4 Ways to Strengthen Your Home Groups

Given you all day to be nervous about it, you would have missed it. Right. It's an important thing. And I really pray that you communicate that to some others who may be wondering what we're doing. Okay, we're going to take a look here at something in the Word and first turn in your Bibles to Acts, chapter four. As I was meditating and. Before the Lord, just sharing about in my heart about what we were to talk about tonight, the Lord kind of spoke to me in terms of the home groups and what he's doing there and how many of you find it helpful to hear what was happening in some of the other groups. Okay, praise the Lord. The idea is to take that back to your group next week and say, just spend a half an hour sharing some of those thoughts. And if the Lord leads you to pray for one another's needs, that would be really wonderful too. I want to share with you if Paul will help us out here, four ways from Acts 4 to strengthen your home group. And if you're not in a home group tonight, you'll find here four ways to strengthen any relationship in God. And these are applicable principles. I believe they're just lifted right out of this scripture. And I have to share with you that there are some things here I hadn't seen before. And I was just real encouraged to see the Lord open up some new things to me. Now, let's begin in Acts 4. And I'm going to endeavor to, to move through these things rather quickly. And if you're taking notes, you may want to just jot down the highlights of things so that you can keep up. And then this would also be an appropriate thing to talk about in your home group next week. I have copies of the outline. And by the way, let me jump right in here and say Paul, because he didn't have any time to prepare this thing, alluded to in general, the fact that the office is cramped, but didn't mention it specifically. Kathy Bain is now working with us to help spread out that load a little bit. And so we have two people in the office. If you didn't read that announcement, some days you're going to get Rosalie Smith, and some days you're going to think she has a cold. And that's Kathy. And the office will be open from 10 to 4, 10 to 4. Now, that doesn't mean. And that's. I don't want to hear some of you. I knew you guys had easy hours. I can hear that rafting. That just means that that's when the office will be open. You can answer the phone then Blaine and I work 12 to 3, so don't push this on the hours. If you have to call before 10, we'll reluctantly answer. But remember, if you're calling just to tell us how God supplied an extra cup of coffee for your group or something that morning, it really is better to not break that time when we're studying and trying to be before the Lord. That's just a request, and I realize there's some emergencies that come. You've got to know some answers. Then you have the liberty to call. But Kathy or Rosalie will be there 10 to 4. And if you need to call before or after that, that says the Lord leads. Okay, so anyhow, that adds to the office space. Neither was the point I was making there. Here we are. Let me move quickly and quit digressing. Acts 4 beginning in verse 13. We won't read it, but Peter and John are imprisoned because of their testimony to Jesus. And the the authorities are perplexed as to what to do with them. And they finally say that they're going to have to release them. And verse 21. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people. For all men praised God for what was happening. Then verse 23. When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said and then they go through the prayer that is just so powerful. And we've alluded to it. I alluded to it three weeks ago. It's just worth studying. Then let's just pick up verse 29. And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal. And signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy servant, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had everything in common and with great power. The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid it at the apostles Feet and distribution was made to each as any had need. What do we see here about the fabric of what kept the home groups together? There are several things that are really clear to me, and I want to just mention them to you and then you can add, as the Lord gives us time here to do so. There is a babysitter here tonight, by the way. If I just. I noticed if you didn't know that and you want to send your little one out, you may. It doesn't mean you can't keep them. It just means that we didn't announce it. And now you have to stay. Howard, I saw you. All right, all right, here we are. The first thing, verse 23. The first thing you need to do is to see yourself as a company. The Greek word for company. Now, look, in your Bible, the word is probably friends or something like friends, although in the King James, it's company. It's a very unusual word in the Greek. It's idios, which means not idiot. It means one's one's own, one's special friend. And the New Testament church saw their relationships with one another as friendships. They saw themselves as more than just associates, more than just someone that I went to church with, but literally as close personal friends. And I think it's very significant. Where would you go if you had some good news to share? Where would you go if you had a need? Would you go immediately and call your family? Probably. So would you call the people that you work with or would you find yourself calling your home group? I think it's very significant that when Peter and John were released, where do they go? Right to the community to share with the people that they love what God had done in their life. And to me, it's a real indication of where your heart is as to where you share the things that God's doing for you or the needs that come into your life. We pray that there's an interdependence in these home groups that if you have something that's really on your heart, the place that you'll go to share it is with your home group. Or if God blesses you with a richness of some kind, an insight or a material thing, that you'll share that wealth, whatever it is, spiritual material, with your home group. The thing about the word company, what do you do with company? Think of our English word company when you're using it. You say you have company in your home. What do you do with them? You share with them. You open your house to them. Right? You spend time with them. Company indicates a close association for the purpose of sharing together. And I think it's an important step in building community is to see one another as company. Company also building on the other interpretation of the English word is a group of people that are together for a common goal. Right? And so some of you work for a company, and the purpose of your company is to attain a certain goal. What is the goal? What is the goal that your home group is seeking to attain together? When you company together, That's an important thing. What is the purpose of your company? Think about that. I think some of the groups aren't really sure. Okay. The next thing that I see that's implied in the idea of being a company is openness and honesty. Look at verse 24 or end of verse 23. When they got to be with their company, they reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them. Now, in the Jerusalem Bible, let me read this to you. As soon as they were released, they went to the community and told them everything the chief priests and elders had said to them. You see, when you're close with a group of people, you tell them everything. You share all that's there to share. And I hope that in the communities and in the home groups that there's a sharing of more than just the basic bits of news, but there's a sharing of the details of what God's doing, the details of need. There's some of the things I listed here. Are you faithful to share your insights and the experiences that God's giving to you? I know it's a temptation to get to a home group and you're so tired you just fall asleep. But are you faithful to go ahead and just let it out? I know there's you know that adage, don't you, that when you laugh it's because that's what you do? All right, we're going to have the most solemn group of people here you've ever seen in the next. All right. Do your comments reflect your true feelings? It's important to express feelings in the home groups. It's one thing to transmit truth and information. It's another thing to transmit your feelings. I feel really weighted down this week and boy, I need prayer or I feel lifted up because God's been meeting us. And this thing I've asked you, let the people know your true feelings. I think this home group is really hurting. It's much better for you to say that to those people than it is for you to think it and never say it to Me, right? Because how will they ever know to face their need unless you speak it to them? Now, there needs to be a buffering there. You just don't always come out if you're full of negative thoughts all the time and dump it out on people. But in love, speak the truth. And does your openness lead to expectation? I find that one of the greatest faith killers is people's hidden and unspoken feelings. If you're not open in that home group and you're holding back, faith won't really ever rise because there's not a genuine trust level. You've got to have openness to have trust. Right? How many of you know you don't trust someone you don't know? It's just part of our nature. So if your home group's all clammed up and no one's really sharing, there's not going to be this big swelling of words of knowledge and stuff. People are asking, how come we don't see the miracle gifts? There are some people who aren't here tonight that really I wish would hear and I hope some of you will transmit this to them. That if you want to see miracles in the home groups, there needs to be an openness and an honesty that will breed faith. And we're going to talk about that in a little bit. Okay, Next point, look at verse 24. The first thing to do is to perceive yourself as accompanied. The second way is to pray together in one accord. Verse 24. Hello. When they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said. Now a couple things about prayer in the home groups that I think need to be said. First of all, endeavor to make your prayer spontaneous. First thing, you're Paul. Okay, you got it. Do you have liberty to pray in your home group as the Spirit leads, or do you have a slot for prayer in the midst of your Bible study? If Brother Jones says, this thing is really. This is really burdening me, I'm really down about this. Do you say, well, hold off and we'll pray for you at the end, or do you have the liberty to. And that might be okay, but most times it would be better to say, let's stop right now and pray. And there was. You see, they didn't. Look at this in verse 24. It doesn't say, and when they got to the end of their meeting, they had their prayer time and lifted their voices. When they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, so ask the Lord to give you a spontaneity and a freedom to pray. As the Lord leads, it's always wise to begin in prayer. But even that, brothers and sisters, there are some who I know with the right heart feel like unless you begin by saying something to the Lord specifically that he won't honor it. My own feeling is that God is where we are and Jesus lives in our hearts. It's good to stop and acknowledge that. But it doesn't mean that you don't have to make a law out of it. God's with us as we're together. And if you pray together in the beginning, that's fine, but don't make a law of it. I've been in meetings where the Spirit was really flowing and then we stopped to make it a specific act. And then suddenly, then you had another bridge to make. And these are all things that you want to sense the Spirit's flow and be able to live in that. Alright, Prayer was unified. It was in one accord. Now, what does it mean to have prayer in one accord? Well, I guess the most important thing is that it means that you genuinely agree that what's being spoken is something that you're concerned about. And the very first part of that is that you forget about your own concerns. If you're preoccupied with what isn't being done in your life or something that you didn't do before you left, how can you ever agree for someone else's need? It's super important in order to pray in one accord, to lay aside your own needs. When you're praying corporately, if one of the sisters says and begins to pray about a specific person and then the next person prays about another person, well, God may have intended that many of you pray for that one person. So be sensitive to say, lord, have we really covered this person in prayer before we go on? How many know what I'm talking about? Okay, it's really important to know that their prayer was all together. All together. In your home group, is there one person or two people that do all the praying or do you pray all together? Now, I don't know how this passage here always excites me because I have a sense of that. It was like one voice before God. It's what you know, literally the word there, lift up their voice is the word for from which we get megaphone. So it's like, you know, there's this loud voice directed to God. All I know is I know the difference between me praying and a bunch of you saying yes. And when we all pray, how many of you know that there's a difference when we're all together in the prayer and we all agree on it, we're all focusing on it, we're all amen ing it. One of these days and one of these probably it'll be a home group night, we're going to talk the whole night about the wisdom of saying amen. And those of you who are from traditional church backgrounds, it will probably be one of the hardest nights you've ever lived. Who said Amen? There's a biblical reason why people say amen. And it's not fanaticism and it's not just because it's Pentecostal sounding. So prayer was all together and they agreed on those things. The next thing, the prayer was expectant and powerful. Look at verse 29 and 30. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness. Listen to this request while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus. Is your home group praying for miracles? Are you asking the Lord Jesus to stretch out his hand and heal? Are you asking him to touch people and to convict them of sin and bring them into the kingdom of God? That's the kind of prayer that will change, revolutionize a home group. When you see that kind of prayer being answered, it just builds your faith. Okay, praise the Lord. The next thing that we see. Is the need to purpose, to be one of heart and soul. Look at verse 32. Now I guess you should mention verse 31 because it's a manifestation that we all look at and say, wow. When they prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's the yearning that we have in these home groups. That's when you could say you had a good meeting when the house was shaken. The third way to strengthen your home group is to purpose to be one of one heart and soul. Now look at verse 32 with me the company. There's the word again of those who believed were of one heart and soul. I wish that this could be transmitted right from my heart to your heart rather than having to use words. But I need to say to you that it is very important that you be of one heart. Let me ask you a question. What is the basis of our unity? Is it that we believe the same thing? Is it that we've had the same experience of the Holy Spirit? What makes us one in heart? Brothers and sisters, we're made one in heart when we're given a New heart. And the only grounds I see biblically for unity is being born again when we're given a new heart. That is the only grounds that we can stand on and say, I am your brother, I am your sister. We are one. And all the doctrine that spins off, that's different, and all the experiences and all the convictions is no further basis for unity that would separate or division rather, that would cause separation. And I grieve that even in the home groups, there's people who don't feel that they can be unified with someone else because their doctrine is a little different or their experience of the Holy Spirit is a little different. I praise God that we as a fellowship are coming to a point of growing in those things, but that we're not making divisions based on whether or not one speaks in tongues or another doesn't. Whether or not you lift your hands or. I don't remember that. The unity of heart is simply based on whether or not you have a new one. If you've got a new one, then we're one. And I pray that we won't let ourselves be separated and split by whether or not we speak in tongues or whether or not we believe in sequential baptisms of the Spirit, or whether or not we believe in deliverances and demons and all the rest. Unity of heart. Next sheet. Paul, would you. Right here. No, it's not in the back. You get a wise guy running the overhead and we're in trouble. Unity of the heart is a function of the new birth. And let me say this, It's probably easier to be one of heart than it is to have unity of the soul, because unity of the soul is a function of humility. See, the soul is our mind, emotions and will. And though we might know that we're one at heart with a brother or sister because of their being born again, our mind tells us that we are different. And the word psuche there, that's the word for soul. One heart. And soul is the word that literally means that we think the same way as they do. Philippians 2, 5, 8. Have this mind among yourselves that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was equal with God, counted not his equality, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. And on it goes, and talks about Jesus being one with us by humility. And that isn't something that happens very easily, but it can happen. Now, when you have that kind of unity, you ask questions like, how can I serve this one? How can I love this one? That's not as mature as I think I am. And I don't say that as a put down because probably in reality you may have a greater knowledge, you may have had a greater experience. But beloved, your greater maturity means that you're willing to lay down all that you expect are your rights to help that other one along. And it's happening in some of the home groups that there are some who feel that because they know a little bit more or are involved in another kind of a ministry that's a little more spiritual, that somehow the home group gets second best. And I say this in all love, that all that that brother or sister is showing is really that they haven't come to know what it means to humble themselves and to serve that home group. It's never a question of what am I getting out of this, how am I getting benefited. The benefit comes when you learn to give to the others that are there. It's a crucial thing. And I'll tell you what you'll find is when you become one, I think the next point there. Okay, we're not there yet. Unity is the birthplace of vision. When you become one, then vision results and vision flows and your home group will begin to come into new things. Look what happened at the end of verse 32. To me, it's very significant that they were of one heart and soul and then they shared the things that they owned. How many of you know that? If you're trying to extract a givingness from somebody, it's really discouraging. But if you're at one with that home group and the people in that home group, you want to give yourself to them, right? If God gives you that one heart and that oneness of mind and that genuine love, then it's a pleasure to give them your car for the weekend, or it's a pleasure to go over and paint their house or to bake together or do any of those things. But if you look at it like, well, I'm supposed to love them, And you just extract every ounce of givingness that you possibly can by force, it is a burden. Okay? And the fourth thing is to practice love. Now, There are some specific illustrations in this passage. Verse 32. No one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had everything in common and with great power. The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them. Is there a needy person in your home group? And I don't just mean financially needy. I don't think they did either. Is there A young believer in your home group that's needy, that needs to know how to study, that needs to know how to move in the spiritual gifts, that needs to know how to pray, and you give yourself to them. Because we know, beloved, from 1 Corinthians 13, that though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, though I have great faith as to move mountains, though I give my body to be burned, and though I give everything I have to the poor, if I have not love, I am. That is an unbelievably indicting comment of Scripture. Love has to be there. It's got to be there. And it is there in many of the groups, and it is there in many of your hearts, if not all. Now, how does love express itself? Okay, the first thing love is involvement. Love doesn't express itself by not being there. I'm not trying to lay a trip on you if you happen to be exhausted one night and stay home. But I am saying that if you say you love the people in your home group and you have, well, I've got to cut the grass tonight because Saturday I'm going to a picnic. Beloved, that's just not love. That's not being available. There's a couple things I think I listed there, Paul. Availability. First Corinthians 13 says, Love is patient and kind. How can it be patient if it's never there? It's easy to be patient when you don't see the needs. Kindness, the Greek word for kindness has to do with helpfulness. That's what it really is related to. When it talks about being kind, it's talking about being helpful at a point of weakness. Are you helpful where people are in need? Love does not seek its own way. 1 Corinthians 13 says, and that just means that you're there, you're there, and you seek the best of the others. Another thing that love does, it endures all things. The Bible says, believes all things. What are some of the things that it endures? It endures the long haul. Now, it's interesting to me that some of the home groups have been together almost a year now, pretty close to a year. And for some it's been a terrific evolution of, if I can use that word, terrific creation process of love. Love has really come on, but it took the endurance of putting up with one another for a year to do it. Understanding that in that group were people I just didn't think were very spiritual or in that group of people just weren't very friendly or they weren't very sociable or they didn't know their Bible very well. They didn't pray very well, but love endured it. And now they're changing and I'm changing, and I'm seeing things happen. I hope that's your experience. Enduring love rebounds when it's rejected. I'll use my home group. This is kind of like family. You'll have to understand people in my home group. I won't use your name, but we went to a home group meeting one night, and this dear sister had slaved over these two pies. They were some kind of cherry pie with crumbly crust kind of thing. Was it cherry or strawberry? Strawberry. Don't say it too loud. They'll know who you are. All I can remember is that when the moment of truth came and she cut the pies, it was get the buckets. Because somehow it never congealed inside. And it was, you know, it was like you went to put in the spatula or whatever and the serving spoon, and it just. And she pulled it up and all was. There was a single strawberry. But we endured all things. And, you know, the beautiful thing was that that sister next week came on with some more desserts. Love rebounded. And do you love. Does your love endure when others are moving more slowly in the faith than you are? Listen. Equal spirituality was never, ever meant to be the grounds of whether or not you gave love. And by giving love, I mean giving your life for another. Finally, love gives itself away. Just look here, beloved. As we conclude, two things happen. And I see this, in conclusion, as being very key. First of all, the apostles preached the word of God with power. If you want your home group to grow and strengthen and be strengthened, you'll have to see that love gives itself away. And I just want to extend to you a challenge that your home group seek to give itself away. And that is literally. I want to challenge some of the home groups to not be a home group in six months, but to be two. Because I believe that a sign of a home group that's moving in power will be that it's just multiplying, that it's just that it's having spiritual babies. And we need to help get more of a handle on the vision of how do we do that. Now, in one group, there's a couple that's just about to leave the group to launch into a ministry. I see that that ministry is a spiritual baby of that home group. That home group is reproducing. In some cases. You need to be bringing people in and sharing the love that's there. And then that 10 will become 15 or 16, and then you have two groups of eight. That's what the Lord is doing. And so they were proclaiming, is there anything on there? And they were sharing provision. And I just rejoice in the testimony that was given Sunday and the provision of much. And I do believe that the Lord is really using the home groups to supply financial needs and. And other provisions of that sort. And I rejoice in that. But love in a home group will grow as it gives itself away. And I want to conclude tonight by having Paul Leese come up and just share with you for just a couple minutes. And I saved him till last. So if he goes on, you can start throwing your pens at him and not me, but I. Come on up, bro. It wasn't, I guess, maybe September of this year that some of us in a step of faith invited Paul Leese to come to a home group meeting. And the rest is eternal history. Well, first off, I thought he forgot. It's sort of. Well, I don't know where to start, but I guess I'll just tell you the truth. My wife had been a Christian for four years and I wasn't. And I used to laugh at her and, you know, tease her about it. And then she had a serious accident around August 6th. And the way that you people opened up and treated her and came to our house and the women came and cleaned and offered everything they could. And this sort of impressed me. So then she come up with the idea after she was starting to get better and she couldn't drive here to. To Northway. I started to bring her down to Northway. So. Then she come up with the idea that, you know, she wanted to go to this home group. And I says to myself, what the heck is this going to be? So she said, well, it's only going to be eight weeks. And I thought, well, the guys want to go down to West Virginia and see Pitt in West Virginia playing a football game, right? And I'm going to take the motor home down, and we're going to go down and we're going to golf and we're going to go to the football game. We're going to have a ball. So I said, I'll tell you what, hon, I'll go to this home group and I'll bear it out with you and if I can go to the football game. So not knowing, you know, the Lord was waiting for me. But I've always, you know, I'm the master of myself, right? So it turns out I go to the home group, and the guy that was supposed to get tickets for the football game couldn't get them. So I never went to the football game. And I'm still in the home group. And through the home group, by going there and seeing the genuine concern and the Christianity and everything, and it started to hit me. And one night at the home group, Vivian Real felt a real urge for me to get in the middle of the group and everybody put hands on. And I'm. So I get in the middle of the group, and I'm thinking, when are these people going to be done? You know, what are they trying to prove? Two weeks later, here at Northway, I accepted Christ. So the home group was my wife's accent. Plus, the home group gave me the strength to accept Jesus Christ. And. And I just think that the home groups are the foundation of what's going on here. And it was like the Lord says to me, you know, all my life he's been giving me good things, and I was on this fast and furious pace to hell when he tapped me on the shoulder and says, hey, boy, it's time for you to start paying dividends for what I've invested in you. So, and another thing, I thought, well, I'm still going to be the master of myself there, right? So I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get this Wednesday night home group to move the night, because I golf on Wednesday nights, and I've been golfing for eight years on Wednesday night. So the home group says, no, we're not changing. So I gave up golf on Wednesday. But the Lord took care of it because the group that I golf with, they're moving the golf course, and I don't like the golf course anyhow. But I just want to. You know, the home group is the foundation, and I love it, and I wouldn't miss it for the world. Okay, let's stand together. I just help you receive that as encouragement to reach out to that ornery one who may be resistant to what God may want to be doing in their life. All right?