Clarify The Foundation - Acts 1:12-26

Well, good morning, would you help me welcome all of our Brave Campuses that are worshiping with you today? So great to have all of you. A couple of quick announcements from me as we move into September. We're in July, then there's August, then there's September. These are true in September. In September, we're going to move all of our Tuesday ministry to 7 p.m. Normally, when we do first Tuesday, it goes 6.38, we'll start at 7 o'clock. It's very difficult to get here on time. So starting in September, that's moving to 7 o'clock. Some other changes that are happening to our schedule is in September as well. Much of our ministry week will take place on Tuesday nights. Students will be taking place on Tuesday nights, not on first Tuesday, but every subsequent Tuesday. Parents of middle school and high school students, I'll be here in Inglewood on the 17th of August to talk about what we're going to be doing. I'll be in Westminster on August 10th to talk about what we're going to be doing. But really, you can start marking your calendars on Tuesday night. That's when we're going to do new classes, all the different things that we're going to do. So there's going to be really a brave rhythm of Sundays, of Tuesdays, and Cadres. That's really how we're going to do ministry. So starting in September, that's going to begin to get built out. And so with that, let's continue our worship today as we get ready to go before the Lord. And here is living and active word among us. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. Lord, what a privilege it is to gather with your saints today and celebrate you and sing praises to you and tell you that you and you alone are worthy of all of our adoration and all of our praise.

Lord, we love you and we bless you for who you are. And Lord, we're thrilled this morning to be able to hear your word because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that you are speaking. And so our prayer this morning collectively is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. When you go to a sporting event or if you go to a theater, you expect that what you're paying for or what you're attending is going to be good. And when it is, you get thrilled at what's taking place either on the field or up on the platform. But when you go somewhere, you have to realize that if you're on a Broadway show or you're at a Broncos game and you like what's taking place before you, it's not what they started working on that very day. There was a lot that went into practice. There were a lot of non-negotiables that had to be taken care of. There was a lot of back and forth just to make sure everything was accurate so that when you were attending and you were watching and you were experiencing, you were saying, that's really good. And we've all been to events like that where we say, that's incredible, that's so good. And we recognize that we didn't go to all the practices and we didn't see everything that went on behind the scenes, but we know it had to happen in order for it to be at that level. We've also had the experience of just the opposite, where we expected something to be good and we arrived and we saw like, that wasn't very good. And we know when it's not, that it didn't have the right practice, it didn't have the right preparation, things weren't ready to go. Well, the same thing is true spiritually, because I find after being a believer for about 35 years, there's a lot of people that are praying for revival.

If I was to poll you, just by your applause this morning, how many people want to see another like 250,000 people in our city reach for Jesus? We would all say, yes, of course we want. Who wouldn't want to experience that in their lifetime? I want to experience that, you want to experience that. But we have to realize there's some things behind the scenes that God wants us to put together so that his Holy Spirit can use us to the full. And if we get some of those things right, it allows the spirit to move in the fullness with which the Holy Spirit wants to move. And if not, it really prohibits the spirit from doing the fullness of what he wants. Now, let me be clear on this. God can do whatever he wants to do anytime and he doesn't need us to do it. I want to be clear on that. But I do want to let you know that the Holy Spirit loves to partner with willing believers in Christ who are doing it his way, because the Holy Spirit's main job is to make Jesus Christ look really, really good. And if there are some things in our life that we can set up the way God wants to set up, it allows the spirit to move in the fullness of what he wants to do in and through us. And that's what we want to talk about today. In this series called Clarify the Call, last week we talked about clarify the mission. Today we're going to talk about clarify the foundation. In other words, what's the foundation of things that need to happen? What are the non-negotiables? What do I need to practice? How do I need to position myself before the Lord for him to move? And to do that this morning, we're going to be in Acts chapter 1, verses 12 through 26. I wanna let you know, this may be the most overlooked passage in the entire book of Acts. The book of Acts, we love chapter one, where at the beginning of it,

where Jesus ascends into heaven and tells his disciples they're gonna receive power from the Holy Spirit. And then we miss this whole section and we love Acts chapter two, where the Holy Spirit comes in power and dispenses upon the disciples. But I believe that God is giving us some revelation right here in this text as to how we need to live to see the fullness of the Spirit lived out in our lives. So hear what the word of the Lord says and then we'll unpack this together. He says, then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. That is Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon the zealot and Judas, the son of James. These were all one mind, these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. At this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120 persons were there together. And he said, brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry. Now, this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all of his intestines gushed out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem so that in their own language, that field was called Hakeldoma, that is field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his homestead be made desolate and no one dwell in it and let another man take his office. Therefore, it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time, that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John until the day he was taken from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justice and Matthias. And they prayed and said, you Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen to occupy this ministering apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they drew lots for them and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the 11 apostles. And here in that section, you may be thinking exactly what most people think.

Okay, I've read it, now let's move on to Acts chapter two. Right, I mean, it's just kind of a painstaking bit of a read. It seems very historical. It doesn't seem like there's much that we can draw out of it but I wanna let you know, the word of God is living and active. Every single part of the word of God is true. And he's got a word from every single place in his word that he wants us to understand. And I believe in this section are some secrets to how to live the fullness that God wants you to live. I'll tell you this, the devil doesn't want you to know what I'm gonna teach you today. The devil doesn't want the church to know what I'm gonna teach you today. One of the reasons we overlook this section all the time is because there's such treasure buried in here that if we really understood what to do with what this text says, we would see God move disproportionately in ways that we've never seen before. And so as we talk about this foundation, as we clarify the foundation or these non-negotiables, let me start with the first. The first non-negotiable in this foundation is obey without delay. Obey without delay. It says, then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,

on the Sabbath day journey away. Now, why did they return to Jerusalem? Well, let me tell you why. We read this a couple of weeks ago in Luke chapter 24, verse 49, in the same section where Jesus is ascending, he said, and behold, I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. So what's Jesus' instruction to the disciples? Stay in Jerusalem until the promised Holy Spirit comes and gives you the power that you need. Now, all of these men were from Galilee. They knew Jesus died. Now they've witnessed his resurrection over 40 days. Now they've watched him go into the sky and two angels are saying, why do you stand here looking in the sky? Like, we're done here, go, do what Jesus told you to do. So what's the first thing they do? They obey without delay. They don't say, well, I'm gonna get up to Galilee first for a week or so, and then I'll come back to Jerusalem. No, no, no, Jesus said, go into Jerusalem. So what do they do? They take a Sabbath day journey. Sabbath day journey was considered about 2000 cubits. It translates to about six tenths of a mile. That's the amount of distance you could travel on a Sabbath

and they go right to Jerusalem to do exactly what Jesus told them to do, to wait for the Holy Spirit. Now, why is this important? Because Jesus asked him to do something, and guess what? They did it. Well, who did it? All the apostles did it, all the living apostles did it, because in the very next verse it tells us who did it. It says in verse 13, when they had entered the city, they went to the upper room where they were staying, that is, Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James. That's not Judas Iscariot. Now, who's the one not mentioned? Judas Iscariot's not mentioned. Now there's 11 of them, and guess what? All 11 obey without delay. That's a principle God wants us to understand. Now, how many times has God impressed upon you something that you need to do, and instead of doing it, you think about it? Instead of doing it, you pray about it. Instead of doing it, you talk to a friend about it. Instead of doing it, you journal about it. Instead of doing it, you do other things and say, I'll come back to that. When God shows you something from his word,

he's calling you to obey when? Immediately. Now. And I'm talking about when you know that you know. Like when you know this is what you do, this is when you obey. There's no time to process obedience. When God says, this is what you must do, then this is what you need to do. That's why when you're listening to a message, like at a sermon like this at Brave where the word is being taught, inevitably the Lord's gonna put something on your heart and show you from his word, this is what I'm asking you to do. And when he does, guess why he's telling you that? Most people think that God speaks just so that we feel a little tingle, you know, goosebumps on our arms or something. Like, ooh, I felt God. That's not why God speaks. God doesn't speak to give you tingles and goosebumps. God speaks for what? For the purpose of you to be obedient to Christ. And you may say, well, I've heard this my whole life in church. I hear we're talking about obedience again. Do you know why you've heard this your whole life in church? Because it's a foundational non-negotiable principle to see the spirit of God work to the fullness in your life.

You can't make somebody else obey, but you can submit and obey to the Lord. See, they didn't wait for more clarity. They just followed his instructions. They didn't say, well, when's it gonna happen? Or how long do we need to wait? Or what's it gonna be like? Or is there gonna be food served? And who's making the meals? And they just went, right? Obedience to Christ's word always precedes spiritual empowerment. It always does. I mean, you think about this, in John 14, 15, Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. When he says, he doesn't say, if you keep my commandments, that will demonstrate that you love me. He says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. If you really love Jesus, the evidence that you love Jesus is that you keep his word. If you don't love Jesus, you won't keep his word. If you do love Jesus, you'll keep his word. Telling people that you love Jesus is not about telling them about your past experiences, it's telling them about your present realities to how you're being obedient to Jesus now. That's how you know you love Jesus. And if you love him, there should be growing obedience where there's a desire more and more to do the very things Jesus is calling you to do.

Where if you looked back on your life, said, I wouldn't have done that before, but now I am. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Or how about in the book of James, Jesus' half-brother writes the exact same thing in a little different way. In James chapter one, in verse 22, he says, but prove yourself doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. Don't just hear the word, don't just hear what God wants, do what God says. The reason I pray the way I pray before each sermon is that you would hear Jesus, you'd believe what he says, you go put it into practice. That's called obedience. If you do that on a consistent basis, that's more important than a 30-year seminary education. It is. If you want the voice of God louder in your ears and you hear what he's saying, live obediently to Christ. The more obedient you are, the clearer the voice of Jesus will be, amen? Don't be just hearers, be doers. For if anyone's a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror for once he's looked at himself and has gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. Don't just say, well, I know I felt God in church, I know I felt God in my Bible study, I know I heard God do this, but later in the day,

you're like, I don't remember what he said, but it was really cool that I felt something. No, when you hear, go do what he tells you to do, amen? I mean, when you think about this, when you do what God calls you to do, you're never gonna have all the details, you're never gonna have all the answers, you're never gonna know. When God calls you, he never gives you the next seven years and this is exactly what's gonna happen at the exact right time. He doesn't give you an itinerary. You just go. Oh, and be obedient. I mean, think about in Genesis chapter 11, when Abraham was called by God, he was called to go form a new nation. His dad was a pagan. And he said, Abraham, you're gonna go to Israel. You're gonna become the father of a great nation. And what did he do? He went. In Hebrews chapter 11, the great hall of faith, it says this, by faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. Now think about this. His dad's a pagan. He's gonna tell his dad that the God of the universe

spoke to me. He's gonna make me the father of a great nation. My children will be beyond the, you know, greater than the sands on the sea or the stars in the sky. And his dad's like, well, where are you going? Like, I don't know, but I'm going. And when I get there, I'll know, but I don't know, but I'm just gonna go. That's what obedience looks like. Kids, listen to me. Unless your mom and dad are asking you to do something that goes against God, when they're asking you to obey, you receive massive favor when you do what authority tells you to do, even if you don't understand it. Parents, the same is true for you as adults. When you obey authority and you do what God wants you to do, even if you don't see the fruit of it, God gives you favor. God wants you to hear him and do what he wants you to do. That's what he says. When we moved out here to Denver, I remember for about two years, I kept telling my wife, I'm like, I know I'm not gonna be doing what I'm doing two years from now. That's what I kept telling her. I'm like, I don't know what it is. I just know how God works in my life. There's something new. And when God showed me in 2009 to move to Denver and plant a church, and I told her in the moment, I'm like, that's it, that's what we gotta do.

There were a lot of questions, but I knew my wife and still know my wife, super faithful to the Lord. I'm like, God's not gonna call me without calling her. And so as we sat down and prayed and started taking steps, God began to reveal to us, yeah, go do that. But it means you start going. You have to take steps. Did we know where we were gonna be located? I hadn't been to Denver more than two or three times in my entire life. I didn't know whether we're gonna plant up north, south, east or west. I didn't know where schools were. I didn't know where buildings were. I didn't know who our people were. So all the questions of where are we gonna get people and how are we gonna get money and where are we gonna do this? My answers were always the same. I don't know, God does, let's go. But isn't it interesting? Like we could tell our kids now, and we tell them all the time, the only reason we're living in Denver is because God called us to go to Denver to plant a church so we could see more people reach for Jesus. That's why we're here. That's not changed. But isn't it interesting?

Those are like the big ones. I find the little ones are harder. When God points out to me or to you, you need to go forgive that person. You need to go reconcile there. You need to go tell that person you're sorry because the way you handled that and your attitude was wrong. Those are harder ones for me than the big ones. And even then, well, what if this happens and what if they don't respond well? What if and what if and what if? If you sit around and ask what ifs all the time, you miss out on the blessing of God. When God shows you something and it's true to his word and you know it's true to his word, just do it. Obey without delay. When you obey without delay, you give the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to guide you into the path that the Lord wants. Sometimes they're little steps, like you're asking for forgiveness or you're giving forgiveness. Sometimes it's generosity. Sometimes the Lord prompts you and says, how are you serving me? What's it look like? How are you giving to me generously? What's that look like? I mean, there's all these little prompts all the time

and that's why for many of you that are very solid believers that are walking with the Lord, you may wonder sometimes, like why is it that the Lord keeps picking on me? Because he loves you. And he wants you to continue to walk in the full measure of obedience, amen? And if we're gonna have the Spirit of God work to the fullness, we need to obey without delay. And notice who did. It wasn't just six of the disciples. Wasn't just seven of them. Wasn't just three of them. All 11 are like, this is what Jesus says, we're all doing it. What happens if a church lives obediently? The fullness of God can show up, amen? So it does matter what you do, even though nobody can make you do what God wants you to do. But if collectively we bow our knee before him and say, God, we just wanna obey as a church, we set the Lord up to do some incredible things. Number two, let me give you a second non-negotiable for this foundation is that we unite in prayer. That we unite in prayer. Verse 14 may be the most important verse in the entire book of Acts. It says, because this tells you what they were doing while they were waiting. It says, these all with one mind

were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brother. So as they're waiting, have you ever been waiting on the Lord for something? Anybody? Where the Lord's like, hey, I'm gonna do this. And I'm like, I'm still here, you know? I mean, when am I gonna get married? When am I gonna have that kid? When are we gonna find a house? When are you gonna take care of this problem with my kid? When are you gonna? I mean, have you ever waited on the Lord? or so what are they doing while they're waiting on the Lord? They're continually devoting themselves to prayer. It's devotion. It is, we're throwing our hearts into this. Being devoted to prayer doesn't mean that they had a prayer meeting. Being devoted to prayer means their whole life 24 seven was devoted to dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, you told us to wait here and we are not moving until you do what you say you're gonna do, but Lord position us and posture us and have us ready to experience everything that you want for us. Lord, it's so grieving that you're not with us anymore. So we're seeking you and we want you.

Let me just say this about prayer. Prayer is your litmus test of your dependence on the Lord. The more you pray, the more you're declaring I'm so dependent upon Jesus. The less you pray, the more you declare your independence of I can get through today without you. I don't know that I need you. Oh, I forgot to pray today. That's just declaring your independence of saying I can handle my life without Jesus. Prayer is so central to everything that God does, which is why I will continue to beat the drum as your pastor that first Tuesday is the most important meeting of the month. When we as a church gather to pray, every good thing that's ever happened into our church has come out of prayer. When we first, before we even started our church and we just had a launch team, you know what our prayer request used to be? Lord, bring us some people. Lord, bring us somebody that can sing. Bring us a bass guitarist, we don't have that. Bring us a drummer. Bring us a drum kit. Bring us a place we can put at our office. Give us a place we can, you know, house this ministry. Lord, is there anybody you know in Denver that can do a website? I mean, we prayed those things.

We would write them down and then we started marking them off when they happened. And by the way, we've done that consistently for the last 15 years. Every good thing that happens here is a result of depending upon the Lord in prayer. And so many of you are a huge part of that. I would invite all of you to be a part of that. What would happen if this is what our prayer meeting looked like? What would happen if this many people came and said, Lord, we're that desperate for you to move in our city in this way and we wanna see you do that? When you're devoted to prayer, everything changes. It doesn't take long to follow Jesus to realize he was devoted to prayer. He was doing it early in the morning. He was doing it late at night. Sometimes he stayed up all night. When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was praying for three hours, just asking his disciples, could you not stay awake for at least an hour? I mean, everything Jesus did was dependent upon prayer. Even on the cross, what's he doing? He's praying, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they're doing. His whole life was centered on prayer and ours needs to be too. But you see what else is going on here. These all with one mind.

One mind, what's one mind? Unity. It's unity. Unity is essential for seeing God answer prayer. Unity and prayer weren't optional, they were foundational. They didn't just pray once, they devoted themselves and there has to be unity. Unity means this, there are no divisions. Unity means there could be, there could be factions, but as far as it's up to me, I'm never letting a faction happen because we gotta stay unified about our mission. Psalm 133 verse one says, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. In John 17, in Jesus' high priestly prayer, three times he prays for unity. Verse 21, that they may be one. Verse 22, that they may be one. Verse 23, I in them and you in me that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. How did Jesus say that the world was gonna know who he was? When his body was unified, when people didn't look on and see any factions, when people from every socioeconomic class and skin color and everywhere across everywhere, we're all together just about the mission of Jesus and nobody could divide it,

that's when the world looks on and says, there's something about your God, amen? So we have to have the same mind. And when we're unified with the same mind, I mean, even Paul, when he wrote to the Philippian church, you know, in Philippians 2-2 after he said, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, content on purpose. I mean, as long as it's up to you, Ephesians 4 says, as long as it's up to you, live in peace with everyone. Be eager to keep the spirit of the unity and the bond of peace. I mean, be unified, which means I can't come into church and hold a grudge against somebody. I can't hold a grudge against one of my brothers. I can't hold a grudge against one of my sisters. I can't say, yeah, I hope they never come. And if they do, they can sit back there and I'll sit all the way up here and we'll never see each other. Can't do that, not in the body of Christ. Because even Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, I mean, one of the most stark statements that he ever made. Here's what he said. Matthew five. Verse 23, therefore, if you're presenting your offering at the altar and there remember, your brother has something against you.

So you're doing a great work. You're presenting your gift at the altar and it's there. It didn't say you did something against your brother. It's there you realize your brother has something against you. And God brings to your heart, they have something against me. What's it say to do? Leave your offering there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come present your offering. What's he say? He's like, you're worshiping the Lord and you realize there's another brother or sister in Christ and they got something against you. And there's something you can do to help reconcile that. More importantly than singing praise, giving your offering, listening to the word, go reconcile with them first, then come back and do all those things. Really important, why? Because how we treat other people is a direct reflection on what we believe about Jesus. How can you love your brother? How can you not love your brother whom you have seen? When you, let me say it again. How am I gonna say it? How can you love your brother? How can you not love your brother whom you have seen? I'm gonna read it.

It's 1 John 4. All right, 1 John 4. Here we go. Instead of me trying to have it this way, we'll do it. All right. 1 John 4, thanks for your patience. Yeah, we love because he first loved us. If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And that's what I was trying to say when I sounded like Elmer Fudd. Listen. How can you do that? How can you not love your brother? You can't say I love God. You've never even seen him if you don't even treat the one that God created with love. Right, I mean, he's telling us that it's so important that we stay unified in the body of Christ. And oh, it's so easy for the enemy to come in and cause factions. Oh, it's so easy to say, I don't really care for the way they acted or I don't really like their attitude or the way they handle things. And oh, it's so easy for the enemy to say, I don't really like their attitude or the way they handled that was so bad.

And we start distancing ourselves, not in the body of Christ. You can have strong conversations with people in the body of Christ. You can tell them you didn't like what they did. You can tell them that what they did was wrong. That's okay. But you can't cause factions, right? We stay unified to the extent that we can, amen? I mean, it's so interesting because if you study the book of Acts, what you see is you see prayer combined with unity and the Holy Spirit shows up in power. People speak the word of God with boldness and then you see, wow. Like every wow you see in the book of Acts, go back. You'll see prayer, you'll see unity, you'll see the Holy Spirit. You'll see them speak the word with boldness. I mean, in the Welsh revival in 1904, there was a handful of believers that gathered to pray nightly. And within a year, 100,000 people came to Christ. It did not start with preaching. It started in a prayer room. Every revival starts in a prayer room, everyone. Prayer is not something you start adding to the preaching when God starts doing things. Prayer is essential to everything that's going on, amen? I mean, think about these verses.

Think about these verses. In 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, 13 and 14, it says, if I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or if I command the locusts to devour the land or if I send pestilence among my people. In other words, if I'm looking around at my nation and things aren't going well, if I'm looking around at my nation, I don't see the hand of God on it. What do I do? And my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land. What does God say? When there's a problem in the nation, where's it starting? With God's people. So what do God's people need to do? God's people need to gather. They need to humble themselves. They need to seek the Lord. They need to turn from their wicked ways. They need to depend upon the Lord. And then God will go to work. Amen? I mean, prayer is not this additional thing that you add as you grow. Prayer is a foundational element to how you grow in Christ.

And oh, by the way, if you don't know how to pray, just pray the scriptures. Read the Psalms. Pray those things back to God. Pray the things that you want God to do in your heart right back to God. Just pray the word right to him, right? Search me and try me, oh Lord. See if there's any offensive way. Lead me in the way everlasting. Lord, show me anything in me that needs to change. I really want to change it. I mean, that's how you pray. And when you're dependent upon the Lord and you're united, God does some great, great things. And what would happen in churches if we were coming together in obedience without delay, and we were coming together united in prayer because we want to say. see God go to work, and this goes beyond just our congregation here. This is the body of Christ, amen? Now I realize there's certain people that call themselves Christians, that call themselves in the body of Christ, that don't believe the gospel and don't believe the word, and God doesn't have us partner with that. But I'm talking about people that may philosophically do some things differently than we do, but they would say, through repentance and faith

in Christ alone, and his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, that's my eternal security, that's my hope. We worship a little different than you, we talk a little different than you, but we're of the same family, then what are we called to do? We're called to be united and pray for one another so that God can move, amen? What would happen in your home? What would happen in your marriage? What would happen in your dating life? What would happen in your cadre if prayer were your primary weapon and not your last resort? What would happen if unifying around that? I mean, I've done enough marriage counseling with my wife over the past years to know you get a husband and a wife that will say something like this. It's not about me, it's about your glory, Jesus, and you can do whatever you want in me so that I can serve my spouse the way that you would serve them, and I'll do whatever it takes to do that. And the other spouse says the same thing. Things can get reconciled in a hurry. Loving emotions can come back in a hurry, right? And so when you begin to do it God's way, when prayer becomes central, instead of trying to change everybody else,

Lord, change me, Lord, help me, Lord, do this in me, God can begin to do some incredible things, and it all aligns with prayer and unity in the body. That's why, again, First Tuesday, and every First, I invite y'all to come. How many by show of applause have been to a First Tuesday? I think it's pretty awesome. Yeah. You know, we've done these so many years now. I mean, there's rarely a First Tuesday where I'm thinking about 17, I'm not thinking about 17 different ways why I shouldn't come tonight. And I'm the pastor. And I'm like, I don't know, I just don't know if I wanna do that. And there's never been one time I've left where I've said that wasn't the best time I've ever had. The enemy hates it when you pray. The enemy hates it when you unite with other believers. The enemy hates it when you obey Christ's word. That's why this section of scripture always just gets flaunted over and we just kind of move on. So the question becomes, how are you doing in those things in your obedience and in your prayer life? Let me give you a third one that's a non-negotiable essential to this foundation. And that's this, study the scriptures. Study the scriptures.

Notice verse 15. At this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120 persons were there together and said, brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus, for he was counted among us and received his share in the ministry. What's he saying? He's like, he's not responding emotionally to what happened to Judas Iscariot. He's looking in the scriptures to see what God sovereignly did with Judas. He's looking in the word of God for his life when things are a little bit out of control. Do you study the scriptures just to know what a Philippian or a Corinthian or an Ephesian is? Or do you study the scriptures to make sense out of your life? See, Peter was looking at the scriptures to make sense out of life. They weren't responding emotionally like, why did Judas Iscariot do this? Or this is so sad, we're missing one. Or they were looking to Jesus in his word saying, why did this take place? What do we need to know? And how do we continue to journey forward with you?

We gotta use the word of God. Now, if you know the word of God, and you're more familiar with it, you know where to go on certain sections for certain types of things in your life. If you're worrying or doubting, go to Philippians 4, 6, and 7, or Matthew 6, 24 and following. Oh, that's on anxiety. But here's the truth. If you just read the word, the word of God is living and active. The word of God will read you. Like, if you're just wondering, like, I don't know the marriage passages. I just know I gotta treat my spouse better. Just get into the New Testament and start reading. I promise you, you'll see principles as to how to treat your wife better. They're all over the place. And here's the truth. Because the word of God's living and active, it's the only book that when you read, reads you. It penetrates to divide both soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it judges the attitudes and intentions of the heart. If you read the word and say, God, I just have questions about my finances. God, I have questions about where I should serve. I don't even know where to turn.

And you just read the word, I promise you, the spirit of God will use the word of Christ to shape you and speak to you. That's what he does. The problem is we don't often enough go into the scriptures with questions. We go in with our ideas of what we wanna learn. But when you go in with a humble heart saying, Lord, you teach me whatever you wanna teach me. I just wanna know what you want. I wanna do what you want. The word has a way of reading you, amen? So Peter stands up, it says there were about 120 persons there and kind of went ahead of, you know, verse 14. I mean, think about who was there. The women that had traveled with Jesus, all the 11 apostles. It says, marry the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. So a lot of the people that had carried the ministry with Jesus, even his brothers, who thought that he was crazy, if you'll remember. It says, marry the mother of Jesus, why? It never says, marry the mother of God. You know why? She's not the mother of God. She's the mother of Jesus. She was a righteous woman. She is the mother of Jesus. But you know what? Nobody in that 120 were praying to Mary.

You don't pray to Mary. Mary was praying to Jesus depending upon him because he's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Amen. And in that context of family, he was there with who? His brothers. We know from scripture, Jesus had at least four brothers and two sisters, right? Two of them wrote New Testament books. I mean, they were family together. The same ones that said, there's no way my brother's God are now bowing their knee and saying he's God. And then there were 120. And Peter's standing up saying, here's what's going on. Because the word of God tells us. The word of God is what? So seek the scriptures, study the scriptures, show yourself approved. And then it says this, Luke gives this parenthetical statement in verses 18 and 19. Verse 18 is a little gross and gruesome, but the word of God is telling you the truth. It said, now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, that's Judas Iscariot. And falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. The word of God for the people of God. I mean, he hung himself on a branch. Apparently the branch would have broken at some time and he fell headlong and split himself open.

I mean, it was gross what he did. And it says, and it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem so that in their own language, that field was called Hakeldoma, that is the field of blood. It was called the blood field. It's where Judas went to his final resting place on this earth before he went straight to hell. And Judas was a devil. Jesus said, one of you is a devil. But yet it says here that he was counted among us in his share of the ministry. I mean, as the 12 went out and they shared the gospel, assuming, I mean, it's presumably that Judas Iscariot was sharing the gospel. As they went out and healed, presumably Judas Iscariot is praying for healing. As they cast out demons, presumably Judas Iscariot is doing that. Why? Because on the night that Jesus was betrayed, when he said, one of you will betray me and they're all asking, is it me? You know, who is it? All this stuff. The one who dips his bread in the dish with me. And when Judas Iscariot did this, Jesus said, go do what you're gonna do quickly. None of the other 11 were like, it's Judas.

I knew it was Judas Iscariot. That guy was such a clown. I mean, none of that. They were shocked. They'd spent three years with him, which means that you can spend three years in very close proximity to someone who talks and acts like a believer, but it's not a believer. Scary, isn't it? Super scary. But this is what was going on. And so what Peter is doing is he's redirecting all of the emotion of the time, right back to the scriptures. That's what he's doing. And he quotes from Psalm 69, 25 and Psalm 108, verse eight. And here's what he says. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his homestead be made desolate and let no one dwell in it, and let another man take his office. He said, this is prophesying about who Judas Iscariot was to be. And so they're searching the scriptures, why? Because we know from the New Testament that 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Or how about Psalm 19, verse 105?

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If you want direction in your life, start with this book. If you want to know who God is, start with this book. If you wanna know about the next decision you need to make, start with this book. If you're troubled about things that have gone on in your marriage or your home or your community or your church or your business, start with this book. Study the scriptures, show yourself approved. Paul said that, or Luke said that the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians because when Paul went to Berea and he was preaching to them, all the Bereans were studying the scriptures every day to make sure that what Paul said was true. You should study the scriptures to see if what I'm telling you is true. If I ever tell you something that's not true in this book, I'm wrong, the book's right. This book is an authority over me. I'm not an authority on this book. I'm just a fallible, sinful human that's been saved by the grace of God and I'm just trying to do my best to present to you the word of God so that you can respond to it. This book's inerrant, I'm fallible. Does that make sense? So study the scriptures to see what God's saying. If you see a mess in our culture, political.

Study the scriptures, it'll tell you why. See a mess in our educational system? Study the scriptures, it'll tell you why. You have some challenges in your interpersonal relationships? Study the scriptures, it'll tell you why. Can't manage your money very well? Study the scriptures, it will tell you why. I mean, use this as your plumb line for what God wants to do. It's his blueprint for how to live. I mean, even Jesus, after he rose from the dead, in one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible, appeared to two men on the road to Emmaus as they were walking back, and they were not understanding what was going on. And Jesus said to them, in Luke 24, verse 25, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory? Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. I've told you many times, if there was any part of scripture I wish would have been elongated, it's right there. I mean, can you imagine the sermon Jesus gave? Let me start with Moses and tell you how everything from that point on was all about me. I'll go through all the prophets, it was all about me.

I'll tell you all the way through until the incarnate Christ comes to me to show you why I had to die on the cross and rise from the dead. Maybe the best sermon ever that we didn't get to read. But where does he go? He takes them to the scriptures. He takes them to the word. Why? Because the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Not one jot or tittle of this law will ever be removed. I mean, I promise you a billion years from now, the words in that book are still real. Every single one of them. Even the things you can't understand, they're still true. Right? And so that's why we champion the word because the word of God, the written word of God reveals the living word of God who is Jesus. So here's my question. When was the last time you opened the word to find insight to what's going on in your life? Not just doing a Bible study because you want to learn about Joshua a little more or Moses a little more. When's the last time that you said, Lord, I need some answers to some questions about what's going on with me and I'm opening up your word

because I need you to speak to me about me. I need you to speak to me about this situation. I need your insight into this. And if you become in a habit of doing that, you'll be blown away by this living and active word and the way this word will speak to you. Amen? So study the scriptures. So you can know what's going on and how God can fulfill his purpose. God always uses his word. If you move away from Denver, always go to a church where the word of God is being heralded. No matter where you go, go to Bible studies or cadres or small groups where the word of God is central. Go to ministries where the word of God is central. Be around people that say, this is the book that I'm trying to align my life with and where there's a difference, the problems with me and I'm trying to come back into coordination with this. This is my plumb line. Does that make sense? Study the scriptures. Let me give you the fourth one. The fourth non-negotiable as we clarify the foundation is that you seek God's will. You seek God's will.

Notice what he says in verse 21. After he reads the scriptures and says, oh, this is what was gonna happen. He says, therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord went in and out from among us, beginning with the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So he's like, somebody needs to replace Judas. And here's the requirement for being an apostle. You had to be with Jesus from the time that he got baptized all the way through his ministry so you could have been all of a part of it. And number two, you had to witness his resurrection. That's why there's no modern day apostles because none of us spent time with Jesus earthly ministry and none of us were privy to his physical resurrection. We believe by faith. So there's a gift of apostleship of planting churches and doing different things, but there are no apostles in the capital A sense of I'm an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and what I say is authoritative. Those days are over. You get that? And here's what he's saying. There's gotta be another one. There's gotta be somebody to take his place

that had been there since the baptism of John and saw the resurrection. So notice how they prayed. So they put forward two men, one with three names, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justice and Matthias. So one was three named and one was one named and thank goodness the one named one or we never remember who got selected. But notice how they prayed. And they prayed and said, you Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen. What's their prayer? Their prayer is more important than the method. You're gonna see their method of casting lots. That's not what the method, that doesn't have to be the method, but their posture is. You Lord, you know, you know the hearts of all men. You know who needs to be next. We want what you want. You show us what you want. That's what their prayer was. When your heart posture is for the king, everything else falls into place. Ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. Well, I've been asking for things and I'm not getting them. Are you asking for his things? Are you asking for the things he wants to do through you?

He always answers that prayer. There's never a time that God doesn't answer that prayer. If you pray selfishly or I pray selfishly, like, Lord, just need another cool million dollars in my pocket. I want this car, I want that house. And God doesn't answer. Maybe it's because God doesn't want me to have any of that. See, I wanna align my prayers with what God wants. Hey, God, would you give me the courage so that when I'm standing in front of somebody next time that doesn't know Jesus and I feel prompted to share, but I'm too scared to share, would you give me the courage to share the gospel? He'll answer that. God, would you help me reconcile with a family member because it's so broken and I don't even know what to do? He can do that. I mean, when you start praying according to the will of God, God shows up in power to do the things God wants to do. Prayer is not us telling God, here's what I need you to do so you can get my work done. Prayer is us depending upon God to get the work he wants done so that he can do it through us. So my prayers are not what I want. The more I mature in my prayer, I pray because I get more intimate with the Lord and I love the Lord more and I hear his heart more so that I pray what he wants so that I'm praying according to his will

and then when he does it, I'm excited because he got done what he wanted to get done. So you seek his will. It means this, that you surrender to it. Lord, you know what's best. You know where you want me to live. You know how much money you want me to spend on a house. You know where that house should be located. You know whether I should marry this person or not. You know how we should raise our kids. Lord, you know how we should steward our finances. Lord, you know where we should be serving in the church. Lord, you know, you know, you know. I just want to do it your way. You know where we should take our vacations. You know how we should do all the, Lord, you know. To someone who's novice in the faith, that's like, that sounds like a drag. To someone that's walked with Jesus, there's no greater thing to do because the enemy will lie to you and say, if you surrender to the Lord's will, he's gonna take away all your desires. You want to be successful? Don't surrender to the Lord. He's gonna take it all away. Man, I saw people in the Bible, they surrendered to Jesus. King Solomon surrendered to Jesus. He was the wisest man that ever lived.

Stephen submitted to Jesus. He got to preach one sermon before going home and meeting him. I don't know that I want somebody else to be in control of my life. I don't know that I totally want to surrender. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Because I can tell you this, the greatest joy you will ever experience is knowing that someone else controls your destiny, holds your future, holds your present, and you're in his hands. Because that God's a good God. And that God created you, and that God created all of your design. And everything that is true of you that's not false, he will use for his glory. And everything that's false, he'll chisel away so you can be the fullness of what God wants you to be. Amen? Listen, even when they're picking this man, they didn't establish qualifications. They just trusted God to a point. They didn't politicize or rush the moment. They prayed and surrendered. Now, notice how they did it. They said, and they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the 11.

So as they were asking for this ministry, they cast lots. Can God still use casting lots? Probably. But whether you cast lots, or whether you pray, or whether you use some other system, it doesn't matter what system it is. What matters is, is your heart dependent upon the Lord's answer? And it fell to Matthias. I mean, Proverbs 16, 33 says, the lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. I mean, we start thinking about the way that God works, even in the book of Acts, in Acts 13, while they're praying and fasting, God says, set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for this work. That's who I need, right? Matthew 6, 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Or how about when we're really asking God, God, what is your plan? How about 1 Samuel chapter 16, where Samuel's been appointed to go to Jesse's house and anoint the next king. And they all start marching out in front of him. God's like, not him, and not him, and not him, and not him. But in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel, verse seven, but the Lord said to Samuel,

do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. What was he telling Samuel? It's like, look for what I'm looking for. And all these boys get marched through. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And Samuel's like, do you have anybody else? Like, well, yeah, there's David. Well, bring him in. He brings him in, he's like, that's the one. Why? Because that's who God wanted. See, when we really posture ourselves before the Lord and we're surrendering to his will and we want what he wants, God can do some amazing things. Here's the question. Are you seeking God's voice in your decision or are you just trusting your own logic? Let me say it again. Yeah. Are you seeking God's voice in your decisions or are you just trusting in your own logic? God's appointments are better than your assumptions. I mean, you think about when Joshua and them walked in and they wiped out Jericho

and then they went up to Ai to take care of Ai and they got routed. Why? Because they weren't obedient to the Lord and they didn't inquire of the Lord. And once they inquired of the Lord, they found out that Achan had been in sin and so they put him to death and then they went and routed Ai. They did it God's way. Because once you see success in the kingdom, you think, well, I know how God works now. Done this before, I can do it now. Never. I'm just as dependent upon the Lord today as I was yesterday, as I will be tomorrow. Amen. So you can't just say, well, I've been parenting for 30 years, I know how to do this. I've been parenting, I've been married for 40 years, I know how to. You are still just as dependent upon the Lord as you've ever been in every area of your life. And the more dependent you are on the Lord, the more of the grace you're gonna see of the Lord. I mean, think about this. I know this has been a challenging sermon in some ways because there's nothing new that I'm telling you. I've told you to obey without delay.

I've told you to unite in prayer. I've told you to study the scriptures. I've told you to seek his will. But here's the fact, obedience, prayer, scripture and surrender are not side issues, they're foundational. And the reason the devil tries to get you to skim through this passage or get through this message is because it's not that he doesn't want you to hear this, he suddenly wants you to do anything with it. I mean, this is like a launch sequence. Those of us that we think about launch sequences, we think of like T minus 10, T minus nine, that's just the countdown. There's a whole launch sequence that goes into process and you can actually count down from 10 and launch a rocket. And for those of us that are old enough to know, if the launch sequence isn't right, disaster can happen, amen? Listen, we can pray, we can say, God, we want this and we wanna see more people reach. And I believe we all do. I don't think there's any doubt of that. But this is the way we see it. This is where God looks down and says, oh, they're serious. They're obeying me in the little things. Oh, they're serious, they're studying the scriptures. Oh, they're serious, they're uniting in prayer. They're making sure no factions rise up. Oh, they're serious, they're surrendering

to what I wanna get done in the way I wanna do it. Yeah, I can use that church. I can use those people. And that's what we all want. So the call to action is today, like where do you need to obey? Where do you need to obey? How can you press in to united prayer? Are there any factions? Is there anything that you need to have conversations with somebody about? And how can you show more dependence upon the Lord? When do you see yourself grounding yourself more in the scriptures just to get answers to life's questions? And the biggest question is will you surrender and let God lead your next decision? We really let him lead it. We really say, God, this is you. I want you to do whatever you want. Even if it's not comfortable for me, I want you to do it. Now, the beauty of the gospel is this. We don't do any of these things perfectly. We just grow in them increasingly. So when you hear a message like this, even if you are convicted today, it's not God saying you're wrong and you better go change all this. When God shows you that you're wrong, he's telling you, I can change all this,

but I need you to surrender to me. We don't go fix ourselves. We trust the blood of Christ and his resurrected body to do all the work, amen? And the beauty of this gospel is that when God goes to work, God has the ability to transform and conform our lives into the image of Christ. So today I'm gonna pray for you, but I want you to hold these elements in your hand. And as the song's being sung over you, I want you to think about how the blood of Jesus washes you afresh today. Because the beauty of the gospel is you start afresh every single time you look to the Lord, amen? So hold these elements in your hand. We're gonna sing over you. We're gonna trust the Lord to move in this place. And let me just pray for you. Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are. Lord, we ask you today to remind us just how serious you are about these fundamental issues in the faith, that they will be the foundation. And in so many ways, they are the foundation of our church. Lord, would you just help us to grow in each and every one of these? And Lord, where we've come short today, would you remind us of your amazing grace and your shed blood for all of our sins? Lord, we prepare our hearts for you.

We love you and bless you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.