ACTS I & II | The True Church | Acts 2:42-47 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Summary

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2819 Church Podcast

Episode: ACTS I & II | The True Church | Acts 2:42-47 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Date: June 1, 2026
Speaker: Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Theme: Rediscovering the True Church—A Call to Devotion, Community, and Generosity

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Episode Overview

In this powerful and heartfelt episode, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell wraps up the "Acts I & II" series by unpacking Acts 2:42-47. He challenges listeners to pursue the example of the early church—a diverse, devoted, and generous community. Through personal stories, biblical exposition, and practical exhortation, Pastor Philip casts vision for 2819 Church (and the broader church) to reclaim a vibrant, Spirit-filled, unified identity rooted in teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Church as Family—Personal and Spiritual (09:00–12:00)

• Pastor Philip shares his personal journey from a home with godly parents, recognizing the seeds of faith planted in him even during rebellious years.
  • Quote (09:52):
    "You should never give up on your children. You should keep discipling your children, keep pouring into your children. Never give up on them." — Pastor Philip
• Frames the church as "spiritual family," but acknowledges for many, 'family' invokes pain due to betrayal or dysfunction.
• Bridges the personal pain people feel with family to the way many experience or perceive "church hurt."
  • Quote (11:54):
    "When we hear the family of God, we have bad concepts about the family. We feel negative feelings about the family. When we hear about the church, all we think about is church hurt." — Pastor Philip

The Low View of Church & Why It Exists (12:35–14:13)

• Many treat church as an event, not a community they belong to, often rooted in past negative experiences.
• Pastor emphasizes the value and necessity of striving after the biblical image of church, despite its messiness.
  • Quote (14:13):
    "This is an image of the Church, unfiltered, not diluted, untouched by the sins of man... It's worth fighting for again." — Pastor Philip

Acts 2—Background and Context (14:14–17:48)

• Summarizes events after Christ’s ascension:
  • The Holy Spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost, Peter’s sermon, and the explosive growth from 120 to 3,000 believers.
• Dispels the criticism of “megachurches,” making the point that church size is not the issue, but rather the faithfulness of the people.
  • Quote (16:30):
    "It's not about the size of the church. It's about the faithfulness of the people inside the church." — Pastor Philip

Mirroring the Early Church—The Four Devotions (22:03–43:04)

1. Devotion to the Apostles’ Teaching (22:15–32:31)

• Early believers didn’t have New Testament letters, but were devoted to apostolic teaching (based on the Old Testament and Jesus’ words).
• Warns against modern Christian trends that de-emphasize Scripture in favor of opinions, traditions, or self-help.
  • Quote (26:39):
    "They were not more devoted to a political party than the word of God. They were devoted to the scriptures and the teachings of Christ... We have a generation of people who call themselves followers of Christ but not followers of His Word." — Pastor Philip
• Exhorts listeners to be doers of the Word, not hearers only (James 1).
• Connects devotion to the Word with lessening church drama and hurt.

2. Devotion to Fellowship (34:48–41:11)

• Explains biblical "koinonia" as far more than casual socializing—it's shared life, active participation, and deep relational intimacy.
• Critiques isolation and consumerism within church culture.
  • Quote (35:55):
    "So if you feel like a number, whose fault is that? Is it the size of the church or your unwillingness to be devoted to the fellowship?" — Pastor Philip

3. Devotion to Breaking of Bread (41:11–42:53)

• "Breaking bread" includes both communion and regular meals ("meals and moments"), fostering relationship and remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice.

4. Devotion to Prayer (41:53–43:04)

• The early church prayed scripturally—using psalms, Jesus’ prayers, and bringing every emotion before God, covering "the full range of human emotion."

The Fruit of Devotion—Signs, Generosity, Awe (43:04–49:30)

• Awe and wonder filled the church; supernatural signs and miracles occurred through the apostles.
• Radical generosity: believers sold possessions to care for anyone in need; this generosity was voluntary, not forced.
  • Quote (45:48):
    "You cannot separate generosity from your Christian witness. It's impossible. If you're not generous, something is broken in your heart." — Pastor Philip

Church Structure: Temple and Homes (49:57–53:30)

• The early church met both in large public gatherings (the temple) and small, intimate home groups ("squads").
• Their mission was outward-looking; they were serious about reaching the lost.
  • Quote (51:28):
    "They're not just comfortable to be sitting in rooms and don't care about people who are headed to hell. They're giving, they're serving, they're doing everything they can to bring people into the kingdom." — Pastor Philip

Modern Application and Challenge (53:30–56:00)

• Pastor Philip encourages self-examination: Does your church look/feel like Acts 2?
• Calls for devotion to the Word, fellowship, prayer, breaking bread, generosity, and love—citing this as the remedy for much of the stigma and pain attached to church life in America.

Final Reflections and Vision Casting (56:00–59:03)

• Pastor Philip expresses his heartfelt hope that 2819 Church—and all churches—will strive for the Acts 2 vision, not settling for a "placebo" version of church.
  • Quote (55:49):
    "This is what Christ died to give us, not what men gave us. This is what Christ died to give us. What we have now is the placebo... This is what Jesus created." — Pastor Philip

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Notable Quotes

• "You can belong before you believe and be amongst us before you believe. Our prayer is that a day will come where you will be brought into this spiritual family by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (07:12)
• "It says, all of these people, how many? 3,120 people. Were all they devoted, committed to four things. The teaching of the apostles, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers." (23:28)
• "Awe came upon every soul… many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles." (42:53)
• "Saved people are generous. You cannot separate generosity from your Christian witness." (46:48)
• "If we would just be devoted to these things, not Pastor Philip and the staff, but all of us, local and digital disciples … we would have better marriages, better friendships, better relationships, better leaders, better homes, better children, better church across America." (55:36)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Content | |------------|-------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:10 | Community Announcements | Introduction of church plants and encouragement to join local gatherings. | | 09:00 | Church as Family | Pastor Philip’s upbringing, family pain, and its impact on church life. | | 12:35 | The Low View of Church | Why many see church as unimportant. | | 14:14 | Context from Acts 1-2 | The Pentecost story; church growth explodes. | | 16:00 | Church Size vs. Faithfulness | Debunking “size” criticism, calling for faithfulness. | | 22:03 | The Four Devotions of the Early Church | Apostolic teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer. | | 29:40 | The Power of the Word | Importance of being doers, not just hearers. | | 34:48 | Fellowship (Koinonia) | What biblical fellowship really is and why it matters. | | 41:11 | Breaking Bread & Prayers | The meaning of breaking bread; range of biblical prayers. | | 43:04 | Awe, Signs, and Wonders | The fruit of devotion—supernatural awe and community. | | 45:48 | Generosity Explodes | Generosity as evidence of real faith. | | 49:57 | Structure: Temple and Home Gatherings | Early church model for corporate and small group meetings. | | 55:36 | The Acts 2 Blueprint—A Plea to Strive for More | Final exhortation and vision casting for the church. | | 56:07 | Prayer & Three Announcements | Prayer for renewal, announcement of Pastor’s book and sabbatical.|

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Memorable Moments

• Inclusion and Celebration of Church Plants: Honoring leaders of new Gospel City Church and recommending other local churches for those in different locales. (01:10)
• Personal Testimony: Pastor Philip’s reflection on his parents’ faith, his journey, and the power of not giving up on loved ones. (09:00–10:51)
• Direct Challenge: Calls out both modern church consumerism and isolation and provides concrete steps for getting engaged in meaningful Christian community. (35:55, 39:13)
• Cosmic Awe Story: Walking outside to look at the stars with church members, using it as an analogy for “awe” in God’s presence. (43:04)
• Generosity and Social Commentary: Distinguishing gospel generosity from government-imposed redistribution, emphasizing voluntary sharing as evidence of true conversion. (49:30)
• Transparent Leadership: Pastor shares about his need for rest and models holy rhythms by announcing a sabbatical. (60:59)

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Concluding Vision

Pastor Philip’s message is, at heart, a passionate call for the modern church to be:

• Devoted not just in word, but action, to the teaching of Scripture
• Hobbitually practicing extravagant fellowship (koinonia) and hospitality
• Marked by generosity, prayer, joy, and holy awe
• Missionally focused, both in large gatherings and small, never losing sight of the lost
• Willing to do the sometimes-uncomfortable hard work of real spiritual family

Pastor Philip’s hope:

“That we will strive to be a people devoted to the Word, devoted to fellowship, devoted to prayer, devoted to breaking bread and relationships, devoted to generosity, devoted to love, devoted to dealing with the issues in our will be devoted to these things together.” (55:23)

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For Listeners

Apply the Acts 2 vision—get involved, be devoted, seek relationships, contribute, and watch church become not just an event, but a life-shaping, Spirit-filled family.

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Transcript

[Pastor Philip]

Be seated.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Hallelujah.

[Pastor Philip]

Yesterday we had a ordination gathering for the pastor of the very first church plant of 2819 Church.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Stand up, mark wavius. Stand up. Hope.

[Pastor Philip]

Stay standing. YouTube. Everybody else can sit. Y' all two stay standing right there. If you're watching 2019 and you live in the Norfolk, Virginia area, we want to encourage you. We want to encourage you to no longer watch this broadcast, But instead we want to encourage you to plug into the very first church plan of 2819,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Gospel City Church. They're already having gatherings in the Norfolk, Virginia area. You can find all of their information on their website. So if you live anywhere in that area, you're close enough to that area, no longer watch this broadcast.

[Pastor Philip]

Today will be your last Sunday watching this broadcast.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

After today, we want you to just

[Pastor Philip]

plug in at Gospel City underneath the

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

leadership of Pastor Marquavius Walker, the first church plant from 2819. Y' all help me honor pastor Marquavius Walker and his wife, Hope Walker. If you live in that area and you have been blessed by the ministry

[Pastor Philip]

of 2819, you will be missing nothing. Gospel preaching, spreading the gospel. Serious about making disciples. End time. Focus. You will be missing nothing. Man of God, woman of God. Character, Integrity, holiness, purity. All the things already meeting. Official church plan coming at the end of this year in the fall Gospel City Church. And also too, if you live in the South Carolina area of Columbia, there is a dope church there, Pastor by one of my big brothers, a man who's been a mentor to me for many years. Long before 2819, he passes a great church there in the Columbia area called the Brook. And he's in the room today, one of my closest brothers, Bishop Simeon Moultrie. Would you stand up, Bishop?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So if you live anywhere in the South Carolina, Columbia area area, the Brook

[Pastor Philip]

Church, we want to recommend that you go there.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Okay?

[Pastor Philip]

If you are guest to 2819, we welcome you to this holy gathering where we are serious about the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples. And to all of our digital disciples watching me live right now across America and around the world, we love you. You of our family tapped in from wherever you are across the nation and around the world, to all of our digital disciples watching, I want to encourage you to stay locked in After I pray out this message. I have three important announcements that will be cast to you as vision cast. So I'm going to ask you to not turn off the stream when the message is over. I want to share three things with you that you need to know that are very, very important. So I'm going to ask that you just stay locked in. And if you're not a follower of Christ and you crept into this gathering, you crept into the chat, we know that you're in here and we're glad that you're here. We want you to know that you can belong before you believe and be amongst us before you believe. And our prayer is that a day will come where you will be brought into this spiritual family by the power of the Holy Spirit. A sermon cannot do that. Only God can regenerate a life family. This is the last Sunday final message in a great series we just call Acts 1 and 2 where we are looking at the things that happen after the life of Christ. As we finish our three year journey through the book of Matthew. I get to say to you for the last time that Acts is a book of origins written in the 1860s by a man named Luke who was a doctor and historian, a travel companion of the apostle Paul and what he preserved for us in the book of Acts. You should go and read the rest of it for yourself. Is the record of the first 30 years of this glorious messy thing we call the church. And our last text today, a very short text, should not take me that long to get through it, but pray for me. Somebody said, take my time. It's not a, it's not a long text and it's not a complicated text. It's pretty much simple and straightforward. I will do my best to exhort that for you. I. You will not see me for a couple weeks after this Sunday and I'm going to tell you why at the end of this message. So if you're watching I want you to just stay locked. So I feel a little emotional right now because I won't be on this platform for a little while. Not because of sin, but because of something holy. And. They're trying to clock my teeth. Like, nah, can't clock my teeth. No clocking of my teeth. But after this. Thank you bro. But after this message I want to talk to you and so just don't log off the stream. Our last text in our series today is coming from Acts chapter 2, verses 42 to 37. Spirit of the living God, we feel your presence in this room. We feel your presence across the camera invading rooms and homes and cars all across America and around the world. We thank you for this Kairos moment. We've come to sit at your feet as we unpack the word that you wrote through 40 men. Spirit of the living God exalting the person of Christ in every page from the beginning to the end. We get now, Lord, to just gaze upon the beauty of the sun in the text. And Father, for this last time in the series, I just pray you would have your way amongst us as we talk, as we share, as we lean into your word, and that you would help the person with the microphone and his weakness communicate these truths. Ask in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our soon coming king, the Lord Jesus Christ and all God's people said Amen and Amen and Amen. As we approach this text, I was reflecting on the fact that I grew up in what I would consider a very good home. Although I was in the street until the age of 24, I'm not proud of the things that I did in the street. I hurt a lot of people out there. It does not take away from the fact that I was raised by two godly parents. My mother, who's still alive, she watches from North Carolina. Sharon Mitchell. My father, who was above me now in heaven, he will not come back to me, but I will go to meet him. And I was raised in a godly home with two Christian parents. And the seeds that they planted in me would not take root until later on in my life. That's why you should never give up on your children. You should keep discipling your children, keep pouring into your children. Never give up on them. But when I was young, I did not really appreciate family. To be honest, I did not see the importance of family. I had a very low regard for family. It did not really mean that much to me when I was growing up because I was too immature to understand the blessing of family. It was not until I became a follower of Jesus and had my own family. My wife, Lena, and my four children, Malachi, Israel, Abigail and Josiah. When I learned to begin to value the importance of family. My family is very tight knit. We do everything together. We watch movies together, we take road trips together, we travel together, we fight together, we overcome fights together, we eat together, we celebrate each other's victories, we step into each other's pain. I was just with my youngest daughter last night sitting at the dining room table. She's working through some pain and that she was going through. And I sat there, her and Israel and I, we sat there and kind of walked with her through that pain. And she's shedding tears and I take her hand and I pray for her and she feels better afterwards. And then this morning I get up and I Text her message. Abigail, I'm praying for you. Everything is going to be okay.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And our family's so tight knit and

[Pastor Philip]

we have this beautiful thing going on at home that brings me so much joy and so much peace and so much comfort and there is nothing I would trade in this life. Not platforms, not fame, not money. I will give everything up to keep my family. There is nothing I have in this life greater than that except my relationship with Christ, my Bible and my family. But even as I say the word family, some of you that doesn't invoke emotions like what I have. It invokes emotions of pain, emotions of frustration, invokes emissions of difficult feelings of like, rejection and abandonment.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Because there's a lot of people right

[Pastor Philip]

now under the sound of my voice who.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

When you think family, you think an absent father, you think an absent mother,

[Pastor Philip]

you think brothers that did not like

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

you, you think sisters that you did not know. When you think family, you think pain, you think dysfunction, you think something that's not important to you because of all that you've been through. And I understand that. And some of those pains are, watch this word. Legitimate. I get that. And so if there's a lot of us, because of our poor experiences with family, because of sinners who have hurt us or who have betrayed us or let us down, because they're all sinners, all human nature. So when we hear family, we have a bad concept of family. And in the same way a lot of us, the same way we have a bad concept of family, that's the same way we think about the church of Jesus Christ, the same way we think about the family of God. When we hear the family of God, we have bad concepts about the family. We feel negative feelings about the family. When we hear about the church, all we think about is church hurt some of us. We've made that a badge of honor. So we leave churches, we say we're going to do this by ourselves, we're going to be in silos. Especially since COVID We think, we say things like, I love Jesus, but I hate the church. I love Christ, but I don't need the church. You know what I'm saying? I've had a bad experience with a church. I don't need to be around organized religion is what we say. It's like, it's like you, you go to a doctor and you have a bad experience with a doctor, but that don't stop you from going to another doctor. But it's only the thing that God created is not good enough. For us, when we have one bad experience

[Pastor Philip]

and there's a lot of people in America especially, we have a very low view of the Church. We see it as just an event we attend on Sunday with a bunch of people we don't know. We see it as something we go to and not something we belong to. We see it as unimportant in our

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

lives

[Pastor Philip]

and all across America. I'm telling you what I know. We have a very low view of the church. But the text that we come to today is one of the most powerful, one of the most famous, well known passages relating to the church that you and I are part of. In fact, what we about to look at today is the Church in its purest form. And while the Church has not looked like this since the very beginning, it is worth striving after. It is worth fighting for. It is worth saying that we will corporately work together to get as close to this as possible, albeit messy, albeit problems. We will make a covenant together.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Listen to me, I'm talking to you. We're going to make a covenant together, local and digital disciples, to get as close to this as possible. This is an image of the Church, unfiltered, not diluted, untouched by the sins of man, untouched by man made doctrines, untouched by traditions, untouched by the devil. It's worth fighting for again.

[Pastor Philip]

It's worth striving to get after. So you recall what has happened before we get to this text. Christ come, lived, died, rose, ascended to the right hand of the Father. Tells 120 disciples to go into Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. They go into the city to an upper room, undisclosed location. They are there for 10, 10 days, praying, studying the scriptures, replacing an apostle. On the 10th day, on the day

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

of Pentecost, the Spirit of God is poured out from Christ in heaven, falls on that room.

[Pastor Philip]

120 of them are filled with the Spirit. They are baptized into the church.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

They become the new organism, the church of Jesus. Peter now goes out into the street

[Pastor Philip]

with those other disciples. They are praying in foreign languages, the languages of the Christian crowd. An international crowd gathers around Peter.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Some in the crowd mocked the disciples and said they are drunk.

[Pastor Philip]

Because of all of that babble.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Peter stands up like men need to stand up. He preaches on the day of Pentecost, the very first Christian message. He preaches the life of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ. And as he preaches that message, he preaches it to those who killed the Lord Jesus Christ. He preaches a biblical sermon, a biblical Message under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit. The people hear that message. They are cut to the heart. And they ask Peter with him, what shall we do? And Peter says, repent and be baptized, every single one of you, for your sins. And he says, man, turn from this corrupt generation. They hear that message. And Luke tells us the first metric, Acts. 3000 souls are added to the church

[Pastor Philip]

on that day, right?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

The church of Jesus went from 120 people to 3,000. 120 people. Pause. That's a mega church. Hate mega churches. But peep the text. The 120 were faithful. The 3120 we will see will be faithful. So it's not about the size of the church. It's about the faithfulness of the people inside the church. And there's some people say, I hate large churches. Why? The first church of Acts grew very large and it never stopped growing. The issue is not the size. The issue is what people do inside of the church. He said, I feel like just a number. You feel like a number because you don't want to plug in. How could you hate something that Jesus created and blessed? So the church was faithful at 120. Because you can have a small church and be faithful and powerful and love Jesus and take a city with 120. Or you can have a church of 3120. Size does not matter. Faithfulness matters. So we should not glorify mega churches at the expense of looking over the smaller communities that's just as faithful. I will be a champion for the small church because they are faithful men

[Pastor Philip]

leading small churches who love Jesus, love

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

their wives, love God, love the scriptures. And we only see the 2% of churches in America that are large. This is 2% of American churches, 95% of all American churches, 100 people or less. So I will be a champion for them.

[Pastor Philip]

So they're faithful and I thought it powerful. I just want to throw this in there. Last week when Lionel preached This text about 3,000 people being saved, that same Sunday, 3,000 people from 2019 registered for baptism.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

He preaches about 3,000 people being baptized. And on the same Sunday, 3,000 people from 2019 registered to be baptized

[Pastor Philip]

in

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

our August baptism experience, one of my favorite Sundays of the year.

[Pastor Philip]

And if some, some sister DM me, and I don't engage in DMs like that. But if you say, man, the registration

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

is closed and I can't get.

[Pastor Philip]

Just pull up anyway.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Just, just pull up. Watch the Holy Spirit open up a Slot for you. Just, just, just pull up anyway.

[Pastor Philip]

And if, if you're not being baptized, pull up anyway and just watch the power of God on display. 3,000 people are added to a church with 120 with one message in one day. What do you do with them now? There's no playbooks, there's no online library. There is, there is nothing to reflect on. And now Peter and the apostles now have a church. 3,120 disciples. A mixed multitude of young people and old people. Different ethnicities, different backgrounds. As multi generational.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's multi ethnic, multi background. And how do you lead all those different people into spiritual formation? You have people who was not from

[Pastor Philip]

Jerusalem, moved to Jerusalem, they stayed in Jerusalem.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And now you have people who look different in color and skin tone. Since we think the Gospel is for

[Pastor Philip]

only one ethnicity,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

which is a biblical heresy. And now you got this large church with no playbook. Different ethnicities, different backgrounds. And yet they got to be led together into spiritual formation. So Peter now and the apostles leaning on the guidance of the Holy Spirit will not have to lead this church of 3,000 plus disciples into spiritual formation. And what we come to right here in our text is the very first activities of that large church in that size. The purest picture of the church preserved for us in the New Testament. What every church in America and around the world should be striving to get

[Pastor Philip]

to this right here,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

3,000 are baptized. And notice they didn't take a six month class to be baptized. Saved, baptized. You go through a class for a year. Man made, saved, baptized. You don't need a two year class to be baptized. You just need obedience to the scriptures to be baptized. Maybe one class to explain. You don't need seven months in a class to be baptized.

[Pastor Philip]

So what did he do with them? Peter and the apostles, verse 42. Look at the activities of the first church. 3,000.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

How many?

[Pastor Philip]

3,120 disciples.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Mixed group, mixed ethnicity, mixed age. The white brother sitting next to the black sister with the bundles. The Asian dude sitting next to the

[Pastor Philip]

YN that became a yd.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

We turn YNs into YDs. We turn them into young disciples. It's like this room right here. I just go down the road, I see a white face, a black face, a brown face, an Asian face. And every row I see skin color, different tones. Every row from the front to the bleachers, We all mixed. We half whatever we are and half Holy Spirit. We all mixed. And look at what he does with this mixed multitude of disciples. Look at the activity of Church, verse 42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. So I just want to draw your attention to this first word, they. This first word, they is very important. It does not communicate a disjointed group of people. They communicated unity, all of them together. They young and old, white and black, Jew and Gentile. They together as one. They did what? Devoted themselves. What is devotion? It is a deep commitment to something or someone. It shows up in the life of married people who are deeply devoted to each other through hardships and trials and testings and difficulties. They say, girl, I'm gonna love you until death do us part. That's devotion. It shows up in faithful friends in which distance and drama and the things of life cannot separate them from being friends. It shows up in faithful servants who are committed to their team and committed to serve their church no matter what's happening in their life. It shows up in faithful servants who said, I will go through hell and not walk away from the Lord Jesus Christ. It shows up in some elderly wife who's at the bedside of a husband who's about to die. That is devotion. Deeply dedicated to someone or something, or both. It says, all of these people, how many? 3,120 people. Were all they devoted, committed to four things. The teaching of the apostles, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. So the first thing that was committed to is what every church should be committed to, the Apostles teaching. Now, they don't have the New Testament letters when Luke is writing this, right? They don't have the New Testament letters around this time. What they have is the Old Testament, and they have the teachings of the apostles. So if they were devoted to the Apostles teaching, that means they would have been devoted to the Old Testament scriptures, the Psalms, the prophets, everything in the Old Testament. And they would have been devoted to

[Pastor Philip]

everything the apostles would have taught them about the person of Jesus who they knew personally for three and a half years.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

The same man who said to them, when your church is born, teach them

[Pastor Philip]

to obey everything that I have commanded you.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So that means Peter as the first pastor and the apostles would have been walking this church through the Old Testament scriptures and would have been teaching this church everything that Jesus taught, the Sermon on the Mount, everything he taught for the three and a half years. They would have heard teachings about husbands and wives and submission, and they would have heard teachings about all these things that Jesus taught.

[Pastor Philip]

He would have been teaching them all these things.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Notice what they were not submitted to or not devoted to. They were not devoted to their opinions. They were not devoted to man made doctrines. They were not devoted to man made traditions. They were not devoted to dogma. They were not devoted to Roman Empire. They were not more devoted to a political party than the word of God. They were devoted to the scriptures and the teachings of Christ. They were not devoted to empty sermons. They were devoted, watch, to the word of God. And I'm camping out here because what I see in America breaks my heart. There is an emerging Christian generation that is devoted to everything else other than the Word of God. But we call ourselves Christians but we are bored with the scriptures. So consequently, God forbid anybody is preaching to you the word of God that's boring to you. Instead we want self help speeches and TED talks. We don't want to be diverted to the Word of God. The Word of God is boring. Don't teach me the Scriptures. Don't convict me with the Scriptures. And so we have a generation of people who call themselves followers of Christ but not followers of His Word. And this is why later on New Testament letters would emerge. Like the very first New Testament letter that emerged was James. So when you, every time you pick up the letter of James, you pick up in your hand the very first New Testament letter ever written and it's circulating, you know what James wrote? Don't just be hearers of the Word but be doers. Why do we sit here or watch here and not go and do what you've been taught? So watch.

[Pastor Philip]

It wasn't half a church devoted to Scriptures.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

See, they

[Pastor Philip]

now watch. If we are devoted to the Scriptures, you know what it tones down sin against each other.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It tones down selfishness. It tones down ungodliness. It lessens all about church hurt. When we are devoted to the Scriptures, you know why we have a lot of drama in church? Because we're not devoted to the scriptures. And a lot of you been hurt by people in the church who are not devoted to the Word of God. They will not practice Matthew 18. They will not practice reconciliation. They will not practice loving other people more than you love your. And so there's a lot of drama in the church because you have some people devoted but not they. So then we throw the church away

[Pastor Philip]

and say, nah, too much church hurt. No, too many people that don't obey God's word. Watch. I've been studying God's word for 22 years. And the more I study God's Word, the more I cry on the pages of my Bible because the More I read God's Word, the more I see his wisdom, the more I see the foolishness of humanity, the more I see the damage of sin. And the more I see how God's Word was given to us for human flourishing. You want to see a strong family devoted to the Word. You want to see a strong friend group devoted to the Word. You want to see strong leaders devoted to the Word.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You want to see a strong woman devoted to the Word. You want to see a strong man devoted to the Word. You want to see godly teenagers devoted to the Word. You want to see a radical home devoted to the Word. You want to see a beautiful church devoted Word? And somebody said, oh, it's not. I need more than just a Sunday morning sermon. Okay, Go home and read for yourself. You own a Bible. Oh, Pastor didn't cover that on Sunday, right? How can I cover the whole Bible in a sermon?

[Pastor Philip]

We need.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I need a little bit more than a sermon. Good, so do we all? Go home and read for yourself. And whatever you read, let it deal with your heart. Let it punch you in your soul, let it change you. And then obey what you read, obey what you hear. You want a better husband devoted to the Word. You want a better wife devoted to the Word. You want a better teenager devoted to the Word. Jesus, There's a lot of mess we could tone down in the church if they, all of us, made a commitment to be devoted to the Word. I will read it, hear it, obey it, even when it hurts me. So don't force a wife to say, you better be submitted to a husband that does not love her like Christ loves the church. Submit, you better submit. The Bible says, you better submit. I'm the man of God. Submit. Are you loving her like Christ loves the church?

[Pastor Philip]

I'm about to offend some people.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I feel like,

[Pastor Philip]

Okay, I don't care.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Or we got all this new ways of parenting children. I want my children to be free thinkers. 5. I want my 5 year old to be a free thinker. I don't want to tell my 5 year old what to do when the scripture says foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. The scripture says, in the heart of your child is foolishness. And the rod of correction drives it far away. That's why the scripture says, train up your child. And then it said, let your child be a free thinker. Train up your child. See, and then we have crazy adults who was not discipled by the Word. So little Jaquan is two and he controls you. Little Hector is three and he controls you. Little Connor is three and he controls you. No, Train Connor up. Train Jaquan up. Train Hunter up. I don't know Asian name. I'm trying to pick every name. Train them up. Tell Jaden, get off the table. We in a restaurant. Tell them, sit down. This is why we got messy families, messy churches, messy relationships. Because we're not devoted. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching the scriptures. They devoted themselves to the definitive article

[Pastor Philip]

fellowship A t h e in front of the fellowship.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So you think fellowship. You think a hall with some fried chicken and some.

[Pastor Philip]

And some.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Some name brand soda. They devoted themselves to the definitive article

[Pastor Philip]

fellowship means it's not for you to define,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

it's for the scriptures to define. And the word fellowship there in Greek is cor, which also translate into life in common. It's not just. It's just not a meeting in a fellowship hall with fried chicken and grape soda. They devoted themselves to the definitive article fellowship. They devoted themselves to a shared life around Jesus. In common. They devoted themselves to large gatherings. This is the fellowship, which means life together and deep relational intimacy.

[Pastor Philip]

Okay, watch.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So it does not matter the size of the church if you feel alone. Are you obeying Koinonia? It says those who have friends have shown themselves friendly. So if you feel like a number, whose fault is that? Is it the size of the church or your unwillingness to be devoted to the fellowship? You're the one that runs out straight to the parking lot. You're the one that don't stop in the lobby. You're the one that don't talk to nobody. You're the one that won't serve on a team. You're the one that won't get in a squad. My church is too large. No, you are too isolated. See, they 3,000, 120 all devoted themselves to the definitive article fellowship. They devoted to Koinonia, that is, they are committed to going to the gatherings local and digital. And they are committed to building relationships with one another. Local and digital. This is you in the stream, in the comments, hooking up with people who are in your city. Like, yo, bro, I see you in my city. Let's go meet up at Starbucks. We could watch the gathering next week while we do the scriptures during the week. This is you serving on a team so you have new friends. This is you stopping in the lobby and having a conversation with somebody in the lobby. This is you being in the line and instead of waiting to get in the building, you're talking to the person behind you. And the person in front of you, girl, where are you from? Brother? Where are you from? Make sure you know. The line gives you a new sister. The line gives you a new brother. The line gives you a spiritual mother. The line gives you a spiritual father. I don't want to wait on the line. You wait on the line for everything else that's important to you. I seen y' all in Atlanta waiting on the line to get into a restaurant, waiting for your little text message to say your table is ready. No, we wait on lines for what we value.

[Pastor Philip]

I'm ashamed to say I've waited online for iPhones and some of y' all waited in line for sneakers, but not

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

for the gathering of the saints because your view of the church is too low. So you out there only thinking about what you're going to do when you get in here instead of building Cor out there. Building Cor in the chat. So if you feel like a number, whose fault is that?

[Pastor Philip]

That's yours for not being devoted to the fellowship.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Show forth

[Pastor Philip]

right now when this is over. You got 2,000 chances to meet one person. And since God does his best work on two legs, your next blessing might be in the hands of the person right next to you. You might be sitting next to a business owner that will give you the job you've been looking for, but you will never know that because you won't have that conversation.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You unemployed, but there's someone sitting next

[Pastor Philip]

to you who own a company looking

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

for your skill set. Your marriage is in trouble, but there's a couple sitting down the road from you who's been married for 40 years. You see gray hair, you think, they're not important. They got. They have conquered Things you're trying to figure out.

[Pastor Philip]

See that little patch right there?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That's called wisdom.

[Pastor Philip]

This is for all the Gen Z's and Gen Alphas who think older people are not important.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You scratching your head, trying to figure out things they've already conquered. And if you could learn in five minutes what it took them 50 years to learn, you go much further, faster. But. But they not important. You just want to stick them in a basement and not talk to them. You bumping your head against brick walls they already ran through. You be stressed about stuff. They've already survived. They were like, baby, just sit. They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread.

[Pastor Philip]

That is communion and community. That means they devoted themselves to remembering the sacrifice of Jesus. And they devoted themselves to having food together. And in the first century, having a meal wasn't like, I'M hungry, let's bounce. It was called Meals and Moments. They use meals to build relationships. Come to the home, let's break bread together. Come sit on my couch. Let's eat Bojangles and talk together. Let's eat Chipotle and talk together. Let's eat chick fil a and talk together. And they devoted themselves to the prayers Definitive article what prayers? If they all they had was the Old Testament and teachings of Jesus, they would have been known about all the prayers in the psalms that covered a full range of human emotion. Everything from anger to joy, prayers of petition, preparatory prayers, all kind of prayers to talk to God about all kind of things. Any emotion you've ever felt, you could find it in the psalms and prayers. They would have learned the prayers of Jesus. They would have taught them to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done. And as they devoted themselves to that, look at the fruit of what happened. Verse 43. And awe came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. Stop. Awe, they said as they were devoting themselves. You know what came upon everybody?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Wonder.

[Pastor Philip]

Awe. You know what awe is?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's reverence.

[Pastor Philip]

It's like a holy fear.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's like, wow, look at what God is doing. It's this awe and this wonder.

[Pastor Philip]

It's like I had two people from my church in my home last week and we was eating and we was having koinonia and we was breaking bread. And then when I walked these two young ladies to their cars, a mother and a daughter who walked them to the cars laid outside my Dr. We

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

go outside, there's a clear sky.

[Pastor Philip]

And we just started talking about the moon and the stars. And I was like, you see that

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

big yellow star right there?

[Pastor Philip]

They was like, yeah. I said, that's Venus. It's the only planet we can see in our solar system all year round.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That's why it's big and yellow and

[Pastor Philip]

you can see it. They said, oh, we didn't know that's Venus. And I'm telling about Venus.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And we talk about.

[Pastor Philip]

And for two hours we talk about the stars.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Why we were in awe of God's creation. That's what awe is. It shows up when you stand on

[Pastor Philip]

the edge of the Grand Canyon.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It shows up when you're staring at the ocean. It shows up when you're staring at a mountain. It showed up for us when we staring at the stars. Consequently, people talk about the Big Bang Theory.

[Pastor Philip]

I could disprove that right now.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You ever seen Kids on a Merry Go Round? I'M about to destroy the Big Bang theory right now, the Big Bang theory says that from a little swirling dot, something exploded and then created the solar system. A swirling dot. Right. But space has no gravity.

[Pastor Philip]

Right?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So if the dot is swirling right, and something exploded, that means everything else in the solar system should be spinning in the same direction. Because if kids fly off a mel merry go round, they're all going to be flying off in the same direction. Yeah, but there are planets that spin in opposite directions,

[Pastor Philip]

Some spinning right, some spinning left. How do you explain that from a swirling dot with no gravity?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Oh, I can explain that. In the beginning, God created. The heavens and the earth. Let me just baffle the atheist real quick. In the beginning,

[Pastor Philip]

God created the universe. Uni singular verse with one sentence, he created everything.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Feet.

[Pastor Philip]

Let there be and that's the end of that. It takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe in the beginning. God created. And many signs and wonders was done through. Watch the Word through the apostles means the Holy Spirit was doing that. Because the Holy Spirit still does signs and wonders through people. We still lay hands and see healing. We still lay hands and see miracles. It's not the vessel, it's the Holy Spirit working through the vessel. And all who believe verse 44 were together and they had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as many had a need. Look at this. I'm almost done. Do you see what happened? They're all devoted to the Word. They're all devoted to prayer. They're all devoted to fellowship. And then you have wealthy people in that church who see poor people in that church and they say, we're going to take care of the poor people in our church. They're selling off possessions to make sure no one goes without a need. You know what that is? That is an explosion of love made visible called generosity.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Right? Generosity. And what we see in the Christians who are really saved, we see saved people are generous. You cannot separate generosity from your Christian witness. It's impossible. You cannot call yourself a follower of Christ and you're not generous. Impossible. If you're not generous, something is broken in your heart. Generosity is a heart posture. For God so loved the world he gave. So if I'm a follower of Christ, I'm a follower of his nature. If I'm follower of his nature, I will be naturally generous. I will care about those who have less than me. I care about the man on the side of the road. I go out of my way to help Other people what this looks like in a church. It looks like a couple with teenagers who got clothes in the attic. I meet another couple who got 5 year olds that can't afford to clothes. I meet you in the line. I said, come to my house. I come down from the adequate bags. I give you all of these old clothes. It looks like me having an old car that I no longer use. It's paid off. I'm not going to trade it in. There's a sister on my row who's a single mother with five children who's taking Uber. I'm going to give her that vehicle. But you will never know that if you don't have corner near and hold on a disclaimer. Right? This is not permission for gospel grifting. This is not permission for a, a person to creep into a church and squad hop and group hop trying to beg everybody for money. No, that's not what this is about. It's not about helping people who are negligent and lazy and don't want to. That's not what this is about. This is about us being in community, hearing the needs that are legitimate and saying, can, can I meet that need and the Holy Spirit?

[Pastor Philip]

And we explode with generosity in the church.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

This is like, how do you, how do you, how do you say you

[Pastor Philip]

love 2019 and Pastor Phillip, I love you. And you log on every week.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You get all of this teaching, all

[Pastor Philip]

of this feeding from myself and the elders. You're in here, you meet friends, you're in squads.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You, your children are being discipled. You have people on you. Your life has been changed.

[Pastor Philip]

But you don't support gospel ministry. You know why? Because the church has drifted from this. So now we are consumers, but not contributors. We feel no responsibility to help gospel ministry. We just take what we don't support. This is an oh, another disclaimer.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

This ain't socialism

[Pastor Philip]

or communism.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

This ain't the government forcing everybody. Let me take money from the wealthy and give it to the poor. This ain't socialism.

[Pastor Philip]

Notice who's not in the text.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Rome. Rome is not in the text.

[Pastor Philip]

This is voluntary generosity. This is not forced generosity by the government of any country.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

This ain't communism or socialism.

[Pastor Philip]

This is voluntary generosity, making sure that everybody is taken care of. Verse 46 and 47. And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They receive their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. Stop right there. Before I read the last part of this verse, I just want you to see that before I close the message. They have glad and generous hearts. You know what that is? You have a church with gratitude, contentment. They're devoted to all these things. They're loving each other. Generosity is exploding in church. People are giving, helping one another. People are all. It feels better that way. What I'm describing to you feels better. When they function this way. It makes church feel better. And look where there was. I don't want you to read past that in the text. Look at the detail in the text. Where were they meeting? In the temple and in homes. Philip, I don't understand. They're meeting in the temple and they're meeting in homes. Philip, I don't understand. Well, the church didn't have a building for the first 300 plus years. So where were you going to gather with 3,120 people? They were gathering in the temple that Herod built that had something called Solomon's porch. That was like 20 something acres or 30.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It was large.

[Pastor Philip]

And thousands of people would gather there. Now watch where I'm going. This church of 3020 people will go to the temple and all 3000 plus of them will meet in the temple in a large corner. It was large enough for thousands of people. And they would listen to Peter preach and the apostle preach. But who else was there? Unbelievers. Okay, so what are they concerned about? The loss? They're concerned about the gospel. They're concerned about people who are headed to hell. They're not just comfortable to be sitting in rooms and don't care about people who are headed to hell. They're giving, they're serving, they're doing everything they can to bring people into the kingdom. You want the evidence of that is the last half of verse seven. Watch. And because they're around unbelievers, and because they care about the loss, because they care about the spread of the gospel and the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being. Did you see that angel? You see where they was? They're meeting in the temple. That's like our Sunday morning. And then they're meeting in homes. That's like our squads. They're gathering large, they're gathering small, they're gathering large. They have koinonia. They're here on Sunday. They're hanging out in each other's homes during the week. They're generous, they're loving, they have contentment, they're joyful, they're devoted to the scriptures. There's awe, there's wonder, there's signs. Does that look like the churches in America.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Have you been in a church that felt that way?

[Pastor Philip]

Devoted to the scriptures, fighting for koinonia,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

gathering large, gathering small, serving in the

[Pastor Philip]

streets, shared life of Jesus together. When we devote ourselves to things like this, the church functions the way it's supposed to be. We lessen church hurt, we lessen drama. We lessen all of the bad stigma of the church. If we would just be devoted to. Devoted to these things. Not Pastor Philip and the staff, but all of us local and digital disciples. Is this your church? Is this the church that you attend? Is this what you go to in America? Is this what we feel in the country? You know why we have a low

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

viewer church in the country?

[Pastor Philip]

Because we've drifted from this. And my prayer for us listen, they would go on. They would go on. It would not remain pure. They would, they would be persecuted. As they drifted from Judaism, false teachers would come into the church. False doctrines are coming to the church. That's why if you read every New Testament letter after Acts, Paul is addressing issues in Ephesus. He's talking about racism in Rome. He's talking about what the Gospel is in 1st and 2nd Corinthians. He's dealing with a church that's large and mad corrupt. He gets to Thessalonica. He's talking about believers who are lazy.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

He gets to Galatia.

[Pastor Philip]

He's talking about people who are drifting from the freedom in Christ back to legalism.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And he's dressing all these problems on and on and on.

[Pastor Philip]

And he gets the Colossians. He's talking to people that have a low view of Christ. Problems fill the church because of flesh, sin, false teachers and the devil. But my prayer for 2819 is that we will strive for this local and digital. We will strive to be a people devoted to the Word, devoted to fellowship,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

devoted to prayer, devoted to breaking bread and relationships, devoted to generosity, devoted to love, devoted to dealing with the issues in our will be devoted to these

[Pastor Philip]

things together, will have better marriages, better

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

friendships, better relationships, better leaders, better homes, better children, better church across America. That's my hope for us.

[Pastor Philip]

This is what Christ died to give us, not what men gave us. This is what Christ died to give us. What we have now is the placebo.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

We have what men created.

[Pastor Philip]

This is what Jesus created. And so, Father, in the name of Yeshua, the one who created the church,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I pray God for churches across America

[Pastor Philip]

and around the world that we will strive to get as close to this as possible. We would strive to be devoted to these things. That we will see an explosion, God of revival in churches across America as we shed all the things that are killing the witness of the church. May 2819. Display all these things in churches all across America and around the world. I ask in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you receive that, just say amen. Okay, I got three things I want to say to you. Okay? And just if you just stay logged on, I want to say this. I believe we're living in the last days. I believe we're living in the end times. And I believe the church right now, all across America and around the world, the church needs to be awakened. And there is a small letter tucked away in the back of the New Testament that is neglected. And one day I stumbled onto that letter and I've shed tears over that letter and wept over that letter and I've preached from that letter three times. Twice in the US and once outside the US the spirit of God had put it on my heart to take that message that I preached to life and expand it with more teaching, more stories, more examples, to do everything I can with the life that I have to try to awaken as many believers as possible to give them information that they may never step foot into a gathering, but that information might make it to their home. So the spirit of God led me to write my very first book.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's called Contend.

[Pastor Philip]

It is full of stories, teachings, Bible examples, challenges, exhortations, encouragement.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It is the message I've preached three

[Pastor Philip]

times from Jude, expanded into full length teaching.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Okay.

[Pastor Philip]

If you don't want it, I won't force you. But if, if I've meant anything to you at all, it will mean everything to me if you will put a copy in your home or give a copy to somebody else. Okay. You can pre order that book right now so you don't have to wait until it comes. October 13th is when it releases. You should get it while supplies last. Pre order right now, if you pre order right now, it's guaranteed to come to your home in October and get one for yourself. Give it to somebody else. And if you don't want to do that, we. We still all good? No, no problems at all. Okay. Just pray that, that the message would expand through that book and it'll be a blessing to people. Amen.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Great.

[Pastor Philip]

The second thing I want to tell you is next week we start a brand new series. Okay? We start a brand new series next week. I know it's going to be a blessing to you. It's called the fruit that remains.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Right.

[Pastor Philip]

So you got to watch what we're doing in 2019. We did. We did Matthew three years. We do Acts 1 and 2. So you see what happened after Matthew

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

and then what should happen after Acts

[Pastor Philip]

1 and 2 is fruit.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Right?

[Pastor Philip]

So we're strategic here. So myself and the elders and our executive pastor, we sat down and we put together this series to you together, we prayed, we put together this series, and this series starts next week. It'll run through the summer, and you don't want to miss a Sunday. I promise you. Log on, be here. It's going to be a blessing to you. You okay? And the last thing I need to tell you. Okay. I work 10 straight months. I preach three times every Sunday. I'm in the office Monday and Tuesday. I lead meetings. I do organizational life. I travel. I do all the things that's taxing on a human being. If you've ever been in college and you have to do an oral presentation, you know the drama of doing one oral presentation? It almost killed you, almost throw threw up to do an oral presentation. Right.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That one oral presentation you had on your syllabus.

[Pastor Philip]

Imagine doing that every six days,

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

three

[Pastor Philip]

times every six days, no matter what's

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

happening in life, plus go to the

[Pastor Philip]

office the next morning, plus lead meetings, plus do organization life, and do that for 10 straight months. You know what that does? That takes a toll on a human being. And you need rest because rest is godly. Rest is holy.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

God created and then he rested. He did not rest because he was tired.

[Pastor Philip]

He rested to give us an example.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So our rhythm, if you're new to

[Pastor Philip]

2019, I work 10 months, and then I rest for two months so I don't die.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So I take what's called a sabbatical

[Pastor Philip]

in June and July. So I will be gone for the next couple weeks. But the Word of God will not be gone.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And the Holy Spirit will not be gone because the Word is not chained to my mouth and the Holy Spirit is not chained to my life. You have to be devoted to the teaching. Devotion means you show up even when I'm not here. If you don't show up while I'm not here, that is idolatry, And I won't allow that. And I can't rest if I'm getting phone calls that they're not showing up, they're not serving, we're not giving. Pastor, you left and everything fell apart. Then I got to come back. But if you care about me, you

[Pastor Philip]

love me, you want me to rest, then be devoted.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Be devoted to Sunday. Devoted to your small. Devoted to serving. Devoted to giving. Do all the things you need to

[Pastor Philip]

do without Father being around.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Got it?

[Pastor Philip]

And that's all I got.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I love y'.

[Pastor Philip]

All.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I love y'.

[Pastor Philip]

All.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I love you. I love you. I love, love you. I love you. Okay, be, be, be, be, be.

[Pastor Philip]

And I'll see you in a few weeks.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Amen.