You Have All You Need
Messsage Notes 📝
Online Service - Post-Lockdown Church
By Phil Moore
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There was a moment, while Jesus was still with the disciples, when they felt utterly powerless and when Jesus had to teach them: You Have All You Need.
When they were faced with 5,000 people to feed, Jesus said you feed them and they said we can’t, so Jesus said show me what you’ve got, they replied 5 loaves and 2 fishes. As they stopped looking at what they hadn’t got and started bringing to God what they had, they discovered: You Have All You Need.
In Acts 5:11-21a & 42 we read that a few weeks or months after Jesus ascended back to heaven and the Church moved out of lockdown, some time in 30AD, the disciples had to learn that lesson again..
In Jail / No money (Acts 3:4) / No building (Acts 5:12). It looks like the story of the Church is over, they’re so weak, but what we read about in these verses is the moment that it really all kicked off. It was in that moment that they felt at their weakest, that they lifted their eyes up to heaven and heard God saying to them:
You Have All You Need.
You have a Message
They are in the public jail, about to be put on trial, possibly executed. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appears and opens the locked doors of the prison for them – that’s what the Lord is doing for us today, lockdown is over, post-lockdown church has begun! – and the angel says to them:
Acts 5:20 “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life.”
This new life = the story of Jesus. Son of God, incarnate, life, death, resurrection!, ascension, Holy Spirit.
This new life = the story of us. Died with him, raised with him, ascended with him, anointed by him. “What we have”.
This new life = the story of those around us. Those marginalised and seeking. Your past doesn’t define your future. Jesus defines your future. Do you believe that this new life is for you?
The disciples had to learn this twice. When they did so it resulted in breakthrough. The Lord is trying to teach this lesson to us right now too. Think of all that has been stripped away from us through Covid-19. As individuals, we've lost so much, stripped back. As a church, we've lost so much: people moved out of town, teams fragmented, hard to mobilise people back, weaker than ever been.
Into this context, the Lord says to us: You Have All You Need. You have my message of New Life – for you and for others.
You have a Method
People across the country saying: I can’t do everything I did before, lockdown taught me loads, I need to choose. Churches across the country saying: We can’t do everything we did before, we’d be exhausted. That’s good news! The Lord is forcing us back to his original method. Keep it simple for the sake of his mission.
Acts 5:42 “Every day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
There was nothing complicated about the Early Church. It didn’t have elaborate church programmes. It focused on the simple method of Jesus.
Be together every day. That’s our name as a church because we are determined to be every-day believers together. There are many ways that we can do so. Some of us through the Prayer Room. Some of us through the Daily Devotions - written and video. Some of us through Whatsapp messages. Some of us meet up or even live together. But we’re not Sunday Christians. We are devoted to one another every day in community.
Be together in the Temple courts. In other words, in the big church gathering where you can be inspired and encouraged by your church community as a whole. The challenges of coming back together post-lockdown are worth it!
Be together from house to house. For some of that, it means living life in community, constantly in and out of each other’s homes. Wonderful. In a 21C London context, that usually requires a little bit more planning. It’s unusual in our context to turn up at someone’s house uninvited, to lay yourself a place for dinner and to do life together. That’s where Life Groups come in.
It’s a very simple method but it’s so simple that we can tend to despise it.
- Where is my discipleship programme? Here!
- Where is my men’s/women’s ministry? Here!
- Where is my Kids/Youth? Here!
This is actually really releasing. You Have All You Need.
So many people wanting to know how to grow in their walk with Jesus post-lockdown. This is how.
So many people wanting to know how to invest in the next generation. This is how.
So many people wanting to know how their talents can be used for the Kingdom of God. This is how.
Hosts/Life Group Leaders. Kids & Youth mentors. Musicians & Production. Hosting & Logistics. Prayers & Intercessors. Bible Teachers. As we devote ourselves to these things, it happens!
You have a Mentor
The Early Church wasn’t primarily about meetings. Those meetings were all just the means to an end.
Acts 5:20 “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life.”
We gather to go deeper into the new life that we have because that new life is the Holy Spirit within us. He is the “living water” who fills and empowers us. He is also the one who mentors us to make a difference in the world around us. Many of us think that mission is something we do. We act and pray and hope for help, but:
John 15:26-27 “When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father … he will bear witness about me. And you also must bear witness.”
{note: Four places! Father > Son > Spirit > Us.}
Acts 5:12 - So we see this in action from v12 onwards.
Acts 5:13 - fear to join them, {like Caleb in The Chosen} sniffing something about them.
Acts 5:14 - Nevertheless, many people are so attracted they break through. They are saved and added to their number. How?
Acts 5:12 - signs and wonders. The result?
Acts 5:15-16 - They go out from their meetings and bring healing everywhere. They proclaim the Good News of new life through Jesus and they prove it too. As they do so, they quickly discover that God was telling the truth when he told them: You Have All You Need.
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So do we. We are coming out of lockdown, just like the first Christians in these verses. We find ourselves in a place of weakness, just like the first Christians in these verses. But We Have All We Need, just like the first Christians in these verses.
