Embracing Community: The Discipleship Pathway Journey

"We met every evening from 7 to 7 .30 online for corporate prayer, except for Sunday. And I noted that each day we met, each evening, it just felt like the temperature was rising. Amen. Did you sense that as well? The temperature was rising. Hunger was upon us. And we want to maintain a sense of hunger. Because as we said before, those who hunger and thirst for his way of life, righteousness, they shall be filled. That was his promise to us." [00:00:09] (47 seconds)


"And Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai. And Moses met God. How many remember Moses meeting God on the mountain? And the Bible says that God appeared to Moses. And there was this fire. And then he said, Moses, I'm about to show myself to you, but I need you to turn around and tuck yourself in the cleft of the rock. Just tuck yourself as deep in that rock as possible. Because if you see all of me, you won't live." [00:01:52] (38 seconds)


"So as much as we want to hang out in the presence of the Lord and how as awesome as it is, when we hang out in the presence of God, it's always unto something. It's not just to recount an awesome experience that we had. It's not just to have a testimony of how me and God met. It's always unto something. And so God, on the heels of 31 days of prayer and fasting, he grabs us by the shoulders and he turns us around and he says, head on back down that heel." [00:03:40] (36 seconds)


"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine or teaching is the better rendering and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers together and had all things in common. Sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, Solomon's porch and breaking bread from house to house. Those two environments, they were gathering as a community of Jesus followers in Solomon's porch church, in some sort of interval." [00:14:29] (52 seconds)


"In partnership with the Holy Spirit, we at Mount Olivet are turning our neighbors into fully committed followers of Jesus Christ. By creating places and spaces for God's love and presence in us to impact them for Jesus. And I added in partnership with the Holy Spirit to complete the sentence because he is the vine and we are the branches. He says, apart from me, apart from me, you can do something. You can do a little bit of something. Can you do anything?" [00:24:52] (46 seconds)


"And so whatever we do we got to be in partnership with the Holy Ghost like I'm just telling you now I'm not doing anything unless I hear from the Holy Ghost I'm not going left I'm not going right I'm not going too fast I'm not going too slow I'm following him just FYI that's all I'm gonna do and it's laborious because staying before him to make sure that we're plodding along according to his pace is important and so the the the energy is not in trying to figure it out I hope I'm not losing you here the energy is in our relationship with him all right the energy is keeping our ear to the wall the energy is in nurturing that relationship between us and the Father amen that's that that's not that's not about going to church that's not about paying your tithes" [00:27:29] (72 seconds)


"That was the beauty of coming together every evening at 7 to 7 .30 as a body as we fasted. There was this sharing that was happening one to another. And we were growing together. This is accomplished through the exchange of God's love and truth, which is what we call ministry. Which simply is a way to say, serving one another. And listen to this. Koinonia is viewed by the New Testament writers as a non -optional environment for spiritual growth." [00:49:57] (40 seconds)


"Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 15 and 16, he says, Instead, we hold to this truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ. Some translations say grow up, who is the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly as each part does its own special work. And I love that part there, that we're a part of a body. We're all connected, but everybody has a special work." [00:53:43] (36 seconds)


"And that is the journey that we all are embarking on. And so, I want to begin with the first environment. And if you could, just put up the four circles up there. The four environments are essentially environments that will facilitate this journey toward Christian maturity. They're environments that are essential to the process of God growing us up. And as was stated in the video, you know, when you encounter someone, you meet them at different places in their journey. When someone comes into our house here at Mount Olivet, you meet them at different places in their journey." [00:38:28] (75 seconds)


"In Acts, as we consider the first church, we must remind ourselves that the first century church had no buildings, had no bylaws. The first century church had no denominations and no 5013C statuses. The first century church had no New Testament. Did you know that? You didn't know that, did you? I think you did. You might say, well, what did they study if they didn't have no New Testament? Well, we'll get to that. We still will study the New Testament. Don't worry." [00:40:24] (45 seconds)


"That is what happened when those unsuspecting men and women gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate a religious holiday. The Holy Spirit came in fullness. People start getting saved. People start getting filled with the Holy Spirit. And they started this journey of transformation from glory to glory, from past glory to a future glory. And ultimately, completely being transformed when we see him face to face. That's what's happening here on Earth, beloved." [00:45:46] (53 seconds)


"Today, people are feeling vulnerable, alone. They're feeling isolated. They're feeling like they need to fit in and measure up. They're feeling like they need to just go with the flow. And Jesus is saying, enough of that. That's not what we're doing. Jesus is saying, that's why I offer you body life. That's why I offer you community. That's why I offer you environments to belong. That's what Jesus says." [00:57:20] (31 seconds)