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Acts 242 347.

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And they devoted themselves
to the apostle's teaching

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and the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread

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and the prayers,
and all came upon every soul.

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And many wonders and signs
were being done through the apostles.

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And all who believed were together,
and had all things in common.

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And they were selling their possessions
and belongings, and distributing

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the proceeds
to all, as any had need, and day by day

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attending the temple together
and breaking bread in their homes.

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They received their food
with glad and generous hearts,

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praising God and having favor
with all the people.

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And the Lord added to their number day
by day, those who were being saved.

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I wonder if I told you that God

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wants to use this church
to change the world.

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What kind of a response
that would elicit from you?

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I mean, it's unquestionably true

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that God has used the local church
believing

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and preaching the gospel of Jesus
to change the world.

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If you doubt that, consider this.

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The passage we're reading
is about a local church in Jerusalem.

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We are reading it this morning
in a part of the world

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they didn't even know existed
when this was happening.

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The local church believing and preaching

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the gospel of Jesus has changed the world.

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But if I said he wants to use this church
to change the world,

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my guess is that might elicit
a kind of an eyeroll.

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At least it would for me.

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I mean, it's just so big, so esoteric,
so theoretical.

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It's like, what, are you pushing a button?

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Starting a program.

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How are we changing the world? But.

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But what if I said God wants

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to use this church to change your world?

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Now, that's a little more imminent,
a little more practical.

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There's a verse in this passage
that I've been thinking about all week.

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Verse 47, the very last verse.

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And it says,
and the Lord added to their number daily,

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every day
someone new was buying in to Jesus.

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Now that's fascinating to me
for a couple of reasons.

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One is Christianity was pretty new
at this point, so it wasn't like people

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were moving into town and googling, hey,
where's the coolest church in the area?

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And the only thing
most people knew about Christianity

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is that previously their leader
had been publicly crucified,

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not exactly
at the height of its popularity.

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And yet, every day
people were coming to faith in Jesus.

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That's amazing to me.

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I mean, we have experienced at this church
something incredible.

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In January 2021,
we launched our reimagined vision.

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We set some 30 year goals.

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We kind of changed the way we approached
church and since January 2021

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to today, we've baptized 641 people.

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That's amazing, in fact,
that that happened over 1485 days.

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So basically,
we've been baptizing someone every two

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and a half days, which is awesome.

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But in this passage,
they were doing three times that

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someone

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was getting baptized every single day.

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If we had seen that here at the church
over the last four years,

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that means another 840
people would have come to faith in Jesus.

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And it's not the number
that I want you to focus on,

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but the people in this passage
who are adding to their number daily.

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Where did they come from?

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They weren't stumbling into the church.

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These people that were adding
to their number are they?

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They were connected to
someone in the church.

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That's the only way they would know about
what was going on.

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That that was somebody's
husband, somebody's wife,

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somebody's brother, sister, mom, dad,
coworker, neighbor.

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So when I say that God
wants to use this church

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to change your world,
let me ask you a question.

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If one of those 840 people

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that God wanted to
reach had been your husband,

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would that have changed your world?

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If you didn't have to drag him to church?

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But if he was calling you from the car
in the garage

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going, hey, we're all ready to go,
where are you?

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We have to get there. It's 10:00 in West.

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If you don't get there early,
you don't get a seat.

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Would your world not be changed

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if your wife wanted
to work on your marriage

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because of what Jesus
was doing in her life?

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If she wanted to work on your marriage
because of what he was doing in your life,

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would your world not be changed
if he finally got sober?

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If she got clean,
if he was ready to forgive you?

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You get the point.

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Listen, God does want to use this

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church to change your world,

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to save your

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family, to rebuild your marriage,
to interject your life with joy.

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That is the mission of the church.

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And by the way, let me just say this.

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If you're here this weekend
and you don't really know where you are

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with God, you maybe wouldn't
call yourself a follower of Jesus.

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I want you to see in this passage
that God's mission for this place

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is to bring you in.

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God does want to change your world.

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So the question then, of course, is how?

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How do we become the kind of place
where this kind of world changing happens?

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How do we become the kind of place
that sees three times what we've seen

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over the last four years,
in the next four years?

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Well, to answer that question,
I need you to open your Bible

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to Acts chapter two and look at verses
42 through 47.

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By the way, the verses I use
are going to be on the screen behind me.

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You don't have to have
a Bible in your hands.

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You can take out your phone or your iPad
if you want.

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If you want to hold
something in your hands,

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there are Bibles in this room
or in the back of the room in East Hall.

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And if you want to use one of these,
today's reading is on page 857,

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upper left hand side
if you want to look at it.

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But however you're getting there,
let me hold out to the outline

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I'm going to use to talk about

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how this place can become a place
that changes your world.

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Three things very simple.

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Change your verb.

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Change your pronouns.

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Change your expectations.

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Change your verbs. Change your pronouns.

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Change your expectations.

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All right,
let me start with the first one.

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Change your verbs.

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I don't love to talk about
the original language.

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Feels like a weird flex.

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Now I get all week to get ready.

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I don't I'm not really that smart,

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but the Greek verb here
is incredibly important.

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Look with me in acts two verse 42,
I just want you to notice

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what was going on
in the life of this church.

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Verse 42.

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And they devoted themselves
to the apostles teaching

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and the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

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Two things
I want you to notice right off the top.

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The first is that
this church was pretty boring.

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I mean, they weren't doing anything
unusual.

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The Bible says they were doing four things
the apostles teaching.

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That means they were studying the Bible.

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They were spending time together.

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That's fellowship.

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They were taking communion,
which we're going to do in a minute.

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That's the breaking of bread.

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And they were praying together
those four things.

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That's the same playbook that every church
has been running for 2000 years there.

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Their secret wasn't in their methodology.

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They were doing the same things
that every church is doing.

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The secret is in the verb.

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Look at what it says in the English
and they devoted themselves in the Greek.

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This word is really interesting.

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It it's a combination of a preposition
and a verb.

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It means to point yourself
in a certain direction.

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That's the preposition, and then not
stop moving until you get there.

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That's the verb to to set your face
to something and,

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and to keep moving with relentlessness
until you get there.

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To be devoted is to move without stopping.

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When I think about this verb, maybe
the best way I can communicate to you

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is that if you're like me,
your life is governed by your calendar.

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Now I use outlook,
but you can use whatever you want.

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Microsoft doesn't pay me, so go crazy.

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But every morning
the first thing I do is pull up

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my calendar to try to figure out
what I'm supposed to do that day.

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And I wear a lot of hats.

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I mean, I'm a pastor, I'm a boss, I'm a
I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm a friend.

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And so usually my calendar

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is full of things that other people
are counting on me to do.

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And that's great.

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Sometimes, though,
those things are competing.

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Sometimes multiple people

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want something from me
at a particular time,

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and then I have to decide
who wins and who loses.

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What this verb is
saying is that there's something for each

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one of us that tends to always win.

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There's something for each one of us
that almost never loses a tie.

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It's that thing that we say, hey,
when anything goes up against this, I'm.

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I'm going to commit to that.

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So maybe for you, it's,
it's family or or work or your hobby

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or but for this church,
they said the thing on our calendar

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that we don't deviate
from is chasing after Jesus.

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That's what it means to be devoted.

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It doesn't mean

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they didn't have families or jobs or
or hobbies or dreams or ambitions.

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It just meant they weren't
willing to sacrifice.

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Except asking God
and experiencing his kingdom

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00:10:05,004 --> 00:10:08,007
for anything.

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You see, this

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church is sacred
is that they built their lives around

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Jesus instead of trying to fit Jesus
in the nooks and crannies of their lives.

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Now, that's important
because the thing you're devoted to,

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the thing in your calendar that always
wins, that's the thing that defines you.

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You know that everybody around
you knows you don't bother her at work.

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You don't get in the way of his family.

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It's summertime.

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00:10:35,418 --> 00:10:36,986
He's on the golf course.

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Everybody knows that. It's
what defines you.

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And it's also what
everyone around you notices.

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So for this church, what was happening
is that people around them were going,

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wow, they're not they're not like kind of
into the God thing.

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They're
they're building their lives around God.

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And so I'm going to kind of stand back
and see what happens.

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And what was happening is
people were changing

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and their brothers and sisters
and husbands and wives

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00:11:01,644 --> 00:11:05,665
and mothers and, and were showing up
because they were saying, what must

200
00:11:05,665 --> 00:11:09,602
you have found for it
to be everything else?

201
00:11:10,219 --> 00:11:11,454
That's what it means to be devoted.

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00:11:11,454 --> 00:11:12,988
I'll give you an example up.

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00:11:12,988 --> 00:11:15,891
Who in Ohio State
just won the national championship? Oh!

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00:11:17,043 --> 00:11:17,576
Let's go.

205
00:11:17,576 --> 00:11:19,979
We're champions, baby, let's live it up.

206
00:11:19,979 --> 00:11:22,982
We win every game
except for the one that matters.

207
00:11:24,867 --> 00:11:26,452
So Ohio State just won the championship.

208
00:11:26,452 --> 00:11:27,403
I'm basking in the glory.

209
00:11:27,403 --> 00:11:29,088
It was my freshman year of college.

210
00:11:29,088 --> 00:11:31,157
Ohio State won the national championship.

211
00:11:31,157 --> 00:11:32,725
If you remember, that was Jim Tressel.

212
00:11:32,725 --> 00:11:35,611
Craig Krenzel
Holy Buckeye against Purdue, right.

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00:11:35,611 --> 00:11:36,779
It's kind of a crazy year

214
00:11:36,779 --> 00:11:39,782
because we weren't expected
to win the championship that year.

215
00:11:39,899 --> 00:11:40,166
Right.

216
00:11:40,166 --> 00:11:41,016
And so you kind of watching

217
00:11:41,016 --> 00:11:44,420
we just kept kind of winning games
all the way up until now.

218
00:11:44,420 --> 00:11:47,306
We're going to go up
against the juggernaut of Miami,

219
00:11:47,306 --> 00:11:48,541
in the national championship game.

220
00:11:48,541 --> 00:11:51,744
And my dad this particular year,
my dad was visiting me in college,

221
00:11:51,927 --> 00:11:55,998
and I was introducing him to the girl
I had just started dating, named Amy,

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00:11:56,182 --> 00:11:57,950
who's now my wife had been married

223
00:11:57,950 --> 00:12:00,686
almost 20 years,
and I was so excited for him to meet her.

224
00:12:00,686 --> 00:12:02,304
And we're all sitting around talking,

225
00:12:02,304 --> 00:12:02,905
and my dad and

226
00:12:02,905 --> 00:12:05,941
I are talking about the Buckeyes,
and Amy's just kind of soaking it in.

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00:12:05,941 --> 00:12:06,242
Right.

228
00:12:06,242 --> 00:12:09,779
And we're talk about how amazing
I say to my dad, when is the game

229
00:12:09,779 --> 00:12:12,832
win is like, what's the date
of the national championship game?

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00:12:12,832 --> 00:12:14,517
And he tells me and Amy goes, oh,

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00:12:14,517 --> 00:12:17,103
that's when we're going on
that ski trip with my family.

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00:12:19,922 --> 00:12:20,639
My dad says all the

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00:12:20,639 --> 00:12:23,642
color just drained out of my face.

234
00:12:25,344 --> 00:12:28,247
Because in that moment,
two things that I really cared about

235
00:12:28,247 --> 00:12:33,235
were competing the Buckeyes and this girl
that I was falling in love with.

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00:12:33,753 --> 00:12:36,839
Well, of course I went on the ski trip
and I don't regret it.

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00:12:37,223 --> 00:12:39,959
I don't regret it because that's
what it means to be devoted.

238
00:12:39,959 --> 00:12:41,510
I will let me finish that story, though.

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00:12:41,510 --> 00:12:46,198
I got on the charter bus that was going to
and from the ski trip, and I

240
00:12:46,432 --> 00:12:48,384
it was the night of the game,
and I told everybody

241
00:12:48,384 --> 00:12:50,069
from the front of the bus,
I didn't know any of these people.

242
00:12:50,069 --> 00:12:52,171
I just said, listen, my name is Zach. I'm
a Ohio State fan.

243
00:12:52,171 --> 00:12:53,389
I'm taping the game.

244
00:12:53,389 --> 00:12:55,224
Here's a list of words
you're not allowed to say.

245
00:12:55,224 --> 00:12:56,909
Football or Buckeyes.

246
00:12:56,909 --> 00:12:59,912
Hurricanes don't ruin this game for me.

247
00:13:00,212 --> 00:13:02,131
Every guy on the bus was like, I got you.

248
00:13:02,131 --> 00:13:03,682
Every girl was like, who is this jerk?

249
00:13:05,184 --> 00:13:08,003
So until
finally we stop at a McDonald's and,

250
00:13:08,003 --> 00:13:10,105
for some coffee and use a bathroom,
and we go in

251
00:13:10,105 --> 00:13:12,625
and there's a USA today on the counter
that's talking about the game.

252
00:13:12,625 --> 00:13:16,579
And Amy goes, oh, look at Ohio State
and the lady behind the register goes,

253
00:13:16,712 --> 00:13:19,698
it's an overtime right now.

254
00:13:21,867 --> 00:13:24,870
One day I will forgive my wife.

255
00:13:25,888 --> 00:13:27,473
But that's what it means to be devoted.

256
00:13:27,473 --> 00:13:29,008
Listen,

257
00:13:29,008 --> 00:13:31,310
if you want to see your family members

258
00:13:31,310 --> 00:13:35,064
become curious about Jesus,
if you want to see three times

259
00:13:35,064 --> 00:13:39,151
the amount of people, then
Jesus has got to stop losing the things.

260
00:13:42,137 --> 00:13:45,708
Because if we dabble in Jesus,
but we're devoted to travel sports,

261
00:13:45,708 --> 00:13:48,711
what are they going to think about Jesus

262
00:13:49,912 --> 00:13:51,180
if we dabble in Jesus?

263
00:13:51,180 --> 00:13:54,917
But we're devoted to family, devoted
to work, then what shapes us is family.

264
00:13:54,917 --> 00:13:56,118
What shapes us is work.

265
00:13:56,118 --> 00:14:00,739
And those things are good things,
but they're not the kingdom of God.

266
00:14:01,557 --> 00:14:03,592
This church was devoted it.

267
00:14:03,592 --> 00:14:06,595
They built their lives around God,

268
00:14:07,129 --> 00:14:09,481
around the relationship with Jesus.

269
00:14:09,481 --> 00:14:10,282
But not only that.

270
00:14:10,282 --> 00:14:13,285
Second thing,
you got to change your pronouns.

271
00:14:13,802 --> 00:14:16,705
This is not that sermon,
but I knew it would get your attention.

272
00:14:18,257 --> 00:14:20,809
But I want you to look with me in verses
44 through 46.

273
00:14:20,809 --> 00:14:23,329
I want you to notice the pronouns
in these verses.

274
00:14:23,329 --> 00:14:24,597
Here's what it says.

275
00:14:24,597 --> 00:14:27,600
And all who believed were together

276
00:14:27,716 --> 00:14:30,269
and had all things in common,

277
00:14:30,269 --> 00:14:33,055
and they were selling their possessions
and belongings

278
00:14:33,055 --> 00:14:37,877
and distributing the proceeds to all
as any had need, and day by day

279
00:14:37,877 --> 00:14:41,664
attending the temple together
and breaking bread in their homes,

280
00:14:41,814 --> 00:14:46,352
they received their food
with glad and generous hearts.

281
00:14:46,919 --> 00:14:49,371
You see the pronouns
you don't see in this passage

282
00:14:49,371 --> 00:14:52,374
are I and me.

283
00:14:52,524 --> 00:14:55,828
Christianity is a team sport.

284
00:14:57,563 --> 00:14:59,932
It's about being part
of the people of God.

285
00:14:59,932 --> 00:15:03,152
It's about
what God is doing in a group of people, in

286
00:15:03,269 --> 00:15:06,438
and through them and in their midst.

287
00:15:06,438 --> 00:15:11,810
Americans are so individualistic, and
we've interjected that into Christianity.

288
00:15:11,810 --> 00:15:14,363
Growing up in the church,
I was always being asked like,

289
00:15:14,363 --> 00:15:16,649
did you do your quiet time with God
this morning?

290
00:15:16,649 --> 00:15:18,117
Zach, how is your prayer life?

291
00:15:18,117 --> 00:15:19,668
Zach, how is your obedience?

292
00:15:19,668 --> 00:15:21,537
And listen, those things matter.

293
00:15:21,537 --> 00:15:26,058
But if we're not careful, the idea is that
it's you and God and me and God.

294
00:15:26,158 --> 00:15:29,812
And when we gather, we're just kind of
mutually helping each other progress.

295
00:15:31,230 --> 00:15:33,716
But that's not what the Bible says.

296
00:15:33,716 --> 00:15:37,519
I don't have time to explore this theme
completely, but read the New Testament.

297
00:15:37,519 --> 00:15:42,625
It is written to churches,
not to individuals, but to churches.

298
00:15:42,625 --> 00:15:46,111
Look at how many times the writers
in the New Testament will say one another

299
00:15:46,762 --> 00:15:48,931
when they talk about pray,
when they talk about reading,

300
00:15:48,931 --> 00:15:50,149
when they talk about obedience.

301
00:15:50,149 --> 00:15:52,051
It's a group project.

302
00:15:52,051 --> 00:15:55,037
And the reason this is so important

303
00:15:55,104 --> 00:15:58,557
is because God moves
in the midst of his people.

304
00:15:58,557 --> 00:16:02,394
Listen, 20 years of being a pastor,
I've spent a lot of time with people

305
00:16:02,394 --> 00:16:05,130
who are struggling in their faith,
and they'll say things like this.

306
00:16:05,130 --> 00:16:07,700
Maybe you've felt one or all of these.

307
00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:11,003
They'll say things like,
I just don't feel close to God.

308
00:16:13,288 --> 00:16:15,090
Hey, Pastor Zach, why doesn't

309
00:16:15,090 --> 00:16:18,360
God do big things anymore like he did

310
00:16:19,428 --> 00:16:21,447
in the Bible?

311
00:16:21,447 --> 00:16:24,350
I just don't feel God's love.

312
00:16:24,350 --> 00:16:26,218
Listen,
if you've said one of those things,

313
00:16:26,218 --> 00:16:28,220
let me try to make the point to you
this way.

314
00:16:28,220 --> 00:16:30,990
Can you imagine
what those would sound like

315
00:16:30,990 --> 00:16:33,993
if one Israelite was saying them
to another?

316
00:16:33,993 --> 00:16:36,979
And the banks of the Red sea,

317
00:16:37,413 --> 00:16:39,148
like Pharaoh's army is pressing

318
00:16:39,148 --> 00:16:42,468
down on you, and God splits the Red sea,
and you take.

319
00:16:42,468 --> 00:16:45,471
I mean, if at least offer me,
you take that first tentative step

320
00:16:46,372 --> 00:16:48,507
just to see if it's going to work

321
00:16:48,507 --> 00:16:51,510
and you're crossing in between the waters,
and what are you going to do?

322
00:16:51,510 --> 00:16:53,879
You're walking to your buddy
and you are talking and

323
00:16:53,879 --> 00:16:55,497
and he looks at you and he goes,
you know what?

324
00:16:55,497 --> 00:16:58,200
I just don't feel close to God.

325
00:16:59,485 --> 00:17:02,488
And you would just go.

326
00:17:04,523 --> 00:17:07,342
And he would say, how come God doesn't do
big things anymore?

327
00:17:07,342 --> 00:17:10,612
Like my parents told me
he did with Abraham, and you would go.

328
00:17:13,732 --> 00:17:16,318
And he would say,
I just don't feel God's love.

329
00:17:16,318 --> 00:17:20,039
And you would say, the fact
that you're not feeling an Egyptian spear

330
00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:22,307
is God's love.

331
00:17:22,307 --> 00:17:25,077
My point is, listen, God is moving.

332
00:17:25,077 --> 00:17:27,830
He moves in the midst of his people.

333
00:17:27,830 --> 00:17:31,467
You're chasing
too much individual satisfaction.

334
00:17:31,467 --> 00:17:34,670
Listen, I'm in the atrium, and a guy
stops me the other day and he goes.

335
00:17:34,670 --> 00:17:37,339
Pastor Zach passes.
I guess what I said, what? He goes.

336
00:17:37,339 --> 00:17:41,393
I just celebrated
my 1,100th day of sobriety.

337
00:17:42,594 --> 00:17:45,481
And he said, it all began
when I came here and heard about Jesus.

338
00:17:45,481 --> 00:17:47,132
My life has been totally changed.

339
00:17:47,132 --> 00:17:49,284
Listen,
you have any addicts in your family?

340
00:17:49,284 --> 00:17:53,455
Is 1100 days of sobriety
any less than the Red sea?

341
00:17:55,858 --> 00:17:57,810
I can tell you stories.

342
00:17:57,810 --> 00:17:59,361
Marriage is being put back together.

343
00:17:59,361 --> 00:18:01,080
People being healed from cancer.

344
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:02,881
I can tell you all kinds of stories.

345
00:18:02,881 --> 00:18:05,868
You know where you find those stories.

346
00:18:07,736 --> 00:18:10,739
In the people of God.

347
00:18:11,273 --> 00:18:11,607
Listen.

348
00:18:11,607 --> 00:18:17,062
It's as we began to build our lives around
Jesus and begin to become intermixed

349
00:18:17,062 --> 00:18:20,065
with the people of Jesus, that amazing

350
00:18:20,149 --> 00:18:24,419
things happen
and everyone around us takes notice.

351
00:18:24,419 --> 00:18:28,707
And the only thing that doesn't make sense
is saying, I don't feel close to God

352
00:18:28,707 --> 00:18:31,710
because you're sitting next to the family
that just had their marriage

353
00:18:31,827 --> 00:18:34,830
rescued.

354
00:18:34,947 --> 00:18:36,148
You got to change your pronouns.

355
00:18:36,148 --> 00:18:37,850
It's not about you and Jesus.

356
00:18:37,850 --> 00:18:39,751
It's not about me and God.

357
00:18:39,751 --> 00:18:43,889
It's about us
and what God is doing in our midst.

358
00:18:45,023 --> 00:18:48,026
That leads me to my third point,
which is to say you have to change

359
00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:49,611
your expectations

360
00:18:50,629 --> 00:18:53,215
to change your expectations.

361
00:18:53,215 --> 00:18:55,050
Look at verse 43.

362
00:18:55,050 --> 00:18:59,872
I love this verse is what it says,
and all came upon every soul,

363
00:19:01,456 --> 00:19:05,577
and many wonders and signs
were being done through the apostles.

364
00:19:05,577 --> 00:19:11,133
I take this to mean that God says,
you show me a church that is devoted.

365
00:19:11,283 --> 00:19:17,389
You show me a church that is together
and I will blow the doors off that church.

366
00:19:18,173 --> 00:19:22,044
This verse 43 is what only God can do.

367
00:19:22,978 --> 00:19:25,497
It's what God has to bring
to the equation.

368
00:19:25,497 --> 00:19:29,751
But here's the thing
I don't think acts two is a snapshot

369
00:19:29,968 --> 00:19:33,288
of a particular church
in a particular time and place.

370
00:19:33,472 --> 00:19:36,475
I think it's a template for what God wants
every church

371
00:19:36,475 --> 00:19:39,478
to be.

372
00:19:40,762 --> 00:19:43,131
God wants every church

373
00:19:43,131 --> 00:19:46,101
to change the world of the people in
and around it.

374
00:19:46,101 --> 00:19:49,188
Like, imagine for a second you're
a man on an island.

375
00:19:49,188 --> 00:19:51,890
You're
just just you on an island with the Bible,

376
00:19:51,890 --> 00:19:54,893
and you read the Bible, and through it
you meet Jesus.

377
00:19:54,893 --> 00:19:57,379
You become a believer,
a follower of Jesus.

378
00:19:57,379 --> 00:20:01,817
You read in in acts two about the church
and the day you read acts

379
00:20:01,817 --> 00:20:03,685
two, a boat finally shows up

380
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:06,121
and you're rescued,

381
00:20:06,121 --> 00:20:09,508
and the people on the boat are Christians
and you're telling them, hey, listen,

382
00:20:09,508 --> 00:20:11,727
you're not going to believe this,
but I found a Bible.

383
00:20:11,727 --> 00:20:14,730
Tom Hanks had a volleyball, I had a Bible,

384
00:20:14,846 --> 00:20:16,048
and unmet Jesus.

385
00:20:16,048 --> 00:20:17,516
And I've become a Christian.

386
00:20:17,516 --> 00:20:19,618
And I just have one question for you.

387
00:20:19,618 --> 00:20:21,119
Are you part of a church?

388
00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:24,122
What's it like?

389
00:20:26,358 --> 00:20:28,577
Friends,
the expectations we should have for this

390
00:20:28,577 --> 00:20:31,580
church are not about your past experience
with churches.

391
00:20:31,763 --> 00:20:36,835
The expectations we should have for this
place are about what God wants to do in

392
00:20:36,835 --> 00:20:39,838
and through his people.

393
00:20:42,507 --> 00:20:45,510
He does want to reach your husband.

394
00:20:46,411 --> 00:20:49,398
He does want to save your marriage.

395
00:20:49,681 --> 00:20:52,200
He does want to change your world.

396
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,236
That's the best way
I can think of saying this.

397
00:20:54,236 --> 00:20:54,987
I've told you this before.

398
00:20:54,987 --> 00:21:00,559
Is is is to contrast the experience
of being a Browns fan and a Buckeyes fan,

399
00:21:02,427 --> 00:21:05,430
and some of you feel this in your soul.

400
00:21:06,248 --> 00:21:10,552
When I watch the Browns play,
I know how they're going to lose.

401
00:21:10,552 --> 00:21:13,555
About halfway through the first quarter.

402
00:21:13,622 --> 00:21:16,608
You know, we'll miss an extra point
and I'll go, yep, there it is.

403
00:21:17,542 --> 00:21:17,793
Right.

404
00:21:17,793 --> 00:21:18,927
You know you know,

405
00:21:18,927 --> 00:21:22,648
and sometimes I watch a Browns game
with someone who's not a Browns fan.

406
00:21:22,948 --> 00:21:24,449
And about halfway
through the first quarter,

407
00:21:24,449 --> 00:21:27,452
they're like, you're so cynical, man.

408
00:21:27,502 --> 00:21:29,087
Then by the end of the game,
they're like, hey,

409
00:21:29,087 --> 00:21:32,090
can I get the lottery numbers
for this week?

410
00:21:32,424 --> 00:21:33,692
Like, I've seen the movie?

411
00:21:33,692 --> 00:21:37,879
You know, I expect the Browns
to break my heart, but that's not true.

412
00:21:37,913 --> 00:21:39,681
When I watch Ohio State.

413
00:21:39,681 --> 00:21:41,249
When I went to the game Monday
night, Notre Dame,

414
00:21:41,249 --> 00:21:44,252
great team I won of the game
feeling cocky, feeling good

415
00:21:44,403 --> 00:21:48,507
because overwhelmingly Ohio State wins
more of their games.

416
00:21:48,507 --> 00:21:50,392
It's a totally different experience.

417
00:21:50,392 --> 00:21:52,494
We miss a field going, I'm going,
do we kick a field goal?

418
00:21:52,494 --> 00:21:53,662
Sure. Just a touchdown pass.

419
00:21:58,950 --> 00:21:59,818
Life has a

420
00:21:59,818 --> 00:22:03,622
way of reducing our expectations

421
00:22:04,072 --> 00:22:06,892
for who God is
and what he wants to do to Browns

422
00:22:06,892 --> 00:22:09,895
and levels.

423
00:22:11,179 --> 00:22:12,931
You probably didn't show up this morning

424
00:22:12,931 --> 00:22:15,917
expecting God to change your world.

425
00:22:17,069 --> 00:22:21,590
But friends, we don't base
our expectations for this place

426
00:22:21,857 --> 00:22:23,642
on our past experience.

427
00:22:23,642 --> 00:22:27,479
We don't base our expectations on
how our week is going.

428
00:22:27,562 --> 00:22:33,151
God is saying to us in this passage,
I want three times more

429
00:22:34,353 --> 00:22:37,339
than the amazing things
you've already experienced.

430
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,243
I had a lunch with a guy this week
and he said, hey Pastor Zach, this

431
00:22:41,243 --> 00:22:43,428
premier night thing
you guys keep talking about,

432
00:22:43,428 --> 00:22:45,230
you tell us the sermon series,
get ready for that.

433
00:22:45,230 --> 00:22:48,233
He's like, hey, what's that really about?

434
00:22:48,450 --> 00:22:52,738
You can tell me
and the 100 people I will tell after this.

435
00:22:53,939 --> 00:22:56,191
And I said, man, listen,
I can't tell you I'm sworn to secrecy,

436
00:22:56,191 --> 00:22:59,177
but I'll give you a little spoiler.

437
00:23:00,412 --> 00:23:02,064
You want to get ready for premiere night?

438
00:23:02,064 --> 00:23:05,067
You got to raise your expectations.

439
00:23:05,567 --> 00:23:07,402
Not for us. Not for what we do.

440
00:23:07,402 --> 00:23:08,937
Not for what happens on stage.

441
00:23:08,937 --> 00:23:11,089
This church was doing all the things
that we do.

442
00:23:11,089 --> 00:23:14,576
We to raise our expectations
because God wants

443
00:23:15,444 --> 00:23:18,330
more.

444
00:23:18,330 --> 00:23:21,333
More lives changed.

445
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,753
More eternities changed.

446
00:23:24,753 --> 00:23:27,689
God wants you.

447
00:23:27,689 --> 00:23:30,292
And to change your world.

448
00:23:30,292 --> 00:23:32,727
Let me pray for us, father God, thank you

449
00:23:32,727 --> 00:23:35,730
so much for acts two.

450
00:23:36,198 --> 00:23:38,400
And the resetting of our expectations.

451
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,437
The call
to think bigger, to believe bigger.

452
00:23:44,156 --> 00:23:45,590
To believe that as we are

453
00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:49,711
devoted, as we are together,
you will interject this place

454
00:23:50,028 --> 00:23:52,981
with the wonders
that you talk about in verse 43.

455
00:23:54,933 --> 00:23:57,319
And God, that is our desire

456
00:23:57,319 --> 00:24:02,157
to see you move in our midst
for your glory,

457
00:24:02,607 --> 00:24:05,477
for the good of our family members
and friends,

458
00:24:05,477 --> 00:24:08,480
and for our joy.

459
00:24:08,663 --> 00:24:11,049
In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.