Transforming Devotion

So we are up and running with our Unstoppable series. On Sunday we looked at how a strong foundation meant serious fruit in the ministry of the local church. They allowed themselves to be defined by devotion to what God is serious about and the outcome was amazing. We tried to break it down on Sunday so that we could all assess where we are at with these things. When it comes to the lcoal church you've got to buy in to bear fruit. Serving yourself leads to flabbiness, stretching yourself leads to fruitfulness. There is a call to participate then anticipate- Changed people change the world. So here are the four things that the church in Acts were consumed by as they contended for God's glory.

Content- If you are devoted to God you want to know the truth about God rightt?! It’s only if you are devoted to self or something else that you want something less than the truth about God because you are hiding from the truth about yourself and what is going on in your own heart. Content convicts, changes and conduits our lives towards God. If Biblical content does not drive the church the church will drift from Biblical content. You can be as fired up as anyone but if you attend a church where people sitting beside you or, worse, the guy standing up front is like: yawn, sigh, whatever about what the Bible says then that fire isn’t going to last long.

Commitment- Devoting to commitment might sound like committing to commit- and it is. But commitment doesn't happen by accident, it comes through a clear and deliberate choice. So are you investing in the local church? Sometimes it seems impossible to do this, if the church doesn't seem to think it matters why should I? You need to find a place then find a space. Find a place where your service (work for Christ) is encouraged and then find a space and work your socks off for Jesus. Nb. It doesn't have to be nor should we crave to have it be an upfront deal.

Community- Devoting to community is found in sharing life with one another. At Harvest we often speak here about being a church family- I love that and believe that is what is pictured here in Acts 2. In one another’s homes, round one another’s tables, eating one another’s food. Being involved and invested in one another. It is making Small Groups not just an optional part of your week but an obvious choice in the week. Nb. v.46 point to a pattern of meeting in both temple AND homes.

Confidence- They devoted themselves to prayer: That’s where their confidence lay. Nothing demonstrates a confidence in God like coming before God relying God in prayer. Prayerlessness indicates a sense of pointlessness ('I can get by without getting to God, I'm not sure if it's worth involving God in this situation'). They most likely had daily set times to pray in keeping with the temple practice. Our tendency is to protest that we don’t need routine- Really?! Check out what was going on here and then say that having some kind of pattern or plan for praying is not worth our attention and investment. Our much vauntted freedom does not often make us faithful in prayer, rather because we have no pattern we do not pray- that’s the reality. Such prayerlessness was unthinkable and that was the fuel that was making this church unstoppable.

It’s not in the events we run but the every day you live that people see evidence of Jesus. It’s not church programmes but changed people that change the world. Have you ever been part of something like that? Wouldn’t you want to be?

You can listen to the whole thing here