The Spirit-Filled Church

You were created to know and enjoy God. You were called to be in community so that you can become all that God desires you to be. God designed you with a purpose so you can be the difference in this world, and we exist to help you on that journey. Grace way. Did y'all come to worship? I thank the Savior because you healed my heart. You changed my name. Forever free, I'm not the same. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Let me see you clap those hands. I cannot deny what I've seen. Got no choice but to believe. My doubts are burning like ashes in the wind. So, so long to my old friend. Burden and bitterness, you can't just keep it moving. No, you ain't welcome here. Hey! Now, till I walk the streets of gold, I'll sing of how you saved my soul. This wayward son has found his way back home. You picked me up. You turned me around. You placed my feet on atomic ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior because you healed my heart. You changed my name. Forever free, I'm not the same.

I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Up to you. Come on up. Give God a great big shout of praise. Hell, I'm still not the one and I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell, I'm still not the one I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell, I'm still not the one and I am free. I am free. Ohh, I am free. Hell, I'm still not the one I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell, I'm still not the one I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell, I'm still not the one I am free. I am free. I am free. You picked me up and you turned me around. You placed my feet on the ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because you healed my heart and changed my name forever free. I thank the Master.

I thank the Savior. I thank God. Come on, did you come to worship the King? Y'all know this part. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up, get up out of that grave. You picked me up and you turned me around. You placed my feet on the ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because you healed my heart. You changed my name forever free. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Who thought I'd find you at the lowest place? Who thought you'd feel me in the crowd? Who knew you'd make good of my mistakes?

You're nothing like I thought you were. You're better. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. I've seen you move. What a God, what a God. It's who you are. What a God, what a God. I thought you'd show up for perfection. Because what kind of God looks for the lost? They say it's over for a sinner. But you say, no, it's not, no, it's not. You say, no, it's not, no, it's not. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. I've seen you move. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. I've seen you move. What a God, what a God. I've seen you move. You're a good, good man. If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life, forever satisfied. You are my everything. If the highest place I reach is at your feet,

then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life, forever satisfied. You are my everything. If one word is the only thing you speak, then I've heard it all. If never seen your hand, I still have it all. The treasure of this life, forever satisfied. You are Jesus. You are my everything. Yes, you are. You are my everything. What a God! What a God! I've seen you move. What a God! What a God! Your love runs deep. What a God! What a God! Cause if the highest place I reach Then I've done it all Cause the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has changed my life Forever satisfied You are my everything If one word is the only thing Then I've heard it all If you ever see your hand Don't ever open it up Don't ever open it up

Could I ever satisfy You are my everything You are my everything Come on can you lift your hands and say You are my everything Lift your hands If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has changed my life Forever satisfies You are my everything If one word is the only thing you speak Then I've heard it all If I feel your heart and never see your hand I still have it all No treasure of this life Could ever satisfy You are my everything You are my everything Oh God You are my everything Come on can y'all say that with us You are my everything You're constant Yes you are You are my everything Oh God You are my everything

Yes you are You are You are my everything You are my everything You're everything to me You're everything to me You are my everything You're everything to me You are my everything Oh God, You are my everything Hey again, I want to welcome you and thank you for joining us online today in our kind of snowstorm version of Graceway Church We're glad that you're here I want to take a second and just tell you about a couple of things we have coming up at Graceway The first one is our Rooted Family Conference and y'all, that is this coming Friday and Saturday Again, it's kind of a two-day conference that we have and you don't want to miss it We want to put tools and resources in your hands for you to be able to just grow with your family and so look, whether you're single, married whether you have kids, want kids or you don't have kids at all this conference is still for you So hey, make sure you jump on graceway.app and get signed up We're going to have an incredible speaker in Jackie Bledsoe

and three sets of breakout sessions for you to just get more tools and resources Things like how to fight fare, finances Talking like internet security We're going to even have courses in Spanish So y'all get registered for this event coming up this weekend The other thing we do during this portion of the service is tithes and offerings and look, if you're new to giving if you haven't given this year Hey, no shade I would encourage you, just jump in this weekend We would even encourage you to do that using the generosity jump And what is that? Hey, you just pick an amount and say Hey, for the next six months I'm going to give this much each week and just watch God bless you in that And then offerings, right? The opportunity for you to give above your tithes I would encourage you to consider giving to our project at The Point And that just goes right into our building fund where we are building a community resourcing center right there at The Point So y'all, I would encourage you to do that Let me pray for us real quick and we're going to get right back into our service

God, thank you so much for the opportunity we have to worship you from the comfort and safety of our living rooms And Lord, I pray today that you would just go before us as we recognize through our tithes and offerings God, that it's you that we put our trust in and we trust you with our stuff So Lord, would you bless us in that Would you go before us? Would you keep our city safe? Especially those who are out plowing and working right now We ask you these things in Jesus' name Amen If there's anything we can do in prayer for you, church please don't hesitate Put it in the chat Send us an email We love you guys Let's continue in our services. God turn it around. God turn it around. God turn it around. Come on, y'all know it's here. Calling on the name that changes everything, yeah. God turn it around. God turn it around. God turn it around.

Cause all of my hope is in the name, the name of Jesus. Breakthrough will come, come in the name, the name of Jesus. Pray God come and turn this thing around. Oh, yeah. God turn it around. God turn it around. God turn it around. Come on, sing. I'm calling on the name. It changes everything. God turn it around. God turn it around. All of my hope is in the name, the name of Jesus. Breakthrough will come, come in the name, the name of Jesus. God turn it around. God turn it around. God turn it around. Come on, hands lift and sing. God turn it around. God turn it around. God turn it around. Here's up something. Here's up something. God is doing something right now. Here's up something. Here's up something. God is doing something right now. He is healing someone. He is saving someone. God is doing something right now.

He is healing someone. He is saving someone. God is doing something right now. He is moving mountains, making a way. God is doing something right now. He is moving. He is making a way. He is moving. He is healing. He is making a way right now. He is moving mountains. He is making a way. God is doing all of my hope. Into the name of Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Breakthrough will come. In the name of Jesus. Come on, sing. All of my hope. Into the name. In the name of Jesus. Breakthrough will come. In the name of Jesus. I turn it around. I turn it around. I turn it around.

I turn it around. I turn it around. I turn it around. Come on and give the Lord a shout of praise if you believe that he's turning it around. Welcome, Grace Way. I'm so thankful that you're joining us online. Unfortunately due to inclement weather we can't gather together. And so thankful for technology. Although I'll miss you and wish you could be here, at least we can come together in this digital service. Let me just open us up in prayer. Father, I thank you, Lord, that as a church we still can come together. That we can meet in our separate places but still in a sense come together, Lord, centered in our faith. Let me just lift up those that might be out in the cold. might be in the elements, Lord, that you would just take care of people, Father, that your mercy would be upon them. Lord, we thank you for this time together, and we thank you that next week we will be together back in one room. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen, amen. So, Pastor Tim preached an amazing message from the book of Acts, and we're continuing that unstoppable series today. And I'll be preaching from Acts 2, 42 through 47, if you wanna get over there in your Bible. How many people here are fans of Shark Tank? How many people joining me online are fans of Shark Tank?

I'm a big Shark Tank fan. And it seems to me that it's popular today for people to wanna be entrepreneurs. But I wanna take you back decades ago to a young entrepreneur in 1984, and his name was Jeff Mercurio. And you're saying to me, who in the wide world is Jeff Mercurio? And after I tell you this story, you'll know exactly why you don't know who he is. Well, he was my cousin, shout out to Jeff. And he was 12 years old, and in 1984, I was 10. And we used to walk home from elementary school together. And I would walk to his house with him, and we would pass the shopping center from our school to his house. And it was a huge shopping center, and it had a Payless Shoes, and several different businesses. But I noticed as we were walking home, he looked down the alley where the dumpsters were, and it caught his attention. We made it all the way back to his house. And he said, Dan, now this is my older cousin, he's 12, I'm 10. He says, I got a business plan. I go, okay, well, what is it? Here's what we're gonna do. I saw them throwing shoes into the Payless dumpster. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna walk back up there

and bring some bags. I'm gonna lift you up into the dumpster. You're gonna go down in the dumpster, retrieve the shoes, and throw them back out. I said, okay, well, what are we gonna do with them? We'll take the shoes back to my house, and we'll spread them out on the porch. And people driving by the house will see the shoes stop, and we'll charge them and get money for the shoes. Now, me and Jeff are both broke. I'm 10, he's 12. We grew up in a poor community, more or less. So I look at him. I'm only 10. And I say, wait a minute, let me understand you correctly. You want to go up to Payless Shoes, wearing those shoes have got us both beat up at school before, by the way. But you want to go up and get the shoes from Payless out of the dumpster. And I'm gonna climb in the dumpster. I'm gonna throw them out. You're gonna put them in a bag. We're gonna bring them back here. We're gonna line them up on the porch. And you think that that business plan's gonna work? People are gonna buy these shoes? He goes, exactly. So I look at him and I say, Jeff, that has to be the greatest idea I've ever heard.

So him and I go up to Payless Shoes. We go up there, we stand in the front. And it's a big shopping center, mind you. And we can see there's Payless Shoes, there's a Chinese restaurant, I remember. So we walk around the shopping center into the alley. Now it was a little tricky to try to figure out which store belonged to which dumpster because it all looked the same in the back. So Jeff says, I think it's this one here. So we go over to the dumpster. And he lifts me up into the dumpster. And I land in and I'm like waist deep in egg rolls and cabbage and grease. And I said, no, I don't think this is the right dumpster. I think we're in the Chinese food restaurant's dumpster. He said, no problem, let me help you back out. So he reaches down, helps me climb back out the dumpster. We go to the next dumpster. He lifts me up over the edge. I get into the dumpster and jackpot, shoes everywhere. So I begin to throw these shoes from Payless. Some of them didn't even have a match. Some of them were ripped down the side. I mean, let's face it. Payless went out of business for a reason. And the shoes that they throw in the dumpster can't be better than the ones they're selling in the store. But anyways, we bag these up. We go back to his porch, we line them up.

Why am I telling you that ridiculous, true, slightly embellished story? Because what if I told you that from that business plan, which is absolutely ridiculous, the largest shoe company in the history of shoes was launched and what Jeff put on that shoe was a dumpster. And that dumpster on the shoe became the symbol that people look to for the greatest shoe company ever. You would say that is absolutely impossible because that is a terrible business plan and that is a terrible symbol. Why am I telling you this? Because that's really how Christianity started. In the natural, it was the worst business plan ever with the worst symbol ever, the cross. And we've forgotten that because of 2,000 years of the faith growing, we've forgotten what first century Christians would have seen it like. Let me help you understand. The agnostic church scholar Tom Holland writes that a man who had himself been crucified might be hailed as a god, cannot help but be seen by people everywhere across the Roman world as scandalous, obscene, grotesque. The ultimate offensiveness though was to one particular people, Jesus' own. The Jews, unlike the Romans, did not believe that a man might become a god, that such a god of all gods might have had a son, and that this son suffering the fate of a slave might have been tortured to death on a cross were claims as stupefying as they were to most Jews repellent. No more shocking the reversal of their most devoutly held assumptions could possibly have been imagined. Not merely blasphemy, it was madness. The cross was utterly offensive to first century people, particularly Jews. It was the worst symbol you could ever think of for a messiah. It was the worst business plan ever. Yet Tom Holland writes, to live in a western country is to live in a society

still utterly saturated by Christian concepts and assumptions. This is no less true for Jews or Muslims than it is for Catholics or Protestants. Two thousand years on from the birth of Christ, it does not require belief that he rose from the dead to be stamped by the formidable, indeed inescapable influence of Christianity. What's he saying? There is no natural explanation how a man who dies on a cross takes over the known world. So that not even though there are people born again and know him, and millions and millions of them, but even the people who deny Christianity have been influenced by Christianity. That even the faiths that deny Christianity have smuggled in Christian principles. So what Tom Holland's saying, who doesn't even believe in God, is that Christianity has taken dominion over the world. That the worst business plan and symbol ever took dominion over the known world. Amazing. Amazing. Let me take you back. Imagine going back to first century Rome where Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate is a governor in Rome. He has the power of Rome. The greatest and most powerful nation in the history of mankind to that point. Where their empire stretched from Spain all the way to Arabia. With the greatest army and the most power and they were just seen as unbeatable and so powerful no one could ever think Rome would fall. And there's Pilate, the representative of Rome. And here's this Jewish itinerant preacher who they're calling a Messiah who's already slightly battered standing next to him. And Pilate says to him, are you a king? Don't you know I have the power to crucify you? And he did. If we were able to come into that world, bring all kinds of people from the first century and say 2,000 years later, Jesus would be the king. And his dominion would stretch across the globe. And Rome would only exist in ashes and dust and ruins. It would be unthinkable. But that's exactly what happened. And it's from the early church, 11 men, Jesus' own and Paul, that these men transformed the world. By the way, these 11 men and Paul would be the absolute worst business partners and sales team you could ever put together. Paul was originally the enemy of the church and the other 11 guys had no formal training. They were nobodies. But it was from those 11 people that the whole world is transformed by Christianity. So we should ask today, how did they transform the world? And as we look at this text, we're going to see it. It was the spirit-filled church that transformed the world. And we today need to understand what a spirit-filled church is if we want to impact and transform our world.

So turn to Acts 2, 42-47. If you haven't already got there, Acts 2, 42-47. Just to bring you up to speed, Pastor Tim preached a message on how the first century church, after a preter sermon is launched. And they're launched as a new covenant trumpet blast that announced a church with the presence of God and Holy Spirit power in which the gates of hell shall not prevail. He tied that back to Sinai as this is the new Sinai, the new message that didn't fail. And with that, before I read our text, let me pray one more time. Father, this message, Lord, is a message that describes your early church, a church with power, a church that did amazing things. Lord, your church still stands today. It stands here and is represented by the people at Graceway. And I just ask, Father, that you would help me to explain this text in such a way that we would understand how we, too, could transform our world. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen. So verse 42, Luke writes, and they, the early church, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and all 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. And they were selling their possessions and belongings

and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Luke, in this text, described the Holy Spirit-filled church in Acts as a devotional family with power. That's what we see in this text. We should ask ourselves today at Graceway, how can we be a Spirit-filled church that can transform the world? Well, we must understand what it is to be a devotional family with power. So number one, the Spirit-filled church is devotional. Devotional. Look at verse 42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. Devoted. They devoted themselves. What does that mean? An earnest pursuit, constant diligence. Think of an athlete. A great athlete does what? They constantly pursue their discipline. It isn't casual. It's heartfelt, and it's constant, and it's steady. Or a great musician.

They pursue their craft with the same devotion. And what was the early church devoted to? Well, it says the apostles' teaching. What exactly is the apostles' teaching? Well, the Old Testament is essentially the prophets speaking God's Word and then recorded. So they're the voice of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, who record God's message to his people, who are the apostles. In a sense, they're the New Testament prophets. They're God's voice. They're teaching what Jesus taught them. And their writings are inspired by the Holy Spirit. So the early apostles' teaching, what's the best way we can understand that? The Bible. Your Bible is the recorded teaching of the apostles. The gospels are Jesus' teaching, and then they're added to and explained in the epistles and the various books. So we have the apostles' teaching today in the Bible. So we must, to be devotional, we must be devoted to the Bible. There was a brother who was instrumental in my conversion. In fact, he's the one who brought me to church when I finally heard the gospel in such a way that I repented. And I'm saved, and we begin to walk together. And this brother loved Jesus, and he was in the Word. And I remember he would have note cards in his cruiser

because we were police officers together, where he would memorize scripture, and we would go to Bible study together. And he was being transformed and changed because he and I both came from very rough beginnings. And if something happened, I think a lot of it had to do with what we saw as police officers. But he began to sort of drift away, and he lost sight in the steadiness and the devotion. And I know this brother loved Jesus because as he drifted back into the world, he was just utterly miserable, miserable, living in the world as he did before he was saved, but now miserable. And after a season of this disobedience, God captured his heart again, and he surrendered, and he came back. And I remember being in a Bible study with him as God's restoring him, and he picked up the Bible, and he kissed it. before he opened it. And I saw the devotion on his face and I saw the love for God's word. What did he know? That it was that word that had renewed his mind that had changed him. And in his drifting away, he knew how hungry he needed to be for the word, how devoted he needed to be to the word of God. And maybe you're here today, listening today,

and you've let life's troubles, or what you've seen, make you feel like you're drifting away from God. And what that often looks like is, it sounds like this. I used to be so certain God had a plan for my life. And now I just don't know. I can't remember the last time God spoke to me. Or it might sound like this. What am I doing here? How did I get in this situation? And maybe even worse. What have I become? How did I end up like this? Because when we fall away from the Lord, it's so slow. And before you know it, you feel so far gone. So what should you do if that's you, if you feel like I've drifted away this morning and I need to come back, do what my brother did. Repent, kiss your Bible and open it. Let God renew your mind, reawaken your love for him. And he'll guide your life as he once did. He'll restore you. So the early church was devoted to the Bible and back to the text. What else were they devoted to? And the fellowship to the breaking of bread. What's Luke describing here? He's describing people devoted to one another, where they're connected. Well, what do we call that today?

We call that the church. So what's Luke telling us the early church was devoted to? The Bible and to the fellowship, the church, the gathering. You know, I've heard Christians say, I don't know that I need a church. I don't need to come to church to be saved. I don't need to come to church to know Jesus. I can just study my Bible. And when I hear that, first, it makes me fear for them. But at the same time, I say, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why? Because if you love Jesus, how can you say you don't love his bride, the church, that you don't need him? If you love the Bible, the Bible's pointing to the church as absolutely necessary. It's pointing to the church as the gift of mankind. It's pointing to the church as your family in Christ. How can you love the Bible that's pointing to the church and say, I don't need the church? Certainly the early church understood that it was the Bible and the gathering. And what else did they do? And the prayers. They prayed together. They prayed together. Look at what Luke reveals in simplistic power, the fundamentals of being a Christian,

the word, fellowship, and prayer. What's he describing? Intimacy with God, closeness to God. When you're in the word, the Bible, when you're connected to the church and you're in prayer, you draw close unto God. So what happened when the early church, now devoted to the Bible, fellowship, and prayer, in other words, they have intimacy with God, what happens next when they come to that state of intimacy? Look at the text, verse 43. And awe came upon every soul. That word, awe, translated from the Greek into English. If we look at that Greek word, it really means alarm, fright, fear, or even terror. And so in different translations, sometimes it'll be translated instead of awe, fear, or reverence. So what does it mean? Let's look at a parallel text where I can help you understand that when the church had intimacy with God, how they had this feeling of awe and what it means. In Mark 4, when the apostles are in the boat and the waves are raging and Jesus is asleep and they think they're gonna die, and they wake up Jesus saying, you gotta do something, don't you care about us? And Jesus gets up and calms the waves, commands it to stop, and then there's peace on the waters. And they see this happen in front of their eyes.

What is their response? Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? It says they were filled with great fear. And they said, who is this? You know, I can remember coming to Christ and it doesn't look much different. The church, a little smaller, but close to the auditorium. look similar to this one, similar layout. And I heard the gospel, and my life was an absolute mess when I came to Christ. I'd like to tell you that I had things in order and my life was going well, but it was a train wreck when I came to Christ. It was through that train wreck that God led me to Him. But I walk into this church at life, an absolute mess in almost every dimension. And I hear the gospel, and I walk down the aisle of that auditorium or sanctuary of that church, and I got on my knees, which would be about right here in that church, to the right of where the pastor stood. And I cried out for God to save me, and He saved me. And then He began to work in my life. But it was just every day of being in the Word, being connected to the church, being in prayer. And almost 10 years later, just walking with the Lord, my church put on a big play. And it was a five-night play, and I had a role in it. Ironically, I played Satan.

That's a story for another day. So I play Satan, and it's this play that we put on for five days. And I had to come early to get all the makeup put on to look like Satan. So I got there before anybody else. So I walked into the church, into the main lobby that I'd been in, and now it's way before anyone's there. And so I walked into the sanctuary, into the auditorium, and I'd never been there by myself ever in the eight to 10 years that I had been at the church. And I just sat there talking to God. And I remembered the spot where I gave my life to Him, more accurately, where He brought me to Him, where He captured me. But, and I walked up there again, and I got on my knees, and I said, God, where would I be if not for that day? Because God had done so many things in my life throughout that period, and it changed me. But I heard the Spirit say something to me. Wrong question, Dan, not where would you be? Who would you be? Who would you be? And it caught my attention. And I realized how God had transformed me, and it brought me back to my knees in trembling fear of Him. It was an intimacy that brought me low in reverence, and I trembled before my amazing and majestic Lord in the awe of His transformative power.

That's the awe they're describing, the majesty and power and transformative power of God. When you come into that, that brings you so low. But in that lowness is the greatest sense of peace and strength and faith. I believe that's what Luke's describing in the church. So what happens? We're in awe of the power and majesty of God. Look at the text. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostle. Amazing things happened. Track with me. They had intimacy. They had awe, fear of the majestic power and transformative nature of God that brings them low and yet makes them strong. And then they had signs and wonders. Well, what type of wonders do we want to see at Graceway? I want to see people saved. You want to see people saved. I have loved ones that I want saved. You have loved ones that you want saved. I want to see drug addicts come through those doors and be set free. I want to see broken families come through those doors and be put back together. I want to see amazing things done here. So what do we need to do? Pursue intimacy with God unto all in wonders

because a spirit filled church is devotional. Pursuing intimacy with God into all in wonders. What should we do? Immerse ourselves in the word. Immerse ourselves in prayer. Immerse ourselves in fellowship. Be brought low daily before God so he can do amazing things through you. So a spirit filled church is devotional, one. Number two, a spirit filled church is a family. Look at verse 44. And all who believe were together and had all things in common. What are they describing here? Unity, unity. They were together and they had all things in common yet they were quite different. In fact, as the church began to grow, it would be filled with Gentiles and Jews and different people, but yet they were together. They were diverse yet they were united. They had all things in common. How can that be? You know, we have a social identity. They had one. We have one. You might be here today. Listen. If I asked who are you, you would have a racial or ethnic identity. You would have a national or geographical identity.

Nothing wrong with these things in and of themselves. You might have a socioeconomic identity, so you might say for me, I would say I'm a white American middle class. Might have a vocational identity. You might have an educational identity. Some people have letters after their names. And none of those things are wrong. And all of us are different in the church. We all have a different identity there. But what I believe the early church understood is exactly what Paul expresses in Philippians 3, 8 through 10, when he lays out his racial and ethnic pedigree, his national and geographical pedigree, his vocational pedigree, and then he says this, indeed, I count that whole thing, everything, as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes to faith in Christ, a righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in this death. What's Paul saying? Yeah, I have a pedigree just like you, but it's nothing compared to my identity in Jesus Christ and the strength I have in being in him. And the church can have everything together and all things in common when we see ourselves first and foremost as sons and daughters of Jesus Christ and then brothers and sisters to one another. There was unity because they were united in who they were in Jesus. We need to be united to who we are in Jesus. So what happens when a people are united in their identity in Christ? Verse 45, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as many had needs.

What happens when we're truly family? And although we may come from different backgrounds, we end up with equity. So many social organizations and governments have tried to achieve equity, and I'm not against any of that, but real equity can only come when it's built on unity. When a family says, we are one, then they don't let anybody fall behind, and the early church understood they were one and they had equity. What else did they have? Verse 46, and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts. They had joyful community, unity, equity, joyful community. You know, if someone tells me they're a Christian, I don't care what country they're from. I don't care what color their skin is. I don't care how much money they have. That is my brother and sister in Christ, period. And that ties us together eternally, more so than anything else. But let me tell you something, while that is the church universal, there's also the local church, this church here at Graceway. As your pastor, I want you to know you are my family. When someone puts the G on their chest for Graceway, they become my brother, my sister in such a way that it should have great meaning to me and great meaning to you. You see, because there is an eternal family in Christ now, us in the church, but our king's coming back. And on that day, every social construct, every identity that we might have that could divide us, it crumbles. So we show, we bring the kingdom, the future kingdom into the present when people see the unity and equity and joyful community of diverse people connected as brothers and sisters. So a spirit-filled church is a family of unity, equity, and joyful community. If you're here listening, please embrace the depth of the relationship with your church family. See them truly as your brothers and sisters, because we are.

So lastly, spirit-filled church is devotional. It is a family, and the spirit-filled church has power. Verse 47, praising God and having favor with all the people. What did they have? They had worship and they had influence. And what happened when they put God first? They had influence with people. And what happened when they went from worshiping God? Because if I love God and I worship Him, I'm going to love people. And that loving Christian community began to love on people. What happened? Look at the next verse. And the Lord added to the number day by day those who were being saved. So they had worship, in other words, praising God, lifting up God, representing God. And they had influence and then they had growth. People came to know the Lord. It's difficult sometimes for us to have that worship to let our light shine, especially in a world where people can be offended. But the early church was in the Roman Empire. And Christianity was just as offensive, if not more offensive, to the first century Rome world as it is to many people in the United States and globally. But what did they do? They let their light shine in worship. And God gave them influence and God gave them growth. Let's not hide our faith, but let's let it shine. Let's stand firm in a culture running away from God and let us worship Him unto influence, unto growth. So a spirit-filled church has power, and that power comes through worship, influence and growth. Stand firm in your faith.

Don't compromise. Love people by living and preaching the gospel with gentleness and respect. So a spirit-filled church is first devotional, devotional, dedicated to intimacy unto all. A spirit-filled church is a family, family, family of unity, equity and joyful community. A spirit-filled church has power, worship, influence and growth. I started by explaining the horrible business plan that my cousin came up with so that we could understand that Christianity in the natural was the worst business plan ever except it was a plan from God. And it's only because man's short-sightedness and our sinfulness that we couldn't see the power of it. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, the worst business plan in human terms conquered the world. How do we conquer the world today? It's the same way they did in the early church. You see, just 300 years from this passage that we looked at today, there were six million Christians in Rome. Let your mind wrap around that. No internet, no cars, no planes, no telephones, just being a spirit-filled church, a devotional family with power. 300 years later, there were six million Christians and an emperor who had converted to Christianity. How do we have that same power? What would it look like for Graceway to be a spirit-filled church that is a devotional family with power? Well, let me think about that. Well, we'd be dedicated to the Bible. So we'd probably have things like the Bible, fellowship, prayer, intimacy. So we would be dedicated to the Bible, fellowship, prayer, and intimacy unto all. And so what would we have if we were dedicated to the Bible, fellowship, prayer, intimacy unto all? Well, we'd probably have a Sunday worship service where you can do all those things.

Oh, wait, we do. We'd probably have Bible small groups. Oh, wait, we do. We'd probably have D1 where you can be mentored and grow in your faith. We'd probably have 21 days of prayer. We'd probably have prayer teams. We'd probably have prayer teams at the altar. We'd probably be devoted to staff prayer. Oh, wait, Graceway does have all those things. What would it look like if we were dedicated to unity, equity, and joyful community? If we were a family? Well, we'd probably have food drives. Oh, oh, we do have those. We'd probably be investing in the point to be able to reach out to our community. And wait a minute, we are doing that. We'd have things like Serve Day. You know, we have one of those too. And what would it look like if we were dedicated to worship, influence, and power? We'd probably have a senior pastor who preaches the Bible without compromise. Oh, wait, we do. We'd probably offer people a chance to trust in Jesus as Savior and get baptized. Oh, wait, we do. So what should you do if you're here and you're saying, I want to be part of a devotional family with power? It's real simple. Plug in. Plug in to this church of grace. Graceway, plug into D1, plug into Sunday groups, come to service and worship God and take notes and grow, take advantage of everything that's going on here

because it seems to me, Graceway largely reflects exactly what we're seeing in the book of Acts. So plug in and be part of it. And you might be here today listening online and you're wondering why is the church supposed to be a devoted family? What unites us? It's the cross, it's the cross. If you're listening and you're not a Christian and you're wondering why people fill this place up every week as brothers and sisters because we're united in that cross, that's a dumpster to man's thinking but the most beautiful symbol of redemption brought to us by God himself. If you wanna be part of this family, there's only one way in and that's through Jesus Christ. And I want you to know that he died for your sins, that he took your sins to the cross and was crucified, crucified for everything you've done so that you could be forgiven. And he has passed to you if you're willing to accept him a righteousness that only belongs to him, a righteousness that covers you, covers all your shame, covers all your guilt, takes it away so that you can stand before God as his son or daughter. And if you've never surrendered to Jesus Christ and you wanna give him your heart today,

please pray this prayer with me. Jesus, thank you for creating me, for loving me even when I've ignored you and gone my own way. I know I need you in my life. I'm sorry for my sins against you and others. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and you rose again. You are God and I am not. I ask you to forgive me as much as I know how. I'm ready to change direction by giving you my life. I'm ready to follow you from now on and do what you want me to do. Please come into my life and make me new on the inside. Help me to grow so I can be like you. If you prayed that prayer, please go to the Graceway app and click salvation so we can reach back out to you. Brothers and sisters, so glad that we at least could come together online. Know that we can't wait to see you next Sunday. And let me just close in prayer. Father, thank you for this devotional family of power that we get to be part of, that your spirit is here, that you're strengthening us. Lord, help us to be world changers who seek you and see you do amazing things through us. We depend on your power. We depend on your spirit, Father. We love you. We honor you.

We praise you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. God bless you, church. We'll see you next time. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's Pastor Jeremy from Graceway. Thank you so much for watching our service online. Hey, if you are a resident of Crossroads Correctional, I wanna personally invite you to join us every Sunday evening at 7 o'clock p.m. in the gym. We would love to see you in person. And if you're joining us from another facility, thanks for watching. Be encouraged. Know that God is at work in your life. Hey, if you're a family member of somebody and you live locally here in the KC metro area, we would love for you to join us at Graceway on Sunday mornings. Our services are at 9 and 10.30 a.m., and you can get plenty of information on what's going on here at Graceway at our website, which is visitgraceway.org. If you're not a part of the Kansas City metro area, I would just encourage you to find and seek out a local church where you can begin to build community, find friends, and experience life together. Thanks again for joining us. We hope to see you again soon.