May 27, 2025 • 42 mins
Have you ever signed up for a gym membership with the best of intentions, only to watch your commitment slowly fade away? That's exactly how many of us approach our spiritual lives—starting with enthusiasm but letting distractions pull us away from what truly matters.
Drawing from the example of the early church in Acts 2, Pastor James challenges us to examine what we're truly devoted to. Are we giving our best time and energy to things that have eternal significance, or are we allowing ourselves to become distracted by the temporary?
The early believers were devoted to three essential elements: God's Word, biblical community, and God's mission. They didn't just attend services occasionally or read Scripture when convenient—they made these practices central to their daily lives. Yet today, studies show only 9% of people read their Bible daily, while 38% never open it at all.
Through powerful illustrations and biblical truth, this message exposes Satan's tactics of isolation and independence, contrasting them with God's design for multiplication and community. Whether you're curious about community, already connected but drifting, committed and growing, or ready to lead others, your next step is to engage more deeply with God's mission.
Don't wait for better conditions to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. If Corrie ten Boom could be devoted to God's word and community while in a Nazi concentration camp, what's stopping you from living on mission in freedom? The time to choose devotion over distraction is now.
Will you make the decision today to follow God's mission, or will you continue to let distractions pull you away from the life He's designed for you?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Amen.
So years ago probably when Iwas maybe 19 or 20, I had this.
I knew that I wanted to change.
I knew that I needed to changeand I needed to change now.
And so I knew that I was kindof eating a lot of cookies,
eating a lot of cake, and I waslike I need to get more fit, lot
(00:28):
of cake.
And I was like I need to getmore fit.
And so I had, you know, thegenius idea that I'm going to
join a gym.
I'm going to change my life.
So I go to the gym.
This was when I was inCharlotte, north Carolina.
So I go to the gym and theseguys were at the front desk and
they're like, well, hello, sir.
And I'm like, oh well, thankyou very much.
And so they talked to me andthey're thinking about what I'm
like, oh well, thank you verymuch.
And so they talk to me andthey're thinking about what I'm
interested in and all thosethings.
(00:49):
And so I walk in interested.
Then I walk out, having signeda 12-month contract to the gym,
and so I was devoted.
I was devoted to the gym.
I was devoted to waking upearly, getting the protein shake
in, getting to the gym, gettingit in.
Going back home the next day,day after day after day devotion
Somebody say devotion, I wasdevoted, yeah.
(01:16):
And then one day, you know, Iwoke up and I was like ugh, I
really don't wanna go.
So I took a day off, all right,I took a day off to the gym, so
what?
But then I took the next dayoff, I took the month off, and I
was like you know what?
I need to cancel.
I am not.
I don't wanna do this anymore.
(01:36):
So I go there to the gym andI'm like hey.
And they're like hey, mr Wilson.
I'm like hi, I would like tocancel this membership because I
just want to cancel.
You know, they don't need toknow, don't be nosy.
I need to cancel.
And they're like all right,sounds good, mr Wilson, all you
need to do is write ahandwritten letter on why you
want to quit the gym and thenmail it to our headquarters.
(01:58):
I'm like wait, what, what'd yousay?
Like you couldn't do that onthe computer, couldn't click a
couple buttons.
So there I was writing a veryembarrassing letter going.
I'm so sorry I have to quit thegym.
I like cookies too much.
However, I was able to get outof that contract.
But boy oh boy, did I startdevoted and then just kind of
(02:22):
fizzled.
So this morning I asked you thequestion what are you devoted to
?
Are you devoted to your job?
Maybe you've been working therefor quite some time, or maybe
you are currently looking for ajob.
Wherever you are, you aredevoted to that job.
Or maybe kids, teenagers you'redevoted to Netflix.
(02:45):
Maybe you're devoted to YouTubeYou're on there all the time.
Maybe you're devoted to sportsand hobbies, or, for some of you
, maybe one person.
Maybe you're devoted to socialmedia.
Maybe you check Facebook acouple times.
Or maybe you're devoted tofamily.
(03:08):
Maybe you're devoted to beinghere, coming to church, maybe
you're devoted to your Bible,maybe you're devoted to God, and
some of you probably maybe aregoing like, well, I really don't
know.
I haven't thought about it.
You just kind of go day to day.
But the thing I'd like for youto think about this question
(03:32):
here is whatever you said, is itmost worthy?
Does it have an eternal impact?
Because, does your time reflectyour answer?
Does your time reflect youranswer?
Does your time reflect youranswer?
Think about how you've spentlast week and the time pockets
that you have, of being busy andall of the things, but does
(03:54):
your time reflect the devotionsthat you said that you have?
We are in a series right now,called Made for More.
We're talking about the missionof Jesus.
Today we're looking at theearly church and just before
where we start, there werearound 3,000 people who gave
(04:17):
their life to Jesus, and nowwe're gonna focus in on what did
it look like, what life didthey live and how you can apply
it to yours.
But before we do that, we needto talk about devotion.
Let's get that on the screen.
Devotion what is the definition?
A love, loyalty or enthusiasmfor a person, activity or cause.
(04:42):
Devotion You're devoted.
Everybody say devoted.
Hmm, they were devoted tofollowing God's mission.
For them, these 3,000 pluspeople who gave their life to
the Lord.
Acts, chapter five, verse 42,says this and every day in the
(05:03):
temple, from house to house,they did not cease teaching and
preaching that Christ is Jesus.
Now, it doesn't say every oncein a while, when they felt like
it, when it was convenient, butit says every day.
Aw Tozer, he says it this waydevotion to God is not just a
(05:29):
part of life, it's the heart oflife.
Devoting your life to the Lordshould be one of the most
important things.
Because, again, if everythingelse is not worthy that has an
eternal perspective, thatdoesn't have that, then how much
more worthy is it to live forGod?
(05:51):
So the question I ask you is areyou distracted?
Excuse me, are you devoted ordistracted?
Are you devoted or distracted?
I don't know about you.
I hate commercials.
Okay, I even buy thesubscription without the
commercials and then they stillsomehow squeeze a commercial in
there.
Commercials everywhere, adseverywhere.
(06:13):
Everyone is pulling at yourtime, everyone is pulling at
your attention.
Are you devoted or distracted?
Because the big idea is this thewhole sermon is said in this
one sentence God is calling youto live on mission now.
God's not calling you to liveon mission next week.
(06:36):
He's not calling you to live onmission when you feel like it.
He's not calling you to thinkabout it.
He's calling you to live onmission when.
Now.
Live on mission when.
Now.
Live on mission now.
Because here's the thing.
All right, just hear me.
Now you don't really have yourown mission anyway.
All right, now I'm preaching itLike I've already went through
(07:00):
this this week.
Okay, this is already gonnawork on me.
Okay, I've already got myuppercuts from the Lord, and so
I wanna share this.
But you don't make up your ownmission and I say this as a
perfectionist, okay, somebodythat likes to be in control,
because the truth is, jesus gaveyou one.
Your mission is the GreatCommission, which is this, as
(07:22):
Jesus said in Matthew go,therefore, and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you, andbehold, I am with you, always,
to the end of age.
Now, why does this matter?
Some of you already know this.
(07:44):
You're like yes, pastor James,I already know this.
I know I'm supposed to live onmission, share the gospel and
all that other stuff.
I know some of you are probablygoing like okay, when's
lunchtime, I'm about to go eat.
But why is this important?
Why, well, the truth is, if youdon't get this, then you are
going to live unfulfilled andisolated.
Then you are going to liveunfulfilled and isolated.
(08:07):
You're gonna be living your ownmission, which is okay, but
it's not the mission that Godhas for you, for you to receive
his blessings and for you tobless other people.
You're gonna be isolatedbecause you wanna do things on
your own.
You say I got this, I'm busyand I'll get to it later.
Ooh, man, that sounds likesomebody else should do that.
But what you can do is do whatGod has called you to do.
(08:32):
And before we get started,we're gonna pray and ask God to
do a work in our lives throughhis word.
Let's pray, father, god, wethank you for the Bible.
God, I ask right now, lord,that you help each and every one
of us, god.
Let our hearts be receptive towhat you have for us.
God, Help us to have atransformation, life change,
(08:52):
because of you.
God, we love you and we thankyou In Jesus' name.
We pray amen.
So the bottom line is this Makea decision to follow God's
mission.
Make a decision to follow God'smission.
Make a decision.
It's like if you are married inhere, or maybe you're dating and
you ask each other.
(09:13):
You're sitting there and you'relike, oh, yeah, where do you
wanna eat?
Oh, I don't know.
Where do you wanna eat?
Oh, I don't know.
And then it's like, hey, oh, Idon't know, but you know what,
anywhere's fine.
So then you're like, oh, okay,well, what about this place?
No, no, no, I don't wanna eatthere?
No, okay, are you sure?
Well, yeah, yeah.
Well, what about this place?
Yeah, no, no, no, I don't wannado that again, no.
(09:37):
Or if you're trying to watch ashow on Netflix, you're just
sitting there just browsingthrough for about an hour, you
finally pick a show and then youfall asleep, make a decision To
do what To follow God's mission.
So the first thing to followGod's mission is this devote
yourself to the word, to God'sword and verse 42, and they
(10:01):
again talking about the 3,000plus people who gave their life
to the Lord and they devotedthemselves to the apostles'
teaching.
They devoted themselves.
Devoted here means to persisttoward it's this continue
steadfastly in.
It's this gradual, day-by-dayengagement into the teaching of
(10:23):
God's word.
They were listening to theapostles' teaching.
Now listening in marriagecounseling.
It's called active listening.
Active listening is where youare actually engaging.
You are putting energy in towhat the person is saying.
It's not as I'm preaching andteaching right now.
(10:47):
You're looking around going,golly boy, it's about 12 o'clock
, buddy.
But you are engaging.
Listen.
They didn't hear just forhearsake.
They were listening to God'sword and letting it change their
lives from the inside out.
It's to listen and engage withGod's word so that you do.
(11:08):
The Bible says don't just behearers of the word, but also be
doers.
Here's the truth is they had adesire to hear the teaching of
God's word.
They had a hunger, they had athirst.
It was a discipline to hear theteaching of God's word.
They had a hunger, they had athirst.
It was a discipline to hear theteaching.
(11:30):
But here's the deal you canhear the teaching but also, if
you don't open your Bible andyou don't know what it says,
then you could just fall prey toanything.
I was at a prayer meeting onetime in Mississippi and this
lady was.
She wasn't preaching, I'm sorry.
(11:50):
She was praying and we're alllike Lord, amen, we're all
praying, hey, jesus.
And she started praying andwe're listening like amen, amen,
yes.
And then she's like and, lord,you know, we're like mm-hmm.
Lord, you know that when youtell us to decrease so that you
can increase, we're like yeah,yeah, lord, yeah, yeah, yeah,
(12:10):
less of me, more of you, god.
And she's like but we want toincrease, lord, we want more of
us.
And my eyes opened you know youusually close your eyes during
prayer and I'm looking over likewhat?
Like anybody, nobody, hello,that's not what the word says,
because I know if I want more ofme, I'm a mess.
(12:31):
Y'all pray for Allison.
My wife, like I'm a hot mess,express my breath stink when I
wake up.
I don't want more of me, I needmore of Jesus.
But the thing is, if you don'topen that word, then you have to
know what God's word says.
(12:53):
The early church they didn'thave all the resources that we
have today.
You can get the whole Bible onyour phone.
You can get all sorts ofdifferent type of commentaries.
You can get tons of differenttypes of variations of it, the
message, the internationalreader's version, the NIV, all
these sorts of different type ofcommentaries.
You can get tons of differenttypes of variations of it.
The message, the internationalreader's version, the NIV, all
these.
But here they were.
(13:14):
Hungry with less, hungry withless.
Now, don't get me wrong.
There's nothing wrong withthese chairs and air
conditioning.
Praise the Lord.
But when you say you're so busythat you can't open the word of
God or you're so busy that youcan't come to church, you gotta
check what you're devoted to,because God's word says this all
(13:39):
scripture is breathed out byGod and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction andfor training in righteousness.
The further you are from God'sword, the closer you are to sin.
(13:59):
And I wanna share a studybefore we put the.
Don't put up the graphic justyet.
This is from.
This is called.
The study is called State ofthe Bible.
All right, state of the Bible.
It's by the American BibleSociety, and what they did is
they surveyed 2,600 people 2,600people and they asked them one
question how often do you usethe Bible?
(14:23):
How often do you use the Bible?
How often do you use the Bible?
Now, we can put that up there,please.
This is what the study said.
9% of the people said that theyuse their Bible every day.
9% About 6% said once a week.
I use my Bible, you know, oncea week.
(14:45):
They're probably includingSunday.
21% said at least twice a yearor less, and then 38% said never
.
Never use my Bible.
Now I'll tell you when I wasyounger, I used to view my Bible
(15:07):
as homework.
Now, kids or teens I don't knowif you love homework, but me
bleh but I would walk by myBible, like my Bible would be
sitting there and I would kindof like walk by it.
I'm like man, somebody shouldread that.
It's like whenever you're home.
Okay, I'm not the only one, butyou have like dishes in the
sink right, or maybe the trashis full and you're like man,
(15:34):
somebody should take that trashout.
I'm just being real.
That's how I viewed reading theBible when I was younger, and
then God changed me from theinside out to recognize that
it's not this homework thing.
It's a blessing.
It's a blessing to have God'sword.
I can be a better husband.
I can be a godly father.
I can be a better Christfollower.
I can be a better husband.
(15:54):
I can be a godly father.
I can be a better Christfollower.
I can be a better leader, aservant, a disciple, a friend.
All of these things I can learnabout, not just these stories,
but these true events that havehappened.
I can learn about that.
I can learn about a God wholoves me, and you can too, by
reading God's word, devotingyourself to the teaching of
(16:18):
God's word.
So the first thing is this thefirst step for you is to take
your next step in God's word.
Take your next step in God'sword Now.
Again, that could either be toopen your Bible daily.
Maybe you increase thefrequency that you read your
(16:39):
Bible and listen.
You don't need candles and likeoh, and start trying to like
read the whole thing in Greekand Hebrew and all this other
stuff.
That's not what we're saying.
Just read.
Start with the Gospel of John.
It's a great, easy book tounderstand.
Start there, or on the otherside of it.
Maybe you need to just makechurch more of a priority, don't
(17:08):
make it so optional.
In 2023, gallup did a studyasking people how often do you
attend church?
21% of the Americans attendweekly, 11% attend once a month
and 26% attend seldom.
Like, yeah, we just kind ofevery couple months, but not you
(17:33):
, not anymore, because you aregonna live on mission, when Now,
the second thing they weredevoted to and what you need to
be devoted to is devote yourselfto biblical community Acts,
(17:53):
chapter two, verse 42 through 46, says this and they devoted
themselves to the apostles'teaching and the fellowship and
the breaking of bread and theprayers, and all came upon every
soul and many wonders and signswere being done through the
apostles and all who believedwere say it with me together and
(18:15):
had all things in common, andthey were selling their
possessions and belongings anddistributing the proceeds to all
as any had need and, day by day, attending the temple together
(18:40):
and breaking bread in theirhomes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts.
What a beautiful picture ofbiblical community.
The truth is, you were not madeto do life alone, but you were
made for community.
You were made for community.
I just want to make sure youknow that there are some people
that whenever you are alone,you're like man.
(19:00):
I could do this forever.
I don't need anybody stay awayfrom me, but god is calling you
to biblical community.
This is a beautiful picture ofthis togetherness of God's word
and believers together.
God's word and believers it'sthis awesome couple, this
marriage between two incrediblyimportant things.
(19:23):
It's kind of like a lock and akey God's word and God's
believers is kind of like peanutbutter and jelly For the kids.
It's kind of like peanut butterand jelly For the kids.
It's kind of like Batman andRobin.
You need them both together.
(19:44):
They attended the templetogether.
They shared resources together.
Haven't you figured out howmany times I've said the word
together?
It's a lot.
Why?
Because they were togetherVerse 46 again and day by day,
attending the temple togetherand breaking the bread in their
homes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts.
(20:06):
Attending the temple together.
Does that say in one time ayear, once a month?
No, in day by day.
Because the truth is, goddesigned you to grow with others
.
Now listen, I'm not saying thatif you are not in church, shame
(20:29):
on you.
You should miss your 10 yearanniversary to be here.
Bad, miss Sunday, bad.
That's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is you know inyour own heart where your
devotion is, that's between youand God, and you have an
(20:54):
opportunity to live on mission,to be devoted to God's word and
devoted to biblical community.
Now there are speaking ofcommunity there in Acts in the
early church.
They were together in thetemple.
They were also together intheir homes and for us, kind of
in our context, we can still betogether in homes, but we also
(21:15):
have groups.
We have groups here at thechurch.
Everybody say groups, groups.
That's right.
We got tons of groups.
We got groups for kids, we gotgroups for students, we got
groups for young adults, we gotgroups for adults, we got groups
for senior adults, we gotgroups on.
However, there are four stagesof groups that are extremely
(21:36):
important for us to talk about.
And number one, the first stageof group, is called the curious
.
The curious.
You're not in a group butyou're exploring.
You know you're coming tochurch and maybe you're hungry
for connection, but you justhaven't stepped into community
(21:56):
yet.
You've been thinking about it.
You're like man, I am tired ofliving life alone.
I think I should join a group.
Now, I don't know about you,but I've been a part of groups
and I'm in a group and I havenever regretted a group praying
(22:17):
for me.
I've never regretted the peopleof God caring for me.
That happens in the context ofa group.
The second stage is theconnected.
So the first one was thecurious, the next one is the
connected.
You are.
First one was the curious, thenext one is the connected.
You are in a group but you'vebeen drifting, you're coasting,
(22:42):
you've been there for a while.
You know the drill, you knowhow it's gonna go, you know all
right, hey, everybody, good tosee y'all.
I was good, I was good, good,okay, I see you, john.
You just kinda sit down.
You're like do, do, do, do, do,okay, amen, all right, all
right, see y'all.
Man, that was a good group.
What are we talking about?
I don't know.
So you're connected, likeyou're there, but like you could
(23:07):
, if you could just.
The next stage is the committed.
Everybody say committed.
The next stage is the committed.
Everybody say committed.
Wow, okay, let's be committedand saying committed, there we
go.
Listen, you're in a group andyou are growing.
You are plugged in.
Look at that.
God's doing something in you.
(23:27):
You can sense it.
You've learned just about allthat you can learn.
There's something that's righton the cusp of you going.
I think I should do somethingabout this and that's the next
(23:47):
step.
The next stage is thecommissioned.
It's the leadership call.
It's the leadership call.
It's for you to lead.
You've grown.
Now, listen, you don't need aPhD to lead a group.
You don't need to know Greekand Hebrew to lead a group.
(24:08):
I've led a fifth grade group.
I've led groups for fifthgraders at a church, to where I
would pour into them and allthat other stuff.
After school.
I've led groups for fifthgraders at a church, to where I
would pour into them and allthat other stuff.
After school, I've led a videogame group, a group of just guys
who love video games.
I do a devotion.
We would talk and do videogames.
I've led a group with guyswhere we would just meet at a
coffee shop on a Saturdaymorning.
It doesn't need to be this biglike ooh, but some of you in
(24:30):
here, you have been sensing Godtelling you to move, week after
week after week, that you aretoo gifted to sit on your hands.
And maybe you're in here andyou're already leading a group.
You're like Pastor James, Ilead a group.
Great, teach somebody else howto Teach somebody else how to
(24:51):
lead the group, because,remember, it's all about living
on mission.
So, wherever you are in thisstage, my prayer for you is to
know your devotion to biblicalcommunity and to ask God to let
you go into that next step.
Corrie Ten Boom says it this waydelayed obedience is
(25:13):
disobedience.
Now, I didn't like that.
When I read that, I said, now,hold on, who's she talking to?
But it's true, you either do itor you don't.
You're either in or you're out.
On your wedding day you don'tgo.
Well, I don't know, I'm notsure.
Well, I now pronounce you manand wife.
(25:34):
That's not how it happens, it'sa yes or it's a no.
But what an opportunity you have, because it's this the step is
to get devoted to biblicalcommunity.
Get Either join a group,re-engage if you are drifting,
(25:56):
or start one, use the gifts thatGod has given you.
It could be a running group, itcould be a fishing group, it
could be a specific study on thebook of the Bible, it could be
a marriage group, a parentinggroup, group, group group, it
doesn't really matter, as longas you do what God is calling
you to do.
Don't wait until next year,because God is calling you to
(26:19):
live on mission now.
Live on mission now, and thelast thing here is to devote
yourself to God's mission.
Verse 47, praising God andhaving favor with all people.
And the Lord added to theirnumber and, day by day, those
(26:44):
who were being saved, it grew,the Lord added to their numbers.
You know how, by them sayingsomething, them sharing the
gospel, them telling otherpeople.
As Pastor Chip has said, youcould be extremely excited about
(27:06):
a movie and share about a movie, which is great.
You can be extremely excitedabout food and share about the
restaurant, which is awesome,but at the same time, you have
an opportunity to share thegospel.
Now I'm gonna put this quote up,and I didn't like this one.
Okay, I had to wrestle withthis quote before I put it on
there because it made me feelsome type of way.
(27:27):
But this is what CharlesSpurgeon says Every Christian is
either a missionary or animposter.
Which one are you?
And it's not for me to say thisis an opportunity.
Again, this isn't a oh man, ohno, no, listen, listen, listen.
(27:50):
Satan will easily start to makeyou feel guilty, satan will
easily start to make you feelshame, to make you feel bad, and
all these things, but God iscalling you to move Now.
I'm so thankful that I wasliterally skateboarding in a
parking lot running away from mylife and, as I've shared my
testimony before, but I was in aparking lot running away from
(28:11):
my life and as I've shared mytestimony before, but I was in
the parking lot at a church.
A guy came out of the van withsome kids with skateboards.
He was a youth pastor and hewas like hey, what are you doing
Sunday?
Oh no, you wanna come to church, okay.
And then, as we were walking,he shared the gospel with me.
I am a Christian.
Praise God.
I heard the gospel because aperson made a decision to follow
(28:34):
God's mission.
You never know who you canshare the gospel to and that God
can use them for thousands.
You never know and it's notyour place to know it's your
place to plant the seed and letGod do the rest, because Satan's
(28:56):
mission is isolation.
But God's mission ismultiplication.
Satan wants to get youdistracted, pull you away with
busyness and get you to go fromI'm devoted to.
Well, you know we'll get allright.
Well, it's raining outside.
Eh, let's not go to church.
Oh, man, I've had a long day.
(29:18):
Oh gosh, I'll read the Bibletomorrow.
But God's mission ismultiplication.
Remember, the Lord added totheir number and people were
being saved.
Now I want to share some ofthese objections to living on
mission, because even now, someof you are like, yeah, man, okay
(29:41):
James, okay, pastor James, I'mgoing to live on mission, I'm
going to read my Bible.
Or maybe, like, I'm going to bedevoted, I'm going to start a
group, I'm going to join a group, I'm gonna be devoted, I'm
gonna start a group, I'm gonnajoin a group, I'm gonna share.
And then, like, reality startshitting and you're like, oh,
wait a minute, this is a lot.
So I wanna share Satan'smission versus God's truth.
(30:05):
Satan's mission number one isisolation, isolation.
And this is what Satan says toyou.
He wants you to hear.
This is that I don't have time.
I don't have time, I'm busy.
But God's truth is this butseek first the kingdom, seek
(30:27):
first the kingdom.
The more time you spend withGod, he will give you a peace
that surpasses all understanding.
Here's another one of Satan'smission of insecurity it's I'm
not enough.
I'm not enough.
You don't know what I've done,you don't know what I've been
through.
(30:47):
You don't know that I'mstruggling.
I'm sick, we're not financiallystable, we're on the brink of
divorce, I'm a terrible parent,like all of these things.
To make you say I'm not enoughis exactly what the enemy wants.
But God's truth is this you arethe body of Christ.
When Satan starts to tell youyour story on all the mistakes
(31:12):
you made, you refute that andyou tell him about his story on
the future.
You tell him about how good Godis.
And then the last part ofSatan's mission is this
independence is.
I can do it alone.
I don't need anybody.
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I've tried, pastor James.
I've tried to reach out andpeople have let me down.
Some of my family have let medown.
Some of my kids have let medown.
Some of my closest friends havelet me down.
I have tried to be in communityand I'm sick and tired of it.
But I wanna tell you God'struth Don't neglect meeting
(31:59):
together and that's not myopinion, that's what God says,
because we have all fallen shortof the glory of God.
So get devoted to God's mission.
Whether your next step is toinvite somebody in your group or
(32:19):
to start a group, or maybe it'sto just share your story to a
coworker, just share your story,open your mouth and share,
because, remember, the lordadded to their numbers.
They were sharing the gospel.
Be devoted to god's missionbecause, whatever you do, don't
(32:45):
wait, don't wait, don't wait.
Our application for today and,as we talked about in the
beginning, with them beingdevoted to the apostles'
teaching, these applicationsaren't just for you to be like,
oh well, that's super cute man,I could do that.
No, these applications aren'tfor you to go like, wow,
(33:10):
somebody should do that,somebody should start that group
.
But these applications theapostles' teaching it was for
them to hear it, to engage withit and to do, and so I pray that
(33:31):
God does a work in your life towhere you don't just write
these down, but you have lifechange.
Number one of the applicationis get devoted to God's word.
Whether that's your ownpersonal study time, maybe you
were hot on fire with yourdevotion and it just just life
(33:53):
happened.
Or maybe you were coming tochurch and you're like man, this
is great, and then you just gotbusy.
Get devoted to God's word.
Number two get devoted tobiblical community.
(34:15):
Don't just attend, belong, joina group.
Don't settle for isolation.
It's not worth it.
It may be enticing to come in,kind of do what you need to do
and get out.
It may be nice to just kind ofgo and coast, but that's not the
(34:39):
church.
We should bear one another'sburdens, love one another, serve
one another, devote yourself tobiblical community.
And then, number three getdevoted to God's mission.
Share the gospel and you knowwhat?
(35:03):
Just start with one person.
Start with one.
And for you who are in here,who are Christian, think about
the person that shared it to you.
Somebody shared it to you.
Start with one.
(35:24):
Ask God to help you.
Why does this matter?
Because if you don't do this,you will be distracted, but if
you do this, you'll be devoted,because living off mission is
actually disobeying God.
You're not in his word, you'reisolated and you're not sharing
(35:46):
the gospel.
But not you, not anymore,because you are called to live
on mission.
Now, corrie ten Boom.
I'm gonna share a story abouther.
Can we put the picture upplease?
Corrie ten Boom and her sister.
They were thrown into a Naziconcentration camp for hiding
(36:07):
Jews.
Actually, the barracks were soovercrowded and infested with
fleas that Corrie hated them.
But her sister, betsy, sheactually told Corrie she's like
thank God for the fleas, andCorrie's like what, thank God
(36:30):
for the fleas?
Why would we thank God forfleas?
It wasn't until they realizedthat the guards of the Nazi
concentration camp, of theprison the guards would not
enter the room because of thefleas.
And because they didn't enterthe room, these women were able
(36:51):
to gather pray.
They even smuggled in a Bibleto read.
The fleas that they hated wereactually the reason that they
could live on mission.
(37:11):
So what situation in your lifeare you thinking that's the
worst that God can use?
Because here's the truth IfCorrie could be devoted to the
word, if she could be devoted tocommunity in the darkest place,
if she could live on mission inprison.
The question what's stoppingyou from living on mission in
(37:34):
prison?
The question what's stoppingyou from living on mission in
freedom?
Don't wait for betterconditions, don't wait to feel
ready, because God is callingyou to live on mission.
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Now, everyone, please close youreyes and bow your heads.
And maybe you are in here andmaybe you have already given
your life to the Lord and youare a Christ follower.
But you are recognizing thatyou once had a hot passion for
the word, a passion to come tochurch, a passion to share, and
(38:15):
just slowly it's just fizzled.
You were devoted and now you'redistracted.
Well, if that's you, I wannapray for you right now.
I wanna pray for every Christfollower that has been devoted,
but now they're distracted.
Father God, we thank you, lord,for your mission.
God, I ask, lord, that you helpus.
(38:36):
God, give us a fresh wind.
God, give us a vision, Lord,that we can trust and follow you
.
God, help us to push alldistractions aside that aren't
eternal and aren't worthy of ourtime here.
God, our precious time here onearth, lord.
God forgive us for making timewith you optional.
(38:57):
Father God, we ask that youhelp us to be devoted to you,
devoted to your word, devoted toeach other and devoted to
reaching people.
And maybe you're in here todayand you can't say that prayer
because you haven't given yourlife to the Lord.
Maybe you have tried thingsover and over and over.
(39:19):
Now is the time to surrender,and I just want to let you know
that you have a tremendousopportunity to give your life to
the Lord.
The Bible says confess withyour mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart thatGod raised him from the dead and
(39:41):
you will be saved.
So if you're here this morningand you haven't given your life
to the Lord, I can't do it foryou.
But but I can guide you, I canhelp you, and all you need to do
is say this prayer with me andbelieve it in your heart, and I
would just ask you, just repeatafter me.
You can say it out loud or youcan say it in your head, but
let's pray to Lord.
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You just say Jesus, I believe inyou.
Thank you for dying for my sins.
Forgive me of my sins, jesus, Ibelieve you rose from the dead.
Jesus, be the Lord of my life.
Help me live for you.
(40:22):
Help me to live on mission andhelp me not to live distracted
but to live devoted.
So in Jesus' name, we pray amen.
All right, everybody, put yourhands together for anybody that
(40:43):
gave their life to the Lord.
God is so good.
Our worship team is going tocome back out and we're going to
continue to worship, but it'sall about living on mission, and
what an opportunity to justworship God today, as you don't
wait until next week, you don'twait until next month, next year
, but you live on mission now.
So, everybody, come on andstand up.
Come on and stand up and we aregonna worship the Lord together
(41:08):
.
Amen.
So years ago probably when Iwas maybe 19 or 20, I had this.
I knew that I wanted to change.
I knew that I needed to changeand I needed to change now.
And so I knew that I was kindof eating a lot of cookies,
eating a lot of cake, and I waslike I need to get more fit, lot
(00:28):
of cake.
And I was like I need to getmore fit.
And so I had, you know, thegenius idea that I'm going to
join a gym.
I'm going to change my life.
So I go to the gym.
This was when I was inCharlotte, north Carolina.
So I go to the gym and theseguys were at the front desk and
they're like, well, hello, sir.
And I'm like, oh well, thankyou very much.
And so they talked to me andthey're thinking about what I'm
like, oh well, thank you verymuch.
And so they talk to me andthey're thinking about what I'm
interested in and all thosethings.
(00:49):
And so I walk in interested.
Then I walk out, having signeda 12-month contract to the gym,
and so I was devoted.
I was devoted to the gym.
I was devoted to waking upearly, getting the protein shake
in, getting to the gym, gettingit in.
Going back home the next day,day after day after day devotion
Somebody say devotion, I wasdevoted, yeah.
(01:16):
And then one day, you know, Iwoke up and I was like ugh, I
really don't wanna go.
So I took a day off, all right,I took a day off to the gym, so
what?
But then I took the next dayoff, I took the month off, and I
was like you know what?
I need to cancel.
I am not.
I don't wanna do this anymore.
(01:36):
So I go there to the gym andI'm like hey.
And they're like hey, mr Wilson.
I'm like hi, I would like tocancel this membership because I
just want to cancel.
You know, they don't need toknow, don't be nosy.
I need to cancel.
And they're like all right,sounds good, mr Wilson, all you
need to do is write ahandwritten letter on why you
want to quit the gym and thenmail it to our headquarters.
(01:58):
I'm like wait, what, what'd yousay?
Like you couldn't do that onthe computer, couldn't click a
couple buttons.
So there I was writing a veryembarrassing letter going.
I'm so sorry I have to quit thegym.
I like cookies too much.
However, I was able to get outof that contract.
But boy oh boy, did I startdevoted and then just kind of
(02:22):
fizzled.
So this morning I asked you thequestion what are you devoted to
?
Are you devoted to your job?
Maybe you've been working therefor quite some time, or maybe
you are currently looking for ajob.
Wherever you are, you aredevoted to that job.
Or maybe kids, teenagers you'redevoted to Netflix.
(02:45):
Maybe you're devoted to YouTubeYou're on there all the time.
Maybe you're devoted to sportsand hobbies, or, for some of you
, maybe one person.
Maybe you're devoted to socialmedia.
Maybe you check Facebook acouple times.
Or maybe you're devoted tofamily.
(03:08):
Maybe you're devoted to beinghere, coming to church, maybe
you're devoted to your Bible,maybe you're devoted to God, and
some of you probably maybe aregoing like, well, I really don't
know.
I haven't thought about it.
You just kind of go day to day.
But the thing I'd like for youto think about this question
(03:32):
here is whatever you said, is itmost worthy?
Does it have an eternal impact?
Because, does your time reflectyour answer?
Does your time reflect youranswer?
Does your time reflect youranswer?
Think about how you've spentlast week and the time pockets
that you have, of being busy andall of the things, but does
(03:54):
your time reflect the devotionsthat you said that you have?
We are in a series right now,called Made for More.
We're talking about the missionof Jesus.
Today we're looking at theearly church and just before
where we start, there werearound 3,000 people who gave
(04:17):
their life to Jesus, and nowwe're gonna focus in on what did
it look like, what life didthey live and how you can apply
it to yours.
But before we do that, we needto talk about devotion.
Let's get that on the screen.
Devotion what is the definition?
A love, loyalty or enthusiasmfor a person, activity or cause.
(04:42):
Devotion You're devoted.
Everybody say devoted.
Hmm, they were devoted tofollowing God's mission.
For them, these 3,000 pluspeople who gave their life to
the Lord.
Acts, chapter five, verse 42,says this and every day in the
(05:03):
temple, from house to house,they did not cease teaching and
preaching that Christ is Jesus.
Now, it doesn't say every oncein a while, when they felt like
it, when it was convenient, butit says every day.
Aw Tozer, he says it this waydevotion to God is not just a
(05:29):
part of life, it's the heart oflife.
Devoting your life to the Lordshould be one of the most
important things.
Because, again, if everythingelse is not worthy that has an
eternal perspective, thatdoesn't have that, then how much
more worthy is it to live forGod?
(05:51):
So the question I ask you is areyou distracted?
Excuse me, are you devoted ordistracted?
Are you devoted or distracted?
I don't know about you.
I hate commercials.
Okay, I even buy thesubscription without the
commercials and then they stillsomehow squeeze a commercial in
there.
Commercials everywhere, adseverywhere.
(06:13):
Everyone is pulling at yourtime, everyone is pulling at
your attention.
Are you devoted or distracted?
Because the big idea is this thewhole sermon is said in this
one sentence God is calling youto live on mission now.
God's not calling you to liveon mission next week.
(06:36):
He's not calling you to live onmission when you feel like it.
He's not calling you to thinkabout it.
He's calling you to live onmission when.
Now.
Live on mission when.
Now.
Live on mission now.
Because here's the thing.
All right, just hear me.
Now you don't really have yourown mission anyway.
All right, now I'm preaching itLike I've already went through
(07:00):
this this week.
Okay, this is already gonnawork on me.
Okay, I've already got myuppercuts from the Lord, and so
I wanna share this.
But you don't make up your ownmission and I say this as a
perfectionist, okay, somebodythat likes to be in control,
because the truth is, jesus gaveyou one.
Your mission is the GreatCommission, which is this, as
(07:22):
Jesus said in Matthew go,therefore, and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you, andbehold, I am with you, always,
to the end of age.
Now, why does this matter?
Some of you already know this.
(07:44):
You're like yes, pastor James,I already know this.
I know I'm supposed to live onmission, share the gospel and
all that other stuff.
I know some of you are probablygoing like okay, when's
lunchtime, I'm about to go eat.
But why is this important?
Why, well, the truth is, if youdon't get this, then you are
going to live unfulfilled andisolated.
Then you are going to liveunfulfilled and isolated.
(08:07):
You're gonna be living your ownmission, which is okay, but
it's not the mission that Godhas for you, for you to receive
his blessings and for you tobless other people.
You're gonna be isolatedbecause you wanna do things on
your own.
You say I got this, I'm busyand I'll get to it later.
Ooh, man, that sounds likesomebody else should do that.
But what you can do is do whatGod has called you to do.
(08:32):
And before we get started,we're gonna pray and ask God to
do a work in our lives throughhis word.
Let's pray, father, god, wethank you for the Bible.
God, I ask right now, lord,that you help each and every one
of us, god.
Let our hearts be receptive towhat you have for us.
God, Help us to have atransformation, life change,
(08:52):
because of you.
God, we love you and we thankyou In Jesus' name.
We pray amen.
So the bottom line is this Makea decision to follow God's
mission.
Make a decision to follow God'smission.
Make a decision.
It's like if you are married inhere, or maybe you're dating and
you ask each other.
(09:13):
You're sitting there and you'relike, oh, yeah, where do you
wanna eat?
Oh, I don't know.
Where do you wanna eat?
Oh, I don't know.
And then it's like, hey, oh, Idon't know, but you know what,
anywhere's fine.
So then you're like, oh, okay,well, what about this place?
No, no, no, I don't wanna eatthere?
No, okay, are you sure?
Well, yeah, yeah.
Well, what about this place?
Yeah, no, no, no, I don't wannado that again, no.
(09:37):
Or if you're trying to watch ashow on Netflix, you're just
sitting there just browsingthrough for about an hour, you
finally pick a show and then youfall asleep, make a decision To
do what To follow God's mission.
So the first thing to followGod's mission is this devote
yourself to the word, to God'sword and verse 42, and they
(10:01):
again talking about the 3,000plus people who gave their life
to the Lord and they devotedthemselves to the apostles'
teaching.
They devoted themselves.
Devoted here means to persisttoward it's this continue
steadfastly in.
It's this gradual, day-by-dayengagement into the teaching of
(10:23):
God's word.
They were listening to theapostles' teaching.
Now listening in marriagecounseling.
It's called active listening.
Active listening is where youare actually engaging.
You are putting energy in towhat the person is saying.
It's not as I'm preaching andteaching right now.
(10:47):
You're looking around going,golly boy, it's about 12 o'clock
, buddy.
But you are engaging.
Listen.
They didn't hear just forhearsake.
They were listening to God'sword and letting it change their
lives from the inside out.
It's to listen and engage withGod's word so that you do.
(11:08):
The Bible says don't just behearers of the word, but also be
doers.
Here's the truth is they had adesire to hear the teaching of
God's word.
They had a hunger, they had athirst.
It was a discipline to hear theteaching of God's word.
They had a hunger, they had athirst.
It was a discipline to hear theteaching.
(11:30):
But here's the deal you canhear the teaching but also, if
you don't open your Bible andyou don't know what it says,
then you could just fall prey toanything.
I was at a prayer meeting onetime in Mississippi and this
lady was.
She wasn't preaching, I'm sorry.
(11:50):
She was praying and we're alllike Lord, amen, we're all
praying, hey, jesus.
And she started praying andwe're listening like amen, amen,
yes.
And then she's like and, lord,you know, we're like mm-hmm.
Lord, you know that when youtell us to decrease so that you
can increase, we're like yeah,yeah, lord, yeah, yeah, yeah,
(12:10):
less of me, more of you, god.
And she's like but we want toincrease, lord, we want more of
us.
And my eyes opened you know youusually close your eyes during
prayer and I'm looking over likewhat?
Like anybody, nobody, hello,that's not what the word says,
because I know if I want more ofme, I'm a mess.
(12:31):
Y'all pray for Allison.
My wife, like I'm a hot mess,express my breath stink when I
wake up.
I don't want more of me, I needmore of Jesus.
But the thing is, if you don'topen that word, then you have to
know what God's word says.
(12:53):
The early church they didn'thave all the resources that we
have today.
You can get the whole Bible onyour phone.
You can get all sorts ofdifferent type of commentaries.
You can get tons of differenttypes of variations of it, the
message, the internationalreader's version, the NIV, all
these sorts of different type ofcommentaries.
You can get tons of differenttypes of variations of it.
The message, the internationalreader's version, the NIV, all
these.
But here they were.
(13:14):
Hungry with less, hungry withless.
Now, don't get me wrong.
There's nothing wrong withthese chairs and air
conditioning.
Praise the Lord.
But when you say you're so busythat you can't open the word of
God or you're so busy that youcan't come to church, you gotta
check what you're devoted to,because God's word says this all
(13:39):
scripture is breathed out byGod and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction andfor training in righteousness.
The further you are from God'sword, the closer you are to sin.
(13:59):
And I wanna share a studybefore we put the.
Don't put up the graphic justyet.
This is from.
This is called.
The study is called State ofthe Bible.
All right, state of the Bible.
It's by the American BibleSociety, and what they did is
they surveyed 2,600 people 2,600people and they asked them one
question how often do you usethe Bible?
(14:23):
How often do you use the Bible?
How often do you use the Bible?
Now, we can put that up there,please.
This is what the study said.
9% of the people said that theyuse their Bible every day.
9% About 6% said once a week.
I use my Bible, you know, oncea week.
(14:45):
They're probably includingSunday.
21% said at least twice a yearor less, and then 38% said never
.
Never use my Bible.
Now I'll tell you when I wasyounger, I used to view my Bible
(15:07):
as homework.
Now, kids or teens I don't knowif you love homework, but me
bleh but I would walk by myBible, like my Bible would be
sitting there and I would kindof like walk by it.
I'm like man, somebody shouldread that.
It's like whenever you're home.
Okay, I'm not the only one, butyou have like dishes in the
sink right, or maybe the trashis full and you're like man,
(15:34):
somebody should take that trashout.
I'm just being real.
That's how I viewed reading theBible when I was younger, and
then God changed me from theinside out to recognize that
it's not this homework thing.
It's a blessing.
It's a blessing to have God'sword.
I can be a better husband.
I can be a godly father.
I can be a better Christfollower.
I can be a better husband.
(15:54):
I can be a godly father.
I can be a better Christfollower.
I can be a better leader, aservant, a disciple, a friend.
All of these things I can learnabout, not just these stories,
but these true events that havehappened.
I can learn about that.
I can learn about a God wholoves me, and you can too, by
reading God's word, devotingyourself to the teaching of
(16:18):
God's word.
So the first thing is this thefirst step for you is to take
your next step in God's word.
Take your next step in God'sword Now.
Again, that could either be toopen your Bible daily.
Maybe you increase thefrequency that you read your
(16:39):
Bible and listen.
You don't need candles and likeoh, and start trying to like
read the whole thing in Greekand Hebrew and all this other
stuff.
That's not what we're saying.
Just read.
Start with the Gospel of John.
It's a great, easy book tounderstand.
Start there, or on the otherside of it.
Maybe you need to just makechurch more of a priority, don't
(17:08):
make it so optional.
In 2023, gallup did a studyasking people how often do you
attend church?
21% of the Americans attendweekly, 11% attend once a month
and 26% attend seldom.
Like, yeah, we just kind ofevery couple months, but not you
(17:33):
, not anymore, because you aregonna live on mission, when Now,
the second thing they weredevoted to and what you need to
be devoted to is devote yourselfto biblical community Acts,
(17:53):
chapter two, verse 42 through 46, says this and they devoted
themselves to the apostles'teaching and the fellowship and
the breaking of bread and theprayers, and all came upon every
soul and many wonders and signswere being done through the
apostles and all who believedwere say it with me together and
(18:15):
had all things in common, andthey were selling their
possessions and belongings anddistributing the proceeds to all
as any had need and, day by day, attending the temple together
(18:40):
and breaking bread in theirhomes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts.
What a beautiful picture ofbiblical community.
The truth is, you were not madeto do life alone, but you were
made for community.
You were made for community.
I just want to make sure youknow that there are some people
that whenever you are alone,you're like man.
(19:00):
I could do this forever.
I don't need anybody stay awayfrom me, but god is calling you
to biblical community.
This is a beautiful picture ofthis togetherness of God's word
and believers together.
God's word and believers it'sthis awesome couple, this
marriage between two incrediblyimportant things.
(19:23):
It's kind of like a lock and akey God's word and God's
believers is kind of like peanutbutter and jelly For the kids.
It's kind of like peanut butterand jelly For the kids.
It's kind of like Batman andRobin.
You need them both together.
(19:44):
They attended the templetogether.
They shared resources together.
Haven't you figured out howmany times I've said the word
together?
It's a lot.
Why?
Because they were togetherVerse 46 again and day by day,
attending the temple togetherand breaking the bread in their
homes.
They received their food withglad and generous hearts.
(20:06):
Attending the temple together.
Does that say in one time ayear, once a month?
No, in day by day.
Because the truth is, goddesigned you to grow with others
.
Now listen, I'm not saying thatif you are not in church, shame
(20:29):
on you.
You should miss your 10 yearanniversary to be here.
Bad, miss Sunday, bad.
That's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is you know inyour own heart where your
devotion is, that's between youand God, and you have an
(20:54):
opportunity to live on mission,to be devoted to God's word and
devoted to biblical community.
Now there are speaking ofcommunity there in Acts in the
early church.
They were together in thetemple.
They were also together intheir homes and for us, kind of
in our context, we can still betogether in homes, but we also
(21:15):
have groups.
We have groups here at thechurch.
Everybody say groups, groups.
That's right.
We got tons of groups.
We got groups for kids, we gotgroups for students, we got
groups for young adults, we gotgroups for adults, we got groups
for senior adults, we gotgroups on.
However, there are four stagesof groups that are extremely
(21:36):
important for us to talk about.
And number one, the first stageof group, is called the curious
.
The curious.
You're not in a group butyou're exploring.
You know you're coming tochurch and maybe you're hungry
for connection, but you justhaven't stepped into community
(21:56):
yet.
You've been thinking about it.
You're like man, I am tired ofliving life alone.
I think I should join a group.
Now, I don't know about you,but I've been a part of groups
and I'm in a group and I havenever regretted a group praying
(22:17):
for me.
I've never regretted the peopleof God caring for me.
That happens in the context ofa group.
The second stage is theconnected.
So the first one was thecurious, the next one is the
connected.
You are.
First one was the curious, thenext one is the connected.
You are in a group but you'vebeen drifting, you're coasting,
(22:42):
you've been there for a while.
You know the drill, you knowhow it's gonna go, you know all
right, hey, everybody, good tosee y'all.
I was good, I was good, good,okay, I see you, john.
You just kinda sit down.
You're like do, do, do, do, do,okay, amen, all right, all
right, see y'all.
Man, that was a good group.
What are we talking about?
I don't know.
So you're connected, likeyou're there, but like you could
(23:07):
, if you could just.
The next stage is the committed.
Everybody say committed.
The next stage is the committed.
Everybody say committed.
Wow, okay, let's be committedand saying committed, there we
go.
Listen, you're in a group andyou are growing.
You are plugged in.
Look at that.
God's doing something in you.
(23:27):
You can sense it.
You've learned just about allthat you can learn.
There's something that's righton the cusp of you going.
I think I should do somethingabout this and that's the next
(23:47):
step.
The next stage is thecommissioned.
It's the leadership call.
It's the leadership call.
It's for you to lead.
You've grown.
Now, listen, you don't need aPhD to lead a group.
You don't need to know Greekand Hebrew to lead a group.
(24:08):
I've led a fifth grade group.
I've led groups for fifthgraders at a church, to where I
would pour into them and allthat other stuff.
After school.
I've led groups for fifthgraders at a church, to where I
would pour into them and allthat other stuff.
After school, I've led a videogame group, a group of just guys
who love video games.
I do a devotion.
We would talk and do videogames.
I've led a group with guyswhere we would just meet at a
coffee shop on a Saturdaymorning.
It doesn't need to be this biglike ooh, but some of you in
(24:30):
here, you have been sensing Godtelling you to move, week after
week after week, that you aretoo gifted to sit on your hands.
And maybe you're in here andyou're already leading a group.
You're like Pastor James, Ilead a group.
Great, teach somebody else howto Teach somebody else how to
(24:51):
lead the group, because,remember, it's all about living
on mission.
So, wherever you are in thisstage, my prayer for you is to
know your devotion to biblicalcommunity and to ask God to let
you go into that next step.
Corrie Ten Boom says it this waydelayed obedience is
(25:13):
disobedience.
Now, I didn't like that.
When I read that, I said, now,hold on, who's she talking to?
But it's true, you either do itor you don't.
You're either in or you're out.
On your wedding day you don'tgo.
Well, I don't know, I'm notsure.
Well, I now pronounce you manand wife.
(25:34):
That's not how it happens, it'sa yes or it's a no.
But what an opportunity you have, because it's this the step is
to get devoted to biblicalcommunity.
Get Either join a group,re-engage if you are drifting,
(25:56):
or start one, use the gifts thatGod has given you.
It could be a running group, itcould be a fishing group, it
could be a specific study on thebook of the Bible, it could be
a marriage group, a parentinggroup, group, group group, it
doesn't really matter, as longas you do what God is calling
you to do.
Don't wait until next year,because God is calling you to
(26:19):
live on mission now.
Live on mission now, and thelast thing here is to devote
yourself to God's mission.
Verse 47, praising God andhaving favor with all people.
And the Lord added to theirnumber and, day by day, those
(26:44):
who were being saved, it grew,the Lord added to their numbers.
You know how, by them sayingsomething, them sharing the
gospel, them telling otherpeople.
As Pastor Chip has said, youcould be extremely excited about
(27:06):
a movie and share about a movie, which is great.
You can be extremely excitedabout food and share about the
restaurant, which is awesome,but at the same time, you have
an opportunity to share thegospel.
Now I'm gonna put this quote up,and I didn't like this one.
Okay, I had to wrestle withthis quote before I put it on
there because it made me feelsome type of way.
(27:27):
But this is what CharlesSpurgeon says Every Christian is
either a missionary or animposter.
Which one are you?
And it's not for me to say thisis an opportunity.
Again, this isn't a oh man, ohno, no, listen, listen, listen.
(27:50):
Satan will easily start to makeyou feel guilty, satan will
easily start to make you feelshame, to make you feel bad, and
all these things, but God iscalling you to move Now.
I'm so thankful that I wasliterally skateboarding in a
parking lot running away from mylife and, as I've shared my
testimony before, but I was in aparking lot running away from
(28:11):
my life and as I've shared mytestimony before, but I was in
the parking lot at a church.
A guy came out of the van withsome kids with skateboards.
He was a youth pastor and hewas like hey, what are you doing
Sunday?
Oh no, you wanna come to church, okay.
And then, as we were walking,he shared the gospel with me.
I am a Christian.
Praise God.
I heard the gospel because aperson made a decision to follow
(28:34):
God's mission.
You never know who you canshare the gospel to and that God
can use them for thousands.
You never know and it's notyour place to know it's your
place to plant the seed and letGod do the rest, because Satan's
(28:56):
mission is isolation.
But God's mission ismultiplication.
Satan wants to get youdistracted, pull you away with
busyness and get you to go fromI'm devoted to.
Well, you know we'll get allright.
Well, it's raining outside.
Eh, let's not go to church.
Oh, man, I've had a long day.
(29:18):
Oh gosh, I'll read the Bibletomorrow.
But God's mission ismultiplication.
Remember, the Lord added totheir number and people were
being saved.
Now I want to share some ofthese objections to living on
mission, because even now, someof you are like, yeah, man, okay
(29:41):
James, okay, pastor James, I'mgoing to live on mission, I'm
going to read my Bible.
Or maybe, like, I'm going to bedevoted, I'm going to start a
group, I'm going to join a group, I'm gonna be devoted, I'm
gonna start a group, I'm gonnajoin a group, I'm gonna share.
And then, like, reality startshitting and you're like, oh,
wait a minute, this is a lot.
So I wanna share Satan'smission versus God's truth.
(30:05):
Satan's mission number one isisolation, isolation.
And this is what Satan says toyou.
He wants you to hear.
This is that I don't have time.
I don't have time, I'm busy.
But God's truth is this butseek first the kingdom, seek
(30:27):
first the kingdom.
The more time you spend withGod, he will give you a peace
that surpasses all understanding.
Here's another one of Satan'smission of insecurity it's I'm
not enough.
I'm not enough.
You don't know what I've done,you don't know what I've been
through.
(30:47):
You don't know that I'mstruggling.
I'm sick, we're not financiallystable, we're on the brink of
divorce, I'm a terrible parent,like all of these things.
To make you say I'm not enoughis exactly what the enemy wants.
But God's truth is this you arethe body of Christ.
When Satan starts to tell youyour story on all the mistakes
(31:12):
you made, you refute that andyou tell him about his story on
the future.
You tell him about how good Godis.
And then the last part ofSatan's mission is this
independence is.
I can do it alone.
I don't need anybody.
(31:33):
I've tried, pastor James.
I've tried to reach out andpeople have let me down.
Some of my family have let medown.
Some of my kids have let medown.
Some of my closest friends havelet me down.
I have tried to be in communityand I'm sick and tired of it.
But I wanna tell you God'struth Don't neglect meeting
(31:59):
together and that's not myopinion, that's what God says,
because we have all fallen shortof the glory of God.
So get devoted to God's mission.
Whether your next step is toinvite somebody in your group or
(32:19):
to start a group, or maybe it'sto just share your story to a
coworker, just share your story,open your mouth and share,
because, remember, the lordadded to their numbers.
They were sharing the gospel.
Be devoted to god's missionbecause, whatever you do, don't
(32:45):
wait, don't wait, don't wait.
Our application for today and,as we talked about in the
beginning, with them beingdevoted to the apostles'
teaching, these applicationsaren't just for you to be like,
oh well, that's super cute man,I could do that.
No, these applications aren'tfor you to go like, wow,
(33:10):
somebody should do that,somebody should start that group
.
But these applications theapostles' teaching it was for
them to hear it, to engage withit and to do, and so I pray that
(33:31):
God does a work in your life towhere you don't just write
these down, but you have lifechange.
Number one of the applicationis get devoted to God's word.
Whether that's your ownpersonal study time, maybe you
were hot on fire with yourdevotion and it just just life
(33:53):
happened.
Or maybe you were coming tochurch and you're like man, this
is great, and then you just gotbusy.
Get devoted to God's word.
Number two get devoted tobiblical community.
(34:15):
Don't just attend, belong, joina group.
Don't settle for isolation.
It's not worth it.
It may be enticing to come in,kind of do what you need to do
and get out.
It may be nice to just kind ofgo and coast, but that's not the
(34:39):
church.
We should bear one another'sburdens, love one another, serve
one another, devote yourself tobiblical community.
And then, number three getdevoted to God's mission.
Share the gospel and you knowwhat?
(35:03):
Just start with one person.
Start with one.
And for you who are in here,who are Christian, think about
the person that shared it to you.
Somebody shared it to you.
Start with one.
(35:24):
Ask God to help you.
Why does this matter?
Because if you don't do this,you will be distracted, but if
you do this, you'll be devoted,because living off mission is
actually disobeying God.
You're not in his word, you'reisolated and you're not sharing
(35:46):
the gospel.
But not you, not anymore,because you are called to live
on mission.
Now, corrie ten Boom.
I'm gonna share a story abouther.
Can we put the picture upplease?
Corrie ten Boom and her sister.
They were thrown into a Naziconcentration camp for hiding
(36:07):
Jews.
Actually, the barracks were soovercrowded and infested with
fleas that Corrie hated them.
But her sister, betsy, sheactually told Corrie she's like
thank God for the fleas, andCorrie's like what, thank God
(36:30):
for the fleas?
Why would we thank God forfleas?
It wasn't until they realizedthat the guards of the Nazi
concentration camp, of theprison the guards would not
enter the room because of thefleas.
And because they didn't enterthe room, these women were able
(36:51):
to gather pray.
They even smuggled in a Bibleto read.
The fleas that they hated wereactually the reason that they
could live on mission.
(37:11):
So what situation in your lifeare you thinking that's the
worst that God can use?
Because here's the truth IfCorrie could be devoted to the
word, if she could be devoted tocommunity in the darkest place,
if she could live on mission inprison.
The question what's stoppingyou from living on mission in
(37:34):
prison?
The question what's stoppingyou from living on mission in
freedom?
Don't wait for betterconditions, don't wait to feel
ready, because God is callingyou to live on mission.
(37:54):
Now, everyone, please close youreyes and bow your heads.
And maybe you are in here andmaybe you have already given
your life to the Lord and youare a Christ follower.
But you are recognizing thatyou once had a hot passion for
the word, a passion to come tochurch, a passion to share, and
(38:15):
just slowly it's just fizzled.
You were devoted and now you'redistracted.
Well, if that's you, I wannapray for you right now.
I wanna pray for every Christfollower that has been devoted,
but now they're distracted.
Father God, we thank you, lord,for your mission.
God, I ask, lord, that you helpus.
(38:36):
God, give us a fresh wind.
God, give us a vision, Lord,that we can trust and follow you
.
God, help us to push alldistractions aside that aren't
eternal and aren't worthy of ourtime here.
God, our precious time here onearth, lord.
God forgive us for making timewith you optional.
(38:57):
Father God, we ask that youhelp us to be devoted to you,
devoted to your word, devoted toeach other and devoted to
reaching people.
And maybe you're in here todayand you can't say that prayer
because you haven't given yourlife to the Lord.
Maybe you have tried thingsover and over and over.
(39:19):
Now is the time to surrender,and I just want to let you know
that you have a tremendousopportunity to give your life to
the Lord.
The Bible says confess withyour mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart thatGod raised him from the dead and
(39:41):
you will be saved.
So if you're here this morningand you haven't given your life
to the Lord, I can't do it foryou.
But but I can guide you, I canhelp you, and all you need to do
is say this prayer with me andbelieve it in your heart, and I
would just ask you, just repeatafter me.
You can say it out loud or youcan say it in your head, but
let's pray to Lord.
(40:01):
You just say Jesus, I believe inyou.
Thank you for dying for my sins.
Forgive me of my sins, jesus, Ibelieve you rose from the dead.
Jesus, be the Lord of my life.
Help me live for you.
(40:22):
Help me to live on mission andhelp me not to live distracted
but to live devoted.
So in Jesus' name, we pray amen.
All right, everybody, put yourhands together for anybody that
(40:43):
gave their life to the Lord.
God is so good.
Our worship team is going tocome back out and we're going to
continue to worship, but it'sall about living on mission, and
what an opportunity to justworship God today, as you don't
wait until next week, you don'twait until next month, next year
, but you live on mission now.
So, everybody, come on andstand up.
Come on and stand up and we aregonna worship the Lord together
(41:08):
.
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