Sunday, October 1st 2006, we took the time to dive into chapter 11 of the book of Revelation. Then that night we took the time to look at some basic fundamentals about how we could have a great relationship with the Lord filled with awe and wonder by looking at Acts 2:42-47. I want to take the time to hit the highlights of the sermons here and hopefully get a running dialouge going about what this will look like in the life of Crossroads Fellowship.

The basic message from the morning service was one of how God is grieved and mourning during the judgement that is poured out in the book of Revelation. The two witnesses appear clothed in sackcloth, which was a symbol of their mourning and would reflect the overall attitude of God. See God doesn't want to destroy us, but he will if we make him by our lack of repentance and faith in the Savior. So we were challenged to make sure that we were not grieving God by walking in sin and unrepentance. To hear the complete sermon click here.

The previous Sunday evening we talked about the baptism of the Spirit, or being filled with the Spirit. We talked about the false teachings that have gone around about the in filling of the Spirit, and we looked through the book of Acts at the examples of the infilling of the Spirit and saw that each time it was unique unto itself, and the common result was that those who were filled were empowered to boldly minister the Gospel. With those two messages as a backdrop we come Sunday evening, October 1st, and Acts 2:42-47.

It seems in our Christian walks today we rush from one spiritual high to the next. It seems as though we can go to a great conference or weekend retreat, or a really good worship service and get "high" for a couple of weeks and if the conference was really good maybe even a couple of months, but then we are back to our old ho-hum selves again looking for that next spiritual high. So what are we to do? Is being in awe and reverence of God a bad thing we should not desire? The answer is emphatically NO! God wants us to be in awe of him. He wants us to stand amazed. But obviously being whipped into a frenzy by a great concert, worship service, or conference is not working to maintain. So once again we are forced to go to the word of God, The Bible, and see why we are not maintaining that awe, or better yet how we CAN manitain the awe of Him.

So here it is in short order, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it:

Acts 2:42-47 (ESV) And they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.(emphasis added)

So here is how we get awe:
1. Devote ourselves to the apostles teachings. Anyone know where we can find that? Oh wait they are recorded in the Bible, so I guess we need to read that EVERY SINGLE DAY!
2. Devote ourselves to fellowship with other believers.
3. Devote ourselves to the breaking of bread in the form of The Lord's Supper.
4. Devote ourselves to prayer!
5. Day by Day attend the church services and bible studies and outreaches.
6. Devote ourselves to breaking bread in homes, in the form of eating meals and fellowshiping outside of the church building with one another.
7. Have a glad heart that praises God and is generous towards others.

The results:
1. Awe will come upon every soul!
2. We will have favor with all the people!
3. And the Lord will add day by day to the numbers of those being saved.

Let's talk about this everyone, because by golly this is what I want to see in the church. Instead of getting whipped into a frenzy lets get in the word and see what it says and then obey. Start posting your replies to this here.