Transcript

Hey, we're starting a new series today entitled, “Real Community.” And we're going to be talking about something that's really DNA, core principle stuff, to our church. So if you're visiting for the first time, you're catching us at the beginning of a series that's really near and dear to my heart and to the church at large. Because we are a church that is committed to the idea of living in an authentic, real community with one another. And so that we can be transparent and real, not counterfeit, not putting on airs, but being real with one another.

And so we're going to be talking about that over the next four Sundays, starting today. And we're going to be looking from Acts 2:42 at the four devotions that you see there, in Acts 2:42. Now the truth is, today, people are lonely more than any other time. Perhaps since I've been alive, I see more people talking about their loneliness, their sense of feeling as if no one understands. You'll often hear people say, “The friends I do have are the ones I made when I was in high school or college and now I'm in my thirties, forties, fifties, and they are still my friends.

They don't live in the same town as me. We try to stay in touch. When we get together, we pick back up right where we left off. But I really don't have anyone here where I live, in my neighborhood where I work. I've got people that I know, coworkers and neighbors, but I am really lonely.” And so that's one of the issues that you see.

More and more doctors say that it's safer to smoke like three packs a day than it is to isolate; that one of the things of isolation, it's a predictor of shortening your life. We were made for one another. In fact, one of the first observations that God made when he made man was he said, “It's not good for man to be alone.” But yet, we live in a culture today that's more and more isolated from one another. Now, we attempt a community, and we try to rally around different values.

Sometimes, we try to rally around our political views, and we say, ‘Okay, being a part of some political place is my community,’ but it falls short, perhaps. And if you're new to North Carolina, this won't make sense to you, but the North Carolinians are liable to get loud right now as soon as I mention this. And that is what variation of the color blue might be the way you relate to your culture. Is it Duke blue or is it Carolina blue. Right!

And so people, trust me, if you're new to North Carolina, you can get into a fight over this; their community is based on their color. And here's another one that's kind of a sticky issue in the state of North Carolina: Is barbecue best if it's tomato based or vinegar based? Right!

And so we live in the vinegar based capital right here in eastern North Carolina. And if you go just a few hours to the west, then you start running into those proponents of tomato based. It's your political views, your colors, your barbecue favorites, or maybe it's the way you pronounce, you know, a greeting. Do you say, “You guys?” or do you say, “Y'all?”

If you're part of a particular little area right there in New York, New Jersey, you say, “Yous guys,” like that. That has a lot to do with who you are, you know, and how we could recognize what community you're part of. But these communities, according to psychologist and best selling author Scott Peck, all fall short of real community. He calls them “pseudo communities.” He says that “pseudo communities” are where participants are nice with each other and they play safe.

In those kind of communities, you just have a “pseudo community.” It's this setting where people present only the most favorable sides of their personalities. When people move beyond this, they have inauthentic relationships. They never present their true selves. But when people admit their own brokenness common to all human beings, they approach true community.

Here, the individual experiences deep respect for self and others in the community. This is a glorious place that fulfills the yearning of every human soul and for understanding from one's fellows. Scott Peck says that most of us who think we have community, we really only have “pseudo communities.” And this is really what social media affords us. Many of us think that social media is somehow a substitute for real community, but it's not.

It falls short of that which we were made for. One of the phrases in the Bible, one of the commands that's repeated like a hundred times in the Bible, is the commands that I call the “one another” commands. Love one another, bear one another's burdens and so forth and so on. And what have we taught ourselves here at the church? “You can't do the one anothers without one another.”

That's right. So we need one another. And so that's what this series is about. We're going to be looking at Acts 2:42-47; we are doing something a little unique. We're going to look at that same passage for four straight Sundays, and we're going to pull out different aspects of it.

And today we're going to focus on the first aspect because there are really four devotions here and we're saying they're “a shared faith,” “a shared family,” “a shared food” and “a shared focus.” And today we're going to look at “a shared faith.” We're going to focus on that first aspect, that first devotion. And as we do, we'll be looking for three steps towards that focus, towards having a shared faith in Christ's community. But let's dig in.

Let's read the text. Acts 2:42-47 (ESV) 42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” This is God's word. Amen.

We're looking for three steps on how to have the shared faith of Christ. Community. Here's the first; here's the first step:

1. Share the same confession.

A lot of those so called “pseudo communities” are based on what color you wear or what kind of food you eat or those kind of things. But for a Christian community, for an authentic, real community, it begins with heart change. It begins that we come under the same confession of having said “I do” to Jesus. That's the first part of really being part of this fellowship, of being right, first of all, in the right relationship with God through the person of Jesus. Notice what we see here in the scripture.

We see the four devotions right away in verse 42. And this is really the mark of the gathering of the 1st century church right after the Holy Spirit was given to the church at Pentecost. Here we are, at chapter one. Jesus has ascended, the Holy Ghost has fallen. And now here we are, chapter two.

This is the church. This is the church landing and taking off and exploding across the world really overnight. The word says that they turned the world upside down. And what did it look like? What were they devoted to?

They were devoted to four devotions. They were devoted to the apostles teaching, they were devoted to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. It's not “rocket science,” people. And here's what I would say to you. We want to be like the first century church.

Is that possible? Is it possible? I think it is. We have the same God, the same Holy Spirit. We serve the same Lord.

Why not be devoted as they were devoted? And speaking of devoted, that word in the Greek has the idea of “to be continually facing towards a thing with all that you can,” “to be steadfast and facing towards it.” It’s the Greek word, “proskartereo.” That's quite a mouthful.

”pros”, is the prefix which means “to face.” “kartereo” means “with strength.” And so with strength, with steadfastness, they were facing towards the apostles teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. They were devoted to these.

They were passionately setting a priority on these four devotions. And look what happens. Well, we see it in this church. We see signs and wonders and people getting saved and coming to Jesus. But what were they doing?

They were “being” the church. Remember what Jesus told Peter? In Matthew 16:18, he said, “And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.”

So he never told us to build the church. “I will build my church.” What did Peter say, Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responds to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona! For flesh and blood did not reveal it to you,

but My Father in the heavens.” ‘I'm going to tell you what; your name is no longer Peter. From now on, your name's the Rock. And upon this rockI I will build my church.’

He never told us to build a church. He told us to “be” the church. “If we will be the church, he will build the church.” What does it look like to “be” the church? Well, we have the record right here in Acts, chapter two.

“They were devoted to the apostle’s teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.” Are you devoted to the word of God? The word, “devoted,” we've said, means “to be continually adhering to,” “giving yourself wholly to” and notice there's a particular teaching they devoted themselves to, to the apostle’s teaching. What is the apostle’s teaching?

What is that? Well, here we are in chapter two. There's no New Testament yet. It hasn't been written yet. So what are the “apostle’s teaching?”

Well, their text is the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. They're teaching from it. But primarily, we open up with four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And so they're teaching out of their experience of having seen. What does “apostle” mean?

What does the word, “apostle,” mean? It means “one sent,” “someone who's been sent,” by whom? By Jesus. Sent with what? With the good news.

The good news of what? That Jesus died for our sins. He was raised from the grave on the third day and he lives today. He's ascended to the father and he's coming again. And so they were preaching this and they began to write it down.

That's how we got our New Testament. It was written down by the apostles who were sent in the authority of Jesus. So here's the first century church. This is being written, but can you imagine “getting it straight from the horse's mouth?”

Can you imagine hearing Peter talking about it? Yeah, I was there. I was there when Jesus said this. And then he taught it and people would be like, Can you tell us that part again, Peter, can you tell us that part again? We can't be there, but we have the record of what they taught and we can be just as they were, just as devoted to that confession.

Confession of what? That Jesus is Lord. Because that's the centerpiece of the New Testament. The centerpiece of the New Testament is that Jesus died for our sins. He was raised on the third day and he lives today.

This is the gospel, and we can give confessed faith to this. It says in Romans, Paul's teaching this, he says, Romans 10:9-10 (NLT) “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” Notice it doesn't say, if you “say” with your mouth. It says, “confess” with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

maybe you'll be saved? It doesn't say you'll be saved later. It doesn't say, if you join the church and do these righteous works, you'll be saved. No.

Christ has done all the work. Our part is to receive that gift, and it's an act of surrender. You're saying, ‘I repent of my sin. I don't want to live the way I've been living. I want to live and follow you.’

I'm saying, ‘Jesus, you're the boss, you're the master, you're the Lord. I'm going to say it with my mouth. Jesus, you're Lord over me, over my house, over my stuff, over my heart, over my thinking, over my family, over my kids, over my marriage, you're over it. And I believe in my heart that what the apostles taught, which we now call the New Testament. I believe every word of it.

I believe the whole word is from the word of God. I believe it was inspired by the Holy Spirit.’ And so you're making this confession of faith. Have you done that? Have you made a confession of faith?

This is the entry point into the authentic fellowship of the believers. It begins this way. Paul makes the point that there's one faith that we share, this one faith. He says in Ephesians 4:4-6 (ESV) “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” We're called to this one faith. You know, every organization, every nation, if you will, every human endeavor has some sort of a confession or a vow of entry.

If you think about it, if you move to America and you want to be a legal citizen, you have to take classes and be able to pass a test, probably a test that most of us couldn't pass on what it says in the Constitution and those kinds of things. And then there's the oath of American citizenship that you have to take. I'm not going to read the whole thing. It starts like this: “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic;...”

And on and on it goes. And so there's this oath that they take, and people clap, and they're so excited to become citizens of the United States of America. They've taken these tests, they've made their oath of citizenship. It's a beautiful thing. Now, many of us have taken another kind of oath.

It's called marriage vows. And so the pastor or whoever, the judge, whoever gave you the vows, they said, “Do you take this woman to be your wedded wife, to have it to hold, from this day forward?” Here you are. You're young, you don't know what you're doing. And you say, “I do, until death do I part.” My boy, that's a vow you took on faith, right?

Amen. Yeah, because you don't know, you know a little, and you make a commitment. My son Jonathan, who pastors our Rocky Mount campus, he reminded me when we were studying this week, (we preach the same sermon, by the way, at both campuses, we have the same bulletins and the same sermon notes. We have different illustrations from time to time because we're different pastors) that he had to take an oath of enlistment when he joined the army. He had to take an oath, an officer's oath, when he was promoted to captain as a chaplain in the army.

And here he is with a photo of him taking the oath. He said, “I, Jonathan Combs, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” That's what he had to say in order to be part of that organization, to be in the army as a chaplain. These are common things that we're aware of. And so for us to really be in this fellowship, this fellowship is not so much about outward things, because if you look at the first century church and you look at our church, we come from various backgrounds.

We come from various colors, various cultures. We eat different kinds of barbecue and wear different colors of blue, but we all bleed the same Jesus if we're followers of Jesus. And that's the rally point, that's the centerpiece. That's the centerpiece of having true community, of real community, is we love Jesus.

That's the centerpiece. And if you get that part, then fellowship is possible, real fellowship, not “pseudo communities” like doctor Peck talks about. Do you want to be a citizen of heaven? There's a confession. I confess Jesus as my lord and savior.

I repent of my sin, and I trust that he made a sacrifice for me that paves my way. Oh, I depend on it. And I'm convinced in my heart that he was raised from the dead and that he lives again. He's coming again. Hey, look.

That's our confession. Put it in your own words, but it has to hold the same content. That's the entry point. Do you have this? And have you made this profession of faith?

You know, we're teaching a membership class right now in another room in the building right now. It started at 8:45 this morning. I taught the introduction before we came in and had the first service. They're going on right now, and at the end of this service, those that were in the class that have made a decision after hearing what we believe and what we're teaching, to join the church.

We're going to present them to you so you'll get to see them at the conclusion of the service today. Those that said “yes,” that they want to be members. Here's what we did at the beginning of the class. During the introduction. I said, “I want to know four things about you before we get started

and I'll go first.” First of all, what's your name? My name is Gary Combs. And where are you from? Well, I was born in Bristol, Tennessee.

And then we heard from them. And then your religious background? I said, well, I grew up Baptist. I've been to a lot of different churches since then. And then I planted this one.

I've been going to this church for almost 33 years now, so I kind of have to come to this one now.

And then, of course, the fourth fact really tells us a lot about the people. This fourth fact is very important. What's your favorite pizza topping? Did you know somebody said “chicken?”

I think that was a first. Have you ever had chicken on pizza? Somebody said, “chicken” on pizza.

Somebody else said, “chicken with pepperoni.” It was just getting too weird for me. I'm learning a lot about you.

But, you know, some of the people said they were from New York. “I'm from New York.” One person made it very clear. I'm from “upstate New York.”

There's a thing going on in New York, y'all. I didn't know about saying you are from “upstate” New York. It's very critical. And so we had people from New York, we had people from Ohio, we had people from Massachusetts, different people.

Different people from different places. That's why we have that membership class. So it gives them an opportunity to reply, “Have you made the confession of faith to Jesus?” It doesn't matter where you're from, what color you are, what gender you are or what your background is. If you rally around Jesus with us, we can get started on having a true community together like that.

And so that's one of the reasons we have a membership class. But it's just kind of cool how people are from different places. Now, two or three of them are younger people. And I remember they said, “I was born here.” In fact, somebody said, “I was born across the street at the hospital.”

And I said to her, “Well, look how far you've come all the way across the street.” And so we've got different people with all kinds of backgrounds, but we rally around one Lord. His name's Jesus. Here's the second step:

2. Share the same passion.

Do you have a passion for God's word, a passion for God's teaching through the apostles, which is the New Testament? And the New Testament is really the capstone of the Old Testament. It's one book, 66 books inside of one book, over 40 authors over a period of 1600 years, yet one message. And the message is on every page, if you look closely enough, through the Holy Spirit's inspiration, if you look closely enough, the whole book is really about God. And specifically, it's really about Jesus.

Yeah, you're in there. There's a lot about humanity. There's some messy stuff in that Old Testament about humanity, but it's really a book about God. Do you have a passion for that? Because the first century church was devoted, and they were devoted together.

They had a unified passion. Notice it says in verse 42, “they devoted themselves. ” That's plural, which means they're doing it corporately. And then if you look at 46, “and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.” So they had this rhythm of how they had this passion for the apostle’s teaching. So the rhythm was, there'd be like a public gathering at the temple for the Jew living in Jerusalem. They are of Jewish background, but now they've believed in Jesus, and so we call them “Jewish background believers.”

Okay, so they have a Jewish background, but now they're believing in Jesus, but they're still going to the temple. You would go to the Temple three times a day if you lived in Jerusalem. You would do the morning prayer, the midday prayer, and the evening prayer. And the Jews would say the “Shema,” which means, “Hear, o Israel. The Lord thy God is one God.”

And they would pray, the “Shema:” “Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu Adonai yecad.” They would say that prayer. But now here are these christians. They're coming into the temple and they're talking about Jesus.

They're not just talking about the king of the universe. They're saying, ‘We've met the king of the universe. His name's Jesus, we know who he is.’And so they're meeting in the temple, they're meeting in the public place, it's a large gathering, but then they say, ‘Let's go hang out at your house tomorrow.’ And so then they would have home groups which were smaller and more intimate.

So they had this rhythm, right? So this is what we decided some years ago at our church. We're not going to complicate your schedule. We're going to try to.

follow the first century model. We gather here in the temple courts. Welcome to temple courts. You're in the temple courts this morning. And then during the week, we're going to encourage you to meet in one of our homes.

And we have homes all over that are sponsoring community groups. And we have community group shepherds that facilitate those groups. And we have groups that meet on Sunday evening, Monday evening, Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening and I think we still have one on Thursday evening.

I don't think we have any on Friday or Saturday groups, unless you want to start one. But we have a lot of groups. Okay. And here's what we believe. On Sunday morning, you're getting the apostle’s teaching.

I'm preaching from the word of God, and I'm giving you the teaching and we know you're soaking it up. “You're sitting still while I instill.” But you need more than that in order to grow, you need to engage it. And so, in small groups is where you engage it and you show your passion for it,

right? You get together, knee to knee and you get some of that Wilson, North Carolina sweet tea. Or not. Can I have the unsweetened, please? I'm just too sweet already.

I just can't take that much sweetness or whatever. But you're sitting there with a cup of coffee and you're sitting knee to knee.

Do you ever think I don't know. I didn't even want to come tonight.

I didn't want to go to small group tonight. Every voice in your head and your body was saying, You're too tired. You deserve a break. You didn't want to go and you know what?

The kids were acting up and you thought, If I have to bring my kids over there to small group, what if it's my turn to actually watch the kids tonight? I can stay home and watch kids. I don't want to serve the group by helping take my rotation. You just think of all these reasons. And may I say to you, you're not alone. Your pastor has this flesh as well that he struggles against.

You probably shouldn't join the church if you're looking for a perfect pastor. You probably shouldn't join a perfect church anyway, because you'll mess it up.

My small group meets on Wednesday nights, and I'll think to myself, I'm tired. I've worked all day. I've met with people. I'm “peopled” out. Do you ever say that to yourself?

I'm “peopled” out.

I've used up all my words. You should see me on Sunday afternoon after I've preached two services and talked to every person I could touch anywhere in the building before.

I feel the same way often. I don't want to go. I'm tired. But may I say, every time I go, and I go every time if I'm able, I go because I made a commitment.

I've made a confession of faith to Jesus. I'm a Jesus follower. And I've made a confession of faith to you that I'm part of you and you're part of me. So I'm gonna go. And when I go, I've never left thinking,

Man, I wish I hadn't gone. I always leave thinking, I'm so glad that I went. I love those people. They're my family.

They're my brothers and sisters. But I battle the flesh, too. Don't you battle the flesh? Some of you are getting flaky. I've heard some of you are getting flaky.

You only go when you feel like it, which means you very rarely go because you very rarely feel like it. But Paul would say to you, as he told Timothy, “Fan into flame, the calling that was first on you.” Get your passion back. Get your passion back. Start thinking,

“I can't do the one anothers without one another. I need to get back. I need to get back with ‘themselves,’ in verse 42 and ‘together’ in verse 46.

What are we called to in this passion? Let me give you some thoughts. We're to delight in God's word. We're to study it, we're to do it, and we're to share it. Let me give you some verses.

Delight in it: Psalm 1:1-2 (ESV) “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” This first century church took great delight and joy in God's word.

Are we a people of the book? Do we love God's word? That's the kind of people we're being called to be. For the last 20 years, I've led us in what I call the “Bible bus.”

Every January 1, I say, “The Bible bus is pulling out. We're going to read the one year Bible together. You get a little bit of the Old Testament, a little bit of the New Testament, a little bit of Psalms and a little bit of Proverbs every day. And at the end of the year, you will have taken the Bible bus journey. You'd have taken the tour, and you've read the whole Bible.”

And so, I've got a Facebook group, and I've got it on different places you can look. I've got it on my website. I have actually done a morning podcast for the past three years, where I tell you a verse that meant something to me. And may I say to you, those of you that comment or talk to me about it in the lobby or send me an email, it keeps me going. It is part of what makes me so committed to get up at 05:00 in the morning, to read God's word and to do a podcast.

Whenever one of y'all just says, ‘That meant a lot to me. Oh, that was the word. That word spoke to me today,’ it causes me to not miss a day. I gotta be honest with you. I know myself.

This old flesh is lazy. It loves a recliner. Oh, it does. I have a lazy boy at home. Man,

this thing's nice. We should have never bought it. My flesh loves it.I get myself a tall drink and something to crunch on. Yeah, I could just go to sleep right now thinking about it.

But I get up early. I want to. I want to do it because I love Jesus, and I do love Jesus. I want to do it because I delight in his word, and I love his word, and I do delight in his word, and I do have a passion for it. But some days, what really keeps me doing it, can I be honest,

Is you.

Because what if I let you down and you're having a day where that was the difference for you? What kind of pastor would I be? And so together, you're causing me to delight more, because I need you.

You encourage me. Do I encourage you? I hope I do. I have a passion for God's word. Sometimes it has to be fanned into flame, and sometimes you're the ones who help me fan it back up.

Thank you for those that delight in it. Study it: 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

In other words, Paul says, ‘Cut it straight.’ He used a verb there, “rightly dividing the word of truth.” It's a tent maker's verb. He probably had “Popeye arms” from cutting those camel skin tents that he made. He said, ‘Cut it straight, Timothy. Study God's word and cut it straight.’

So we're to be students of God's word. We're to delight in it. Do it: James 1:22 (NLT) “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.”

Study it, do it, delight in it. Share it: Colossians 3:16 (ESV) “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” “You can't do the one anothers without one another.” And so you can't even obey that command in that passage without being able to say God's word to one another.

Now, you can't say God's word if you haven’t put it in. It won't come out if it hasn’t been put in. Do you delight, do you have a passion for the apostle’s teaching? Peter gives us the imagery of a newborn baby and how much a newborn baby will cry for mother's milk.

And he equates God's word as being like mother's milk to a Christian. And he says this, 1 Peter 2:2 (NKJV) “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” This is the way we're to love God's word, that we're challenged to love God's word. Do you have a passion for God's word?

One of the things I've learned is that this kind of passion is “caught,” not taught. Now, I'm teaching it right now, but I hope my passion is radiating out from me, my passion comes from the Holy Spirit who lives within me and I love God's word. Can y'all tell I love God's word?

But can you tell that I do? I want you to love it. I want you to love God's word because it's life. It's life. I was teaching the first session of the parenting session yesterday, and we talked about “training up a child in the way he should go and when he's old, he will not depart from it.”

And this idea of train, the Hebrew word has the idea of “to train.” Midwives, when a baby was first born, if the baby wouldn’t suckle, would chew up some dates and get that sweet, sort of citric kind of taste. They would take and spit out some of it on their finger and they would stick it in the palate of the newborn and rub its palate and it would cause it to suckle. And then they would give the baby back to the mother and it would teach the child to have what it needs, to have what would give it life. And may I say to you, I've tried my best.

I can't get down there and stick my finger in your mouth. I'm not sure that would help, but I'm up here. Paul says that it's called “the foolishness of preaching.”

You're all sitting there and I'm up here waving my arms. It's a strange thing we christians do. But you know what I'm trying to do? I'm trying to give you a “suckle response.” I'm trying to get you to where you want God's word, that you want the passion of God's word, that you desire it.

Do you have a passion on a weekly basis for God's word? And we encourage one another when we study it together. Here's the third:

3. Share the same submission.

There's a submission; that we submit to God's word. And to those that teach God's word share the same submission. They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching. There was that teaching which was correct. They had seen the risen Lord. They'd been sent by the risen Lord Jesus.

That's what the word, “apostle,” means. It means “one sent.” It was authoritative, and they sat under it. And those that taught it, as long as they would teach God's word, they sat under the authority of that person that was teaching it. You know, Paul, when he was traveling through Philippi and Thessalonica, he comes around to Berea and

he commended the Bereans because he was teaching in the synagogue and they would say, ‘We're going to go home and think about what you just said.’ And they go home and study the scriptures to verify that what Paul was teaching was true. And they came back and they said, ‘Yes, you got it right,’ and he commended them for it.

He said, ‘You didn't just believe me because I said it. You went and checked me out in the scriptures and then you came back and said that I got that right. That's the kind of people I like.’ And boy, I do, too. I like it.

Whenever you go home, think, I'm going to chew on that a minute now. I'm going to chew on that. Some of you don't even wait till you go home. Some of you catch me in the lobby and you say, “I'm not sure about that one word now, Pastor Gary, and can we talk about what that was and what that means right there?” And that's fine with me.

That's fine with me because the word of God is an authority over me. I'm an under shepherd. Jesus is the shepherd of this church and the word of God is over me. But I am a presenter of God's word

and as long as I'm presenting it, if we're a part of the same community, we want to be real with each other, then we will submit to it. Is that making sense? Is that clear? And so that's what we see that made this first century community so amazing, so miraculous. They weren't a rebellious people. They weren't trying to be independent.

They wanted to live life together, not isolated. You know, we tend to want to isolate because the flesh likes being lazy. But that might not be the reason. It might just be because you are hiding something. If you hang out with people too long, they're going to find out who you really are.

I've got this addiction, I've got this anger problem.

I'm fine going to somebody's house as long as it's not my house because I don't have a nice house. I don't have a clean house; I'd have to clean it up for the first time this year if I have anybody over. We have all kinds of reasons. But, you know, the Bible teaches hospitality. Did you know that it's a spiritual gift, the gift of hospitality. Did you know that? I remember some years ago, it was before we moved to Wilson.

I used to be a district manager for a major retailer, a drugstore chain, and we lived in the Roanoke, Virginia area at the time. We just moved there and we were visiting different churches. We visited this one church, and I really liked the preaching, man. It was good preaching, and it was good, you know, it was pretty good. Pretty good worship, but really good preaching.

I think I like this place, Robin. We hung out in the lobby, and nobody really talked to us. We walked around in the front of the church, hoping maybe somebody will invite us to lunch so that we could find out more about this church. Everybody just said, ‘hey’ and left.

The preacher comes out and he's locking the door. We never went back to that church. It had good preaching, but it wasn't hospitable. It wasn't friendly.

We didn't feel like they really wanted us over, you know? Church, are you listening to me? Listen to me.

Make sure you're talking to somebody other than your “clique.” Make sure you're following the “three-minute rule:” After every service that you attend, take three minutes and go introduce yourself to somebody you don't know. They might be visiting for the first or second time, and they're new to the city.

They need a family. They don't just need some friends. They need a family. They need somebody to take them out to lunch, bring them over to the house and barbecue. You can decide what kind of barbecue you want to have.

The first time we moved to Wilson, somebody invited us to a “pig picking.” We'd never been to one. They meant a whole pig.

Now, I've been to many of them since then. My son, Stephen, was five years old when we moved here. Stephen was five, Jonathan was two and my daughter Erin, sitting down on the front row right now laughing at me, was one.

We go to the “pig picking.” They had put an apple in this pig's mouth. The pig was laid out on the grill, just spread out.

We walked up with our plates and the guy was reaching in. He's got these rubber gloves on, reaching in, putting pig on your plate. Robin's walking up and she looked like she's going to cry. She had tears in her eyes, feeling sorry. She loves animals.

And then Stephen pulls at Robin and says, “Mommy, that poor little pig's got an apple in his mouth.” Welcome to Wilson, North Carolina. We love “pig pickings” now, but we had to take it slow at first. The family was slow getting on board.

We're submitted to God's word, and we need each other. So, church, whether it's a pig-picking or whatever it is, invite people. Make them part of your family. Don't just attend church. “Be” the church.

“Be” the church. “If you will be the church, Christ will build the church.” It says in 1 Thessalonians 4:2 (NLT) “For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.” Paul is saying, ‘Hey, Thessalonica, remember what we taught you we did under the authority of Jesus?’ And then it says that it's to your benefit, in Hebrews, to submit.

It says, Hebrews 13:17 (ESV) “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” So come under the authority of God's word and be the church, and let Christ build the church. That's what we're talking about over the next four Sundays. But this first one is so critical. Are you right with Jesus?

Have you made a confession of faith? Do you have a passion for God's word? Are you reading the Bible? Do you have a regular pattern of reading the Bible for yourself, not just what you hear on Sunday morning, but on every day of the week? Do you eat some food from the bread of life?

And do you have a willingness to submit and be part of what we're doing as a church? If not this church, find a church that you can submit to the leadership of that church. Because here's our rhythm – we want to do temple courts on Sunday, and then during the week, we want you in a community group where you're moving it eighteen inches from your head to your heart, where you're learning how to apply what you're learning on Sunday morning. 80% of our Sunday morning attendance is in a community group.

I'm still going after the 20%. If you're not in a community group, put it down on your connection card today. Tell me more. I want to learn more about how to get in a community group so I can really grow. And if you are in a community group, but you've been flaky, stop being flaky, start being devoted, and be present in what God's called you to do.

Same confession same passion, same submission. That's the starting point of having real community. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Most of all, thank you for Jesus.

Lord, I submit to you afresh right now. Just pray with me. Lord, I submit to you afresh right now. Lord. I want to be devoted to your word and to what you've written in your word.

I want it to be part of me. I want to have a passion for it. Maybe you're here this morning and you've never given your life to Jesus. That's your starting point today. You've never confessed Jesus as your lord and savior.

You can do that right now, right where you're seated. Maybe you're watching online. Maybe you're next door in our gathering place. It doesn't matter. You're not praying to me.

You're not praying to the person next to you, whether it's your spouse or your parents or your children. You're praying to the Lord. Pray like this, ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I need a savior.

I believe you died on the cross for me, that you were raised from the grave, that you live today. Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sin. Make me a child of God. I want to follow you all the days of my life as my lord and savior.’

If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing, right now, he'll save you. That's the entry point. That's the beginning point of being part of the family of God. Others are here today and you're a Jesus follower.

But you're not all in. You've been distracted. You've been given in to those distractions. You're lonely. You'd admit it right now.

I've been making excuses, Lord, but it's really my fault. I've been isolating myself. I've been pulling away. Lord, forgive me.

Help me to reconnect, first of all,l to you. And then help me to reconnect and get connected to God's people. I believe what you said, “It's not good for man to be alone.” Lord, I don't want to be alone anymore. Lord, help me to get committed.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.