Acts 2:41-47

What kind of concept is this for a church? Phil Ware shares how his church suddenly saw their call from God to be a front porch to the people of their community and how it changed them and helped them find their roots right back in the early story of Jesus' followers.

"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to..."

"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to..."

"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to..."

"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to..."

"Dear Believer, Have you ever asked yourself questions like the following:Why is the Bible important?Is it really necessary?Do I have to read it?Do I...."

Are we willing to make fellowship more than coffee and donuts? Phil Ware continues to talk about the greater things the early church experienced in the opening days of the believers following Jesus and in this case, genuine fellowship, sharing and having life in common, is key.

"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to..."

"[The believers] worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity —...."

Do we need to go back and re-think the modern conversion experience? Let's see conversion more wholistically -- an experience of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection in baptism that involves repentance, and confession of Jesus as Lord, and acceptance of him as Lord and Christ.

One thing church must supply! Church must be more than a gathering of strangers, there must be genuine and real community and fellowship.

What do we see when we look at how the early church met? Phil Ware talks about the public and house-to-house size gatherings that the early church used to grow and take care of itself.

"Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters, So many of My followers struggle in their lives of discipleship because each is trying to do everything by his or..."

"Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day."

"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to..."

Inspirational illustration of Acts 2:41 -- Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

It's not a Sunday morning deal we make with God! Brian McCutchen talks about worship and how it must be a daily part of our lives or it is not real worship like the early Christians shared and lived.

Beginning with Pentecost, God's Spirit was making a new humanity. Phil Ware continues his series on the Bible's view of women and their importance to God and his people, focusing this week on the new community created at Pentecost.

Is there something more to The Supper than just remembering? Phil Ware talks about the importance of taking time to remember Jesus and restore Jesus in the Lord's Supper.

When Luke summarized the heart of the early church, he chose to highlight one particular word — Phil Ware continues his series on prayer this week, focused on the early church's devotion to prayer that they learned from Jesus.

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ... With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this..."

Aren't you tired of the same ol' things? Phil Ware begins a series of messages from Acts 2 and 3 on greater things that Jesus does through his followers.

"Dear Disciple, Pentecost came, and My church was born! The presence, power, and work of the Holy Spirit in every true disciple had finally arrived......"

What do we need to get us to stretch out a bit? Rick Brown talks about a famous photograph and the message to pray and have hope in the darkest of times, and to remember that fervent and earnest prayer is the kind of prayer the early church, the committed church prayed.

How can we move from contingent joy through courageous joy to contagious joy? Max Lucado reminds us that contagious joy is rooted in courageous joy and not contingent joy, and our courageous joy is rooted in Jesus and faith in what God did through Jesus.

"[Peter's sermon on Pentecost led the people to ask what they should do.] Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be...."

"Dear Beloved, The fellowship of My disciples as they gather around a table for a meal is a precious and holy time. This meal can be a common meal or...."

Why worry about this smaller thing? Phil Ware talks about our need to go deeper into the will of Jesus by getting with a group with whom we can grow and follow Jesus.

"Peter's words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter replied, "Each of you must...."

Where do you best connect with God? Phil Ware continues his series on experiencing God and focuses on experiencing God through Jesus in community with all of its challenges and opportunities.

What is your line in the sand in your faith walk with Jesus? Phil Ware continues his series called Last Words, First Priority and emphasizes the line in the sand moment we call baptism.

When can a conviction lead to an acquittal? A murder trial ends up in a conviction and acquittal because of a conversion!

When we gather in Jesus' name, something transcendent happens: the Lord is present with us! Phil Ware talks about what is core to our faith and then ties it to everyday meals as well as our celebration of the Lord's Supper and the things of first importance in 1 Corinthians 15:1-7.

"Dear Disciple, A new era began after My resurrection. On the day of Pentecost, I poured out the Holy Spirit first on My closest disciples. Then I..."

Instead of spending all of our time focused on re-gathering, we need to ask ourselves how we are have been doing the essential things that go with being Jesus' church Phil Ware acknowledges the burnout and frustration in our church leaders from having to do church online and virtually, but at the same time challenges us to go back to the book of Acts and see how using our technologies to share Jesus is essential.

So who are we going to exclude? Phil Ware reminds us that from the very beginning of the Christian movement, Jesus and His followers recognized that the Gospel and the church are for all people.

I can actually get better? Phil Ware continues his series on Better Broken reminding us that God can make us better after we have been broken and use us to do his work in the Kingdom because of two things: forgiveness we receive in Jesus through baptism and the power of the Holy Sp

Can I actually be better? Phil Ware reminds us that God can make us better after we have been broken and use us to do his work in the Kingdom because of two things: forgiveness we receive in Jesus through baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Can we trust Jesus' words are as true today as they were when he said them? Phil Ware continues his 'I doubt it!' series and looks at Jesus' promise that the fields are ready for harvest.

"Dear Faithful Follower, I spoke the words you will read in the verses below before I went to the cross. I planted them like seeds into the hearts of...."

For us to be 'cruciformed' means that we offer our hearts to be reshaped to be like Jesus' heart. It means we offer ourselves to be used by God to bless and serve others. Phil Ware begins a series on the central section of the Gospel of Mark that focuses on being "cruciformed" as the first step of being a disciple of Jesus.

We must not forget to punch that little red button and make sure the current of heaven's grace and power flow to us and flow through us to the world. Phil Ware continues his series called 8GHT, focusing on eight principles out of Acts 1:1-10, today his focus is on the Holy Spirit being the power behind the early church.

The divine goodness of our Creator has been ripped apart by human selfishness and suspicion, leaving behind its insidious and poisonous residues. Phil Ware continues his series on the biblical view of women and God's plan to use Jesus' people to live out his purposes in his kingdom.