New Life Church Live // Sunday @ 9am

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i don't care what you've done how far you've fallen how much you've messed up how much you've missed it god is madly in love with you he loves you in spite of you in spite of your mess your mistakes he loves you in spite of what you've done what you think where you've gone he loves you i've made so many mistakes in my life i didn't think anybody would want me that god couldn't get anything out of me have you ever been there where you've been so lost and so confused and so hurting that you don't think there's any hope for you at all and lo and behold jesus comes and nudges you on the shoulder and says i still have a plan for you [Music] good morning good morning good morning good morning blue life church today is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and we will be glad in it a great man by the name of caleb once said behold the lord has kept me alive my wife and i were looking at a show last week one of the special shows commemorating 9 11 and we were able to examine the life of one of the lead firemen in new york city he gave testimony of how so many of his men did not survive that terrorist attack when he arrived home that night around the dinner table he asked his wife the question why am i still alive she made a statement she said honey there is still work for you to do i don't know about you this morning but by the great god i am still alive not because of me but because of him i'm here today alive only because god has kept me alive and god still has work for me to do if you feel like i do today that's enough to get your breathe on that's enough to testify of the goodness of the lord if you don't mind this morning join me in blessing our god's name join me in glorifying our god's name join me today as we praise his holy name join me and we shout and worship his name because of him and only him are we still alive dear god in heaven we praise you right now in jesus name thank you lord for keeping us alive one more day we are not here because we are so good and we are so great and we are so powerful but god we're here because of your mercy your love and your grace oh god we can take vitamins and we can go to the doctor and we can go to the gym but god it's only because of you that we are still alive and so god today we testify in a land where covert 19 is raging the delta variant is raging folks are driving crazy all up and down in dangerous highways so many ways to leave this world but god we rejoice today because it is you and only you that's keeping us alive so help us to be about your business help us to be about your purpose help us to be about your plan help us to stay in your will so we can bring you great honor and great praise so now god energize our worship energize our song energize our sermon entertain our testimony because it is you that has kept us alive we give you praise we give you glory and we do it in jesus mighty name and let all the people of god say amen amen and amen god bless you god bless you well bless the lord is anybody glad to be in the house of the lord one more time come on put your hands together new life family come on let's worship [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] resurrected oh hallelujah is hallelujah [Music] victory friends is is [Music] [Applause] [Music] the same is [Music] [Applause] is is this morning this morning [Music] [Applause] let's give god our savior is not dead he is alive yes we respect all religions yes we respect buddhism we respect islam we respect the future the god those gods are dead small g but our god is alive because on the third day morning after jesus died and after he was buried the third day he got up from the grave the third day he arose with all power in his hands on the third day the holy spirit quickened his body and he is alive and because he is alive when i chemically die when i hear him call my name i too upon a live and when i think about that today when i thought about it on yesterday and when i think about it tomorrow it's gonna quake a response hallelujah to the lamb hallelujah to the one that raised hallelujah to the lion of the tribe of judah hallelujah to my king and my god somebody out there in tv land give god praise and give god the glory i don't know what you're going through you don't know what i'm going through but i do know one thing because he live we are going through give and pray and give him the glory let's do his name and oh god today we worship you we praise you our hearts are happy this morning yes lord some of us are dealing with some that is our lives some with sickness some with either death somebody even lost a job god but we know that you are god and beside you there is no other and we know that you raise jesus from the dead you are able to handle any problem that we might have and so god as we sit today in your presence and we stand in your presence oh god wherever we are in your presence we lean upon your god we submit to your plan to your will and we trust you who loves us oh god we trust you who is all wise and perfect and understanding we trust your god and your omnipotence to take us through whatever the trial might be to take us through and god in the meantime while we're trusting you we ask you to enable our hearts to worship you help us command our souls to worship the name of the most high god we'll feel better when we worship you we have a peace that passed in all understanding when we worship you you give us a joy of god that's unspeakable that we cannot describe in words if we would just worship you to enable us to do that oh god wherever we are at this stage of our lives again god we praise you for being a living and a holy and a righteous god we serve you lord from the depths of our soul we thank you sir we praise you sir in jesus mighty name and for his sake that all the people say amen and amen again rejoice in the lord o ye saints yes sir rejoice in the lord oh ye who call his name who is saved with his precious blood we thank him we praise you again from new life church in decatur georgia we're just so grateful to be here this morning and we pray that our service here will bring you great great relief and great happiness and great joy at this time we're going to turn the podium over to pastor harris he has a very special announcement for you at this time [Music] praise the lord everybody welcome to our worship services this morning let me just echo what minister kevin has already said and let you know how grateful we are that you're here and that you're worshiping with us please put in the chat space if this is your first time in worship put that in the chat space if you've never been a part of a new life worship experience or if you are worshiping outside of the city and you don't live in the city of atlanta but yet you're watching us we'd love to be able to greet you in a great way and let you know how happy we are that you're part of our experience today well i just want to talk to our family today and those that are in the city i am joined today by two members of our eldership and one is dr maurice beasley and the other is minister darren dickerson and we're here to talk about our reopening plans as you know we have anticipated reopening our sanctuary on october the 10th the second sunday in october however we did not foresee the enormous damage and ravaging that the delta variant would do in the covet 19 pandemic and because of new case numbers and the increased numbers of hospitalizations as well as a few deaths in the state of georgia we've decided to postpone that reopening i want to say it again in the state of georgia you should see a map and it has listed there the counties within the state and the red spaces that you see those spaces indicate significant rises in the coronavirus covet 19 cases over the last month or so and it is doing a little better now than it was at the beginning of this month but it was enough for us to have pause and make a decision not to reopen the church when we decided to reopen the church on the second sunday in october the numbers were going down sharply this decision was made near the june july time period and the numbers were decreasing things were looking extremely well we assumed that by october things would be doing extremely well and even better we'd be in a position to open however those numbers have taken a turn north and they've gone a bit up and because of that we need to decide to not reopen so i'm here with dr beasley and darren dickerson to share with you a bit of the details regarding individual county specifics dr beasley speaking about dekalb county thank you pastor good morning new life as pastor has already shared a few considerations include of course dekalb county our church resides here in dekalb county and within the last few weeks we've seen a five to ten percent increase in the covet positive cases therefore as you can imagine that would create a scenario in which potentially we could contribute to massive uh outbreak or transmission of the virus of course those of you who attend our worship services don't live just in dekalb county but many of you live in many of the surrounding counties in fulton county gwinnett in henry county in clayton county and unfortunately the data there is not any more encouraging for example in fulton county over the last few months we've seen a significant increase in covid positive cases and although we are somewhat encouraged by the recent slight decline in cases the total number on the weekly basis still far exceeds the numbers we were seeing in june and july in fact the most recent data shows that there are about 437 cases per 100 000 in fulton county alone back in june that number was around 20 and so we've seen a significant increase and of course that's really the same when you look at henry county where that number is over 500 per 100 000 and you look at rockdale and clayton and you see the same thing so we're continuing to monitor the numbers not only in dekalb but throughout the metro area another consideration is of course our young people if you've been keeping up with the news you know that all of the school systems in the metro area are experienced experiencing a very significant increase in the number of young people with covet positive covet cases therefore you can imagine if we bring families back into the sanctuary of course many of our young people are experiencing that virus because of the family unit lack of vaccinations etc but it would create another additional layers of safety concern of course if we bring families if you will back into this space gathering again in light of the number of young people primarily this year versus last year this time experiencing covet so the question then becomes what are we prepared to do well we're not stopping as a matter of fact we're speeding up and we're ramping up ministries we're ramping up outreaches as well as activities here's how i would like to see us stay connected as a church family one through life groups and life classes this is an opportunity for you to do life with others to connect in community and to be discipled and grow in your walk with christ just because the church is not reopening doesn't mean that we can't do the work and ministry of the church god's called us to be effective ministers to those who are in the body of christ and that's not just us who stand on stages but that's all of us who are part of the body of christ you are your brother's minister and so i'm asking for you to get connected to life groups and life classes also we're ramping up family ministry we're now beginning to launch every sunday kid city elementary school ministry online so that moms and dads are able to sit your child in front of the screens and they're able to connect live with a minister from our our youth ministry our kid city ministry as well as have a bunch of fun dancing and singing and learning about jesus christ and that will be done live and so it will mimic much of what happens on sunday mornings here with adult church our kid city experience will be live via zoom so please keep listening and you'll hear more about that also we are expanding our ministry to middle schoolers and high schoolers right now we are alternating every sunday and we have a sermon we have worship we have a time of study in the word of god for middle school and high schoolers and that is going to continue we'll be doing that live via zoom and it's growing and we're so proud of the work that our middle school and high school ministry is doing and we're also increasing our outreach opportunities one of the ways in which you grow in your walk with christ is not just by the corporate gathering but it is also about how you serve people and the ability to serve and outreach to minister to those who are less fortunate than all of us are is a privilege it is an honor to treat people as christ treats us we'll be giving you extended opportunities to serve in outreach and we're going to be bringing back some ministries to do activities and events while we're shut down so you can get plugged in to ministry service and be ministered to by various ministries in our church so though we are not reopening on october the 10th and we can't because the numbers do not allow us to make that decision and your safety and your health is paramount in our considerations but even though we're not opening we are still being the church we've created all of these ways for you to plug in and get connected now you've got a choice you can sit and watch on sundays or you can sign up and get involved and get engaged in what god is doing in the midst of church in the midst of ministry and i pray that you'll make the decision to get engaged like you we are all disappointed that the data just doesn't make it prudent for us to reopen on october 10th but we thank you for your patience we thank you for your prayers and we will continue to pray for all of you that you will remain safe and so we all eagerly await that day that we can all gather here in person again soon and we pray that that day will come swiftly god bless each of you [Music] thank you mr kevin taylor has some special announcements to give us good morning again new life church family we are happy to announce that we are having now our lelia hayes book scholarship that's now open to new life members who are first freshman first year in college again the lelia hayes book scholarship is now open to our freshmen who are entering their first year of college in order to apply if you would go to our church website www.newlife.atl.org or if you would you could go to the application of scanning the barcode that has lelia hayes name as well you can scan the barcode to apply so we want to again open that door to you we're just glad to be able to have this scholarship in memory of a very great lady who was very deep into education and so we want to make sure that our students here first year college and freshmen that will be able to be able to apply for this particular scholarship at this time we have another special announcement from mr mrs topeka and brother derek howard at this time please receive the howards as they come to talk a little bit about life groups and life classes and how you can get plugged into the particular class that they're teaching [Music] good morning new life we're excited about the opportunity to teach the life class entitled the armor of god the foundational scripture that we'll be using comes from ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 19 where the apostle paul admonishes us as believers to put on the full armor of god that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil do you realize from the moment that we accept jesus christ as our lord and savior we are conscripted we're drafted into an army to fight against our enemy satan so the objective of this class is to teach students and provide an action plan to put on the full armor of god and to develop a personalized strategy to secure our victory against the enemy we'll be using as a resource guide the wonderful book by priscilla shire entitled the armor of god yes and some of the topics we'll be discussing is understanding the importance of identifying who the real enemy is by first acknowledging that just because he's invisible doesn't make him fictional there is a real enemy then we'll be discussing how the different pieces of the armor found in ephesians chapter 6 can be applied executed and enforced in our everyday lives so we encourage you to join us on this journey to putting on the whole armor of god so sign up today we look forward to seeing you thank you [Music] and all god's people said amen to that type and amen in the chat space would you and um get signed up it's simple it's easy you've seen how to do it just go to our website and sign up all right let's worship god listen our god's been faithful to us and you can't deny that we serve a great god who loves us who cares for us who has done so much in our lives for our families for our futures and we serve a great and almighty god and i want to challenge you not to sit and watch worship but to actually worship as strange as it looks right where you're sitting right where you are in your own home turn it into a sanctuary and let's bless and honor and worship our god today [Music] yes every man will bow down and say here so let's start right now why would we wait [Music] we just want to be with you i just want to be with you [Music] we just want to be with you we just wanna be with you yes [Music] round [Music] now [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] until you'll come again i'll just sing hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we will see [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh we just yes [Applause] [Music] just wanna be with you just [Music] we just [Music] nobody else will [Music] nobody else [Music] nobody else so father we just want you [Music] we want you in every season of our life we want you more than fame more than fortune more than money we want you more than things more than anyone else you are our life's bread you are the water that we thirst you are the food that nourishes us your heart our passion our drive our desire so god it's more than just the song it's it's the cry of our hearts it's it's the desperate need that we have for you [Music] that lord we declare it now that we just want you we want your mercy we want your grace we want your favor we want your love we want your approval we want your acceptance we want your pleasure we want your smile upon our life we want you when the world is crumbling when our world is lost when we are without we want you god in every in every dark and lonely area of our hearts how we desperately need you we need you god to give direction to give us instructions we we need you to speak to us when when we need to hear a word god and a direction from you that you would give your voice that you would lend your word that you would let it be clear so we would hear your voice even so in jesus name because you are the king of glory you are the mighty one you are the matchless father you are our god we bless your name just want to be with you king of glory [Music] that's our hearts desire gods desire god [Music] i just wanna be with you [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Applause] we just want to be here is [Music] is [Music] we just want to be with your eyes i just want to be with you just wanna be with you [Music] that's all we want god [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] so father i pray that you would fill that empty void in every life that space where only you belong [Music] that space where only you fit where nothing else fits but you nothing else satisfies but you nothing else quenches but you nothing else matters but you [Music] fill that space fill that place jesus name [Music] and every believer said amen and a man again come on saints of god bless the name of the lord come on saints of god bless the name of our god [Music] declaring declaring declaring our god is worthy hallelujah hallelujah bless you jesus bless you jesus [Music] my my mind [Music] ah [Music] just to be close to you just [Music] just to be close to you [Music] just to be close to you [Music] just to be close to you is my desire just to be close to you it's my desire just to be close [Music] to me [Music] now lord let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart may they be acceptable and pleasing in your sight god are strength and our redeemer jesus name amen amen and amen again ah [Music] god is good isn't he he is good all the time we're getting ready to share the word of the lord today before we do i in this spirit of worship i'd love for you to give this is great soil to sow your seed in right in this moment right in this spot right as we're worshiping god that you would sow your tithe and that you would give your offerings and give it now they're people who are blessed and aided and helped because of the ministry of this church on a regular basis this church ministers to so many people every day those that are in various stages of the needs of their life whether they're homeless or substance abusers or addicted or maybe they are single families that are struggling to make ends meet or they've been touched by this pandemic in a financial way or in a physical health way we counted an honor and a privilege to minister to them just yesterday we had a literally there was four hours we had a four hour meeting workshop training you name it trying to develop and devise ways that we can help more people more effectively how can we get folks that are at one stage in their life moving to another stage in their journey how can we minister to people that are in need of assistance whether it's mortgages or a job or a career and how do we wrap these services around and it just did my heart so much good to see our staff come together for four hours for four hours and talk about that finding ways to be a bigger and a larger blessing to this community to make a larger impact in this community and i sat in the back and it just it just made me smile i want to invite you to be a part of that you may not be on the staff or you may not be a part of our volunteer team necessarily but you can support it financially you can make sure that the vision that is given by this team doesn't fall to the ground flat but that we have individuals who will invest their tithe and invest your offerings into this vision so that god cannot just grow the church but he grows the community and the church make the splash that new life makes larger i know that this is a pandemic but because god's been faithful to us we have a responsibility to be faithful to others and to be faithful to him so please take a moment to give you can give through three methods you can give online and the website is should be on the bottom of your screen you can give by text by texting the word new life atl to the number 77977 or you can give in the uh through postal mail by sending your gifts to 35 3592 flat shows road decatur georgia so those are the three ways that you can give and it's been a tough summer here at our church we have uh to admit that it's been a tough summer and we've seen a drop in our giving and that's because i'm assuming because we've got so much going on in families but i'm asking you now that you would pick back up that you would do what god's called you to do that you would find that space of faith in your heart to tithe to give god the tenth of what comes into your home so you can do that now if you would take a moment tab over one tab in your browser and let's give so we can get ready to share the word of god today we'll give you a moment to do that father i thank you that you have given us the ability to give you've blessed us with our tithes and our offerings blessings with our jobs and our careers the ways in which we make a living the income that comes into our home all of that's because of you it's not because of us it's because of you so lord i pray that you'd return it back now to these who are giving return it back to them good measure press down shaken together running over in jesus name amen and amen again take a moment to give we'll be back with the word of god [Music] all god's people said amen all right well let's jump right into the word of god today we've got just a limited time and um we are in our fourth installment in this series called community community and we're only going to be sharing for just a brief moment today we are talking specifically about what it looks like to live in community as a matter of fact the title of this segment of the series is just called doing life together doing life together and that's what we're focusing on how do we live out what it means to be a follower of jesus christ what it means to be a disciple so i want you to open your bibles to the book of acts chapter 2 is where we ended on our time in our time together last week and go back to acts 2 and verse 42 is where we spent the last moments in our exposition of this particular uh text verse 42 of acts chapter 2 and as you are finding acts 2 and 42 i want to just encourage you if if i could to understand what the church what the church is that the church is not the building it's not the padded pews and i think this pandemic has proven that to us that the church is so much more than a building it's so much more than a place nor is church a thing to go to many of us we go to church as if it is outside of us right as if it's external to us and we go to the church for some experience to have some kind of of of interaction or engagement with the church and then we can go to the church and in the same vein we can also leave the church because the church becomes this this place this static place in time and space it's a building it's a spot it's a location it's an address that's the church and that has become the modern day 21st century 20th and 19th century i even should say idea of the church but that is not that is not the biblical idea the biblical concept of the church that is not what that is the church was founded in the gospel of matthew chapter 16 jesus says upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell should not prevail against it you and i have to know that jesus was not talking about a building or a location he wasn't even talking about an institution he wasn't talking about a religion he wasn't talking about some external concrete thing that we can tangibly touch or even tangibly experience he was talking about people he was talking about individuals about people the very word church in the greek is the word ecclesia ecclesia is the word that means ek means out of and klesia it means cold cold or summons an assembly the called out assembly the called out ones that the word for church in your bible in the original language that the bible was written in is not a building or location or stained glasses or padded pews or a big spiral steeple it is actually people it's people that's the church it is individuals that when jesus said i will build my church it meant i will build people and these people are to be haggeon they are to be holy ones these people are holy they're saints now they're called to be saints so the church is ecclesia it is ecclesia it's called out to be haggai on to be holy called out to be holy that's the meaning of the church that it's not it's not just who we are but it is how we live it is not just who we are but it is how we live who we are called out ecclesia ecclesia how we live haggion holy holy that's the greek word for holy that's what it means right sanctified to be saints so the church is not just who we are the church is how we live the church is not just an identity the church is an activity the church is not just an identity the church is an activity the church is not just it's not just the identification of the believer but the church is the conduct the activity of the believer it is what we do it is what we do so i need for you to capture the glimpse of this that when we are talking about the church we're reading about the early church in the book of acts and acts chapter 2 you're reading about who they were and what they did who they were and what they did and what they did was they learn how to express their faith to express their confidence and faith in god in the context of community in the context of this new community this new identity this new ideology this new concept of life it was called community as a matter of fact they came together this group of believers as fledgling group of believers they came together and birthed upon the the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ and their witness to his resurrection as they would witness that resurrection they went about sharing teaching and preaching to others about that resurrection inviting others into the ecclesia into the community of the saints the community of the saints inviting them into the koinonia of the haggeon the community of the saints and as they came into the community of the saints they then heard the gospel heard the message of christ and started living it out in their everyday lives in their commerce in their business in their political affairs in their work affairs their home life their married life in their family life how they raised their children what they taught their children how they modeled life in front of their kids how they loved each other the brother and sisterhood the the community of togetherness of those who were in the body of christ so unified were them that jesus would con we would refer to them paul rather would refer to them as the body of christ the body of christ members of his body this is the meaning of the church it is a community it is a community now with that understanding that the church is a community we've been talking about biblical foundations for community we've been talking about what those biblical foundations for community look like and trying to frame our understanding around it what we've learned and what we've seen is that community is a biblical idea that the whole idea of community is fully biblical and it is built upon these foundations very quickly number one community is rooted in the nature of god number two community is personified in the incarnation of jesus it's rooted in the nature of god it is personified in the incarnation of jesus all right so god is a trinity so community is rooted in his nature he calls us to be a community because god is a community he's a trinity he is a community and community is rooted into that nature he calls us to be a community he created us to be a community so we talked about this idea of the loneliness of our culture because when you're not in communities something significant in your life is missing when you're not in community something significant in your life is missing and it's missing in a way that it must be replaced because you were created for it you were wired for it then the incarnation of christ personifies this community it made the idea of community life it made it live that god became a man and in jesus christ we see him coming to become like his brothers like mankind that god became man and dwelt among us in community and then thirdly we saw that community is not just rooted in the nature of god it's not just personified in the incarnation of christ but community is also signatured in the ministry of jesus that it is signature that this this this signature of community was etched into jesus's ministry that he did community with his disciples in a way that no other teacher no other religious figure ever did community that jesus literally changed his disciples buddha and muhammad and and krsna and others never changed their disciples may have changed their minds may have changed their habits may have changed their actions and that's all commendable but jesus changed their natures he changed their lives he changed their hearts and so he he did community with his disciples and the community that he did with them netted a transformation in them the community that jesus did with his disciples netted a transformation in his disciples that community no longer became a noun that now community becomes a verb that it's something that you do not just something that you're a part of that it is something that you do this thing that is done the new testament calls it discipleship discipleship discipleship is nothing more but making people committed and devoted followers of jesus christ that's what discipleship is it is making people committed and devoted followers of jesus christ that whenever i am a disciple i am growing you in your walk with christ now it's a walk because your actions and your conduct should reflect what you believe that what you do should reflect what you believe therefore it's called a walk your walk with christ discipleship is whenever i and you and others come alongside in community and we grow mature develop instruct teach support you in growing in your walk with christ that is discipleship which is what community is so it was signatured in the ministry of jesus and then it was lived out number four in the new testament church that what jesus started the new testament church lived out that we see it in the life of the apostles and disciples we see it in the life of the hundred and twenty on the day of pentecost we see it in the life of the three thousand that joined the church on that first day we see it in the multiplied capacity of the church as it grew in these small underground house churches we see how community flourished and how it grew that it was lived out in the new testament church the most beautiful thing in the world is to see people that were sharing and doing life together and so we find ourselves in acts chapter 2 at this very spot learning again what it says in this passage about how they did community and here's what it reads and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things common sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple breaking bread from house to house to eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising god and having favor with all the people and the lord added to the church daily such as should be saved now what we said is that this passage identifies for us four graces four graces that are experienced when you get in community and when you start doing community when you get in community and you begin actively doing community there are four graces that come from that experience and they're exposed to us in the passage the first is biblical impartation let me share that with you it says that they continued in the apostles doctrine the second is life level intimacy it says and in fellowship and this fellowship is koinonia and we talked about that on last week thirdly spiritual communion that's a grace that comes out of community out of community that there is this spiritual communion this unity this oneness with god through christ and oneness with our brother this is seen in the breaking of bread as the text says and they would break bread from house to house this is seen in the breaking of bread the breaking of bread is a biblical idiom that speaks of taking the lord's supper or the communion but it's called the breaking of bread intentionally for a reason because today we do it as a ceremony right we do it at the end of a worship service uh we come together we take the cup and the bread and we take it together as a ceremony but in that time when the disciples were in in the early church they did not do communion as a ceremony it was the normal flow of the dinner table the normal flow of the dinner table that they would sit around not a table but they would sit in their living room and the whole living room became the table as others from the community was inside that house in a house church someone would preach and read the letters as i shared with you last week and they would sit on the floor often and there would be a spread in the middle and they would eat they would just eat and fellowship and hear the word and be in church eating and fellowshipping hearing the word food is central to middle eastern mediterranean uh live lifestyle in ancient palestine food is central to all of their fellowship all of their hospitality as they would do that they would stop either mid-way or toward the end and recognize the presence of jesus that's all they did is recognize the presence of jesus in their koinonia in their fellowship in their community they recognized the presence of jesus and stopped and they took the bread remembering his death took the cup remembering his sacrifice and they would eat and drink in honor and memory of the presence of christ that was with them and that's what it means when it says spiritual communion that they were knit together brother and sister because they were knit together believer to christ and through that relationship with christ they had a relationship with each other and then fourthly they saw as a grace of community they saw multiplied force of prayer it says that they they came together not just in in the apostles doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers they saw prayers being multiplied now the results of community is where i want to pick up today the results of community this is what happens in my life when i get it when i'm in community when i'm doing community when i'm engaged and involved in community here is what happens in my life number one i witness the works of god i become a witness to the works of god that whenever that transpires here's what the text says it says in verse number 43 it says and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles that i become a witness to the very works of god as i'm involved in community miracles start happening now i want to be very very clear here when i talk about miracles i'm not talking about the ones that you can see with your eyes easily you know a hand growing out or somebody getting physically healed and those are clear miracles for sure but these signs and wonders are more than just the physical kind this is the spiritual kind this is whenever the life is changed from the inside out not just the outside in and i want to be very clear to you you can have a perfectly healthy body and a broken soul and if you've got a broken soul and a perfectly healthy body you are still sick infirmed in need of healing the healing that they saw was what i consider to be the substance of the foreshadowing of jesus's healings now listen to me very carefully jesus's healings were to foreshadow what his blood could do what his life could do in the life of a person he foreshadowed his desire to change the heart and the soul and the mind and the spirit of a man so because they could not swallow that jesus came to change a man's life he would change a man's body to demonstrate the power he had in the area of change the signs and wonders of jesus were not so that men could marvel about what he did to their lame feet or their blind eyes or their deaf ears but the signs and wonders of jesus was so that men would see the power of christ and relate that power appropriate that power to their souls to their spirits to their inner man it was as if he were saying if i have power over the body how much more do i have power over the souls you remember the story of the man in mark chapter 2 that was lowered through the roof you remember that story of course he was lord through the roof by four of his friends they lured him to the roof where jesus was teaching at a house in a community in a house church as he was teaching in a house they lowered this man down and jesus saw the man he was on a cot he was paralyzed he was sick of what's called the palsy meaning this man was paralyzed probably he would is what we would consider to be a quadriplegic today that's what this man was some debilitating disease or some genetic disorder caused this condition in the man's life completely paralyzed could not move friends bring him lord him the christ jesus looks at the man and takes this as an opportunity to foreshadow to forecast the real purpose of his power the real purpose of his coming what he came to do he came to seek and to save that which is lost he came to save men from their sins that's what the bible says in luke chapter 10 verse 19 he came to seek and to save that which is lost listen carefully so he says to the man who is paralyzed on a cot in front of the healer in front of the healer he says your sins are forgiven you and then he goes back to teaching and they're looking at him and they're saying that's it what do you mean your sins are forgiving you he's paralyzed he needs to be healed jesus was saying no he needs to be forgiven he needs to be saved hear me clearly he needs to be transformed on the inside and they marveled and they mocked him and they laughed at him and they criticized what he did they said who do you think you are with the ability to forgive sins you can't forgive sins only god can forgive sins and so jesus says to them this significant question which is easier which is easier now he wasn't saying which is easier in reality he was saying which do you consider to be easier you think it's easy for me to say your sins be forgiven and hard for me to make the man get up and walk because we are so sensationalized we want to be we want to be impressed and awed we want to be wowed by the things of god that's why churches that wow us and impress us and that are sensational they're so large and they grow so rapidly because it feeds this entertainment sensationalized hunger that humanity has we all want something that makes us feel as if we're in the sublime as if we're in the midst of something awesome and here's what he says the sublimity the awesomeness the power is not in the physical eyes ability to see it's in the spirit's ability to see that god is doing something massively amazing god is doing something miraculous in the man not on the man but in the man but because because you want to see a miracle because you will not believe jesus says that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins then i will show you the thing that you think is hard rise he says to the palsy pick up your bed and walk and the paralyzed quadriplegic man gets up from his cot folds up his legs receive strength and he walks and here is the tragedy of the miracle here's a tragedy of the miracle they awed and marveled at the walking and missed the salvation on the inside of the man's heart when jesus said your sins are forgiven our job in community is to make sure you don't miss that that's our job to make sure you don't miss that that you see the real miracle the true miracle the authentic miracle and that is that lives are changed marriages are bettered families are healthy children honor god people are growing in their walk with god moral character is restored that's our job is to make sure you don't miss that because if you just look for the miracle you'll miss the miracle did you get it if you just look for the miracle the physical you'll miss the miracle the spiritual whenever you're in community you get to witness the works of god when you're in a community you get to see the common meeting of needs it says that they were in verse number 44 and all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need it says that they were together they had all things common they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need now i want to spend some time here if i can and share with you that in the church in community in the context of community we all is the same i know that's bad but i said it that way on purpose because i want to connect i want you to hear what i'm saying we are all the same the same there is no big eye in little you there there there is no there is no big cheese we're all the same i hurt the same ways you hurt i'm struggling with the same things you're struggling with i'm burdened down in the same ways you're burdened down i cry over the same things that make you cry and the one thing about community is it is the common denominator it is what colonizes us all together it's what makes every man on the same plane on the same on the same playing field it puts us all on the same stage it puts us all on the same plateau it takes the big one and the small the rich and the poor and it levels all of us that's what community does it reminds us that we are a part of the human race not just the black race or the white race or the wealthy or the poor the human race we are all one and when you're in community when you are doing community when you understand community you understand the commonality between people between men and women between people that we all share the same exact needs and there are needs that i have and i gotta be honest with you they're needs that i have that i can't meet for myself there are needs that you have that you can't meet for yourselves we have needs that we cannot meet individually we cannot meet on our own there are things i need in my life that i cannot supply for me there are there is love that i need that i cannot supply for me there is affirmation that i need that i cannot supply for me there is accountability that i need that i cannot supply for me that i am in need of your assistance and here's the beautiful thing about believers the beautiful thing about the church about the body of christ you are in need of mine i need yours and you need mine there are things in your life you cannot supply for yourself the whole meaning of being lonely the whole meaning of feeling like you have this abject loneliness is because you're trying to meet a need that god put in your life for somebody else to meet that's why it doesn't fulfill that's why it doesn't work that's why you still have this aching inside because you're trying to meet a need that god put in your life for somebody else to fulfill it's called relationship and you need one did you hear what i said it's called relationship and you need one and the mere fact that we need it so desperately is satan seeks every opportunity that he gets to skew that need to pervert that need to twist that need that in the one area of life relationships relationships it causes the most pain in life it can derail a life it can deter a future it can demoralize a character it can degrade a person's dignity i get derailed i get demoralized i get deterred i get derailed i get i i get downgraded in my character in my sense of dignity because i hooked up with the wrong person and i made such a foolish decision such a foolish decision foolish decision because i was trying to meet a need the wrong way the wrong way god put it in my life it is not good that man should be alone god put it in your life now if god put the need there then the challenge is to meet the need god's way the challenge is to meet that need the way that god designed for that need to be met that if god engineered the need then that would mean that god knows the answer and solution for it and he engineered the need for relationship the need for connection the need for interaction he engineered that in your life and in my life so that the body of christ would fill that need because as people are filled with god filled with the holy spirit so they have the ability they have the resources they they have the necessary capacity to feel the need that the spirit of god placed in your life that when you feel a relational need outside of the outside of the body of christ that need goes empty and leads to a perversion of the need being met every significant need for relationship in our life is filled by the body of christ and i say that without question i say that without without apology every significant need and our life for relationship is filled by the body of christ it's supposed to be filled by our parents who are supposed to raise us in the fear and admonition of the lord and when that does not happen there is a gap in that child's life that needs to now be filled it is to be filled by our purpose and destiny so i connect with a job or a career it's a major need and that job and that career fills my life for the purposes god placed me in the earth not for money not for five figures or six figures not for a corner office not for a fat check not for a fancy title but that job and that career or that work is in my life so that it will fulfill the purposes of god over my life every significant need in my life in a relationship is met by the body of christ now here i am filling that need because it is a purpose to be filled not a check and then i get married i am to marry inside the body of christ did you hear me i am to marry inside the body of christ you are to marry inside the body of christ we are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers we are to yoke ourselves in covenant relationships with other believers in the house of god that is what the call of god is that is the teaching of the new testament church that is what paul instructed us that we are to not yoke with unbelievers what communion does light have with darkness what connection does the house of god have with the temple of devils you have to connect through the body of christ i am to marry in the body of christ whenever i am yoking up i yoke inside the body of christ now if you marry in the body of christ you should date in the body of christ why would you date someone you're not going to marry this is when you in you invite the fire in your life tony evans says it this way so critically he says that fire is good when it's in the fireplace but when fire gets on the couch it burns down the house many of us are dating in these dating experiences with people who are not in the body of christ therefore it could go nowhere and god bless it it could not go anywhere and god bless it because god only blesses when the yoke is in the body of christ we are not to be unequally yoked are you understanding that many bring relationships to me um fiance is getting married and etcetera and they say pastor we want you to bless our union and marry us and i go are you saved yes but you know he's not saved yet but we're working on him he's getting there and i'm just believing god at god and i go yes but when he gets saved when he gets saved you all come back because i can't ask god to bless what he was extremely clear that he would not bless that when we marry we marry inside the body of christ now why am i dwelling on that i don't know somebody out there needs to hear that not only whenever we marry we marry in the body of christ but as we yoke together in discipleship we yoke in discipleship within the body of christ now someone says pastor what about friends now you can have friends outside the body of christ absolutely i have some great friends that are not believers that are not saved some amazing friends they're in my life so that my life my witness can rub off on them whereby they give their lives to jesus christ that my friendship with unbelievers is an evangelism experience in relationship that i am evangelizing them without even opening the scriptures that my witness of my life speaks christ to them and draws them closer to who he is i spent several years in a small group in a community and everyone in that small group was not a christian they were not saved and it was a blessing for me to be in that small group i was dealing with some issues in my own life that these men were coming together and ministering to me and helping me through and there were others that was in the group who did not have a relationship with jesus and i saw that as a perfect opportunity for me to let my life and my words the statements about the cross and the statements about his forgiveness the statements about the gospel be the thing that sparked their hearts toward christ that led them toward knowing him a relationship with him a desire to get to know him a desire to be with him in that very group in that exact same group there was a brother in that group who did not profess to have a strong or growing relationship with christ he was a believer but he didn't have a growing and strong relationship with christ after five years he and his spouse got back together they rekindled their relationship i was blessed to renew their vows with he and his spouse together that's because i was connected to them connected to them in the context of community another brother in that group did not have a relationship with christ and when he came in the group he was lost extremely lost today right now today some five years later of spending time together ministering loving each other understanding the scriptures hearing the word of god being taught being ministered to i wasn't leading the group someone else led the group talking about the areas of our life exposing our life to each other in the midst of that experience that same brother who came in lost he came in angry he came in confused he came in without having a clear direction about spirituality he even considered himself at some points to be an atheist or at least an agnostic that same brother volunteers in our in our community center right now today he's a volunteer he does pro bono work for us on the attorney side as an attorney he ministers to those who are hurting and homeless that brother now knows christ i mean when i go and have breakfast with him or lunch with him he's talking about christ to me the same guy who did not know him and was an agnostic now was speaking about jesus and who jesus was and who jesus is and what jesus means to him that happens because we were in community connected together in community that when that takes place we get to see these amazing meeting of needs a common meeting of needs the needs that they have the needs that i have are met now it's not just spiritual it is also practical that when you're in community there's a meeting of the practical needs and that's what our church does i think we do an amazing job at it to be honest i really feel that this church ministers the people that are hurting and broken in many practical ways financially and otherwise with jobs and careers and all the rest that we do that this is seeing where the practical needs of my brother's life is and meeting those practical needs god's called you to meet the practical needs of those in community what are those needs in the life of our community in the life of people that are hurting how can i demonstrate this gospel to someone who is hurting practically or hurting physically there is the common meaning of needs the third result that comes when we get in community is the beauty of a single heart that uh that one single heart one unified heart the bible calls it being on one accord here's what it says it says in verse 46 and they continuing daily with one accord that's a critical word that's critical phrase one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart one single heart that there is this this unity of love among the community of believers that when we're in community together there is this unified love between us that i i am able to express what comes naturally in a love experience and that is a vulnerable expression of myself vulnerability and intimacy doesn't happen until the environment is safe for that to take place whenever i don't sense that this is a safe space then vulnerability becomes elusive what makes a person vulnerable and intimate with another person is the absolute confidence that there is a part of my passion a part of my heart's beat a part of my pain that is pumping in that person's heart and veins as well the pain i feel is not just my pain but they are feeling the pain that i feel the issue that i have is not just my issue but they are connecting with that issue there is empathy there is not just sympathy feeling sorry for me but there is empathy there is this desire to step in my shoes and desire to understand my perspective a desire to see where i'm coming from a desire to understand the things that that hurt and damage me in the areas of my life and to have a tenderness for those same things in your life as well not to judge me not to criticize me not to preach a sermon about how bad i am but to step in my shoes and have a singleness of heart with me the one thing that i began speaking a little bit about on last time together was the whole notion of speaking in tongues that on in acts chapter 2 they were able to speak in an unknown language where in a language they had not learned rather and they spoke in tongues and here's the power of that but they were able to communicate cross-culturally that they could communicate cross-culturally because they had the ability to speak another person's language here at our church the thing that god did that i still marvel at him doing i still marvel at this is that i've never been on drugs i've never drank alcohol now i've got other stuff in my life so i'm not saying that as a way for you to say amen or isn't that great these are just my issues these are just my my issues and i'm sharing with you that i've never done but i've got other stuff in my life but i've never drank i've never done drugs and all this other stuff but god gave me a ministry to people who were substance abusers homeless people that were alcoholics or people that experienced substance abuse and i didn't understand how how is it that i can speak a language that i never learned i never learned that language i never learned what it's like to speak that language but then god reminded me of something when i first came to the city when i first got here i spent 14 days that's short for you but that's long for me homeless that i didn't have a place i slept on a park bench i was homeless sleeping at a park right at marietta north avenue you guys know my story that i was homeless when i got here spent 14 days out in the street that i grew up in a home where my step-mom struggled with alcohol she was an alcoholic and she struggled with it so i saw it in my high school years i experienced it in my early college years when i got to georgia tech i experienced it there i saw it and talking to people that were homeless on the street people that had all kinds of dysfunctions happening in their life from drugs to crime to violence to all kinds of dysfunctions happening in their life dysfunction i don't even want to mention that i saw this now for a short period of time in my life not long enough to stain my life i believe but long enough for me to catch the language and when i caught the language all i needed to do was come down from my religious pastoral high horse and get on the same plane and street as the people that god's called me to minister to and stop talking my language and start talking their language and to do that it required empathy so here's what i did i spent a lot of time listening listening hearing what they were saying and what they were not saying listening to the pain and the anguish that they felt asking questions and not supplying answers but asking the right questions and why are you in this condition why are you here how did this happen to you how did it feel whenever you lost this or this person died in your life i tell the story all the time met a man matted hadn't showered hadn't had a bath i believe in weeks if not months he was matted his hair was overgrown his hair was dreaded up because of the thick dirt and grime in his hair in his beard all around and this man was sitting there wrapped in a couple of blankets that he obviously had gotten from a homeless shelter the man stunk he had a stench on him that was tight and cutting and he's sitting on the same way this man was at at a bus stop he's at the bus stop i'm at the bus stop because i got to catch the bus in order to get where i'm going and i sit there with him and something tells me asked the man his name and so i asked him for his name when he told me what his name was i said to him i i said hey hey can you tell me a little bit about what busta catch and he said no i don't really catch i just sit here a little bit and i just stay in this area i don't catch the bus and he spoke so intelligently so i said if you don't mind sir i just want to know what happened why are you why are you here why why are you homeless and for that moment that man opened up his heart and shared with me in the last moments i have i want to share it with you here's what he said he gave me his name he said i had a good job i had a family i had a wife and i had a daughter he said and i was working on a great job and a great career he said in one day in one day a car accident took his wife and his daughter from him in one day he said and he didn't know how to handle grief he never learned how to do that so he started drinking to anesthetize the pain and as he started drinking to anesthetize the pain the alcohol became a dependency for him and he developed an alcoholism problem the alcohol was a gateway drug that opened the door for stronger drugs that try and make the pain go away in his efforts to make the pain go away the man says he started doing more drugs and more drugs and more drugs until his drug habit cost more than his mortgage so he couldn't pay the mortgage because he had a drug habit his drug habit caused him to lose his house the alcohol and drug problem caused him to lose his job now he's lost his job and he's lost his house so he resorts to stealing so he can support his drug habit and in the stealing he goes to jail he goes to jail for something small then something bigger than something bigger than something bigger and now he has a record he can't get a job he's an alcoholic and he's a drug addict and he has no place to live and he's out on the street waiting for his next high is he a bad man no what happened in that man's life one car accident that's what happened in his life how powerful would it be if that man didn't have to turn to alcohol or drugs how powerful would it have been if that man had a community that understood grief and christ and god and comfort and the holy spirit and were able to walk him through that pain in his life and the challenge that i found is that that man's one car accident his bad day reminds me often of my one bad day sometimes hadn't even happened yet or your one bad day that hasn't even happened yet your one accident or one mistake or one failure or one job loss or one incident that spends your life out of control what do we do when that day comes and it comes for all of us it comes for all of us what do we do when there's no community when there's no intimacy when there is no vulnerability when there's no one to express the love of christ in a tangible way to our lives and the blessing that they had was the beauty of a single heart every man had one heart well i'm done but number four and then we close is that they had multiplied growth of the body it says and they were praising god daily because he added to the church such as should be saved the body grew because they were unified in heart because they had all things common and they saw the signs and the wonders and the miracles of changed lives that's that's my prayer for you that's what i want for you i want you to experience the joy the beauty and the grace of having your life radically changed because you are in community well our time is up but i pray that this would impress upon your heart to not do life by yourself you need somebody else you need somebody else in the body of christ father i pray that you would inspire us to move away from our island mentality to move away from our individuation and that you it calls us to move into community connect us with other brothers and sisters in the faith and enable us to live out our faith in the context of relationships to be strengthened and to grow in our walk with god because you are a part of our experience help us to be that for somebody else to be the picture of christ for a brother or sister a man or a woman who doesn't know him and will give your name praise in jesus name amen and amen again listen in the last moments we have a few things i want you to do i want you to get into a life group i want you to get into a life class i want you to connect yourself with other believers i don't want you to sit on the sidelines and watch other people do community i want you to do it take the risk take the risk jump into the water and take the risk connect open up share invite others embrace because only then can you see transformation if you want to talk about how that is done or what that looks like at our church right now there is a leader or a minister that's waiting in a special zoom room to speak with you about about being a part of our church or to be a part of life groups or life classes you can talk to them about that and they will gladly help you get connected and get started with it all you got to do is have a desire to do so in the chat space you'll see a link just copy and paste that link into your browser and it will take you immediately to the zoom room that's a zoom link that's there you don't have to share your camera you can leave your your camera or your video off and just talk to them they're there and they don't have to see you they'll be there and they can talk with you but they're waiting for you now if you've never given your life to christ you don't know the lord jesus as savior don't stay that way don't stay that way the same power that changed my friend's life can change yours the same power that changed my life can change yours all you need do right now is click on that link or copy and paste that link into your browser and go to that zoom room and someone's waiting there to share with you about jesus christ and who he is and who he can be in your life i pray that you'll take advantage of that i love you so much i thank and praise god for you i'll see you wednesday night don't miss wednesday we're talking about the book of ruth and it's a blessing to share in that bible study so don't miss wednesday right here on the same platform you're watching us now we'll be there seven o'clock eastern time on wednesday the lord bless you and the lord keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you the lord be gracious unto you and grant you his peace in your coming and you're going you're rising and you're setting today and forevermore in jesus name amen and amen again i love you guys i'll see you wednesday night god bless bye [Music] you

Channel: New Life Decatur

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Length: 105min 9sec (6309 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021