Okay.
4 98 and the, 4 98.
Okay.
Hmm.
Ready? With every brand, we're gift, So, He is, I said fast enough.
Well, Yeah.
Okay, No.
Hmm. No, it is. Oh, Oh, in mind, Do they say, No, the Hello, It's been the
No fade I dread, I You sure the price it has been paid For Jesus, And he was raised to overthrow the grave.
To this, my sin has been defeated. Jesus now Whenever is my Oh, the chains are really I can sing I am free and not I
With every breath I long to follow Jesus For he has said that he will bring me home
And day by day I know he will renew me. To rest with joy before the to this I hope my hope is only Jesus The glory ever more to live
In the races complete. Sail my lips shall repeat yet not I live through Christ to me. To this I hold my hope is only Jesus Other glory ever more to him When the races complete still my life shall repeat yet not I Not through Christ in me.
Yet not Christ in me
Thank you, Jamie.
All right. We're going to be in X 2, but before we do that, I'm just going to.
Open us with the word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity that we have to meet together.
To open your word and by the power of the Holy Spirit to understand it. Help us to be encouraged tonight by.
This passage that's before us about the beginning days of the church help us to understand what it is that you want us to understand from it and just give us help.
It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
So we're gonna be in. X, chapter 2, finishing up the last few verses here.
I'm gonna read them and then we'll just have a few comments on it.
And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them starting in verse 40. Saying be saved from this perverse generation.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship. And the breaking of bread and in prayers.
And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together.
And have all things in common and sold their possessions and goods. And divided them among all. As anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.
Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those.
Who are being saved.
So as we were talking about last week, the book of X is a book of movement. It's, it's, it's a new beginning.
It's a something different that God is. It's a different way that God's working in the world.
And, he had been working with, the nation of Israel and now he's, doing something different.
His spirits living inside of people. And this new man is animated and it's working and it's moving in the world.
And so this is just sort of the continuance of that. But as I was thinking about this, this portion I was thinking.
I think it can be. Like my theme. Phrase would be it's a season of simplicity.
Single mindedness. Inspecting, inspecting. You're familiar with that word? It's like, it's like arithmetic.
So it's the 3 S's, simplicity, single mindedness, expecting, expecting, expectancy.
They are, they're, meeting together daily. There they have everything in common there.
They're carrying on with the breaking a bread fellowship, apostles doctrine. It's, they're all in all of them are all in on this.
And, I was thinking about. The first point of it's it's a season of simplicity, a simplicity being.
There's no problems, right? Like we're reading this and and they're all together and everything's happy and I was thinking.
Why, why is that? How is it? That a group of people, if you get 6 people together and say, what should we have?
For dinner, you're not gonna, you're not, it's not gonna work. What should, what topping should we have on our pizza?
Like it's You're gonna get 6 different answers and yet here they are living in one accord.
Living. In harmony with each other living united and it's this really it's this really simple season.
The problems that we're going to find out about later, they don't have it.
They haven't developed. And I was wondering, like, why is that? And I think the answer is.
Partly because They were all new believers. All of them. Like if you've ever been around a new believer, everything is awesome.
It's just amazing what the Lord is doing and how he's working and they haven't had problems yet.
They haven't. They haven't had the need for a book like. Philippians yet where there's disunity they haven't had the need yet for a book like Galatians where there's people who are trying to impose legalistic doctrines on the group of the new believers and they haven't had to deal with that like everything is new and everything is awesome and
it's this wonderful season of of unity and growing and And but it is. It is a season as well.
Season of simplicity. They're totally focused on the task at hand. They're enraptured with their savers love.
And the piece that they have in the assurance that they have in him.
But they like we wish that this was the end. The end of chapter 2 is the end of the book, right?
And then they lived happily ever after. And we've been just glorying and ever since. Like every believer has, you know, this is just the way that it goes.
But then, you know, chapter 3 happens and the rest of the book happens. It's a season and and I was thinking about this In my own life, I was just talking with somebody recently.
I just remember the first time that I like it really sunk in. Well. What salvation was and.
What the Lord was like he was he was working my life I was about 13 I went to church and I sat and I was listening to the pastor.
I was like, holy cow, this makes sense. Like I was listening and I understood what you were saying and up until that point.
It had been. I don't know. It been the thing that we did on Sunday. And then all of a sudden it was like, this makes sense.
And you get, you get the sense that that's what's going on here. Is like, oh wow, like the scriptures make sense.
Like. Jesus, like it all makes sense. It's all coming together and there's this intense joy that is associated with that.
And with just the simplicity that comes along with just believing and living in close community with other people who are like minded.
And it's a wonderful season. It's a great thing that they got to enjoy for a time.
Single mindedness. I was thinking about that again, you know, if you get a group of people together and It's hard to be single single-minded, but.
I was thinking how is it that they were able to kind of do this but The plan was. According to Jesus, it's going to start in Jerusalem, go into Judea.
Going to Samaria and then to the ends of the world. So. This at Pentecost, this is.
As chapter 2 calls it.
It was, and they're dwelling in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under the sun.
So these are all Jews. Devout Jews who are hearing this and these are like-minded people, they have similar cultural beliefs.
They have similar religious beliefs. They have similar experiences. They have some like everything about this specific group of people, they were.
As common as a group of people can be, right? If you look around our chapel, I was talking to somebody else about this.
It's incredible. Just in our gathering. We have people from Malaysia. India.
We have the Congolese. Families we have people from. Ruth is from Ireland. We have people from I'm from Alaska.
That's practically another country. We have people from all over the world like. We have like a hundred 50 people here and we have like 5 continents represented, Wannas whenever he's here, obviously from Columbia and other like We have people from.
All over the world and it's incredible how a gathering the size can be that well represented. But with that comes differences and we have to learn how to live in community with each other because we're all coming.
Every Sunday, every Wednesday, whenever we gather with different expectations and they're, they're unspoken.
And it's an expectation because you're just, that's what. You're used to that's what's normal for you or that's what whatever and like but As far as a group of people is concerned, they all had the same expectation.
Like all of these people. Were very similar, united and thought, united in experience, United in values, united in shared history.
Expectations, they're waiting for the Savior and now they find out that it's common and so But there's this single mindedness because They're all, again, they're all kind of the same group of people.
And so, They're new believers. They're all from shared worldview. And, and so that sort of lends itself to single mindedness.
Once you get out into Samaria, once you get out into the rest of the world. Those changes or those differences are gonna start to creep up.
And that's where we, you know, that's where we see the book is going. That's where we see the need for some of the later epistles that happen where it's like, Hey, we need to be united.
We need to. Keep Christ the focus here because. Otherwise, we're gonna tear each other apart.
And so this season for them is, Extremely sweet. Sweet and simplicity, sweet and single mindedness.
And in expectancy. They were under the impression that Jesus was coming back. Soon. And they were living that way.
They were not
I think if you would have asked them, they wouldn't have seen 2,000 years passing between. Pentecost or between the Ascension Pentecost and his return all throughout the the New Testament, it's in there.
He's coming back. Like, and it's soon. So we, it's important.
It's important. It's important how we live because we don't want it's important it's important how we live because we don't want to be cut not serving him not living for him because he's coming and it's going to be, it's going to be imminent.
And so how they were living was. Was, Clearly with that in mind, people are selling their property.
They're giving everything that they have. If they would have known, like I wonder if they would have known, like he's not coming for 2,000 years if they would have behaved different.
And I wonder if that creeps into the way that we live sometimes where it's like I just wonder.
If I. Genuinely thought Jesus could like actually come back today. Like if that would change. Anything that I I would.
How I would live. I don't know. I'm not saying it would. I just.
It's just something that I think about sometimes. So they're in this season, the season of simplicity, the same season of single-mindedness, this season of expectancy.
I was thinking about seasons, I was thinking about an ecclesiastes. Chapter 3, there's a season for all of these.
You know, there's a season for life. There's the time for these things. I was thinking about and first Peter.
Chapter 4 when he says. He says, I'll just read it. Chapter 4 verse 12.
When he's talking about, beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery child.
Which is to try you as though some strange thing. Happened to you. There's the season of intense fiery trials that they're going through.
But it is it is a season and I was thinking actually I think that's what he today is what he was referring to a fiery child, 100 degrees outside.
Maybe tomorrow too, but. It's a season. It's It's not something that's going to last forever.
And in the same way, I think. That we have to be careful. When we look at the book of Acts in general, but especially in this particular section.
I think we sometimes we want to turn this into a formula. We want to say, well, they were preaching the gospel, they were baptizing, they were following the apostles doctrines, they were fellowshiping, they were breaking bread there in prayers.
And so if we have all of these elements. Then we're going to have the kind of success that they're having.
I don't think it's that way. I don't think it's that way at all.
I think this is a record of what happened. I don't think it's a formula for what always will happen.
If the circumstances match this. I think that every church has seasons. I think every individual's life has seasons.
I was really depressed recently for a couple of weeks. And whenever that was happening, it's easy to want to be like.
Well, the problem is like The problem is me somehow. I'm not doing what. I need to be doing or I'm the wrong kind of person.
That's typically like where my mind goes. I'm the wrong kind of person. And.
I think we all have. Casons in life sometimes. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down.
The important thing is the perseverance, the consistency. And it's. I don't think we can we can turn this into a formula.
I don't think we can say. Well, if we if we have all of these things lined up, then the results are going to follow.
I think sometimes it's just a season. And, as we, as we see from the rest of the books, there's going to be different, all kinds of different kinds of seasons.
Sometimes The gospels going out in in droves and people are coming in and they're knowing the Lord.
And sometimes it's like. They're getting. They're not getting results.
People are actually quite. Against what the either Peter or Paul are talking about like There's all kinds of different things.
That, take place the importance though is the continuance. John Duckhorn one time told me whenever I get he was saying this to me he's like whenever you get and to like your midlife like there's gonna be times where you just feel dry and you just feel like.
Like there. You're just not getting much from the word or life is just hard. And he's like, it's not a problem with you.
Like everybody goes through it and you just have to kind of like endure. You gotta keep going. I've really, appreciated him telling me that.
Cause Jamie and I talk about one of the things that. One of the things that we didn't feel like anybody ever told us how boring life is.
How monotonous it can be you just get up and you do the same thing every day and you have these little kids and they don't learn.
And it's just like every single day is the same. And you just feel like you're gonna go crazy.
And then you start talking to other people and it's like, yeah, that's my experience too.
And then there's some comfort there, but like We all go through these seasons. We all have them.
And We have to remind each other that like.
It's okay. Like we've all been there and and we have these really great seasons in life.
We have them and they're wonderful and we want them to stay, but they don't. And when things go south that doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem with you.
It just means that the seasons have changed. I would love for winter to say all year round. I love winter.
And it doesn't. It gets hot and things. It doesn't matter what I do.
The season changes. And that's the same thing that's going on here. It's a wonderful season and they can appreciate it for what it is and they can appreciate it for what it is and they're clearly enjoying it.
But it is just that. And that's, that's really my encouragement. To. All of us today as an individual, if you're going through a hard time.
It's a season in life. There's a start. And there is an end to every season.
If it's the worst season you've ever had. Then the At least we know that one day we'll be with the Lord and most likely Most likely the season.
Is not going to last and tell them. I there's going to be a better season that's coming as well.
In this lifetime it's not it's not necessarily assured but we, see that there that life is full of seasons.
And.
If we're if you're going through a great time and things then turn and start going bad, that doesn't necessarily mean that things.
That there's a problem with you or that whatever like. It just might be the next thing that comes along.
We can't control the good times and we can't.
We can't make sure that they keep happening, but we can control. Our efforts we can control our attitudes and our actions.
And that's really just the encouragement that I have for you today, wherever you find yourself today.
Keep going for the Lord. Keep going because This is, if it's bad, it's most likely gonna get better.
And we're assured that at the end they will be better. And if it's great, don't be discouraged if they go bad.
Keep going. That's all that we can do. That's all that I have. I heavenly father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for this, this book that records. The true events of history. That, You have.
You have broken into the world and you have. You have disarmed send, you've disarmed death.
You have defeated them and you have. Assured us that by having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We also can experience those things and, and we look forward to that. When we get to enjoy those things fully, but even now we are just so thankful that.
Even in this life for a while, we get to enjoy those things. Even if it's not.
In, in full measure. Thank you for. This group of believers, thank you for the faithfulness and the blessing that they have been to me personally.
Thank you. Just for this opportunity that we have now to pray together and thank you that you hear our prayers.
Okay.
At this.
Well, thank you, Luke, for your thoughts on. These seasons of life and.
And