Last week we saw that Jesus had a clear mission to start a movement that advanced God’s kingdom throughout the earth and his method was he started a family. In this message we explore how the Apostles, having been taught Jesus’ way of life, also spread the movement through intentionally building a family on mission.
If you want a study tool to go along with the podcast, see Lift Notes here:
Family on Mission: The apostles built a family too!
October 19th, 2014 by Kasey Crawford
Today’s Passages: Acts 1-2
The mission of Elevation: We are _____________ to be a family of followers of Jesus doing life together to see the Kingdom of Heaven transform earth.
Jesus’ ___________ of life is the model for a sustainable, reproducible, movement of Kingdom advancement.
Jesus had a clear mission to start a movement that advances God’s kingdom throughout the earth. His ___________ was he started a family.
The Apostles cultivated family:
“And they devoted themselves to…the fellowship.” Acts 2:42
Fellowship is “koinonia” which means “a mutually beneficial bond of _______________”. In Greek literature it is a favorite expression to describe the covenant bond of ______________ .
“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. Acts 2:44-45
Part of how the bible understands covenant relationship is a mutual ___________ of life together (time, energy, resources, etc.) The young Church was living with the ______________of a covenant family that shared everything they had.
The Apostles cultivated family on mission:
When Jesus left earth he passed on his mission to his followers to complete. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
And when the Holy Spirit came upon the church family, Peter explained it was the ___________ of the prophecy that: “in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” Acts 2:15–18
While it used to be that the priests, kings and prophets were the primary ones anointed by the Spirit to do God’s mission, now in the new covenant, the barriers of age, class and gender have been broken down so that young people, servants and women are also anointed by God’s spirit for the work of fulfilling God’s great mission.
“And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:47
How does this happen?
Because the people lived their ___________ lives on mission.
How can we move towards this kind of church life?
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42
What we see in Acts is not a busy, rushed, stressed, over committed, burned out church. We see a people ____________ themselves to the new way of life of following Jesus as a family on mission.
The results were pretty cool!
Living as a Disciple in His Kingdom…
Have you devoted yourself to pursuing and allowing church to become a family to you?
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