Skip to content Clarify the Call: Clarify the Community Aug 24 · 52 min ...more
Clarify the Call: Clarify the Community
August 24, 2025 · 52 min
What does true Christian community look like in an age of isolation? Drawing from Acts 2, Pastor Jeff unveils how the early church created an unstoppable movement through radical devotion and generosity. He shares how authentic community happens when believers gather in both large and small groups, serve together generously, and expect God to work powerfully. Whether you're seeking deeper relationships or wanting to make a kingdom impact, this message provides practical steps for experiencing life-changing biblical community. Don't miss this inspiring call to move beyond surface-level church attendance into genuine, transformative fellowship! Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church August 24, 2025 · 52 min · BRAVE Church
What does true Christian community look like in an age of isolation? Drawing from Acts 2, Pastor Jeff unveils how the early church created an unstoppable movement through radical devotion and generosity. He shares how authentic community happens when believers gather in both large and small groups, serve together generously, and expect God to work powerfully. Whether you're seeking deeper relationships or wanting to make a kingdom impact, this message provides practical steps for experiencing life-changing biblical community. Don't miss this inspiring call to move beyond surface-level church attendance into genuine, transformative fellowship! Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less What does true Christian community look like in an age of isolation? Drawing from Acts 2, Pastor Jeff unveils how the early church created an unstoppable movement through radical devotion and generosity. He shares how authentic community happens when believers gather in both large and small groups, serve together generously, and expect God to work powerfully. Whether you're seeking deeper relationships or wanting to make a kingdom impact, this message provides practical steps for experiencing life-changing biblical community. Don't miss this inspiring call to move beyond surface-level church attendance into genuine, transformative fellowship! Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Well, morning. Thanks for being here. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses who are worshiping with us today? It's so good to have all of you. Let me start with a personal thank you after last week's0:11 message. We had over 200 people sign up to help us with student ministry this fall going forward, which is a praise to the Lord for that. What I'd like to say to you is a couple of things.0:23 Number 1, let's continue to be prayerful about what the Lord is gonna do starting on September ninth. On Tuesdays, We're gonna start student ministry in a whole new way, on both campuses. If you're here in Englewood,0:34 we're gonna be meeting at the academy. That's where we're gonna be meeting. Also, it's gonna start at 7 o'clock. All our ministry will start 7 o'clock on Tuesdays in September. So be prayerful, but also this, be patient.0:45 Be patient. We're trying to get back in touch with all of you. It's gonna take a little time as we build this up and get it going. So just be patient and we know the Lord's gonna put you in the right spot. Okay? So with0:54 that, let's continue our worship this morning as Lord gets ready to speak to us. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory and all the honor and all the praise because they all1:06 belong to you. Lord, it's such a privilege to gather with your people and sing praises to your name, to seek your face and to hear you speak. And Lord, we're encouraged to get ready to hear your word because we as1:18 a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for everyone who has1:30 gathered, who desires to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by
1:41 saying the word amen. Amen. Everybody wants to be part of a championship team and not just be part of it, but contribute to it in a significant way. We
1:53 yearn to be part of something. It's why when we try out for a team that we wanna be a part of when we don't make it, we're disappointed. It's like when we try out for theater for a certain part and we don't get to be in
2:02 the play, we're disappointed. It's like when we go to get in a certain college that we think we wanna go to and we get rejected, we get disappointed because all of us in our DNA have this desire
2:14 to be significant in some area of our life, to belong in some area of our life and to make a significant contribution. And that's why if we don't have something like that in our life, we try to find things like
2:26 that, where we can find significance and find belonging. Every gang that's ever formed is they're trying to form significance and belonging. And the reason for that, I wanna let you know is that's what you're created
2:37 for. God created you with the desire to belong and God created you with a desire to be significant because that's why you're drawn that way because you know that you want your life to matter. You know you want
2:49 your life to count and you know that you wanna bless other people along the way. And it's our God that did that. And so as we've been in this series called clarify the call, we've been talking about how we clarify the
2:59 mission, what God wants us to do, and how we clarify the foundation for him to come, and clarifying his presence among us and clarifying the gospel. And last week we took a look at clarifying the now right now. Today, I
3:11 wanna clarify the community. I wanna clarify what it is that God wants His church to be. I wanna clarify what God wants and invites every single born again believer into.
3:23 Because if we understand from his word, what he desires, then we will realize that the things that ache and go on in our heart that we want to make a contribution to we'll recognize this is exactly
3:35 what God designed you for. So if you ever had questions on what's the church supposed to be and how am I supposed to contribute and what difference does it make, God has a word for you today. So I wanna encourage you,
3:46 open up your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, we're gonna be in verses 42 through 47. We'll get through the chapter today. And as I read these verses to you, then we'll unpack them together. I'm gonna give you
3:57 5 truths about Christian community that God has designed so that you can understand from with clarity what God wants. Acts chapter 2 verse 42, hear the word of the Lord. He says, they
4:09 were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs
4:21 were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and all had things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and sharing them with all as anyone
4:33 might have need. Day by day, continuing with 1 mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
4:45 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day, those who were being saved. And here in this passage, what we see
4:57 is what the young church gave their lives to and what Christian community look like. You remember this passage comes right after the fact where Peter has preached the gospel and they're cut to the heart
5:09 and say, what must we do? He says, repent, be baptized, and you'll receive the Holy Spirit. He tells them it's for them and their children and all who are far from God, and 3000 people repent and put their faith in
5:21 Christ and are baptized that very day. So now what are they gonna do? Now they're saved. Now they're born again. And this is where our story picks up because now for the first time we have Christian community. The church
5:32 has been given birth. And I'm gonna give you 5 truths about the community that God has established and what he desires. And the first is this, that God desires his community to be devoted to his
5:44 kingdom purposes. He desires that his community would be devoted to his kingdom purposes. Notice what he says, they were continually devoting themselves. Continually
5:56 devoting yourselves is more than just an afterthought. Continually devoting yourselves is not a once a week, I'll think about this if I have time. Continually devoting yourself is when your
6:07 heart, your mind and your soul are all about something. When somebody is continually devoted to their physical training, they're going after it every single day. When somebody's continually devoting themselves to
6:19 their academics, they're going after it every day. So the apostle the disciples, these 3000 people that just came to know Christ, from that moment onward, they were continually
6:31 devoting themselves to some things and the scripture's gonna unlock what those things are so we can know as a Christian community, what we should be devoting ourselves to. And they were devoting themselves to the
6:42 apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. In case you're wondering what should be happening in Christian community, what should be going on in the church, what should be going on in
6:51 groups, what should be going on in ministries, these 4 things are what they devoted themselves to. These are primary foundational things. And the first was this, the apostles teaching. They
7:03 didn't have the New Testament. They had men who had spent time with Jesus for 3 and a half years. They had men who had seen and witnessed all of His ministry. They had men who had watched Him
7:14 die on a cross brutally. They had men who saw Him after He was resurrected from the dead and were commissioned. And now these men have been filled and indwelled with the Holy Spirit, and they are speaking the word of
7:25 God, much of which we have codex in our Bible today. So what were they dedicated to? Here's what they were. They were a biblical community. They were a biblical community. They were dedicated to the word of God. They
7:37 were hungry for God's word and not opinions. If you wanna know 1 of the things that needs to be going on in the church, we need to be dedicated to God's word and not opinions. If God ever moves you out of the Denver
7:47 area, you're no longer able to attend brave, please find a church that opens up the bible and heralds the word of God with authority. That's what they gave themselves to. They gathered because they said, we need to
7:59 hear the authority of God's word. Right? And so they were dedicated to that. Second was this, they were dedicated to fellowship. Now we need to redeem this word a little bit. Oftentimes
8:11 in church fellowship involves a punch bowl and cookies, or some brother in Christ that sits at a table. Hey brother, let's have some fellowship. I mean, fellowship we have with
8:22 God through Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with Him. We have a relationship with Him, but we also have a relationship with other people. But this fellowship is more than just relationship.
8:35 Here's why. When Jesus Christ came and he died on the cross for all your sins and was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven and glory, What he does is anybody anywhere at any time who through
8:46 repentance and faith believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and savior and turn from their sin and turn to Christ, they are new creations. They are born again. And guess what happens? God becomes
8:58 your father. So what happens through Christ when we're born again? All of us who share Christ have the same father, which makes us what? Makes us brothers and sisters
9:10 in Christ. So the Bible says to treat older women like mothers and older men like fathers and treat younger men and women like sisters and brothers, why? Because here's what we are in Christ. We're a family.
9:23 Family's fellowship. This is all the 1 another's in the New Testament. There's 59 of them listed. Some are listed 2 times or 3 times, but just think about these. I'm not gonna read all of them to you today,
9:35 but love 1 another, be devoted to 1 another, live in harmony with 1 another, accept 1 another, encourage 1 another, teach 1 another, serve 1 another, confess your sins to 1 another, pray for 1
9:46 another, be at peace with 1 another, offer hospitality to 1 another. How about greet 1 another? Greet 1 another is more than saying hello. It's more than just a high 5 and a fist bump. Greet is like we're family.
9:59 We're we're coming together. Greet 1 another. Why? All the 1 another's involved this. Because Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior and God is your father, we're family. They were devoted to
10:10 that. They treated each other as family. They weren't just church attenders that came from different parts of the world. They were family. They had a fellowship. So they they were dedicated
10:22 to the Bible, the biblical truth. They were a biblical community. They were a fellowshipping community. Guess what else they dedicated themselves to? To the breaking of bread. This means a couple things. I
10:34 believe here it means the the Lord's Supper, which He instituted on the night that He was betrayed, where Jesus took bread and wine and symbolically talked about how these represent Him and that they're to partake of
10:46 those until He gets back. And that's what we do. It means in that community, it was Christ centered. Jesus was the center of everything that they did. When they got together, they wanted to honor Christ. They wanted to
10:57 worship Christ. They wanted to give allegiance to Christ. They wanted to tell Christ that he was the reason that they were gathering. Breaking of bread also involved common meals, which was the fellowshipping
11:09 that they did as they went from house to house that we'll read about here later. But and so not only were they a biblical community and a fellowship a fellowshipping community, they were a Christ centered community doing
11:19 the things that honored the Lord Jesus Christ. And then finally this, and to the prayers. Right? Into prayer. So they were dedicated to what? Being a praying
11:31 church. Being a praying church. What's a praying church? A praying church is a church that say says, prayer is more than just a duty. Prayer is more than just a have to. Prayer is more than just a
11:43 better do this more. Prayer is the actual life source of everything we are as a church. It means we've been given God's word, but through prayer, we have access to the living God and
11:55 we can talk to the living God and the living God can talk back to us through his word. He speaks, he's alive. So if you're looking for a church and you're like, I gotta find a church, I'm church hopping. Here's 4 things
12:06 you wanna find in that church. You wanna find a biblical church that sees himself as a family that relates to 1 another, that honors Christ in everything and is dedicated to prayer. Those 4 things
12:18 have to be central. Like, there's a lot of sports teams. There's a lot of footballs just getting started. There's a lot of teams that are gonna, oh, we're gonna be this and we're gonna be that. Any team that's not
12:29 dedicated to the fundamentals, it doesn't matter how talented they are, they'll never be any good. No matter the church, no matter how many people come, no matter how big or broad it is, no matter what things they're
12:39 accomplishing, if we're not dedicated to these 4 truths, we don't have the centrality of everything God wants community to be. He wants us to be dedicated to His word. He wants us to be dedicated
12:51 to 1 another. He wants us to be dedicated to Christ, and He wants us to be dedicated to prayer, completely dependent upon Him. Amen? And that's what we wanna be as a church,
13:03 Whether we're gathering on Sundays or, you know, whether we're gathering in community, however we're serving on teams, that's exactly what God would have for us. We wanna be devoted to His kingdom purposes.
13:15 When we do that, it means we're hungry for who He is and not the opinions of the world and not what the culture says we should be doing. Amen? So let's be a community that's devoted to His kingdom purposes. Second is
13:27 this, the community that God desires is shaped by His manifest presence. It's shaped by His manifest presence. It says this, as they were devoted to these things, it says everyone
13:38 kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. So what was going on? As people were
13:50 watching what God was doing, they were amazed at all that God was doing. Why? Because when you're in a community where the word of God is central, where the Lordship of Christ is central, where fellowship with
14:02 others is central and prayer is central, what you experience is God among his people. Now let me explain manifest presence. I mean, God is omnipotent. He's he's all powerful, but he's
14:14 omnipresent. He's everywhere. Psalm 1 39 says, where can I go and get away from God? I mean, you can't flee from the Lord. Anywhere you go, he's already there. I mean, God's omnipresent. Right? So
14:26 everywhere you go, there he already is. But then there's an indwelling presence of the holy spirit. When you repent of your sins and believe in Christ, the holy spirit comes to take up residence in your life. So if
14:36 you're born again, the Holy Spirit's with you everywhere you go. So there's an indwelling presence, but then there's a manifest presence. And a manifest presence is a little different. The way we
14:48 define manifest presence would be like this. That's when his presence is known and felt and experienced in a tangible way among his people. It's when God does something like that was the Lord.
15:00 Or I walked on this campus today, I just sensed God was among us. It's when I'm worshiping and God's presence is there. It's when I'm hearing the word and God's holy spirit puts himself on that word and it
15:12 penetrates your heart like that was the Lord speaking to me. It's his manifest presence. So what did they want and what did they have? They weren't trying to drum up with emotion things to get
15:24 God to work. Now, I've been a Christian a long time. I've been in a lot of meetings. And some people think if you play worship long enough and loud enough and dance hard enough, that something's gonna
15:36 happen. Usually people are just tired. That's why they fall down. Right? I I I don't need to be tricked emotionally to experience God. I've been in places I've experienced God that have been far
15:47 more reserved and stoic. I've been in places that experienced God that are far more free. I can I've experienced God in a lot of places, but here's what we want. We want the genuine expression of God, not something man
15:59 made or manufactured. Does that make sense? And that's what they were looking for. They wanted God to show up. When they gathered, when they came to church, here's what their prayers were. Lord, we want
16:10 you. We want more of you. We don't have enough of you. We wanna see what you want. We want you to speak to us. We wanna honor you. Be present in our meetings. And you know exactly what that's like if you're born again
16:21 when those things happen. We experience God's manifest presence among us. And we've seen it as a church over and over and over again. Some of you have seen it in ways I haven't seen it, and
16:33 I've seen it in ways that you haven't. I've seen God heal people. I've seen God put marriages back together. I've seen God open doors for people with their finances and jobs. I've watched Him do all sorts of things where
16:44 we would say, there's no way that happens if God didn't do it. And that's what they wanted to be. They wanted to experience His manifest presence. And when you experience it, there's a sense of awe and wonder
16:55 like, that's amazing. Our God is still with us. Our God is still doing things. And that's a massive difference in just being religious and going to religious services and doing that stand up, sit down, go back, go
17:07 do this thing that God's been with us. And when God's been with us, 1 touch of the Lord changes everything. Amen. We wanna be a community that's devoted to his kingdom purposes. We wanna be a community
17:19 that's shaped by his manifest presence. And then third, we wanna be a community that's marked. We wanna be a community that's marked by overwhelming generosity. We wanna be a community that's marked
17:31 by overwhelming generosity. Notice what it says in verse 43. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking
17:42 place. Verses 44 and 45, and all those who had believed were together and held all things in common. And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as
17:54 anyone might have need. They're overwhelmingly generous. Now, let me clear up a couple things because sometimes people read these verses and they're like, that's why God's for communism. That's why God's for socialism.
18:05 He's not. Okay? He's not. Everybody in this story willingly chose to do all of this because they were motivated by Christ. They were not forced. They were not
18:16 mandated. So some Christians in the body of Christ have chosen to live in a commune and live in community and do all that. That's wonderful. That's what you choose to do, but you don't have to choose to do that. But we
18:27 need to be marked by overwhelming generosity, and that's what they were. Also, will notice they gave to everyone as they had need. It's not like they lumped all of it together and said, okay, we all get the same amounts.
18:39 Right? That's communism and socialism and all the other garbage isms that are out there. Right? What they did was they were here's why they did it. They were overwhelmingly generous because they were so grateful to God
18:50 for all that he did, and they recognize everybody in their community was their family, and they were so motivated to see their family be have everything that they needed that many people were selling all their
19:00 possessions, many people were bringing their money to church and say, hey, however the family can benefit from this, let's make sure everybody in the family has everything that they need. And that's what they were doing.
19:10 It was overwhelmingly generous. And we're gonna read in a little bit because you'll see, how do you think this impacted people outside the church? When they saw men and women and boys and girls and people that had
19:21 different complexions of skin and different ethnicities and different languages, and they're all together and they have nothing in common, but because even though they have nothing in common, they're watching from the
19:31 outside and all these people are being incredibly generous with everything they have towards 1 another. That's the church. This is your family. That's why the Bible says you need to be part of a local
19:42 church. You must be. It's God's plan A. He doesn't have a plan B. Some people make excuses. Well, my ministry is bigger than a local Nobody's ministry is bigger than any local church. Everybody needs to be in a local
19:54 church. Everybody needs to be with family. Everybody's gotta have people in their lives that can help them grow. Amen? And this is what the early church was completely devoted to. They were
20:06 marked by overwhelming generosity. I've been so grateful to serve a church like ours that has always been marked by overwhelming generosity, And we could walk through the seasons of our church from
20:18 buying our first building to getting this building, to getting our building in Westminster, to starting our school to do there's always been people in our church who are overwhelmingly generous to the things of God, and
20:29 I praise God for a church like that. It doesn't mean we're a rich church, it means we're a generous church. Why? What's the difference? Because God doesn't need your money. He doesn't need my money. He doesn't need your
20:40 money. He's not up in heaven saying, oh, if you have a lot of money, I can use it. He doesn't need it. He's looking for generous people. And when he sees people that value him and want him and
20:52 value each other as family and are generous in every way that way, then God can do great things. And it's not just financially either, is it? When you're born again, I want you to know
21:03 something. The Holy Spirit of God comes into your life. He baptizes you into this family. He regenerates you. He fills you. He indwells you. And guess what else he does? He gifts
21:15 you. He gives you certain gifts. Now, can I tell you why he gives you gifts? He doesn't give you gifts so that you prosper in the world. God does not gift you so that you can personally profit. God gifts
21:27 you so that you can serve his body in a way that builds up the body so that the church can continue to live on mission. Amen? Every single person
21:39 in the body of Christ has been supernaturally gifted by God for a kingdom purpose. Who me? Yes, you. You may not be aware
21:50 of your gifts. You may be growing and understanding them or you may be fully aware of what they are, but you've been gifted by the Lord to serve him. I've heard people say that football is the ultimate team sport. It's
22:02 not. The church of Jesus Christ is because in the church, there is no sideline. In the church, there is no second, third or fourth string. In the church, everybody's on the field. Now, you may
22:14 choose to think that you're on the sideline and not do anything, but you're actually on the field doing nothing. Everybody in the church has been called to serve.
22:26 Mark 10 45, Jesus said it even when he came. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. How did he serve?
22:37 Overwhelmingly generously. What did he do? He left heaven, second person of trinity, God since eternity, put on flesh for all eternity, came to this
22:49 world, fulfilled the law, was mocked, was beaten, was spit on, was persecuted, was hung on a cross and took the wrath of God on the cross in your place
23:01 for all your sin, then rose from the dead and then sent his holy spirit after he ascended into heaven and empowered every single believer for service. Listen, Ephesians 2 8 and 9
23:12 says, for it is by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not your own doing. It's a gift of God so that no 1 should boast. I love that verse. God saved me. You know what the next verse says? Verse 10. For we, not
23:23 me, not you. For we, the community, are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in them. So what's it mean?
23:35 God did all the saving in your life, and when he saved you, he gifted you because he already designed works for you to do that he wants you to walk in, that you will walk in if you serve him generously.
23:47 How did Jesus serve? Overwhelmingly generously, he gave it all. You cannot serve God too generously. I mean, you can't give an offering and be like, but God can't outdo that.
23:59 You can't serve in the church with your time and say that's more than Jesus ever did. I mean, there's no way we can out serve, out give, out anything Jesus. He's overwhelmingly generous. And as
24:11 his saints, if we understand how wonderfully generous Jesus has been to us, then what happens to us? We too are translated into people that wanna become overly overwhelmingly generous to Him, His
24:22 kingdom and His people, amen, and our family. And so that's why no matter where you go to church, no matter where you go to church, you need to be part of a local church somewhere and you need to serve in that
24:34 local church. Did you know that? That's God's plan. I mean, I'll have you I'll I'll put up the I'll put up our vision statement for our church just just on this, screen. Our our vision statement is to assemble a
24:46 spirit filled army to fight for the fulfillment of the great commission in our lifetime. That's that's our that's our vision statement. Now, every church has a little different way of saying that, and that's totally
24:55 fine, but it needs to be biblical. It comes from Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 to 20 where Jesus said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
25:05 the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I commanded you. And I'll be with you always till the end of the age. So here's what he says. Go make disciples,
25:18 baptize them, teach them their identity, teach them everything that I've taught you. I'll be with you forever. That that's the great commission. That's what we do. We just word it this way. We wanna assemble a spirit
25:27 filled army to fight for the fulfillment of the great commission in our lifetime. I wanna see it in our lifetime. I wanna I wanna know that we've made the greatest contribution, and if it if it doesn't happen in my
25:35 lifetime, I wanna know that we've contributed the most that we could have in our generation to see that happen. Amen? Amen. Now now here's the truth. Like, that's our that's brave. I mean, when you get to heaven, don't
25:45 look for brave. It won't be there. There's only 1 church in heaven. It's the church of Jesus Christ. Okay? But God has local churches that he uses to extend his kingdom. I mean, that's our logo that says brave. It's also
25:57 our logo at the top, the guide on flag with the 5 stripes that represents being bold, resolute, authentic, virtuous, and engaged. So if you see the guide on flag, that's just symbolic of living on mission for Jesus
26:07 Christ, being bold, resolute, authentic, virtuous, and engaged. But if you're gonna be part of that, and that's what our church is about, then we have what's called here a core. We have what's called here a core. Core
26:18 are our serving teams for Christ. That's all they are. We have all sorts of teams in our core that serve. When you rolled into the parking lot this morning on whatever campus you were on, there were people out there
26:29 greeting you. There are people out there showing you where to park. When you came into the building, there were greeters. There were ushers. There were people that set up communion so we could take communion later in our
26:37 service. There are people down with your kids right now investing the gospel of Jesus Christ and praying for them. So we all we have all sorts of teams that happen all the time, and without our core, there's no ministry
26:48 that gets done. Without our core, we we can't get anything accomplished. Right. It's it's God's people. Now I wanna talk about this word core for a second. It's spelled c o r p s. It's pronounced corps. Can
27:00 you say that with me out loud and loudly? Cor. Say it 1 more time really loud. Cor. You're not saying it loud enough. Those of you in the back, you're not even saying it at all. Say it with me. It's pronounced.
27:12 Core. It's core. It's core. That's what it is. It's from a Latin word corpus, which means body. That's what it means, and it's a body of people united for a common purpose or organized for a specific function.
27:24 That's why we have a core. Why? Because every army needs a core. Even the marines call their whole units a corps. Right? We gotta have a corps. Why? Because the church is not a hospital for
27:36 sinners and or it's not a country club for sinners. It's not a hospital for saints. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an army. So serve the army. That doesn't mean, and I need to be careful here, there are
27:48 seasons in your life as a believer where you may go through significant pain and hurt, where what you need to do during that season is sit and receive and weep and be filled, and that's
28:00 fine. There's seasons that come like that. Just don't make it a 20 year season. Because sometimes what God does is when you've been hurt and you begin to use your gifts and you start
28:11 serving in a certain way, serving others is what heals the brokenness that's been in you. So this is not me as your pastor saying, we need you to serve, we need more volunteers, nothing like that. This is me
28:23 telling you as your pastor, God created you to do something significant for him, and I'm just inviting you in to do that. And we call that the core at Brave. Say that word with me 1 more time. It's called what?
28:35 Core. Yeah. Thank you. I just wanna make sure we get it because there's a lot of people that say, well well, it looks like corpse. No. It it it's it's
28:47 core, but I can show you how you can make it a corpse. You add an e on the end of the word and it's a corpse. So I'm gonna tell you about 5 e's that make our core, our life giving body of
28:58 Christ, a dead body. You wanna hear them? Say yes. Yes. So here's how the core becomes a corpse. You add 5 e's. First one's this, excuses.
29:10 When you add excuses, then the core becomes a corpse because then you have people that are like, yeah, I can't do it right now. I got too much else going on. This is going, that's going, this happened, that. You don't
29:21 don't count on me and you make whatever excuse you want. When you start making excuses for why you can't serve in the body of Christ, though you're already in the body of Christ, gifted for the body of Christ,
29:33 being held accountable by God when you meet him for what you do with the body of Christ, you make all sorts of excuses and say, yeah, don't wanna do anything. And you make the core, this body that's alive on mission,
29:45 a corpse. Number 2, entitlement. Entitlement. I will. I'll preach it. Entitlement. Right? Entitlement is the church exists to serve me.
29:57 When I walk into those doors, the parking space that I needed better have happened before I get to the doors. When I walk in the door, I better be greeted, but super friendly, but not too friendly because I like it like
30:07 this. The seat I want better be available. The programs for my kids better be set up just right. Temperature in the room should be good. I better sit around friendly people that don't bother me too much. I need it to be
30:17 about me. And if it's not going my way, I'm out. Right? That's entitlement I deserve. Third 1 similar to it, it's ego.
30:29 Ego is where you say, it's all about me. Hey, let me tell you what I can do. How come you're not recognizing me? I need to lead this. I need to do this. People need to look to me. People need to see this about me. This
30:38 is what you should be doing. This is what we should be doing. If we're not doing what I wanna do, when I wanna do it, how I wanna do it, where I wanna do it, when I wanna do it, I'm mad at that church. That's ego. God
30:48 does not bless ego. The core becomes a corpse when you have ego. Can I give you 2 more? Exemption. Exemption is when
30:59 you say, I could, but I'm not really the serving type. You know, service is good for some people, but not for me. No. You were created for service. You're not exempt.
31:12 God needs you. The body of Christ needs you. By the way, do you realize on judgment day as a Christian, you're not gonna be held accountable for your sin. That was taken care of past, present, and future. You'll be
31:22 welcomed into God's presence. You know what you are held accountable for? Is how well you served him from the moment you were born again until you meet him. Right? I'm just inviting you in saying you're on the kingdom
31:34 field. God wants you to know your gifts and he wants you to be deployed for him. And then sometimes as a church, we need to repent of this last 1. It's called exclusion. And exclusion is when you say, oh, I don't see how
31:45 they fit in. I don't think that person can really help us. I don't think they're all that gifted. I don't think they can really do this. And you can do it as a large church, or you can do it as a small group of people,
31:56 or you can do it as a ministry where you see somebody and you don't see the value in them that God sees in them, and you don't know how to deploy them or use them for kingdom purposes. Here's the truth. If you're using
32:07 your gift to the glory of God, there is great joy in doing it. Right? And here's the thing. When when you sign up to be part of the core, you're not getting
32:18 married to the core. Meaning there's a lot of people that are scared to serve in a church like, what if I try this and I don't like it? Then don't continue to do it. I mean, sometimes it takes 2 or 3 or 4 tries to get on
32:30 a serving team where you're saying, okay, this 1 actually fits. I tried 4 year olds, boys in the nursery, that wasn't my jam, but I can do really well over here. And
32:42 keep in mind, serving teams, you're not serving brave, you're serving through brave. These serving teams are for Christ. We're serving the Lord Jesus Christ. This word core, when I started thinking about
32:54 it, it's really God looking down. You know what God is? God is a champion of real people serving. That's what a core is. It's when God sees his people and he's I'm a champion of real people
33:06 serving. That's what our core is. They're serving teams for Christ, and he's invited you to be a part of it. As brave as your church, there is no reason in the world that you can't be a part of 1 of his serving teams. So
33:16 don't let the e make the core a corpse. I wanna make sure because I didn't hear Westminster last time talk about this. How do we pronounce the word core? Can you say it really with me 1 more time really loud? Core. Thank
33:28 you. Thank you. That's what we have here. You may go to other churches in the future and they have volunteers, they have serving teams, they have dream teams, they have That's fine. Call it whatever you want. Just use
33:38 your gifts to serve the Lord. Amen? Amen. Be overwhelmingly generous with your time, with your resources, with your gifts, because we're all family and we're counting on you. Number 4
33:51 is God's community needs to be engaged in weekly rhythms. Needs to be engaged in weekly rhythms. Notice what it says, day by day, continuing with 1 mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to
34:02 house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. Remember, they were
34:14 devoted to these things. Devotion was not a 1 day a week thing. If you're devoted to something, you're gonna be about that pretty much every single day. It doesn't mean every single day they went to the temple and every
34:25 single day they gathered in homes. Meant day to day, this is the norm of what was going on in these believers' lives. They were gathering in the temple. They were worshiping. They were going from house to house breaking
34:33 bread and having meal. Why? Because they were devoted to the things of God 7 days a week. There's no team in the world that says we just show up for the games. Right? There's no military unit that says we don't
34:45 we don't train. We don't do anything. We just show up at the war. I mean, anybody that's devoted to anything, there's no Olympian that just shows up on the day of the Olympics and says, I'm here. I'm pretty talented. I
34:55 mean, there's dedication and devotion, not just on the weekends, but for days and months and years. That's what they were devoted to and that's how they lived. And notice this. Did you notice this?
35:07 They had glad and sincere hearts, means they were enjoying doing all this. This was not a drag. This is not like, oh my goodness. The apostles are making us serve. This is such a
35:19 drag. I'm so busy writing. No. They were getting together with so much gladness and sincerity hearts knowing that well, you guys know. Friends, this is so temporary, what we're experiencing right now.
35:31 If you live another 50 years, this is so temporary to what's coming. You have no idea. No no no mind is conceived. No eye is seen. No ear is heard. What God has prepared for those who love him. If we even got a glimpse
35:42 into the coming kingdom of what was coming, you would not wanna stay here 1 more day. I mean, that's how good it is. And they were so turned on by Jesus and what he had done in their lives that they were engaged in these
35:53 weekly rhythms of big groups and small groups. They went to the temple and then they gathered in homes. And that's what they did. And notice this, because they had gladness and sincerity of hearts and they were praising
36:04 God, they had favor with all the people. Isn't it interesting that in a culture that was totally hostile and it killed Jesus, that didn't want anything to do with Christianity, that all the people at that time were now
36:15 giving favor to those people. What was what was so favorable? Here's what was favorable. The people on the outside were looking in at the people on the inside and they couldn't make sense of it because there were people
36:25 from different nations and people with different languages and people with different socioeconomic backgrounds and people that were different ages, and they they didn't look like they fit together, and there was nothing
36:35 in common that they had, and yet all these people were so incredibly overjoyed in their worship, and they're selling all their property to bring together so that all these people can enjoy it. And people on the outside
36:46 were looking in saying, whatever they got, that is so special. I gotta be a part of that because that's what they saw and they were given favor. And so in the temple, coming
36:58 together to pray, coming together to worship, and from house to house breaking bread and fellowshipping with 1 another, that's what they did. That's why at Brave, we do big groups and we do small groups. And our small
37:08 groups here, we call them cadres. Cadres is simply this. If you don't know what a cadre is, it's a small group on purpose. That's what it is. It's where you grow an authentic relationships.
37:20 Right? It comes from the Latin word quandrum, which means square frame or framework. In English, cadres have come to be known as a core group within a larger body that provides structure leadership and training for
37:31 others. For us, it's the way we grow in our ministry with 1 another as a family of God. Right? So our core are serving teams for Christ. Our cadres are small groups on purpose. Now let me
37:43 talk about cadres for just a second. About 2 years ago, we rolled out the name cadres, and I I just gotta be honest. I think we've had a couple false starts on them. And I wanna tell you in the history of our church,Show more
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