Connect

acts chapter 9 verse 26 new king james version and when saul had come to jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple but barnabas thank god for barnabas but barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and he declared to them how he had seen the lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and how he saul had preached boldly at damascus in the name of jesus so because of barnabas so because saul who was paul got connected he was with them at jerusalem coming in and going out i want to preach to you from this text simply connect please be seated connecting is not just important it is imperative and for some people right now today it is also urgent that you connect it's tragic to learn about people who feeling disconnected maybe even disowned drown in despair and they disappear from life often taking their own life as i prepared this message i thought about the celebrities who in the past year have taken their lives i looked at several examples and stories but chose to not try to go through a litany of names many of those people we think have everything you could possibly dream of having in life everything on the outside but not what is needed on the inside to sustain them through the hurts of life we were designed by god to connect to other people in one sense salvation is personal it's between you and god but god designed the church to be an interdependent body much like the human body jesus christ is the head of the body the church colossians 1 18 tells us that he created our human body designed it after his likeness in his image he created us but then he also created this spiritual body the church and he designed it so each of us needs the rest of us you need me and i need you paul writes about this in first corinthians 12. he said is the body is one the human body is one and has many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is christ he says that we're not many one not one member but many it's not just one person or not all alike but by design many members even the most prominent member of the human body will die if it is severed from the body amen and the focus today is on the importance of being connected to the body of christ we need to be a church that helps connect people to jesus christ and to his church you need to connect now i read about saul of tarsus but let's get a little background on him he's a very religious jew he's also called paul so if i use them interchangeably it will be on accident because this is the saul portion of his life he perceived christianity as a threat to judaism and he determined to stamp out what he saw as this religious cult at any cost no jew would ever accept a second or third person in a godhead because they knew that god was indivisibly one hero israel the lord our god is one and jesus claimed to be god god in flesh so saul saw christianity as a threat to true religion and he tried his best to stamp it out he persecuted st saints he taunted them compelled them to blaspheme he even consented to their death the martyrdom of stephen in acts chapter 7 seems to be a turning point in saul's life but not necessarily for good after that he is breathing out threatenings and slaughters he gives permission to go to non-jewish cities like damascus to find jewish christians who had migrated there even to put them in prison and possibly to death after he holds the coats of the men who stone stephen to death he is more adamant in his persecution of the church but while he journeys toward damascus the man who arrested christians is arrested by christ a blinding light from heaven shone on him blinded him literally knocked him to the ground he was bewildered by this he asked who are you lord who are you jehovah and from heaven the voice said i am jesus that was a shocker to jewish saul of tarshish the lord appeared to him in a vision in the way he told saul what to do but he didn't tell him how to be saved he gave him next steps he said i want you to go into damascus and i want you to dwell there and i'm going to send a person to connect you to me he said that in so many words now on the other end of the line of the equation is a certain disciple named ananias he's a pretty spiritual guy he also has a vision the lord appears to him and says ananias and ananias like a good saint says hear my lord like what do you want and the lord says i want you to get up i want you to go to a street called straight i want you to inquire to the house of a guy named judas now i want you to think of how specific god is to paul or saul and how specific he is to ananias he said there's a guy there his name is saul of tarshish and he's praying he's seen in a vision a man named ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight saul is blinded for several days three days he has to have someone lead him about by the hand and then ananias this good saint says wait a second god i've heard about this guy i've heard much about this man how much evil he's done to the saints that are in jerusalem and and here we heard he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on his name but the lord said to ananias you know what i don't want you to think about that i want to go your way he's a chosen vessel unto me he's going to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of israel and i'm going to show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake ananias is now obedient he goes to the house he puts his hands on this terrible persecutor and he says brother saul by faith you know the lord even jesus who appeared to you has sent me that you might receive your sight and that you might receive the holy ghost now i would think that saul accepted jesus as the messiah on that road to damascus but believing is the first step but he says you need to you need to receive the holy ghost immediately there fell scales from his eyes he could see and ananias took saul out and he baptized him in the name of the one who appeared to him on the road to damascus he was baptized in the name of jesus and filled with the holy ghost and right away he started preaching he preached christ that he was the son of god well some of the jews heard about this the persecutor has now turned into a christian a preacher that we're going to kill him they waited day and night watching the gates of the city of damascus waiting to kill saul of tarsus but saul heard about this and some disciples of jesus christ came and got him and they let him down in a basket over the wall are you glad somebody cared about a vulnerable man named saul of tarsus they connected with him in damascus and they spared his life and let him escape those jews who were trying to kill him well he dodged that bullet so to speak heels and handguns so now it's time to go to jerusalem that's the capital that's where the action is that's where all the christians are so saul goes to jerusalem but when he gets there he gets stiff-armed by the believers there they did not believe that he was converted they thought this is probably a ploy a ruse to try to get us to let him know that we're believers and when we do he's going to do to us what he did to stephen so he tried to connect but they said no but then there was this man named barnabas now barnabas is called the son of encouragement it means that he embodied this trait of encouragement the king james says a son of consolation and barnabas believed in saul of tarsus amen barnabas went to saul he connected to him acts 9 27 but barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and he declared to them how he had seen the lord on the road how he the lord had spoken to him and how he saul had preached boldly at damascus in the name of jesus christ and because barnabas connected to saul saul connected to the disciples and was accepted by them what an important role you can play to connect someone who's being stiff-armed to the body of christ and give them a chance to find their place in the body of christ they cannot survive if they are severed from the body later galatians 1 18 paul went up to jerusalem he spent 15 days with the apostle peter we don't know what they did what they talked about but he knew he needed to connect to the man who had the keys to the kingdom of heaven who would be the apostle to the jews just as saul paul was the apostle to the gentiles in galatians 2 paul said he went up and he met with the leaders of the church privately to make sure that his ministry was not in vain not what he believed but he wanted to make sure he did not create a rift in the church the jewish and gentile christians thank god that when saul's faith was fresh that some people believed in him thank god for ananias who prayed for him to be healed who prayed for him to receive the holy ghost who took him out and baptized him a certain disciple named ananias thank god for the christians in damascus who let him down over the wall in a basket and thank god for barnabas who vouched for him and gave him a chance to connect to the body of christ you need to connect as well saul was strong in his faith but you were meant to connect serving god has never been a solo performance and i've observed that when a person seems to be a misfit at home school work culture [Music] some of those social challenges make it difficult for them to connect to the body of christ because unfortunately we are people too and some people are easy to like and love and other people not so much but god so loved the world that he gave himself for you and me when we were despicable and unlovable and he told us to love others in his name amen it takes a lot of love and tolerance to love people who are a lot more like a porcupine than they are a teddy bear more like a skunk than a chipmunk more like a vulture than a parakeet they're just they're not as easy to love but you love them anyway and guess what i have an announcement to make to you you don't get to pick who jesus saves and aren't you glad we didn't get to pick who jesus saves we might not have put you on that list saul would not have been on that list the bible said that in this body of christ first corinthians 12 that the foot a person who's like the foot in the human body cannot say well i'm not the hand so i'm not of the body i don't like that other part of the body so i'm just going to disconnect myself from the body and paul said it doesn't matter what you say you're still in the body and the ear can say well i'm not the i so i'm not of the body but it's still of the body and the eye cannot exist severed from the body and he goes on to say if if the whole body was an eye how would you hear and if the whole body was an ear how would you smell but god has set the members every one of them he said every one of them in the body as it pleased him not the pastor not you the professional saint he knows all sees all he did it as it pleased him and if they were all one member where would there be a body but now they are many members yet one body like me or not like your neighbor or not we're in one body it is called the church and we are connected to one another for time and we will be for eternity so that's why we got to get connected now and get along now so we can spend forever there then the body the bible also says that we need each other first corinthians 12 21 on the screens and the eye cannot say of the hand i have no need of thee neither again the head to the feet i have no need of you you see you may feel insignificant but you are needed in the body you may feel important but you need the role of other people that you may think are relatively insignificant we are one body you need to be close to other people in proximity relationally so they can be your ally when you get in trouble there's an amazing story in the book of judges you know this is that era of time when there was no king in israel and everybody just did what was right in their own eyes and are some really weird stories in judges about how people did their own thing in those days there's a guy named micah he lived in ephraim and he he decided he wanted to have his own church in his own house so he made one of his sons his preacher but then there was a young levite you know he's from the priestly family who comes by micah's house he just happens by and micah thinks this must be a god thing i need a preacher you need a place why don't you stay here and i'll pay you to be my preacher sounds like a good setup right you're looking for a place he's looking for a priest so micah says stay here i'll give you a salary annually i'll give you a new suit every year and i'll provide all of your food wow food housing clothes and a salary 10 shekels of silver pieces of silver and that leave i'd agree to that man what a deal so micah installs this young levite we don't know his name as his family priest his personal private preacher and man this is really great now micah is not connected to anybody outside his own house church i'm not against house churches there are many churches and houses in the bible but this house church is autonomous and not connected to anybody anywhere things went pretty well for a while micah was happy young levite was happy they could create their own creeds and religious practices they had their own terraphims ephods idols that they created there and they said they worshipped god but they really didn't and they didn't answer to anybody pretty cool right but one day there were five men that made a visit to micah's house they were basically like spies there were five men from the tribe of dan and they were on a reconnaissance mission the tribe of dan needed a place to live so these guys were searching out places and they happened by the house of micah the bible said they heard the voice of that levite and they recognized him they knew him so they said hey dude what are you doing here brother whatever so he explained to them his arrangement with micah they told him their mission and then this young levite blessed him for what it was worth i don't think it was worth much but he pronounced a blessing on them and and they went on their way trying to find a place to live judges 18 7 so the five men departed and went to lay-ish they saw the people who were there the city of laish how they dwelt safely in the manner of the zydonians they were quiet and secure there were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything they were far from the zidonians and they had no ties with anyone sounds like a great setup right well these five men from the tribe of dan they go back and report to their tribal leaders that they have found the place that they need to take to be their tribal family home laish had everything that danites need people who live carefree lives peaceful and secure wealthy because the land was fertile they had defunded the police so there was no one to put anybody to shame or judge them so you could kind of get by with anything in layish it was situated in a remote location i'm not making that up by the way they didn't have any magistrates to put anybody to shame in layish it's right in your bible and they live far away from anyone they didn't have any allies no one to pester them no one to protect them no ties to anyone far away the bible says from anyone so they go back to day night spies you know on this reconnaissance mission they tell their tribal leaders as i've already said all about layish and on their way there they stop back by micah's house and there are 600 armed warriors standing outside the gate the five men go back inside to this young levite and they say we've got a better offer for you i know you've been here in micah's house he gives you 10 shackles of silver stuff to eat clothes to wear but wouldn't it be better if you were the preacher for an entire tribe rather than just one family and look out there there's 600 guys with weapons in case you want to think twice about it he says man i love this opportunity he's kind of an upwardly mobile preacher you know and got this better offer from an entire tribe of dan they went into the house of worship they stole out the tariff them they sold out the ephod they got the idols they walked away they waved goodbye to micah who tried to stop them until he saw it was really futile and the danites and the preacher ride off to the city of laish now i want to ask you a question watching online sitting here worshiping today are you trying to have church like the house of micah doing your own thing got it all set up like you wanted you're your own preacher or you got your own preacher maybe he's a tele evangelist who can't tell you anything specifically i remembered a song i looked it up tom t hall wrote me and jesus got our own thing going me and jesus got it all worked out me and jesus got our own thing going we don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about well that's what micah thought he had a guy that he had bought and paid for his personal preacher asked micah how that worked out for him well then the danites remember they're on their way to layesh judges 18 27. so they took the things micah had made and the priests who belonged to him don't you like that they the priest belonged to him and they went to laish to a people quiet and secure they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire there was no deliverer because it laish was far from sidon they had no ties with anyone it was in the valley that belongs to beth rahab so they rebuilt the city and they dwelt there laisha struck with the edge of the sword burned with fire there's no deliverer it's far away from everybody they had no allies one translation says a new living translation they had no one to pester them they had no one to protect them now i know that you can probably take care of yourself most of the time but if you get in trouble who do you call and who have you recently helped who might also be willing and able to help you i am speaking today against the spirit and the attitude of isolation that you and jesus you think have your own thing going but jesus didn't decide christianity to be a solo life he created us to be connected to one another as well as to him and you cannot go to heaven if you're not connected to him or his body in the earth you cannot survive if you are severed from the body solomon wrote about something that was meaningless under the sun ecclesiastes 4 8 is the case of a man who is all alone without a child or a brother he works hard gains as much wealth as he can then he asked himself who am i working for and who am i giving all this pleasure why am i giving all this pleasure up now and it's all so meaningless and depressing then solomon gives these insights to or better than one for they can help each other succeed new living translation if one person falls the other can reach out and help but someone who falls alone is in real trouble likewise two people who are out in a freezing night can lie together and keep each other warm but how can you be warm alone a person standing alone can be attacked and defeated but two can stand back to back and conquer three he says are even better for a threefold court a triple braided cord is not easily broken it's not as easily woven but it is not as easily broken you have to choose to connect this local church is part of the united pentecostal church international amen it is connected to this body of christ not the entire church but our organization around the world i've been a credentialed upci preacher for 44 years as is our other pastors on staff brother david jury brother joel john's ordained ministers there are over 11 000 credential ministers in the united states in canada we call it north america that kind of leaves out in mexico but that's how we're organized we have missionary presence in 199 of the 210 countries of the world plus 34 territories north america is organized into 58 districts the state of georgia's being one of them brother david juries our district secretary brother joel johns is our district youth president they had camp extreme friday night and students from all over georgia came to be ministered to and blessed by preaching and worship and fellowship they were connected like that in this georgia district we have 4147 churches 459 daughter churches 251 preaching points as of january this year i'm the assistant general superintendent of our organization i love the upci but recently as a pastor i came to appreciate the upci more than ever before in my life because of a specific situation a young man named [name redacted] 15 years old he visited our church with his neighbors joseph and stacy dixon on april 25th 2021 his sister visited her name is [name redacted] she was standing right there when she received the gift of the holy ghost the very first time she came i think she's 10 years old and then [name redacted] received the holy ghost at our teen camp where we were connected to other students from all around georgia on june 14th this year [name redacted] was baptized in jesus name the lord jesus christ on june 29 right here and we celebrated his conversion but then we learn [name redacted]'s family's moving first maybe to florida and then to oklahoma had multiple conversations with [name redacted] he was really worried that when he got to oklahoma wasn't like the bible belt in his mind that there wouldn't be any churches like this there and i smiled at land and i said [name redacted] don't you worry i told them this when they were going to move to florida we got you covered landed we will find you a church that preaches the truth like this we're going to find you a church landing no matter where you go so when it was oklahoma city i emailed brother matthew martin who's been my friend for over 30 years i was preaching at his church march 15 when when coveted hit his 30th pastoral anniversary i emailed brother martin i explained the story he told me there are a couple of churches in the area one might be closer to where [name redacted] would live we found out his address i received an email from the pastor brother robert whalen he said brother jones i have a son the same age as [name redacted] we're going to be picking [name redacted] up for church this coming sunday land is going to be okay i thank god that [name redacted] got connected because we're connected to the body of christ amen on friday august 19th i got a picture from brother matthew martin it was of their move the mission service at their campground there's [name redacted] and [name redacted] standing with the district superintendent of the state of oklahoma united pentecostal church because it's good to be connected and i was moved to tears of joy when brother martin sent me that picture because we love [name redacted] a lot of our youth staff have invested a lot in him but i know [name redacted] is in good hands because he's not isolated in a place like laish but he's connected to the body of christ amen you already know this but today is our small group fair it's a way to connect to other members of the body of christ small groups help connect people in the body of christ and they also help connect people to the body of christ they provide common ground as you know that enables us to lead people to the holy ground of salvation one of our long-term members who was a small group leader we've had like 119 or more people lead small groups since we started them officially this person said after attending atlanta west for many years i still didn't have personal relationships beyond facial recognition with people who weren't in my family my age group or direct contact i got into a church routine bring my kids sit with family talk to close friends i didn't venture outside my circles which was my side of the church you know normally that's not some intentional thing it's just normal we we hang with people that we're comfortable with they said through small groups i gained an entire friendship group of people not limited to my age my gender or my race i truly feel small groups create bonds that tie us all together and make us stronger as an entire assembly i was so excited to see brother randy sister d.d king sitting right over here wait why don't you stand just a moment brother randy sister did he stand i want to thank god for this couple right here amen thank you worshiping well brother randy went to a basketball small group in 2021. he was all you can be seated thank you i'm sorry he was also part of the father and son small group he made some friendship connections through that and then as our records show i believe it was on september 26th that he received the gift of the holy ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as a spirit gave him utterance he was baptized on october 3rd according to our records and he and his family are connected to jesus and the body of christ because somebody said why don't we have a place hey you don't have to be all alone we've got some amazing people in our church who are like barnabas who've got radar for people like saul of tarshish who seem to be alienated alone and they make it their ministry to connect them to the body of christ i thank god for you recently we've seen some tremendous things happen mary karns she's a full circle small group member started coming to our small group home school small group in 2021 in the fall started coming to church here first date ice show was september 8 2021 her husband nathan attended our memorial day picnic the fellowship time a time to connect with other people in the body of christ brought their kids liked our people felt hopefully what we really are regular people who really love jesus not perfect but doing our best to be ambassadors of jesus christ nathan started coming the next sunday july 24th mary received the gift of the holy ghost amen excuse me she received the holy ghost on july 3rd nathan received the holy ghost on july 24th and this small group semester mary who got connected to small groups is going to help lead that small group so other people can find a group of people who love jesus who have shared values who matter to god another one of our small group leaders said my family relationships have been restored through small groups making connections in areas i just accepted would never recover i want to say something right now you've heard me say maybe in the past if you've attended here long that satan is a divider he's an isolator he is a predator like a roaring lion the bible says seeking who he can devour and he can most easily devour the young the weak and the isolated read it watch it a predatory animal is always looking for the most vulnerable person but if you stay with the flock the bible calls us a flock if you stay with the group there is strength and power in the numbers of people one shall put a thousand to flight two shall put ten thousand to flight there is strength and being connected to the body of christ if you've had your feelings hurt if you've gone through a discouraging season in your life if you think that no one cares about you maybe you've removed yourself like the people of laish you've lived in an isolated location where no one can get to you you've not extended the hand of friendship as difficult as that may be at times and so of course no hand of friendship has been extended back to you now you cannot survive if you are severed from the body of christ so i appeal to you today i appeal to you today not just to join a small group i hope you do but i appeal to you today to get connected and be committed to this local church this body of christ so you can be saved and so you can be a connector for other people who like you need to be saved