Community: True or False?

 Heya peeps! We had a fun Summit last night between Spicy UNO and Gaga ball. I, myself, am exhausted. But beating MadFrame in a 1v1 was worth it! I wasn't paying too much attention to Spicy UNO until after Gaga, so I missed the setting of the rules, and yall really messed up how that game is played. First of all, no one is ever truly "out" until the game is over. So even if you have no cards in hand, you're still in the game and still need to follow the rules. That means, second of all, that 7s count for EVERYONE. That game better be SILENT or someone is drawing cards. Just saying.

Anyway, we announced last night that summer camp is officially ON, and initial registration is due NEXT WEEK. By the time any of you read this, "next week" will have been weeks, months, maybe years ago (based on current viewing trends), but just thought you should know, we weren't sure about camp and now we are. =)

We sang "All Because of Jesus" by Fee and "Fill This Place" by Red Rocks Worship last night for our singing time, both of which served to remind us of why we are devoted to the things of God. The reason is the same for us as it was for the early church in Acts 2:42 - its all because of Jesus. We are surrounded and filled with a profound love that can only be found in Jesus Christ. It is out of that love that we live and breathe and serve the Lord.

This led us right into a message on being devoted to true community, delivered by our very own Statistician (I looked and I did, in fact, spell that correctly). I avoid using names on this blog when I can, so for anyone who is not sure who that is, you can also call him Mr. L. Hopefully that narrows it down for you. =) He's a statistician, hence the nickname.

He opened with our main passage for this study on devotions of the church: Acts 2:42-47 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Out of this passage we draw 7 things which the early church was devoted to: Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking of Bread, Prayer, True Community, Praising God (worship), and Welcoming new members daily. True community is closely connected to Fellowship, as both share that sense of togetherness, so as we focus on it you'll see that when we talk about being devoted to true community like the early church was, it comes down to a focus on Others First.

1 John 1:3 (CEV): "What we have seen and heard we declare to you so that you and we together may share in a common life, that life which we share with the Father and His son Jesus Christ."

There are two sides to this for us to understand. There is "Sharing Together" and "Sharing With". Sharing together has this idea of relationship and partnership. In 1 John 1:3, above, the author points to our having a common life with God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. When we come to faith in Jesus, we all enter into a common, shared life as Christians. We enter into a relationship with every Christian on earth (even those we don't even know). In that sense, we have this massive community across the globe of fellow believers, all striving to serve and love God together. And we also have partnership with other believers, and this is specifically the ones we know and interact with. Partnership describes believers as a community in action. So its not just that we share life together, we act in obedience to the will of God together.

Sharing with has the idea of with whom and how we share. In Acts 2, the church was eating together, praying and worshiping together - they communed with one another. It was a very intimate group, despite being such a large group (more than 3,000 people). They loved and cherished each other as fellow believers in Jesus. Luke (the author of Acts) goes so far as to describe what they did to show their love: they sold possessions and property so they could give to anyone who had need. They shared their material possessions. Many made personal sacrifices so that others in the community could be provided for. That is the picture of true community that we want to be devoted to. A willingness to make sacrifices for the good of others.

We closed out the message with a few general things we can be devoted to in order to build true community with each other:

1. Put Others First

- Philippians 2:3-4 - "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

- 1 Corinthians 10:24 - "No one should seek their own good, but the good of others."

2. Share Material Possessions

- Romans 12:13 - "Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

- 2 Corinthians 9:12 - "This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God."

- Hebrews 13:16 - "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."

- 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 - "so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

3. Serve Others

- 2 Corinthians 9:13 - "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."

- 1 Peter 4:10 - "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

4. Encourage Others

- Ephesians 4:29 - "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

As you go into the rest of your life, begin thinking about how you can put others first in your life. As Philippians 2 puts it, "not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Imagine what our community would look like if we were all looking out for each other instead of just looking out for ourselves. What would your family look like? Your friend group? Your romantic relationships?

The community of God, our youth group, needs to be devoted to living in true community, looking out for each other instead of for ourselves. This means having a willingness to sacrifice your time, energy, or resources for the good of others in the community. This all means that others in the community will have the same mindset for you, looking out for you. As with most things, though, it starts with you (whoever "you" are). Set the example, put others first, share your stuff, serve others, and be an encouragement to everyone you come across. As we begin to be devoted to this, you will notice a positive change in our group dynamic that reflects the love of God.

Bread Breakers

 Hey yall! Welcome back to another Summitable blog post! Last night we met together (what is that, every Wednesday now?) at the church and enjoyed some frisbee, some kind of keep-away game, and a card version of golf (still confused on that one). To me, last night felt like a touch of the old pre-Covid Summit as we had some hangout, an organized game time (Scatter Ball), a volunteer game, singing and the message. It was awesome. If you would like to sing the songs we sang, they were "Jesus Messiah" by Chris Tomlin and "King of Love" by I AM THEY.

Since we got to the topic of breaking bread, I thought it would be helpful to have a demonstration of what that might have looked like for the early church. We had two students, each equipped with a stale baguette, duel to the breaking point. The first baguette to break lost. Unfortunately, this happened on the first strike, so they continued their duel down to the last nub of stale bread. Also unfortunate, this was not what the early church was devoted to when Acts 2:42 says they were devoted to the breaking of bread. What they were devoted was sharing meals together and honoring what Jesus did on the cross. To get a better understanding of what they were devoted to, let's read Matthew 26:17-30:

"17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. 20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” 23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.” 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."

The meal that Jesus was sharing with His disciples was the Passover, which was a celebration of something God had done for the people of Israel in the Old Testament. To give you the quick version, basically the Israelites were all slaves in Egypt, and God had sent Moses as an ambassador to speak to Pharaoh and free them. Well, Pharaoh liked having slaves and said no, so God sent 10 plagues against Egypt and Pharaoh to convince him to let His people go. The 10th and final plague was the breaking point for Pharaoh, and for this one God was going to send the angel of death across the land, and the angel was going to kill the firstborn son in every household (including the Israelites' households). Through Moses, God told the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and paint its blood across the tops and sides of the doorposts to their homes (kind of like a cross). When the angel came to their house and saw the blood, he would "pass over" and move on to the next house, and they would be safe. It was this "passing over" that the people celebrated with the Passover feast.

Now, in the passage in Matthew Jesus offers new significance to the meal. He offers the bread and the wine as His body and blood, "which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins". His disciples knew the context, so when He said this, they understood it to mean that He (Jesus) would be the sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world. So, when God looks at us (those who have put their faith in Jesus), He sees the blood of Jesus and His judgment/wrath passes over us, just like the angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt.

The meal itself represented what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross. You see, without food, what happens? You go long enough without it and you'll die. We need to eat or we die. Well, without the body and blood of Jesus being poured out on the cross, we will die. Romans 6:23 tells us "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Because of sin, we are doomed to die - eternal separation from God. We have a spiritual need, and Jesus's death on the cross fills that need just as food and drink fills our physical need. So when we share meals as the church, we are filling physical needs (because everyone needs to eat) and we remember how Jesus has filled our spiritual need (because everyone needs forgiveness for their sins, which is only found in Jesus). This is what the early church was devoted to - sharing meals and remembering Jesus.

I would also like to quickly note how Jesus sang a hymn with His disciples. If Jesus sings praises to God, then I think it is safe to say that we should all sing praises to God. Just saying.

So let's look to apply this to our group today. If we want to be devoted to the breaking of bread like the early church, then we should be sharing meals together and remembering what Jesus did for us on the cross. While most churches do not make a full meal out of it, almost every church observes Communion (also known as the Lord's Supper) during which the people eat bread/crackers and drink wine/grape juice together, in remembrance of Jesus' death on the cross and the forgiveness we received from it. If you are not already involved with a local church, I would like to personally invite you to our church (info can be found here). I strongly encourage you, if you have put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, to participate in Communion with your local church.

Another way to apply this message is to share meals together in your homes. I recognize that Covid-19 can make that rather difficult at the moment, but do what you can do to invite friends and fellow believers over to share a meal together - at home, at the mall, wherever. And when you do this, take a moment to remember how Jesus filled your spiritual need for life through the cross. Also, food is a great bonding tool. If you want to get to know someone or build a friendship, eating together is a great way to do that.

And finally, I would like you to look at one more verse, Deuteronomy 8:3 - "[God] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (emphasis mine). Just as food nourishes our bodies, the Word of God (the Bible) nourishes our souls. We should be reading God's Word as often as we eat, which should be at least once a day.

In doing these things, we demonstrate our devotion to the breaking of bread. Now go break some bread!

Here Am I. Send Me!

HEYO! We pulled out the old volleyball net last night and actually got a little bit of volleyball in (usually we just end up playing Nuke'em, an inferior game mode in my opinion). No offense to those of you who enjoy Nuke'em, it just isn't my favorite compared to volleyball. Anyway, starting out was a struggle because no one wanted to be a team player and some of us were a little rusty at the game. However, with a little bit of coaching we got people up to par to the point that ball would consistently go over the net. Uhh, returns, on the other hand, were rare (for both sides). We have some work to do before we can really play the game. Bump, set, SPIKE!

Mrs. L. was back with us after a couple of weeks on sick leave, and we were glad to see her on the mend! I managed to lose a massive game of UNO, and I know everyone is excited to see me lose. :)

Anywho, our message last night was focused on another of the early church's devotions: prayer. This is based out of Acts 2:42 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." We opened the message time with some singing - Take Me In by Kutless and Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin. I strongly recommend looking up the lyrics to these two songs as they tie in quite nicely with the message. I also shared my new morning routine, which is as follows:

1. Emilie's first alarm goes off at 6 AM - I wake up to it, she does not.

2. Emilie's next alarm goes off at 7 AM - she wakes up and takes a shower, then gets back into bed.

3. Emilie's next alarm goes off at like 7:27 AM - she gets up and gets ready for work. From this point on the phrase "Hey Michael - Wakey Wakey" will be on repeat until I finally get up.

4. I finally get up, remote start Emilie's car, brush my teeth and get ready, and then I drive Emilie to work.

5. We sit in the car for a bit (because we get there a little early), I pray over her day - that she has patience, that her students listen to her, and that her coworkers are a help, not a hindrance. Then she goes in.

6. Once she goes in, I pull out my phone, update my game on my phone (sitting in the car), wave to one of the dads as he brings his son in to the school, then drive to Wawa for my morning coffee (Cuban dark roast with Irish Cream dairy-free creamer). Then I return home.

That is my morning from Monday to Friday, my new routine. Now, there is so much more to talk about with prayer than I could possibly cover in a blog post (or a Wednesday night message, for that matter) and we talk about it a lot (look back at the "Prayer - What Does It Do, Exactly?" blog post). This message will focus on being devoted to prayer, and what that means for us.

Our passage for this topic is Isaiah 6:1-8, which reads: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

This passage comes from a time before Jesus, when even the people of God (Israel) did not have direct access to Him. They were separated from His presence because of sin and could only come near to Him through animal sacrifices at the Temple. They had to atone for their sins and become pure in order to be in His presence, or else they would be struck dead (this had happened before). In the passage, Isaiah finds himself in the direct presence of God, in His throne room. Check out this diagram of the Jewish Temple below:

All of those lines represent walls and curtains which separated people from the next area, and then at the very center (toward the top), is the "Holy of Holies", or the "Most Holy Place". This is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, and it symbolized the footstool of God's throne. So in our passage, Isaiah is likely standing near there, at the feet of God, and he is able to see all that is happening in God's heavenly throne room. For some context, the Holy of Holies was where the presence of God on earth could be found (God is omnipresent - everywhere at once - but if a person wanted to experience the direct presence of God, it was in the Holy of Holies). Once a year, the high priest of Israel was permitted to go in there and burn incense, sprinkle animal blood and pray for the atonement of the sins of all the people. If he went in without first making the proper sacrifices, he would be overwhelmed by God's holiness and die on the spot. That's how serious it was to be in right standing with God.

Getting back to our passage, this is the exact predicament Isaiah finds himself in - he is impure, unholy, and sinful. He has absolutely no business being in God's throne room and he knows it. He knows that he is about to die. But then an angel of the Lord comes and purifies him with a burning coal, and he finds that his sins have been atoned for and his guilt removed. He is made righteous before God and is allowed to stay. It is at this moment that Isaiah overhears God asking for someone willing to be sent out as God's representative and Isaiah immediately responds, "Here am I. Send me!"

A sinner comes before God, is purified by God, and then offers himself to be a representative of God in the world. This is what it looks like to commit your life to Jesus Christ. This is what it looks like to be a Christian. "But Michael," you might ask, "what does this have to do with prayer?" Well, I'm glad you asked! Let's turn over to Luke 10:2 - "[Jesus] told them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.'"

Prayer has two focuses: God and people. Through prayer we seek out God to spend time with Him, get to know Him, and learn about His will for us. His part of that conversation can be found in Scripture (God's Word), and He also speaks through His Holy Spirit in our minds, and through other believers. Through prayer we also seek out God's help for ourselves and for others. And when Acts 2 says the early church was devoted to prayer, it means that they were devoted to spending time with God and praying for all the people (believers and unbelievers). Most importantly for our purposes today, they were devoted to praying daily.

In the passage with Isaiah, he experiences the presence and mercy of God, and he talks with God! In the conversation he is made aware of God's will, His desire for a representative on earth, and so Isaiah responds with "Here am I. Send me!"

In Luke 10:2, Jesus explains that there is a vast world of people just waiting to hear the Gospel message, just waiting to be told about Jesus, and yet there are so few people willing to go out and tell them. The world is the harvest, Christians are God's workers. And Jesus says, "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field".

This is an every day thing - every day we need to be asking God to send out His workers into the harvest field, to spread the message about Jesus and make disciples. So, the challenge from this week is something called the Luke 10:02 Challenge. Every day at 10:02 (AM or PM is up to you), take a few minutes to pray. Pray for God to reveal Himself to you, pray for God to work in your life, and pray for God to send out His workers to spread the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, if you have any specific requests or praises, you can talk to Him about those, too. Do this once every day (like a daily routine), and let it be a time for you to respond as one of those workers, saying "Here am I. Send me!"

Be There or Be Square (because you're not aROUND)

 Hey gang! We had a great night last night and I was so glad to see some familiar faces return to our Summit gathering! We got in a massive game of UNO (10 players!) and plenty of 9-Square action. Those of you who were unable to attend, you missed a fun "new" song we sang together - You Are Holy by Michael W. Smith. Check it out and imagine the guys and girls singing their respective parts. It was pretty sweet.

The message this week was focused on Fellowship. Last night, we answered 3 basic questions: 1) What do we mean when we say "Fellowship"? 2) What does Fellowship do/accomplish for us? and 3) How can we be devoted to Fellowship? To focus our attention, we used Hebrews 10:24-25 - “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

What do we mean when we say "Fellowship"?

Hebrews 10:24-25 uses the phrase “meeting together”. Taken very simply, Fellowship is whenever we meet together. But it is also much more than that. It means more than just “showing up”, being devoted to Fellowship means being present in the group and actively engaged in what the group is doing – if the group is praying, you’re praying. If the group is singing, you’re singing, if the group is playing games, you’re playing games, if the group is serving others, you’re serving others. You see what I am saying? I can easily “show up” on a Wednesday and be completely disconnected from the group – I can go sit in a corner and ignore everyone. So, when we talk about Fellowship, we are talking about being actively engaged with a group of believers in whatever that group is doing. It is about doing stuff together.

What does Fellowship do/accomplish for us?

A lot of the Christian life is impossible to live out on a Sunday morning (or Wednesday night) alone – evangelism, good works, serving the community, personal prayer and devotions, generous giving, life witness, etc. Most of that happens throughout the week, outside of our time at church.

Fellowship is part of the glue of all the other things we are to be devoted to. It forms the context for everything: we are taught in groups, we meet in groups, we pray in groups, we praise God in groups, we serve in groups. God set up the church so that His people would not be lost in isolation, sitting in a corner by themselves, trying to do His will. He set up the church so that we could be together and obey Him together. To build His Kingdom together.

All of the other things we talked about two weeks ago (teaching, prayer, sharing meals, true community, praising God, and welcoming new members) are meant to be done as a group, not individually. This is because God knows that human beings need companionship. We need each other. In a group, we can support one another, love one another, encourage one another, correct one another when we mess up or go the wrong way, and celebrate together when God works in our lives.

How can we be devoted to Fellowship?

-Show up. Make it a point to be here regularly.

-Be active when you show up. Don’t just come in and sit down – be active. Play a game, start an activity, strike up a conversation. Don’t just be a potato.

-Meet together outside of Summit or church on Sunday. And not just to hang out (not that that is a bad thing). Meet to go help someone, or to read the Bible together, or to witness to a friend (that’s right, that’s not supposed to be an individual thing, either). Meet together to pray, sing songs of praise, or to learn something new about God. Do it with food, after all, sharing meals is a thing we are supposed to be devoted to.

-Join a Bible Study. These are small groups of people meeting together to learn and grow – it is fellowship.

-Invite others to join you here, or to church, or to other events and activities. A lot of fellowship is about being invitational. It is only when we are inviting that we get the opportunity to welcome new members!

-And finally, for us here, you can use our Discord channel. That’s a useful social tool for connecting outside of Summit. You can chat, play games together, and communicate through Discord.

My challenge to each of you is to make the decision to be devoted to Fellowship. No matter where you are (here, in college, or moved to another state), don't ever give up meeting together with other believers. "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching."