One Heart, One Soul

with Pastor Micheal Oxentenko

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's pray. Dear Father, we need Jesus. We need the
Word of God in our life. We need to be
men and women converted daily by the living and abiding
Word of God. So help the Word to do that

(00:22):
today in Jesus' name. Amen. The title of the message
this morning is One Heart and One Soul. It's taken
from the Bible. The gift of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost finds its opposite power and misfunction at the Tower
of Babel. At the Tower of Babel, the people spoke

(00:45):
one language because there was no confusion of languages along
ethnic lines. It was a time when everybody knew how
to speak and it could be understood. There was a
clarity of communication. At Pentecost. God reversed the confusion with
the gift of tongues, so every person could hear the Gospel,

(01:05):
understand it, and believe. So Pentecost is the reversal of
the Tier of Babel. At the Tier of Babel, the
people scattered far and wide. At Pentecost that people who
heard the Gospel came together in Jesus. At the Tier
of Babel, they built a tower to reach into the heavens.
At Pentecost, heaven opened up, the Holy Spirit came down,

(01:25):
and God reached down to men and women to fill
their hearts with the Holy Spirit. At the Tower of Babel,
that people strove to make a name for themselves. At Pentecost,
the disciples strove to proclaim Jesus' name. It wasn't about them,
it was about Christ. At the Tower of Babel, the
tower builders sought God like powers when they said, let
us make, and then they did. At Pentecost, the Disciples

(01:50):
lost themselves in service to Jesus so Jesus could perform
his much needed work through the mighty Holy Spirit. It
wasn't let us make, It's let God make in us
something new for the good of others. At the heart
of the sin problem, which is our problem because we
have hearts. At the heart of the sin problem is

(02:10):
the heart that insists on self, the eye, me and
min that started sin in heaven with Lucifer. That's our
problem too, friend. God sent the Holy Spirit into this
world to save sinners from themselves and from the devil's
way of insisting on I, me and my instead of
God and others and the Lord Jesus Christ Hebrews eight eleven.

(02:34):
If you look at the Book of Hebrews. It has
a caastic structure. It moves from the end of the
beginning the exact sinners, verse eleven, and it is the
phrase they shall all know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest. The New Covenant is to put
the knowledge of God, the love of God, deep inside
of us, so that we all have a personal relationship
with God. To know God, we must be one with God.

(02:58):
Why because God is one. I mean this business that
you can go off and do your own thing. You
can insist on your will, You can ignore the good
and needs of others around you. You can live a
life for your purpose, your self actualization, and somehow forget
that you were placed on this planet for the good
of others. In God is to miss the point. You
cannot know God unless you learn to love by giving

(03:20):
to other men and women in life. The great Chamad
Deuteronomy six, which is the heart of the Torah, the
heart of the ten Commandment law of God, shamai ye
Israel at an eye at an eye of Lhinu at
an eye of God. Here O Israel, the Lord, our
God is one God. The tower builders at Babel were

(03:44):
united in a God kind of way, a one kind
of way that was not from God. It was from
them and from evil. Unity is either a great breast
blessing in our life or it's a terrible curse, depending
on how it works. Jesus told us that of Satan's
kingdom divided. You remember what he said, how will it stand?
A divided kingdom cannot stand. Divided kingdoms always fall. In time,

(04:09):
God divided the nations. Why because mankind had reached a
state of unity, of evil unity, the singularity that we
are approaching in the modern times. I mean, friends, you
don't realize it, but there are advances in science right
now in AI technology, in nanotechnology, in genetics and bioengineering

(04:29):
that will allow an artificial intelligence system to exceed human capacity,
probably in the next five to six years. And they
say that this threat is greater than any nuclear threat
that could possibly face the human race, because once intelligence
reaches that threshold, it can take over the world, It

(04:50):
can destroy humanity in a short space of time. We
have no idea the kind of things the new tower
builders are striving to achieve. So the unity of the
world order, the unity of evils, coming to a place
where the three sides of Babylon will be manifested the
time of the end, and we, as Christians, cannot afford

(05:12):
to unite with the world. We must unite with God
in his word, on God's terms to make a difference
in the world. God divided the nations deliberately because at
the Tower of Babel he came to understand that he
could not work with tower building arrogant kind of nations.
He abandoned the nations to work with a family, Abraham's

(05:33):
family and time to bring about a nation that was his,
whose constitution was the law of God, the charter of
the universe, and through that nation to bring us Jesus Christ,
so that through Jesus Christ, he could reclaim the nations
of the earth through the outpoint of all his spirit.
God divided the nations because humankind had reached a state
of terrible unity, the singularity where evils always wins in

(05:57):
the end, and it brings the end of the world. World.
God prevented that. Genesis eleven, verse six. The Lord said,
behold there one a god people, and they have all
one language. And this is only the beginning of what
they will do, And nothing that they purpose to do
will now be impossible for them. For the tower builders,

(06:19):
unity was a dangerous thing that had to be stopped
or the world would have come to an end. But
for God's people in the opposite direction, in light of Pentecost,
unity is absolutely necessary for God's cause, God's Church to prevail.
No unity, no victory. Jesus prayed for unity before the

(06:41):
cross as he was facing the specter of the separation
from the Father and the Holy Spirit. He prayed for
unity in his church. Turned to John seventeen. Let's look
at verse eleven, and he said, now I am no
more in the world, but they are in the world,
and I am coming to thee Holy Father. Keep them

(07:01):
in thy name. Now, when when Jesus says keep them
in thy name, it's just another way of saying, keep
them in thy law, thy character, because God's name, God's
character is exactly the same thing. So Christ is saying, Look,
a disobedient church goes nowhere, a church that turns its

(07:21):
back on the character of God revealed in the Decalogue,
goes nowhere. Father, keep them in thy name. You remember
the Lord's prayer, Our Father, who art in heaven, How
would be thy what come and help me Thy name?
And then what he's saying, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will
be done, where on earth as it is in heaven.

(07:41):
To know God's name is to know God's law. It's
for the Kingdom to come into our lives. So Jesus says,
Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast
given me. He says, I am the living, breathing expression
of the law of God, the character of God, the
book patriarchs and prophets. That very first line which I
love God is love, his nature, his law. His love

(08:04):
has ever been, ever will be. The everlasting Covenant is
God's nature, his law, is character, his name. And that's
why his name is written on the foreheads of obedient Christians.
At the time of the end, they have the Covenant,
the law of God, instead of the mark of the Beast,
which is the beast's law and sign. Christ prayed for unity.

(08:25):
He goes on to say, which thou hast given me,
that they may be one, even as we are one.
The humanity of Christ was filled with the divinity of
the second person, of the Godhead, of the eternal Son
of God. And in that fusion of natures we see
God with us Emmanuel. When the Holy Spirit came upon

(08:45):
those one hundred and twenty people in that upper room.
The Holy Spirit knit their hearts together in love for
Jesus Christ and love for a lost world. The world
doesn't need to hear more of us. The world doesn't
need more of us in the form of eye, me
and mice spilled out in virtue signaling the like talking
about the greatest things we're doing or not doing. The

(09:07):
world doesn't need that. The world that Jesus died for
needs the love of God that is one within the Godhead.
The hearted love of eternity is not hoarded. It has
been poured out in Jesus and the Holy Spirit for us.
The heart of love of Attorney the Godhead is the
love the world needs. And for this reason God has

(09:28):
established his church on earth. Why to love the world,
not the evil in the world, but the people of
the world. The latesty in church in the book Revelation
is a church era where believers are fully bent on
self love, on narcissism, on talking about how important are
they are, how big their church is, how impressive their

(09:51):
missions are. When the focus is on self instead of
the Lord and his work, God would rather work with
the few than the many. The latesty in Church of
the Last Days needs Jesus Christ formed in it anew. Now.
The early Church was characterized by love, a love for
members in the church. In fact, the Church of Ephesus
symbolizes the early Church. It had lost its first love.

(10:13):
It started with love and it lost it. You never
want to lose love. The early Church was characterized by deep,
abiding love. I love for the members in the church,
a love for the lost, a love for new people,
a love for their enemies. They wouldn't wear scowls on
their faces toward those they didn't like. They would love
and like for the sake of Christ. Turned with me

(10:35):
to Acts four thirty two, and let's enter this chapter
as we engage the scripture, allow the Lord to speak
to us. Now. The company of those who believed were
of one heart and soul. And no one said that
any of the things which he possessed was his own.
But they had everything in common and with great power.
The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the

(10:57):
Lord Jesus Christ, and I like the way it ends,
and great grace was upon them all. The Greek reads
literally that these believers were heart and soul one. It's
the Greek it's not the Hebrew God, but it's the
idea heart and soul one. The Greek for heart means
the inner self where the affections reside. The Greek word

(11:21):
for soul means the inner self where the life energy resides.
You know, if you have affection but no energy, there's
no life. And so these two meet to create a
person's inner self. David said this when he messed up bad.
Have you ever messed up bad? We've all messed up bad. Okay,
he said, teach me truth in the inner man. That's

(11:44):
where this is, at the heart and the soul. The
Holy Spirit had healed the people like Peter had denied.
Christ had healed them on the inside, where the heart
and the soul is at. The Holy Spirit had brought
the unity of the God hit into the heart of
every believer, so that the love of God was not

(12:04):
just something out there. The love of God was in sight,
and it was shining out, and so spirit filled loving
Christians overtook the world in the first christ century. Now,
I've been in church ministry since I was boy. When
did I Diana? When did I start pastoring? How old
was I? I never get this right, so I don't

(12:24):
want to mistake it. What dear heart. I was twenty
two when I became a pastor. I'm sixty two, forty
years in the wilderness. No, just kidding. Now, look, forty
years I've been a pastor, and I didn't realize it
till today. Okay, Now I have seen the most loving

(12:46):
people I've ever known the world in the church. I
think of Norman and Alan Halleck, who took over my
life after my dad died at Fletcher Academy, who would
not let me go and slip away, but made me
one of their boys, who adopted me without the law
of the land, so I became a son of theirs,

(13:07):
so i'd be a son of theirs in the church,
so I would grow up to know Christ. I remember
Norman Halley driving me to Southern Avenue University. It was
Southern College. It was called Southern Matrimony College back then.
It worked because I got Diana there, but he was
blund he had glycoma and just kind of going through
the tunnels trying to get me there. And they made

(13:28):
sure that I had clothes and stuff I needed, and
when I failed, they never pushed me down, but lifted
me up. I didn't fail school, but I had failings
in life. I remember my first semester at college. I
had an emotional breakdown. My mother was suffering, my brothers
were My brother was lost nor he was at in

(13:50):
the whole country, and just the stress of the whole
place brought me down. I had to quit college for semester.
I went and started planting trees in the south get
my physical energy back. I became an athlete in four
or five months in terms of energy and capacity. I
needed that. And this dear couple just hung in there
with me, and somehow God allowed me to keep my

(14:12):
GPA at a very high level in spite of that.
And I got a scholarship which paid off my schooling
at the end because I didn't have enough money to
pay it off. But God takes care of us. But
I wouldn't have got anywhere in life without loving people
reaching out to help me. And that's what we got

(14:33):
to do in the church. And look at X four
thirty two. Now the company of those who were believed,
what does it say, were of one heart and soul?
And no one said that any of the things which
he possessed was his own friends at Satan's designed to
divide the church with sin and evil, so that it's
all about I, me and Mi, and not about what

(14:53):
God can do and give for others. It is the
work of the Holy Spirit in us personally and within
the church to unite the church with love and obedience
to God. As a disobedient church cannot unite in love
and the power of the Holy Spirit, because the love
and the power of the Holy Spirit is the unity

(15:15):
of the Godhead. That is the love of God, the
love of God, the name of God. As one. First
John one, verse one, turn our bibles. There. John is
here thinking about the gift of Jesus. What did it
mean for Jesus to come? What was the impact on
John and the church in that first century? What he
tells us here that which was from the beginning. Now,

(15:38):
he doesn't mean the beginning of his life. He means
the beginning of time. We know in Hebrews one three
that Christ created the eons. He is the potentate of time.
He's the panthecrator in Greek, the one who holds all
things space, time that Einstein described the universe as not
just space but time, as semile fabric. God created that.

(16:01):
And whenever a theologian comes along and says, well, God
is captured by his own creations, nonsense. But you see,
to be a God of love, he has to also
be in time. He can't just be out of time.
And so the God is overall, is also through all
and in all. And we know that Jesus Christ created time.
That means before there was a was, there was Jesus.

(16:22):
So don't give me this stuff that Christ is a
creative being. You can't create the eons and be a
created being. The hearted love of eternity was the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, love that shares, love
that is not exclusive, love that can give and away.
We're out of love, not need. God created the universe.

(16:44):
So he says that which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon in touch with their hands.
Concerning the Word of life, now here he's identifying Jesus
as the word that came to Abraham and Genesis fifteen
one and spoke to Abraham as the word of the Lord.
He says, the word of life, we saw him, the

(17:06):
Word became a human being. Verse two, the life was manifested.
Now this is the Greek equivalent banaraoh. This is the
Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word mare that John's website
Angels in the Glen dwells on so eloquently in Daniel
chapter eight and nine. The mare of the Mighty Man
is the appearance of the Mighty Man, and that prophecy

(17:28):
points to the coming of Jesus at the end of
four hundred and ninety prophetic years. So John is saying, look,
what Daniel predicted was manifested. We saw the appearance of
the Word of Life. We saw it, and the Hebrew
could also, I mean the Greek you mean here, we
saw him, and we testify to him or it, and
proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the

(17:50):
Father and was made manifest again the equivalent of the
appearance of Daniel nine the mare the appearance of Christ. Now,
let's face it, God, who cannot be put in a jar,
came into the life in person and merged with the
humanity that was made the body he had prepared, so
that God became a man, the God Man, not either

(18:12):
or but both as one, and the human will of
Christ cooperate with the divine will of Deity in him,
so that together they atone for our sins at the
God level and the human level. Jesus is the eternal life,
that is God, that was manifested to those early disciples.
Jesus is the life that came to earth to reveal God.

(18:34):
You can't reveal God unless you are God. You don't
have a first hand take on the character of God
unless it is in you by nature. And so they
came to know God in Jesus Christ. Now, how many
of you want to have a relationship with God? Okay,
don't leave Jesus out of it. You can't have a
relationship God unless you're in love with Jesus Christ, who

(18:57):
came to reveal God Verses three and four. That which
we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you,
so that you may have fellowship with us. Now, why
did God send Jesus so it could just know that
God exists or DoD He send Jesus so that we
could have what love and fellowship here? And our fellowship

(19:21):
is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ.
So we don't get the love in the community from ourselves.
It's not about us. John is saying, we get it
because we got a relationship with God, and there's a
fellowship in the God that has come into our lives,
and it's in the church. And we want you to
join the church so you can be in a community
of love that's not human love. It's God love like love,

(19:44):
it's God's love. Here and then verse four, and we
are writing this that our joy may be complete. It's
not good enough that we're sitting in the pew without
our friends and neighbors. Here. We want our friends to
be saved, to come to know the love of God
that we know. Now. I was talking to a pastor
years ago, actually looked yesterday, but who years ago ordained

(20:06):
me in Michigan conference. I'll let you know his name.
His name is Elder Jay Gallimer, God lead man. He
said something to me, He says, Mike, you know, if
you just look at how the Lord took care of
you here, here, here, and here, don't you allow yourself
to ever believe that God does not love you. He says,

(20:27):
those evidences that you have that He rescued from this
and that and the other thing. It doesn't matter how
it gets in one chapter of your life. Never forget
the good ones, so you know that God loves you.
It was a profound wisdom coming from this retired minister
who was the head of Michigan Conference and this kind
of thing. God blessed Jay friends. I asked a question,

(20:49):
what good is religion if there's no joy in it?
Is that a good question to ask? What good is
religion if there's no joy in it? What good has
come into church? If we don't enjoy each other and
live for others in the church. Now, I had the
joy yesterday of going out to see the RhI garden.
Did you see that? Well, you should just go out

(21:10):
there and look at the guard. Jonathan, raise your hand
high back. There we have a quiet man who's a
gardener for God. Here I ate a strawberry out of
our garden. We walked the property. Yeah, clap for that.
And we walked the property and I saw some tomatoes.
Diana donated that he's going to be planning. I hope
they all survive. I also saw this wonderful man that

(21:33):
just those those vegetables that are going to end up
in our potluck meal a little bit. He's going to
have to figure out how we can give them some
of that to the church, but one person getting at all.
But it's good and we you know, I won't tell you.
Just being with Jonathan, just being out there watching his
joy and doing something for God, you know what did
to me? Guess what it did to me? Oh? Yes,

(21:57):
made me. It made me happy to see this. And
when I see people connecting, loving, giving, carrying, charring, growing,
makes the pastor happy. Well, should make us all happy
because God created the church for joy. So what good

(22:18):
is it coming to church if we don't enjoy each
other and live for others in the church? Why bother
with God? If God is not good? Does it make sense?
Let's say God's a messed up fiend who wants to
worship him? Now, this is the problem with the doctrine
of an everlasting hell where you're tormented forever. The Bible
teaches an everlasting fire that is God's glory. Hebrews four,

(22:41):
you know, Hebrews twelve says that. Twelve twenty nine says
our God is a consuming fire. The fire is eternal,
but the sinner is not. But imagine a God who
would torture people for endless ages. To make a point,
I'm sorry, no worshiping a god like that from me.
Our God has to be good, and the goodness of
God was revealed in the life of Jesus, who said, Father,

(23:04):
forgive them. They know not what they do. Why bother
with a God who's not a good God? And why
join a church that is not a loving church that
cares about others as a good God would. Paul tells
us in Romans one five that the purpose of the
Gospel is to bring about the obedience of faith. People say,
o obedience, so it's legalism. You ever hear that? That

(23:27):
isn't The obedience of faith is love in action. It's
the character of God in the life of the church.
So you don't get unity and throwing out the law
of God. He described in Glatians five twenty six as
the faith working through love. Because love is active, it
is obedience, It is the product of faith. It is

(23:50):
the result and fruit of faith. In the Gospel, John
continues in verse five, this is the message we have
heard from him and proclaim to you that God is
like and in him has no darkness at all. If
we say we have fellowship while we walk in darkness,
we lie and do not live according to the truth.
Now he goes on to say, you walk in darkness

(24:11):
if you hate your brother. Later on, so if you
got somebody, you're just gonna trash, You're gonna run down
in your life. You're gonna be hard on him again,
mad at him. You're in the darkness. Look, it doesn't
mean you can't be hurt in life. It doesn't mean
you can't be wounded. Just means we have to rise
above it. We have to love people in spite of
these things in their life. So it says we lie

(24:32):
and do not live according to the truth. But if
we walk in the light as He is in the light,
So the grow models not the person who hurts you.
It's not the pastor and administrator. The role models Jesus.
If we do that, it says we have fellowship with
one another. I like this and the blood of Jesus's
son cleanses us from how much sin? How much sin?

(24:56):
All said, God does not want sin in any of
our lives, any of it. It takes the love of God,
the light, to reach the darkness and to dispel it.
John says in one John five to seven that God
is love. So what does God help me with this?
God is love? So if you want to be like God,

(25:16):
what do you gotta be got to be loving Christians?
Thus the Church of God on earth myths must be
just like God, or it is not God's Church at all.
See the remnant Church of the Apocalypse that keeps the
commandments of God and has the Testament of Jesus has
to be a loving church to be the remnant church.

(25:37):
Does that make sense? Because the Law is God's name
is character. Love is what the law teaches. You may
have correct theology and keep the Sabbath on the right day,
but if you do not have the love of God
inside your heart and soul in the inner self, then
all your brilliant ideas turn to evil, and your words
become sour grapes in the ears of those who hear

(25:59):
you instead of God's love in your life. You may
think of yourself to be a teacher or a leader,
the indispensable person the church needs. But if you do
not have the love of God inside of you, you
can't teach anyone anything that matters for their salvation. You
may choose to serve the church with your time and
energy and your money, and that's not a bad thing.

(26:22):
But if you are an unconverted person in the heart,
void of God's love inside of you, full of bitterness
and darkness, unwilling to pray for your enemies. Then you're
agenda and your preoccupation with yourself, the eye, me and
mind and your life will corrupt everything you would do
for God. If you do not have the love of

(26:42):
Christ inside of you, dear heart, your heart and soul,
it's an empty place. You're an empty vessel, and you'll
repel people instead of draw people through the love of God.
So this matter of heart and soul matters most to
God and our Christian life and law. It is the
single most important evidence that we belong to God as

(27:05):
converted men and women. Now, the Hosannah Church who meets
here on Sundays, they're not of our Seventh y Avenist tradition,
but they got something right going on within the within
the I'm trying to I know the denomination. I just
drew a blank. You ever draw a blank? You never
draw blank? Oh, come on. Church of the Nazarene, that's

(27:28):
their faith tradition. Church of Nazarene rejected the idea that
John Wesley's Second Blessing is in fact the speaking of tongues.
The chrismatic movement came out of that. It's an unbiblical movement.
They rightly understood that the great blessing of God, the
second Blessing, probably is best understood as the fruit of
the spirit, love, joy, kindness. So they have classes and love,

(27:51):
joy and kindness in their church. Can you believe that
have little children teach them how to be loving, kind, merciful,
mentoring kind of rather than teaching them how to impress
people how smart they are and this kind of thing.
That's a good thing. The fruit. I can come here
and I observe them, and you know, I want to

(28:11):
point something out there. You see all those boxes in
the back of the church over there, that's their sound system.
Now here's why it's there. They have to move that
thing every Saturday night from a storage room to set up,
and it makes it very hard for them to have
a worship experience on their day, which they get wrong.
They don't know the Sabbath Saturday. But we're trying to

(28:33):
be loving Christians in our relationship to them. So we're
leaving them there. We're going to try to get some
cloths for them. Maybe eventually we'll put a little booth
there but is that okay for us to bear with
that on most of the occasions so we can have
less loss of energy in their lives. Is that a
good thing? Can you put up with that? I can too,
because we're called to be loving Christians. Well, thank you.

(28:56):
I'll tell them we took a vote. Let's vote on it.
Eys uh oh, not all the hands went up. I
trust the rest of you to be right in your heart.
Now let's look at Acts four again together in unity.
First of all, the fruit of the spirit that starts
with love, then joy and peace like that should be

(29:16):
our primary concern as Christians. Look at verse thirty two.
Now the company of those who believe were of one
heart and soul. And one said that any of the
things which he possessed was his own. No one said that.
But they had everything in common and with great power.
The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of Lord Jesus,
and great grace was upon them all the sick. This

(29:38):
passage with me a little bit. Luke in the Book
of Acts here describes this group as the company of
those who believed. In my translation, the Greek word for
company is literally multitude. Some translations bear that out the
one hundred and twenty in the upper room. In time,
that small group, because of the Holy Spirit, because of

(29:58):
the commitment of Jesus, became a multitude of believers. I
mean by Asks four, we're not talking about a little group.
We're talking about a movement. It's hard to hold a
small group together, even of one hundred and twenty people,
but the unity of the one hundred and twenty grew.
They kept it in the unity of the multitude. Friends,
a multitude is a movement, and a groy want asks for.

(30:21):
They were united in faith. Now I am grateful that
as a movement we have a united understanding of the
Bible in the twenty eight fundamental beliefs voted in World
Session from the Bible. It's not the product of smart theologian.
It's not the product of someone who comes along lately.
It is the consensus of the church in scripture and

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unity of what God teaches for our time. And this
movement Asks four was characterized by that same kind of unity,
without moral or spiritual compromise. The early church was not
a church. It's you know, we need to grow, so
let's just take our kids out to the bar. We
need to grow and let's just go oh, and let's
take them to a rock concert. That's not how the

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early Church did anything they had. It was put through
this through the it was sifted through the word of God.
To get it right, there must be a generation of
young people are faithful to the Bible in our time.
There were three characteristics of the union of the early
Church found in these verses. Number one, they were heart
and soul one literally. Number two, no one claimed that

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they own anything for themselves. That's a tough one. Got
an ira, got a bank accown. Number three, they held
all things in common together. The Bible teaches that the
returning of a faithful tithe is essential for the work
of God on earth. Is a sign of faithful obedience
to God in service for others. It's hard, but it

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really gets to the heart of selfishness. Now, the Bible
doesn't say it's ten percent of your increase. You know,
when you take your business expenses out of your gross
that's increase. That's what the Bible teaches. But for most
people it's their paycheck. But for people in businesses it's not.
The Bible teaches that this is an important principle for

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the church. It's a sign of faithful obedience to God
in service for others. It took me a while to
grow into this. I wasn't part of my culture. I
didn't understand it whenever I was writing my tieth check
early on or setting inside of wonder, well, how will
I make it? Do you realize at this point in
my life, I don't even ask that question, how will
I make it? I know I will. I know I will.

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And before I even look at my bills, before I
even payal one of them, I make sure I write
that out. I put it there so I'm blind to
it being there, tithe and offering for God, and then
I'll figure it out. But these early believers went way
beyond God's command to return the faithful tithe and to
have free will offerings. They realized that for the early

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Church in that critical time of its history to establish
the foundation for future generations, Like the Early advent Believers
in the eighteen hundreds, they realized that they would need
to pour out their life, energy and wealth and ability
to jump start the church and the Apostolic age so
it could reach the world and go through the centuries

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to the Second Coming of Christ. The same attitude will
come again just before Jesus returns. The early church on
fire for God held nothing back from God. They realized
that Jesus came to this world as the gift of God.
Now this is not the first church where I've been
a part of a building program. Sacrificial believers put their
lives on the line to make this place go up.

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There are some people who died in the exertion of
energy to create reaching hearts in national But when I
was the pastor of the Oakwood Church years ago, at
the beginning of my ministry, when I was an ordained minister,
I had my first pastors that led to ordination in
Michigan Conference. I remember my head elder who had grown

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up in the church. His name was Donald Donald Weaver.
His dad was a surgeon. He became a world renowned surgeon.
And one of the members of our church started pouting.
He was the only millionaire in the church that he
wouldn't give a nickel for the building of that church
unless it was done his way, and we were all

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doing it wrong. I remember going in his office. He
had a list of grievances with me and it was
this long. Really, it was printed out on a computer.
I mean, what I'm supposed to read all that? So yeah,
I did, in my brashness as a young pastor, I
tore it up right there and put it in the
trash can. Says, now, what else do you have to

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communicate to me? That made me it in the best way.
But in time he had to step down as an
elder because he was all about him and not about others.
So that put a greater weight on the surgeon in
the church, and I would forget. After the church went
up after a four year struggle. It's a miracle at
church went up. Beautiful church. It was called the Church

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of the Flags because we celebrated our multi ethnic diversity
with flags. That wouldn't be a bad idea here either,
But basically, right in front of the church, it looked
like a un A general conference gathering. He was crying
one day right there in the foyer of the church
where he had a Sabisco class. I says, done, okay,

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He says, yes, I'm crying because I'm so happy. I'm
very happy. He says, what do you mean why you
cry and you're happy? He says, I don't have a
pinnion in my bank account right now, and I'm the
happiest I've been in all my life because this church
is here. He put everything he had into building that church,

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and his health is not the greatest today. So pray
for Donald Weaver, doctor Donald Weaver. I named my son
Donald after doctor Donald Weaver. My son can't stand the
name Donald. He likes the middle name Matthew Moore. But
lately there's some famous people with Donald. Who knows how
that'll work out, but basically Donald, he says, Dad, I'm
not Donald Duck, you know so, I said, but you're

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named after a great man. Remember, Donald Weaver doesn't always work.
But Donald Weaver's one of the greatest men I've ever
known in my life. Sorry, I just had to think
about that. These early Christians realized that Jesus humbled himself
in the garden of Gsemite. He went to the cross,

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and Jesus bore every sin we have ever committed his
body on the cross. And when Jesus cried out his
finished on the cross, God had nothing more to give.
God gave it all. That's what love is. We are
told that the angel perfection is not enough to keep
angels from sinning. We are told that it is a
contemplation of the Cross of Christ, the love of God

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in Christ that keeps sinless beings from sinning. The early
Church had a fresh view of the Cross of Christ.
They knew what it meant, and they gave because God gave.
What happened What happens when a man or woman makes
a life changing choice in life to give their hearts
to Jesus with no reservations. What happens when the Holy

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Spirit surrender inside, reaches deep inside the heart and the
soul of the inner life and the affections is transformed
by God who is won. Wars cease, posturing ends, a
pursuit of greatness is gone, sins are confessed, evil is banished,
righteousness is appealed. Arrogant self will, anger, resentment flees from

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the heart and the life of the Church that has
surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit and the
inner man, the inner woman. It is at that moment,
that glorious moment, when the Church possesses the power of
God on God's terms. That's when miracles were wrought. That's
when for God's sake in Christ, he will work through
the Church to transform our neighborhoods our lives, our families

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and those around us Acts four point thirty three. And
with great power, the apostles gave their testimony to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them,
and wasn't saying in the Bible upon them all, the
all of them here was a multitude of them, a
huge number, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

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It takes great power to hold many people together. The
power of God that regenerates the light was demonstrated in
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Love yanked him out of
the grave because love would not let him go. And
love doesn't let others go. Love holds on to people.
Love cares about them, and love is not codependent. But
love cares. When we experience a great grace in our church,

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that's when the great power of God is in the church.
We give because God is given great power. Great grace
was upon them all. When we come to the cross,
that's where we see the power, the glory, the grace
of God, the selflessness of God. And we should be

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the people of the Cross. Now look at the fourth Chapter,
verses thirty four and thirty six. There was not a
needy person among them, for as many as were possessed
of lands or households, sold them and brought the proceeds
of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet,
and distribution was made to each as any had needed. Thus, Joseph,

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who was surnamed by the apostle Barnabas, which means son
of Encouragement Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field
which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid
it at the apostles feet before Paul came upon the
scene as the mighty Apostle the Gentiles. Barnabas, the Son
of Encouragement, became a source of strength and encouragement for

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that early church, so we could reach the world. Barnabas
put his field money from it into the hands of
God's servants, and he spent the rest of his life
as a missionary, encouraging the early Church to share, to care,
to grow, to spread the knowledge of Jesus. What was
the secret of the early Church's witness for Jesus. It

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was the fact that they were one. The love of
God had come into the church. And what was the result.
Great power and great grace was upon them all because
they are one heart, one soul, heart and soul one God.
Bless you in Jesus, dear Father. There's no glory in

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being big if deep inside the heart, where it's small,
there is no love. So Father, help us, because we
can't put love in our hearts for other people. Only
you can bring Jesus into the heart and life. Thank
you that he revealed your life. Thank you for those
early Christians that were enamored with who he was. And

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thank you that it is our privilege on the eve
of the Advent to be in love with Jesus. Dear Lord,
bless your people. May there be great power in their lives.
Why because of great grace upon them all in Jesus name. Amen.