Series: The Mvmnt
Message: Four Ways to Be
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Japhet De Oliveira
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Purpose: Jessyka Albert
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin today in prayer. Ask God for understanding through the Holy Spirit and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Acts 2:42–47 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: When you read the text for the second time, were you still drawn to the first verse or did you wonder whether that community really existed? Did they really share everything? Did they meet every single day? Did they go to work? How did they vet people? What about child protection? Could this model even work today?
I wonder all of these things—and at the same time, I think that this community was more than just a utopia. It must have been mesmerizing to everyone included—and also to those observing it from the outside. It was deeply countercultural to the norms of the time. This community worked at solving social disorder, rather than waiting for government policies to resolve issues of pain and suffering. It would have been as if ADRA had just arrived in some disaster zone, and with no strings attached shrouded a community with love. A love that called people to change their lives. This community displayed four elements that gave structure to their new way of life. Four spiritual disciplines. Four ways to make disciples. First, they stayed focused on the what the apostles taught. Second, they lived in fellowship. Third, they broke bread together often. Fourth, they never gave up on prayers. This is the kind of community in which I would want to raise my kids.
The apostle Paul, who only had the First Testament as his Bible, used it to preach the Gospel (Romans 10) just as Jesus did on the road to Emmaus. Towards the middle of chapter 10, he assures us that salvation is for everyone. There are no barriers, no criteria, no classifications that can stop any of us from receiving the gift of salvation. We simply need to call on the name of Jesus. He goes on to answer the question that some would certainly raise:
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (vs. 14–15)
Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, and reminds us that faith grows from hearing the Word of God. This community started with preaching the Gospel and will only be a faithful community in which to continue the story of salvation if it keeps on preaching the Gospel.
Recalibrate: Are we preaching the Gospel or do we have another agenda?
Respond: Pray for the heart of the Gospel to be in everything you share.
Research: Read Preaching by Timothy Keller.
Recharge: Wonder/Adventure/Purpose
Remind me that it is all about you, when I want to make it all about me. Find something you and your child can do today to put someone else first.
Luke talks about a big group of people who all loved Jesus. And they just did not want to leave, so they didn’t. More people kept coming and more people kept staying. Why do you think that was? Could you make a list?
Jesus used something super simple like breaking bread during dinner to remind His disciples that His body was broken so that they could be made whole. Find one everyday item (it could be cereal, your phone, a pair of shoes, your car) to remind yourself that Jesus is All. It could be something like, “Just like breakfast, Jesus is the most important part of my day.”