Published: October 8, 2023 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Worship 1 - Part 5 | Scripture: Acts 2:42-47
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so continuing our our discussion on um worship uh I want to summarize and kind of close up the the beginning from Acts 2 verse 42 if you want to open there we're we're we're
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really just going to spend time unpacking um this verse using other verses to help us understand a little bit more if as we
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can the details and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to Fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer so we've been talking
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about that word continually verse 46 and day by day continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they were taking their meals together
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with gladness and sincerity of heart so we see in the early church um well basically they're meeting every day and we talked about why that might
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have been uh the excitement the anticipation uh the expectation that Jesus was returning uh very very soon but also the the joy of the Salvation
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that God had finally brought to Israel after thousands of years of of waiting and uh knowing themselves to be the recipients of this Amazing Grace
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they met with joy and that's why you know when we get to be when we we get to the point of talking about singing uh singing is is is ultimately an expression of human emotion whether it
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be Joy or sorrow uh we we express our emotions through singing and so um singing it's almost as if it doesn't have to be mentioned because it's
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impossible that you could worship god without it so we we'll get there in a bit um then we talked we saw that um Paul met with the the churches on the
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first day of the week and he talked about setting aside for the for the gift uh for the Judean Christians on the first day of the week so we really have kind of a
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spectrum here we have meeting day by day continually and then we have meeting on the first day of the week we see saw also that they met on the first day of the week to break bread which is
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generally accepted as a euphemism for the Lord's supper for communion which we do not do once a week we do once a month uh some denominations do it once a year
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they have a communion season um the Roman Catholic Church does it every hour every day somewhere in the world so that Christ is continually offered
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bloodlessly for the faithful the Roman Catholic confession so again there's a spectrum um so I want to kind of lead a discussion if you're willing to
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the same um but we have determined over the years that having communion once a month is more
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is more profitable more edifying for the body than having it every Sunday so what are your thoughts we meet on the first day of the
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week Jenny I
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ideally ideally every week that week that um we would recognize communion with the Lord in his supper to be nothing more than than well
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not I shouldn't say nothing more to be an expression of our Unity as a body with our head Christ that that's the the meaning of the word coia communion
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recognize we do recognize the the fallenness of of our nature our nature Abigail I mean I agree with that but to be Devil's Advocate we do everything else every week We Gather to hear
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sermons and sing
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th this is the this is the argument for the the the Scottish practice of once a year communion season now I I don't see any except for patterning it off of
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Passover there's no New Testament basis for that practice once a year but the the logic behind it is to give a time a season of meditation but then again the
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counterargument is why aren't you doing that all the time you know you can say that about pretty much anything that we do in and for the Lord in his
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worship why don't we do it all the time and then there'll be those who say well I don't need to worship Sunday because I worship every day of the week okay so there's there there there are these
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these arguments First Corinthians 11 parallelism when you come together as a church and when you do not eat the Lord's Supper
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I 1 Corinthians 11:18 yes and the next two ver for in the first place when you come together as a church I hear that divisions exist among you and in part I believe it for there must also be actions among you in order that those
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who are who are approved may have some become evident among you therefore when you meet together it is not to eat the Lord's Supper for in your eating each one takes
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his own supper first and one is hungry and another is
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Corinthians we talked about this some on a Thursday evening class was was very much like the patronage system in Roman cities where the the clients would would
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come to the Patron's house for a meal um but there was definite segregation as to the seating arrangement as well as the order in um serving food and it was a
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socioeconomic hierarchy political hierarchy that was taking root within the church but there's there's definitely evidence
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definitely evidence that when they gathered it was at least part of it was for the purpose of taking the Lord's Supper um one of the reasons we don't do
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it every week from the standpoint of of this comment here that we do everything else every week I think we we need to recognize the historical impact of the Roman Catholic
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Roman Catholic mass and the reaction to that within Protestant denominations so that for example the
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far extreme the the fundamentalist Baptists typically view communion as nothing more than a memorial meal a meal of remembrance there's no Grace there's
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no nothing spiritual going on and that's that is a like a diametrically opposed to the to the view that Christ's body and blood are literally contained in the
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elements of of the Eucharist so you have this spectrum over church history and but that that leads to my response to this one and that is of the things that
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we typically we typically do two of them are rituals baptism and the Lord's the Lord's Supper um rituals are full of
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symbolism symbolism can very easily be misunderstood uh or now that doesn't I mean a sermon can't be misunderstood it can but a sermon is is on the on on the
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symbolic Spectrum it's it's way over to the side of zero symbolism I'm just expositing the word it's what's right in front of us we can all read
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it the Lord's Supper has had a multitude of definitions and explanations as to what it means and how it's to be observed and what it does
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when it's when it's observed to the point that because it is a symbol it's almost like um reciting the Lord's prayer every
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week that just becomes um an emblem of our religion and no longer reaches any deeper into our minds or our souls then
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um it's just what we do okay so that that's why I think we've decided not to do it every week is because of that that danger of um the ritual nature of
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communion becoming just so commonplace that it's it's done unthinkingly but not to do it I mean some of the things that were discussed years ago as to when we would do
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communion quarterly was discussed um but it seemed like monthly was a good and can we use the word compromise in terms of of doing it
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frequently enough to encourage not only communion but communion but Fellowship because it's done on the same day as a fellowship luncheon um but also doing it far enough apart that the
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ritual wouldn't become simply a knee-jerk and I I don't see any I don't feel any strong need to change that but I'm certainly Mark and I
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are certainly open to um discussion from the word again we're not being literal are we if we don't do it every and I I get the impression from the scriptures
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that although we know explicitly that they gathered on the first day of the week to break bread we see in Acts that they broke bread day by
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day so you know we can we can make an argument scripturally not only to have it every week but to to actually get together and have it every
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day our society what what role does the difference in the Dynamics of our culture today culture today play in first century je Jerusalem or
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Galilee or capernium you know wherever they were it was primarily an agrarian society families would have lived in the same housing complex for
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Generations most would not have traveled further than Jerusalem in their entire life um you know to go to synagogue meant you
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know the Walk of of less than 3/4 miles a Sabbath day's walk whereas for for some of us it's an
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CC the ter the terminology is not definitive because breaking bread can can mean nothing more than having a meal that's true but the way that terminology is used in the newest Testament tends to
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lean toward at least part of that meal but keep in mind the meal in Corinth was also a feast an Agape feast and the early church became known for that Feast
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for coming together and and eating meal together and table Fellowship in the ancient culture and still in the Mediterranean culture well really still somewhat in ours you know to invite
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somebody to your home for dinner um is is is an extension of Fellowship um but it was a it was a statement of unity to have table
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Fellowship which is why the Jew could not eat at a gentile's table so there's a lot of components and I think persecution is is
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definitely but then we could ask the question um what we do with one another in times of persecution should we not also do in
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times of times of prosperity you know an analogous argument would be in giving you know many many people will say well you know I'm not under the law so I don't have to
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tithe so God has done more for us so we can give can give less the again the mindset is how little can I get often is how little can I get
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away with Abe you had just uh and
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kind ofal wasain yeah
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exactly I think I think we all agree that forcing something is is not the solution tion you know let's let's say the pastors look over the flock and
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and determine that you know there's not a whole lot of fellowshipping going on so we're going to have a fellowship meal every meal every Sunday okay do you do you Fellowship by
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edict no I mean we're very blessed that there's a lot of Fellowship in Fellowship Bible Church and a lot that takes place outside of sun morning the
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Sunday morning Sunday morning context um so I think that Angela's anecdote does kind of put the finger on the pulse of what we're dealing with here it seems like there are
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seasons there are seasons in the history of the church there may be seasons in in the life of an individual congregation uh you read of the history of
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revivals and during those Seasons people did meet on a regular basis because they wanted to not because the the church
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leadership made them to made them do it U but yeah mechanical I mean we we had a similar situation not quite as bad but
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the format of Fellowship Bible Church uh when Angel and I first came there was a I don't remember the exact order it's been many years but there was a sharing
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time after the sermon and between that there was a a fellowship time that um the ladies of the church would bring
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Refreshments but there developed a a tangible competition as to what the um I used to call it the Denny's breakfast bar because I mean you would have casseroles
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and I mean it just as spread um the church was
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growing um but there there was those who were not able to compete financially TimeWise you know they were beginning to feel um oppressed and and and um guilted by this
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this need to produce a a spread and so we we did away with that and and have tried to resist any uh return to that because it it just was too much it was
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becoming detrimental to the health of the body it was becoming an offense and and all so so I do think that there are seasons and there are attitudes and we
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have to be sensitive to that um Yuri think the modern day weal about University kind University kind ofis if you have a daily chap which is
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I'm talking about daily chap not just three times a week and then followed by the lunch where everyone is required faculty staff to be there even on
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Saturday is and that basically becomes the way of life has been
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certain and the motives and the the the motives for that can be very good uh recognizing that uh Fellowship of Believers is is necessary that we should not forsake the
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assembly but again I think that what you're saying what what Angela is saying is is undeniable that when when it becomes mechanical and when it becomes uh outwardly
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obligatory then it becomes nothing more than ritual um nothing more than institutionalized and it loses its purpose and its meaning and it becomes
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an idol and almost anything we do we see that in the Old Testament that you know that um Moses held up the uh what was that thing called you know the serpent
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on the St sick and it brought healing but then it became what it became an idol to the point where it needed to be destroyed I think Hezekiah destroyed it because it became an idol U I personally
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think that's why the location of Moses's grave was not made known to the children of Israel because undoubtedly they would have built a shrine to it so just about
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anything we do can become an idol I mean I think even the preaching of the preaching can be an idol um and so we have to guard our hearts um but I also think that so you
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know so we have maybe again we have an extreme here between we we can say that something can become idolatry on the one hand but on the
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other laziness you know so it was you know that that same contrast that we talked about before about legalism and Lous you know we can also we can make an idol out of something um or or we can and by
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making an idol what I mean is we we see our Salvation as in this activity somehow not as in Jesus Christ and his
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blood but as in the Lord's supper or as in church service we we we in our minds whether we can articulate it or even would by our actions we show that we are
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relying on something we do to provide us with security peace and ultimately in our minds salvation that's idolatry and anything we do can descend
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to that level but on the other hand our flesh is flesh is weak okay and it gets weaker as we get older and and it's easy to uh and I I
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mean older in the Lord as well as older in body and that means you know it's easy to find an excuse not to participate in the assembly of
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Believers so I don't I don't think that there's um there can be a solution by edict this is this is our nature this is
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something that each one of us deals with as individual Believers as we read about but I I do think that as the church has gone in the west over the past several
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years we've moved in this direction as Protestants we've moved to a minimalist position as position as Protestants does anybody disagree with
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that guess individualism yes uh and yeah it really it's it's what I feel like doing and and I don't necessarily mean that
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um I don't mean that as a problem at Fellowship Bible Church I'm speaking as I do on Thursday nights more generally of Western evangelicalism but there is a sense in which it's it's a convenience store um it's been widely
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documented that attendance of church is is declining and it's declining very rapidly now it might decline a percentage point over 10 years back in the mid 20th century now it's declining
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by double digits every five years doesn't they that tendency towards laziness doesn't
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relate to that or or speak to that issue in his Epistles and even in the early part Revelation as he reminds the
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churches lost their flavor their first love yeah the letters to the churches I think are are very good reading on this score and that that really goes along with what what I've been trying to teach on Thursday evenings and I think we've
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been trying to emphasize Mark and I for years and that is that that the modern evangelicalism does need to regain an understanding of the
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church and if we put it in technical terms the the branch of theology that has suffered the
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most and maybe uh and and I guess associated with that and very much Associated that is is also
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doctrine of the spirit and again I think there's some reaction here among conservative churches of course we're reacting against the the the late 20th century mid mid to late 20th century charismatic
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movement and movement and many conservative Evangelical churches said nope we're not we're not going there and there and so we developed an entire uh
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secessionist theology that says the gifts have passed away but we still want to maintain some of the gifts like for example the gift of hospitality the gift of helps the gift of administration we we just want
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to get rid of those cooky gifts you know that so we're reacting against things pneumatology and ecclesiology are really hand and hand and glove uh in the theology curriculum
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because nothing happens in the church that is pleasing to God that doesn't happen by his spirit and and nothing happens among the members of the church that is edifying unless it is motivated
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by the Holy Spirit but would would anybody disagree that these two doctrines have suffered in Western protestantism in the last 500 years and
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especially the last 50 I mean the church is is known today as a voluntary Association Ariel I feel like that comes out of how
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we're taught that we're saved everything we're taught is so indidual like a said and we're also actively taught that
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don't be like the cathol your salvation is not in the church so after a while you're like what do I need it for you know I got this to do I got that to do
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don't care for that creature as much I'll my salvation has nothing to do with the church it's all about me exactly it it we have made such a necessary emphasis
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on individual salvation that has now become necessary to realize that we are baptized into the body so yeah that returning to the the
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the emphasis on the individual and and his or her relationship in Repentance and Faith with God through Christ that was necessary in the 16th
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century now it is necessary in the 21st century to revisit the doctrine of the church without losing so that in 400 years 500 years we got to go back again
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although that'll probably happen if the Lord terries we do tend to just swing back and forth but we're an intensely individualistic Society it is it is actually uh known um it is a stereotype
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of Americans So within Western Civilization there is that through the Protestant Reformation but then through the development of the American Republic and of the American land that in
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individuality or individualism was reinforced can you speak though to the movement of some Believers to return to the high
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church because they I guess feel a lack of like some things not right with the way the individual relates to the church and they want to go back to the high
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Church where it's not just a voluntary yeah I think that's why what is going yeah I think that is why there has been I wouldn't call it maybe call it a mini
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Exodus but there is a statistically a statistically recordable movement back toward Roman Catholicism and Greek
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Orthodoxy because of their age and therefore their apparent um stability uh and and there's definitely
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the high church but again I think that's where you go back into the ritualism and and that's why we don't do communion every week because our nature is geared
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toward ritualism we find stability and strength we find comfort and peace in stable rituals that may just be dinner at 6
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okay not at 6:15 we're we're creatures of habit Even in our
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of to cathol and the reason I asked him why he said I just want somebody to tell me what to do you know he wanted the structure he wanted to know I here well he could have
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gone to the average Baptist Church and been told what to do I mean that's that's that's not something the Roman Catholics but in the it's not so much being told what to do from the pulpit as
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it is it is being given a I I do this I go to the priest I confess and I do he gives me you know penants he gives me prayers I
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pray the rosary I I've got something to do and that makes it everything okay yeah but he was a personal a personal thing he didn't didn't go to church
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without talking because he didn't he what he needed to right and so stay home and then he decided don't know what to
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do c and and yeah the Roman Catholic Church is definitely crad cradled to grave would say my observation recently is that some of the nominations are more
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even remaining Protestants are moving more in that direction not but a local Seminary had a conference a couple of years ago entitled the church the mother
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of God yeah and I've met a number of folks in that Association who spend most of their
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of their time uh promulgating the security and importance of that particular ecclesiology in warding off error but the ecclesiology is their
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armor again anything we talk about we can we can misinterpret misconstrue and misapply and we can turn anything that is that is a blessing and intended as a blessing we can turn it into an idol and
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a curse Israel did it they gave us tremendous examples um which Paul says these are examples by which we need to live in not doing what they did the
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phrase extra Ecclesia noas sales outside the church there is no salvation that um that that's kind of a a bad phrase for Protestants because it
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means in the Roman Catholic context that if you are outside the Roman Catholic Church that there is no salvation but if you look at the church as Paul teaches it as the body of Christ
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this statement couldn't be more true because if you're outside the body of Christ there's no salvation so I don't think we we throw the baby out with the bath water or the
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baptismal water or whatever the holy water um you know we we have to recognize that that this was a truth perverted not a
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lie right lie right so yeah we have to recover what it means to be baptized into one body what what it means for the
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church to be and and this is in in Ephesians this is the phrase that I I always come back to that I think um I I really do think we will never quite in this life get a a
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handle on this but Paul calls the
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all the word is ploma which was a hot button word in Greek philosophy and in Greek mythology ploma the fullness right fullness right um but you you have a messiah who is
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almighty God he holds all things together by the word of his being there is nothing created that was not created by Him and nothing is
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sustained if it is not sustained by him that we understand I think the well I say we understand we understand the words that we read that he fills all in
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all he is omnipresent but can we understand what it means for the church to be the fullness of the one who fills all in
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all that that's mindboggling um and I I I I don't know that I'd be able to preach on that except to say wow what what does Paul mean what is he getting
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at but certainly he's got a higher view of the church than many modern evangelicals the problem with the idea of high Church though the phrase High
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Church means liturgy a certain type of liturgy right it means a certain type of vestment a certain type of activity a certain solemnity a certain uh sensuous
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experience often time it's Sight and Sound and smell are are really you know the the in the uh the uh incense the chanting if you think about
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the the Gregorian chants I mean it's a it's it's an experience that really bypasses the
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mind it it it achieves its purpose through the through the senses okay the visual idea of the cathedral where you walk in and your
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your head is immediately taken upward to the to the soaring ceilings the stained glass and the light that shimmers through that and then the priests in their vestments and
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all the relics and all the gold and the silver it's it's a sensory perception okay perception okay so it it's evil in is in its bypassing
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the mind you know Paul says be transformed by the renewing of your mind Protestants recognize that the reformers recognize that and that's why
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they emphasized as we see in um Acts 2:42 the first item that's listed is the
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we avoid assembling or making assembling together an idol well this is kind of a a
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very mundane very mundane analogy but hopefully we don't make an idol out of dinner or lunch or
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breakfast I mean hopefully we don't come bowing seven times to the table he depends on what's being made honestly chicken fajitas I'm
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powing um how do we we we don't even we're not even really threatened by making an idol out of breathing we just do it okay things that
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are necessary for our life we do without making Idols out of them but we don't recognize that the assembling of ourselves together in the presence of
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the Lord and in his word is necessary for our
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life so if we don't recognize that how do we how do we gain recognition of that how do how do we how do we do it I don't necessarily have an answer I'm asking a question I think we have to be taught that it is
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necessary because if we're not taught it's not something in our culture that comes
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naturally like I said earlier we're actively taught that it's not necessary to be in church to be saved because of that reaction against Catholic but from what Tim brought us
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prior to this these lessons you know we're saved into this Kingdom that isn't going to go away and be replaced by something else it's a kingdom that's being
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completed and that kingdom is the church yes yeah we do we do need to be taught
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again but there is another um danger that preachers pastors face and and that's much more modern and and that is the danger of being declared a legalist that's that's a kiss of death
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if if you're know if you you know you're just being just being legalistic so there's a it's a it's a very tight line to walk because what you
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to reach is reach is not uh what's the word that that part of your brain that that uh whatever part of your brain where guilt
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originates that's not the part of the brain that the gospel should be targeting but it often is but then if you um if you make it too
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much to that part of the brain where your own self-interest is sourced and you say well know this is this is what you need for yourself
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you again see you're doing you're putting it right back on the individual and and that's really the skila and carbus the the the world
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pool and the and the rocks that modern evangelicalism and they recognize the problem in the church they recognize there are a number of great com contemporary writers who recognize that
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the the church has lost hold of its self identity it really has but then to try to regain that you run the risk of either continuing it's
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really all up to you at the end anyhow it you know if you don't feel like this is not what's said but this is what's heard if you don't feel like this if you're doing fine by yourself then that's okay it's not okay but then if I
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say it's not okay then I'm saying well you mean I'm I'm saved in the church and salvation is dependent on the church which is what you pointed out but why don't you go to James where he says you
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know you say you have faith no works I say show me your works and I'll admit your P basically and people don't want to hear that but James says it right so
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does Paul I mean not the same way but that's exactly that that's exactly what needs to be done it's just a continuing immersing in the scriptures concerning the church and and you don't have to go
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far because you really have to wrestle and manipulate Paul Paul to Come Away with an individualistic Christianity you you really can't get it
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from Paul unless you first read it in and then uh Wrangle it out because he is all about the church and everything he talks about he
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talks about in the context of the body of Believers which is the body of Christ all of his metaphors all of his admonitions all of his exhortations all require the context of
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the church so Paul James Peter um they're all John they're all that's what's needed it's just a return but then I think we have to set that in its
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overall context of God's revelation and realize that this is no different than different than Israel under the old Covenant I mean it
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is different because it's completed and it includes every tongue tribe and Nation but the fact that it is a people of God is still the same as it was then
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I think part of teaching what the church is and why it's so important and we've done this a lot talking about what the church is because I do feel like there are a lot
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of Evangelical Christians who think the church is very important but because we live in such a fluid fastpaced quick Tove Society it's about
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which church do I choose when all the dictating the choices I make where I go you know I move for my job because obviously that's the most important thing I will get plugged into a church I
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move analogy plugged in what you do something pluged unplug itug it yeah whenever you want so I think Evangelical Christians often
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Christians often have paradoxically a high view of the church I need to be in it but a low view of the church because whatever I am I am is that counts
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yes inad
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of do not and I
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theys we're not we're not plugs we're plants well that that's yeah we're not plugs we're plant we're the the bi biblical analogy is we are grafted in the the modern analogy is a
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rechargeable car that you know at the end of my journey I plug in and I get recharged and that is I mean I think if we searched ourselves our own minds and hearts I think we would we would have to
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admit that to some extent at least we view Sunday service as is recharging we even pray that way you know that it would help us through the week but we're we're plugged in we're getting recharged
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um with the singing and the sermon and the fellowship and that recharge is going to run us through seven days until we get back to the charging station um and and oftentimes
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evangelicals as Abigail was mentioning i' I know this because I get the calls or markets the calls or the emails you know people are they're planning to move
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to Greenville and so they're checking out churches okay so they're they're not low Church they're not apathetic toward church but they're not moving to
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Greenville because of a church and they're leaving a church as they move they're moving because of a job now that's our culture I'm I I I
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would say that we see that happening in act in Paul's sphere the church in Rome was planted by some Christians who had previously had to move out of Rome
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because the RO the Roman Emperor kicked him out well there's a there's a difference between being forced out and exiled but they went found a church right and when they got back they helped
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build that church that nass church right so you know I'm not as against moving I'm not either I I'm not I I I agree
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with you and I I wanted to be very quick to say that I'm not condemning people moving but I do think we we can recognize that our priorities in general are what dictate our
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actions and and the people who contact Fellowship Bible Church they're also contacting it's someone like you get three bids you know three minimum bids and and they're contacting a minimum
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three churches and we're putting in a bid uh on them plugging into to our recharging station while they're here
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um to one extent that's part of our culture the difference between what happened in Rome and what happens today is what happens today is is almost entirely voluntary you do not have to take that
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transfer okay and I know that I mean many of us know that from our own experience in corporate life you do not have to take that transfer now not taking that transfer means your you will
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not be promoted and you will get laid off but it is a choice that in our culture we can
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make Church use that word I don't know if average person Church Aver
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Church well that's a good point I've been using that word Evangelical of course the very simple definition is it's a church that still believes in the gospel the Evangel um but it it it now is the word because it used to be
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Conservative Christian or fundamentalist Christian but then fundamentalists became a certain way conservatives went with a certain political party and so now we use the word Evangelical and and
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you know you you heard the phrase Bible believing Christians okay uh kind of a redundant but that's kind of what an Evangelical is I just add to my comment
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so that I don't sound like I'm just anever I mean much of what I observed in St Andrew in Scotland as a college town people who were there for years but not
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only were only were they were they moving on to a place where they would then be rooted many of those people are entirely rootless people and they will go on through their
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lives being rootless people and that's that's symptomatic of our because they like it and that's the truth yeah they're going to go on being ruthless um
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we live in a rootless society very it's troubling to them because they have no roots it's troubling to so that brings us that brings us down to the I think the kind of a concluding
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reality we're not going to say okay we need to you need to be at every service that Fellowship Bible Church has whatever it is you need to be there
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we're not saying that we've never said that that's that's the institutionalization that that will kill any type of heart involvement and will actually lead to idolatry so that's not
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the right answer but we we do say that um we do live in a completely rootless society and just the analogy of of
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Agriculture that we see in the scriptures should teach us that there cannot be growth and even if you focus on the individual which I again we want to move away from that
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but you cannot grow constantly uprooted and and replanted okay now it may be that the soil in which you are planted is not not
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good soil and by God's grace I would say that for my family that the soil in which we were planted well we were in Oklahoma that's not good soil okay all
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right but it's also in some respects many places not good spiritual soil either and and it took a move and you
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know I can't really point the finger because why did I move to Greenville I was in engineering I got a job now actually the reason we moved to the east was to be be closer to our
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parents the reason we moved to the southeast was so that we wouldn't be too close to our parents okay so it was conscious but by God's grace we found good
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soil so I'm not saying that that everybody needs to stay in whatever like Paul says whatever situation you were in you know whatever Church you were in you must stay no that may be bad
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soil but the consideration of where you replant must be that an alogy I I need to find good soil and then let my roots
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develop and and as that happens and I believe that it will be not on a grand scale but what's going on in our culture
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today Society can cannot sustain we're going we're going through a massive period of deconstructionism this has happened before it cannot be sustained
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okay at the end of the day the race will be repopulated by the union of a man and a woman okay you know the truth of scripture will abide we need to be
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patient through the turmoil of the lie but as people recognize the lie and God by God's grace are brought out of it will there be any fertile soil for him
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to plant those seedlings in that's what we desire to be let's close in prayer father we do thank you for your
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word and for the light that it sheds on your wisdom and on our lives we pray that we would be devoted as the early apostles were
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and the disciples devoted to the apostles teaching devoted to the revelation of your nature and of your will through your word and we ask that you would do this by your spirit even
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today through the sermon that Mark will be bringing that you will feed us nourish us and um grow us in