old Testament and, like
Jesus, they would often correctthe religious leaders'
understanding, the Jewishpeople's understanding there in
the first century of the, orlet's say, misunderstanding of
(08:15):
the Old Testament.
Remember, in the Sermon on theMount, jesus would often say
you've heard it said, and he'dquote the Old Testament.
But I say to you and so in thatJesus correctly brought correct
interpretation to the law.
So in some part, at least inpart, the apostles were teaching
the correct interpretation ofthe Old Testament.
(08:37):
And then they were teaching thepeople how to live as
Christians under the newcovenant.
And now we have those lettersthat were written.
We call it the New Testament.
And so together, the apostles'teaching is the Word of God,
your Bible.
Now it may sound obvious to youthat a Spirit-filled church must
(09:01):
be committed to teaching theBible, but it's not so obvious,
is it?
Many pastors aren't trained indoctrine.
They've raised up a biblicallyilliterate people.
And there's two real problemstoday in the American church
when it comes to Bible teaching.
One of the problems you couldcall neglect and the other is
(09:22):
amendment.
So on one hand, you have thisproblem of neglect, where on a
Sunday morning you're going tohear nothing more than a
glorified motivational speechWith just a little scripture
peppered in there so that theycould call it a sermon.
On the other hand, you haveamendment.
There are pastors, churches andwhole denominations.
(09:43):
You know what they're doing.
There are pastors, churches andwhole denominations.
You know what they're doing.
They're trying to make theBible fit the culture better.
They're trying to reinterpretthe Bible.
As here's what they're doing.
They're trying to make it morepalatable.
Are you with me?
I mean entire denominationshave done this.
(10:04):
Well, let's look at this again,because they're trying to make
the Bible progressive.
Beloved God's Word isinfallible.
God's Word is unchanging.
His truth does not change withculture.
So we should not let culturedetermine how we interpret the
Bible, but we should raise theBible as a banner of truth
(10:30):
across our culture, amen.
So can I remind you that noteverything that's good for you
tastes great.
Nikki and I, a couple of weeksago, we ordered McAllister's and
I really wanted to order macand cheese or potato chips as my
side.
But, praise the Lord, by God'sgrace, I ordered broccoli and I
was eating it.
I said, nicky, I said I reallydon't like broccoli, like I like
(10:53):
almost anything, I just don'tlike broccoli.
But I eat it semi-regularlybecause of the health benefits.
But I will tell you that noteverything that's good for you
tastes good.
Are you with me?
So it is with the Bible.
Do you know that?
(11:14):
I mean you read through theBible.
There's some rough parts.
It's convicting.
Not all of it tastes good, butcan I remind you that every
chapter, every verse, everyletter, every word is good for
you.
And so we are to devour to love, to savor, to preach the whole
counsel of God, amen.
(11:37):
So a Spirit-filled church isdevoted to the Word and, by the
way, that means not only do youhear the Word but you do the
Word.
That's important.
Number two a spirit-filledchurch is devoted to Christian
community.
In verse 42, it says theydevoted themselves not just to
the apostles' teaching but alsoto the fellowship.
(11:57):
Now that word fellowship, thereis the Greek word koinonia,
very popular word in the NewTestament, and here's what it
means Koinonia means fellowship,community, joint participation
and unity.
It denotes unity we are to bejoint participants in the
(12:21):
mission of Christ Amen.
There are three facets, quickly, of koinonia that I see here in
the mission of Christ Amen.
There are three facets, quickly, of koinonia that I see here in
the text.
Number one is corporate worship, verse 46, they said they
attended daily in the temple.
They attended the templetogether Daily.
How are you doing?
(12:43):
It's hard to get people here onSundays consistently.
You know we have about 35% ofour church out every single week
and I know sometimes you'resick and thank you for not
coming in those times andsometimes you travel.
But I mean it's like I had alittle case of the sniffles last
night.
Or it's too cold outside, orit's too rainy or it's warm, and
(13:07):
we wanted to enjoy the sunshineand go to the park.
I found out in the Americanchurch there's like a certain
temperature.
It's like four degrees in themiddle, somewhere where people
actually come to church.
Degrees like in the middle,somewhere where people actually
come to church.
In the early church they valuedcorporate worship so much that
(13:28):
they met together daily.
Isn't that crazy?
Daily Beloved YouTube is notenough.
I know you can watch sermons athome, but it is not enough.
So you have this part ofkoinonia as corporate worship.
The second facet of koinonia isI know you can watch sermons at
home, but it is not enough.
So you have this part ofkoinonia as corporate worship.
The second facet of koinonia isfellowship.
(13:49):
Verse 46 tells us that theywent from house to house.
In other words, they did lifetogether.
You know, in the name of ourchurch.
It's real life.
What Community church?
Because we so value communityand if there's anything we do
well, just to brag on you for aminute and say thank you If
(14:13):
you've been here any time.
You know we do community reallywell.
Here we live life together andit is such a pleasure.
So I won't stay on that reallong because we do this?
I mean, it's amazing.
The third facet of koinonia istaking care of one another's
needs.
Look at verses 44 and 45,through 45.
(14:34):
And they were selling theirpossessions and belongings and
distributing the proceeds to allas any had need.
How you doing Verse 46.
Day by day, attending thetemple together, breaking bread
in their homes, they receivedtheir food with glad and
generous hearts.
Let me go back to 44.
(14:55):
And all who believed weretogether.
They had all things in common.
Now let me say this is notBernie Sanders theology Okay,
this is not socialism.
One, this is theology.
Okay, this is not socialism.
One, this is voluntary.
Two, this is not equity.
This doesn't mean thateverybody in the church is given
the exact same amount of money.
We know this because Jesus saidyou will always have the poor
(15:16):
among you.
But what was happening in theearly church is that those who
had bless those who had not.
Imagine if your child you knowyour adult child, let's say,
newly married, you're driving anew SUV, you're getting ready to
go on a big vacation, but yourchild, who works hard on a
(15:39):
single income, new baby, can'tpay the light bill, the electric
bill.
Are you going to go.
Well, sorry, no, you're goingto say whatever we have to
sacrifice, we're going to helpyou out.
Think about this in the church,some of us are driving $80,000
(16:01):
vehicles and I'm not listen.
There's nothing wrong withhaving nice things, don't
misunderstand me.
And then we hear somebody whois really struggling, a single
mom who's part of our familycan't pay the bills.
And what do we say?
We'll pray for you and we gooff on our $15,000 vacation.
In the early church theyrecognize we're family.
(16:26):
We're not going to let anybodygo hungry.
We're not going to let anybodypay the bills or not be able to
pay their bills.
And this doesn't devalue work.
I mean, the Bible says if youdon't work, you don't eat.
What if somebody is willing towork and out of a job, do you
get?
What's happening here Withinthe context of koinonia, it
(16:47):
means we really listen and payattention to one another's needs
and we meet those needs, as Godhas blessed us.
It's real quiet right now, oneof the primary ways that we know
that someone's faith is genuine.
You know what it is.
It's their love for the localchurch.
(17:07):
Jesus said that to hisdisciples.
Here's how they will know thatyou're truly my disciples, that
you speak in tongues.
Is that what he said?
That you go to church everyweek.
Is that what he said?
No, that could be part of it,though you can memorize that you
have memorized so muchscripture.
(17:29):
Is that what he said?
That's how you'll know what hesay.
Your love one for another, thegreatest evidence of your
salvation, is your love for theglobal body of Christ and the
local church.
Hb Charles, great preacher,said it like this.
He said spiritual counterfeitsare exposed by their abandonment
(17:51):
of the church.
Just sit with that for a moment.
You're here, so you're okay,all right.
So they were devoted tofellowship.
Number three they were devotedto the Lord's supper.
It says the breaking of bread.
And the breaking of bread inthe New Testament can talk about
sharing a meal together, or itcan talk about the Lord's supper
(18:12):
, communion, and here scholarsalmost all agree.
In verse 42, they're talkingabout communion.
When they talk about breakingbread, I think in verse 46, it's
likely that that's actuallysharing meals together.
Let me just say it like thisSpirit-filled Christians take
communion very seriously.
Are you with me?
(18:34):
Why do we take communion everyweek in this church?
Let me just quickly give yousome reasons.
Number one, christ fellowshipswith us at his table.
When Ron led us in communiontoday, christ not bodily but
let's say pneumatically sat atthe table with us.
(18:54):
In the ancient world, eatingtogether was like a big thing.
Like if you ate with somebodyyou were saying to the world I
value this person, I receivethis person, I accept this
person.
That's why the Pharisees wereso appalled that Jesus would eat
with gluttons and drunkards andsinners.
(19:16):
But you know what communionreminds us of?
That Jesus invites people likeus to his table because he died
for our sin.
Come to me all you who areburdened and heavy laden, and
I'll give you rest.
Come to my table.
It's a beautiful thing.
First, corinthians, 10, 16, and17,.
(19:38):
Paul writes the cup of blessingthat we bless.
Is it not a?
Now pay attention to this wordparticipation in the blood of
Christ, the bread that we break.
Is it not a?
What?
Participation in the body ofChrist?
You know what that word is inthe Greek, it's koinonia, the
(20:00):
same word for fellowship inverse 42.
When we come to the Lord'stable, the Lord participates
with us.
Do the bread and the wine orthe juice literally turn to the
body and blood of Christ?
No, but there is a mysteriousway in which Christ dines with
(20:22):
us at the table.
I don't understand it, but Iknow it's a blessing.
Second reason we take communionweekly is because it bolsters
unity, or it should Think aboutthe etymology of the word
communion.
You have the prefix com and youhave the word union.
The prefix com means with ortogether, and then you have
(20:49):
union, which is simply unity,the action or fact of being
joined together around thecommon interest.
You know what communion doesevery week.
It should do when we take it.
How many of we all I mean?
Look around just for a second.
You got people that lookdifferent, that act different,
that have different preferences,that come from different
(21:11):
backgrounds and differentcultures.
We even have part of our churchpeople who grew up in different
countries several people and sowhen we come together for
communion, we're reminded that,though we're different in many
ways, what we love most and whatwe're pursuing most we have in
(21:32):
common.
So every week, when we takecommunion together, we're
reminded that we're supposed tobe one body, and that's messy
sometimes, but that's whatcommunion does it brings us
together.
Weekly communion helps us alsoremember Jesus.
(21:54):
Jesus said when you do this,remember me and you know what I
like about remembering Jesuslike this every week.
It makes us forget aboutourselves.
It reminds us he's worthy of itall, for from Him are all
things and to Him are all things.
He deserves the glory Churchisn't about you, it's not about
(22:17):
me, it's about Him.
Your life, if you're aChristian, is about Him.
It takes us to the gospel everyweek communion does, which is a
beautiful thing.
And finally, one of the reasonswe take communion every week is
because it offers us weeklyopportunity for introspection,
(22:40):
because Paul says in 1Corinthians 11 that we should
search our hearts before takingcommunion.
And it's just an opportunity tosay God, is there any sin in my
heart?
As Ron said earlier, pastor,ron, lord, is there sins of
commission or sins of omissionin my life?
It's a great time to repent.
It's a great time to bereconciled with somebody.
(23:02):
Jesus said if you're at thealtar, leave your gift.
If you have aught with yourbrother, leave your gift.
Go, be reconciled and come back.
It's a great time to search ourhearts.
Now, the pushback that I'vereceived from some people and
I've heard through the grapevineusually people don't come
directly to me with this why dowe do it every week.
(23:30):
It's going to become soritualistic.
Look at me If you get tired ofhearing about the blood and the
body of Christ given for you, ifyou ever become mundane to the
hearing of the gospel beloved,that's not on me.
If you took communion every day, you should never get tired of
it.
It ought to move your heartevery week.
It ought to pierce your heartevery week you ought to cry out
thank you, jesus.
(23:50):
So a spirit-filled church takescommunion very seriously.
The only reason you should notparticipate in communion is if
there's sin in your life thatyou have not repented of and we
will not judge.
As a matter of fact, I'llrespect you for that.
The better option is to repentof it and then celebrate what
(24:12):
Christ has done for you, amen.
But I know some of us grew upand it's just like, ah, it's
just a symbol, it doesn't matter, and we just take it flippantly
.
No, a spirit-filled churchreceives the Lord's Supper very
seriously and reverently.
The fourth discipline here isit says they were devoted verse
(24:35):
42, to prayer, and I talkedabout this a couple of weeks ago
, so I'll just spend a fewseconds here.
Honestly, jesus ascended toheaven 40 days after His
resurrection.
(24:56):
Pentecost was the 50th day.
There were 10 days in betweenJesus' ascension and Pentecost,
when the Spirit was poured outand the church was birthed.
The question is, what did thedisciples do in the meantime?
Well, let's just go out andchill, and, you know, hang out
and go bowling Nothing wrongwith those things.
But you know what they did.
They had a 10-day prayermeeting and I would just submit
(25:16):
to you, if Acts chapter 1, theprayer meeting, would not have
happened, perhaps Acts chapter 2would not have happened.
Oh, chapter two would not havehappened.
Oh, I know that God's sovereign, but do you know that he uses
very ordinary means to bringabout his will?
And one of those means isprayer.
And I'm grateful I'll say thisagain, I'm grateful for those of
you who come to our Wednesdaynight prayer meeting and I want
(25:38):
to challenge those of you whodon't.
If you're able, man, come andpray with us.
It's powerful, all right.
So, number one, the first signof a Spirit-filled church, is a
devotion to these spiritualdisciplines which, by the way,
is ultimately a devotion toChrist.
It's about loving Christ,treasuring Him above all things,
(26:00):
which leads me to my next point.
Treasuring him above all things, which leads me to my next
point.
The second sign of aspirit-filled church is awe.
A-w-e that leads to generosity.
Look again at 43 through 45.
And awe came upon every souland many wonders and signs were
being done through the apostles,and all who believed were
(26:23):
together and had all things incommon and they were selling
possessions and belongings anddistributing the proceeds to all
as any had need.
So that word all can mean fear.
It can really.
It comes down to reverence andI fear we've lost that.
In the american church Like I'mnot extremely high church, but
(26:46):
you know me, I've harped on thisfor about a year we don't take
what we're doing today seriouslyenough.
You know I won't get into that,but we need to be more reverent
.
We don't need to just roll outof bed and come in here last
(27:06):
minute without ever preparingour hearts, not engage in the
music, not sing, not pray, notparticipate.
We're here to meet with theKing folks.
We ought to treat this time assuch.
We're here to meet with theking folks.
(27:29):
We ought to treat this time assuch.
The spiritual disciplinesmentioned in verse 42 led to all
.
Can you put verse 43 on thescreen?
Oh, here it is.
You read my mind.
Good job Baruch, and all cameupon every soul.
And what's the next word?
And Notice?
It's not because it doesn't sayall came upon every soul,
(27:50):
because many signs and wonderswere done.
It says and so it's not justsigns and wonders, though they
could cause all, but it's verse42 that caused the all.
As these 3,000 are devotingthemselves to Christ and they're
praying and they're worshipingtogether and they're reading
God's Word and celebrating God'sWord and they're taking
(28:12):
communion together, theiraffections are raised for the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The question is why would achurch full of you know, maybe
formerly selfish people andindividualistic people sell
their possessions and lay themat the feet of the apostles?
(28:32):
There's one reason it's becauseof their all for Jesus.
Remember that old song Turnyour Eyes Upon Jesus, turn your
eyes upon Jesus.
Sing it if you know it.
Look full in His wonderful faceand the things of earth will go
(28:53):
strangely dim In the light ofHis glory and grace.
These people were so enamoredwith Jesus.
Three thousand of them repentedand were baptized.
They were so enamored by Jesusthat the things of earth grew
(29:14):
strangely dim.
So they just bring their extrastuff and say apostles here, we
don't need it.
Other people need it more thanus.
Jesus is enough.
He is sufficient.
So I'm going to just pastor youfor a second.
If you're visiting, I apologizehere.
You can tune out for a second.
(29:34):
I've been here 10 years.
You guys know me, you know myheart, I think, going on 11
years, goodness gracious, timeflies.
Guys, you are awesome in many,many ways and I love you more
than I could ever express, butgenerally speaking not all of
you, but generally speaking, youstink at giving.
I heard Matt Chandler tell hischurch this, so I can tell you
(29:59):
this.
Maybe it's good a lot of peoplearen't here today.
No, I hope they watch it online.
It's awful.
If it weren't for about eightfamilies in this church, the
doors would shut because theseeight families are hyper
generous.
Now, I'm not thinking of any ofyou in particular, because I
(30:21):
don't purposefully.
I don't make a habit of seeingeach week well, so-and-so gave
you know.
So if I ever don't call youduring the week or ignore you,
don't think oh, he knows howlittle I gave last week in the
offering.
It's not that.
Do you know that if people gavein our church at least a tenth
(30:41):
of their income, that means onedollar out of every ten.
I don't care if it's gross ornet.
This building would be paid off.
We'd be able To do so much morein this community.
So here's what I just want tochallenge you with Between you
and God.
I want you to look at yourgiving statement and your W22
(31:03):
and say is this pleasing to theLord?
Do you know?
The average Christian inAmerica today I've said it
before, but it's worth repeatinggives less than the Christians
did in the Great Depression.
Well, pastor, I just can'tafford it.
Listen, I know some of you havecome to me and you have said
pastor, I just want you to know,we're on a single income right
now.
I really can't give, and I haveso much respect for you for
(31:26):
doing that.
I had somebody just a coupleweeks ago said I feel really bad
, I can't give, I want to giveextra of my time.
Now, generally, we don't get tochoose.
Well, I give time.
This person gives treasure, butI love the heart of this person
that they said we really wantto give and so I just want to
(31:47):
dedicate more, and theimplication was when we're able
to give more than we willfinancially, it's awesome.
But many of the people that say, well, I just wish we could
give.
We're just not in the spot.
You know what they're doing.
They're carrying in Starbucksevery day.
They're going out to eat.
Every Sunday after churchthey're stopping by the gas
(32:07):
station getting food they don'tneed to eat anyways.
That stuff adds up, folks, andI'm just going to say it's God's
money, not yours.
So you just look at your W-2,look at your giving statement
and say is the Lord pleased withthis?
And I just want to challengeyou I know we're not under the
old covenant, I get that thetithe law.
(32:29):
The tithe, by the way, inMalachi was 23%.
Notice, it says tithes plural.
There was two 10% offerings andthen a 10% every three years
came out to about 23%.
But even before the law we havethe principle of tithing and I
(32:50):
would challenge you with this aswell Give to God first, because
what we do is we give God ourleftovers.
Malachi talks about this.
You give him the lame and blindsacrifice he says that you
wouldn't even give your governor.
So I just want to challenge youwith that.
Now.
I don't harp on givinggenerally.
You know this.
I don't even take offering,hardly ever.
(33:10):
One of our other pastors doesit and they're nice, Most of
them.
I was getting ready to sayexcept one, but beat me to it,
you're quick.
But beat me to it, you're quick.
So why don't I harp on givingmore if giving is so bad here?
Let me tell you my philosophy.
(33:32):
You're not supposed to giveunder compulsion.
I'm not taking an offering atthe end of service today.
I'm not trying to guilt tripyou.
You know what I focus on.
I focus on preaching Jesus,because here's what I believe If
you guys hearing me preachJesus every week will ever just
get a glimpse of his glory andbeauty and infinite worth, you
will give, and it won't be undercompulsion, because the things
(33:54):
of this earth will growstrangely dim.
You okay.
Everything good for you doesn'ttaste good, all right.
Third sign of a Spirit-filledchurch and I'm going to move
quickly is thanksgiving thatleads to praise.
Look at verse 46.
Day by day, attending thetemple together and breaking
(34:15):
bread in their homes, theyreceived their food with glad
and generous hearts.
Verse 47, doing what?
Praising God and having favorwith all people.
We ought to be a church ofexuberant praise.
Well, pastor, what if peopleget fanatical?
To quote HB Charles again,someone asked him that.
(34:38):
He said I'd rather tame afanatic than raise the corpse.
Come on, we ought to be apeople of praise.
But let me say this Remember aSpirit-filled church, a sign of
a Spirit-filled church isthanksgiving.
That leads to praise In thecharismatic church.
(34:58):
Since I've been in, you know Iled music for at least 15 years
in charismatic churches and Iwould hear people say all the
time I still hear this todayPastor, you got to sing at least
30 minutes.
Well, why?
Well, because you got to workpeople up.
You know what.
They come in and they're tiredand it takes them a few songs to
get into it.
Okay, and that's not untrue.
(35:20):
But you know why that is Okayand that's not untrue.
But you know why that isBecause we're not living seven
days a week as worshipers.
If I have to sing, you happy.
You haven't done your jobduring the week.
The first note played, thefirst song sung.
(35:41):
Praise ought to come from yourmouth, and let me show it to you
here.
You know what Music isn't evenmentioned, though music is
important here.
That could be part of thepraising God here, but it's not
explicit.
Day by day, attending thetemple together verse 46,
breaking bread in their homes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts
(36:15):
praising God.
Let me just paint you thispicture.
A meal is set before them.
Nobody's singing them happy.
A meal is set before them.
Glory to God, hallelujah God,you are the provider.
Glory to God.
Hallelujah God, you are theprovider.
You are the one who is thegiver of every good gift.
We praise you, we honor you.
Now some of you are cookingDina, you're cooking might make
me go into praise like that.
And my wife, I should say thatshe's in here.
(36:41):
Listen, do you get the point?
And my wife, I should say thatshe's in here.
Listen, do you get the point?
Here we ought to be so againenamored with Jesus, so grateful
that we just pray.
It's Thanksgiving that leads toprayer.
If you are a negative, nancy,negative all the time, always
(37:03):
think listen, there's times weneed to address what's wrong.
But if I was consumed with whatwas wrong, I couldn't even walk
in the room.
Today, when I walk in thischurch, I don't look for what's
wrong, because the Bible says inPhilippians that we are to find
whatever's good andpraiseworthy and true and noble
and we are to do what, meditateon those things.
So when I come in here, there'slots of flaws.
(37:24):
But you know what I do, Ipractice thanksgiving.
How many times, elders, do Iwell, all of you do I say how
much I love this church.
How many times do I talk aboutthe good of our people?
And when you are thankful,praise will just come out of
your mouth.
And we could sing one song orno songs in a service and you
(37:47):
would praise the Lord, all right.
Finally, final sign of aSpirit-filled church is
evangelism that leads torepentance.
Verse 47, I love this, thesecond part.
And the Lord who?
And the Lord added to theirnumber, day by day, those who
(38:10):
were being saved.
Now this text, this verse,assumes the gospel's been
preached.
Isn't that what happened inActs, chapter 2?
Peter, after the coming of theHoly Spirit, peter preached the
gospel.
And then it's.
What did it say?
(38:33):
Many were cut to the heart.
Who does that?
God, the Holy Spirit?
And then they asked Peter, whatdo we do about this?
Like we're moved and listenwhen you share Jesus with
somebody, make sure to tell themwhat to do about it.
What did he say?
Acts 2.38, repent and bebaptized for the remission of
sins and the gift of the HolySpirit.
So do you see here theChristian or the preacher?
All of us really have a job.
(38:55):
The sinner has a job and Godhas a job.
We have to preach the gospel.
The Lord awakens the heart andthe lost person responds in
faith.
You see how this works together.
And here's what I love.
In verses 42 through 47, wefind all of these spiritual
(39:18):
disciplines.
We find the Bible being lovedand cherished and lived out.
We find prayer and communionand fellowship inished and lived
out.
We find prayer and communionand fellowship in all of the
Lord and signs and wonders, andI mean we can go in this
generosity and when that was thefocus the Lord added to the
church daily.
Isn't that beautiful?
And I would just say this if wejust get our eyes on those
(39:40):
things that are so important,would the Lord not do that for
us?
It's worth considering.
In closing, I want to quoteDavid Platt.
I just found this yesterday.
It's pretty great.
So, david Platt, he rewroteActs 2, 42 through 47, as if
(40:04):
Luke were writing about thecurrent state of the American
church.
You ready, this is great.
And they devoted themselves tocoming together whenever it was
convenient on their busycalendars.
They came not all together, butat different times.
They walked into theair-conditioned building,
grabbed a cup of coffee andcomfortably sat down.
(40:29):
They nodded to the other peopleon the row and some offered a
smile, but they hardly looked ateach other again.
Instead, they fixed their eyeson the stage.
Then they sat and watched andlistened to someone speak a
while, until they stood to sing.
Some of them sang, after whichthey peeled back some strange
(40:53):
cellophane to uncover a smallsnack.
I'll give you a second.
As soon as they were finishedeating and drinking, they got
out of there as fast as possiblein order to beat the traffic.
Then they waited to do it againnext week or whenever it would
work again with their schedule,and they called it church.
(41:14):
Just sit with that for a moment.
I'd like you to evaluate yourown life today.
It's how we'll close.
Are these four signs part ofyour life?
Are you devoted to Christ, likenot just Sunday, but are you
(41:36):
devoted to the Word of God,fellowship with other believers,
prayer?
Do you take communion seriously?
Are you in awe of Christ, somuch so that the things of this
world go strangely dim?
Or are you always thinkingabout money, trying to keep up
(42:00):
with the Joneses, selfish,stingy?
Do you practice thanksgivingthat leads to praise?
I encourage you to do that man?
Keep a blessing journal orthanksgiving journal?
Do you practice gratitude?
Do you come to church ready toworship?
Finally, the area of evangelism.
(42:23):
Are you burdened for the lost?
Do you share the gospel withlost loved ones?
Maybe you say, well, I don'tknow how to do that.
Well, we've got great news,pastor Ron and Kay, once a month
, right Before church on Sundays, once a month, they'll teach
you how to reach the lost withthe gospel.
Well, it's awkward.
(42:44):
It's going to be more awkwardwhen they're cast into the lake
of fire.
Dang man, I'm brimstone today.
I don't know what's wrong withme.
It's this weather.
Just blame the weather.
It has not been a good day.
The next time it's not going tohave been a good day.
Gentlemen, one of you canpreach, but the Spirit-filled
(43:05):
church is not marked first bysigns and wonders.
It's marked first by devotionto spiritual disciplines and all
of Christ, radical generosityand a heart for the lost.
So may real life be aSpirit-filled church and may the
Lord add to our numbers dailyeven those who are being saved.
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