The Church That Shows Up | Kevin Miller

0:20 Hey, this is Serve Week 2026. We are at New Life Warehouse. We're serving Tampa Bay. Yeah. I'm so grateful for our church, and we're so grateful for you being a part of it. This is an amazing thing. So blessed that Serve Week is something that's important to our church. Jesus said, "I came not to be served, but to serve." And so this is an opportunity for us to pour out, but also to be filled because we're being more like Jesus

1:37 Aren't you so proud of our church? I just love, I love that we get to be a part of a church that doesn't just show up to come to church, but we show up where the need is all around our communities. Amen? That's what the church is called to be, by the way. We don't just show up 'cause we're a crowd. We show up because God has called us to go out into our community and serve. Man, what a great thing. Thank you guys so much for being a part of Serve Week, and just as a reminder, Serve Week isn't just something now you have to wait till next summer to be a part of. We do Serve Saturday every month, and you can just show up in your community where you are and meet needs, 'cause that's what the church does. We show up.

2:23 We're in Acts chapter two today. If you brought a Bible, I wanna encourage you to go ahead and turn there to Acts chapter two. If you got your Grace Family Church app, you can follow along and take some notes. My name's Kevin. I'm the pastor of our South Tampa location, and we wanna welcome everybody from all eight locations of Grace and everybody joining online. Come on, can you make some noise for everybody wherever you're tuning in from? I just know God has something big for all of us this weekend because we're in God's house, we got God's people, God's Spirit, we're opening God's Word. That's all of the ingredients we need for God to do something big right here. Amen? Now, I gotta admit, it's a little wild for me to be here today because

3:13 I'm fresh off of a serve week that happened in Guatemala this last week. I led a mission trip to Guatemala. We had 12 of us serving at a missions organization out there, and the contrast in ministry that I have been a part of this week is a little hard for me to wrap my mind around. For instance, here I am on a stage that this message will be broadcast to eight locations and I don't know, 14,000 people that go to our church this weekend. And yet, last Sunday, I taught on the third floor of a missions organization to 14… Not tee- not 14,000, but 14 Guatemalan adults, through a translator

4:04 of course, porque mi español es muy poco. Poquito. Pequeño? Small. I'm trying to say I don't know a lot of Spanish, is what I'm trying to help you understand. And so I spoke through a translator. e- even this message, I put the finishing touches on this message while sitting in the dark in a bunk bed at an orphanage in Guatemala. And now here I am on a stage, and there's moving lights and an LED wall, and at many of our locations, a cafe in the lobby, and we have an app that goes with our church.

4:53 I sat in a, one-room house this week, and everywhere I looked, I could just look 360 panorama, and I could see everything that the family owned. And, so what's amazing is that here we are in this place, and I was just in that place, and yet neither one is better or worse, right or wrong. They're just different. And what I love about the church is that over the years, over these last 2,000 years since the beginning of the church that we studied last week in Acts 1 and 2, the church has taken on lots of different forms over the years.

5:41 And as we continue our journey through Acts chapter 2, we're gonna see even more of this. Because since the conception, the beginning of the church, there's been a lot of things that have happened Even just in these first couple chapters of Acts. If you were with us last weekend, Pastor Daryl talked through the Acts 1, part of Acts 2. we talked about the, outpouring of the Holy Spirit, these languages. All of these people started speaking in languages. Then Peter stood up and preached this fiery sermon, and 3,000 people wanted to get baptized, which is crazy logistically if you think about it, 'cause it's enough work for us as a church once a year to go to, Fort DeSoto and after nine

6:31 months of planning and an entire staff to put this on, baptize 1,000 people. This was 3,000 people who just showed up and go, "Hey, I wanna get dunked. I, wanna be Team Jesus." And so we love this. I love this. I don't know about you, but I just love the Bible. I love these stories, and I love think- putting myself in the story and trying to think through, man, what would that have been like? And I love the passion of these verses and just all that's happening here, the fireworks, the Holy Spirit coming and the revival and the chaos. We love that of Acts chapter 2. But here's the thing: more important than the intensity of the beginning of Acts 2 is the consistency of the practices at the end of Acts 2.

7:23 We're gonna look at the end of Acts 2 today, the closing verses starting in verse 42 through 47, and here's what I need us to understand. No matter what form the church takes on, it's in a neighborhood group, it's in a huge auditorium, it's live-streamed, it's in person, or it's in the third story of a Guatemalan missions organization. Whatever form the church takes, listen to this very closely. There's a lot of things that the church can do, but there's really only a few things that the church must do, and if we get those right, that's when God does His work through us. And I wanna focus on four things that the church, the early church did at the

8:11 end of Acts chapter 2, that w- these things we need to stay devoted to. Would you open up your Bibles? Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 42. I'm reading from the English Standard Version, and it says that they devoted themselves to four things The apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Now we're gonna take the whole message and unpack those four things, but let's keep reading in verse 43. Here's what happened, "Awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the

8:57 proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts," just like I did in the airport eating Chick-fil-A, 'cause it hits different after a week on the mission field And they were praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. God, do that in our day. Day by day, God, add to our number those being saved. Lord, I pray for everybody listening to this message at every location today, those who are followers of Jesus already, God, would you build our faith?

9:46 Would you take us deeper in our faith and our relationship with you? Would you convict us of the areas that we need to surrender again to you? And God, I pray for everybody listening to this message that doesn't yet know you. Would you change that today? God, would you draw them by the power of your Spirit, the conviction and love of your Spirit, would you draw them into a saving relationship with Jesus today? By the power of your Word, we submit ourselves to you today. In Jesus' name we pray. Come on, everybody said? Amen. Hey, let's, as a church, let's talk about four things that we need to stay devoted to, which by the way means we can't just hope these things happen in our lives. This is a conscious decision that the early church made

10:33 that we're gonna make as well. Number one, they devoted themselves to truth Verse 42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching." And if you're wondering what that is, that's just basically the record of how to follow Jesus from the men who followed Jesus. These are the men who were on the ground with Jesus, and they said, "This is how we're gonna follow Jesus." What we would call it today is the New Testament. Now, of course, they were living it out while we're, as we're reading this, and more was still to be written after the time of Acts chapter 2. But what we have today, the New Testament, would be what we would call

11:21 these apostles' teaching, how to follow Jesus from the men who followed Jesus. I don't know about you, but I am so grateful to be a part of a church and a teaching team. By the way, we have a, an incredible teaching team that teaches the truth of God's Word, whether it's popular or not, and that's rare these days. We need to be grateful to God to be a part of a church like that. And you know the other thing that I love about this too? With such an incredible teaching team that we have here, Pastor Daryl, and Pastor Craig, and Pastor Hal, n- it doesn't matter who the messenger is, you always know the message: Jesus. You're always… When's a good time to bring a friend? Sunday. what about next week? That's a great one also. Bring 'em.

12:07 Saturday, Sunday, whichever location you go to, bring somebody with you. We already know what the message is. It's gonna be from the Bible, and it's gonna point us to Jesus because we are a church that believes in the truth. We're grounded. We're grounded in the truth. We're devoted to the truth. I can say that about Grace Family Church, but let's take some personal inventory. Can you say that about you? Are you devoted to truth? Growing up, it was a treat to get to go out to eat as a family, our family of four. We didn't do it a lot, but it was fun, and I, remember oftentimes, sometimes on a Friday night, my dad would drop the hint.

12:52 He'd go, "Hey, kids, wanna go to GC?" And we all knew what that meant: Golden Corral. Oh yeah, you already know, And here's the, I'm learning now, 'cause I have three kids. I know now why they took us there, 'cause there's something for everybody. Parents, you understand. If you can find the gem of a restaurant where every kid likes something, you won for the night. You just won. And so I remember my dad would go, "You guys wanna go to GC?" And I'm like, "Sign me up. When do I get in the van?" 'Cause isn't there something great about a good buffet? You can just pick whatever you want. I'm like, "What am I getting tonight at GC? I'm getting a chicken leg.

13:39 I'm getting three bowls of green Jell-O." "I'm gonna grab four of those hot, buttery rolls. I'm gonna get an ice cream sundae every time I go back to the buffet, and a refill of Coke. And maybe I'll put some Sprite in my Coke, 'cause I'm feeling crazy tonight." That's something great about a good buffet. That's fine for Golden Corral, but that's not how we treat God's word. God's word, the Bible, is not a buffet. We don't get to… W- why is it that I meet too many people who seem to think that God's word is a buffet where we can just pick and choose our favorite parts? I'm just gonna get a little bit of Matthew today.

14:24 Who doesn't like some Ephesians, a little side dish of Philippians? And how about some James, except only really, chapters one and five, 'cause I don't know about two through four. No, God's word is not a menu that we get to choose from, it's a manuscript to live by because we are devoted to truth. Pop quiz. When you get to part of the Bible that, you disagree with, what do you do? Change your beliefs, that's what you do, because God's word is our authority. We don't get to determine it based on how we feel. No, we are devoted to truth just like the early church

15:10 And so it's not about how much you intake, because devotion implies that you're not just tuned in, but you're living it out. You're doing something with it. We're not just hearers, we're doers, because strong Christians and strong churches are built on strong doctrine Here's the second thing. Number two, they devoted themselves to community. Verse 42 says that they devot- devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, which just to be clear, is more than just a crowd that gathered in the same area. 'Cause you guys know how this works. Crowds gather for everything, don't they? Crowds gather when there's a fight.

15:55 They gather when there's a car accident. They gather when there's a clearance deal. They gather when there's, Trader Joe's, They gather… my wife dropped us off at the airport at an ungodly hour a week ago at 3:00 a.m., and w- she was driving home, and she texts me, "Nobody's on the road, except there's a line onto the street at Taco Bell." Apparently crowds form for chalupas as well. I don't know why everybody needed to descend on Taco Bell on Kennedy last week, but, crowds will form for all kinds of things, but I'm not… when they talk about being devoted to community, to the fellowship, this is something much more, because the church isn't just a place to

16:44 go to, it's a people to belong to. these are our family. And if you want a, peek at what that might look like, verse 44 and 45 says that, "All who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." Now, this is not saying that you need to just have a yard sale and give everything away, but this is saying the early church came up with a creative way to care generously for the people who had need around them. And there are lots of different ways that this may play out for us, that God may put it in your heart to creatively and generously care

17:29 for the people in need in your life. And verse 46 goes on to say that, "Day by day they were attending the temple together," so they're going to church together, and it says, "They were breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts." I don't know about you, but verse 46 kinda smells like pizza and backyard barbecues and coffee get-togethers and Thai food and fill in the blank with your favorite food. I think that's what we're talking about here in verse 46. They're attending temple together, they're gathering together, they're living life together. They didn't simply attend gatherings, they lived life together. That's what the church is called to do.

18:17 They didn't just show up to church silently and sit in the same chair they did last week. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're like, "Yeah, I go to South Tampa. I, sit in the left section, fourth row back, third chair in. You better not touch it. That's where the Holy Spirit speaks to me, and if you show up and you're in that chair before I am, we might fight at church. Who knows?" Some of you have been tempted to push somebody because they were in your chair, as though it had your name on that chair. Sometimes we just get in a, habit, in a rut, but there's no depth, there's no relationship. That's not what's happening here. They were living life together. They were in community When we, at the end of, a message, we will

19:08 regularly give you an invitation to commit your life to Jesus, and in the back of the chairs in front of you, there's a God's Got This card. And we'll often say, "Hey, if you gave your life to Jesus today, would you take a minute and fill that out? your name, your, contact information." That's not so we can put you on the GFC mailing list. That's not so we could, send you a coupon for Grace merch, okay? That's because when you put your faith in Jesus, that's not s- following Jesus is not something that you should try to figure out on your own. When you fill out that card and you bring it to somebody, that's your way of inviting us and, saying, "Hey, would you help me figure this whole thing out as I

19:53 follow Jesus? I made a decision to follow Jesus, and I want somebody to do that with me." And I love that about our church. Family is literally our middle name, and this, we wanna live this out because you shouldn't try to do this on your own, and I'm not gonna try to do this on my own. We need community. We need to be devoted to community, which implies that we're devoted to God and to God's people. You need both in your life. Did you know that? You need God's presence, but you also need a healthy dose of God's people in your life as well. Here's a third thing. They were, they devoted themselves to remembering And it goes without saying that we all need help remembering things at times.

20:42 Have you ever forgotten your glasses and they were on your head? Okay good. I'm not the only one. Have you ever done this thing where you're like I know I came in here for a pur- for a reason. What was the thing? I've done that a number of times. One time, I forgot my daughter at church on Father's Day After I challenged all the dads to show up and be present in your kids' lives And I'm driving home on the phone with my dad for Father's Day, and Jen calls me like three times, and I'm like, "Dad, I don't know why she's calling me, but I need to ask

21:30 I need to find out." "Hey, is everything okay?" do you have our daughter?" And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm turning around right now. I'm so sorry." We all forget things. Now, I wanna point out in verse 46, I believe it's talking about eating together. It talks about breaking bread in their homes, and they received their food with glad and generous hearts. That's them eating together. That's the breaking of bread in verse 46. But in verse 42, when it talks about the apostles teaching, the fellowship, and the breaking of bread, I believe that's a reference to communion. It's an act of worshipful remembering that the early church was devoted to

22:18 It's something we do regularly as a church. and communion, just so we're clear, is much more than just like a Christian ritual. It's a sermon for the senses. You taste it, you feel it, you see it. You're a part of it. You're communing with one another. Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me." God has been helping us remember things since the beginning of humanity almost. In fact, as soon as Noah stepped off the ark, God said, "I think he's gonna forget. I'm gonna place a reminder in the sky." Genesis 9 puts it this way.

23:09 God says, "When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all of life." So Noah stepped out of the ark, and through this incredible process of refraction and reflection and dispersion, God placed this beautiful, colorful arc that is a reminder in the sky. And I wanna clarify something really important about the rainbow, because you're gonna see a lot of them this month Let's remember whose idea the rainbow really was

24:03 And when you see a rainbow in the sky, or you see a rainbow with some extra colors in a storefront or on a banner marching down a street, let's let it remind us that God is a gracious, loving God, and it was His idea to begin with No other group gets to claim it. Genesis chapter 9, it was God's, and it's always been a way of reminding. God's been reminding us of things through way, through different ways since the beginning. Just read throughout the, Old Testament. Altars and memorials and stacks of stones and oral traditions and tithing and prayer and miracles, all of these in one way or another are

24:51 reminders of our need and God's power And here's why we need to be devoted to remembering. Because worship must be a priority, not an afterthought. We can't hope that we just hopefully I'll remember that. We have to do whatever we can. Write it, sing it, journal it, just don't forget it. Be devoted to remembering, just like the early church was. Here's the fourth thing, they devoted themselves to prayer. Verse 42, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." How important is prayer to you?

25:41 And of course, we're at church, so everybody's "Prayer is very important." But is it? I- if you want a gauge of how important prayer is to you, ask yourself this question: How often and under what circumstances do I pray? That'll help you gauge where-- what you believe about the power of prayer. Are we just praying for, meals and parking spots? Or is your God bigger than that? Is he bigger than that? Then I think we should pray like he's bigger than that, because big prayers honor a big God. And we don't wanna insult our huge God with just praying for our test

26:28 scores and a parking spot at the mall. I'm not saying you can't pray for that, I'm just saying don't only pray for that. Let's also pray, I don't know, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Tampa Bay. How about that? How about we pray for the salvation of our neighbors and our friends, and that guy that you gave up on that, says he hates God and will never come to church. Why don't you pray that he walks in the church with you one day? Why don't you pray for that? Pray for your sandwiches and your bedtime, but also pray for salvation and revival in our day. Pray that God would move in a way that we've never seen him move before, because big prayers honor a big God, and your prayers reflect your faith.

27:15 Verse 43 says that, "Awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles." Why is that? because truth and community and worship and prayer are the ingredients for the miraculous. Now, what's interesting to me though about a miracle is we love the idea of a miracle, but we hate the circumstances that require a miracle. We want miracles, but we don't wanna need a miracle Because miracles, by definition, means I can't do it.

28:00 It's unknown. It's uncomfortable. It stretches us. But isn't that kinda the point? Isn't that where growth happens, when we're outside of what we can do? somebody inevitably has probably told you, and they're well-meaning, but they'll just go, "Hey, don't worry about it. God won't give you more than you can handle." Says who? I don't know, but I don't know about you, but, like, when I'm reading about the church, I'm just like, the church is way bigger than I can handle. The mission is way bigger than I can handle. The need for the gospel in our world is way bigger than I can handle." God, help us if we settle for a life that is so safe and small that I can

28:47 handle it without God's intervention. No, I wanna live a life that God has to intervene or I'm lost. that's the, powerful life I wanna be a part of, not something I can handle. If I can handle it, let's not waste our time. No, I wanna walk in a way, I wanna live in a way, I want faith in a way that God has to intervene, that is bigger than us, and this is what prayer does. It invites God in None of us need small, safe lives. Wonders and signs were happening because their dependence on God shaped everything they did.

29:35 What about you? Does your faith in God shape everything you do? Acts 2:47 may be my favorite part of the chapter. It ends with this: "The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." The Lord added. Not they got the, ingredients right, and Peter preached the right sermon, and they had the prettiest campus, and so enough people came. No, the Lord added. The … God did the work because healthy churches grow because God grows them So Acts 2 reminds us of that, but then Hebrews 10 reminds us in a different way.

30:25 It says in this, in Hebrews 10:24, "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, all the more as you see the day drawing near." The author of Hebrews says the end is coming, and we need each other more than ever before. And so I love, if you put Hebrews 10 and Acts 2 together, I think it gives us a scale. Where do you fall on this scale from neglecting to devoted? Because Acts 2 gives us the example in the positive.

31:11 These were the things the early church was devoted to. Hebrews 10 gives us the command in the negative: don't neglect these. Where are you on that? From neglecting to devoted, where would you find yourself? And here's my encouragement to you today. Don't be on the outside looking in to what God is doing, because God is inviting you to be a part of His work. Every one of us has an opportunity, an invitation. It's called the Gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ is that God loves you. Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

31:58 That's how He demonstrated His love toward us. He loves you in your sin, but He loves you way too much to let you stay in your sin. He has something so much better for you, and if you would choose to turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ, He can -- He's inviting you in to be a s- be a part of something that's so much bigger than you. Don't live your life, don't waste your breath on this earth just living for you. Be a part of God's movement. Be a part of something that's gonna outlast you. And today you can start fresh. You can be forgiven of your sin today. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

32:44 Would you bow your heads with me across every location right now? God, we wanna thank you for the invitation to be a part of your work. And God, at every location, there's a mix of people. There's at least two different crowds in every room. There are those of us who are followers of Jesus already. God, we're doing our best to walk with you every day, but Lord, there are areas where we need your conviction. We need your power every day. We need to surrender again. God, I pray for every Christian within the hearing of my voice, God, that today would be another day of surrender God, would you convict us and, lead us in those areas? And Lord, I, pray for every person who doesn't yet know you, in

33:31 every room, at every location. God, would you change that right now? I believe you are inviting them in to a life of purpose, a life that matters, a life that is guaranteed to outlive their breath here on Earth. God, I believe you're calling people into purpose. Would you give them the boldness today to make a decision to turn from their sin and turn to you as their savior? With our heads bowed and our eyes closed across every room, I wanna give you an opportunity right now to make that surrender And if you're making that decision today, at every location, would you just lift your hand wherever you are?

34:16 And I wanna lead you in a prayer to surrender your life to Jesus. At every location, come on, hands going up in different rooms all across Tampa right now This is your moment. Jesus is inviting you in If that's you, would you pray this with me? Say, Jesus, today I surrender my life to you. I'm turning from my sin, and I'm turning to you as my savior Thank you for dying in my place and resurrecting. Now fill me with your Spirit and help me to live for you.

35:01 In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Come on, can we celebrate with those who made that decision today? Come on, we can make some more noise than that across every location. I'm gonna turn it over to your pastor to take it from here