“Being heard is so close to being loved that, for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” This quote comes from a guy named David Augsburger. He was a preacher, writer, and counselor. Do you agree with this quote? Do you feel this? Is there something in this that resonates deeply within you? If you made a short list of the people you like the most, you’ll probably find a common theme that each of them will … listen to you. Doesn’t something awaken within you when someone stops what they’re doing to give you their attention? When you’re having a conversation with someone and they can communicate back to you that they understand you, or that they can relate to you, doesn’t that do something to your heart? Doesn’t it feel like … being loved?

We have some momentum. We’re consistently seeing life change happening in this church. So, I think it's the perfect time to double down. And I'm going to challenge you to participate. I’m not concerned with the 64 different people who baptized someone last year. I'm not worried about the people in the room who have five people they are working on. You're excited about what God has been doing in your life, and you're motivated to share that into the lives of the people that you know and the relationships that you have. Keep going. Keep doing what you’re doing. “Just one” is to encourage the rest of us to get in the game. This is for those who haven’t intentionally identified someone who needs to know Jesus. This is for those who haven’t developed a strategy of how you could bring someone to Jesus. Can you find your one? Maybe you don't recognize the opportunities. Maybe you don't have the courage to step into those opportunities. Maybe you don't think you have the wisdom to know how to lead someone to Jesus. Your invited to be a part of something big. I want you to come and be a part of something big. Maybe you’ve been sitting back and cheering us on this past year. It's great that you're happy about what's happening here in this church. Even better is if you would participate. Come be a part of what we’re doing.

"So, we’re going to challenge our whole church family to go through the Bible this next year using a plan called Core 52. A really sharp Pastor and Bible Prof by the name of Mark Moore -- he is the guy you saw in the video this morning – Anyway, Mark Moore has identified 52 of the most power-packed passages in the Bible … one big idea a week. By the end of 2026 you will have thought through most all of the big ideas of the Bible. It’s really cool! One guy describes the plan like this: “Think of Core52 as your “FastPass” for knowing God’s Word, by-passing the lines of minutia, pushing you to the front of the biggest ideas of the Bible. It is the quickest route to move someone from curiosity to confidence in mastering the core message of Scripture and shaping a Christian worldview.” Guys, you want to know the Bible better because you know the Bible will make you better. You want that … life to the fullest, that rich and satisfying life, where the yoke is easy, and the burden is light, and you find rest for your souls. If you join us, you are going to be getting into the Word, and, we hope, we believe, the Word will be getting into you. God is really good at working on you through his Word." Stephen "Doc" Pattison, Teaching Pastor

I don't know your specific reason for why you need hope. But I do know hope is directly related to living in this broken world. Hope is something that you cling to when you can't have what you are waiting for. So, while you wait, you need some hope. And … you need some resurrection. That’s where hope is found. What's fascinating about Christian hope is that it's not rooted in something in the future. It's rooted in something that has already happened in the past. Our hope is in an event that’s already happened. The resurrection of Jesus is the catalyst. The resurrection changes things here and now. We don't sing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" in the same kind of way, because He's here. He showed up. It's already done. And when He left, He left us the Holy Spirit so we wouldn't be alone. God is with us right now.

Here’s the real question: Do you think the sorrow diminished, or extinguished, the joy? Does your pain diminish, or extinguish, your joy? There’s always a boatload of pain in the middle of our Christmas stories. Families that are not at peace. Maybe there is someone who can’t come home, or won’t come home, or someone you lost. Maybe there is pain because you couldn’t give the gifts you wanted, or maybe the gifts you did give were unwanted. For many, the apparent joy of others only intensifies the loneliness and unhappiness they themselves feel. So, does your pain diminish, or extinguish, your joy? Joy is easy in the context of a manger. Joy is easy when our choreography comes true. But what about when our plans are shattered. What about in the context of brokenness? Or what about in the face of evil? Is joy still possible in the context of the slaughter?

Have you ever struggled because you can’t figure out what God is up to? Have you ever felt like you weren’t in the know, that there were secrets being kept from you? Have you ever wished that you could see and know and understand God’s plans? Have you ever felt like you weren’t important enough to be chosen by God? The Christmas story is one of the most ultimate “I know something you don’t know” moments in history. But there is an incredible twist to the story … something that you wouldn’t anticipate … something that might catch you completely off guard. God knows something you don’t know — and that probably is not breaking news. There ought to be a lot of things that God knows that I don’t know or that you don’t know. But the twist, the thing that catches you off guard, is that He wants you to know. There’s something God knows that He desperately wants you to know, and once you know, once you know what God knows that other people don’t know, He wants you to want others to know it.

If peace is something that you are missing, don’t be afraid of the wrong things. Put your fear in the Lord and find his mercy pour out in your life, and it will be peace to your heart. It starts by making peace with God. That is, after all, what this is all about. That’s why Jesus showed up in the first place — not because he simply just wanted to ease our fears, not to simply call us to follow him, not to simply even be with us. Jesus showed up to resolve the chaos that exists in the relationship that we have with God. Sin has damaged our relationship with God, and Jesus shows up to usher in peace. So, it starts with being at peace ourselves with God. But when that happens, it translates out into every edge of our lives. When we can accept our role as God’s servant just like Mary does, where she says, “I am the Lord’s servant,” if we can accept that; and when we choose to live with Immanuel — God with us — because God’s offered it and he’s available and he wants to; if we can be the Lord’s servant and we can let God live with us, then that phrase “do not be afraid” makes a whole lot more sense, and we can live with courage, and peace wins out.

"Paul says, “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in…” Now I just want you to imagine how you would anticipate this verse ending. How do you think it ends? It welled up in … welts … beatings? That would make sense. Maybe it welled up in … gold stars and a thumbs-up from God? Maybe even better. Maybe welled up in … eternal rewards … heaven? Paul says, “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in RICH GENEROSITY.” Rich generosity. God gives them something great — Paul calls it a grace. Then Paul says that their life is hard, but Paul says that they have overflowing joy … and they have extreme poverty. And then Paul says all of those things turn into … rich generosity. Rich generosity." Ben Webb, Lead Minister

You probably know that as people get older, they tend to lose their filters. They just say things that might not have said when they were younger. It just comes out. Sometimes old people think they have earned the right to let loose. But here’s the deal: If, when you look inside, you see you in you, then what comes out in those “unguarded moments” is probably going to be pretty ugly. If, on the other hand, you look inside and you see Christ in you … then I don’t care if you lose your filters, because what comes out is going to be God-honoring. And here it is guys, I can put up with babies who act like babies. But when old guys like me still act like babies, that’s intolerable. I know, I’ll be battling with my “self” till the day I die. And I suspect most all of you will be battling your “self” till the day you die. But I hope we spend most of our time at a level 3 maturity, with occasional forays into level 4, with very, very little time at levels 1 or 2. Do you get that? Life truth #3: Christian maturity is a choice we make, every day till the day we die, not a state we achieve. So where are you? How are you doing?

So, look at the people God picks. Each of them looks weak at some point in their life. Each of them looks unqualified. They aren’t the first choice. Each of them even have a great moment of failure. And yet … each of them have moments of great success — moments when you could potentially call them a … MIGHTY WARRIOR. What is it that makes them a mighty warrior? Is it something that they have within them? Is it something they are able to do on their own? Is it the potential that God sees in them? Or is it something else? Here’s the answer, and then I’ll show it to you. MIGHTY WARRIORS never set out to be hero’s. They only set out to do what God asks them to do … and then God puts them in over their head so the sufficiency comes from him.

God has made peace with you through Jesus. You didn't deserve it. You didn't earn it. But it’s true none-the-less. God made a two-way agreement with you where one side provided all of the collateral. And through it, he created reconciliation between you and God. But it comes with future expectations. If you are at peace with God, then you are to help other people come to peace with God. You are Christ's ambassadors and you carry the ministry of reconciliation. So don't go starting wars. Don't go picking fights. Don't go needling opposition. Jesus followers don't contribute to war — we contribute to peace. Your job is to help people get right with God just like Jesus worked to get people right with God.

So, where does God keep what is most valuable? It’s not in some sort of a safe that is in heaven. It’s not under lock and key. It’s not something that is hidden behind guard. It’s not something that He has security systems for to make sure that no one would come and mess with what’s most valuable to Him. God has placed what is most valuable to him — the truth of the gospel — in those who have accepted that truth. GOD LOVES TO USE THE ORDINARY. GOD LOVES TO GIVE UNCOMMON USE TO WHAT IS COMMON.

"Our perception, our expectation, says MORE JESUS EQUALS MORE RULES AND MORE CONDEMNATION AND LESS FREEDOM. That’s what we believe, so that’s what we expect. The gospel changes and reverses our perspective because the reality is: MORE JESUS EQUALS MORE FREEDOM AND LESS CONDEMNATION. Is it true? Is the gospel about freedom and not rules? Because some people think that the Bible is a really big book of rules. This is just one passage. I could be cherry-picking. I could be pulling one piece out that kind of slipped in somehow to the whole. Is that what’s happening here? Is it true that the gospel brings freedom, not rules?"

Guys, the gospel changes our perspective. Our perspective says avoid trouble at all cost. Our perspective says run from hardship, avoid struggles, pretend they don't happen, dodge negative energy. We see trouble, we see affliction as chaotic or some sort of a random piece of artwork that doesn't make any sense. But the gospel changes our perspective. If we can move a little and see the troubles and the afflictions of this life a little differently, then we begin to see a masterpiece of artwork. Look at God. He was willing to die for us to make all things right. When we see a God whose character is compassion and comfort, suddenly hardship and struggles and troubles and afflictions … don't seem so intimidating. Hardship and struggles and troubles and affliction, they become the things that cause us to experience a really good God. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but you need to hear it. You cannot know a God of comfort without a life of trouble.

Jesus teaches on prayer very specifically to the individual. But prayer, although an individual activity, also becomes a core community activity in the church. It’s directly linked to fellowship, which is really interesting to me. The pillar of fellowship is the piece that binds the rest of the foundation together. They listened to the apostles’ teachings … together, broke bread … together, and prayed … together. This group of guys who had lived with and learned from Jesus are now praying … together. Wouldn’t you love to know what the prayers of the early church sounded like? It would have been incredible, right? We don’t have to completely guess. The Book of Acts unpacks a lot of the things they prayed for. We won’t look at all, but here are the big ones.

to get a better understanding of breaking bread, we're going to jump into Paul's letter to the first chapter to the Corinthians, his first letter to the Corinthians. So if you have a Bible and you want to follow along, or if you've got maybe an app on your phone and you want to follow along, I encourage you to pull that out. Take a look first Corinthians, chapter 11. Or you can just follow along. We'll have the verses on the screens here this morning. You see, breaking bread had a different meaning to those in the early church than it does to us today. Our practice of breaking bread took place as part of what I believe was the original potluck. Now, in the Bible, you're not going to see the word potluck. The new living translation, though, gives us a little bit better understanding of Luke's writing in Acts chapter 2. With its translation, where we read these words, all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, which included the Lord's Supper and to prayer. You also won't see this description in the Bible, but the belief is that in the early church, this, this idea of breaking bread was oftentimes referred to as an agape feast. The agape feast, or this love feast, was a communal meal that Christians shared as a way to foster fellowship among the believers of a local church. Many believe that it is in his letter to the church at Corinth where we first get this idea of, of an agape feast. And unfortunately, Paul wasn't happy about their treatment of each other at the feast, so he wrote to them about it. So let's jump into our text this morning.

John says that we can’t claim to have fellowship with Jesus if we don’t do the things Jesus did. Kind of like high school. You can’t be on the football team if you don’t show up for the workouts or practices or games. You can say you are part of the team, but you’re not doing anything that tells me you’re truly part of the team. And you can’t be in the band if you don’t practice, or if you don’t show up at the rehearsals, or if you don’t actually do anything in the performances. You’re not really part of the band. And it’s true of academics. You can’t excel in academics if you don’t go to class, and if you don’t turn in your work, and if you don’t study for tests. But that’s not all. John reveals another really big truth. If we have fellowship with God, then you’re going to have fellowship with other believers who have this same relationship to God. If you play football, you’ll know other football players. If you’re in a band, you’re going to know other band members. And even in something as isolated as academics, if you take academics seriously, you’re going to know other people who are taking academics seriously. Guys, if fellowship doesn’t exist between believers, then any claim to have fellowship with God is … invalid. If you don’t have fellowship with the church, if you don’t have fellowship with other Jesus followers, then you don’t have fellowship with God. That may scare you. But you can’t be a Jesus follower alone.

So, for most of the New Testament, that word "apostle" and "disciple" are kind of interchangeable terms. The twelve disciples become the twelve apostles with a little bit of change. When it comes to the apostles' teaching, we're talking specifically about men who were close followers of Jesus before His death and who saw him after His resurrection. The bigger question for us today is: What are the things that the first leaders of the church taught? Because they had sat with Jesus, they had lived with Jesus, they had devoted their lives to Jesus. What were the top things that they focused on when teaching the first generation of the church? What were those biggest, most important things that they were going to teach?

"Can you imagine the practical challenges the disciples faced? They’re out in the water, whatever body of water that they found to baptize people in, and they are staring at these long lines of people choosing Jesus. 12 guys baptizing 3000 people. Each guy baptizing 250 people. It’s going to take a while to baptize every single person. While they’re standing in the water, I wonder if they began to panic. I wonder if they started struggling with what to do next. They have to be just as shocked as everyone else. They’ve witnessed a resurrection, an ascension, and now they’ve witnessed thousands of people coming to faith after an unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit. How do you follow that up? Now what are they supposed to do? What they need to do is build the church. I’m not talking about a physical building; I’m talking about the gathering of Jesus Followers. In the Greek it’s the word ekklesia. It means “the called-out ones.” This ekklesia is the gathering of the called-out ones. And the ekklesia now exists … but this is day one. And no one has ever built a church. What do you do with it? How do you build it appropriately? You have to start with the foundation, right? Anything that will stand the test of time will have a strong foundation. They have to figure everything out, and they have to figure everything out right now. There is no time to form a committee, there isn’t any time to write books or have debates. The people are here now … and we have a church now … this is a right-now kind of a problem to solve. They have to figure this thing out right now. So, what do they do? What is this foundation? We don’t know how long it took them to get to the answer, but they came up with one. They go back to what they were doing while they waited in between Acts 1 and Acts 2. Verse 42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." They built a foundation. And their foundation has four pillars. If you remove any one of these pillars, the church crumbles."

"At the end of Hebrews, the writer gives some very simple, practical teaching about what it looks like to be a Jesus follower. It's true for those anxiously waiting for the promises to be fulfilled, and it's true for those building rock monuments to remember the victories. It's true for all Jesus followers in all times and situations. This is what we remember in the meantime." Ben Webb, Lead Minister