We’re calling this new direction and shift, the Chapter 2 Campaign.

There are two aspects to the title Chapter 2:

This is why I’d like us to go to Acts Chapter 2 today. In Acts 2, we find not only the birth of the church, but a blueprint for what God intends his Church to be.

Last week, we heard about death to self, counting the cost but this message of sacrifice and carrying the cross is not in isolation…as if we’re masochistic and anti-material…what it comes down to is finding our ultimate treasure in Christ…finding Him supremely precious. The church is a community of people who have centered their lives on Christ…finding him supremely precious.

So then what does it look like when a community is utterly consumed with Christ??? I think this is what we find in Acts 2.

The Church is to be a community built on Biblical teaching and preaching. Now people use the term ‘Biblical’ in many different ways (a book of morality—how to have a better life) but the core of the Apostles’ teaching was preaching Christ and him crucified. This is what we find in the sermon’s in Acts (Peter, Stephen, Paul)…it’s the message that Christ lived, died, rose again and salvation is found in Him alone—that he has come to restore all things.

Breaking bed referred to both sharing meals AND communion. I believe Luke is referring to both in our passage today. But this devotion to communion coincides with the apostles Gospel preaching…to bring the church back to Christ again and again.

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It is this preaching and teaching that we as a church want to be devoted to because this is what the Church is called to be devoted to…It is ONLY this message that brings true transformation. It is only this preaching that breaks the power of sin and turns people away from self-centered living to radical, sacrificial God-centered living.

I believe there’s an intentional primacy to why teachings placed first—not that I’m advocating mere intellectualism…but is ONLY when people truly receive and live in the message of the Gospel that the rest will flow….

But as I said, it’s not just about head knowledge…what happens when the Gospel takes root…

When we’re captured by Christ, we become a people of prayer! How, why? Because we recognize that He is God, He is Sovereign, nothing is impossible for Him—but not only that, when we’re captured by Christ, He becomes our greatest treasures…this shapes our prayers to be Kingdom centered….HIS GLORY centered (as we read in the Lord’s Prayer).

Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den (God I need more pillows!!)…God has given prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. –John Piper in Let the Nations Be Glad

Let’s look at fellowship….we use that term in all kinds of ways don’t we….

What happens when people are captured by the Gospel of Jesus Christ? They become radically selfless both towards God and others. When Christ was asked to sum up the Royal Law, he said Love God and others. He came to fulfill the Law that no human being could BUT he also came so that the Law would be fulfilled in US. That means that just as He was the first ONE to TRULY Love God and TRULY Love Others…he promises that all those who belong to Him will more and more become people who Love God and Others….that’s why he is the author and perfector…PIONEER on the path that we’re All ON!

And how did Christ love people? Selflessly—Philippians 2.

We see this selfless attitude towards God and others fleshed out in the early church through the way they viewed their possessions.

This is not advocating socialism. The apostles did not force it on people—that’s the world’s way. It’s the result of being captured by Christ and cut to the heart by the Holy Spirit.

Many people who had come for Pentecost, got saved and decided to say and suddenly found themselves with nothing. Therefore, believers who had more gave to those who had less because the Gospel makes people die to themselves. It’s not my money, my house, my career—the Christian is to recognize that everything is from God, belongs to God and should be used for the glory of God. This was a radically countercultural message in the early church and it remains a radically countercultural message in our day and age.

But the expression of their love for one another was not limited to money…everyday they continued to meet together…some of us are thinking eegh…once or twice a week is enough…again, I don’t think we should get wrapped up in counting the hours but we need to capture the heart of the early believers…one of radical sacrifice for others

What a rebuke. There’s no excuse. BUT I’m so busy, I’m tired…right…Jesus gave his life for others b/c he had nothing better do…he was bored…and had lots of energy. He was God of the Universe and he dropped everything to talk to a Samaritan woman….He was God of the Universe but HE was human and he sat on the shore exhausted….but he gave until his last breath.

True fellowship runs deep. It takes time and sacrifice…

A Church, transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be awe inducing and attractive. This is the kind of church that God wants to multiply and will multiply.

Consider how great things were going in Jerusalem. Why break up a good thing…if it’s not broke don’t fix it. But as amazing as the church in Jerusalem was….what does God do? He scatters them so that the Gospel would be brought to new places and people.

This is something our church has been weak in. We’ve largely existed as wait for people to come church rather than moving outward. Acts 1:8