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This podcast is a production of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, USA. Watermark exists to be and make more fully devoted followers of Christ, looking to God's Word as our only authority, conscience and guide.
Good morning. Welcome to Watermark. How are we doing today? All right. Hey, great to see you. Welcome to church. God is here. We get to meet with him today. I hope you believe that. A miracle can happen this morning where 2,500 people can all walk out of here believing that they have met with and heard from the living God. I believe he wants to speak to you. The question is…_Do you want to hear from him?_ I hope you do today.
If this is your first time ever with us on a Sunday, thanks for trusting us with your morning. Our hope is that you would feel a freedom here to take either your first or your next step with Jesus Christ. Every Sunday, we open up the Bible, the Word of God, and we seek to hear from God. Before we do that, we always take a moment and pray and ask God to speak. So, I want to give you that chance right now.
If you will, just pause and pray. Pray for yourself and ask God to speak to you. Then I want to invite you to pray for the people around you, your family, your friends, your roommates, and the other people in this room. Ask God to speak to them as well. Then I want to ask you to pray for me and ask God to speak through me to you.
Lord, Watermark Community Church is your church, so I pray that you would glorify yourself today. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would move in an unmistakable way in every single person's life. If there's anyone here this morning who doesn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I pray that would change before they leave today. For everyone who _does_ know you, Lord Jesus, I pray that by the power of your Spirit, we would have eyes to see you more clearly. Use this time now for your glory. We love you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Last year, for fall break, the Ateek family decided to take a trip to Branson, Missouri. We hadn't been to Branson before. I got online, and I found what seemed like an incredible deal for a resort. Now I know that I need to say "resort." It was this incredible deal that I found online. So, we got in the car and made our way to Branson. It took us about eight hours to get there because we stopped a lot.
When we stopped for dinner when we got into Branson, there was this rundown motel that was right by the restaurant. I jokingly said to the family, "That's where we're staying," and we laughed about it. It was not the place where we were staying. We left dinner and went to the place where we _were_ staying, and when we pulled into the parking lot, it looked just like the rundown motel we had just joked about.
When we pulled up, I looked at Kat, she looked at me, and we started laughing. Part of us was laughing at the fact that it looked just like the place we had just joked about. The other part of us was laughing nervously, like, "We have to spend two nights here." So, we ended up spending the weekend there. Everything we did we can do within 15 minutes of our house here in Dallas, but we did it, and then we drove home. We're glad we went. We laughed. We made a memory.
When I think back about that experience, here's what was true: what we saw online was not what we experienced in person. When I looked at this resort online there were these fantastic pictures. There was a video that I watched. It looked like everyone was having this incredible experience. I would just say that what I saw online was not what we experienced in person.
I tell you that today because I wonder if the same is true of church. I wonder if the picture we get of the church in the Bible is what we experience in person here at Watermark Community Church. Here's what I'm getting at. If you're journeying through the Bible with us this year, then you just finished reading through the book of Acts. I personally love the book of Acts. It is one of my favorite books in the Bible, if not my favorite.
I love the book of Acts because it is the picture of the church's birth and explosion. What you see is the Holy Spirit come and move in powerful ways, so the whole book is packed full of miracles and transformation and salvation and mission. It's phenomenal. It's this powerful display of the church. My question is…_Is the picture we get of the church in the Bible what we're experiencing in person here at Watermark?_
The reality is there's nothing I can do about the in-person experience at that resort. I mean, I could fill out a comment card, but ultimately, it's up to the ownership and the staff. But that's not the case in the church. The issue here in the church isn't with the ownership, and it's not just the responsibility of the staff here. We believe the church isn't a building; the church is a people. We can't be a healthy church without healthy people. We can't be a biblical church without biblical people. That's how that works.
So, here's what I want to do this morning. I want to walk you through the book of Acts, and I want to identify about 10 things that I see to be true of the church. Some of y'all just heard me say that I have 10 points today. Now, with the 9:00 service, I had you guys coming, so I had to get them out of here. You don't have anyone coming after you until 4:00, so buckle up. Get comfortable. I'm just joking.
I'm going to identify 10 things that were true of the first-century church, and I just want to ask the question…_Is that our experience today?_ But as I said, we can't be a biblical church without biblical people. So, I do want to look at what was true of the first-century church and ask if it's true of us collectively, but what I really want to do is ask if it's true of you personally. Is it true of us each individually?
So, we're in the book of Acts today. You can open up to the beginning, but we're going to be bouncing all over the place today. Biblical church requires biblical members. My hope is that what we see in the Bible would be experienced here in person at Watermark.
1\. _The first-century church was a gospel-saturated church_. If you read the book of Acts, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is preached about 12 different times, give or take. It's proclaimed about 12 different times. I'll show you the first one. It's in Acts, chapter 2. Listen to what Peter declares.
**"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know-this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it."**
Acts 2:38: **"And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"** Peter proclaims the gospel, and in that moment, 3,000 people trust in Christ just like _that_. It was a gospel-saturated church.
We, here, want to be a gospel-saturated church. We want to be a church that is all about the life-changing, eternity-shifting, soul-satisfying news that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who left heaven willingly and entered into our humanity. But he didn't just enter into humanity; he endured our penalty. He was punished for all of the things that put us at odds with God. Not only that. He rose victoriously. He ascended into heaven where he reigns currently.
He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the one and only one who can make you right with God. He is the only one in whom you can find complete forgiveness of sins. If you want to be right with your Maker, it comes in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a free gift offered to anyone who would receive him.
We want to be a gospel-saturated church. That's why we proclaim the gospel every Sunday. That's why every song we sing, every message that's taught, and every ministry that meets points to Jesus. My question for you is…_Are you a gospel-saturated person?_ That's a question I want you to answer. Are you a gospel-saturated person?
Many people right now are like, "I don't know what you're asking me. Are you asking me if I have responded to the gospel message?" Many people here would say, "Yes." Great. But that's not all I'm talking about. If you're here this morning, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, there is a free gift on the table. You receive that gift through faith by going to God and saying, "God, I receive the gift of Jesus Christ into my life."
But I want to talk to the people who have known Jesus for a long time. My question to you is…_Are you a gospel-saturated person?_ I think there are so many Christians here at Watermark who seek to do the Christian life in their own strength. They seek to be pleasing to God apart from the grace of God. Do you know what that is? That is covert moralism. It's attempting to be pleasing to God without the strength or the grace of God.
What is required of anyone who wants to be a gospel-saturated person is that you have to preach the gospel to yourself every single day. The gospel isn't something you get beyond or get over. So many Christians understand the gospel to be a message of _transportation_, not a message of _transformation_. We know the gospel as that which gets us into heaven, but we don't understand it as that which gets heaven into us. We don't just need the gospel so we can be with God one day; we need the gospel so we can look more like God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, today.
So, my question to you is…_Do you preach the gospel to yourself daily or are you struggling, without knowing it, with covert moralism?_ Let me lead you through an exercise. If you have a pen and paper, I want you to write this down. If you don't, this is the one time I'll tell you you can get out your phone and open to a note. This is an exercise I did at the dinner table with my family this week as I'm attempting to teach my boys how to practically preach the gospel to themselves each day.
I want you to fill in this blank. Think about your walk with Jesus Christ and fill in this blank. "I know I should \[blank\] more." What do you know you should do more? "I should pray more. I should read the Bible more. I should share my faith more. I should give more. I should serve the outcast more. I should engage with my community more."
What are the "shoulds" in your life? Pay attention to the "shoulds" in your life, because the "shoulds" in your life are actually indicators that you might be on your way to moralism without realizing it. Because what's the natural response to "shoulds"? "Well, let me try harder. Let me just do better. I need to work more to deal with these 'shoulds.'"
Now, we are not about self-help. You don't have a gospel-saturated church by having self-help people. Gospel-saturated churches require gospel-saturated people. So, take your "should" and reframe it in light of Christ's perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. Instead, fill in _this_ blank now with whatever you put in that "should." "Because Christ \[blank\] I get to \[blank\]." Reframe it. Reframe your "should" in light of the gospel.
So, what could this look like? It could look like this: "Because Christ broke down the barrier between God and me, I get to pray freely to the God of the universe, and he hears me." "Because Christ rescued me and made me his ambassador, I get to boldly and confidently share about him with others." "Because Christ has saved me into a family, I get to enjoy life with brothers and sisters in the faith."
Let's try it with another one. Fill in _this_ blank: "I need to work on not \[blank\] anymore or as much." What do you need to work on _not_ doing? "I need to work on not worrying as much, not gossiping as much, not being so negative anymore, not yelling at my kids anymore, not being a people-pleaser as much, not lying, not looking at pornography."
Do you know what the natural temptation is when you identify things you shouldn't be doing as much? The natural temptation is to try to be pleasing to God in your own strength. "I just need to try harder. I need to discipline myself more. I need to put _these_ precautions into my life." Those things aren't bad in and of themselves, but gospel-saturated churches aren't made up by self-help people. You have to reframe it in light of the gospel.
So, fill in _these_ blanks: "Because Christ \[blank\], I can be free from \[blank\]." This is what it could look like: "Because Christ conquered death and holds my life together, I can be free from worrying about how things will turn out." This is one I have to preach to myself: "Because Christ accepts me, I can be free from the acceptance of others." "Because Christ loved me when I was his enemy, I can be free from responding in anger, bitterness, or frustration toward those who wrong me or bother me." You have to learn to preach the gospel to yourself.
Paul Tripp says, "No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you do." When you talk to yourself, is it informed by the gospel? My hope is that thousands of people would find power this week in the words _because Christ_. A gospel-saturated church requires gospel-saturated members.
2\. _The first-century church was a praying church_. Prayer is mentioned over 30 times in the book of Acts. Look at the apostles' priority in Acts 6:4. **"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."** That was the leadership of the church. The leaders of the church were marked by prayer. Prayer is what preceded miracles and the spread of the gospel and missionaries being sent out. Prayer is what they did to show care for one another.
We here at Watermark want to be a praying church. That's why every Sunday morning there's a group of people walking the aisles and rows of this room at 7:45 a.m. You're invited to come and pray with us. It's open to everyone. We want to see a work of the Spirit in our church, so there are people gathering to pray.
There's a reason we gathered on Thursday night this past week for a Night of Prayer and Worship. We believe that prayer is a good enough reason for the church to get together. We don't need an even greater agenda item. That's a good enough one. There's a reason we have a prayer email newsletter that goes out multiple times a week. We want to be a praying church.
My question to you is…_Are you a praying person?_ I know, for me personally, for the first 40 years of my life, I majored in the Word of God and minored in prayer. Over the last four years, God has been working in me to show me that nothing is more important than knowing and studying the Word of God, yet prayer is equally as important. The pathway to greater intimacy with God is through prayer. If you feel dry in your faith, if you feel disconnected from God, I'm telling you the answer is prayer. It _is_. The answer is prayer. Are you a praying person?
I was so encouraged this week listening to a good friend of mine who has been walking with the Lord for decades. Honestly, he's one of the most faithful men I know. He's just one of the godliest individuals. He has given his life to serving God's church and walking with Jesus Christ. He already has this very robust and faithful prayer life, yet what is he doing? He is currently reading a book on prayer. This is a guy that people would look at and say, "If I could just be half as faithful as him, I would consider it a win." And here is this guy, reading a book on prayer. Why? Because he wants to continue to grow in being a praying person.
My encouragement to you is to take a step with prayer this week. Challenge yourself to do something every day this week in regard to prayer that you don't normally do. Let me give you some suggestions. Here's a suggestion: Have a time of prayer for 5 to 10 minutes in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening every day this week. Or try to pray for the same amount of time that you read the Bible. So, if you read the Bible for 15 minutes, try to match it by praying for 15 minutes.
Or if you don't want to do that, try this. Anytime you're in the car by yourself this week, try to spend the entire time you're in the car praying. Instead of listening to a podcast or talking on the phone, try to spend all the time you're in the car by yourself this week praying. Or go for a walk and pray every day this week or sit and listen to God in prayer for 10 minutes every day this week. Try something new. Challenge yourself in prayer. We can't be a praying church without praying members.
3\. _The first-century church was a Bible-revering church_. There are close to 30 direct quotations from the Old Testament in the book of Acts. Why? Because the apostles believed the Scriptures. They preached the Scriptures. They reasoned from the Scriptures. We see this in chapter 1 of Acts. Acts 1:16: **"Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus."**
Do you hear what they're saying? They're saying the Scriptures had to be fulfilled. Why? Because the Scriptures are true. Where did the Scriptures come from? They came from the Holy Spirit, inspiring human authors to pen God's words. Even more than that, what did the apostles do? They spent their lives seeking to fulfill Christ Jesus' words. "Go and make disciples of all nations." That's what the book of Acts is. They were anchored in God's Word. They were a Bible-revering church.
We want to be a Bible-revering church. That's why we've been doing Year of the Word. That's why every Sunday we teach from the Bible. That's why we hand out Bibles. If you don't own a Bible, come down front. We have them in English and Spanish. It would be our joy to give you a copy of the Bible. My question to you is…_Are you a Bible-revering person?_ Charles Spurgeon said, "A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't." Are you a Bible-revering person?
If you're at a point where you're still struggling with a consistent reading plan, if you've been resisting the Year of the Word all year long…it's November now…hey, tomorrow we start the book of Romans. Here's why that's good news. We're done with all of the really long books in the Bible. I mean, we have one with Revelation at the end, but you can do it. Romans is 16 chapters. We can do this, people. Romans is a beautiful book. Jump in with us.
Here's what I want to challenge everyone in the room to do this week. I want to challenge you to memorize one verse this week. You get to pick it. We have a memory verse for the month. It's Romans 3:22-24, but you pick a verse and memorize it. Just watch what could be true when 2,500 people all decide to know the Word of God. Watch what happens when it's on your mind consistently and then it moves down to your heart.
What happens is in that move from the head to the heart, it begins to work its way out in your life. Watch what happens. That's something I want to grow in. Our family has been working on John 3:16. We've been working on the Romans Road…Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, and others. We can't be a Bible-revering church without Bible-revering members.
4\. _The first-century church was a Spirit-led church_. The summary verse for the entire book is Acts 1:8. If you want to know what the book of Acts is about, just read Acts 1:8. It says, **"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."**
God's intention for the church was to spread the gospel to the end of the earth. But how were they to do it? By the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power of the church. You see all throughout the book of Acts… The Holy Spirit is referenced about 42 different times in the book of Acts. You see the Holy Spirit fill and empower the apostles. The Holy Spirit speaks through them, comforts them, leads them, and does miraculous things through them.
Here's the thing: The Spirit's power wasn't meant to just be exclusive to the apostles; it is for Watermark Community Church today. The Holy Spirit is meant to be the source of power in our lives individually and in our church collectively for us to accomplish God's purposes in the world. We want to be a Spirit-led church.
Now, this is where I want to share with you a tension that I have felt as your pastor. I have felt this tension that whenever I talk about the Holy Spirit, I have felt this need to caveat anything I say about the Holy Spirit. I've felt this need to caveat it just to make sure no one thinks I'm falling off the cliff theologically. I just want to tell you today I'm done caveating. I'm tired of caveating, because here's what happens when I caveat the Holy Spirit. Do you know what I'm doing? It's like I'm tying up and binding up the Holy Spirit, which is impossible to do.
Look. I just want to be very, very clear with you. If you misunderstand me, that's your problem. We should expect to see miracles take place in our church. We should expect to be led by the Spirit to do crazy things for the sake of the gospel. The people of Watermark should expect to hear the voice of the Spirit throughout the day, convicting, leading, comforting, and encouraging. We should long for experiences in prayer, in worship, as a church family, that we don't want to end because the Spirit is awakening us to the presence of God in a way that can't be manufactured.
One of the reasons I say that and one of the reasons I'm done caveating is because of what Jesus Christ himself said about the Holy Spirit. Just listen to John 16:7. This is Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. He says, **"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you."**
Here's my question: Are we, as a church here at Watermark, experiencing the advantage of Christ going away? Are you personally, individually, experiencing the advantage of Jesus Christ leaving and sending the Spirit, or have you fallen into a rut that's, honestly, outside of the fairway of Christianity, where you have settled into a theology that feels more like Father, Son, and Holy Bible than it does Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? A lot of people think that when it comes to the Spirit, you're either crazy or biblical.
There are actually two ends of the spectrum. What's at one end of the spectrum, which is outside of the fairway, is glorifying the Spirit. The reason that's outside of the fairway is because the Spirit's aim is to glorify Christ, not to be glorified himself. But do you know what's at the other extreme? Quenching the Spirit. If we're not careful, we will quench the Spirit. So, my question to you is…_Are you a Spirit-led person?_ I just want to pause right here in the middle of our service, and I want to pray in regard to the Spirit.
I pray, God, would you show us any ways that we are quenching your Spirit as a church? If there are any ways that we have called it faithful when it's actually quenching the work of your Spirit, Lord, would you forgive us, and would you bring it to light that we may repent? Holy Spirit, I just want to say… You don't need us to tell you this, but you're welcome here, and we want your work here. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would lead and guide and speak to your people this week. In Jesus' name, amen.
We can't be a Spirit-led church without Spirit-led members.
5\. _The first-century church was a missional church_. Acts 1:8, the summary verse of the whole book, says, **"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."** That was the goal of the church: to be witnesses, to testify to the grace of God, to the person of Jesus Christ, all around the world. That's why I love Acts 8:4 when persecution causes the church to be scattered. It says, **"Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went."**
Just think. Could your name be inserted into that verse? "And Timothy Ateek preached the Word wherever he went." Whatever your name is. "And Matthew…" "And Daniel…" "And Catherine…" "And Ashley…" "They preached the Word wherever they went." We want to be a missional church. Let me just show you something that's coming in 2026. This is what is going to be installed out in the Town Center. Right over the entrance, you're going to see a sign that goes up that says, "Jesus is Lord," and that sign is made up of different light bulbs.
What it will look like is it'll start just being empty, no light bulbs in it. As people trust in Christ, they'll get to put a light bulb in the "Jesus is Lord" installment. We got this idea from a church that we love and respect. This is one way for us, as a church, to consistently remind ourselves that when we leave the church, we're full of the light of Christ, and we are walking out into a dark world. We have the privilege and the opportunity to invite people living in darkness to come and not just know the light but to become light themselves. We are a missional church.
My question to you is…_Are you a missional person?_ This is where we can feel a lot of guilt and shame, because one of our "shoulds" is "I should share my faith more than I do." Well, let me just help you. One of the things that we, as a Watermark staff, have been working on is knowing our 15-second testimony. Here's how you write your 15-second testimony. I'd encourage you to fill in these prompts.
First, you just finish this statement. "There was a time in my life when…" Just put a few words. This is before Christ. "There was a time in my life when \[blank\], but God…" What did God do for you? "And now I am filled with \[blank\]." That will help you form your 15-second testimony. Let me share with you _my_ 15-second testimony. It's very easy. I shared it last night when I was standing at this school event for one of my kids, talking to this guy about what I do for a living.
Timothy Ateek's 15-second testimony is "There was a time in my life where I was not a child of God but an enemy of God, but God rescued me, and now I'm filled with peace and joy, belonging to God's family." That's my 15-second testimony. When you share your 15-second testimony, you can follow it up with this question: "Do you have a story like that?"
"Hey, there was a time in my life where I wasn't a child of God; I was an enemy. But God rescued me. Now I'm filled with peace and joy and hope in belonging to God's family. Do you have a story like that?" "Well, you know, I've been to church." "Hey, can I share with you more about how you can have a story like that?" Learn your 15-second testimony. Practice it in your Community Groups. We can't be a missional church without missional members.
6\. _The first-century church was a maturing church_. It was a place where believers took ground in their faith. It was a place where people would grow up in their faith. I love the example of Apollos. Let me say this. I was talking to some people this week about this. Here's my experience. People in their 20s (and I was one of those people once) think they know everything. That's just the way it is. That's how _I_ was when I was in my 20s. I felt like I knew everything. People in their 20s believe they know everything.
People in their 30s and 40s feel like failures, because they realize they _don't_ know everything, and they see all of the ways that they're failing and everything they should be doing but are not. They're the decades of shame. They're the decades of mom guilt and all this dad failure, all this different stuff. That's the 30s and 40s. It's all of the things you should be doing but aren't. Then you get to your 50s and 60s, and you're back to the place where you think you know everything and there's nothing else to learn. It's just a circle of life.
My question to you is…_Are you a person who is growing in your faith?_ The first-century church was a maturing church. I love the example of Apollos. If you've been a Christian for a long time, you especially should listen to this. Watch what was true of Apollos. It says, **"Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures."** Are you competent in the Scriptures? Some of you would say, "I think I am." Awesome. Watch this.
Verse 25: **"He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit…"** Maybe that's true of you. Maybe you're competent in the Scriptures. You're fervent in spirit. It says, **"…he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus…"** Maybe that's you. Maybe you teach people. You lead Bible studies. Man, you have it going on. You know what you're doing. It says, **"…though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue…"** So, put all that together. Some of you are like, "Check. Check. Check. I've got all that going on."
Now watch this. **"…but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately."** Isn't that interesting? Even someone who had all of these things that we would say are indicators of maturity had room to grow. So, I'm just asking you… Are you a maturing person? Are you growing spiritually?
My phone is showing me pictures every day, reminding me that my kids are growing so fast physically. We talk about it often. I think about the video of my son Jake, who's 8 now. I have this video of him when he was 2, trying to say, "Pound it, noggin, see ya," the salutation of Dude Perfect. It's clear now that he has grown in his speech. My wife Kat keeps having my 16-year-old Noah and me stand back to back as one more reminder that now Noah looks down on his dad. I remember when he was _this_, and now he's taller than me. It's a constant reminder of growth.
Here's my question to you: If your phone populated a picture of your spiritual growth every day, what would you see? Would you see consistent growth or would you see that you stalled out in your spiritual teenage years? Would you still spiritually be nursing on the bottle? Are you growing? In what area of your relationship with Jesus are you actively seeking to grow? Because unlike physical growth, it won't just happen.
It's a good question for you to ask in your Community Group. Some of you have been in the same Community Group for 15 years. If that's you, that's amazing. You might say that with pride. "We've been together 15 years." That's awesome. If y'all have been together for 15 years, here's my question: How has that group helped you, personally, grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ this year?
Like, can you look over this past year and see how your group has helped you take intentional steps toward greater Christlikeness? Or at some point, did your group kind of stall out? Y'all are great at getting together, and you're great about going around and giving the same updates every week, but there's not growth. We want to be a maturing church. We can't be a maturing church without maturing members.
7\. _The first-century church was a sending church_. Acts 1:8 says the apostles will be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (which were the surrounding regions) and to the end of the earth. See, it was always Jesus' intention for the gospel to ripple out. It's to ripple out. It was never Jesus' intention for the gospel to stay in one city.
If you were to go and read the book of Acts, you would see that the gospel spread in two primary ways. These weren't the only ways, but there were two primary ways the gospel spread throughout the world. The first was through persecution. What persecution did was it dislodged the gospel from Jerusalem and began to send it to the surrounding regions. The second way the gospel spread was through the apostle Paul taking three different missionary journeys. Let me read to you what happens at the beginning of Paul's first missionary journey found in Acts 13.
**"While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus."**
The first-century church was a sending church. God's heart is sending. If you were to rewind all the way to Genesis, chapter 1, what is the cultural mandate? What does God tell Adam and Eve to do? He says, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it." From the beginning, it was God's intention for his rule and reign to be spread throughout the earth, his kingdom to be spread throughout the earth. It was to ripple out.
Why did God confuse the languages in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel? Because people wanted to just stay in one city. God was like, "No, no, no. My plan has always been for it to spread out." That is why it is unbiblical for us to say, "No, we just feel called to focus on Dallas. We just feel called to reach Dallas." You cannot just focus on Dallas and have God's heart, because God's heart is for the nations to hear, and the nations hear by the church sending.
So, my question to you is…_Are you a sending person?_ Do you have God's heart for the nations? That would be a good question to ask God. I'm not asking if you have a strategic heart for God; I'm asking if you have God's heart for the nations. You're either praying, giving, going, or disobeying when it comes to the unreached in the world. If you want to know how you can take a step, you can go to our website, [watermark.org/missions](https://www.watermark.org/international-missions), and you can find out how to be involved. I told you I had 10. There are three more. Let me hit one more, and then I'll just touch on two.
8\. _The first-century church was a community church_. Acts 2:44: **"And all who believed were together…"** Do you see that word _together_? It doesn't say, "And all who believed streamed church online." "All who believed were together." There is a difference between streaming church and being a part of the church. **"…and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need."**
Look. If you just heard me say that, and you're streaming church because you physically can't be at church, I get it. If there's a physical illness that keeps you, I get it. But if you're just sitting on your chair out of convenience, I'm just telling you, you're missing out. Come be with us here. The first-century church was all about doing life together. They were a community church. People experienced the joy of being known and loved by others.
That's why _community_ is our middle name. We want to be a community-committed church. That's why we have a robust Community Group ministry, and we have men's and women's Bible studies, and we have re:gen and re|engage. We want to be a place where there are various opportunities for you to be known and loved.
My question to you is…_Are you a community-committed person?_ Are you experiencing the joy of being known and loved? My Community Group met this past Tuesday night, and as we shared prayer requests, it felt like every single couple was carrying something heavy. The good news is no one is carrying it alone because we're known and loved. We can't be a community church without community-committed members.
The other two things we see in the first-century church is that they were a _shepherding church_, which means they had elders and people were submitted to their leadership, and they were a _unifying church_. It really felt like different churches were all in agreement, that they were on the same team committed to the same gospel and the same mission.
So, this is where I want to make a massive connection for you. If you were to walk out these doors and you were to look at the alcove on your way out, you would see our vision statement and our 10 markers. What are we about here at Watermark? _Abiding in Jesus_, _we are making disciples together_. That's what we're about here.
How do we abide in Jesus? By being a gospel-saturated, praying, Spirit-led, Bible-revering church. How do we make disciples? By being a missional, maturing, sending church. How do we enjoy life together? By being a shepherding, community, unifying church. Here's our goal. The picture we get of the church in the Bible is what we want to experience in person, but we can't be a biblical church without biblical members.
Do you want to know what it looks like to be a mature follower of Jesus Christ? Like, if you're one of those people, if I were to ask, "Do you feel like you're a mature Christian…?" If something in you is like, "Yeah, I think that's me," just check yourself. Do you know what a mature follower of Jesus Christ looks like?
A mature follower of Jesus Christ is a gospel-saturated, praying, Bible-revering, Spirit-led, missional, maturing, sending, community, shepherded, unifying person. That's what a mature disciple looks like. If you consider yourself a disciple-maker, like, if you're someone who is committing your life to raising up other people following Jesus Christ, my question to you is…_Are you cultivating gospel-saturated, praying, Bible-revering, Spirit-led, missional, maturing, sending, shepherded, community-minded, unifying disciples?_ That's what it looks like.
So, just so you know where we're headed as a church in 2026… I'm so excited about this. I'm going to be teaching through the book of Acts for the majority of 2026. If you thought our Year of the Word was too much reading, well, good news. The reading plan for 2026 is the book of Acts. It's one book. You can do that. I promise you everyone can do that. You're like, "Well, how is that going to work? You're telling me we're going to spend a whole year just reading one book?" Well, just wait.
We've redesigned our reading plan to be a robust experiential resource that helps every person grow in the 10 markers that we just identified today. As the elders emphasize, discipleship is the center of the bull's-eye of our church. Our goal is to help you grow in these 10 markers in whatever ministry you're a part of. The year 2026 is going to be a very important, amazing year at our church. Start praying for it from now.
I'll end by saying this. You know, I think about that resort we went to in Branson. I don't know what it would take for that resort to get back to its glory days. I bet it would take a lot of time, a lot of energy, and a lot of manpower. But that's not the case with the church. The transforming message of the gospel hasn't changed. The mission of the church hasn't changed. The God of the universe who hears prayer hasn't changed. The Holy Spirit, who is the power for the church, lives inside of all who know Jesus Christ. All that is needed is people who refuse to settle and, instead, surrender fully to all that Christ has for them. So, let's go, church.
Let me just say, if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, I'd just encourage you with this sweet story from the book of Acts where this guy found himself in a crisis, and here's the question he asks. He says, "What must I do to be saved?" It's a great question. It's a question for you to ask this morning.
Here's the answer: Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus. Trust in Jesus this morning. Respond to Jesus in prayer right now. Invite him into your life to be your Savior and to show you what it looks like for him to begin to be in charge of your life. You can invite him in right now through prayer.
Lord Jesus, this is your church, and we want you to be glorified here at Watermark Community Church. So, would you have your way in us? If there's anyone here who doesn't know you, I pray even right now, they would just call out to you and say, "Jesus Christ, forgive me. I give my life to you." For the long-time believers, would you call us to more? Holy Spirit, would you take us further? Would you take us deeper? We want to be yours wholeheartedly. We love you. In Jesus' name, amen.