Sermon Cloud

Acts 2:42 ¶ And they continued stedfastly proskartere÷w proskartereo, pros-kar-ter-eh´-o; from 4314 and 2594; to be earnest towards, i.e. (to a thing) to persevere, be constantly diligent, or (in a place) to attend assiduously all the exercises, or (to a person) to adhere closely to (as a servitor): — attend (give self) continually (upon), continue (in, instant in, with), wait on (continually).in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Notice it doesn’t say and they continued steadfastly in social softwares, text messaging, newsletters, and instant messaging.  I always hear the guys on my team talk about church and they always say dude I missed church cause I decided to stay home and listen to a teaching online. Teaching and fellowship are married togther.  True fellowship centers around the word of God. The motto in Cheers "where everybody knows your name" captures one important aspect of social capital.

Acts 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

Acts 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

PRAYER

The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.

C.S. Lewis

What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.

E.M.Bounds

Prayer is surrender--surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.unknown

GIVING

If you give what you do not need, it isn't giving.

Mother Teresa.

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke 1 out of every 6 verses deals with money. Of the 29 parables Christ told, 16 deal with a person and his money.

Unknown.

Do your giving while you're living so you're knowing where it's going.

God judges what we give by what we keep.

G. Mueller.

Unknown.

What is it that inspires me?
Who is it?
What stirs my affection…for my wife?
For my children? For life in general?

This to me is one of the major ideas that demand an answer. To solve this arduous riddle means more energy, richer life, deeper relationships and greater self-awareness.

Several years ago I started applying this line of thought to my relationship with Christ. Instead of asking myself what inspired me to be a good man (what’s that anyway?) I started asking what stirs my affections for Christ. What, when I’m doing it, when I’m around it or dwelling on it creates in me a greater hunger for, passion for and worship of Christ and His mission? The first list was a strange one. It looked something like this:

1. Early mornings and hot coffee
2. The writings of Charles Spurgeon (Soul Winner) and CS.Lewis3.Writing Songs
4. Walks through graveyards (sounds freaky but it is quite humbling)5. The book of Romans
6. 
7. Sharing The Gospel
8. Raw unpolished music.

I also wrestled with and paid attention to what robbed me of affection for Christ. What, when I was doing it or spending time around it created in me an unhealthy love for this world? The first list was a strange one because the majority of things that robbed me of zeal for Christ and His mission were morally neutral things. It looked something like this:

1. Watching too much TV and spending too much time online
2. Staying up late for no reason
3. Too much time on my hands
4. Being physically lazy
5. Trying to be everyone’s best friend
6. Idleness7. Taking Exams at college being tested on info I have only memorized for a short period of time.

For the last few years I have updated this list often. In fact it has changed quite a bit. I want to pay attention to life. I want to be keyed in to what feeds my zeal for our great God and King and what kills that zeal. My hope is that I could flood my life with Christ-exalting, worship-creating things and avoid anything that would rob me of that.

What inspires you?
Better yet, what stirs your affections for Christ, truth and holiness? If we can fill our lives with the things that stir our affections and avoid and flee those things that rob us of inspiration, we have a better shot at dwelling deeply. What and who inspires you? Stirs you? What presses you into holy places? What robs you of joy and vitality? What robs you of your affection for Christ and holiness?

Don't be a Bible student like Satan.

Because we do not want to be Bible students like Satan, we must always come to our study of Scripture with humility, bending our knee under the authority of Scripture, and with an eagerness to repent as God the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and folly. We must also continually connect all of our biblical study to the person and work of Jesus; He Himself taught that the key to understanding Scripture was to connect it to Him (e.g., Luke 24:27, 44–45; John 5:39).

6. Have some good community.

Most of the Bible was written to communities of people and is therefore best studied in community with other Christians. For this reason, getting plugged into a Community Group and/or taking midweek classes in addition to regularly attending a Sunday church service is essential.