Preview Weekend: It Can Happen Again!

Well good morning! It is so great to see your wonderful faces. Welcome to preview weekend for the brand new churchwide adventure that we are starting this weekend. My name is Ren. I'm one of the pastors here and if you are a guest today you chose a great weekend to be here. We are launching Acts Odyssey, which is our series in the book of Acts this morning and not just us, also Aromas Bible Church. In fact I just literally walked in the door about 10 minutes ago from Aromas Bible Church. Here's the scene there this morning out on the way out to Hollister and San Juan Batista and I think they're actually in Monterey County and it was wonderful to see them there. I met with some of their leadership this morning and prayed with them for God to do some great things in their lives.

We all went out to breakfast and we ended up inviting the people who served us to church and they said I think we're gonna check that out. So we're super stoked and in case they watch this on video let's just kind of lift up our hands and say hey we love you guys we're excited to do this with you at Aromas Bible Church. Well this morning I want to give you kind of a turbocharged preview of what we're going to be doing this fall because I have never been more excited about what God is doing here at Twin Lakes Church and beyond our borders. The last five months or so have just seen us as a beehive of activity because ministries are just exploding and I am personally convinced that God wants to take us even to another phase as a church and part of the way that he wants to do that is to reintroduce us to his vision for the church through the study of the book of Acts.

Acts is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It is exciting. There is no other book of the Bible actually like it. It's a book of adventure and suspense and travel and exotic places and we're going to be studying it until Thanksgiving this fall. A little orientation for you. The New Testament was written about 2,000 years ago and it starts with the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The four Gospels are about what Jesus did and the rest in the New Testament is mostly epistles, letters to Christians by the Christian leaders. But right in between those two sections is the singular unique book of Acts. It's about the birth of the Christian Church. It tells the story of how the Jesus movement went from Jesus is dead and it's over and everyone is very sad. Only 120 of all of his followers are left and they all fit into one single room and then they see Jesus alive and within about 30 years they have reached much of the known world and they change human history.

How in the world did that happen? If you're maybe not even a Christian here today and you're trying to figure out what is this Christianity thing really all about or if you're sort of a veteran Christian and you're wondering how can we go beyond and become the church that Jesus really designed or maybe you find yourself in this spot. You watch the news, you see the headlines about all kinds of violence and terrorist attacks and racial unrest and you wonder how am I as a Christian supposed to respond to this or maybe you're sitting there going how can I intensify my faith? I need to grow. I need some juice. You are going to discover answers to all of that in the book of Acts in the next eight weeks.

Here's why every believer needs to know the book of Acts and you can jot down the notes in your message notes that are outlined in your bulletins. You can grab these or if you're watching online you can download them on our website. Why every believer really needs to master the book of Acts. Three reasons I see. First, it reveals the roots of my faith. It reveals the actual roots of my faith. Would you agree with this? Christianity has a real bad reputation for a lot of people today, right? It's judgmental, it's divisive, it's smug, it's hateful and a lot of bad stuff has been done in Jesus' name. So let's strip away 21 centuries of that and go back to our roots.

Acts is a book of firsts like the first permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit followed by the first church followed by the first potluck supper and I'm not kidding about that followed by the first church fight and then the first martyr, the first use of the name Christian, the first missionary. In fact I just want to show you a couple of pictures from the last few weeks in the life of our church. Trent Smith, one of our pastors and his team served with Connie Fortunato in Ukraine a few weeks ago working at a music camp for disadvantaged kids there. We also had a team in one of the gang-infested slums of Naples, Italy to help plant a new church there just a couple of weeks ago. We also had another team in Africa just a couple of months ago working at a children's home there led by Jessica Frankel, our junior high pastor.

Why do we do these things? The whole impulse started in the book of Acts. Now some of you are going okay it allegedly shows my roots but it is the Bible. How reliable is it really as a picture of actual history? Tell you a story there was a British guy, a famous scientist of about a century ago, Sir William Ramsey. He was on one of the first covers of Scientific American magazine, he won a Nobel Prize, he discovered helium and many more elements. Well, he spent 25 years studying the book of Acts as an unbelieving scientist trying to disprove it and after 25 years here's what he said: Luke is a historian of the first rank. All distances are accurate, all city places accurate, even shipping routes are accurate. In every historical test applied to this book, Luke gets high marks. In short, this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians. And incidentally, during his investigation, Ramsey became a follower of Christ.

Now you might say well Ramsey wrote a hundred years ago what do scholars say now? Well about a hundred years later, professor of ancient history at Oxford A.N. Sherwin-White wrote this about Acts: the historical framework is exact, the details are precise and correct. As documents these narratives belong to the same historical series as provincial and imperial sources of the first and early second century. In other words, it really does reveal the roots of your faith; you can trust it. The second reason every believer should know Acts is it helps me understand the rest of the New Testament. You ever open your Bible and go can't make heads or tails out of this thing? You will understand it so much better when you know Acts.

But the biggest reason to know it is this: reading Acts ignites three things that Christians need right now more than ever before. It ignites courage and faith and vision—three things all Christians need. You know, honest confession here lately I've been monitoring my personal media intake over the last few months or so. What I read, what I watch, what I listen to because of how much it affects me. I've noticed if I watch something intense I get fearful. If I watch only bad news I get angry and kind of outraged. If I watch other things I start to covet stuff I don't have. Now I don't know about you but I do not need to be inspired to be angry or afraid or to covet, right? I do all those things fine all by myself. I don't need to be inspired to have those emotions. What I need is to be inspired to have more courage than I have in my life.

What I need is to be inspired to have more faith when I'm going through the tough times. What I need is to be inspired to have more vision than I have in my own little limited perspective. And as I've been preparing for this over the last few months writing the book just simmering in the book of Acts, Acts has been inspiring me in all three of these ways over the last few months. Why? Well because the book of Acts shows the early Christians had all these things against all odds. Let me show you what I mean. My friend Ray Johnston points this out: what the early Christians didn't have—they didn't have financial reserves, great buildings, favorable governmental conditions, supportive media, planes, trains, automobiles, or boats with motors. What they did have was impact in spades. They went from 120 people to 3,000 on day one and by the end of the book of Acts, which is just 30 years, they were in 32 countries and provinces, 54 cities, nine islands, and the center of the world, Rome, and they changed history.

The question of Acts is can this happen again? And if so, how? Well, the question you have to ask is what fueled the first Christians? If I want this to happen again, what inspired them? What ignited them? Right? Well you find it in the key verse right in the first chapter. Just before Jesus ascends to heaven, he tells this ragtag bunch, and let's read this out loud together: Acts 1:8. Let me hear you: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." I want you to look at all the times he says you—not just those other guys, not just your leaders, not just Peter and Paul and John, not someone else, you. And think of who he was talking to: you imperfect people, you Galilean Hicks, you unproven failures, you people with a past. Jesus was telling this little group you matter, you and you.

I live in a world where it's so easy to think I'm just one of billions, I don't make a difference, and Jesus says your life matters. I choose you. You are an ambassador of my kingdom. And these people really believed that they made a difference. Listen, some of you might be going but I don't make a difference, I'm just one person. Let me do I hate to use a negative example but let me ask you this: did seven individual people make a difference on 9/11? Seven terrorists in a negative way? Absolutely. Seven people! Imagine what God could do with a church this size if every single individual one of us believed that we were God's agents of love, God's agents of the gospel. This is how the early church turned the world upside down in a good way.

Now maybe you say but it's only me. I don't have enough. I don't have the knowledge. I don't have the power. Well, Jesus also says you'll be empowered. He says you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. It's not about you working in your weakness only; it's about God working through you with the amazing infinite power of the Holy Spirit. And he says you'll break down barriers. I want you to watch this: he says you'll be my witnesses where? Where's the first place that he says you'll be my witnesses? In Jerusalem. So they're thinking okay we've made our home there, now that's cool. And then where? In all—where? Judea. And what? And they have to be getting a little bit more uncomfortable because there's major racial tension there. And finally he says and to what? The ends of the earth. Oh, and by the way, you've got no money, you've got no political support, you've got no detailed strategy, you've got no power brokers, you've got no publicists, no budget.

What he's forecasting is this: they broke down so many barriers. As you read the book of Acts, you'll see in practically every chapter they break another social barrier that had held people captive for centuries—racial barriers, cultural barriers, ethnic barriers, social barriers. It's a phenomenal book. Back from the very first day of the church, from day one, you see this description of the people who became part of that first church. They came from all over the world. They were from Africa, they were from Asia, there were Greeks, there were Romans, there were Judeans—all together. Now do we need to see that today? Is there a little bit of racial and class division today? When you study the book of Acts, you're going to see God still has something to say about that that's very powerful.

Now watch this: that phrase Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth—that's an outline of Acts. It's basically the only book of the Bible with an outline of itself right in one of the first verses. You see the church born in Jerusalem in the first section—very exciting birth stories. And this would be a wonderful opportunity for me to show another picture of my grandson but I'm gonna resist right now. But babies are very fascinating. Then second, breaking down huge barriers in Judea and Samaria, and then it just starts rocketing around the world to the ends of the earth—so many exciting stories. And in 30 years it has gone from being almost extinct, almost zero, to already being a world-impacting force.

So the final question we want to ask this morning is what made the early believers so attractive? Don't you wonder that? For the first three centuries of Christianity it just grew explosively when there was no social gain from becoming a Christian. The only explanation is that it was attractively different. There was something magnetic, something compelling that drew people in. What was it and can we get it back? Well at the end of Acts 2 there's an awesome description of these very early Christians. Let's look at this. I'm gonna read the whole passage then analyze it: Acts 2:42–47. It says they devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe 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 anyone in need. And day by day, attending the temple and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Imagine a community like this. He says they devoted themselves, and the word there means they gave their whole lives. They gave themselves away to what? To five things. The very first thing he mentions is the Apostles' teaching. Jot that down: teaching, study of scripture. Why is this the foundation? Why is this so important? Because convictions build character for the tough times. If you were here last weekend, you remember Devin and Veronica Eckhart talked about this. What's getting them through their dark time? Their foundation in the Word of God. Well, we are going to study one entire book of the Bible, the book of Acts, together this fall. And let me be honest with you, this is the most challenging fall study our church has ever done. This kicks it up a notch. Before we've studied topics like love and hope and grace or parts of books of the Bible. This fall we're studying the biggest book of the New Testament. By Thanksgiving, if you're a part of this, you will have read every single verse and you'll understand it.

I don't know what's gonna happen in our lives this fall entirely but I can tell you this much: I don't know where you are emotionally right now. You may be messed up, you may feel you're fine, but I don't know anybody who could not use a shot of encouragement right now. I don't know what you believe, I don't know how much of the Bible you even know, but I don't know anyone who could not use a shot of conviction right now. I don't know if you're facing tough times right now but you are going to see how these early Christians just got hammered and yet what pours out of them is joy and hope. And I don't know anybody who could not use more joy and hope right now and you're gonna get all that when you study the teaching in Acts.

Now, as Mark mentioned earlier in announcements or over in venue, Kevin and Kyle and Sarah mentioned I wrote a book to help you understand Acts or just keep it fresh. And again, not a dime of this is going to me; a hundred percent goes to the ministries of Twin Lakes Church. But what I did in the book is retrace the steps of the Apostles, went back to the Mediterranean world and we had some adventures. I saw riots, I got robbed, I was detained by the police, I lost my passport, I visited a refugee clinic, met archaeologists and sites closed to the public, and a lot more. And in the book I talk about what I learned about Acts. Each chapter of the book starts with a Bible reference, a part of Acts you read that and then you read an explanation of it from the book. And we have lots of options. Some people like physical books; you can pick one up today or as Mark said you can download the e-book onto your Kindle or iPad through Amazon or iBooks or the audiobook is here on CD today and later on this week it'll be downloadable on iTunes and on Audible.

Plus we are going to do something we have never done before to just help us immerse ourselves into the atmosphere of Acts. We're going to have the option of daily video devotions texted to your phone that tie into that day's reading. Every single day these are going to start in one week on Monday. Every weekday morning you'll get a little three-minute video from me that I am just literally filming on my porch as I have my morning coffee and you can join me for my morning coffee every day. And if you want to opt in, text join TLC to 34444. That's join TLC. You can do it right now to three and then four fours. Why are we doing all of this? We want to study Acts but we also want to do Acts. They studied the Apostles' teaching together, it says, every day. How can we do that? Well here's some of the ways that we're offering to do that.

Next, Luke says they devoted themselves to the fellowship. And fellowship just means they hung out, they had fun. It actually says they met in homes. So again, we don't just want to study Acts; we want to do what they did. And that's why we have home groups where you can sign up today. We've also got big groups meeting here on Wednesday night at Mount Herman on Wednesdays and the small groups are going to get to do something extra. They're going to watch the videos that we filmed over there on location. And I just want to give a big shout out to a couple of people here. We had a crew that put this together but specifically our videographer Jamie Ramm, who shot almost every shot that you'll see in these videos. She edited them all together. And then Martin Olander, who did our audiobook and did the audio for the small group videos. He and Doug Banks, who's playing guitar today, they scored an original soundtrack for each one of these videos. They composed it and they researched ancient Mediterranean instruments and they tried to put some of those instruments into the backgrounds of these videos. So Martin and Jamie, thank you so much. Let's just thank them together as a church. They both did a lot of hard work on this. It's exciting.

And then third, it says they were devoted to the breaking of bread and of prayer. That probably means communion, times of worship. So let's do what they did. Every week when we get together we also have an extra Acts Odyssey worship night on Sunday night, October 30th. Plan on being here; I think it's going to be very powerful. Then fourth, Luke says from time to time they sold stuff, distributing to anyone in need. Now I've heard people say I see they were communists. I used to say that when I was younger. Well this was not communism; it was completely voluntary. It was not enforced from some central leadership and it was not legalism. The idea was not if I help people out then God will accept me and I'll go to heaven because I earned it through my good deeds. They were not thinking of themselves. Let's become the nicest people the world has ever seen. Let's invent niceness. Now they were looking at what Jesus did for them on the cross and saying he gave up everything to give me everything. How can I be like Jesus for the people around me?

You could say they were full of care for other people. So as we study this in Acts, how are we going to also do what they did? Well there are an infinite number of ways to care for other people but just a couple of options. October 15th through 22nd is what we call Acts of Kindness Week. You'll see a red insert like this in your bulletin; that's another name for Serve the Bay. We have projects literally all over the county and we also have a booth in the lobby where you can get more information on some projects this week. And then of course the food drive ending the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'm wondering what would happen if some of us decided I'm going to actually do what they did in the book of Acts and sell some stuff on Craigslist or at a garage sale or something and give the proceeds or some of the proceeds to the Second Harvest food drive. You're going to be doing Acts, not just studying Acts.

And then what happens when we have all four of these things? I think then there will be growth, there's evangelism, there's outreach, there's increase because this kind of a place is attractive. Luke says the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved. In fact, the very first day of the church's history in Acts 2 they have a massive baptism on day one of 3,000 people. And I cannot imagine a better way to kick off this Acts series than to all get together today at Seacliff Beach and have a beach baptism and cheer on the many people who in the past few months here at TLC have committed their lives to Jesus Christ. If you have never been to one of these, check this out. This was the scene down there last year—so much fun. I hope you're there. There will be joy as Mark mentioned. There will be gigantic waves forecast this afternoon. There are great white sharks down there, so there will also be suspense and adventure just as there was for the book. We're living the book of Acts.

Now if you look at this list, it's exciting. So how do we do that? Those five things: teaching, fellowship, worship, care, growth. How do we invigorate them here? You might think that sounds great, I wish we could be a church like the church in Acts. Well here's the challenge: you have to own it. It starts with you personally and me personally. What am I talking about? I want to invite you to take out this golden insert and look at this side that says at the top I will devote myself to. This is a commitment page. Now I don't want you to turn this into me; I don't want to see it. This is between you and God. But I want to challenge you to put this up somewhere and pray through this, challenge yourself and say as a prayer I'm not gonna wait for somebody else to do this but I personally, I'll start it in my life.

I will be devoted to, use the word from Acts 2, to first to teaching during these eight weeks in the weekend services and in the book. Again, many, many options and day one is a week from Monday, October 3rd. Would you agree powerful stuff happens when a bunch of people are on the same page? Well literally, let's literally get on the same page of the Bible every day and then pray Lord I'll be devoted to the fellowship. I'll attend the weekend services as much as possible. I'll be in a weekly small group, maybe one of our church official small groups, maybe with your spouse or family or friends. Again, you can sign up today. Plus we're planning some extra fellowship times like a Santa Cruz Warriors game and some other fun stuff.

Now this next one is huge. I challenge you to pray I will be devoted to worship. And I'm talking to myself as much as I am to you when I say let's come on time to church every weekend and let's be prepared to praise God. Now how do you do that? As you come to church, pray God do something in me today through worship. I am expectant. And then plan to join us at the Acts worship night, October 30th. And then fourth, pray I will be devoted to care, to keeping my eyes open for ways to care to others through the projects, through the food drive. Start praying now God open my eyes, inspire my heart, challenge me on this. And to growth, I suggest you pray God open my eyes, show me opportunities to invite people to church starting today, starting tomorrow morning at work or at school or in my neighborhood.

And then come on this afternoon to the beach baptism and celebrate the people who are joining the church in baptism and committing their lives to Christ. What I'm saying is this: don't wait for these things to happen, be the church. You are the church. It's not our buildings, it's not our staff, it's not our programs, it's you and me, it's us personally. So take that page home, put it up somewhere where you're gonna see it every day during these eight weeks and pray through it. My prayer is that we will all be surprised by what God does in us as we study Acts this fall, that we open up the pages and go God is this real? Can this really happen? God let it happen again in us.

I'll close with a story. N.T. Wright is a British author and pastor. He also taught at Oxford University and he tells the true story of something that happened to him as a pastor one night in a Sunday night church service. A teenager snuck into church hoping no one would notice him except for one person. The only reason that he'd come was because he liked a girl who sang in the choir and he was hoping that she would be impressed when she looked out and saw him attending church, even though he'd never been to church before in his life, didn't believe it, and hoping that she'd say yes when he asked her out after the service.

But just as the service starts, an usher comes up to this teenager and says, excuse me, the person who was supposed to do a Bible reading tonight hasn't turned up. Could you possibly do it for us? And the young man is horrified. He literally knows nothing about the Bible; he's never cracked it open. But then as he's about to decline, he thinks that girl will be so impressed with me. And so he turns to the usher and he says I'll do it. And so he studies the words and at the right spot in the service he walks up, opens the Bible, grabs the mic and starts to read. And he hears his own voice quoting Jesus' words: anyone who doesn't enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. And he gulps and he thinks that's what he had done. He's standing there pretending to be a believer when in fact he'd only snuck in to meet a girl.

And he forces himself to go on, his heart beating loudly. Jesus says I am the gate for the sheep. I came that they might have life and have it full to overflowing. And suddenly something happens in the sky. He stops thinking about himself, he stops thinking about the girl, he stops thinking about his dating strategy, he stops thinking about the congregation, and he stops reading. And he swings around to ask the pastor in the middle of the church service, is this true? Did Jesus really come so that we could have full abundant life like this? And the church goes silent—very awkward. And the pastor, N.T. Wright, was amazingly unfazed. He says well of course it's true, that's why we're all here tonight. You know what? Why don't you sing this next song with us and let's see what happens inside you if you really mean it?

And as he sings the next song, the young man said later he found himself swept off his feet by the real presence of Jesus filling him and changing him and calling him to follow. N.T. Wright calls that story he got more than he bargained for. And you know what? I hope that happens to you in this series. I hope you get more than you bargained for. I hope that as you open the book, maybe you're getting it just to do another Bible study or just to join a small group, but that's great. But I hope as you're reading you start thinking is this really true? Is this really true about what church can be like? Is this really true what we can be like as followers of Jesus Christ?

Here's what I want to challenge you to do: let's sing one more song together and as you sing, I pray that you'll find yourself swept off your feet and that this is just the beginning of the real presence of Jesus changing you and filling you and calling us all to follow him. Let's pray together. Would you bow your heads with me? Lord, thank you so much for what you did in this world. Bless our church in supernatural ways in this series. I pray that it all goes beyond what we can expect or even imagine. Thank you for what you did 20 centuries ago. Now let it happen again in me, in us, in Jesus' name. Amen.