#TheChurchIsGrowing

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We’re in the series together on Jesus. And so if you’re if you’re just diving in and you’ve been a part of this series together, we just answer the question here at the beginning, why are we discussing the topic of Jesus together? Well, as far as it relates to Christianity, the answer is simplistic. He is everything that we are as a church family, and it’s important for us to know him as he has truthfully made himself known because the Bible calls us to worship Christ, and in our worship of him, we want to make sure that our our worship is genuine and understanding who Jesus is and how he transforms our life. Uh, to give us maybe an open illustration as to the significance of the of it. There’s a there’s an old story of a of a sea captain, and he was out at sea for days on end, and it had been several days since he had seen any other, uh, ship out in the ocean. And it was at night. And and the sea captain is in the wheelhouse with some of his crew, and they look out in the in the darkness and they see a faint light in the distance. And immediately the captain orders to his signalman to send out a message, and he says, tell them to alter your course ten degrees south. And so the signalman sends out the message and and shortly after they receive a reply message from the light and it says, alter your course ten degrees north.

And and the captain becomes irate. He is a captain of a large ship. Who does this individual think he is? And so he sends out another message. He tells the signalman, send out a message and say, alter your course 1010 degrees south. I am the captain. And the man replies, or the signal replies back. Alter your course ten degrees north. I am Seaman third Class Jones, and at this point the captain is just irate and and so he says, send one more message to this individual. Alter your course ten degrees south. I am a battleship. Of which the reply comes alter your course ten degrees north. I am a lighthouse. In in the understanding of Jesus. And the Bible shares for us the identity that we are to take as individuals as it relates to Christ, but only because we come to Christ. And sometimes we look at Jesus as if we are this, this battleship in charge of our own destiny. When. The truth is, it’s very easy for us as individuals to find ourselves wrecked upon the rocks. In fact, the Bible tells us the wages of sin is death. And when it talks about death, it’s just it’s not meaning that you’ll end up in a grave. What it means is the word death is separation. Its separation from from the relationships we experience on Earth and its separation from God. When when the Bible uses the word death, its all inclusive in that way.

But Jesus is a lighthouse. And God has created us for life, and that life is in him. And God created us for relationship. And that relationship begins with him, because He Himself is life. And through him and in the life that he gives, he told us, I am the way, the truth, and the life. We experience life in relationships with others and the Bible promises us in Christ. We experience those relationships for all of eternity. God created us for that reason, which is why he gave us the two greatest commands to love the Lord your God and to love others. And as we’ve been studying the topic of Jesus together, we’ve recognized some important things about the identity of who Christ is. Yes, he is God. And the Bible also tells us that yes, he is servant. He is. He is King. He came to earth as king, giving up his right position to serve us as individuals, that in his service we may experience life in him forevermore. In fact, his very name identifies that Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Christos, and the Greek Yeshua Messiah. In the Hebrew it literally means the saving King or the saving anointing one his his name is a title revealing for us his identity and so his significance to us. It is. It is important for us to understand the very reason for which Christ came. And he told us, I came to seek and to save that which was lost.

He is that lighthouse. When Jesus proclaimed his kingdom. We saw that last week as we dove into the sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five to chapter seven. This king represents a kingdom of which he came to proclaim. And as as we jump into the story in John chapter 14, we’re going to find out that as Jesus proclaims this kingdom, his invitation to us and joining this kingdom is now to go out into this world and proclaim the kingdom for which Christ represents. We belong to him. In John 14. As Jesus shares these statements with his disciples, we’re going to pick up in in verse 12. But Jesus makes this incredible statement that probably was was unbelievable in the in the minds of the disciples, to wrap just their head around the significance of what Christ is saying here, because they’ve been with Jesus, they’ve seen his ministry. They know how impactful it was. They’ve seen thousands coming after him from all over the place, following him into the wilderness and into the deserts and and Jesus ministering to them there, and Jesus providing miracles for them there to validate the message in which he’s sharing about his kingdom. And then he goes in John 14 and he says this very truly, I tell you. Whoever believes in me. We’ll do the works I have been doing. And they will do even greater works than these, because I’m going to the father and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the father may be glorified in the son.

You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it. When Jesus is thinking about his kingdom, he he’s he’s not only seeing himself as the king who establishes the kingdom and goes in this world and declares it, but he’s also thinking of all of us who are a part of Christ in the beauty of what he represents, and being able to proclaim that throughout the world. Jesus is making an enormous statement here. In fact, when verse 12 starts, this is the NIV translation. But if you have like a King James or New American standard, you’ll see it says this in the beginning. I always love it when it does this. Verily, verily, I kind of want to talk like that sometimes. Verily, verily, everyone. But what Jesus is saying is, is, hey, I’ve got something really important you need to pay attention to this. I mean, this statement, it’s like Jesus drops the mic, right? It’s about to get for real in this place. That’s what Christ is saying right here. This is going to just blow your mind of how powerful this is. I mean, so much so Jesus is prefacing the statement he makes in verse 12, because I know in the minds of the disciples, based on what Jesus just said in John chapter 13, that they’re not going to believe this.

At the end of John 13, Jesus is saying to his disciples that his life is about to come to an end. Now, I don’t know about you, but when? When I’m thinking about powerful movements and the identity of the individual who leads that movement. If that individual goes, the question maybe you consider at the beginning is is it going to be able to make it? And so Jesus is saying to his followers here, listen up for just a minute, because you’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you. But it’s important you grab hold of this. Whoever believes in me will do the works I have done. And they’ll do even greater things than these. Well, this isn’t the only time Jesus shared thoughts like this within the scriptures that relates to his kingdom. As a matter of fact, if I if I just pause on that text for a minute and just read similar text in Matthew, Jesus is using parabolic language here, and he he presents them another parable saying this about the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Which a man took and sowed in his field. And this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. De Jesus is describing for his his followers what his kingdom will look like as it’s established within His church and multiplies throughout the world.

And Jesus says to his people, listen. It’s starting small. I’m just gathering just a small group of of followers and it’s starting small. But man, what God is going to do? What’s going to happen in you and in in me as we as we surrender our lives to God? It is it is powerful. Even even the birds of the air nest in this small seed of just a minute minuscule beginning. And Jesus says in John chapter 14 and verse 12, I need you to to just grab a hold of this thought. I, I need you to hold on to this promise because your boat is about to get rocked. In fact, if you were to look at the beginning of John 14, when it starts, he he declares the end of his life in John 13. He’s about to give up his life on the cross. And Peter even said, And Jesus, that’s not happening. And Jesus looks back at Peter and says, before the rooster crows three times, you would have you would have denied me, Peter. But then he says in 14. Verse one. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also in me. Jesus goes on throughout the rest of that text leading up to verse 12 to identify Himself as God, because the nature of him is in that’s in the father is in him.

And he says this in verse six. They asked him, leading into verse six, Jesus, how do I know that we can follow you? How do I know where you’re going? And he says this, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. I am this lighthouse. Listen, things are about to get shaken, but continue to stick to me. When you consider the context of John 14. I find it within a beautiful section of Scripture John chapter 13 to John chapter 17. Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples. He’s spending some of the most intimate moments we have recorded in Scripture with his closest followers. He’s sharing with them the the important details of what it means to live for him, to know him and enjoy him regardless of what happens in the world around you. In John 13 to 17. These these last six hours of his life. He he just details for them the significance of of what it means to be a follower of Christ. And and in 14 he comes to this this important position and says, listen, I need you to really hold on to this. And teaches us some incredible truths. We need to know in any movement before it takes a hit. I ask ourselves. And is it worth it? And I think about the course of Jesus’s ministry. John the Baptist was the forerunner who came to proclaim Christ, which we’ve talked about some together as we’ve looked at the the nature of Jesus, because John gave the pronouncement of Jesus’s coming, and John the Baptist was the one that baptized Jesus.

And and John was eventually arrested and put in prison. And in prison. His life is being rocked. And so in Luke chapter seven it says this about John summoning two of his disciples. John sent them to the Lord, saying, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? You know, when I read this sometimes about the life of John, Jesus himself said, there’s no one greater than John the Baptist who’s lived. And and I think about John, even in these moments, his life being shaken as it relates to Christ and asking this question. And when I when I first saw this in Scripture as I when I became a believer, this kind of blew my mind that someone who was devout to Jesus, proclaiming the Christ walked with Christ, knew Christ was related to Christ. Still found challenges in his faith. John’s theology is for all practical purposes, was had a little bit of a misunderstanding. See his thought of the kingdom was similar to that of the nation of Israel. They were waiting for a king to come and deliver his kingdom. Israel thought he would physically set up his kingdom and rule. And and John is seeing that Jesus continues his ministry. Yet he’s not addressing this politically. He’s going out and proclaiming a kingdom, but he’s not taking any, uh, earthly position.

And even though John was was the one who was able to declare the coming of Jesus and he knew Jesus personally. And he still didn’t have it all figured out. He couldn’t predict exactly how everything was going to work out. And that’s the way it goes with Christ as it relates to our faith, right? Jesus calls us into this world to stand for him. And to trust him as we take steps of faith and pursuing him. And proclaiming him. To find them sufficient within our lives. In John’s response that he’s given from Jesus. He just he looks at the individuals that came and he said, go and tell John this. The lame walk and the blind see. Jesus quotes for John promises the coming of the Messiah and His kingdom. And John takes security in what Christ says and trusts in that. And you look throughout the Gospels when, when when Jesus is is proclaiming his message and the response of individuals as it relates to Christ, even those that are closest to him. John the Baptist was vulnerable, but he he still trusted in Jesus. He. He may have asked questions to Christ, but his faith was still there. Judas abandoned Christ altogether when he realized Jesus wasn’t setting up his kingdom the way that he imagined, and he turned Christ and Peter. Uh, Peter left Christ. He promised so much to Jesus in John 13.

But Jesus tells him, you’re going to deny me three times. And then even in that denial, it didn’t stop Peter from coming back to Jesus because Jesus, after his resurrection, met him on the shore and said, Peter, do you love me? Thomas doubted. John who wrote the Gospels. Records himself at Mary’s side at the Cross of Christ. Now. There’s all kinds of ways to respond when life gets difficult. I don’t know where you are or what your tendency is as an individual when things get hard, but but for me, I’m one that needs a few minutes just to adjust to the new circumstances around me, right? Wait a minute. This is getting a little rocky. How am I going to figure this out before I need to take a step? And Jesus’s statement is, is one of confidence to his disciples, one that still in the midst of adversity, allows them the opportunity to dream big and what Christ is able to do. So what does it mean? We’re going to do greater works than Jesus. Um, I don’t think what Christ is saying here is that we’re going to be better than Jesus or we’re going to we’re going to be greater than Jesus himself. I don’t I don’t think that’s what he’s saying at all. But. But Jesus has given an understanding that what the church is, is able to do what the church is capable to do for us as individuals means that we we don’t have to stop dreaming with Jesus passing, but we continue to dream large.

And the reason is. It’s because of what’s taking place and the death of Christ. There’s a symbol. Of a new covenant. That is now come. In the Old Testament in Jeremiah chapter 31. In verse 31. It says, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord. When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. We saw last week that this this covenant came to include the Gentiles, or it does include the Gentiles, because the promises to Abraham is that through him all nations will be blessed. But, you know, one of the interesting things about what’s taking place in John chapter 13 and 14 is this is the upper room, this is the Last Supper. This is where you see the the famous picture with Jesus sitting around the table with his disciples. As they’re engaging in this upper room meal. Jesus also. Establishes his New Covenant. Today we call this communion. When Abraham had his covenant established with the Lord. The Bible said that through him all nations would be blessed. And when God wanted to validate that promise, he established a covenant with Abraham. He and during that time they would take an animal, they would separate it. The animal would lose its life. They would separate it into individuals that made a covenant together, would walk through this, this covenant, this animal.

And the representation was, if we break this covenant, may, may what happened to me be what happens to this animal? But they would establish this agreement together and and this covenant, it wasn’t broken because in the story of Abraham, when when God gave this promise to Abraham, the Bible tells us that God calls Abraham to fall asleep. And and God walks through this animal as a as a light. He moves through this animal, establishing his covenant with Abraham based on his strength, his promises to Abraham. Now Jesus is going to the upper room. And he symbolically representing now himself. As the covenant. And he says in Luke chapter 22 and verse 19, the details of this isn’t in the book of John, but we know he’s in the upper room celebrating this. And it says this in Luke. And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. It coincidentally on the. On the flip side of this, what Jesus is comparing this to in John 14 is is one of a of a marriage covenant, which is why we’re called the Bride of Christ. See, when a when a husband and wife are a future bride and groom would come together, they had this what is called this betrothal period. This happened between Joseph and Mary, where they’re legally looked at as married, but they haven’t consummated the marriage yet.

And in John 14, Jesus is doing this with his disciples. But what would take place is they would when the couple would gather together, the the father and the son would agree upon a dowry, a payment for his bride, and upon agreement of this dowry they would then the bride and the groom would partake of communion together, drinking from this cup. And for us, the dowry that was paid for our life is Jesus and the and the. The value of what is given is Christ blood shed for us. This new covenant is coming and this is why Jesus in Matthew 16 says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. When Jesus makes that statement, it’s a future statement that what he’s going to do is different than what’s been done. He will build his church and I will say Old and New Testament. God has always called us his people. But there’s something distinct about what Christ is doing different here that makes it unique from the Old Testament. Which is why when you pick up your Bible, we call that the Old and New Testament, right? The New Covenant. The word, the phrase, the idea from it comes from Jeremiah 3131. It’s recognizing something different for us is taking place in Scripture. It’s what’s been proclaimed since the book of Genesis that the Messiah would come redeeming his people, giving us life in his kingdom, to proclaim the goodness of who Christ is.

This is what Jesus is saying. Greater works than these, you will do. As Jesus is establishing his people in his new covenant for the glory of his kingdom and to his praise. It’s not that we’re better than Jesus. But it’s now we’ve become his people, belonging to him. To proclaim his good name. And so the question then is. Now that we know what Jesus is saying. How? Now, how could I ever expect someone like me or this place like Alpine Bible Church, or the people that make up who our church family is? How? How does verse 12 happen? Because I know me. I know where my heart goes sometimes, and I know the struggles that I have in my own life and. And you’re not perfect either. Why? Well, how would Jesus even want to do that? Jesus explains that the how of this in John 14, when he comes down to verse 15, he says, if you love me. Keep my commands. Which, by the way, in first John and in the book of John, I think it’s chapter six. Jesus tells us the commands are are to trust in Christ. But in verse 16 he says, and I will ask the father, and he will give you another advocate to help you, and he will be with you forever. If you want to know who the advocate is, it’s the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him, nor nor knows him.

But you know him, for he lives with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. So what Jesus is saying here, and the reason that the church is able to to just display the beauty of who Christ is, is because of the power of the Spirit of God that rests upon the people, because of what the covenant of Christ has brought to us. The Holy Spirit becomes the guarantee of this new covenant. And so when Jesus makes this statement in John 14 and we ask the question, how is this even possible? When you look throughout the the rest of the New Testament, you see this theology laid out for what the Holy Spirit represents to the church. In First Corinthians chapter 12, this is what it says for for by one spirit we are all baptized into one body. Meaning this word baptism means you’re immersed. This Holy Spirit comes into your life and immerses you. In fact, John, when he was when he was baptizing in John chapter one and verse 33, John the Baptist, he says, he said, I baptize you with water, but there comes one after me who will baptize you in the spirit. Now. Sometimes in the Bible, the word baptism gets a little confusing because sometimes it’s referring to water baptism or spirit baptism. But the the Bible, when it uses that terme it, it means immersion.

So you need to ask yourself if you’re in the context of it, it’s talking about the water or is it talking about the spirit. But what it’s saying to us is that we’re immersed in this. To those who belong to Jesus. His spirit now rests in you. You are immersed in His Spirit because you belong to Christ. And in Romans it says this. Excuse me, let me go back in Romans chapter eight, in verse 11 it says, God will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. This this spirit now dwells within you. In acts chapter one. Acts chapter two is the Gospels come to a close. Luke wrote the book of Luke and acts, and the Book of Acts is sort of a continuum of what happens in the Gospel of Luke. And he opens up in acts chapter one, and Jesus is in his resurrection state. And and in chapter one, verse eight, he tells us he ascends into heaven. And the early church after Jesus’s ascension for 40 days, goes up into an upper room and prays. Why? Because they’re waiting on the promise. And in acts chapter two. In the beginning it comes. The Holy Spirit. The sins on God’s people. And from acts chapter two, the people of God move out into Jerusalem and Judea and the uttermost parts of the world, proclaiming God’s message, but they’re waiting on the power of the spirit.

And in Romans eight, now that the spirit has come, it tells all of us who are in Christ. God’s spirit now dwells in you. In First Corinthians 316 to to paint the picture in another way. This is what Paul says. He says, you are the temple of God. Actually, the context is do you not know that you are the temple of God? So the way it worked in the Old Testament, which is why it’s different than the New Testament, is the temple was the place the spirit dwelled and the temple was destroyed. When Christ rent the veil and and rather than go to the temple where God’s presence is now, you become the temple. And so in first Corinthians it tells us that you are the temple of God. And so in second Corinthians five, building on that thought, Paul says this about us in Christ. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. All things have passed. Behold, all things have become new. And Ezekiel. There was a promise in the Old Testament that said this. Moreover, I will give you a new heart. And put a new spirit within you. And I’ll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you. A heart of flesh. Jesus gives us a new identity in him. Maybe one of the most important passages, I think, in all of this, as it relates to the spirit and our relationship to him, is in Ephesians chapter one.

Verse 13 says, and you also were included in Christ. When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation when you believed. You were marked in him with a seal. The promised Holy Spirit. Who was the deposit? The deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory. The Bible says, The spirit dwells in us, the spirit baptizes us, the spirit seals us. And this, this sealing is so important as it relates to the significance of Ephesians chapter one. What Paul is saying here. So the spirit. That ceiling is representing the stamp of a king. You guys have probably no doubt sealed something in your life. Let me tell you how we do that. In the modern day. You’ve sent a letter. You put this governmental stamp on it? Your seal of approval, right? And you date or not date it. But you address this letter. Maybe you date it. You don’t need to. Okay? But you address this letter right to the sender. And from the one who sent it. And legally, the possession of that letter belongs to the sender or the one who sent it. And what Jesus is saying about you belonging to him is that the spirit of the New covenant is so important because not only is the spirit what empowers you, but this spirit is what tells you you belong to Jesus. And the spirit seals you and God puts his address on you.

And then it says this in the text in verse 14, who is the deposit? The spirit then guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory. You’re owned by a king and his kingdom. Because of what Christ has done. Why? Or how could we even expect to do what John chapter 14, verse 12 says? And the answer is, it still has nothing to do with you. It’s because it’s because of what Jesus has done for you. Now the power of His Spirit resting with you in John 14 told us, and he will be with you forever. He will not abandon you. You will not be orphans, but Christ will come to you. Here’s what’s important, as Paul has shared the significance of the spirit sealing us. He then encourages us as people to let the spirit fill us. In Ephesians chapter five and verse 16. Says, make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit. Paul now makes a distinction in the life of a believer between a spirit that indwells you, a spirit that seals you, a spirit that baptizes you. And the spirit that fills you. If you look at those terms of sealed and baptized and indwelt, those are all guarantees that God gives to the believer by trusting in Christ for what he has done for us.

But when it comes to being spirit filled, we see that in this passage it’s a command in verse 18 be filled with the spirit meaning. This is where the Spirit of God works through the people of God to accomplish the will of God. What does it mean to be spirit filled? We’ll tell you, some people, when they define this, do not define it. Right. But the most simplistic understanding. When it comes to being spirit filled. It means to be spirit controlled. It’s saying to you that within us as individuals, there is a war that takes place. We have the old man. And the new Man. And the new man belongs to Christ. The Bible tells us we are a new creation. But our sin nature is still there. And our kingdom, apart from God, wages war against our king’s kingdom. We call ourselves King. We dethrone the one who is king. And Jesus is encouraging us through the spirit and Paul in Ephesians chapter five. To get off your throne. And let the real king set upon it and allow him to have control. In Galatians, Paul said it like this in chapter two and verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, it’s not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In Galatians 516, Paul said this way, walk in the spirit, and you will not satisfy the lust of the flesh.

For the fruit of the spirit. He goes on to tell us, is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness. What Paul is identifying for us in this passage is that God wants to move in you in such a way that he wants to produce this spirit. He’s not asking you in your strength as you being king, to go out and be loving and fruitful and and gracious and patience and and long suffering. What he’s saying to us is that the spirit is what bears this fruit, not you. But as you lay down your life to God and allow him to have control of your life, it is his fruit that comes forth in you because of your surrendering to him. When Paul is talking about be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit he’s identifying for us. There are things that control you. And then there’s Jesus. And if you really believe. And John 14, verse 12. Greater things than these you’ll do. You’re going to allow that spirit to have control. You’re going to surrender yourself to what God wants to accomplish, because what Jesus has done, it is that valuable and that powerful. I want to keep in mind when he’s talking. When he’s talking to his disciples in the upper room. And he says this in John 14. Our tendency as, as, as American minded people is to think, I, I’m going to do this right.

But when Jesus is sharing this, he’s not sharing this to an individual. He’s sharing this to a group, right? This is you. Or as we say in the South, y’all. Right. All y’all who belong to Jesus. When you think about the fruit of the spirit and what it represents to us love. Joy, peace. Patience. Goodness, gentleness. Those things are worthless. Without people to express them toward, right? Anybody can be loving when there’s not something difficult to love in front of you. I can be patient all day long when my kids aren’t going. Dad, dad! Dad! Dad. Right? This is you collectively. What God does in us and through us, which makes for us as people our our unity and understanding what God has called us together in so important. When? When you read how this happens in acts, we’ll hashtag that in a minute. In the book of acts, in chapter two. And we’re going in the ant print now. Smaller here. The church receives the spirit in the beginning of acts two. At the end of acts it shows the natural response of the church because of the spirit. And I want to tell you, the church is doing things that are godly and and here’s, here’s what I always, I always want to buck against when I read this passage is I don’t want to make this something that we religiously perform, but because of the Spirit of God in us, we seek these things that we can know God and encourage the body of Christ.

Meaning? Meaning we can go through this, this paragraph that is written in acts two and from a religious standpoint, try to do these things right. But I don’t want to just I don’t want to approach it from just this religious, oppressive, legalistic standpoint. I want to approach this. The Spirit of God has been given to the people of God. And when they want to see the work of God taking place. And so this is what it says in verse two, when they receive the spirit and they became the body of Christ. And this New Testament, this new covenant, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles and all those who had believed were together and had all things in common. There was unity, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need, day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, the temple still exists. At this point it wasn’t destroyed yet physically. They were used to gathering there and worshiped, and so they continued to do so. And they were having meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart in verse 47, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And look what happens. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who are being saved. Yeah. This is what I think about. God’s people as their surrender to God’s will. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful to the world around us. It’s beautiful to the people that are involved. I mean, to see the way the grace of God was poured out for us, and how the grace of God continues to be poured out in our lives. And the truth of God proclaimed. When you see the way that it happened in the early church, the response of people in verse 47 as they saw the community of Christ working together in Jesus, it was beautiful and and the world around them was was attracted to it. And they just it became contagious. And they wanted to be a part of what God was doing and belong in that. They wanted to be in something that that mattered and not just for the day, but for eternity. It was contagious. In First Corinthians chapter 16. There’s a story that I love as it relates to the Bible. I’m just going to read it for you real quick. It’s a it’s a belief. A believing family that came to know Christ. And and it says this in chapter 16 verse 15. Now I urge you, brethren, Paul’s writing this, you know, the household of Stephanus, that they were the first fruits of Achaia.

They came to know Christ and Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for the ministry to the saints. That word devoted in the Greek language, it’s this action verb that’s elongated. It’s more like this word devoted could be either translated obsessed or addicted. They. They care so much about what God is doing and has done in their lives that they are addicted to see the work of this kingdom go on and. And in first Corinthians, Paul said this to the body of believers, now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. So here’s my encouragement for us this morning. And sometimes we view ourselves. Individualistic. Our identity is just shaped with who we are. When Jesus shared this this passage. He wants all of us as a family. To shape our identity and who he is, right? It’s no longer about me. But about us and community together for his kingdom and glory. Because when the church sees themselves as gifted in that way through the power of His Spirit, what God can do through us. Is unbelievable. And throughout Scripture. He he called us his family. He calls us his body. He calls us his church. He calls us his bride. And we get the opportunity to grow together for this purpose. That’s the reason, as a church, why we have connection groups, by the way, to get to know one another as as a family and encourage each other in that sense.

It’s. It’s what God’s created us for. If I were to encourage us in another way, I would say this as as you take a step out for Jesus. It’s a good reminder for us to know that not everyone is going to join you, right? No matter how pretty it may look, no matter how good it may may feel for you. Not everyone may join you. In fact, in Mark six, it tells us that Jesus was rejected in his hometown and in in Mark chapter three and verse 20 and 21, it tells us at one point that Jesus is family went to get him because they thought he was crazy. When Jesus was rejected by even his own family. But here’s what I think Utah needs. We need brave souls that love Christ. I think within our community there is a groundswell of. Individuals of where we are in life that we’re just we’re just not satisfied. And we’re looking for more. And and they may even have this consideration or appreciation towards Jesus, but they’re afraid to take the step. But when they can look around. And they can see people ahead of them. Taking those steps in Christ. How beautiful it is. And how grateful it is for us to have the opportunity to consider greater works than these. You will do so here’s your hashtag this week. There we go. If you want to log in on Facebook or whatever. The church is growing. Not because of us, but because of him.

#IBelongToTheKing

#RejoicingInChrist