Real Community

A Shared Focus

September 15, 2024 | Acts 2:42-47 | prayer, small groups

When you visit another country or even another part of our country, you’ll notice several unique features to their community, to their culture. What they believe, whether they are relational, friendly or not, what kind of food they eat and of course what language or dialect they speak. A shared language is one of the key marks of any community.

The same was true of the first century church. They had their own way of greeting one another. They had a shared language–– it was the language of prayer. It was a shared focus, one that focused on spending time together talking to God in prayer.

We can experience this authentic community when we pursue the four devotions of the apostle’s teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. Today, we’re going to focus on the 4th devotion, “A Shared Focus.”

A Shared Faith

August 25, 2024 | Acts 2:42-47 | small groups

While communities based around politics, sports, BBQ and regional accents may help us find people to associate with as friends, they fall far short of the real community that God has in mind for us. How do we move from these “pseudo-communities” to real community?

In the book of Acts, Luke described the “true community” of the first century church. He noted that they were marked by four “devotions.” These devotions were: a shared faith, a shared family, a shared food, and a shared focus.
We can experience this authentic community when we pursue these four devotions. In this first message in the series, we’re going to focus on the first devotion, “A Shared Faith.”