And respect, really, from early church, grows weak by weak. I can't wait to get up, which is a great thing for a preacher, to get up on Monday morning at the day of study. And I just, I can't wait to get up and find out what is going to happen next. I love and I respect the boldness and the grace and the spirit and the fellowship and the unity and the vision and the drive and the focus and the vulnerability and the toughness and the midst of persecution, all of this that we see in early church. And that really is a prayer list, is it not for your own church? What a great thing, what a great list to pray that you might see in your church, Trinity, Presbyterian church. I think that's part of the reason why we're so inspired by the story. We find it so refreshing, if they can win, we can win. They're up against the same world, the same pluralistic society that we're against, that we're up against. And they win, they have victory, it's very encouraging for us as we live in a day. It's the tendency, it's the field pessimistic, the field defeated. Here's a story, here's a true story out of history about the inspiration of the Holy Spirit telling us that the underdog actually wins, they have victory, the church is victorious. If you're anything like me, you want to know how. If you love the church, you love this church right here, this church called Trinity Church, you want to know how, how can Trinity Church enjoy the same victory that the early church knew and Luke tells us, he tells us how, he tells us again by inspiration of the Holy Spirit what it is, they characterize it such a church, such a congregation that can gain victory over the world. The first characteristic, as you'll notice in the outline, is that it's a church that's dependent upon the power of God. Look at verse 33, the first part says, and with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. You recall from last week, I've already mentioned that this morning, the spontaneous reaction of these first Christians, when in trouble was not, was not to petition the local authorities. Sometimes our tendency or our temptation, their spontaneous reaction was not to call upon the powerful friends and Thai tracers and say, well, I've got friends, I'll see what I can do about it, I'll see who I can talk to, they didn't do that, they didn't take up arms, they didn't form a committee, they didn't ask for a study to be done, what do they do? In one voice, they prayed, and they prayed for the power of God, and they prayed that they might be faithful in the midst of their trouble, that they might have confident in God alone. What did God do? He shook the house in which they prayed. They gave them even more of the Spirit, a greater measure of His Spirit. Brother, we've got to learn it. We need to learn today. We need to learn as a church, that if there's any hope whatsoever of any real ministry coming out of this church, any real genuine ministry that's going to come out of us as a body of believers, we've got to know that it's not going to happen purely in the natural realm, that we wouldn't buy into that, which is so popular today, it's not going to happen because of a certain staff, it's not going to happen because of a certain board of elders, or a certain board of deacons, or a lot of money, or a beautiful facility, or a lot of people. That's not what makes a church, it's not what makes a church. Victory is against the world. I know a lot of churches that have all of the above, and they've got, well, we might refer to it as a lot of successful programs, big crowds, the appearance of being alive, but there's anything but, because there's no spirit, because there's no revival, there's no, there's no changing of the world, there's just a bunch of people, a bunch of people playing church, and they play church like they play tennis. They play church on Sunday morning, that's why God's on Sunday afternoon. They play hard social life on the weekend, and then come Sunday morning, they just play church. There must first be, first a dependency upon God, but church doesn't have it, and they want it. God will make sure they have it. God will make it very clear to whom they must be, or upon whom they must be dependent, and when they're dependent, secondly or consequently, they will come to this supernatural presence of God that must saturate the life and the ministry of a church. Again, if there's any hope of having any real ministry, any lasting, genuine ministry, many of you are following me, you're asking, well, how, we want to know how, how can we experience the power of God like the early church? The number of ways, for one, the church must realize that, where her weapons are, their weapons are not of the flesh. You have to realize that our weapons are mighty in God, are pulling down strongholds, second Corinthians 10 verse 4 says, it's a church that realizes that their struggle is not against each other, it's not against the other churches in the same town. The struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age, that's a church that is dependent upon God when they know their real battle is spiritual, it's against the spiritual force is available in the heavenly realms. The Ephesians 6 verse 12, a church that's dependent upon God is a church that will fall on their face. They'll fall on their face together. So line themselves across straight before God as one and pray in one voice, much like we did, Wednesday night. That was one voice and we came together on a day of prayer and fasting and we came together as a family and brought ourselves again across straight before God. That's a church that's dependent upon God, a church that continually devotes herself to prayer. That's what the early church was doing, chapter 1 verse 4 saying in chapter 2 verse 42. And if the mentality of a church that's dependent upon God, it's saying, how can we pray more? How can we have more prayer groups? How can we have more prayer partners? How can I do something that would encourage a spirit of prayer among my brothers and sisters in the church? I'll tell you, a church that's dependent upon God is a church that checks their pride, the door. There's no room for pride in a church that's dependent upon God because why would anybody want their thoughts on themselves? We're looking at God. He's the source of our strength. If you want to know if a church is dependent upon God, you would see that self abacement is the norm. I don't have to be the center of intention. I don't have to be the center of every conversation. My children don't have to be the topic of every discussion. My fortune doesn't have to play a part in my spiritual influence in the church. Then and only then will God shake the foundations of the church and feel that church with a spirit so that they can then do real ministry, real lasting, genuine ministry. Another characteristic is that it's a church that's one in purpose and one in vision. Look at verse 32. Now, the multitude of those who believe were one of heart and one soul were of one heart and one soul. You ever get the idea that God's trying to tell us something? I mean, how many times can he bring this before as a congregation? They were of one mind, one for chapter 1, verse 14, there's one accord. They were all together, chapter 2, verse 1, of one mind, chapter 2, verse 46. With one accord, chapter 4, verse 24, and now of one heart and one soul, rather you know that they had been through some hard times together. The hard times had produced or what came out of hard times was a unified vision. They were committed. There was a commitment to the truth. There was commitment to the truth being proclaimed. There was a commitment to not compromising. There was a commitment to prayer and a commitment to the vision of the church and a commitment to the mission of the church and the message of the church. You might say, hard times drove that church together in the hard times, deepened their commitment. Do you know anything about that? Sure you do. Trinity Church know anything about hard times together, going through a hard spell, the Trinity Church know anything about having gone through some hard times and those hard times bringing you together, sure you do. What about all those years of self-reflection? Didn't it produce a vapor commitment that's coming out of this church? That's what I hear. It is true. So that what there is now in this church, this commitment, there's unity, there's vision, there's law, there's fellowship. Venture desire, greatest enemies, greatest enemies going to be within. The quickest way to fend the flame of factions among us, the quickest way, the quickest road to division in a church is selfishness, it's pride. It's always my way or no way, that will split a church right down the middle. It's people disgruntledness, such as sadness or whining, the mentality that anybody would ever say, this is my church, how dare you, how dare you change my church, we've never done it that way in my church, don't you know this is my church, well I'm sorry if I'm the first to inform you, this isn't your church, it never has been your church, it never will be your church. It's not my church, it's not the session's church, it's Jesus church, and it's his will, the will of the head of the church, the will of the king of the church, the will of King Jesus, that shall prevail in this church, it will. I want you to turn to the Philippians chapter 1, you really only need to turn if you have a New King James version, and if you don't, if you'll take the Pew Bible, because everybody needs to have a New King James version in front of you, because I want you to read something in unison, so make sure you have the New King James in front of you, Philippians chapter 1, it's page 143 in the Pew Bible, this is how Paul addressed the division at Philippi. Philippians 1, verse 27, don't read this part with me, but verse 27, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Look down at chapter 2 verse 2, fulfill my joy by being light-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Let's read together, beginning in verse 3 of chapter 2, we'll read through verse 8 together. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of man. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross. Basically, rather than the only hope of our church that our eyes would be on Jesus Christ, the key to this whole thing that we call selflessness is Christ-centeredness. If I am consumed by the glory of Jesus Christ, then my little opinion is going to take a back seat. If I'm consumed by the glory of Jesus Christ, that frees me to listen to people, rather than always have to be the one talking. If I'm consumed with the glory of Christ, then I can listen to other people for the sake of the gospel. I can defer my personal desires for the greater cause of the gospel as we face opposition within and without. And rather than we will, we will face opposition. Either it will drive us together or it will drive us apart. Either we will compromise or we will draw together and we'll cry in one voice and we'll stand firm as a body of believers in one voice, in one mind, in all those down to Jesus. Are we with one heart and soul fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ and His Lord, whatever the cost, whatever the cost is, and then a third characteristic of this idea of having all things in common, as proof that they were of one heart and one soul. Look at the second part of verse 32, neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. What a profound commitment these individuals had to one another, and don't overspiritualize it, they were giving a hard, cold cash, and they were doing whatever it took to get the cash into the church to meet needs. What kind of needs? Well, for one, every day needs. Look at verse 32, the third part of the verse, they had all things in common. In other words, this was, or in other words, what has not been said before is not communal living. This is not the scripture's proof, or scriptural support, or communism, or abolishing private property, nor did everyone do it, and no one was being made to do it. There's no legislation here. There was not compulsory. There were no pledge cards. It was voluntary, and it was spiritual. And certainly says something about our attitudes toward our possessions, that we understand what I own is not just mine, it is mine to share. What I have, I have, so that I can minister to others, what I have, I have, so that I can give. I should look at everything that I own with this incredible amount of our thought processes of generosity. I should always be thinking, why has God given me these things that I might look at the needs that others have? Like a Puritan preacher, he couldn't get home with his paycheck because he couldn't pass up a knee. He gave it away because he couldn't handle those who were being in need all around him. But it wasn't just everyday needs, it was exceptional, ladies, look at verse 34, nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostle's feet, and they distributed it each as anyone had need. Notice it is the apostle's feet thus far, they're laying this at their feet. They'll come a time when this job is going to be overly time consuming. You know that, so they're going to choose qualified men, gifted in service, gifted in mercy ministry. The role of the diagnosis, in other words, will play for it very soon in our study. And then you have an example of exceptional giving in verse 36, Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levine of the country of Cyprus, having land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostle's feet. So he's just going to run over that, this is Trinity Church. He's not going to talk about selling houses and selling land to meet people's needs. It's there, brethren. It's right there in front of us. Sometimes you say, oh, man, can you imagine somebody's Trinity selling one of their houses in order to meet somebody else's needs? We would think they were fanatical. We would think they'd taken their religion too far. What's gotten into that person? I'll say what's gotten into them, the Holy Spirit. Because when the Holy Spirit moves into a person's life, it is inevitable that they have great compassion, tremendous compassion for those in need. I'll say, I'll say in many times, on this one, individual give $50,000 in court sale, one time gift, in fact, to a mercy fund. They established the mercy fund in order to meet the needs of the people in the church. It wasn't given with strings attached, but there was the understanding. This is not portrayed yet. This was not necessarily for this one for people passing through. This was for people in the church who simply had it. They were hard-working people that didn't ask for it, but they couldn't make the ends made. I saw that funds and kids to college, help with us, help single mothers. It was beautiful. People would type in addicts. Not just overnight, but maybe more than that for weeks. You've seen that. Using what God has given them, taking in people who need help maybe for months at a time. I've watched people sell stocks. People that didn't have a whole lot, but yet still gave away stocks. Not for the tax purposes, but so that they would have the means to help another individual. I've seen people who really didn't have much at all. One lady in particular, one time in Columbus, said, that's so little. Take out her, shake, look out of her purse and say, who can I help? What shall I do? I'm going to take a son and a child, one of the summer camps. Who can I help? That's what we're talking about. Radical, you say. You know? I ask fanatical. He's being too religious. What's too religious? What's your definition of being too religious? Can you imagine sitting down with God and telling him what your definition of two religions is? Usually, when someone is cynical about somebody else's act of sacrifice and they make a derogatory comment, usually they make that comment to mask their own shame, don't they? Because you've done it, and I've done it. It's a very easy thing to do. So all they've lost their minds. They're just crazy. It's just the sensible, family to the sensible thing. I'm going to hold on to my possessions. Why is it that we hold on so tightly to our possessions, do you think? We have the most materially prosperous nation in the history of the world. We have more than anybody has ever had. Why do you think we have such a hard time letting any of it go? Because we're the most materially obsessed people in the history of the world. We love our money, and we love what our money does for us. So we create these heavens on earth. We buy that lie that you only live once. There are people in hell who believe you only live once. How do you get radical giving? You're a very giving people. I'm not just pounding here, I'm talking to myself. How do we get radical giving? You know how you get radical giving in church? It's when a people love God, and they love God's people. They love the kingdom, and they love the gospel. If you love the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you really believe in the mission of this church, you will do whatever is necessary to make sure the ministry takes place. You will do whatever it takes to fund it or to serve it. You will do that. If you love the gospel, if you believe in what is being preached, it was proclaimed, and what Trinity Church is doing, then you must take responsibility for it. Church is not a place that you just show up when you will. If you believe the gospel, and the gospel has taken hold of your heart, prove it by teaching sunny school, working in the nursery, being on this list on the cover of the book and the health of vacation Bible school, visit the elderly, work with the youth, serve on a committee, got one lady in the church that goes on every Friday and gives cookies to visitors. She could use some help, so I understand. You could do that. One lady in the office this week was coming out of the past she had done this. She would like to do it again, possibly. If she had some help, it would send a newsletter to our college students. Putting it in their terminology, something that they would enjoy, but telling them the news that is going on here so they don't lose contact with us. There are people languishing in their Christian lives in Montgomery, Alabama, who would thrive at Trinity Church. If only they were invited. They're not going to come unless you invite them. You're not going to invite them unless you believe in what's happening in this church. And you'll give. You'll give the mission. You'll give it to the general budget. And you'll support ideas. I know that I have a particular about staffing. I'm using this phrase. I'm going to bring it to the session. In the fall, hopefully, we're going to have a plan. In some way, we're going to use this on these nice staff to grow. That's not a pragmatic term. The term of expectation of what God can do. I really want to say some other things before we run out of time, so I'm going to say all the staff. I'm going to bring this up. Maybe I'll do a newsletter article on it. All the staff, the idea of perhaps some interns. There are seminaries, seminaries, who would love to be in a church like this, where you have to do a year internship. And you can get them in all kind of a way. But do you look at our mission, Brody? We can have a guy from seminary under his study in mission and just come and spend a year here under Bubba Phillips. Just spend a year under Bubba. There are young guys in seminary who would love to spend a year with Stanley Hartman. A guy who's been in the ministry for 50 years. And you know, we have the means to bring those people here. The youth directors are top priority. We've got 20 plus singles, meaning forming their own ministry right now. They're going to have a need. Young couples, it goes on and on, but we need to staff to grow. What I would say is this, if you can't get behind the ministry of this church, if you can't say I would do whatever it takes, whether selling a house or changing a diaper, I don't know which you think was worse. If you can't say that I will do whatever it takes to promote the ministry of that church, because I'm behind it, I believe in what's going on there, then you want to go somewhere else. You really should. You should look for another church. You should look for a place that you can believe in, and if you can get behind it, you can get involved rather than just showing up on a sunny morning to warm up you. Because I'm going to tell you this church is moving on. This church is moving forward. It says like a train moving out of the station, we have moved out of the station. We are on the moon. And this is not the kind of place that you can just show up every few weeks and expect it to be this thing. You can't miss the whole summer. In this church, it is show up in September and expect Trinity to be like it was three months ago. Because we're going to change every week. Every week we preach the word. Every week we sit under the preaching of the word. We're different people when we walk out of here. Lastly, I just make one comment about verse 33 about preaching in the gospel. This word grace. Great grace was given them all. And this is what we want at Trinity as well. The word really means favor. It's not so much God's grace or God's blessing. It was the favor of the residents of Jerusalem. A great interpretation is the Christians were given great respect. You know why? Because it was the way they preached. It was what they stood for. It was the way they treated each other. It was the way that there was no poverty in the Christian community. And the people in Jerusalem had a favorable impression of the church. The same thing could be an issue about Trinity Church. That all those in Montgomery would look with favor upon Trinity Church simply because of the way we're dependent upon God and our vision and the way we treat and take care of our own. As we go to this supper, I want to say that at the heart of this passage is law. So the greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. The second is like unto it that you love your neighbors yourself. At the very heart of this passage is law, the love of God. At the very heart of this meal is God's love for you and your love for him. At the heart of the meal is Christ's love for his bride and your love for his church. When you take this meal, you are saying to all the world, I love God with all my heart and all my soul and strength and mind. But you're also saying, I love my neighbor like I love myself. If you take that bread and that wine you put it in your mouth, you are publicly saying, I love every person in this sanctuary like I love myself and I would radically do whatever it took to meet that person's name. And if you can't say that, you really shouldn't take this supper. Because it's not an individual thing. We take it as a community. We take it as a family. And we suck with none other than the King, Jesus, King of all kings. If you are a believer this morning and you are genuinely broken over the message of the gospel to Jesus has plucked you out of sin and misery. And his love constrains you to repent of your sins. If you can say in honesty before God this morning that you are endeavoring to live a life that becomes a believer of Jesus Christ and you are invited, I'm not the one who invites you as if I'm inviting you to a Presbyterian table. It is the Scripture Christ Himself that invites you to eat this meal with Him. He who's glad and died that you might have a relationship with Him. He pays the ultimate sacrifice so that He might call you brother and sister. Our Him of preparation.