Loving God’s Church – Community – 7

                                                 Loving God’s Church – Community – 7

Subject – How Corporate Community Makes a Difference

By Rick Welborne

Acts 2:1-6 (NKJV)
¹  When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
²  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
³  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
⁴  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
⁵  And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
⁶  And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 

--Today we are continuing this series about community and how important it is to the body of Christ. 

--Today I want us to see what God can do when this community of God is functioning the way He intended for us. We will be surprised at what God can do. Let’s look at this word…community.

Commune (noun) - a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.

Acts 2:44-47 (NKJV)
⁴⁴  Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
⁴⁵  and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
⁴⁶  So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
⁴⁷  praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Commune (verb) – To share one's intimate thoughts or feelings with (someone), especially on a spiritual level. To feel in close spiritual contact with.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NCV)
²⁴  Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds.
²⁵  You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming.

Unity - the state of being united or joined as a whole. The state of forming a complete and pleasing whole. A thing forming a complex whole.

Community of God – A group of born again believers worshiping together, loving each other, encouraging each other, and sharing their possessions and responsibilities in complex unity for the glory of God.

--I truly cannot think of anything more complex than getting large groups of people together from different backgrounds and demographics and throw them together for the glory of God. 

--The community of God intentionally comes together to worship the God Who saved them, comes together to love and encourage each other, comes together for a common mission, and comes together for the glory of God!

--The key is that we are intentional about doing this. We all know we are sinners, we all know we have different likes and dislikes, and we know community can be messy but we choose to do it anyway. Why?

--Because we are so much stronger together than we are apart. We can accomplish more together than we ever could apart. We all need each other to bring honor and glory to Jesus.

1. The Day of Pentecost

--Because we consider ourselves to be Pentecostals, Spirit-filled, or Charismatics we all understand about the day of Pentecost and the initial outpouring of Holy Spirit. 

--I want us to look at this through the eyes of community and see how it really happened. We just rush to the miracle or the outpouring without investing proper time.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (NKJV)
³  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
⁴  and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
⁵  and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
⁶  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

--I have heard people say silly things like…Pastor Rick, we will never have revival here at Life Church until we get everyone in one mind and one spirit. Have you ever studied revivals…Brownsville Revival?

--Leading up to revival there were people who wanted revival and people who did not want to shake up the apple cart. We have been like this for 100 years…why change now? Because you are dead.

--Question for you…Jesus appeared to how many? Over five hundred. Remind me but how many showed up on the Day of Pentecost? 120…380 didn’t find it important enough to show up…sound familiar?

Luke 24:49&52-53 (NKJV)
⁴⁹  Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
⁵²  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
⁵³  and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. 

--In this community of God which seemed to be over 500 there was a remnant of 120 who made up their minds that they were going to do what Jesus said and receive what Jesus promised.

--I am sure there were some in the 120 who either said or at least, thought…I wish our friends were joining us in the upper room to wait on the Promise of the Father. 

--One hundred and twenty obeyed the command of the Lord:

Luke 24:49 (NKJV)
⁴⁹  Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." 

--The point here is that this community of 120 were obedient to God’s command and they had the privilege of experiencing God’s Promise of pouring out Holy Spirit upon them. The results were immediate.

--The apostles were infused with power, the coward Peter was filled with Holy Spirit power and preached to thousands…the 120 became 3120. They were all baptized with water and instructed about Holy Spirit.

--Again, the point here is that the community (120) were in unity and because of that the church grew. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

2. The Day of Persecution

--Not long after Pentecost God was using the apostles in such a great way that people were being healed and turning to Christ (grew to 5000) this brought much persecution to the church.

--They threatened the apostles telling them not to speak at all in the Name of Jesus but they answered them that they could only speak the things they had seen and heard. They return to their community of believers.

Acts 4:23-24 (NLT2)
²³  As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said.
²⁴  When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: 

--Their default mechanism as soon as they were released was to return to the community to report everything (transparency) and to pray for God’s power to be demonstrated and for boldness to keep preaching.

--Hear your pastor, if Life Church will be the community of believers God wants us to be…we will need Holy Spirit to show up and we will need to lift our voices in prayer. 

--When Holy Spirit shows up like He did last Sunday, His presence is the invitation to worship, to sing, to seek, to move out of your pews to the altar. His invitation to break through!

--We had gifts of Holy Spirit exhorting us as a community to seek Him and to trust that He has everything under control in our lives. Our corporate worship shakes things up.

Acts 4:29-31 (NKJV)
²⁹  Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,
³⁰  by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."
³¹  And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. 

--Watch this…when they (the community) had prayed, the place where they (the community) were assembled together was shaken, and they (the community) were filled with Holy Spirit and they (the community) spoke the Word of God with boldness. 

--When we come together come expecting, come believing, come praying, come worshiping, come seeking, and come believing that God will show up. We will leave empowered to speak with boldness!

--Obviously we are stronger together…we are stronger when we are in community…we are stronger when we are in unity…in one mind and one Spirit.

3. The Day of Perpetuation.

Perpetuation – the continuation or preservation of a situation, idea, or a cause.

--The community of God (120) were filled with Holy Spirit for one reason…You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…You will perpetuate My Gospel thru missions all over the world. 

--The community was in one mind, one spirit, and one accord when Holy Spirit came on Pentecost. Some believe to have a strong missions program you have to keep people giving…I think they have to stay filled…

--The continuation of the community happened…120 became 3120, and then 5000. The Lord was adding to the church thru missions and evangelism. Suddenly the adding was multiplying…Perpetuation of the community. 

--When community gets the same heart, the same vision, the same mission…there is no limit what can be accomplished for God. No way to measure what Life Church Villages can do when we are one.

1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT2)
¹⁰  I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 

--What we have done for missions is great here in this community and we give Him glory. Can He do it without you…of course but is that His will. I know He wants to use all of us not just 120. 

Acts 2:17 (NLT2)
¹⁷  ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.