DNA Study of Acts Part 3 (3:1-4:31): "Healing Power" (February 1-7, 2015)

DISCIPLESHIP

Focus Verse

Acts 3:12: "Peter saw this opportunity and addressed the crowd. 'People of Israel,' he said. 'What is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we made this man walk by our own power or godliness?'"

Bottom Line

Our mission calls us to bring healing and God must always get the glory.

Tension

Healing. What unfolded in Acts 3 was a supernatural healing. Today we don't seem to see the same sort of miraculous healings in our churches. We are blessed to have been given modern medicine and the many advancements that have come with it, but rarely do we hear about these unexplainable stories of physical restoration. And despite our many advancements in the area of physical needs, our emotional, relational, and spiritual needs are greater than ever. We seem helpless to do anything about it. Our lives are riddled with broken relationships, broken egos, and broken spirits, and we eventually reach a place where we don't believe any healing can ever take place.

Sometimes we just deny that any healing is needed. We deny that there is a problem. We think that because our eternity has been redeemed by Jesus, that we are not allowed to have areas of our life in need of growth and restoration.

When we do experience healing, we do whatever we can to rationalize and explain them. When we see amazing things happen, we jump to the reasons instead of pointing to the only person that could have made it happen in the first place. Why do we seem so incapable of experiencing healing? Why do we always have some area of our lives that is shattered, broken, and seemingly without hope?

Truth

Jesus rescues, redeems, and restores. This is the good news. This is the gospel.

What happened in this scene was astonishing. Peter's healing of the blind beggar was incredible because it showed how powerfully God works through human beings when they are fully committed to his mission and dependent on his power. We know Peter was doing both of these things because Peter didn't hesitate to point out who did the healing: God. It was God's mission and it was God's power, not Peter's.

There are a few things we can learn from Peter's experience here that can change the way we see what we're doing:

1. He trusted in God's power to heal. Never once do you get a doubtful vibe from Peter. When he approached this blind, crippled man, Peter didn't hint at the possibility of healing. He expected it. He trusted in God's power to heal the man long before the opportunity presented itself. He didn't have to see it first to believe.
2. He believed he was called to carry out God's mission. Peter never would have even considered healing the blind beggar if he didn't believe it was what he was supposed to do. But Peter understood that being a follower of Jesus wasn't just about following a set of moral do's and don'ts. Peter grew up in a Jewish tradition that defined people by moral standards, determining a person's spiritual maturity by what they didn't do, but in being a missionary Peter understood that his life would be remembered not by what he didn't do, but by what he did do in obedience to Jesus. Being a Christ follower made Peter a missionary and this meant carrying out God's good news of rescue, redemption, and restoration into a fallen world.
3. He acknowledged that there was something to be healed. This might sound obvious, but Peter didn't deny that the man had an issue that needed to be dealt with. He was clearly moved by the beggar's hurt and broken state and he was willing to take action.
4. He put the spotlight on God. Peter's decision to put the focus on God when everyone was ready to give him the credit was counterintuitive. He could have said, "Hey everybody, check out what I did!" But he didn't do that. He gave glory to the great Healer. He didn't even begin to try and explain what happened. This is not normal. We have been plagued by a constant need to understand when God doesn't ask that we understand Him. He asks that we worship Him.

Challenge

How can you model your actions and behaviors after Peter's? What is God challenging you to do today in these four areas?

1. Trust. Do you trust in God's power to heal the areas of your life that need healing? Do you truly believe that healing can happen or do you feel defeated? What about areas of brokenness in the world around you? Can you honestly say that you believe in God's power to rescue, redeem, and restore the broken lives, relationships, physical and emotional needs of the world? How can you be more trusting of God's power to heal in your life and the world around you?
2. Mission. Do you see yourself as a missionary? Do you believe God has called you to live out God's mission in the world? Is your life marked by sin avoidance, a pursuit of doctrinal precision, and moralism? Or is it marked by obedience to the mission of Jesus and an insatiable desire to do something about the brokenness in the world? Are you a part of a Microchurch at Echo and, if so, are you being a missionary to its mission field? Have you been putting your words into action?
3. Honesty. Are you aware that you have areas of your life that need healing? Are you willing to admit that you still have room to grow? What are some of those areas? Name them specifically.
4. Worship. Do you put the focus on God when healing takes place in your life or other people's lives? What would you have done if you were in Peter's shoes? Would you point to Jesus as the great healer or take the credit? Do you have a need to understand or are you willing to move beyond understanding to worship? Are you moved to humility by God's power? How can you better put the focus of your life on Jesus instead of yourself in the area of healing?

Dream

Imagine your life completely healed and restored, without broken relationships, hurt friendships, and feelings of emptiness. Think about what it would be like if you were walking in the full power of God to live completely and totally for him. Imagine a world where healing is normal. What would that be like? Imagine all of the death, disease, brokenness, and sadness of humanity redeemed and restored. Now imagine that God has invited you to be a part of His mission to bring that restoration to it. What gifts, skills, and abilities has God given you? What has he made you passionate about? What has your Microchurch devoted themselves to as a mission field? Imagine what it would be like with all of you working together for the advancement of God's mission, passionately pursuing his healing of the mission field He has called you to. Now go. Live it.

NURTURE: GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What part of this devotional spoke to you the most?
• Do you think it's easy or difficult to trust in God's healing in your life? What about in the world around you? Why?
• Do you see yourself as a missionary through your church and/or Microchurch? How do your actions reflect this?
• What areas of your life need healing? Have you been honest to yourself about these areas so you can grow through them or have you ever found yourself in denial?
• What is one thing you can change (or begin changing) today in order to find healing in your life? Is there a specific action you can take to make this happen?
• What specific needs do you see in your Microchurch's mission field? Have people in the mission field expressed any specifics?

ACTION: PLAN & PRAY

• What does your Microchurch have coming up that needs to be planned (in terms of Micromissions and Echo Parties)? Supplies? Deadlines? Who will do what?

Pray as a group for the following areas:

• Individual Growth: Pray for each other's areas of need for healing.
• Missionary Formation: Pray for each other to be missionaries to your mission field, bringing healing and restoration.
• Group Growth: Pray for the group's unity and dedication to your mission field.
• Mission field: Pray for your mission field, naming specific needs and people.

DNA Study of Acts Part 1 (1:1-26): "Living As If" (Week of January 18-24, 2015)

DISCIPLESHIP

Focus Verse

Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth."

Bottom Line

The Holy Spirit lives in us and gives us an unstoppable power to live out God's dream for our lives, our city, and our world.

Tension

If you grew up in church, you probably heard the Holy Spirit talked about at least on occasion. If you didn't grow up in church, however, then I'll just tell you: it's kind of a big deal. According to the Christian faith, God exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

When it comes to God, we have an easier time grasping the idea of God the Father in the Old Testament of the Bible, or God the Son (Jesus) in the New Testament, but we have a harder time with God the Holy Spirit. We tend to treat Holy Spirit as this mystical presence that arrives for brief moments of emotional highs and miraculous healings, then retreats away for periods of time. And the presence of the Holy Spirit has been controversial in many church circles, where some ends of the American Church have been accused of elevating the Holy Spirit too high while others have been accused of treating the Holy Spirit as almost a "step child" part of who God is. In the end, we seem to only talk about the Holy Spirit in superstitious terms, when the Early Church saw it as so much more.

The American Church is at a pivotal point in its history. Today your church is extremely rare if it is growing. Decline is the norm, not growth. Why is this? Why does it seem as if the early church had so much going for it and today we are struggling to keep up with our own culture?

Truth

Here comes Jesus in Acts 1 with words rolling out of his mouth about the Holy Spirit. Up until now, followers of Jesus didn’t even know what it was. Not really, anyway. So I guess it was just as much a mystery to them at that time as it is today for us. But Jesus gave the early Church such an amazing encouragement here. He didn’t treat the Holy Spirit like some slot machine genie that we can manipulate and get to do whatever we want. He didn’t say that the Holy Spirit might show up if the people were good enough, prayed hard enough, or acted spiritual enough. No, he said the Holy Spirit would show up. And when it did, it would bring them power, the sort of power than can only come from the Creator God himself.

Why the Spirit came

Exactly why did the Holy Spirit come? Jesus said that we would become his witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.” Put yourself in the shoes of these early church people. How would you feel if this was your new mission. Until now, you've just been minding your own business, herding your goats and listening to re-runs of the feeding of the 5,000, when suddenly Jesus comes demanding that you change the world. Wow. Heavy. But Jesus did give them the charge, and they accepted. When the Holy Spirit came, it came to convict our hearts of our brokenness, lead us into the adventurous life of following Jesus, and give us power to take the mission of Jesus into the far corners of our neighborhoods, cities, and world. 

Natural vs Unnatural growth

So why is the American Church struggling in so many ways? There are many factors for sure, but the greatest factor of all is clear: We have lost our trust in the Holy Spirit. The early Church was an unstoppable force, not because they had the best music or small groups strategy, but because they depended on the Holy Spirit for power. It would be easier to blame church decline on style issues, as if a church's health and vibrancy rested solely on its ability too execute great music and teaching, but the Bible doesn't teach this. That's because a church's style issues are temporal and amoral and the power of the Holy Spirit is eternal and holy. Again, I'm not saying that the quality or style of our music and teaching doesn't matter, but when a church grows based solely on its style choices, its growth is natural, when the Early Church growth was not natural. Indeed, the Early Church didn't just experience growth. They experience a movement. If we learned to trust in the Holy Spirit’s power like the early Church did, nothing would stand in the way of what God is doing in us.

The Spirit living inside you

Did you know that if you are a follower of Jesus, the Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that the Holy Spirit lives inside you? That’s right, God is IN you! This is remarkable news! It means that you have the power of the living God giving you power to take the news of Jesus to all people. He gives you spiritual gifts to work with other believers for his mission. 

There is a movement inside you waiting to be unleashed.

Challenge

One of the hard things for us to do as Christ followers is to live "as if." In other words, to live as if we have the power of the Holy Spirit inside us, as if nothing can stop what God is doing in us, and as if God will give us the strength and courage and the right words to take Jesus into dangerous places, even places where he is not welcome.

Where is God challenging you to live as if? At work? School? Your neighborhood? Are you in a Microchurch at Echo and, if so, how will you carry out God’s dream for your mission field? Where has God called you to go? Where does nobody else want to go? Is there something specific you can do today that will advance the mission of Jesus into your sphere of influence?

God did not put you on this earth to just sit around. He put you here to act!

Who can you pray for today? Who has God put in your life for you to be a witness to? Ask God for courage. Ask him to the power to reach this person(s). The sort of power that Jesus speaks about in Acts 1:8. Ask him for the power to be obedient to his prompting. Ask him for the power to live as if.

Dream

Imagine the power that rests inside you and what would happen if it was unleashed in your life. Imagine what would happen if all of us depended entirely on the Holy Spirit for the results. Can you even begin to consider how powerful that would be? Our world would be changed. Transformed. Radically altered. The trajectory of our culture would shift dramatically. Nothing can stop the movement of the Church in America when we choose to let go of our own desire to control mm future and let God do His work. Jesus told us that he would build his Church, not us, and when we trust him fully with our futures, everything will be different.

NURTURE: GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

NOTE: Because of the controversy in some church settings around how the Holy Spirit expresses itself in the area of spiritual gifts, try to keep conversation focused and avoid chasing rabbit trails. Your conversation will be more fruitful if you can keep driving it to the core point of the discussion, which is the Bottom Line: "The Holy Spirit lives in us and gives us an unstoppable power to live out God's dream for our lives, our city, and our world."

• What part of this devotional spoke to you the most? 
• Why is it easier to blame a church's growth or decline on style choices instead of the presence or lack of the power of the Holy Spirit?
• Why do you think it is so hard to live "as if"? When you read the Bottom Line at the beginning of this devotional, do you really believe it? Why or why not?
• Share with the group one specific area of your life where you need to live "as if" and an action step you will take to do so. Commit to holding each other accountable to your action steps.

ACTION: PLAN AND PRAY

• What does your Microchurch have coming up that needs to be planned (in terms of Micromissions and Echo Parties)? Supplies? Deadlines? Who will do what?

Pray as a group for the following areas:

• Individual Growth: Pray for each other's areas of need for living "as if."
• Missionary Formation: Pray for each other to be missionaries to your mission field, bringing healing and restoration.
• Group Growth: Pray for the group's unity and dedication to your mission field.
• Mission field: Pray for your mission field, naming specific needs and people.

We are a network of Microchurches

If you grew up in the 1990s like I did, you probably remember some controversy around euthanasia, the practice of ending human life in order to relieve pain and suffering. There were many opinions both in favor and against the practice. The president and many other leaders from around the country began to share their thoughts on people like Jack Kevorkian and others. I was an early teen during the time that this became so controversial, so I wasn't sure what the big deal was.

It wasn't that I didn't oppose the practice. I just didn't know what it was. In fact, it was more than that. I completely misunderstood the entire concept. Why? It was because I thought all the controversy was around something entirely different. "Why," I thought, "is everyone so upset about the youth in Asia?"

Now, you may be giggling right now at how ridiculous it was that I would be confused by such a thing, but I am convinced that I am not the only person to make this mistake. But there's an important lesson to be learned from my experience. The lesson is this:

Language matters.

The words we use make a huge difference in how people perceive our intentions and what we are trying to get across. My misunderstanding around euthanasia might be funny, but there are countless of misunderstandings and conflicts throughout history that are not so funny and hinge on the words people use (see the Arian Controversy and the conflict between homoousios and homoiosios). Lives, reputations, churches, and movements have risen and been destroyed by the words people have used.

I bring this point up because I am making a simple shift in language for ECHO. Over the past few months we have begun assembling a team of individuals and have been training around a groups model I have been calling "Echo Communities." Echo Communities are microchurches with mission fields, or "Communities with a Cause," as our literature has called them. You may have heard me say that our vision is to "launch 1,000 churches by 2025." This is a HUGE vision and our Echo Communities is our primary means for accomplishing it. As of this blog post, I am changing the name of Echo Communities to "MICROCHURCHES" to reflect this fact.

If you have questions about this change and maybe even have a few reservations, I totally understand. That said, here are a few questions you might be asking and my reasoning beneath each one:

Question: Why not keep calling them Echo Communities?
We have talked about how every Echo Community is a church in its own right and should always have the functions of the local church as described in Acts 2:42: "And all the believers devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching, to fellowship, to sharing in meals, and to prayer." 

The truth is that the word "microchurch" is simply more accurate. It also reflects our value for church planting in a more effective manner. We want every microchurch to be elevated and honored by our language as what we know they are: churches. They spend time in community, disciple people through small groups (DNA Groups), and have a mission field. They are churches.

In addition, the term Echo Community sometimes takes a lot of explanation and has made it difficult to describe quickly. When someone asks, "What is an Echo Community?" my response is usually something like this: "Well, it's not a small group, or a Sunday school class, and it's sort of like a House Church, but not really, and it's a church in its own right, but we also meet as a church together, so it's not really the whole church even though it is a church, and..." So by the time I'm done explaining, sometimes it seems like people are more confused than before I began. With the word "microchurch," people automatically know I'm referring to something other than a small group, but they also grasp the idea of a network of microchurches more quickly. Bottom line: It's just easier to explain the concept.

Question: Why make this change now?
This one is pretty simple: Timing. I have been wrestling with this language issue for a while. It is probably inevitable to rename our Echo Communities to Microchurches eventually, so it is important to make this shift now as opposed to later. It's simply better to make the change now while we're still finding our footing as a church, rather than a couple years in after a lot of people have become attached to the name. I realize that these are just words and probably don't matter too much to you, but they will matter more to people after we've launched.

Question: Is the vision for our church strategy changing?
Not at all. If you go to our church website, you will notice a "Next Steps" tab. Under this tab is a list of spiritual growth steps that people can take at our church, including such things as following Jesus, getting baptized, serving on a ministry team, etc. Why have these steps? You can find out about that on another blog post. But you will notice under that tab "Step #4: Join a Microchurch." You will notice that nothing has changed about the core vision, just the name. If any changes are made about the vision, they will be minor, but the broad vision for our microchurches as a part of our church strategy will remain the same.

Question: Will we make more changes?
Well, that depends on what you mean. While I don't see a lot of changes in our language coming soon, we will always experience change. Our mission statement, values, MARCS, etc. will remain the same with few exceptions. But remember that one of our core values is "Innovation," which means we will always embrace change as a part of our DNA as a church. What changes will we see? I honestly don't know at this time, but we are a church plant, which means we will likely experience incredible amounts of change over our first few years and it will likely never slow down.