Better Together | Serving Like Jesus

1:59 Here in Acts 2, we're looking at the birth of the church. The church that Jesus started. The church that Jesus established. He only started one organization, if you will, when He walked our earth, and it was the church. By the way, the word church means called out once. It's not about a building. It's not about a cathedral. The church is when God's people gather together. Because Jesus said, when two or more are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. The church is a place to find accountability. The church is a place to be spiritually fed. The church is a place to hear the word of God. The church is a place to discover and then use your spiritual gifts. And the church should be your family. Because we really are your family. So let's consider now the story here before us of what the early church looked like. The church that changed the world. The church that was accused of turning the world upside down. I'm reading from Acts chapter 2 verses 42 to 47. And I'm reading from the New King James Version.

3:18 Just to get context, remember this is on the heels of the day of Pentecost. So the Holy Spirit has been poured out. And 3,000 people have come to believe in Jesus after Simon Peter delivered the inaugural message of the church. Acts 2.42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and in prayers. and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together. They had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as everyone had need. 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, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved.

4:16 We'll stop there. So what can we learn from this church? If you're taking notes, here's point number one. They were a learning church. They were a learning church. Now let me apply this to you personally. If you want to be a growing Christian, you need to be a learning Christian. There's always so much more to learn. I've been a Christian, well, pretty long now, over 50 years. And you would think that I know a lot, and I know some things, but I've discovered that I have so much still to learn. And the Apostle Paul after years of walking with the Lord said, look, I am pressing on because I have not reached perfection. Pressing on toward the mark and that should be the objective and the attitude of every follower of Jesus Christ. These people were studying the word of God. The fact of the matter here in verse 42 when it says continued steadfastly, that speaks of passion.

5:12 They were living in a first love relationship with Jesus and they had burning hearts. And let me ask you this. What are you passionate about? I mean, seriously, I know the default answer. Jesus, okay, maybe, we'll see. I'll go check out your social media and then I'll see what you're really passionate about. What do you post most about? What do you talk most about? Some people are passionate about sports. And I know a lot of, and there's nothing wrong with loving sports and enjoying sports, but is that your primary passion? Other people are passionate about movies, you know. Or this new series on Netflix. Oh, have you seen this? Oh, you're gonna watch this. And you know, you'll be talking about whatever. But the moment that topic comes up, they get all fired up. Other people are passionate about food, food. Everything's food, you know. And that's what fires them up.

6:05 Other people, it's politics. Man, they're not even interested in the conversation until you get to politics. Now they come to life. Listen, it's fine to have an interest in all of these things, but make your primary passion about Jesus Christ. That's it. Don't lose that. It's not that these other things are bad things, but if one of these things takes the place of Jesus and your passion is channeled in a different direction, it actually can be a bad thing. So these people listened. They listened to what the Word said. They continued with passion in the apostles' doctrine. And that's the way we should be as well. We must come with a desire to hear the Word. Number two, it was a loving church. So number one, they were a learning church.

6:57 Number two, they were a loving church. Verse 42, they continued in fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers, and continued to do this together. Now, as we grow in our faith, we will want to do it with other believers. In fact, the stronger your vertical fellowship, the stronger your horizontal fellowship will be. By vertical, I mean the closer you are to God, the closer you'll be with God's people. And if you're not as close to God as you need to be, you'll probably want to spend less time around godly people. And these first century believers looked out for each other. Look at verse 44. They met together in one place and shared everything. They pulled the resources for a time. By the way, this was strictly voluntary. No one was forced to do it. But they did it because they wanted to.

7:50 They helped each other out. And we do the same. You see someone that's in need. Maybe they need food. Maybe they need clothes. Maybe they need encouragement. Maybe they need something else. We help one another. We don't just pray for each other. Hey, can I do something for you? Can I help you with that need? This happens all the time. But this is the thing. We need to move beyond the phase of our life as a Christian where we come to church only to receive. You know, someone might say, well, I don't get fed here anymore. Okay, well, how long have you known the Lord? 30 years. Okay. Maybe you want to start learning how to feed yourself, buckaroo. I mean, you ever think about that? It's time to grow up. Now, I'm not excusing the pastor or the teacher from expositing the Word of God to you, but maybe you need to start learning how to dig into the Scripture on your own. You know, when my sons were young, little boys, they didn't always like to eat their food. So I had to find creative ways to get them to eat. Here comes the airplane. You've done the airplane. Right? At the food center. Or then the bribes. If you take two more bites I'll give you your dessert. And in my case I would say take monster bites. Take a monster bite. Two more monster bites. Okay. You're good to go. So that's cute when they're little kids. If I had to turn to Jonathan today in his 30s and say take a monster bite. Something is wrong with this picture.

9:18 And some believers want to be catered to. They want everything to be cut up in little bite-sized pieces for them. Grow up and learn to study the Word of God and even more recognize that you need to come with an attitude of serving, not just being served. Right? News flash. It's not about you. Jesus said the Son of Man did not come to be ministered to but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for others. Listen to this. You're going to find that great happiness and joy comes from serving other people. Because you have been blessed to be a blessing.

10:12 You know, I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie. And I've been to Israel many times and I've led a lot of tours. And I have to say that's absolutely true. Listen, when you're walking on the same stones that Jesus himself walked on, That's something that's enriching to your faith. It's not just a travel experience. It actually energizes and enhances your study of the Bible. Think of it this way. It's a vacation with a purpose. And we're going to be taking a tour of Israel, April 6 to 15, 2027. You can find out more at israel.harvest.org. Step right into biblical history. Join Pastor Greg for a tour of the Holy Land, April 6th through 15th, 2027. Get details at israel.harvest.org. Well, we're learning some important principles from the example of the early church. Pastor Greg is presenting his message called Better Together. Here's another interesting thing. The early church meant house to house. Look at verse 46. They met house to house breaking bread. This was the first century equivalent of small groups. This is why we have placed such a great focus on getting together in a small group because you're going to be blessed. You're going to learn more. You're going to build relationships.

11:45 You're going to receive encouragement. You know we have found that people who are in small groups have less marital problems, less need for counseling. Why? They have some people already in their life to talk to. And they meet with these people on a weekly basis and it makes all the difference in the world. Number three, they were a worshiping church. They were a learning church. They were a loving church. They were a worshiping church. Verse 47. Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved. This is one of the great things about gathering together for worship. Isn't it great to be together in person all at the same time? Don't you love it? Yes. We're so thankful that we've been able to reach a lot more people than we've ever reached in our history online through what we call Harvest at Home. But still, I love to be in a room with God's people worshiping the Lord because the Lord inhabits the praises of His people.

12:57 And this is what we do together as the church. We worship the Lord. Now sometimes we don't feel like worshiping. We're not in the mood. But the Bible doesn't say give thanks to the Lord when you feel good. It says give thanks to the Lord because he is good. And his mercy endures forever. Right? Job had so many calamities befall him literally in one day. And yet we read in his book, and Job worshiped the Lord and said, naked came I into this world, naked go I out. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And look how there's a connection between worship and witness. Listen to this. If your Bible study and your worship and your fellowship does not make you want to share your faith, then something is wrong. This should be the natural overflow of a follower of Jesus.

13:53 See, when a Christian can worship God in times of adversity, it is a powerful testimony to a lost world. When they see you're facing cancer or you're facing a layoff at work or you're facing some difficulty and you're still worshiping the Lord and your faith is intact, That's a powerful testimony. But worship brings things into perspective. Because sometimes we can come to church and we have a big problem. And then as we begin to sing to the Lord and worship the Lord, we start to get perspective. Because if you have a big God, you have a small problem. But if you have a big problem, is your God too small? This is why the psalmist said, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. What does magnify mean? It makes something larger. right? So I magnify the Lord. I see Him in His greatness and it puts my problem in perspective.

14:51 That's why Jesus in the Lord's Prayer taught us to pray as follows. Our Father who art in heaven,