Devotion | Ryan Whitton | We Believe | Full Service

Good morning church. Hey, right there where you are, why don't you stand to your feet. Come on, can we say hi to someone next to you? Come on, say hey, I'm glad you made it to church for the city this morning. I'm glad you made it. Can we also give it up for our online campus, our prison population, everybody watching us online. Come on, let's make them feel welcome. If it's your first time here and you just are just coming into the family of Christ, we just want to welcome you. You can actually text guest to the number on the screen. If you're watching online, you can fill out that digital connect card just to get plugged in and get connected. It's a custom of the house to open up in prayer and reading the word. And before I read the scripture that I got this morning, it's in Psalms 121 verse 1 and 2. And this verse is very dear to my heart for two reasons. I remember when I was just a kid spending the night at my grandma's house and a lot of my cousins in here are gonna come to memory on this. There was two things that I solely remember and one of them was waking up every single morning to the smell of fresh made flour tortillas. Come on somebody. Yeah, come on. And some papas fritas, right? You know what I mean? And the second thing was that the first thing that my grandmother would do was open up her Bible. And while she was at that kitchen table opening up her Bible, she would always recite this psalm. And it's Psalms 121 verse 1 and 2. And it says like this, I lift my eyes to the mountains. And then here's a question. It's saying where does my help come from? Where does it come from? Then with all certainty, Psalmist David says, my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Can we just praise God for that? That in the midst of anything, anything that we're facing or we might face, God is our ever-present help. Amen? So right there where you're at, why don't you bow your heads and let's let's pray this morning. Jesus, we just thank you. Thank you for giving us another opportunity to be in your house. God, we're ready. We're positioned, God, to receive something from you. Let this not just be another casual or ordinary Sunday. Let us come to your house with thanksgiving, giving you praises of worship, opening up our hearts and our minds to receive your word, your word that transforms, your word that changes us. God, no matter how we walked in this morning, Jesus, let us walk out differently, knowing that you did something in our lives like you always do. Jesus, we praise you and we exalt you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. And all of the church for the city says, amen. Let's worship. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning, our song shall rise to Thee.

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty. God in three persons, blessed trinity. Amen. Holy, holy, holy Though the darkness hide thee Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see Holy, Thou art holy There is none beside Thee Perfect in power, love, and glory Holy, holy, holy Are You, Lord God Almighty Worthiest of men, worthiest of men You are holy, holy Are You, Lord God Almighty Worthiest of men, worthiest of men Amen Hallelujah Hallelujah For the Lord God Almighty We sing hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah For the Lord God Almighty We sing hallelujah Hallelujah You are holy, holy Are You, Lord God Almighty Worthiest of men, worthiest of men You are holy, so holy Are You, Lord God Almighty

Worthiest of men, worthiest of men You are holy, so holy Are You, Lord God Almighty Worthiest of men, worthiest of men Amen Hallelujah Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty God in three persons Blessed Trinity Come on, praise the Lord today Shout hallelujah When I was lost and all alone Your presence was where I found home You were there and You're here right now In every high and every low You never left me without hope You were good and You're good right now ♪ Now ♪ ♪ I've witnessed your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I've seen you breathe life within me ♪ ♪ So I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ Your lawlessness never fails ♪ ♪ I've got stories I live to tell ♪ ♪ So I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ You lift the throne, you choose a cross ♪ ♪ Lay down your life to rescue us ♪ ♪ The Savior then, the Savior now ♪

♪ But even death was not the end ♪ ♪ You conquered hell so I could live ♪ ♪ Resurrecting then, resurrecting now ♪ ♪ Resurrecting then, resurrecting now ♪ ♪ I witness your faithfulness, I see you breathe life within me ♪ ♪ So I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ Your lawlessness never fails ♪ ♪ I've got stories I live to tell ♪ ♪ So I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ You're good and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're strong and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're constant and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ And I'm confident, I know I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ You love and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're healing, I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're saving, I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ And I'm confident, I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ I witness your faithfulness, I see you breathe life within me ♪ ♪ So I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ Your promises never fail, they never fail ♪ ♪ So I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ You're worthy, you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ To the broken, I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ To the hurting, I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ To the lost, I will witness it ♪ ♪ And I'm telling this, I'm telling what I've witnessed ♪ ♪ To my family, I've witnessed it ♪

♪ To my city, I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ To the nations, I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ And I'm telling this, I'm telling what I've witnessed ♪ Come on, let's take a praise here. Come on, as we continue to worship, let's remember that God is faithful even when we are faithless. May God is sovereign on the throne. You're a good, good Father. Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth man in the fire time after time. ♪ Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood ♪ ♪ And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough ♪ ♪ So I trust in God, my Savior, my Savior, my Savior ♪ My Saviour, You're the one who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God My Saviour, You're the one who will never fail He will never fail Perfect submission In all His habits I know the offer of tomorrow is on my stage So this is my story And this is my song I'm praising my Risen King and Saviour all the day long So I trust in God My Saviour, You're the one who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God My Saviour, You're the one who will never fail

He will never fail Come on church let's just turn our eyes to the screen We're going to celebrate someone going public with their faith today My name is Jasmine Before my relationship with God I was trying to do life on my own Leaning on my own strength and understanding I carried so much anger, stress and anxiety Constantly weighed down by worldly pressures That were never meant for me to carry alone Eventually I recognized that God had been doing too much to ignore And I made the decision to commit to attending church regularly On September 14th, Pastor Tyrone shared a sermon Centered on the truth that Today is the only day we are promised to prepare for eternity At that moment I felt an overwhelming conviction I knew Jesus was calling me to surrender my life to Him It was a feeling I had never experienced before That day I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour And surrendered my life to Him I placed all of my worries, fears and anxieties into His hands After surrendering my life to Christ Everything began to change God started softening my heart Convicting me with love And teaching me how to trust Him instead of myself Now my greatest desire is to live for Him And to be an example of His grace, obedience and love for my daughters I want them to see what it looks like to follow Jesus authentically and wholeheartedly This is no longer about my will but His

Today I am going public with my faith Jasmine, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit And because of your confession of faith today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ For the remission of your sins And according to Scripture you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit Come on, celebrate that today Come on, let's continue to worship Any hurt? Any answer? I sought the Lord Any hurt? Any answer? That's why I trusted That's why I trusted I sought the Lord Any hurt? Any answer? I sought the Lord Any hurt? Any answer? I sought the Lord Any hurt? Any answer? That's why I trusted That's why I trusted I sought the Lord Any hurt? Any answer? I sought the Lord Any hurt? Any answer? I sought the Lord Any hurt? Any answer? That's why I trusted That's why I trusted I sought the Lord Any answer? That's why I trusted I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him now My Savior, the One who will never fail He will never fail, I trust Him now My Savior, the One who will never fail He will never fail

I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him That's why I trust Him now My Savior, the One who will never fail Yes, I trust in God My Savior, the One who will never fail He will never fail Never fail me now Come on, just look at this place, sit down Oh, you never fail, you never fail, no Hallelujah What an amazing opportunity to be in the house of God together, amen Before we prepare for the message, find someone you've never met before Greet them, tell them you're thankful that you're in the house today Yeah Good morning It's good to be in the house of God this morning That's worth celebrating, absolutely You faithful follower of Christ, you over there Well, I have just a few announcements this morning before we get into the message The first is that we have the women's brunch coming up on March 28th From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Give a shout if you're at the last women's conference Yeah Okay, do you like how I had my hand raised? So, Kay Woodward spoke at the conference She's going to be returning for the brunch and sharing a word She's an amazing teacher and woman of God

She also wrote a cookbook, which I've enjoyed many delicious recipes from So, yeah, she's phenomenal And just so you know, the women's events, the women here at this church are just wonderful Like when we do these events, they sell out like that So, if you're interested in attending that, please just sign up as soon as you can You can do that on the tab disc online, whatever Ask a team member out there, they can help you Aside from that, we've just recently opened up the church on Tuesday mornings for prayer That's from 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. And it's very low pressure, it's a very open, inviting atmosphere You can just come in and find a seat anywhere in the sanctuary and just take that intentional time to listen to what the Holy Spirit wants to say to you. Or what the Holy Spirit wants you to share with someone else, perhaps. We do our best as a team to go around and pray for people and support people as needed to. So we'd love to have you here for that. In addition, first Wednesday this month is happening on the second Wednesday. So just wanted you to be aware of that. It's going to be okay, that's what I'm telling myself. So first Wednesday will be the second Wednesday of this month. And guys, I want to thank you for being so generous. You're such a generous church. Every single time you come into the building, you have such generous hearts. And you know, over the years I've learned that being generous has very little to do with the content of our wallets and very much to do with the content of our hearts. The widow's offering is such a beautiful picture of what generosity looks like. She gave very little in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God, she gave a whole lot. Well, my name's Ryan, if we haven't met, and I've had the honor of serving on the team here at Church for the City for the last two years. And I oversee the Next Steps department, so I get to walk people through baptism and child

dedication and open house. I've met several of you that way. I'm joined here by my wife, Allison, this morning. She's a beautiful, wonderful woman of God. Without a doubt, my better half. We have three kids, a 12-year-old girl, 10-year-old boy, chilling right there, oh yeah, a little dance move, 10-year-old boy, and then a four-year-old little nerdy, rambunctious toddler. And then we are actually welcoming another baby in August. So yeah, it's pretty exciting. So we have a good pattern going. We got a girl, boy, girl, boy, and then never any more kids ever again in my life. So, I'm gonna make sure that that's the case. Well, if you'll stand with me, we're gonna read the Word as we do, as is custom in our house. We're gonna be in the book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 42 through 44. This is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture. You can really have a favorite part of Scripture, but I love it because it really captures Jesus' heart for the church. And beyond that, it also paints such a clear picture of what Christianity actually looks like in day-to-day life. So beginning in Acts, chapter 2, verse 42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and prayers, and awe came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this morning and everything that you have prepared for it, God. I ask that you would till the soil of our hearts, that you'd prepare us to receive the message that you have in store for us.

And God, you would convict us of sin as we listen to your Scriptures because they cut through bone and marrow. And Lord, that we would take advantage of the fact that while we're here, we still have just another couple minutes, just another couple hours, we have today to make a decision for you, to pursue you with everything that we have. Lord, I pray for every pastor in this community that as they preach the word today, that they do so with a boldness that's accompanied by humility and gentleness, driven by love for the church and love for you. God, I'm so thankful for who you are. We love you. We pray this all in your heavenly matchless name, amen. You may be seated. So Acts 2.42 says, and they devoted themselves. We're going to dig into what devotion really is here. It says they devoted themselves because if we don't nail what devotion is right away, the rest of this message is pretty much futile. The Apostle Luke is writing this passage that we just read from, and this passage is describing the things that the early church was engaging in and participating in at the time. These believers were very new in their faith. This is right after the resurrection of Christ, not long after. This is after Pentecost. So the Holy Spirit has come and fallen upon the believers at the time. And so these brand new baby Christians, if you will, started to walk out their faith in daily life and apply their faith to the church. And Luke writes that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and prayer. So what is devotion exactly? We may have some understandings that come from perhaps marriage, because marriage is a picture of devotion. Parenting.

is a picture of devotion or your career. You may be devoted to your career, but it would be better if we looked at biblical examples of devotion. So there's a couple I'd like to share with you. Ezra, for starters, was devoted to the study and obedience of God's law. And as a result of that, he taught Israel faithfully and restored faith and order amongst God's people. It's a pretty substantial result. Nehemiah, who was a cupbearer to the king at the time, left a position of great power and authority and comfort. He left it all behind and devoted himself to the will of God by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem when they had been broken down. And he encountered so much along the way, opposition, threats on his life, exhaustion, but he was devoted, so he stuck to it. And as a result of that, the walls were rebuilt. And much more than that, Israel regained their identity. Profound. And Ruth, many of you are familiar with Ruth. Ruth left behind her way of life. She left her home, her friends, she left everything behind and devoted herself to the servitude of Naomi, saying she would follow Naomi wherever she went and that Naomi's God would be her God. It's such a beautiful picture of devotion. And David, David made many mistakes in his life,

but he was a good king. And he was a good king because he loved a good king. He loved the Lord so much that through the peaks and the valleys, the successes and the failures, he devoted himself to ongoing repentance and worship. So these are some great examples of devotion, but it may also be helpful if we look at what devotion is not. You see, devotion does not look like a lack of faithfulness. It doesn't look like disloyalty, unfaithfulness, faithlessness, falsehood. It doesn't look like a lack of interest, indifference, carelessness, negligence, detachment. Devotion does not look like a lack of commitment, being uncommitted, undedicated, unenthusiastic or lukewarm. And devotion does not look like being emotionally distant, aloof, cold, hostile, apathetic. So the question we need to ask ourselves today in this moment, we know that Jesus is returning. So if he were to return right now, what would he see of our devotion? Would he see any of these? Or would he see devotion like Ruth, Nehemiah, David, Ezra? You know who doesn't lack devotion? The devil. Scripture says that the devil prowls like a roaring lion, waiting to devour its prey. I don't know about you, but that sounds like devotion to me. But do you know who's even more devoted than all of these that I mentioned?

Jesus. Jesus devoted himself to the will of the Father unto death on the cross. The greatest picture that we have in history of devotion is the cross. Jesus set the gold standard, and the standard for devotion became if I am devoted to the Father, no matter the opposition, no matter what the devil does or says to me or about me, no matter what I go through, I am devoted unto death. I will be devoted even if it kills me. That's the standard that Jesus set for devotion. So our only right response is to simply reciprocate the devotion that he has for us by being devoted to him. So as a result of that, our devotion to Christ cannot be simply reduced to a one-hour Google Calendar event on a Sunday morning. It has to be more than that. Devotion to teaching, corporate worship, fellowship, and prayer is not just a weekly activity. And I would posture to you that it's not just a lifestyle. I get the Christian lifestyle thing. The problem with that is that lifestyles are subject to trends and temptations. An identity, however, an identity is something that you can build a life on. It is something that you can build a foundation on. Attending church on a Sunday isn't just something I do. It is a part of who I am. as a son of the Most High God.

Engaging in a small group, praying in the mornings, in the evenings, all throughout the day, isn't just something I do, it is a part of who I am. Being discipled, seeking to disciple others, share my faith, teach the Word of God, meditate on the Word day and night, and pray and praise God, whether things are going well for me or not, is not just an activity, it is part of who I am. This is for somebody. Your beliefs influence your perception, your perception influences your feelings, and your feelings influence your behavior. So if you want your life to look different, if you want to experience more freedom in Christ, you first have to go back to where things started, you have to change your beliefs. You have to shape your beliefs with Scripture, and with the Word of God, otherwise your beliefs are not shaped by Scripture, they're shaped by default or by the devil. And if that's the case, then the fruit you will experience comes as a result of those beliefs. But we need to take a step back here, because look, the fact that you're here right now in church is a win. And I hope you know that. It's a win.

And for some of you in this room, it might be your first time at this church or at church in general, and praise God for that. That is a great start. But we need to look at that for part of what it is, it is often a start. You see, there's a shocking reality here, and I'd like to open your eyes to it, and that's that if you only attend church on Sundays, but you don't fast and you don't pray, you don't serve, you don't share your faith, you don't read your Bible, you don't attend a small group, discipleship classes, any fellowship events, then you have not devoted your entire life to Christ. You have devoted exactly 0.06% of your life to Christ. And I want you to hear me say this, and it comes from a place of love. It does not mean that you're not saved, okay? It just means that you can't tell. You can't tell. Acts 2.42 says to the apostles, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers. This is great. This is great because it encapsulates Christian living 101. Okay, it makes it really simple. There's three categories here. Number one is to learn and live and teach sound doctrine.

Christianity 101 is also engaging in fellowship. And lastly, it's praying without ceasing. It's overall, it's simple. Now you've heard in several different ways over the last few weeks about the importance of learning and living out sound doctrine, right? Pastor last Sunday talked about what it means to have sonship with the Father, to be a child of God. So we've learned that we need to be devoted to sound doctrine. But if we're devoted to sound doctrine, then the next right step is to be devoted to fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. And breaking of bread here refers to two things. Primarily, it refers to table fellowship. It also has a bit of a line drawn to communion. It's also addressing communion from the Last Supper, a sacrament that we participate in in the Christian church. But when we talk about breaking of bread, really what we're talking about here is simply spending time with one another, with glad and generous hearts, sharing meals with one another, engaging with each other, living life together. To sit and partake in a meal with others is to be in agreement with them. Business meetings, often over a meal. Hard conversations, often over a meal. Celebrating something, often over a meal. Well, why is that?

Why do we do that? Because there's some significance there. And when we sit and partake in a meal with others, there's another thing happening. Sitting in Scripture is often symbolic of the acceptance of an invitation. When you came in here, you may have been invited. And here you are sitting down in one of these seats. And you had to maybe sit next to somebody that you don't know, and you might feel a little awkward about that. But why? You're sitting in a chair next to somebody. Why would that make you feel anything? Because there's a significance to it. You're in agreement with them. You're shoulder to shoulder with them. Sitting, for example, Psalm 1 says, blessed is a man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor. stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Walking, standing, sitting. There's importance there. These are different levels of agreement that we have with people. So the act of sharing a meal, especially when it came to sharing a meal with somebody of high status, was a social and a political event in biblical times.

It was an opportunity for building relationships, but it was also an opportunity for negotiating, or even creating a covenant. Jesus invited the disciples into a new covenant during the Last Supper. He said, this is a new covenant in my blood. So we have men's breakfast, women's brunch. Why? It's not just about bacon and sausage and muffins and sandwiches and T-shirts. There's more to it than that. It's about engaging in relationship, being aligned with the church, being aligned with other believers that believe in the same God as you and believe that you're both loved by God. It's representative of the meals that Jesus shared with his own disciples, his apostles, all the way up until the Last Supper. And like, for example, when Peter gets rebuked by Paul in Galatians 2, 11 through 14, he gets rebuked by Paul because Peter was eating with the Gentiles, which represented God's new covenant with the Gentiles, which is us, by the way. So Peter was eating with them, but then the devil got to him and he became afraid and embarrassed about being with these people.

So he went and he sat with the Jews. But this was an issue because he was misrepresenting the gospel by sitting and eating with them instead of the Gentiles. He was effectively teaching to his church, we're actually still under the old covenant. We're still under the law. We're not under the freedom that Christ's blood provides for us. It's a really big deal. So we have to ask ourselves, who am I in agreement with? Who do I break bread with? Who am I aligning my life with? If an outsider were to look at my life and the fruit of my ways, who would they say that I'm in community with? The scripture says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers. And verse 43 says, and awe, awe here is like reverent fear and wonder. And awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. In other words, the impact of a church is predicated by the soundness of its doctrine, the closeness of its believers, and by prayer. So when great things are done in a local church, it's because there's sound biblical teaching,

the community is full of love and camaraderie, and prayer is a top priority, as it should be. Now I mentioned the men's breakfast, which was a week ago or so, and the women's brunch, which is coming up here soon. I would encourage you to attend these. But the thing is, is that these are only every so often. They're not all the time. They're like once every couple months, perhaps. But life groups, small groups, they take place every single day of the week at multiple times during the day every single week. There's a lot of opportunity there. We call, and just so you know, we call our small groups life groups because life groups exist to unite fellow believers under biblical teaching and fellowship and prayer. But we call them life groups because our true desire is that people would attend these groups and that they would be so encouraged as to step out of the groups and actually live life together outside of the small group setting. They would brush shoulders with one each other. They would care for one another. They would go share meals outside of that group and pray for each other. You get the point, right? So the, I'll just be honest here. For a long time, I really struggled myself

to be in a small group. I had different reasons for why that was the case. I thought, you know, I'm super busy. Like I don't know how I'm gonna take another night out of my week and go do this. I don't know, the amount of time I'm gonna lose. Not realizing that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And you know, I thought, well, I already have like a lot of good community around me and okay. Well, God started to convict me on this. And specifically, me personally, over time, he convicted me to start my own group. So I negotiated with him unsuccessfully for like four months. And then Allie and I started a 20s and 30s life group for people who are young adults and people who still think that they're young adults. And I'm not looking at some of you right now. I asked a couple of really good friends of mine if they would share with me their testimonies about how being in a small group has impacted their own life. Because I don't want you to just hear it from me. And the testimonies that I received were just amazing. You know, I read through them all, sat in front of my computer for two hours, like weeping. Like, oh my gosh, God is so good. And I wish I could share them all with you today.

I'm just gonna share one. I have it right here, I'd just like to read this to you. We're still fairly new to CTC. One of the main reasons we left our previous church and began attending CTC was a deep longing for community. We were lacking true fellowship in our lives, along with friends, connection, and a genuine sense of belonging. I felt God placed it on my heart to attend CTC and from the very beginning, we experienced peace about that decision. We knew we wanted to get connected as soon as possible. So I went to the connect table and I learned about a life group that fit our stage of life. I immediately felt led to join and I had never been part of a life group before. So I assumed it would involve Bible teachings and reading, but beyond that, I didn't really know what to expect. What I did know was that I needed friends. I needed godly men and godly women in my wife's and my life. Life groups become one of the highlights of my week. It's a place I can decompress, I can seek scripture and gain understanding and experience real community. For me, it's been all of those things and more. I truly enjoy hearing others share their perspectives and I often find it remarkable that when I'm personally walking through something difficult someone else in the group ends up sharing a similar struggle and how they're navigating it.

There's something deeply therapeutic about that. What I value most is the vulnerability. We're free to be open with each other. I've shared vulnerably many times and I've never once felt judged or looked down upon. Instead, I've received love, encouragement and support. Everyone in group understands that we all face battles as Christians and because of that, I no longer feel alone in my struggles. I no longer have to wonder where I will find support during adversity. I can rely on the people around me and I hope that they feel the same way about my family and me. Where I've seen the most growth, though, is in my wife. She comes from a very legalistic background and has struggled to form deep, trusting friendships. The friends that she once had no longer live locally. I knew she was lonely and at times discouraged and desired meaningful connection. Trust has been difficult for her because of past rejection from friends and even church members prior to CTC. Because of that, she had many hesitations about joining another church group in the beginning. Looking at her now, I see a completely different countenance than I did a year ago. She genuinely looks forward to group. She's becoming more engaged in discussions. She's breaking through barriers

that once kept her reserved and hesitant to share. Watching that transformation has shown me the true importance of community. Surrounding yourselves with other believers and being real with one another brings a healing that we didn't even realize we needed. Attending church on Sundays is important and valuable, but building relationships with other believers and sharing openly without fear impacts you in a way that's hard to even articulate. It changes you, it heals you, and for us, it's made all the difference. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful testimony. If you needed any more confirmation to join a group, then there it is. If you felt a conviction to be more in community, to be part of a small group, then please don't leave here today without doing so. You can go to the Connect table. The volunteers would be happy to help you through that. You'll have time to pick what group aligns with your stage of life, and don't be afraid. You may have been hurt in the past, and I get all that, but don't be afraid to step out and engage in community. Only a couple of them are cults, so your odds are pretty good. Just kidding, totally kidding, obviously. Somebody new is like, oh God, this is the exact type of church I wanted to avoid. As I mentioned, these groups exist for several reasons.

They exist for fellowship, they exist for discipleship, but they also exist for prayer. Matthew 18, 19 through 20, Jesus says, again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. heaven, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. When we gather together in prayer, we can guarantee two things. The first is we can guarantee that God hears us. The second is that we can guarantee that he dwells among us. If we put as much effort into prayer as we do into being anxious, how would that change us? If we put as much time into prayer as we do scrolling social media, how would that impact our church or our community? If our screen time was actually the number of hours we've spent in prayer, would that change anything in our life? Now, of course, being in a life group, it's just one way that you can engage in prayer with other believers, but there's other opportunities to do that. And truly, sometimes you just gotta keep it simple. Go to coffee with your brother or sister in Christ, or call them on the phone, at least. Have a lunch, have a dinner together, something.

Sometimes it's just as simple as that. But outside of that, I mean, we also offer things here. We have First Wednesday, which reminders on the second Wednesday of this month. We have First Wednesday where we engage in worship for a little more. We're very specific in our prayer points. We spend more time in prayer. That's what the service is for. Or there's Tuesday morning prayer. And what I will tell you is, I have a busy schedule myself, but committing that one hour to just being present with the Holy Spirit and listening to what he has for me, or for me to share with somebody else in the room has completely changed my life already. We're really good at, I don't know if you've ever heard of this acronym. It's the PRAY acronym. It's like a way to remember how to pray. It's praise, repentance, ask, yield. Okay, we're really good at the first three. We're really bad at the yield. We're like, oh God, here's my request. Okay, see you later. And he's like, but I'm still talking to you. So this is an opportunity to yield to God and listen. And the very first time that we opened up the church for prayer on a Tuesday, a friend of mine, Chris Lerma is in the back somewhere.

He oversees production. He came over to me at my seat and he just put his hands on my shoulders and he prayed for me. He gave me a word of encouragement and a word of knowledge. And what I will say to you is that that word that he shared with me in that moment has shaped one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in the last two years of my life. It gave me the courage and the edification that I needed to know that God would be with me no matter what I ended up doing. But that's the profound impact that prayer has. When we pray together in community, we're advancing the kingdom of God. Derek oversees the prayer team. You may have met him, you may see him around or see him at Open House, but he always shares this at Open House and I love it. It's so great. He says, whether you've been saved for 20 minutes or for 20 years, prayer is for you. Prayer is for you. You see, prayer is a natural thing. We're just talking to God. We're just having a conversation with God. Luke 11 10 says, for everyone who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. The one who knocks, it will be open.

If we want to do the will of God and know the will of God, we have to pray. If I want the door to be opened, I have to knock on that door because Jesus is the doorkeeper. James 4 2-3 says, you desire and you don't have, so you murder. You covet and you can't obtain, so you fight and quarrel. In other words, you don't get the things you want, so you go and try to force your hand and make things happen. You don't have because you don't ask. You ask wrongly and you don't receive because you spend it on your passions, which guilty as charged. Like we've all done that, you know, we've all done that. But we want to change the habit of prayer from being something we do where we go to God and we're like asking for these things to improve our life, like it's some kind of self-help formula. We want to make prayer more than just that. Sure, of course, we want to ask for things, but we don't want to pray for things to just improve our life. We want to pray because without praying, we have no life. We do not have life in Christ. We do not experience freedom in Christ. You see, you received your very salvation through prayer. And you receive salvation through that prayer to God when you ask Him to be your Lord and Savior because you prayed in the will of God. Because His will is that none should perish,

but that all should come to Him. repentance. And his will is also that, he says, if you profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe from your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. That's his will. Because you prayed in his will, it worked. Now, I always struggled with this concept because of this verse right here, John 14, 14. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. And many of you might be in the same boat right now. You're like, what is that? I'm still figuring this out. For me, I was like, okay, if I ask anything in his name, okay, I think I got it. So, God, man, I really want this job. It's gonna be a lot more money for me. It'll be good for my family. I really think it's what's best. And, you know, our car's kind of old, like we could use a new one. In Jesus' name, amen. And because I said in Jesus' name, done. Cosign, stamp of approval, process, done. Finish. No. That's not how it works. So, I thought I had it figured out. I'm like, okay, no, I got it this time. It means that I just need to pray for his will. All right. God, I have this really tough decision in front of me. Honestly, no idea what to do. No clue what to do here, but you know what, God? Let your will be done. Whatever you want to do, I'm cool with that. Amen. You know, like, all the times I prayed like that, I honestly think to myself that God is like listening to me and he's like, son, I hear you and I'm really glad that you approve of my decision-making process, but I'm not looking for your approval here. I'm looking for you to have faith. So here is where the secret sauce really is. To pray in faith, in the will of God, is to pray in faith built on the foundation of Scripture. So you can't pray in the will of God if you don't know the Word of God. I've not always been a good son to my earthly father. In fact, I was a tyrant. I was a terrible kid, but over the last several years, God has reconciled that relationship, praise God, and I love my dad and I've devoted myself to serving him for the remainder of his days because that's what God wants for me. It's what he calls me to do, and so at this point in our relationship, when I go to ask him a question or ask him for advice or ask him for help, I already know what he's gonna say. Well, why is that? Because I spent time and

intentional effort in studying him and observing him and learning his character and learning his desires and learning the things that he doesn't care for or doesn't want, doesn't want for me, and it should be the exact same way with our Heavenly Father. It should be the case that when we pray, we already know, we hear the Holy Spirit's voice. We hear God's voice because we know who he is. We know what he says. We know what the Word of God says about any one given thing. That should be our relationship with the Lord. What I want is I want my prayers. When I go to pray, I want to pray to the Lord and lift up my supplications and petitions, and I want the Lord to hear my prayer and say, yes, son, amen, let it be. That's what I want my prayer life to look like. So if you want your prayer life to become real, biblical literacy is the secret sauce for a powerful prayer life. Biblical literacy. Because John 1 says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word being Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word of God is Jesus. When we spend time reading the Word, it is akin to spending time with Jesus himself. So if we want to know more about who God is and what God wants for us, we have to spend time with Jesus in the Word. And Acts 2 44 says, and all who believed were together and had all things in common. Life group guys, you can come on up. So imagine for a moment you join a club, okay. Imagine that you join a club and everyone in the club has similar priorities to you, they understand you, they're kind of like you, they have similar interests to you, and maybe in the club there's even people in the same stage of life as you. Kids are the same ages as your kids. Maybe their kids even play the same sports your kids play. And then I'll let you in on a little secret. Maybe the people in that club are just as messed up as you are. Welcome to the body of Christ. That's what it means to be a part of the body of Christ. The scripture there says all who believed were what?

They were together. And they had all things in common. So you mean to tell me that not only does God give me a new name, new life, and new purpose, but he gives me a new family that literally exists to love him and love me? Sign me up. Because you know what? The only community that I ever had was in a treatment center. And everything we had in common was illegal. So I'll take this over that any day. And then here's the thing, I didn't even have to pay the price to join this. Jesus already paid it. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I'd like to show you an example, or an illustration rather, of the impact that being in community in Christ has on our lives. Because truly it can't be overstated. So you guys can huddle up. Allie, I'll have you stand right here. The rest of you guys join around Allie in the circle and just lock arms for me. Great job.

This is three tries now, so they're getting better. So these folks here with the locked arms, they're members of the church, okay? This is the body of Christ right here. And in the middle is my wife, Allie. She's Jesus in this illustration. She's Jesus because I have to go home with her. And I don't really wanna argue in the car, so. Naya here is also a believer, but Naya is outside of community. She's outside of the church. Naya feels like maybe she's too busy to go to church. It's not really for her. It's kinda weird. But she says she's a believer. Or maybe Naya thinks I can be a Christian and I can love Jesus and not go to church. Whatever excuse, pick your poison. But Naya's outside of community. Now what does scripture say about the devil? In John 10, 10, it says that the devil comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. So the devil's gonna get to work. I'm the devil in this illustration. Spicy, I know. So the devil's gonna start to do his thing. The first thing he's gonna try to do is tempt Naya even further away from community and into slavery because the devil wants to whisper you out of community

and seduce you into isolation. So he's gonna get to work. And because our friend here has bad theology, he's gonna pull her away, even further away from the church and orient her so that she's not even looking at Jesus at all anymore. And as a result of that, he's suppressed her to the point where she's not the lampstand on the table, she's the lampstand under the table. The lighthouse light is off. The salt is not as salty. Does that make sense? Because she's not protected by community. And she could even be saying every morning, I'm gonna put on the armor of God. I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. Look, I'm not a military guy, all right? But I'm pretty sure that if I'm just one person against the principalities of darkness, I would rather have some more numbers. I'm gonna take that over this any day. I mean, that's just math, okay? So these folks here, they're members devoted to Christ. They got their eyes on Jesus. They're in community. They're taking care of each other. The devil's gonna start to do his thing. But because it's more challenging right away to pull them away from Jesus and pull them away from community,

he has to change his approach, okay? So what he's gonna start to do is kill and destroy. He's gonna try to kill a healthy relationship. He's gonna try to destroy a marriage. He's gonna try to destroy your finances. He's gonna try to destroy anything that he can get his hands on to get you to walk away from community because you're so focused on your problems that you start to try to take care of them yourself. And now you're not in community and you're not focused on Jesus. You're focused on yourself and the world and your problems. You can return. But if that doesn't work, then he's on to his last-ditch effort, which is to attack your identity altogether, okay? He's gonna start to yell at you, scream at you. You're not good enough. You're never gonna be loved. You never were. No one likes you. You don't fit in. You're not like the rest of them. They don't have the same problems as you. You're just a drug addict and you know it. You're never gonna be more than that. Go have another drink, you freaking alcoholic. Get out of here. You don't belong here.

And he's gonna yell and yell and yell and yell. And here's the thing, because we're human, we make mistakes, we fall, we get hurt, and so there may be a time that he's yelling and yelling and yelling and you fall, but this is where it all counts. Our job as the church is to lift you up and restore you back to community and focus your gaze on Christ. This is why the church exists. Not all the crap that you hear out there in the world, not all the stuff you hear on social media from people that don't even go to church. This is why the church exists, to love you, to care for you. Ecclesiastes 4.10 says, Woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Woe to him who is alone when he falls. You guys can go. Great job. Thank you so much. You're done for the day now. I know that there are those in this room and those that may be watching from across the screen right now, and you have a reason that you've been holding on to for why you can't commit to being engaged in the local church. Maybe it's because you were hurt. Maybe you were even hurt by a member of the church or a leader in the church or it was your upbringing or whatever the reason may be. Something took place in your life and you began to believe a lie. A lie that this isn't for you. But you didn't hear that from your Father in heaven. You heard that from the father of lies, the devil. Because what the Lord wants is he wants you here. He wants you to be in community, in the church. He wants you protected. He wants you cared for. Jesus said, who are my mothers, my mother and brother and sisters? These are my mother and brothers and sisters. This is my family. This is your family and he's your father. In the passage we just studied, verse 42, said that they were devoted to the breaking of bread. Now we discussed how that primarily applies to fellowship and table fellowship, but it also does apply to communion. In fact it applies to the most important meal ever shared, the Lord's Supper. So in just a minute we're gonna partake in communion together and what I'd ask of you is if you are not yet a follower of Christ and you're not ready to make that decision, please just set the communion down for now. Communion is a holy representation of Jesus's body which was broken, literally broken for us, and of his blood which was shed for us so that we may

have new life. Now if you have not devoted your life to Christ but you would like to today, we want to give you an opportunity to do so. So with all eyes closed, all heads bound, if you will, Jesus became flesh, a man in meekness because he did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped. He became a man, lived a sinless, perfect life, was tortured, battered, bruised, and ripped to shreds, and as he carried that cross up to that final place, he had you in mind, your life in mind, your children in mind, and he died on that cross bearing the weight of all of our sin, washing us clean for an eternity past, present, and future because he loves you and I believe that if it was just for one of you he would do it. So if that's the God that you're ready to surrender your life to today, all I ask of you is with all eyes closed and all heads bowed, just right there in your seat, just raise your hand. I see you. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Praise God. If you just raised your hand and really just all of us together, can we just pray this prayer together? Jesus, I no longer want to live a life apart from you. I believe that you died and you were resurrected for me so that I may have new life. Jesus, please forgive me of all of my sins. I surrender my life to you and I ask that you become my Lord from today and forever forward, amen. Welcome to the family of God. Now, for those of you that made that decision and the rest of us that are living a life devoted to the Lord, would you please stand as we take communion together? You can go ahead and grab the element and get the bread ready. Amen.

The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's eat. Amen. In the same way, he also took the cup and after supper, he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Hallelujah. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for being a loving God that sent your son to die for us so that we may have life eternal and life abundant. God, you want so much more for us than the details and burdens of daily life. You've given us a new name and you've written it in the book of life in heaven and you've painted our story like an artist looking at our life and being proud of your creation. So Father, I in your name renounce any lie that those walked in here with that they are not good enough for you and they're not good enough to be here. Jesus, you're good enough

and your life you exchanged for theirs. Thank you, thank you, thank you for just allowing us to be here. We're here for you and for nothing else. Jesus, it's in your heavenly name we pray. Amen. The altars here are open. Please come and get prayer. We love you so much. Have a great Sunday. ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Son and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ We love you church. We'll see you next Sunday.