The Acts 2 Church: Passions are Aligned
A Sermon Series by Rev. Aaron Powers based on the book by Rev. Toby Morgan
Acts 2:46-47: “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
Introduction: What is passion and do we have it?
Passion can be defined as strong emotion, intense emotional excitement, or the object of strong desire.
Some synonyms for passion and passionate are affection, anger, ardor, dedication, devotion, excitement, feeling, fervor, fury, intensity, joy, rage, resentment, sentiment, spirit, temper, warmth, ardent, wanton, vehement, yearning, desire, craving, and zealous.
Does the church have ANY of this?
A few years back, Gallup did a survey of 13,000 people who were once church goers but no longer attend.
The question was, “What would need to happen for you to return to church?”
The number 1 answer, overwhelmingly, was, “Passion in the lives of the members and leaders.”
Unfortunately, people have tried our churches and found us lacking.
People do not want to go to a dead Pentecostal church.
What they came wanting was a church on FIRE and instead got the Church of the Frozen Chosen.
They came looking for the Wind of the Upper Room and found sepulchers and whited walls filled with dead men’s bones.
They came looking for a move of God and found the ashes of what USED TO BE.
The epidemic of spiritual death that is sweeping once on fire churches must be self-diagnosed and cured before God’s judgement is poured out!
How do we do this diagnosis?
Should I turn to Dr. Google to find out what the other churches are doing?
Should I paint the walls black, tear out the stained glass, dismantle the pulpit, tear up the carpet, spotlight the “preacher”, install fog machines and laser lights for every service making it a nightclub quality show rather than a celebration of the love of and mercy of an Almighty God?
I am not saying not to use tools in concerts and dramas, I am asking if we do all of that and have no passion for the God whom we claim to serve NEITHER do we share what HE is passionate about, what have we accomplished?
NOTHING!
What CHEAP junk have we traded our passion and ANOINTING for?
Why do we think we are spirit filled and speak with other tongues while we lie and gossip and backbite and tail bear and engage in insubordination and sedition against Godly leadership in our native language?
We traded true passion for POPULARITY!
The Apostle Paul WARNED about this!
1 Corinthians 13:1, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”
If I can clearly speak with the tongues of men and even of angels, but have no passion or love for others growing out of God’s love for me that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us, then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal and I am nothing more than just an annoying distraction to my church and the world!
NO, NO!
I do not want to look to Dr. Google, Dr. Facebook, Dr. YouTube to see what OTHERS are doing… I am looking unto DR. JESUS!
What is GOD passionate about?
What does Dr. Jesus say?
Point 1: The Revelation Diagnostic Tool
If we think that a passionless church is annoying or dead, what does God think about it?
Well, I believe that God will do His best to get our attention BEFORE judgement falls.
Philadelphia had nothing negative AT ALL in their report because they maintained their passions aligned with the passion of Christ!
Looking at Smyrna, one would think that they are under the judgment of God for backsliding, but they are not!
They are simply walking through the valley of the shadow of death!
Smyrna’s church was in a horrible way physically, but they were in much better spiritual condition!
They were in poverty.
They were afflicted.
They were in the prison.
They suffering from blasphemies of wolves in sheep’s clothing that were trying to infiltrate the church!
Some were even killed, but they held on to their passion!
Jesus starts Godly counsel with the other churches.
He did that first with Ephesus.
At one time, Ephesus was a mighty church.
It was active.
It was engaged with the community.
It was doctrinally sound.
It was patient in hard times.
It did not sing Hillsong OR the Redback Hymnal, yet it still had a great music program of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs!
At one time, it was a GREAT place to worship…BUT Dr. Jesus noticed a problem at their last check-up.
It was a HEART problem!
Revelation 2:4 says, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”
They lost their passion!
I believe the warning from Jesus comes as a stark admonition compared to where they THOUGHT they were!
Let’s examine what this could look like in the 21st century.
Maybe they had not stopped teaching Sunday school, but they were simply going through the motions.
They had not yet disbanded the choir, but they were singing for performance rather than for Christ.
They had not yet dismantled the pulpit and installed the trappings of post-modern, post-Christian churches.
They had not yet disassembled the outreach and evangelism teams, but they had started doing the work for recognition and not for lost souls!
They had lost the LOVE as their motivation!
I feel bad for the Ephesian church.
The Pergamos congregation’s passion was just as bad, for it was misplaced!
They had placed their passion into false doctrine!
They were involved in idolatry, which is a passion problem because it is spiritual adultery which flows out of the loss of Christ as the first love!
God was sending them a caution as they were drifting farther, and father from Him!
When people do not know the Word of God or deny it’s power, they will fall into the trap of idol worship!
When we do not know the Word of God, we will say things like, “Everyone is going to heaven anyway.”
When we deny the sanctifying power of the Word of God will say things like, “We must placate our disenfranchised and repressed and oppressed brothers and sisters in the gay Christian community.”
When we do not know, or chose to ignore, the Word of God, we will believe the tripe and feces of Satan all the way from the beginning which said in Genesis 2:17, “…thou shalt not surely die.”
For the Christ of Calvary to directly address these issues at Pergamos, He is calling out those things that are taking the place of His love!
Thyatira had heart problems too!
They had good works.
They were charitable towards the community.
They had good acts of service, and faith, and patience even more in the end and they had in their inception.
BUT…they did not love Christ enough to call out the sin within the church and the community!
Jesus said, in Revelation 2:20-21 said, “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.”
Jezebel was not on the OUTSIDE of the church; she was running the church at Thyatira!
When the leadership’s passion is self-serving lust, the congregation has no chance of survival for God will KILL that church before it can be more destructive to the body of Christ!
WOW!
The poor congregation at Sardis was barely left alive because they only had a FEW who had unspotted garments, according to Revelation 3:1, Jesus said, “…I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
But, Laodacia was the worst.
Revelation 3:15-16 says, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
Bishop Toby Morgan said, “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the thing that I hear from Jesus to be the sounds of Him ‘throwing up’ when I enter the room!”
But this is exactly what Jesus said to Laodicea!
YOU MAKE ME PUKE!
I would rather hear the Lord say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
I would rather hear the Lord say, “Aaron Powers, you are one wild and crazy guy, but you listened to me in the hard times.”
I would rather hear the Lord say, “You made it by the skin of your teeth, but this day you will be with me in paradise.”
I would rather hear the words of Psalm 69:9 and John 2:17 which both record, “…The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”
I would rather hear the Lord say anything positive over “YOU MAKE ME VOMIT, DEPART FROM ME YE WORKER OF INIQUITY!”
Point 2: The Treatment Plan.
You may not be my brother and sister.
You may be Hell bound.
You may be lost IN THE FATHER’S HOUSE.
You may be…BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE.
You can be saved!
The churches of Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea ALL HAVE A TREATMENT PLAN FOR THEIR RESTORATION!
What is Dr. Jesus’ treatment plan?
Is it hard?
Is it difficult?
No, but it is EXTREME!
Revelation 2:5, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
Revelation 2:16, “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”
Revelation 2:22, “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.”
Revelation 3:3, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Revelation 3:18, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
Over and over, Jesus gives the treatment plan!
REPENT!
REPENTANCE!
However, I honestly doubt, if we do not know what PASSION means, if we know what an even more foreign word in the English language means in the word REPENT.
Repent means to feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one’s wrongdoing or sin.
It is why we feel convicted for our sins!
Repent means to actually feel sorry for what we did, not that we feel sorry because we got caught or say we are sorry and not mean it.
Biblically speaking, the word repent, or repentance, means TO CHANGE ONE’S MIND or THE ACT OF CHANGING ONE’S MIND!
BUT…That last line of Revelation 3:19…it hits the hardest!
What did Jesus JUST say?!?
Jesus just said, BE ZEALOUS.
Remember ZEALOUS is a synonym for PASSIONATE.
It would not be wrong Biblically AT ALL to say that Jesus is telling EVERYONE who has fallen away from the fervor of their love for Him to PASSIONATELY repent and return in that passion to HIM!
It is not wrong in ANY WAY to say, “Be PASSIONATE and REPENT!”
If you and I are passionate and repent, as Peter who went out and wept bitterly over his failure, then we will happily take the medicine which restores and realigns our passion!
Point 3: The Medicine.
What is the heart pill that Dr. Jesus prescribed for them?
Oh, that’s EASY!
It is an EASY pill to swallow, if you will simply receive it!
It is the GOS-PILL!
It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Psalm 19:9-11 says, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.”
The cure is the Word of God!
Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
The gos-pill, once taken, makes us into the righteousness of God, the planting of the Lord!
Psalm 34:1-8 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried (OR REPENTED), and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
Passion is received, cultivated, and recreated in hearing and living the Gospel!
What is the Gospel?
The gospel is the good news of the PASSION of JESUS CHRIST!
When we remember the CROSS and keep it first, when we remember the sacrifice of JESUS CHRIST, when we remember HIS COMMANDMENTS, two things happen in us!
One, God pours out of His Spirit into ours which creates passion and second it reminds us that we are to submit to His will because we remember how he suffered for us to redeem us from Hell!
The gospel will cause us to look at the Word of God through the eyes of HIS PASSION!
AND what is HIS passion?
His passion is for us to be with Him forever for that is the very reason He died, to restore that which we had lost…OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!
AND BEFORE I FINISH, I HAVE TO SAY…
IT IS HIGH TIME THAT WE TOLD THIS UPCOMING GENERATION THAT YOUR SEXUALITY DOES NOT DEFINE YOU!
SEXUAL DESIRES DO NOT DEFINE YOU!
SEXUAL PREFERENCE DOES NOT DEFINE YOU!
YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR GENDER DOES NOT DEFINE YOU!
CULTURE DOES NOT DEFINE YOU!
YOUR FAMILY DOES NOT DEFINE YOU!
BUT LISTEN TO ME VERY CLEARLY TODAY, THERE IS A STANDARD THAT DEFINES YOU!
GOD’S WORD DEFINES YOU!
GOD’S LOVE DEFINES YOU!
JESUS’ BLOOD, SACRIFICE, AND PASSION DEFINES YOU TODAY!
In Closing: Self-Diagnosis
Ok, it’s time now to examine ourselves.
“Now preacher, you cannot judge me.”
Read my lips…judge yourself.
Be honest with yourself.
1 Corinthians 11:28 says, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”
2 Corinthians 13:5 also says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”
What does that mean?
Examine and test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are holding to and living in the faith and living your lives as committed believers and showing the proper fruits of it.
Examine and test and prove yourselves, not one another and not even Christ!
Make FULL PROOF of YOUR ministry, of YOUR salvation, of YOUR sanctification, of YOUR baptism.
Do you not recognize, realize and know this about yourselves thoroughly by an ongoing and ever-increasing experience that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you are counterfeits, apostates, and indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit, disapproved in your trial and rejected by God?
When we stand before the King of Kings, what will the hand writing on the wall say about us?
Will it be, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.”
Your works have been counted.
Your heart has been measured.
You have been weighed in God’s balance and found wanting.
Your soul shall be required of you.
OR…
Will you hear, Well done, you upright, honorable, admirable, and faithful servant!
You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much.
Enter into and share the joy the delight, the blessedness which your master enjoys.
HERE’S THE TEST…
You ready?
Are there things that we once did for the Lord that we don’t do, simply because we grew tired of it and decided to stop?
Did we at one time worship with passion, but have stopped participating and now we only spectate?
Has or insatiable hunger for Holy Scripture, to know it’s truth and apply them, been replaced with a Bible that gets thrown in the car on the way to church but never opened otherwise?
Was there a gifting of the Spirit, or a calling of God, that once worked in our lives but has now been put on the shelf?
Are we on cruise control, doing nothing to rock the boat of sinners because we are tired of the confrontations, hoping for smooth sailing and waiting for the Rapture or death?
Were we at one time like the Acts 2 crowd who, “…continued steadfastly…” but now it is becoming more and more difficult to even get to church?
If you answered YES to any one of these questions, or God forbid all of them, it is time to get back your passion before it is too late!
Think about EVERY SINGLE CHURCH which Jesus said REPENT to… there was still time or Jesus would not have even wasted His breath on them!
YOU HAVE TIME!
Pray with me, “I REPENT IN THE NAME OF JESUS!”
I CHOOSE JESUS!
I RENOUNCE ALL OTHER GODS, BAD HABITS, BAD LANGUAGE, AND ALL OTHER LIFESTYLES THAN THAT OF THE WAY OF SALVATION.
I CONFESS WITH MY MOUTH THAT I BELIEVE IN MY HEART THAT JESUS IS GOD AND KING AND I AM SAVED!
AMEN!