Today’s message is truly important. In fact, I’ll give you the title of the message, and then we’ll dive into it. The title is «Get with the Flow.» Get with the flow, as God is moving, and it’s going to be exciting. I’m teaching today; I’m not going to preach. My friends here may not believe me, but prayerfully one or two of you do. I want to share some foundational ideas and concepts that I believe are essential for us to get it right so that we can be an effective church.
So, I want to draw your attention to Acts, Chapter 6. You know, we are still in Acts; in fact, I don’t know if we’ll ever get out of Acts. We’ll touch on other places, but I believe that if we are truly trying to figure out who we need to be for such a time as now, we must go back to the origin to glean from what they saw—not necessarily what they did. Sometimes you have to do different things in different seasons, but we need to focus on what they knew, what they understood, what they saw, and what they were rooted and grounded in. If we’re going to truly be who God has called us to be in this season, we have to tap into that; we have to tap into the bedrock of their faith.
So, in Acts Chapter 6, I’m going to read the first four verses, and then we’ll pray before we get right into this message. It says, «Now, in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, 'It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry'—or, in the Greek, a better translation is 'to the attendance of the word.'»
Join me in prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word. It is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, and that’s what we’re here for—we’re here to tap into You. We’re here to connect with what You’re saying. God, there are so many people watching, so many listening, and others who will listen. I just thank you that You have given me the spirit of wisdom, revelation, insight, knowledge, and prophecy. God, may nothing in Your kingdom be off-limits to get the job done today. By the time we’re finished, God, we pray that You will do something in our hearts and minds, that You would align us so that we might reflect Your essence more now than ever before. I thank You, God, that there is healing, breakthrough, victory, clarity, and all the things that come into being when Your word is exalted. So do what you do best, God. We love You, thank You, and praise You, and we believe You for these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
If you connected with that prayer, just type «Amen» or «I receive it» in the feed right now. I want us to begin a rhythm of expressing this—put it out there and receive it. Just take a minute, go ahead and type «Amen, I receive it.» Whatever your flow is—if you’re feeling pumped and want to say «Let’s go!» or «72-0,» I’m all for it! However you get going, put it in the feed. Let’s get this thing started!
We’ve been discussing the modern church with the understanding that when we talk about the modern church, we’re not referring to a new church per se; rather, we’re talking about a current church. We are talking about being current. The church has always been meant to be fresh and flourishing. It has never been intended to be stale, old, exclusive, or impotent. God’s vision for the church has always been a vibrant, powerful, connected community of Holy Spirit-empowered individuals who change the world. That’s who we’ve always been.
The church was designed to be relevant in the world it serves—to be current to that generation, that era, and that dispensation—while remaining true to the essence of its origin. Let me say that again: Relevant to the world it serves, yet true to the essence of its origin. We will talk more about that.
This is where things get tricky for us; this is where we often get caught up. What we tend to do as a church is look to a dated expression of an infinite essence, and we wonder why we only end up preaching to the choir instead of actually changing the world. We do this, in part, because we are fixated on what God has done, and as a result, we miss what God is currently doing. Again, we will address this more as we go further.
