00:00:56.600 Good morning once again everyone to
00:00:59.320 Freedom Church. I'm Pastor Eric. Let's
00:01:01.640 give God a great big hand. He is so so good.
00:01:04.040 I want to say welcome to everyone
00:01:05.080 watching online as well. We always have
00:01:07.760 our 11:00 a.m. service live streamed and
00:01:10.240 I know many people have been commenting,
00:01:12.120 posting, sending in prayer requests
00:01:14.480 online as well and I want to encourage
00:01:16.120 you even if you're here in the room or
00:01:17.680 watching online, you can always put
00:01:19.600 prayer requests, you can submit prayer
00:01:21.280 requests. You can scan that tap card on
00:01:23.480 the front thing on the seat back in
00:01:25.480 front of you. If you don't know how to
00:01:26.800 do that, ask someone to help you.
00:01:28.560 They'll help you do that or we do have
00:01:29.800 paper connection cards in the back of
00:01:31.960 the room at Connection Point. We want to
00:01:33.560 be praying for you and everyone who
00:01:34.640 filled one out last week, we are praying
00:01:36.160 for you. We're consistently praying for
00:01:38.200 you and your needs as well. I just want
00:01:40.040 to throw that out there is if you have
00:01:41.320 anything going on in your life like we
00:01:42.840 want to be praying. We want to take it
00:01:44.120 to God and he knows but we go to him in
00:01:46.520 prayer and I just want to bring that up
00:01:48.440 to your attention how we can be praying
00:01:49.880 for you. We would love to know. With
00:01:51.960 that, we're in the last Sunday of our
00:01:54.560 series titled "The Church Defined" and
00:01:57.440 before we get into the text, I want to
00:01:59.520 ask you to imagine something with me. It
00:02:01.120 might not be that hard for some of you
00:02:02.440 to imagine, but imagine a part of your
00:02:04.400 body not functioning properly.
00:02:07.400 Right? Some of you are like, "I'm I'm
00:02:08.639 feeling that right now. Something's
00:02:10.160 not working right." But when one part of
00:02:11.920 your body's not functioning correctly,
00:02:14.200 it often affects your entire body,
00:02:16.360 right? Like if you have an eye or leg or
00:02:18.720 some part of your body's hurting or not
00:02:20.640 working correctly, it often affects your
00:02:23.080 entire body and your entire life.
00:02:26.000 In the church, it's very similar. The
00:02:28.440 church is known as the body of Christ.
00:02:31.120 And when one part of the body is not
00:02:33.040 functioning or working correctly, it
00:02:35.120 actually affects the entire body. Maybe
00:02:37.520 we don't realize it or see the effects,
00:02:39.680 but the reality is every part of the
00:02:41.920 body is supposed to be functioning. So,
00:02:44.080 what is the body? The church
00:02:46.120 isn't just a building. It's not just an
00:02:48.520 event. It's not something we attend on
00:02:50.560 Sundays. It's actually the people,
00:02:53.000 right? We, the people, you, are the body
00:02:56.240 of Christ. The church really is the
00:02:58.120 body. And if we're the body, then a
00:03:00.200 good question to ask is,
00:03:02.000 "Who's the head? Who's in charge here,
00:03:04.160 right?" And Colossians 1:18 actually
00:03:06.680 says that Christ, Jesus himself, is the
00:03:09.840 head of the church, which is his body.
00:03:13.080 We, the church, are his body, connected
00:03:14.959 to Jesus as the head. He is the
00:03:16.840 beginning, the supreme one over all who
00:03:19.680 rise from the dead, so he is first in
00:03:23.040 everything.
00:03:24.200 See, the church is actually the only
00:03:25.880 organization with a perfect leader
00:03:29.000 because the leader is Jesus. He is
00:03:31.600 ultimately the lead pastor of his
00:03:34.160 church. I just lead one portion of his
00:03:36.840 church of Freedom Church, but ultimately
00:03:39.000 only Jesus is perfect. Amen?
00:03:41.760 Only Jesus is the one who can really
00:03:43.440 shepherd his entire church. He shepherds
00:03:45.320 and pastors and leads his entire church,
00:03:47.720 his body, and we are just simply
00:03:50.320 parts of what he is building and doing
00:03:53.560 in the world. So, you're not just
00:03:55.360 invited to church,
00:03:57.360 you are part of the church. You are
00:04:02.560 body of Christ. And when we
00:04:04.280 misunderstand that, we can often look at
00:04:07.240 church as something we receive,
00:04:09.320 something we consume, and what do we get
00:04:11.959 out of it, rather than what can I give?
00:04:14.320 What can I contribute? How can I be a
00:04:16.560 functioning healthy part of the body of
00:04:19.399 Christ? So, today I want to show you
00:04:22.160 what the church really looks like when
00:04:24.200 it functions as the body of Christ. So,
00:04:27.560 the last couple weeks we've talked about
00:04:29.280 Acts chapter 1 through 4. So, in the
00:04:31.840 Bible, in the book of Acts, the New
00:04:33.320 Testament, really focusing on the early
00:04:36.000 church. So, we have the Gospels, and
00:04:38.240 then there's the book of Acts that
00:04:39.520 really lays out how the church, as
00:04:42.960 we know, the early church really got
00:04:45.080 started about 2,000 years ago. Started
00:04:47.560 at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit coming,
00:04:50.080 filling the believers, empowering the
00:04:51.840 believers, giving them courage to go
00:04:54.600 and preach Jesus as the Messiah. We
00:04:56.960 covered that the last couple weeks in
00:04:58.160 chapters 1 through 4. Today, we're
00:05:00.919 going to look at portions of Acts
00:05:03.120 chapter 5, 6, and 7, as well as a couple
00:05:05.840 other mentions of the body and how we
00:05:08.160 can apply it to our lives. So, in Acts
00:05:10.880 chapter 5, there's actually this
00:05:12.720 passage, this section of scripture that
00:05:15.120 many times as I read through it, I go, I
00:05:16.919 just like to skip over that part
00:05:18.200 sometimes, or maybe it's not like
00:05:20.600 the coolest and most popular thing to
00:05:22.240 preach in church. But I thought every
00:05:24.120 single part of the Bible is useful, is
00:05:26.200 helpful, is meant to teach us something.
00:05:28.400 So, I believe we can learn something
00:05:30.240 very important and apply it to our
00:05:32.400 lives. So, in Acts chapter 5, it
00:05:34.520 actually says there was a certain man
00:05:36.000 named Ananias, who with his wife
00:05:38.000 Sapphira, sold some property. He brought
00:05:41.000 part of the money to the apostles,
00:05:43.200 claiming it was the full amount. With
00:05:45.640 his wife's consent, he kept the rest.
00:05:48.480 Now, what's happening is Ananias and
00:05:50.200 Sapphira, this couple, they sell
00:05:52.120 property, they bring some of that money
00:05:54.520 to the apostles, but they said it was
00:05:56.400 all of it. So, they lied about their
00:05:58.440 giving. They lied because they wanted to
00:06:00.640 present themselves as more generous
00:06:03.960 than they actually were. And God deals
00:06:06.320 with it immediately. In verse 3, Peter
00:06:08.640 said, "Ananias, why have you let Satan
00:06:11.840 fill your heart? You lied to the Holy
00:06:14.040 Spirit. You kept some of the money for
00:06:16.120 yourself. The property, in verse 4, was
00:06:18.680 yours to sell or not sell as you wished.
00:06:21.960 And after selling it,
00:06:23.919 excuse me, the money was also yours to
00:06:26.120 give away. How could you do a thing like
00:06:28.400 this? You weren't lying to us, but to
00:06:31.120 God." Now, I want to make a clear point
00:06:33.720 that the Bible and Christianity does not
00:06:36.560 promote and is not a fan of socialism.
00:06:39.720 Socialism, when you really understand
00:06:41.240 what that is, it's forcibly taking
00:06:43.360 something from somebody and giving it to
00:06:45.480 somebody else. Now, on paper, it looks
00:06:47.880 good, it seems good, but we've seen
00:06:50.240 through history, we've seen in the
00:06:51.919 Bible, everyone was willingly and freely
00:06:55.520 giving up their stuff, of their
00:06:56.800 finances. He said, "It's your choice to
00:06:59.919 sell or not sell the property and bring
00:07:02.640 the money." There wasn't a problem with
00:07:04.520 them doing that. The problem was they
00:07:05.840 lied about how much they received. They
00:07:08.200 could have just been honest and said,
00:07:09.640 "Hey, here's half. We're going to keep
00:07:11.320 half." I'm sure everything would have
00:07:12.880 been fine. But instead, they lied and
00:07:14.480 said this was all of it, and as a
00:07:16.919 result,
00:07:18.200 in verse 5, it says, "As soon as Ananias
00:07:20.160 heard these words, he fell to the floor
00:07:22.919 and died. God struck him dead. Everyone
00:07:25.240 who heard about it was
00:07:27.160 terrified." Now, the Bible says about 3
00:07:29.240 hours later, his wife comes in, and
00:07:31.080 Peter says, "Hey,
00:07:32.680 your husband told us this is how much
00:07:34.160 you sold the property, and this is all
00:07:35.320 of it. Is that true?" And she lies and
00:07:37.280 says, "Yes, that's it." So, God strikes
00:07:39.520 her dead as well. And both of this couple
00:07:41.560 are killed, which is, you know, an
00:07:43.280 intense, often uncomfortable
00:07:46.200 story for us to read, but I believe it
00:07:48.680 speaks very highly of how God
00:07:50.640 treats integrity, how God treats sin in
00:07:53.440 our lives, and that when we lie, when we
00:07:55.600 sin, we don't just lie or sin to one
00:07:57.800 another, we actually are sinning against
00:07:59.960 God. That every sin that we commit is
00:08:02.760 actually against God. But yet in his
00:08:05.120 mercy, in his grace, he welcomes us
00:08:07.360 back. We can repent, we can turn from
00:08:09.600 that sin. It's not to be perfect, but
00:08:12.000 it's to be repentant, to be honest
00:08:13.520 before God. Now this story, you know,
00:08:15.480 God is establishing something I believe
00:08:17.919 early in his church, in the early
00:08:19.680 church, that he cares deeply about the
00:08:22.440 integrity of his body. Again, this is
00:08:25.120 Jesus' church. It's not
00:08:28.280 mine. We're just stewarding something,
00:08:30.640 we're caring for something that
00:08:31.840 ultimately belongs to Jesus. Jesus
00:08:34.919 purchased his church. He gave his blood,
00:08:38.599 bought it with a price, therefore Jesus
00:08:41.159 owns the church. So he owns all of us as
00:08:45.160 the church, we belong to him, but we
00:08:47.280 have stewardship with what he has
00:08:49.200 entrusted to us. So integrity is very
00:08:51.400 important to him. And right before this,
00:08:53.360 right before Ananias and Sapphira come
00:08:54.920 in, there's miracles happening, there's
00:08:56.640 lives being changed, the gospel
00:08:58.920 of Jesus is spreading rapidly, so God
00:09:01.800 deals with it not because he's harsh,
00:09:04.680 but because he's holy.
00:09:06.440 Because Jesus cares so much, God cares so
00:09:08.360 much about his church, he deals with
00:09:10.760 this in what seems to be a harsh
00:09:12.280 way, but God is holy. He is perfect. So
00:09:16.760 we like the idea of a powerful church,
00:09:18.880 right? How many of you, we
00:09:20.080 would love to see more people's lives
00:09:21.640 transformed, more people getting saved,
00:09:24.640 more of God's moving power in and
00:09:27.040 through our church and in our community,
00:09:28.600 but we don't always connect that to
00:09:30.720 personal holiness.
00:09:32.560 That what I tolerate in my life,
00:09:35.000 the sin I allow in my life affects
00:09:37.880 more than just me.
00:09:39.520 Likewise, the sin or the things you
00:09:41.400 tolerate in your life affect more than
00:09:43.640 just you.
00:09:44.840 That we are connected, therefore our
00:09:47.160 personal sins affect all of us to some
00:09:50.280 degree. Whether we can see or measure
00:09:52.840 it, that's the reality. It doesn't mean
00:09:55.520 we have to be perfect, but we need to be
00:09:57.600 honest. I think it starts with just
00:09:99.680 being honest with where we are. We all
00:10:02.240 have sin. We all do things that are
00:10:04.520 displeasing or not what God would have
00:10:06.680 for us. We have to be honest. And then
00:10:08.720 we have to repent saying, "God, I know I
00:10:11.160 do these things that are not good. I
00:10:12.920 want to walk this way. I want to live
00:10:14.440 this way. I want to talk this way. I
00:10:16.080 want to think this way." And we turn
00:10:18.120 from our sin and we walk towards God.
00:10:20.080 The reality is hidden sin doesn't stay
00:10:22.440 hidden. It weakens the body.
00:10:26.040 It's like a sickness inside of you. It's
00:10:27.880 a darkness inside of you. And hidden sin,
00:10:30.640 when you try to keep it
00:10:32.680 hidden, it affects your entire body.
00:10:34.520 King David in the Old Testament talked
00:10:35.800 about, "My body was wasting away
00:10:37.920 when I held this sin in." But once he
00:10:39.880 confessed it, he was free. He was set
00:10:42.080 free. He was able to be strengthened.
00:10:43.880 Likewise for us, sin always has an
00:10:46.640 effect.
00:10:48.480 Many people go, "I'm not hurting
00:10:49.880 anybody. I didn't kill anybody. I'm just
00:10:52.000 sinning in my own home, my own way, my
00:10:53.960 own privacy." And we fail to
00:10:56.280 oftentimes recognize the effect that
00:10:58.560 sin has not just on us, but on those
00:11:01.480 around us, on the entire body as well.
00:11:05.440 So, God deals with this one pretty
00:11:06.720 harshly, pretty quickly. And then we see
00:11:08.640 what happens after it as a result. For
00:11:10.400 the rest of chapter 5, there's tons of
00:11:12.760 people like thousands of people, crowds
00:11:14.640 of people actually come to hear about
00:11:16.920 Jesus. They believe in Jesus. And
00:11:19.000 actually at one point it says crowds of
00:11:20.280 people come to the apostles and they're
00:11:22.120 all healed, physically healed. That even
00:11:24.280 Peter's shadow would just go over people
00:11:26.680 and God would heal them. So, miraculous,
00:11:29.120 powerful things are happening because
00:11:31.080 God dealt with the sin and everyone is
00:11:33.560 terrified. Everyone is
00:11:34.920 afraid to lie to God because they're
00:11:37.120 like, he knows anyways, why would I lie
00:11:39.400 to him? Why would I lie to these people?
00:11:41.640 And amazing things are happening.
00:11:43.320 And we see in Acts chapter 6,
00:11:46.160 the believers rapidly multiply. Again,
00:11:49.000 thousands of people, crowds of people
00:11:50.760 are believing in Jesus, but there were
00:11:52.880 rumblings of discontent.
00:11:55.920 A lot of new believers
00:11:57.960 come, a lot of rumblings of discontent,
00:12:00.160 right? With more people, there's often
00:12:02.040 more challenges. We'll say challenges,
00:12:03.560 not problems, opportunities, right?
00:12:06.080 How many of you work with a lot of
00:12:07.080 different people, right? You know
00:12:08.720 there's more challenges the more people
00:12:10.400 you work with, right? Maybe
00:12:12.080 you're like, sometimes
00:12:13.440 we're like, I have enough problems with
00:12:14.800 me and myself and I. I don't need to
00:12:16.160 have more problems with other people.
00:12:17.760 But more believers, more people, and what
00:12:19.520 happened, we see this first real problem
00:12:21.480 come up in the early church. It says the
00:12:23.640 Greek-speaking believers complained
00:12:26.080 about the Hebrew-speaking believers
00:12:28.240 saying that their widows were being
00:12:30.000 discriminated against in the daily
00:12:32.280 distribution of food. This first problem
00:12:35.160 that we have, this first complaint, is
00:12:37.320 because there are so many people, the
00:12:39.520 believers were rapidly multiplying.
00:12:43.240 But this is such a good thing. Don't we
00:12:44.800 want more people to believe in Jesus?
00:12:47.080 Don't we want more people to know and
00:12:48.760 experience the freedom in Christ? But
00:12:51.680 with that will come challenges. There'll
00:12:53.839 come obstacles. There'll come
00:12:55.720 opportunities for us to love people into
00:12:58.960 the kingdom of God. And if we expect
00:13:01.120 church to ever be clean and perfect and
00:13:03.720 no problems at all, then we're probably
00:13:05.200 never reaching anybody else.
00:13:07.080 Right? Instead, we need to reach new
00:13:09.400 people. We want to be a diverse church
00:13:11.480 with a lot of different backgrounds,
00:13:12.880 right? There's Hebrew-speaking and Greek-
00:13:14.680 speaking. We want different people to
00:13:16.680 come because that's what heaven is going
00:13:18.720 to be like. Vast number of people from
00:13:21.600 many different backgrounds coming
00:13:23.400 together to worship one God. But they're
00:13:25.400 arguing about this
00:13:26.760 discrimination saying, "Hey, you guys,
00:13:28.560 your widows are getting
00:13:29.840 more food than our widows." And they're
00:13:31.200 arguing about who's getting more
00:13:32.520 or less attention. So, the
00:13:34.720 12 apostles called a meeting of
00:13:37.880 all the believers. They said, "We
00:13:39.800 apostles should spend our time teaching
00:13:42.200 the word of God, not running a food
00:13:44.240 program. And so, brothers, select seven
00:13:47.280 men who are well respected and are full
00:13:50.040 of the spirit and wisdom. We will give
00:13:52.320 them this responsibility. Then we
00:13:54.560 apostles can spend our time in prayer
00:13:57.120 and teaching the word." What they had to
00:13:99.880 do was come up with a system. They had
00:14:02.200 to create structure or an order. And
00:14:04.480 many times people who don't believe
00:14:06.800 in organized religion, you know, I've
00:14:08.520 had people tell me, "I don't like
00:14:09.680 organized religion." Like, "What do you
00:14:11.160 like, disorganized religion?" Like, "God
00:14:13.280 is a God of order, not a God of chaos
00:14:15.440 and confusion." So, organized religion
00:14:17.920 is actually how we care for more people.
00:14:21.280 We look to the book of Acts and the
00:14:23.040 early church and just thinking it through
00:14:24.560 logically, it makes sense. The more we
00:14:26.760 have some structure and systems, the
00:14:28.960 more we can order care, order help than
00:14:32.320 just saying, "Well, somebody's got to
00:14:33.680 feed somebody." Right? Like that whole
00:14:35.680 illustration of if everybody's job is to
00:14:38.800 feed the dog, nobody feeds the dog,
00:14:40.760 right? So, there has to be people
00:14:42.560 assigned, and authority and
00:14:44.280 responsibility delegated so that more
00:14:47.200 people can be cared for. So that the
00:14:49.240 church can be healthier. Cause think about
00:14:51.640 these apostles: they're teaching,
00:14:52.920 they're reading the word, they're
00:14:53.960 studying scripture, they're preaching,
00:14:55.280 they're leading people to Jesus, they're
00:14:56.760 baptizing people. If they do everything,
00:14:59.200 that's not healthy.
00:15:01.240 Likewise in the church today, if the
00:15:03.360 pastor or a certain number of people are
00:15:05.800 doing everything, that's not healthy,
00:15:08.160 either. Instead of allowing and
00:15:10.200 incorporating systems and structures so
00:15:12.240 more people can receive care. So more
00:15:15.160 people can also receive the joy of
00:15:17.880 serving, receive the joy of giving,
00:15:20.200 receive the joy... get to bless and
00:15:22.840 impact other people's lives. There's no
00:15:25.440 greater joy in my life than getting to
00:15:27.280 bless and impact other people's lives
00:15:29.480 for the kingdom of God. That's the
00:15:31.320 greatest thing we get to be a part of
00:15:32.960 for eternity. You know this is a God
00:15:35.600 idea. These apostles said, "Nominate
00:15:37.000 these seven guys." Because in verse
00:15:38.640 five, it said, "Everyone liked this
00:15:41.120 idea."
00:15:42.560 When else do we ever get everyone to
00:15:44.320 like an idea, right? At best we might
00:15:46.960 get 50% or a little bit more. But
00:15:49.080 everyone liked this idea. So they chose
00:15:51.720 these following men: Stephen, a man full
00:15:54.640 of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip,
00:15:57.080 and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Tim,
00:15:59.520 and Parmesean, and Nico, and yeah. ALL
00:16:02.240 THOSE GUYS, THOSE SEVEN guys that were
00:16:04.200 nominated. I don't know. It starts easy,
00:16:05.600 then it gets harder. Those seven
00:16:07.880 men, they're well-respected, full of
00:16:10.200 faith. It says in verse six, "These
00:16:12.600 seven were presented to the apostles.
00:16:16.000 They laid their hands on them. They
00:16:17.520 prayed for them. So God's message
00:16:20.080 continued to spread. The number of
00:16:22.640 believers greatly increased in
00:16:24.560 Jerusalem, and many of even the Jewish
00:16:27.480 priests were converted to Christianity.
00:16:30.160 They were converted to be followers of
00:16:32.440 Jesus." So, as a result of the apostles
00:16:35.240 and the men nominating seven men,
00:16:37.320 delegating some work and responsibility...
00:16:39.000 You know what ministry
00:16:41.000 really is? It's a lot of work. It's
00:16:43.680 people work. It's working with people
00:16:46.000 and imperfect people and trying to
00:16:47.760 point them in a direction of what they
00:16:49.640 get to be a part of, but many times like
00:16:51.400 we want to go do what we want to do. We
00:16:53.280 don't want to do what God wants me to
00:16:54.480 do. I want to do what I want to do. And
00:16:56.320 we have to battle this flesh and spirit.
00:16:58.600 And so much of it is a lot of work. So
00:17:00.720 the more people doing the work of the
00:17:03.520 ministry, it says God's message
00:17:05.800 continues to spread and the number of
00:17:07.560 believers greatly increased. If the
00:17:10.520 apostles decide to do everything—
00:17:12.560 running the food program,
00:17:13.800 teaching, praying for
00:17:14.880 everyone, doing all the work—
00:17:16.760 they would not have seen a growth like
00:17:18.680 this.
00:17:19.680 The body started functioning properly.
00:17:22.880 More parts of the body started to
00:17:24.680 operate as they were intended to.
00:17:27.400 But some people think being a part of
00:17:29.160 the church just means showing up. Now,
00:17:32.320 we're all in different places in life
00:17:33.920 and maybe showing up is a big step for
00:17:35.840 you. Maybe giving God another chance and
00:17:38.040 showing up at church, maybe trusting the
00:17:40.040 church people again is a big step for
00:17:41.840 you. I'm not trying to demean that
00:17:43.640 whatsoever. In fact, I want to encourage
00:17:45.240 you to keep taking that next step. Keep
00:17:47.320 coming. Keep showing up cause showing up
00:17:49.800 is where you go—you can't be involved
00:17:51.480 unless you show up. So, that's a great
00:17:53.400 step. Keep doing that. But the Bible
00:17:55.880 paints a different picture than just
00:17:58.080 showing up. In fact, it says every
00:18:02.160 believer has a role. You have
00:18:04.720 gifts. You have talents. You have a part
00:18:07.600 of the body where you fit and you're
00:18:09.880 supposed to be functioning, growing,
00:18:11.920 strengthening, serving, staying
00:18:14.000 connected to the body. Every one of us
00:18:16.560 has a role.
00:18:18.520 And you don't have to do everything, but
00:18:20.840 you are called to do something.
00:18:23.120 I believe every single one of us has
00:18:25.160 some part to play, something we can
00:18:27.040 contribute, some way that we can be
00:18:28.960 involved in the body of Christ. And when
00:18:31.560 people don't step into their role,
00:18:34.200 ministry gets strained, people get
00:18:36.240 overlooked, growth gets limited, but
00:18:39.040 when people step up,
00:18:40.880 everything changes. This is where we see
00:18:42.600 thousands of people come to believe in
00:18:44.400 Jesus when people step up, when every
00:18:46.800 part does its job, the church grows in
00:18:50.000 strength and impact.
00:18:52.640 You know, there's seven guys. The first
00:18:53.880 one mentioned, his name is Stephen.
00:18:56.080 And there's actually some interesting
00:18:57.520 facts about Stephen that we see that
00:18:59.360 he's not an apostle. He's not the
00:19:02.120 lead preacher. He was chosen to serve
00:19:04.920 food.
00:19:06.080 Right? So, he's the guy making
00:19:07.800 coffee and handing out biscottis. Right?
00:19:10.080 How many of you love those people? I
00:19:11.680 love every one of those... Let's
00:19:12.960 give everyone who makes the coffee and
00:19:14.760 biscotti a hand.
00:19:17.000 That's Stephen. Stephen's like, "I'm not
00:19:18.800 the guy with the microphone. I'm not an
00:19:20.440 apostle. They picked me to serve
00:19:23.120 food, right?" And his lack of
00:19:26.560 what we could say is experience or
00:19:28.400 gifting didn't stop him from being used
00:19:30.960 by God in such a mighty, powerful way.
00:19:33.640 In fact, he's described as full of
00:19:35.280 faith. He's full of the Holy Spirit.
00:19:38.080 Full of wisdom and power.
00:19:41.640 How many of you qualify for those
00:19:43.800 three things? Those are available to
00:19:45.200 you. You can be full of faith. You can
00:19:46.920 be full of the Holy Spirit. You can be
00:19:48.200 full of wisdom and power and it's not
00:19:50.960 based on your human effort or your human
00:19:54.040 skill set, it's based on what God has
00:19:56.400 given you. What he can put inside of
00:19:58.800 you. And what we see is Stephen, he
00:20:01.880 preaches one of the best sermons ever
00:20:03.840 to be preached. I mean, I could just hit
00:20:05.160 play and you guys be like, "That's so
00:20:06.840 much better." It's the word of God. Acts
00:20:08.440 chapter 7 is really Stephen delivering
00:20:11.560 this sermon, this message to the Jewish
00:20:14.280 leaders. He's being arrested.
00:20:16.560 He's being criticized and opposed. They
00:20:18.640 put him in jail. And here he is, he's
00:20:20.480 preaching to them about all the
00:20:22.520 things that they already know, the
00:20:24.280 Jewish faith. He goes back to like
00:20:26.120 creation, talks about Moses, and he lays
00:20:28.560 out this whole path of history of the
00:20:31.360 Jewish faith pointing them to
00:20:34.440 Jesus saying, "Hey, all these things
00:20:36.480 that were prophesied about the Messiah,
00:20:38.800 about the anointed one, the chosen one,
00:20:41.120 that's Jesus." He tells them who they've
00:20:44.200 been waiting for, the one they're
00:20:45.440 looking for, where their hope comes
00:20:47.560 from, he's Jesus, the one that you guys
00:20:50.000 killed. Now, they didn't like that part,
00:20:52.200 but he tells them, that's the guy you guys killed. That's
00:20:56.200 Jesus. He is the Messiah. Stephen, what
00:21:00.280 qualifications he had? Full of faith,
00:21:02.760 full of the Holy Spirit, and wisdom and
00:21:04.520 power. I believe also he knew scripture.
00:21:06.560 He knew the word of God. He knew the
00:21:08.720 Bible. He studied and read the Bible.
00:21:10.840 It's so, so important to know and read
00:21:14.640 the Bible. But, what happens is Stephen
00:21:18.440 becomes the first martyr of the church.
00:21:20.840 A martyr is someone who dies for their
00:21:22.360 faith. They're a witness for their
00:21:24.120 faith.
00:21:25.160 And Stephen at the end of his life, he's
00:21:27.080 preaching this message. The men who are
00:21:29.480 the leaders at the time, they chose to
00:21:31.160 kill him.
00:21:32.360 And they chose to kill him by stoning
00:21:34.080 him. In verse 59 and 60,
00:21:36.680 as he's preaching, as he's sharing
00:21:38.360 this, they start to stone him. What
00:21:41.080 stoning is, they take these large rocks
00:21:43.200 and would throw them at him. And it
00:21:44.920 would be potentially dozens of them just
00:21:46.640 throwing rocks after rocks after rocks
00:21:49.040 until he died. What a horrible, slow,
00:21:52.000 and painful way to go. Yet, as they
00:21:54.880 stoned him, Stephen prays, "Lord Jesus,
00:21:58.800 receive my spirit." He fell to his knees
00:22:01.920 shouting, "Lord,
00:22:03.800 you better get them. Lord, strike them
00:22:06.280 all dead." No, he doesn't say that. He
00:22:07.560 says, "Lord, don't charge them with this
00:22:11.160 sin." And with that, he died.
00:22:16.000 Stephen is being murdered, being put to
00:22:18.240 death by these men in a slow, agonizing,
00:22:21.480 painful way.
00:22:23.240 And yet, he's able to say, "Lord, don't
00:22:24.960 charge them with this sin."
00:22:27.800 I don't know if I could do that. I'll be
00:22:29.000 honest, in my flesh, I'd probably say,
00:22:30.360 "God, stop this. God, would you swallow
00:22:32.560 them up? Would you strike them dead?
00:22:33.880 Bring down lightning and fire from
00:22:35.160 heaven." Whatever, but he's so filled
00:22:37.040 with the Holy Spirit. He's filled with a
00:22:38.320 heart that says, "God, he's asking
00:22:40.600 God not to charge them with the sin."
00:22:42.600 Because he has a heart of compassion for
00:22:44.480 them. Just like Jesus did on the cross,
00:22:47.480 he said, "Forgive them, for they don't
00:22:49.000 know what they're doing."
00:22:51.240 He's forgiving. He's releasing them as
00:22:53.840 they're in the act of killing
00:22:55.920 him, he's releasing any offense and any
00:22:58.720 unforgiveness to them. And with that, he
00:23:01.520 died.
00:23:03.040 Some people think, "Well, I'm not a
00:23:04.440 leader.
00:23:05.480 I'm not the guy with the microphone. I'm
00:23:07.120 not... I'm just going to stay and I'll
00:23:09.040 just sit and I won't do anything." But,
00:23:10.920 Stephen proved something. You don't need
00:23:13.080 a title to be used by God to do
00:23:15.120 something powerful.
00:23:16.880 You don't need a position. You don't
00:23:18.720 need a degree. You don't need a whole
00:23:20.600 bunch of things that make your
00:23:22.200 resume look good for God to use you in a
00:23:24.800 mighty and powerful way. It takes being
00:23:27.080 full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit,
00:23:29.120 and seeking his wisdom and power. What
00:23:31.880 we all really need is the Holy Spirit.
00:23:34.920 That is the thread throughout the entire
00:23:37.000 book of Acts. Every single chapter, it
00:23:39.360 talks about the Holy Spirit empowered.
00:23:41.360 The Holy Spirit gave boldness. The Holy
00:23:43.520 Spirit filled them with faith. The Holy
00:23:45.320 Spirit performed this... Actually, the book
00:23:47.360 of Acts is the Acts of the Holy Spirit
00:23:50.000 through the apostles, through the early
00:23:51.680 church. Everything they did was because
00:23:54.240 of the Holy Spirit within them. How do
00:23:57.200 we know we have the Holy Spirit? Are you
00:23:59.160 seeking him? Are you praying? Are you
00:24:01.120 asking God? The Holy Spirit is God. In
00:24:04.160 the spirit, saying, "God, fill
00:24:05.840 me with your spirit. God, give me your
00:24:07.560 spirit. Not so I can do something great,
00:24:10.080 but God, you could do something great
00:24:11.360 through me. You could impact somebody's
00:24:13.400 life through me." And the more we seek
00:24:16.360 the Holy Spirit, the more we'll be bold
00:24:18.440 for our faith. The more we'll be able to
00:24:19.880 share our faith. The more likely we're
00:24:22.840 going to stand for truth and what really
00:24:24.880 matters most in this country and in
00:24:27.000 our lives. Courage is contagious.
00:24:31.480 You guys, just as much as fear is
00:24:33.120 contagious, courage is contagious as
00:24:35.440 well. When Stephen was killed, all the
00:24:37.880 other apostles, their
00:24:39.640 courage rose. They
00:24:42.400 became more bold, more loud and
00:24:45.080 audacious for the faith. Declaring, it says
00:24:47.320 they continued to preach that Jesus is
00:24:50.640 the Messiah. No matter what threats came
00:24:52.400 against them, they continued to preach
00:24:55.000 Jesus is Lord.
00:24:57.040 So, let's look at another passage in 1
00:24:58.680 Corinthians 12. So, that's Acts 5, 6,
00:25:00.760 and 7, some portions of that. 1
00:25:03.400 Corinthians 12 is where the Apostle
00:25:05.120 Paul, he lays out and gives us an
00:25:07.120 illustration about the body of Christ,
00:25:09.920 the church, making sense, connecting it
00:25:12.360 to our physical bodies. He says, "The
00:25:14.400 human body has many parts, but the many
00:25:17.360 parts make up one whole body." There's a
00:25:19.240 lot of rhetorical... kind of like he's
00:25:21.200 just stating the obvious here. So, one
00:25:23.400 body, many parts, one whole
00:25:25.960 body, so it is with the body of Christ.
00:25:29.560 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,
00:25:32.640 some are slaves, some are free, but we
00:25:35.480 have all been baptized into one body by
00:25:38.400 one spirit, and we all share the same
00:25:41.400 spirit. We don't have some of us
00:25:43.640 having more of the Holy Spirit or like a
00:25:45.200 different spirit, and you got a better
00:25:47.120 Holy Spirit version, you got Temu
00:25:49.120 version of Holy Spirit. Like, we all
00:25:51.120 have the same spirit of God. That's what
00:25:53.640 he's saying. It's the same spirit, the
00:25:55.520 same body. Yes, in verse 14, the body
00:25:58.640 has many different parts, not just one
00:26:01.360 part. If the foot says, "I am not a part
00:26:04.640 of the body because I am not a hand,"
00:26:06.640 that does not make it any less a part of
00:26:09.240 the body. Make sense? Say yes. Yes.
00:26:13.760 The foot can't say to the hand,
00:26:15.640 "I'm not part of the body, you're not part
00:26:16.840 of the body." He continues, it says, "If the
00:26:18.440 ear says, 'I am not part of the body
00:26:21.040 because I'm not an eye,' would that make
00:26:23.280 it any less a part of the body?" No, all
00:26:26.320 right? If the whole body were an eye,
00:26:28.720 how would you hear? Or if your whole
00:26:30.520 body were an ear, how would you smell
00:26:32.520 anything? Verse 18, but our bodies have
00:26:35.080 many parts, and God has put each part
00:26:38.320 just where he wants it. How strange a
00:26:41.040 body would be if it only had one part.
00:26:44.560 Right? We can all picture it: if
00:26:46.240 you're looking at a giant ear up here,
00:26:47.960 that would be weird, right? We need to
00:26:49.920 have different parts of the body all
00:26:52.200 functioning together, but also connected
00:26:54.720 together.
00:26:55.840 When you see a hand laying on the table,
00:26:57.600 you should call 911 first, but that's
00:26:59.680 weird, right? And when we're part of
00:27:01.440 the body where you are a body part, when
00:27:03.760 you're separated or disconnected from
00:27:06.200 the body, that's weird. That's how many
00:27:09.040 people get in trouble, separated from
00:27:10.720 the church, they do weird things, and
00:27:13.200 they don't have something to connect
00:27:14.680 them to something that's bigger than
00:27:17.680 themselves.
00:27:19.600 He says in verse 20, "Yes, there are
00:27:22.080 many parts, but only one body.
00:27:24.360 The eye can never say to the hand, I
00:27:26.320 don't need you. The head can't say to
00:27:28.760 the feet, I don't need you."
00:27:30.120 Paul's making this
00:27:31.760 explanation. He's really asking
00:27:34.000 these questions to get us to understand
00:27:36.080 that neither of any one of our parts of
00:27:38.040 our body are really that much more
00:27:40.440 important than others, but all are
00:27:42.920 necessary. I want every part of my body.
00:27:44.240 Like, anybody willingly want to cut off
00:27:45.800 part of your body? Maybe you're like, "I
00:27:47.400 got a couple extra pounds I could use."
00:27:49.440 But like, you want to cut off your hand,
00:27:51.040 your foot, your eye? Nobody would
00:27:53.360 volunteer to give up a portion of your
00:27:56.440 body, yet we do that in church often,
00:27:58.120 the body of Christ. We say, "Well, we
00:27:59.840 don't need that part. We don't need that
00:28:01.760 person. We don't need this." And that's
00:28:04.120 what Paul's speaking to. All parts of
00:28:07.080 the body are necessary. All parts are
00:28:10.280 important. You are important. You are
00:28:12.840 necessary to the body of Christ.
00:28:14.040 You may feel like you don't have
00:28:16.080 gifting, you don't have talents, you're
00:28:18.280 not as great at singing as Rachel and
00:28:20.520 the team is up here. Guess what? Nobody
00:28:22.400 else is anyway. So, maybe you are and
00:28:23.920 you're sitting on a gift and say, "Come
00:28:26.280 talk to us." We want you to know and
00:28:28.720 understand what part of the body are
00:28:30.960 you. Like, I wish I could play drums. I
00:28:32.320 wish I could play an instrument. I wish
00:28:34.000 I could sing where people would want to
00:28:36.080 hear me, but I save that for them cause
00:28:38.400 I'm not that part of the body. But
00:28:40.800 we all have different parts of the body
00:28:42.920 and in the body of Christ, you are
00:28:44.400 essential.
00:28:47.720 And you don't have to be somebody else.
00:28:49.720 Be the person God has created you to be,
00:28:51.920 what God wants you to be. That
00:28:53.440 means you may have to make some changes.
00:28:55.520 You need to grow. We need to become who
00:28:57.400 God has created us to be. That doesn't
00:28:58.520 mean you copy and try to be like
00:29:01.360 somebody else. Right? Be the person God
00:29:03.160 has gifted you to be.
00:29:04.440 And that's the best thing you can do for
00:29:07.000 the body of Christ. In verse 27, he
00:29:09.800 says, "All of you together are Christ's
00:29:12.440 body and each of you is a part of it."
00:29:15.320 That word he uses there in "all of you,"
00:29:17.720 it's actually a plural. He's saying all
00:29:20.800 of yinz, all of you-all's, all of you-all'inses,
00:29:22.720 whatever part of the country
00:29:25.800 you're from, right? All of you, plural,
00:29:28.160 are Christ's body. So, it's not just all
00:30:00.280 of some of you or only the best ones of
00:30:01.800 you. He's like, "All of you are Christ's
00:30:04.320 body and each of you is a part of it."
00:30:06.840 That we represent Christ. We're part
00:30:08.160 of the body of Christ. When all of us
00:30:10.280 come together with all of our different
00:30:12.400 gifting, all of our different
00:30:13.760 backgrounds, all of our different
00:30:15.720 abilities, we come together as a
00:30:16.920 functioning part of the body.
00:30:18.520 Now, being a member of the body of
00:30:20.000 Christ
00:30:22.560 doesn't mean you have to be a member of
00:30:25.840 the church. In fact, at Freedom
00:30:27.680 Church, we don't have formal membership,
00:30:29.480 but we encourage everyone to be
00:30:31.800 personally responsible for your part of
00:30:33.560 the body of Christ. Now, that may mean
00:30:36.760 you serve within the walls of the
00:30:38.320 church. That may mean you're a part of
00:30:40.560 the body adding value, encouraging.
00:30:42.720 There's a gift of encouragement. There's
00:30:44.680 a gift of pastoring. There's a gift of
00:30:46.760 loving people. There's a gift of
00:30:48.840 hospitality. There are so many different
00:30:50.880 gifts. I believe we're supposed to use
00:30:52.520 our gifts primarily for the church, for
00:30:54.960 the body of Christ. But, being a member
00:30:56.240 of the church isn't what saves
00:30:57.600 you. Being a member and functioning in
00:30:59.200 the body isn't for salvation's sake, but
00:31:01.080 it's for health and for strength of the
00:31:02.480 body. It's a joy to get to be connected.
00:31:04.080 And if you really are connected to
00:31:06.520 Jesus, he's the head, you should be
00:31:09.440 connected to the body. Again, it's weird
00:31:12.760 if you're not connected to the body cause
00:31:13.680 you're being connected to Jesus.
00:31:16.600 So, how we do it here is we invite
00:31:18.160 you to Next Steps. Next Steps are going
00:31:19.840 to be taking place in about 30 minutes
00:31:22.040 or so from now. We have pizza today. We
00:31:24.880 have food available every time we have
00:31:26.160 Next Steps and we have childcare
00:31:28.440 available. We just need to know if
00:31:29.560 you're coming. Next Steps is
00:31:31.520 available if you didn't plan to stay
00:31:33.320 today, but you say, "I definitely want to
00:31:35.120 be part of Next Steps in 2 weeks from
00:31:37.040 now on May 17th," that's our next time for
00:31:39.120 Next Steps. It's from 12:30 to 1:30-ish,
00:31:41.080 depends on how many questions
00:31:42.200 everyone has and food, but learn about
00:31:43.440 what Next Steps is. I share a
00:31:45.000 little bit about Freedom Church, but
00:31:46.880 ultimately we give you gift assessments.
00:31:49.440 We want you to learn about you. Like how
00:31:52.400 many of you want to know what part of
00:31:54.280 the body are you? Like if you can sing
00:31:55.760 really well, maybe you're part of the
00:31:58.360 vocal cords. If you can serve and you're parking cars and the
00:32:00.560 ushers, like maybe you're the hands.
00:32:02.640 You're serving. You're doing something
00:32:04.320 in acts of service. Maybe you're the
00:32:07.320 feet that's going to go bring the gospel
00:32:09.320 to other people. You're going to pray
00:32:11.600 for people. You're going to take the
00:32:14.560 gospel out to the streets and in
00:32:17.080 the community. Whatever part of the body it
00:32:19.440 is, we want you to find out what part of
00:32:22.000 the body are you? Where do you function?
00:32:24.200 Where do you fit into the body of
00:32:26.000 Christ? That's one of the primary
00:32:28.200 focuses within Next Steps. And then yes,
00:32:29.880 from that we can get you connected more
00:32:31.800 to Freedom Church, how you can serve cause
00:32:33.640 this isn't what Freedom Church or what I
00:32:35.240 get from you. I want something for you.
00:32:37.880 I believe as Jesus said, it's more
00:32:40.720 blessed to give than to receive. That
00:32:43.560 it's a joy to give. It's a joy to serve.
00:32:45.400 I pray consistently, "God, thank you for
00:32:47.480 allowing me to serve you and to serve
00:32:50.240 your people." That is a joy that we get
00:32:51.600 to serve. We get to give of our time,
00:32:53.120 our talent, and our treasures. So, I'm
00:32:55.120 inviting you to come to Next Steps today,
00:32:57.240 or if you can't come today, in 2 weeks.
00:32:59.240 Stick around and we'll help you get
00:33:01.600 connected to the body in a greater way.
00:33:03.880 So, where do you fit? Here's the
00:33:05.880 question. Where do you fit within the
00:33:07.920 body? The church is most alive when
00:33:09.920 every part is engaged.
00:33:11.400 Every part should be functioning just
00:33:12.840 like we want all of our body parts to
00:33:14.680 function, right? And Jesus actually,
00:33:17.120 he's preaching on the Sermon on the
00:33:18.400 Mount, as many people are aware of it in
00:33:20.240 Matthew 5, 6. And actually Matthew 5,
00:33:22.440 it's also recorded in Mark chapter 9.
00:33:23.960 It's not on the screen. But Jesus is
00:33:27.320 actually giving this teaching
00:33:29.560 about how to address sin in
00:33:31.600 our lives, but he uses this
00:33:33.280 illustration of the body. He says, "If
00:33:35.560 your eye sins, you should gouge it out.
00:33:36.920 If your hand sins, you should cut it
00:33:39.640 off." He's like, "It's better to go into
00:33:42.000 heaven without parts of your body than
00:33:44.080 to not go to heaven at all." And I think
00:33:46.160 he's making an illustration that's
00:33:48.400 deeper than... he's not literally telling
00:33:50.000 us to cut off body parts. Now, I believe
00:33:52.000 he said there can be times we make
00:33:53.680 radical sacrifices, radical changes so
00:33:55.680 that we can stay free from our sin. So
00:33:57.440 that because that sin weakens the body,
00:33:59.120 do radical things like Ananias and
00:34:01.560 Sapphira, God struck them dead. I
00:34:03.680 believe there are things in our lives we
00:34:05.560 can take radical steps to eliminate
00:34:08.399 sin in our lives. What I think bigger is
00:34:10.040 what Jesus was speaking and
00:34:11.879 teaching here. Cause if you imagine this
00:34:14.639 for a second, if a guy, picture a guy and
00:34:17.679 he sins with his eyes, he lusts with
00:34:20.679 his eyes, "I'm going to cut my eyes out."
00:34:23.080 But now I sin with my ears, so I cut my
00:34:24.320 ears off. Now I sin with my mouth, and I
00:34:25.918 cut my tongue out. And I sin with my
00:34:27.600 hands, and I cut my hands off. Well,
00:34:29.560 before long, you get to realize
00:34:31.520 I can sin within my mind.
00:34:32.800 I can sin in my heart, which is
00:34:33.960 ultimately where all sin starts from.
00:34:36.239 That out of the heart flows everything
00:34:39.360 that's within us, that it's the heart
00:34:41.239 issue that Jesus is actually speaking
00:34:43.480 to, that that's what needs resolved. So
00:34:45.760 beyond treating symptoms of sin, we need
00:34:48.000 to get to the core issue. Sin flows from
00:34:49.800 our hearts.
00:34:52.239 We think it's just upstairs in our head.
00:34:55.199 We think it's circumstances. It
00:34:57.720 ultimately starts in our heart. And
00:34:59.640 Jesus actually is fulfilling and
00:35:01.280 speaking to... He doesn't speak to it
00:35:03.080 directly, but I believe it's a
00:35:04.600 fulfillment of a prophecy, something
00:35:06.680 spoken about in Ezekiel 36. Where the
00:35:08.520 prophet Ezekiel, he's prophesying,
00:35:10.640 speaking about how Israel, the people of
00:35:13.440 God, are going to be restored. And he
00:35:16.640 says, "Then I will sprinkle clean water
00:35:19.160 on you." He's speaking forth about the
00:35:22.040 salvation of God's people, "and you will
00:35:23.920 be clean. Your filth will be washed
00:35:26.800 away, and you will no longer worship
00:35:29.480 idols. You won't worship things outside
00:35:30.960 of God. You won't worship money. You
00:35:32.800 won't worship food. You won't worship
00:35:35.280 the perversions and the things of this
00:35:38.000 world." He says, "I will sprinkle
00:35:40.040 clean water on you. You will be clean.
00:35:43.080 Your filth will be washed away. You will
00:35:45.280 no longer worship idols. I will give you
00:35:48.320 a new heart. I will put a new spirit in
00:35:50.960 you. I will take out your stony,
00:35:53.280 stubborn heart and give you a tender,
00:35:54.560 responsive heart."
00:35:58.800 What Jesus offers is a new heart. It's a
00:35:57.600 new spirit. It's not trying to earn our
00:35:59.760 way to heaven. It's not trying to do all
00:36:01.160 these good works. He's saying, "You need
00:36:03.080 your heart renewed." More than behavior
00:36:04.640 modification and stop sinning and stop
00:36:06.160 swearing and stop doing all the... We need
00:36:07.800 new hearts in Jesus' name. That when the
00:36:10.080 heart gets renewed and our lives are
00:36:12.240 transformed spiritually, not just
00:36:14.160 physically, then our behavior and our
00:36:16.960 actions will change.
00:36:19.080 So, there's three things I'm going to
00:36:20.840 offer you today. If you could actually
00:36:23.040 please stand to your feet as we get
00:36:25.080 ready to close.
00:36:27.760 Three things.
00:36:30.520 I believe we're all in different places.
00:36:32.280 We all have different steps that we can
00:36:34.880 take.
00:36:36.200 First step may be
00:36:38.440 become a part of the body.
00:36:41.200 If you've never had your heart renewed
00:36:42.800 spiritually, if you've never given,
00:36:43.960 surrendered your life to Jesus, I invite
00:36:46.440 you today to take that step.
00:36:49.560 Your next step to really be a part of
00:36:51.320 the body isn't just showing up. It
00:36:53.840 starts with getting a new heart.
00:36:56.880 To be a new creation in Christ. That God
00:36:59.120 can remove that heart of stone and give
00:37:00.560 you a heart of flesh. The second thing
00:37:02.000 is step into your role. I believe some
00:37:04.360 of you know what you're supposed to
00:37:06.760 be doing and you're holding back. You're
00:37:09.560 hesitant. Maybe there's hurt from the past,
00:37:11.920 maybe there's betrayal, maybe you're
00:37:13.560 just feeling like you're not good
00:37:16.200 enough. Step into your role. I want to
00:37:17.720 encourage you and challenge you. Get out
00:37:19.240 of your comfort zone.
00:37:21.280 Take a step of faith. Take a step. Don't
00:37:23.160 let the enemy rob you and rob God's
00:37:25.400 church from what... from what God has put
00:37:27.600 inside of you. I believe there's gifting
00:37:29.480 inside of you, there's talents inside of
00:37:31.960 you and the enemy has done something in
00:37:34.000 you that is preventing you from stepping
00:37:36.040 into the role that God has given you.
00:37:37.880 And the third thing: surrender what's
00:37:39.680 holding you back.
00:37:41.200 Maybe it's a sin issue. Maybe it's
00:37:42.720 something you're doing privately that
00:37:46.080 you say, "I need to let this go. I need
00:37:47.800 to give this over to God." Maybe it's
00:37:50.440 unforgiveness for somebody who's hurt
00:37:52.480 you or betrayed you. Maybe it's
00:37:54.360 inadequacy or insecurity. Whatever it is
00:37:56.560 that's holding you back, maybe
00:37:58.600 even good things that are distracting
00:38:00.440 you from what God has called you to do.
00:38:02.400 Whatever step you need to take, I just
00:38:04.040 want to pray for any one of those three
00:38:07.040 things and I'm going to offer it on the
00:38:08.800 count of three. If that's you, if any
00:38:10.720 one of those three apply to you, just
00:38:13.000 slip up your hand. 1, 2, 3. Just raise
00:38:15.480 your hands if any one of those apply to
00:38:17.360 you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, God, I
00:38:20.600 pray for every person here. God, I pray
00:38:22.560 for everyone watching online. God, that
00:38:24.080 we would truly surrender our lives to
00:38:26.640 you. God, that it would start if there's
00:38:28.520 somebody here who's not a part of the
00:38:30.640 body because they're not saved, that
00:38:32.840 they haven't entrusted their lives to
00:38:35.200 you. God, that you'd remove that stony
00:38:37.160 heart of theirs. God, that you'd give
00:38:39.160 them a heart of flesh, a tender,
00:38:40.960 responsive heart, a heart that's like
00:38:43.640 Stephen had to have compassion on even
00:38:45.360 those who were killing him. A heart like
00:38:47.480 Jesus as he prayed forgiveness for those
00:38:49.160 who were murdering him. God, may we have
00:38:51.080 a heart like yours, a heart of
00:38:52.720 compassion, a heart of love, a heart of
00:38:54.920 thanksgiving for what you've done for
00:38:57.440 us. God, I pray that they would know
00:38:59.760 that they can be saved because Jesus,
00:39:00.840 you are their Lord, that you forgive
00:39:03.800 them of their sins. And God, from this
00:39:06.800 day forward, they want to live a life
00:39:08.120 different, a life that's pleasing to
00:39:10.160 you, that's honoring to you.
00:39:12.080 God, I pray for anyone who's needing to
00:39:14.480 take a step of faith into their role.
00:39:16.760 Maybe it's just showing up next Sunday.
00:39:19.360 Maybe it's showing up at Next Steps.
00:39:22.600 God, whatever role that people are
00:39:25.120 needing that you're speaking to us, God,
00:39:27.760 that we need to step into into a new
00:39:30.000 ministry, into a new place to serve.
00:39:31.880 God, I pray you'd give them that
00:39:33.960 courage, that boldness, that faith to
00:39:35.200 take a leap, take a step into the role
00:39:37.360 that you've called them and given them
00:39:40.200 to do. And God, I pray for every single
00:39:42.920 one of us that we all have sin, we all
00:39:44.200 need to consistently repent and turn
00:39:46.160 from sin. God, that we would surrender
00:39:48.040 anything that's holding us back from
00:39:50.560 fully walking in the calling that you've
00:39:52.640 given us. God, no matter how big or how
00:39:55.160 small our role, our part of the body may
00:39:58.080 seem. God, I pray that we'd surrender,
00:40:00.640 we'd give up anything that's holding us
00:40:02.560 back, we'd eliminate distractions, we'd
00:40:05.520 get rid of the things that are pulling
00:40:07.120 us away, even the good things that are
00:40:08.800 pulling us away from fully walking,
00:40:10.760 functioning, and operating as part of
00:40:13.200 your body.
00:40:14.480 God, as a result, I pray for thousands
00:40:15.760 of people to come to know you. God, I
00:40:18.680 pray for crowds of people to be healed.
00:40:20.160 I pray for what we read in the book of Acts and
00:40:22.320 everything we read in history to happen
00:40:24.400 today and through your church. In Jesus'
00:40:26.960 name I pray. Amen.
00:40:28.760 Amen. Well, let me give God a great big
00:40:29.960 hand and you guys should be seated.
00:40:33.520 We're going to transition to a time of
00:40:35.640 receiving communion and I'm going to
00:40:38.840 invite my wife, Rachel, up to the stage
00:40:41.160 as well. If you did not get communion
00:40:43.240 on your way in, if you want, you can
00:40:46.040 slip up your hand and an usher will make
00:40:48.560 their way around to you, and I invite you
00:40:50.560 if you're watching at home to participate
00:40:52.440 with us. You can grab a cracker, piece
00:40:54.560 of bread, juice, whatever it may be. We
00:40:57.000 don't get super religious here, but what
00:40:59.360 these represent and really what
00:41:01.560 communion...
00:41:03.440 the word itself means common union. That
00:41:05.240 together we're commonly together. We're
00:41:07.480 in union. The body of Christ when it
00:41:09.400 works together, when it's in unity,
00:41:11.760 unified together as Jesus himself
00:41:13.840 prayed. He prayed for unity among his
00:41:16.440 believers. Unity among his followers.
00:41:19.240 Unity among the Christians. When unity
00:41:20.560 is the goal and unity is what's
00:41:22.960 happening, amazing things happen, but
00:41:25.400 it's only because of what Jesus did for us
00:41:27.760 on the cross. So as we get ready to take
00:41:31.840 the cracker first, the bread, it
00:41:34.320 represents his body
00:41:36.920 that was broken for us,
00:41:39.080 that was nailed to the cross.
00:41:40.800 Communion, I always wrestle with: it's
00:41:43.040 solemn, but it's celebratory. It's
00:41:45.120 serious, but man, it's so worth
00:41:47.760 rejoicing in and having joy because of
00:41:50.080 what Jesus did. So we take the cracker,
00:41:52.760 I'm going to pray and then we'll partake
00:41:54.320 together. Heavenly Father, we thank you
00:41:56.320 for sending your Son, Jesus, to die for
00:41:59.040 us. For him to live a life that was perfect
00:42:00.880 and sinless. The only sacrifice worthy
00:42:03.120 of our worship. Worthy of us to be able
00:42:06.120 to be here to serve you, to worship you,
00:42:08.440 to gather together. God, I pray that
00:42:10.040 this wouldn't just be going through the
00:42:12.320 motions. But God, as we receive this
00:42:18.520 cracker, we would remember
00:42:21.440 what you did for us and who you are.
00:42:23.520 God, that together we can accomplish so
00:42:26.000 much more. We can impact this culture,
00:42:27.400 this society, this region, our
00:42:29.480 communities in Murrysville in a greater way because
00:42:31.760 your body was given for us.
00:42:34.200 God, we thank you for unity. We thank
00:42:36.000 you that we can be together as one
00:42:38.720 common body, one body connected to you
00:42:40.600 as the head. We give you all the honor,
00:42:43.040 all the praise, and all the glory in
00:42:48.880 Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake
00:42:50.600 together.
00:42:52.320 >> Amen. And as we open up the juice,
00:42:54.200 we reflect on the fact that
00:42:56.120 it is representation of Jesus' blood
00:42:58.400 that was shed.
00:43:01.160 And there was so much blood that was
00:43:03.000 shed when Jesus died on the cross. And
00:43:05.360 his blood is what... his stripes are
00:43:07.480 what heal us. His blood is what
00:43:09.600 cleanses us. The red blood of Jesus
00:43:11.120 washes us white as snow. And that's so
00:43:12.720 amazing. So, let's partake of the juice
00:43:14.200 together.
00:43:17.160 And let me pray. God, we thank you for
00:43:18.600 your blood that was shed on the
00:43:20.320 cross for us.
00:43:22.360 Lord, you made a way for something that
00:43:24.000 we could never do—to be washed clean, to
00:43:27.200 be made right with you,
00:43:30.480 to be in right standing with you because
00:43:33.440 of your blood shed that washes us, that
00:43:35.160 cleanses us. And so, Lord, we
00:43:36.640 reflect and we
00:43:38.720 ask for forgiveness for the ways that
00:43:41.400 we've sinned against you. And we thank
00:43:43.600 you, Lord, that you are faithful and
00:43:45.200 just to forgive us of our sins.
00:43:46.880 So, Lord, we thank you for that blood
00:43:48.080 that was shed. Something that we could
00:43:48.800 never do for ourselves, but we're just
00:43:50.960 so grateful for who you are and what
00:43:53.320 you've done for us. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:43:54.960 >> Amen. Well, next weekend is Mother's
00:43:56.560 Day. So, guys, don't forget ladies need
00:43:58.160 something, whatever they want. Next
00:44:00.640 Sunday is Mother's Day, don't forget
00:44:03.280 that. We have a very special treat for
00:44:05.720 any moms or women 18 and over next
00:44:08.160 Sunday. So, don't miss out next Sunday
00:44:10.240 being here with us at Freedom Church.
00:44:12.720 But before Sunday, we have a special
00:44:13.840 event for the ladies. So, Rachel's going
00:44:15.760 to tell us about it.
00:44:17.080 >> Saturday, ladies, come on out to church
00:44:18.520 here 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. We want to see
00:44:20.120 your faces so that we can connect. It's
00:44:21.280 going to be an awesome time to just
00:44:23.240 gather together, to get to know one
00:44:24.240 another more, to relax.
00:44:25.960 Men, take charge of the babes so that
00:44:27.920 your ladies can come out and enjoy
00:44:29.040 time fellowshipping with one another,
00:44:30.200 enjoying a yogurt bar, lots of different
00:44:32.120 toppings, lots of options, and lots
00:44:34.240 of drinks,
00:44:36.320 coffee and teas to be able to be shared
00:44:37.680 together. So, it's just going to be a
00:44:38.960 relaxing time. There's not a formal
00:44:41.800 program or anything set up like that,
00:44:43.200 but it's just going to be a really great
00:44:45.360 time to connect, to get to know one
00:44:47.040 another more.
00:44:49.360 >> So, get registered, ladies, for that.
00:44:52.000 Make sure to be here. Invite friends and
00:44:53.560 family. We're not going to like turn
00:44:55.920 people away at the door, but we do want
00:44:57.800 you to RSVP. Bring some friends,
00:45:00.000 sisters, cousins, neighbors, whoever can
00:45:01.840 come, ladies only, for that on Saturday.
00:45:04.360 But, if you could please stand to your
00:45:06.600 feet, I'm going to pray and then
00:45:07.640 dismiss.
00:45:10.000 Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for
00:45:12.000 this day that we could gather together.
00:45:14.000 God, that we could worship you, the one
who is worthy of all of our worship, the
one who is holy, who is set apart. God,
I pray that each and every one of us
would truly be the church this week.
That we would be your body, your
representation to this lost and dying
world. That God, we'd bring life and
freedom everywhere we go. In Jesus' name
I pray. Amen.
See you guys next week. Have a great
week.