Sunday Livestream // Acts 2 | Devoted to the Word

Personal growth doesn’t happen by accident. Like the disciplined persistence of Benjamin Franklin, spiritual maturity takes daily, deliberate habits. Scripture points to a training regimen where godliness surpasses bodily discipline in value—profitable for life now and life to come. In a culture choked by digital, performance, instant, and noise distractions, believers are called to devoted lives that make room for God’s work. God alone gives growth, yet disciples are responsible to practice habits that place them in the stream of his grace.

Acts 2:41–47 offers a pattern: a community continually devoted to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. This devotion wasn’t a seasonal attempt but a persevering rhythm that reshaped ordinary days around eternal priorities. The call today is the same—reorder the calendar, reclaim attention, and return to the Word as a daily posture, not a sporadic task.

Scripture provides three compelling reasons for such devotion. First, the Bible gives instruction for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, the storyline unveils humanity’s sin, sin’s penalty, God’s promised Savior, and the call to repent and believe. Second, Scripture forms Christlikeness. It teaches, reproves, corrects, and trains, equipping the believer for every good work. The Spirit uses the Word to expose false loves, untangle crooked desires, and rebuild life in the pattern of the Son. Third, believers read because it is God’s Word—breathed out, preserved, and trustworthy. Men wrote as they were carried along by the Spirit; therefore, to open Scripture is to place oneself under God’s voice.

As another year begins, the invitation is clear: resist distraction and devote yourself again to the Word. Not to add one more task, but to take up the habit God uses to grow his people. Pick up the Bible where you left off. Read it with others. Hear it preached. Let continual devotion to Scripture mark both personal and congregational life, so that the church becomes a people formed by God’s voice and ready for his good works.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Train for godliness in a noisy age. Godliness requires intentional habits that withstand competing demands on attention. Spiritual disciplines are not optional extras but lifelines that carry value for this life and the next. Reclaiming focus is an act of faith that says eternal gain outweighs temporary rush. Choose rhythms that quiet the noise and make space for God. [37:41]
• 2. God gives growth; we make space. Only God transforms, yet believers cooperate by stepping into means he blesses—Scripture, prayer, fellowship, gathered worship. This dependence without passivity, effort without self-reliance, is the tension of mature discipleship. Habits do not earn grace; they position the heart to receive it. Obedience plants and waters; God gives the increase. [40:33]
• 3. Devote yourself to the apostles’ teaching. The early church persevered in learning what Jesus taught through his apostles, not occasionally but continually. Devotion means reorganizing time, attention, and community life around God’s truth. Formation follows focus; what we attend to, we become. A church steeped in Scripture learns to live as Jesus’ disciples in everyday life. [50:21]
• 4. Scripture instructs us for salvation. The Bible reveals humanity’s sin, God’s holy justice, Christ’s atoning death and resurrection, and the call to repent and believe. Salvation is not found by intuition or culture’s wisdom but through God’s revealed gospel. Keep the Word near so the good news is clear on your tongue and fresh in your heart. The saved become stewards of the message that saved them. [54:33]
• 5. The Word forms Christlike character. Scripture teaches what is true, rebukes what is crooked, corrects what is missing, and trains in what is right. This fourfold work reshapes beliefs, behaviors, and affections until life increasingly reflects Jesus. Expect Scripture to comfort and confront; both are gifts of grace. Equipping for every good work flows from sustained exposure to God’s voice. [62:25]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [35:20] - Franklin’s habits and the power of practice
• [37:41] - Train for godliness, greater than bodily gain
• [38:23] - Naming our modern distractions
• [39:55] - God gives growth; our role to engage
• [41:08] - A new year of spiritual devotion
• [42:15] - Reading Acts 2:41–47
• [48:12] - Early church devoted to the Word
• [50:21] - What “devoted” really means
• [51:59] - Don’t quit; restart your Bible reading
• [53:03] - Three reasons from 2 Timothy 3
• [54:33] - Reason 1: Scripture leads to salvation
• [59:26] - Reason 2: Scripture shapes Christlikeness
• [63:13] - Reason 3: Because it is God’s Word
• [67:13] - Testimonies of growth through Scripture
• [69:53] - Call to devotion amid growing distractions
• [70:48] - Prayer and invitation to respond

Bible reading

- Acts 2:41–47

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Observation questions

1. In Acts 2:42, what four practices did the believers continually devote themselves to? How is that different from doing something occasionally?
2. “Devoted” was defined as persevering, persisting, and constantly attending to something ([50:21]). What stands out to you about that definition?
3. What specific distractions were named that crowd out spiritual habits (digital, performance, instant, noise)? Which ones are most common in your own week ([38:23])?
4. Two truths were held together: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” and “work out your own salvation… for it is God who works in you” ([39:55], [40:33]). What is being observed about how growth actually happens?

Interpretation questions

1. Acts 2:41–47 is often seen as a snapshot of normal church life. If these verses are not only descriptive but also prescriptive, what does that say about what should shape church life today ([43:40])?
2. “Train yourself for godliness” was set over against “bodily training” because godliness holds promise for now and for eternity. Why is godliness of greater value, and how does that re-order priorities ([37:41])?
3. Scripture’s fourfold work—teaching, reproof, correction, training—aims to make a believer “equipped for every good work.” How does this process actually form a person over time ([53:33])?
4. If God alone gives growth, why still practice habits? How does “dependence without passivity” guard against both laziness and self-reliance ([40:33])?

Application questions

1. Where did you stop reading the Bible last time you tried? What would it look like to pick it up right where you left off this week, without shame or delay ([51:59])?
2. Name the top two distractions that most often crowd out time in the Word for you (phone, performance pressure, craving instant results, constant noise). What boundary or change will you try for the next seven days to quiet those distractions ([38:23])?
3. “Devoted” means persistent, regular, even when it’s not easy. What small, realistic time and place will you guard for Scripture each day this week (10–20 minutes), and who can help you keep it ([50:21])?
4. Scripture reproves and corrects. What is one belief, behavior, or attitude the Word has recently rebuked in you, and what specific correction will you practice instead this week ([01:00:52])?
5. God uses both gathered worship and house-to-house rhythms. How will you pair personal Bible reading with community this month—Sunday worship, a small group, reading with a friend, or family devotions ([42:51], [01:12:36])?
6. The gospel message comes from Scripture and makes us wise for salvation. Who is one person you can pray for and look to share the gospel with? What simple way will you keep the good news fresh on your tongue this week ([54:33])?
7. God gives the growth; we plant and water. Which two simple habits will you practice to “make space” for God’s work this month (e.g., daily reading plan, Scripture before screens, pray the passage, weekly review), and how will you measure faithfulness rather than quick results ([39:55])?