Well, good morning, Church and Happy Labor Day weekend. This weekend, I guess on paper this weekend is the official end of summertime, and for many of you it is the official hello Pumpkin Spice Latte time, right? I think I heard that this week on the news that is officially launched in that.
I know that this service feels a little bit different today. We're missing about 400 students that are up in the mountains as we said earlier in the service today that are on fall retreat this week. Our Wi-Fi provider just called us to check on us to make sure that we were okay. And we told them, "We're good. It's all fine. We're all meeting here."
I struggled today how to start this message. I'm going to be real honest, just a little bit of vulnerable moment here. And I almost made the band stay and just play some quiet music behind me and offer a moment of prayer for all our Alabama fans in the house. But I didn't. I didn't do that. I wouldn't do that. Actually, I wouldn't even point out that they got smashed by the Knolls yesterday, that our three Knolls fans that go to this church are living on cloud nine. They have not left the hallways today, just to let everybody know.
Well look, if you've got a copy of scripture, turn with me to Acts chapter two. All right? Acts chapter two is where we're going to be this morning, and we're going to just continue our walk through this book of Acts where we just get to see week after week the Spirit of God, the power of God, and the church of God. We get to see the intersection of those three tag lines for this series in actually, in the last chapter and three quarters, right? That's about as far as we are into the series. We have actually got to see a little bit of each one of those tag lines already.
We have seen in chapter one where Jesus promised that the Spirit would come, that the Spirit would bring power, the Spirit would bring His presence to our lives, to live for Him, to speak for Him, and to have His power. We saw also that in the moments where Jesus ascended to the Father, we saw the disciples already living out the Christian life, waiting on the Spirit. Even in their overwhelming moments of not having Jesus and the Holy Spirit not having come upon them yet, that they showed us what it looked like to walk in His power.
And then, the last two weeks we've actually seen the day that changed everything. We've been really keying in on this day of Pentecost, this 50 days after the crucifixion, 50 days after the idea that Jesus has now died for our sin and rose from the grave. He walked with the disciples for 40 days. He looks at the disciples and told them to wait. And now on this day, the day of Pentecost, the Spirit falls.
And this day changed everything, because now we no longer celebrate a God for falling on a place, but now we celebrate a God for falling into His people. And that's you and that's me, and now we no longer have to bounce in and out of this presence of the Holy Spirit. It's now given to us at the moment of salvation.
Actually, that's what Peter stands up to preach. Right? The first part of chapter two is Peter, actually the middle part is Peter standing up and giving the first Christian message. The first Holy Spirit-driven message in the Book of Acts has these two parts to it. Peter is giving us believers a master class on how to share our faith. But on the other side, he's given the people who aren't sure where they are in their faith, he's given them the opportunity to know that there is a God of the universe that loves them and has made a way for them to have the Spirit in their lives.
In fact, if you go back with me to Acts 2:21, Peter says this to them about Jesus making this way. He says, "And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." And here's the gold thing about this moment that we're looking at in scripture. Many of them that day did. Many of them gave their life to Jesus. And he follows up in verse 41 of chapter two and he says, "Those who accepted His message were baptized. And about 3,000 of them were added to their number that day." Could you imagine this? 3,000 people that day gave their life to Jesus, came to a relationship with Jesus, were baptized on that day.
Now that's enough. That's an incredible day. But not only was there people giving their life to Jesus that day, and not only were there 3,000 people that were baptized on that day. Now on top of that, God actually on that day started the church. He started the church. So what we're going to see today is the baby church, right? It is the infant church. It is the church that God created, the Spirit led, and it gives us a look into the unspoiled body of Christ.
And here's the cool part about this, Burnt Hickory. We are a direct descendant of this church that the Spirit birthed. We are a descendant of this church. And we, here's what I want to do for the message today, we as individuals and we as a church should really be aware of what it looks like. We should really be aware of what made it function. We should really be aware of how God set it up to run under the power of the Holy Spirit. We should really be aware of what God has called the church to be and that God has said. "And if you'll do it, I will make it last."
And so, because of this, what I want us to do today is I want us to look at the bedrocks of the church and what the church looked like. And I want us to see that not only are these the bedrocks of the church, but catch this, catch this, we are the church.
So let me give it to you in a nutshell. Today, let me kind of qualify where we're going today. We're going to look at the baby church of Jesus today. We're going to pull the model of that. We're going to compare this church called Burnt Hickory to that. We're going to actually commit to being followers of Jesus together that live out these bedrocks that Jesus gives us here. And as long as I'm the pastor, this is what we're going to do.
But on top of that, I want you to see this morning that all of these things that we're going to look like this morning, remember this, remember, you are the church. All right? You're the church. The church is not a building. It's housed in a building. The church is a movement of believers, that's you and that's me, moving in a direction together following what we're going to read this morning.
So listen to this. The call of the church is the call on all individuals' lives. All right? That is it. You can't separate it. You are the church. I am the church. We are the church together. And what I want us to see today is that as we see the functions of the church, we actually see the calling and how we all, as individuals and cumulatively as a body of Christ, should walk out God's plan together.
So listen, don't check out today. Don't check out and go, "Well, that whole church thing, that's Matt's job, right? I mean, they only work one day a week. They're the ones that should be doing that." No, no, no. You are the church. I am the church. And all of us today, we're going to see a model of church, a model for a New Testament, Spirit-driven follower of Jesus.
And here's the cool part about it. If we lean into what we're about to read today, Jesus says this about us as a church. Matthew 16:18, He says, "On this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Jesus says, "Look, if you'll just do it my way as a body of believers, Satan will have no part of it." And what does He say? "And it will last."
But He also promises, the Bible does and promises that if our lives will stand as we read today, we can claim Isaiah 54:17 where it says, "No weapon formed against you will prevail, and you'll refute every tongue that accuses you. And this," oh, this is so encouraging, "and this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. 'And this is their vindication from me,' declares the Lord." Do you get this, believers? Listen, when you're walking in the Spirit, it is God who vindicates you. And He will stand for you.
So let me put all this together. The promise of the Spirit is there. The promise of the power is there. The promise and the power of God is there. But the question is how do we walk in it? How do we walk in it as a church, and how do I walk in it as an individual?
Well, here's the good news. Acts chapter two actually gives us the way we can walk this out, and it starts in a little bit of stuff that we covered last week. So here's what I'm going to do. All right? Take a little bit of liberty here. I want go back to where last week started, and I want to grab a couple of those things, and then I want to put them on a list, a continuum. What you're going to see at the end is actually, it's a circle that describes what it looks like to be the body of Christ, a Spirit-filled body as an individual and a Spirit-filled body as a church. It'll make more sense as we go.
But let me say this, the first three we'll review, so we're going to do them quick, all right? So I'll give them to you. Here's number one, the Spirit-filled body of Christ, number one, is convicted by the gospel. It's convicted by the gospel. You say, "Well, Matt, what does that mean?" That means that as a person and as a church, one of the major parts of who we are is that we are sensitive to the call and sensitive to the pull of the gospel on our lives.
In fact, if you look at Acts 2:37 in your notes from last week, it says this, "When the people heard this", in other words, the gospel, heard the message of Jesus preached, "they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" Here's what it means to be convicted by the gospel. It means that I'm drawn, for the first time, I'm drawn from my sin into a moment of salvation. I'm drawn. But it also means once I am a believer that I'm sensitive to the conviction of the Spirit.
Now you say, "Well, Matt, what does that really even mean? I always thought that the convictedness of Christianity is something that I should run away from. I always thought it was a bad thing." Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Listen to me, believer. The conviction of God is a gift to us. It's a gift. You say, "Well, why is that a gift?" It's a gift because given to our natural bent, we always drift away from God. But the conviction is what goes, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You better be careful. You better not go there. You better stay here." So are you tracking with me? The conviction, first of all, is to come to Christ. Second of all, it is a lifestyle decision where I'm moving in the direction of the gospel.
So number one, we're going to be a people that are convicted by the gospel. But number two, we're going to be a people who are turned to God, who are turned to God. You see, it's not enough to just be convicted. Secondly, I need to turn. All right? I need to turn. The Bible would define this as repenting. In fact, if you go with me to Acts 2:38, it says it like this, "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." So if we're going to be a people that are led by the Spirit, we're not only convicted by the Spirit, but there needs to come this moment in our lives where we turn to God. First, we turn at salvation, and then it becomes a lifestyle decision of ours to turn.
You say, "Man, how is it a lifestyle decision of repentance?" It becomes a lifestyle decision because when the Spirit says, "Stop," our role is to stop and turn towards Him. That's literally what it says in scripture that we should be. We should be a people that the practice of our lives is when sin creeps in, when moments to glorify God creep in that our MO, right, our mode of operation is to stop what we are doing and turn to the one who's given us life. That's what the Bible describes as repenting. It's a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of direction. Yes, first it is that salvation, but then it's a lifestyle.
So as a church, we're going to be a people that are convicted by the gospel. The gospel rules our life. We're going to be a people who are turned to God as individuals and as a body. But thirdly, we're going to be a people that professed Jesus publicly. Now, in Acts two, that's exactly what they did, right? They professed Jesus publicly. Here in this specific context, it started with professing Him in baptism, right? That's exactly what we just read.
Now, as a believer, that is our first act of obedience and our first profession is that we give our lives to Jesus and we are baptized. Some of you last week indicated, "Hey, Matt, I've never been baptized. I need to do that." Man, incredible. But as a church, now our role is to be a public professor to this community of who Jesus is with love and grace, but with clarity presenting Jesus and that He is king.
Now, that's the first three. All right? That's the first three. We looked at all of those last week, and that's really the beginning of the Christian faith, is it not? It sets us up. We are called and convicted by the gospel. We turn our hearts to Jesus. We publicly profess who Jesus is. That's who we are as a church, and it's who we should be as believers. That is the start of the true Spirit-filled life.
But here's the deal. Unfortunately, that's where many followers of Jesus stop. Unfortunately, that's where many churches stop, if I could. Not naming any names, but many churches will stop at that. "We're all about just showing the conviction, showing the salvation, showing the baptism." And it's like, "Oh, see you later. We want to let you go." You see, many people lean into this and think that, "As long as I've got my get out of hell free card, right, my salvation moment, that I can just go and live how I want to."
But here's the deal. That's not where Jesus leaves it. It's not where scripture leaves it. And it's for sure not where the Spirit leads it. And you know this in your hearts. You know this is not where it should be for you personally or as a church. In fact, I want you to think with me just for a minute. Could you imagine if that thinking was the lifestyle thinking that we have if you're married, in your marriage? Could you imagine if it was only those first three steps, what your marriage would look like?
You say, "Matt, what are you talking about?" Let me walk you through a little exercise here. You know what it looks like when you get married. You first, you meet each other. Maybe it's in person, maybe it's on an app. I'm not showing shame. You be you, however you need to do it, right? You meet them. You figure out they're not a serial killer first, like meet them in public. You do the deal, right? You start dating officially, and now it's like, "Okay, this could be going somewhere." Then you finally determine the relationship, that big DTR talk like, "What are we?" That's a big day. You've determined who you are. You're drawn to this person. You've put a stake in the ground. You've determined who you are. You keep dating, you keep dating. He puts a ring on it finally, Amen, ladies? He put a ring. We're moving in the right direction.
Now we're standing at our wedding day, right? What are we doing? We're there to vow before everyone that I've turned from myself, I'm turning into one. Are you feeling how this is kind of congruent in this relationship? And now you're vowing in this day publicly that you will be each others'.
But let me ask you something. What if that was the last of it? What if on that day he was like, "Hey, peace out, boo. I'm out. I'll see you on the holidays." Right? What if it was like, "Hey, I'll visit you when I need something"? Unfortunately, that relationship is going nowhere, nowhere at all. It started off with a bang, but that relationship is going nowhere.
I've got news for you. If we're only in those first three things as people and as a church, our relationship with Jesus is going nowhere. Salvation is the start, it's the finish as well. So as a church, what do we do? What do we do? Well, thank goodness we get the rest of chapter two, because it actually lays out the rest of the model. And I wanted you to have all the model on one page. So let me read it to us and then let me pull it out as the model to show it to us.
Here's what it says in Acts 2:42-46. It says, "Then." It doesn't say then, but in my mind it needs to say then, because we just started right there. Okay? It says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles." Verse 44, "And all the believers were together and they had everything in common. They sold property and possessions and gave to everyone who had need. And every day they continued to meet together in the temple courtyards. And they broke bread in their homes and they ate together," here it is, "with glad and sincere hearts." So there it is.
Luke, in his best doctor way ever, right? He gives us the description of the rest of the description of the first Holy Spirit followers of Jesus, the prototype, the infant followers of Jesus, the prototype church. So what I want us to do for the next couple of minutes, I just want us to break it down through this list that he gave us. I want us to add it to where we just left off, to being convicted by the gospel, turning to God, professing Jesus publicly, and I want us to see where we fall.
So here's number four. If we're going to be a Holy Spirit-driven and a Holy Spirit life church, we're to be number four, here it is on top of those others, devoted to scripture, devoted to scripture. You say, "Well, Matt, where is the word scripture in what you just read?" It's all over it. In fact, let me show you right here in verse 42. It says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching." Now the apostles' teaching is scripture.
You say, "Matt, how is that?" Well, let's go back in history and think about this. The New Testament has not been written yet. In fact, the New Testament is just beginning. Jesus has just been here. The Holy Spirit has just fallen. Obviously, none of the church letters could be there. Obviously, none of the rest of Acts could be here. It hasn't happened yet. So what are they teaching? The apostles are teaching the things that Jesus has taught them, Jesus has shown them, and Jesus has mentored them. They're teaching the Old Testament. And what they are teaching is actually what they end up writing down in many of the rest of the letters, and what Paul writes down in many of the rest of the letters. So they're teaching scripture. In other words, the Word of God is the most important thing in their lives.
Now, I asked you this last week, but what is the first thing that happened in the apostles' lives when the Spirit fell on them? Do you remember the first thing that happened? They began to speak the gospel message of Jesus. Now, notice this. They didn't begin to care for all the poor. They didn't begin to break out in worship, break out in song, break out in all these little deals. No, no, no. And I'm not saying those things are not important, but what I'm saying is the first thing that happened was the proclamation of the Word of God.
Why? Why should the Word of God be first and foremost in everything that we do as a people and everything that we do as a church? It's really simple. It's because the Word of God is what informs us for everything, everything. Listen, you can't worship if you don't know the Word of God. You can't love people if you don't know the Word of God. You can't serve people if you don't know the Word of God. The Word of God informs everything.
So here's the deal. If you grew up in one of those churches that it was all about the Spirit, all about the experience, all about the whatever, hey, I get it. I love it. You say, "Well, Matt, well how do you reconcile those two things?" Here's what I would say to this. As a redeemed, Spirit-filled follower of Jesus, we're not abandoning the Spirit for the Word of God. We're not doing that. In fact, we're allowing the word of God to lead us in the Spirit. You see how it works together? It's the Word of God that leads us there.
Actually, all true awakenings happen because people got serious about the Word of God in prayer, every single time. It's what we're seeing right here in Acts, it's what we see in Nehemiah, it's what we see from the Apostle Paul, one of the most Spirit-filled people that are out there. They start because there's a foundation of leaning in to not my desires, but God's desires.
So what does it mean to be devoted to the scriptures? Or if you memorize it like I did as a kid, what does it mean to be steadfastly committed right to the Word of God? Here's what it means. It means that the Word of God has a permanent, prominent, and takes precedent placed in every single thing that I do. That's what it means. It means that when it comes down to my will versus its will, its will wins. That's what it means. It means that I am committed to not only hear the Word of God preached over me, but I'm committed to study the Word of God on my own, and I'm wholeheartedly committed to say that, "God, I'm submitting my lives to what you have given me."
You see, Christianity is a Word-based religion. It is a Word-based message. And God has revealed Himself first and foremost to us through His scripture, through Word. So catch this. Culture would want you to think that you can find your truth and find your meaning and find your center by looking inside of you. But scripture says, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Your heart is deceitful. You find it from the Word of God first, and then you allow it to mold your heart."
See, to be honest, that's why the largest portion of anything that we do here at this church is the Word of God. Do you realize when you break down what we do here on Sunday mornings, that the largest portion is us reading the Word and explaining the Word, reading the Word and explaining the Word. Why? Because the Word is preeminent in everything that we do, everything that we do. I love worship. I love it, but you can't worship if you don't know the Word. I love the whole little greeting awkward time that we do, but you can't do that, right unless you know the Word. I love the invitation time, but the invitation time is from the Word. It's all about the Word. In fact, Jesus says it like this in Matthew 4:4. He says, "It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but every Word that comes from the mouth of God." That's the scriptures. They devoted themselves to scripture.
But what about you? What about you? So they were devoted to the Word, but it doesn't stop there and we should be too. Number five, they were committed to fellowship. They were committed to fellowship. Now, when I say the word fellowship, don't think you're old man Martin's 7:00 AM crew. All right? That's not what I'm talking about. Or it could be that, but it's not just that, okay? Don't think milk and cookies, don't think like donuts with dad. No, no, no. That's not what I'm talking about here.
In fact, in the margin, write out somewhere, "Oneness." All right? Oneness. I want to just stick with fellowship because that's what the NIV said, stick with oneness or togetherness. That's another word that I want this to be in your mind. Or think edification. There's a big Bible word for you right there, edification right there.
Here's what that means. It means that their goal as a church was not just this sterile academic learning, academic feeling. No, no, no. It was that they were together. As a church, as a Holy Spirit-driven person, one of my goals for life should be that I am together with other believers. What did it mean? It means they were one. It means they knew each other. It means their goal was not to just grow individually, but it was to grow together.
You say, "Matt, where do you get that?" Look at verse 42. It says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread." Skip down to verse 46 and watch what it says. It says, "Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts, and they broke bread in their homes and ate together." What does that mean? It means they did life together. They did life together as believers for a specific purpose, and that was to hold each other up, to hold each other accountable, and to be in a partnership. That's where God's shown us to go.
Now, I also want you to notice in verse 46 that it's very specific right here, very specific of the two different meetings that the Holy Spirit has drawn into in this moment, and it's actually a model for us and a model for the church. What did they do? They met in two different places. Number one, they met in the temple courts. They met in the temple courts. Here's what that means. They met as a large group. At this point, it's like 3,120 people. If you add the Holy Spirit, it's 21, but that's just like splitting hairs, right? There's 3,120 people in this place and they're meeting together to do what? To worship together, to exalt the name of God together, to have scriptures taught over them together.
Is that ringing a bell for any of us right now? It's exactly what we're doing in this room, exactly what we do every single week. We come together to be underneath the Spirit, to feel the power of worship, to feel the encouragement of those beside us that are lifting us up and seeing people worship. And it's encouraging. It's exactly what we're doing right here.
But that's just part of it, because secondly, the Bible shows us that they met in homes. They met in homes, or really in context it just means they met in these smaller groups with people they knew. For what? For relationship. They met with people they knew well, because what I know about them, and here's what I know about us. You people that sit on this side, well, you're not normally there, there's all the students over there, y'all don't know those people over there. And y'all in the back over there, y'all just slid in right there last moment, y'all don't know these people over here. Right?
So they met together to be in this significant relationship with each other. And this is significant because the Bible says that they broke bread together. In other words, they celebrated even the Lord's Supper together to have this oneness saying,"Wwe're all part of this body and here's part for you and here's part for you. And I've got you and you've got me, and we're in this thing together. And I've got you and we're with Jesus all one."
Listen, that's what this church does in our Life Groups. It's what we do. It's where we're poured into for the scripture, but it's also where we're poured into for our soul, and where we pour into others while we're there. You get that? That our groups here and what it's describing here is an event to where we not only just worship God, but it's an event where we're looking into the souls of other people going, "I've got you. I've got you."
Boy, this breaks down the whole idea of, "Yeah, I used to go to a Life Group, but I just wasn't getting anything out of it." You're missing the point. The point is is that I'm being poured into and you're being poured into. And when I need it, you give it to me and when you need it, I give it to you. And we're doing this together.
Man. I love this model. This is why we talk about this stuff so much. It's why we talk about getting into the Word so much. It's why we talking about being in a oneness in a group so much, because that's exactly what the redeemed should do. All of this is showing us that church is not an event. It's a redeemed, Spirits-filled family in motion on mission, standing for each other, remembering Jesus, worshiping Jesus, and being together, together, and leaning into that promise in Hebrews 10:25 where it says, "Not giving up meeting together or some is in their habit or doing, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching." They're together, together, together, together. So they're devoted to scripture. They're in this oneness. How's this resonating in your life right now? Are you doing the test?
But number six, the Bible says that we're constantly in prayer. They're constantly in prayer. Now, let's get back in their lives for a minute. The disciples have just been on this journey where Jesus has left them. They're waiting on the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them to wait and pray, so they prayed 10 days. The Holy Spirit falls, we see this day of Pentecost happen. Now they are filled with the Spirit. It would've been easy for them to go, "Hey, man, I'm good now. I got all I need now. I got all that I need to walk out my life now. The Spirit is with me." Remember? Peter stands up. He preaches like this 10-minute, probably a 40-minute because that's where good preachers do it, sermon and all these people get saved. It is every preacher's dream in this moment.
And now what's happening? The Spirit is with them, so what do they do? It's Acts 2:42, let's read it again. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and in the breaking of bread and to prayer," to prayer. How easy would it have been for these guys to go, "Hey, we got this under control." Right? How easy would that have been? Think about it with me. For three years they walked with the man Jesus. They basically got their undergraduate in Jesus, right? Jesus returns after being crucified. Now they've got their PhD in Jesus, right, at Jesus University. They're the most trained, the most godly people on the planet at this point.
But listen to this, they never got over their dependence and posture of dependence on God. They never got over the fact that they were one step away from not having the presence and the power of God moving their life. And what did they do? They constantly said, "Send me your power. Send me your grace. Send me your words. Send me your direction."
We ain't got time today, but if you track through the book of Acts, oh man, you see almost every single chapter, a moment where something goes down and they're just praying and calling out to God. Acts three, they're praying at the hour of prayer at the temple. Acts four, they're praying for boldness. Acts six, they're praying for these newly appointed deacons. Acts seven, Stephen is praying even as they are stoning him. Acts chapter eight, the disciples are praying over these new believers. Acts nine, they're praying at the raising of Tabitha from the dead. Acts 10, Peter is praying in Caesarea at Cornelius' house. That doesn't even count the nine mentions that the Apostle Paul later on prays and the many mentions of all these small churches that start on the backside of the book of Acts; that they're constantly in prayer and constantly in prayer and constantly in prayer.
Listen to me, church, it's no coincidence in a book where the Spirit of God, the power of God, and the church of God intersect that prayer seems to be the constant theme. Over 24 times in this book are they calling out to the Lord, public prayers, private prayers. Listen, listen, listen. Prayerlessness is just a sign that you have lost your absolute dependence on the power of God, and that you are now, and here's my fear for this community, you're now just leaning on your talent and charisma.
Oh, if this community could hear one thing it's this. Man, y'all are really good at a lot of stuff. Y'all got some talent. But the day we quit getting on our knees and asking the God of the universe to move in our hearts is the day finally God may just go, "Okay. You want to do it on your own? Do it on your own." And we fall. You see, the Spirit-filled church, the Spirit-filled believer realizes that our dependency is on God.
So they devoted themselves to Word, they committed to oneness, they prayed, prayed, prayed. And keep building, watch this, verse 42 and 43, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer." In verse 43, "And everyone was filled with awe." Write this down, number seven, "They were full of awe," full of awe. Now, awe in the South sounds like all, but it's two different words. They're just exactly the same. It's the best I can do. I tried all week to be better at it, right?
Awe is a deep feeling or this intersection of respect, of fear, and wonder. That's the definition of it. It's this moment we come to in our lives, it's actually a very specific word in the New Testament that describes a moment that you can't even describe. It's this moment, this heaviness of whatever it is, it is bigger, it is more powerful, and it is all of what I want. It's actually where we get our word awesome from.
That's what happened in their lives. Something powerful, something divine was all over them and they were in awe. There's a good sentence for you right there, right? So the disciples were in awe, the new believers were in awe. Actually, those that were just experiencing this because of what's happening in awe. Then read the text again. Watch what happens in verse 43. It says, "Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. And all the believers were together and they had everything in common and they sold property in possessions to give to anyone in need. And every day they continued to meet in the temple courts, and they broke bread in their homes and ate together, with what? "With glad and sincere hearts."
Are you seeing what's happened here? They're so awestruck by the presence of God, they didn't know what to do, so they banded themselves together. They knew there were needs. They knew there was a lot of stuff that needed to happen. They sold their possessions to support each other.
Now, listen, this is not communism. This is not socialism, so you can save that email for later. This is generosity. This is generosity. The fact that they're looking at a God that has redeemed them, that has saved them, that has set them in a direction, have fallen on their presence; and all they know to do is to stand in His presence and go, "Yes, Lord. I am yours and everything about me is yours, everything. My time, my talents, and my treasures, it's yours." They realized it was all from God and they realized He was the only one that could continue what is happening.
Church, listen to me. Your giving and your generosity is a direct indicator of how your awe of God looks. You know why? Because it shows who really is the Lord of your life. It shows who really is the one that you trust in. And it shows, "Do I really believe that God is in control of these things?" Like here, listen, when the Spirit of God gets your heart, what you do with your resources will be the major indicator of that. You will not only just speak the gospel, you'll not only change direction for outward looking in, but your finances will show this.
You do realize that in a lot of areas of our lives, we even lie to ourselves in our Christian life telling us that we're better at something than we really are. Right? Like, "I'm really a loving person." Maybe. Right? We deceive ourselves in a lot of things, don't we? You can't in this one. It's as clear as day in scriptures.
And watch what happens, oh man, what would happen here at Burnt Hickory if we truly lived in the awe of God's presence? What would really happen? What would happen is we would see the Spirit. We would see the power. We would see God move. In fact, watch what happens as a result. "Everybody's needs were met. Everybody had joy. Everybody praised." Even the community noticed what was happening in this church. In fact, look at verse 47. It says, "Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Here's what happens when the awe of God gets a hold of us. "The Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved."
Write this last point down and we'll just talk about it. Here's the last challenge. Here's the result of beingSspirit-filled as a church or as an individual. Number eight, what did they do? They reached the lost. They reached the lost. Listen, every time the Spirit of God falls on the people of God and the control is given to the Spirit, here's what happens every single time. People come to know Jesus, every time. It comes full circle.
So here's what I want you to do as we close this thing up this morning. I want you to notice in your notes number one through number eight. And if you did it on paper, I want you to take an arrow and draw it from eight all the way up to number one. If's on the app, just remember this. This is not just a list. This is the pathway for us as a church to be led by the Spirit. And this is the pathway for you and for me to be led by the Spirit.
So let me ask you this. If you were using this as a guide, right? If you're using this as a test, if you were using this as a health check for your walk with Jesus, for your walk in the Spirit, where would you fall? Where would you fall?
Now look, I fully realize that going one through eight, this is a lot to consume. But let me tell you my prayer for you over these next couple of minutes and my prayer for you over this week. I want you to take this list and I want you to say, "Lord Jesus, which one of them is the biggest one that I struggle in? And help me give it to you. Help me give it to you."
Because here's what I know. Your struggle is different than your struggle. Your number is different from your number. The place where you're at in your life is different than the place where you are in your life. But this is the model. This is the model. Listen, if we want to see God do something big here, which gosh, He is doing something. I don't know if you realize it. We got a lot of people out for the holidays right now, but last weekend we had 700 more people in worship than the same week last year. If we are going to see the Spirit of God continue to fall, this is the model. If you want to continually see God move in you, here's the model.
So what about it today? Do you need to give your life to Jesus? Do you need to publicly profess your faith in Jesus in baptism? Do you need to turn? Maybe you are a believer, but maybe today you need to turn back and repent. Repentance is a natural, normal, and continual thing in our life. Do you need to repent today? Say, "God, here I am. Here this is." Do you need to commit today, "From this point forward, scripture is going to be prominent in my life." Do you need to fall on your face and say, "Lord Jesus, the oneness of the body, that's not where me and my family are. But we're in. I need to take that step." Do you need to commit to being a person of prayer? Do you need to invite the awe presence of God to take back over your life? Or maybe you just need to begin to watch for opportunities to speak to the lost. Oh, church, if we will grab hold of these things, God will move.
Pray with me. Lord Jesus, in these next couple of minutes, Lord, God, help us process this. And God show us where it is that we need to walk in your love and your grace and invite the Spirit to take control of our lives. Lord, I just pray you give people boldness today to make decisions in their faith and to walk out their life in you. It's in your name we pray, Jesus. Amen.