Next Steps Initiative — Sacrifice

What made the first church so compelling that people were added to it daily? This message turns to Acts 2:42-47 to recover the marks of a community devoted to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. The teaching traces how the kingdom Jesus preached was misunderstood as political, collapsed at the cross, and was reborn after the resurrection as a spiritual movement. From that account it draws five priorities of a healthy church: authentic community, wholehearted worship, serious spiritual growth, investment in eternal priorities, and an outward, inviting posture. Worship, it argues, is far more than music; it is the whole of life offered to God, echoing Romans 12. The closing call is to communion and to belief, with the reminder that being created in God's image is not the same as being adopted into his family through Jesus.