Stop Pointing. It’s not nice!

It is 11p.m. I am sitting here watching TV. I started my evening checking out SNL. Man, I used to love that show. I just can’t watch it anymore. I turn it on every Saturday hoping that it will be funny, just to be disappointed. I always turn it off in the first five minutes. For one, it’s not funny, it just isn’t. They would do themselves a favor if they just showed reruns from the Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Dennis Miller, and Eddie Murphey days. Now there were some funny moments with those guys. The second problem is that the show uses perverted humor. Not judging, perversion is just not my thing.

So, I flipped through the channels to find something else that might help me escape for awhile. Well, I turned to one of the two “Christian” stations in the area. I watched a guy preaching that I had never heard before. Quite honestly, I will never hear him again. He had nothing too say. Not being critical, I stopped because I thought I might hear a little “nougat” that I could take with me. Nope, nada, nothing, zilch, zero, the big goose egg. So, I continued flipping the channels and found Hillsong. You can’t go wrong with Hillsong. Only the most annointed worship bands of our times.

 Enough of the rambling, let’s talk turkey. <– whatever that means! A friend of mine sent me a text message the other day. He texted, text, I dunno. The message was simply a verse in the Bible, Acts 2:46. For Charismatics, you are definitely familiar with this chapter. There was even an 80’s band called The Second Chapter of Acts. I wish I was making that up, but I am not. Anyway, back to my point. Check this out:

Acts 2:44-47

44)And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other, 45) selling their possessions and dividing with those in need. 46) They worshiped together regularly at the Temple each day, met in small groups in homes for Communion, and shared their meals with great joy and thankfulness, 47) praising God. The whole city was favorable to them, and each day God added to them all who were being saved.

My first thought is, why did they break up verse 46 and 47 when they did? King James should have fired his editor. Seriously though, this passage caught my attention. I have read it several times, but this was different. I was reading the things that the early Christ-followers were doing. Check it out; they hung out constantly, the crew from Clean Sweep showed up and helped them get rid of their stuff, they took that stuff and divided it up to those who needed it, they had a Hillsong United concert EVERY day, met in small groups, ate togther, and praised God. Amazing stuff. Put yourself in their shoes. This is the first time that this is happening. No one had experienced this before. This was groundbreaking. There was no conference, book, or church that was doing this. Wheel’s Off!

This is normally where I would check out of this study. But, look what happened as a result of their community. They were given the key to the city, and every day, people were finding Jesus on their journey. That excites me. I believe that this will be the model for evangelism for the 21st century church. Long gone are the days of pointing your finger at someone on the sidewalk, playing the “have you ever stolen anything, have you ever told a lie, than you are a lying thief condemed to hell game.”

When Christ-followers are living in TRUE community, lost people experience Jesus. True evangelism involves caring for others, not pointing a finger, but lending a hand. I heard Matthew Barnett, Pastor of the LA Dream Center make this statement that I just cannot shake: “When you live your life with hands out, ready to receive, you will only be happy on your birthday and Christmas. When you live your life with hands down, ready to give, you will be happy 24 hours a day 365 days a year.” How powerful will it be when you and your small group sell it all, divide it up, and meet the needs of those around you as well as those in your group. That neighbor who doesn’t want to talk about God, might just be drawn to Him because of your unselfish behavior. What would happen if you actually enjoyed being with the people that were in your small group? When I say enjoy, I don’t mean you enjoy their company during your weekly meeting. I mean that those people are the first people you call when you want to catch a movie, watch the game, go to dinner,go to the gym, need prayer, need money, need someone to talk to, need to repent, need to laugh, or need to cry. You genuinely care for them, like them as friends, and you trust them as family. Your worshiping God together, giving him uber credit for everything in your life, and your doing life together. If we can get this down, we will be so attractive to unchurched people, that we will grow. We will grow spiritually, numerically, and will be given the keys to the city. That sounds like true evangelism to me. So what do you need to give away? Who do you need to persue? Who do you need to praise? Let’s start bringing Heaven to earth!