What Should a Church Look Like?

 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” – Acts 2:42

There’s no doubt: The 1st Century Jerusalem Church was one of the impactful churches in history. Without it, Christianity as we know it today would not exist.

 

In Acts 2, at the start of the Day of Pentecost, there were only around 120 Christians in Jerusalem. But by the end of the day, there were 3,120. God’s Word is clear that the cause of this explosive growth was the Holy Spirit, who descended on the church just as Jesus had promised. Acts 2:41 tells us that 3,000 people got saved that day – and that was just the beginning.

 

In Acts 2:42-47, we discover this impactful church’s top five priorities. These priorities helped this once-tiny group of believers change the world.

 

Priority #1: Learning God’s Word together. Jesus’ apostles had sat under His teaching for at least three years, and Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would remind them of all that He taught. Learning the Old Testament scriptures AND Jesus’ teachings was a top priority for the Jerusalem Christians.

 

Priority #2: Sharing with and caring for each other. The second priority of the Christian Church in Jerusalem was fellowship. Take another look at verse 44: “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” Theologian John Stott writes: “Christian fellowship is Christian caring, and Christian caring is Christian sharing…. That we have hundreds of thousands of [poverty-stricken] brothers and sisters is a standing rebuke to us who are more affluent.” The early Christians took care of each other.

 

Priority #3: Worshipping Jesus Christ together. The Jerusalem Christians devoted themselves to “the breaking of bread” – that is, communion. But verses 43, 46 and 47 describe something beyond the ritual of communion. They ate together “with glad and sincere hearts, praising God.” Regardless of whether they were in a home or in the temple courts, whether they were taking communion or just sharing a meal, they lived lives of Christ-centered worship.

 

Priority #4: Praying together. Many Christians don’t see the importance of praying together. Many think it’s perfectly fine if 100% of our praying is done on our own. But Jesus disagrees. Private prayer is biblical and necessary, but so is praying together. In Acts 1:14, Luke tells us that the Christians “all joined together constantly in prayer.”

 

Priority #5: Evangelizing together. The fifth priority of the early Church is evident in verse 47, which shows the Christians “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” There’s no doubt: The Jerusalem Christians prioritized evangelism. They reached out in compassion and love to those who didn’t know Christ, and they continued to boldly preach the Gospel message. As a result, more people got saved every day.

 

May we never be so preoccupied with learning, sharing, worshiping and praying that we forget to share Christ. The Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit. And you and I must be missionaries both inside and outside the four walls of the church.

 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

No More Guessing Games!

“We know that we are children of God…. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true.”
– 1 John 5:19-20

 

Aren't you grateful that God doesn't make us play a guessing game when it comes to the most important questions in life? 

 

In his first letter to the early Christian church, the Apostle John shares six certainties to give us great confidence as we follow Jesus Christ. Last week I shared the first two of those certainties. Today I’d like to share the last four:

 

Certainty #3: God hears and answers prayer (1 John 5:14-17). John writes, “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (vs. 14-15). Now, notice that John DIDN’T say that God hears and answers ALL prayer. We read in the Old Testament of times when God turned away from the prayers of His children when they were disobeying His will. God makes it clear: If you are rebelling against Him and refusing to repent, He makes no promises about listening to or answering your prayers. But we CAN be confident that God hears and answers our prayers when our hearts are right before Him. And our hearts are right before God when we obey His commands, do what pleases Him and ask according to His will.

 

Certainty #4: God’s Children Don’t Keep Sinning. Verse 18 says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them” (v. 18). Does that mean God’s children never sin? No. Earlier in his letter, John writes, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But, he continues in the next verse, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” You see, John isn’t talking about occasional sins, when Christians let their guard down and give into temptation. He’s talking about ongoing lifestyle sins—LIVING in sin. When we follow Jesus, the One born of God (Jesus) keeps us safe from perpetual sin.

 

Certainty #5: God’s children are free from Satan’s control. John writes, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (v. 19). According to John, either you are a child of God who is safe in your Heavenly Father’s hand, or you’re in the grip of the devil. There’s no middle ground. So if you are a born-again believer and follower of Jesus Christ, you can be sure that as a child of God, you are free from Satan’s control.

 

Certainty #6: God’s Children Know the One True God. As John tells us, “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true” (v. 20). As we follow Christ and obey His Word, we can be sure that God doesn’t make us play the guessing game. We can know the one true God.

 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us tomorrow for a special service at our office facility: 8:45 a.m. at 17746 George Blvd in Victorville. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

How Can I Be Sure?

“This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” – 1 John 5:11

God hasn’t just called us to walk HUMBLY. He has also called us to walk CONFIDENTLY.

 

In 1 John 5, John shares six Christian certainties on which we can build our lives with confidence. Today I’m going to talk about the first two.

 

First, we can be certain that Jesus the Son of God. In verses 7 and 8, John tells us that “there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”

When Jesus was baptized in water, God confirmed that Jesus was the Son of God by speaking from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). At that time, God sent His Spirit down to remain on Jesus. Then, once again, God spoke from heaven a few days before Jesus was crucified. Jesus cried out, “’Father, save Me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name!’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again’” (John 12:27-28).

 

In short, the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ baptism and Jesus’ crucifixion ALL testify that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God. And these three testimonies are in complete agreement.

 

Second, we can be certain that believers in Christ have eternal life. In verse 13, John assures us: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” In other words, John wrote this letter, at least in part, so that believers and followers of Jesus Christ would have certainty that they are saved and walk in confidence—knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is saving a spot for them in heaven.

 

Here are two Life Lessons we can draw from this passage:

 

Life Lesson #1: You can be certain that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, and that certainty should give you great confidence to live your life all-out for Jesus. God’s Word makes it crystal clear that Jesus IS the Christ and the Son of the living God, and that He deserves nothing less than your absolute best. He gave you HIS best, so you must give Him YOUR best.

 

Life Lesson #2: If you have put your faith in Christ, you can be certain that you’ll make it to heaven. You don’t just THINK it or HOPE it. You KNOW it. The world around us will try to get you to doubt Jesus Christ and His promises. But you and I must hold strong in our faith. “He who has the Son has life.” Believe it! “You may KNOW that you have eternal life.” Believe it!

According to John 14:2-4, Jesus has gone to the Father’s house to prepare a place for every one of His followers—and that includes YOU. He has promised to come back for you so that you may be in heaven with Him. Believe it, church! Believe it, Christian!

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

How to Love and Obey

 “This is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.” – 1 John 5:3-4

All through his first letter to the early church, the Apostle John writes to show us how obedience, love, hunger and belief work together in the life of a man or woman who follows Jesus Christ. It boils down to this: If you truly believe in God, you will love God. And if you love God, you will be hungry for His Word and will love obeying His commands—especially His command to love God’s children.

The final chapter of John’s letter begins: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves His child as well” (1 John 5:1). In other words, every believer and follower of Jesus Christ has been reborn into the family of God. So, we must love our Christian brothers and sisters—even those who are hard to love. God’s family sticks together and loves each other no matter what. And if a Christian is diligent in obeying Christ’s lesser commands, he’ll be diligent in obeying Christ’s much greater command: to “Love one another.”

But why is obeying God so hard? Sometimes when we’re going through trials or temptations, we may find ourselves saying, “God, I can’t take much more of this! I’ve had all I can take!” Well, if you’re a Christian, and your yoke is too hard to pull, then you’re likely pulling the wrong yoke. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” And John tells us in vs. 3 and 4: “His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.”

God’s commands are impossible to follow—in your own strength. But with the Holy Spirit living inside you, God’s impossible commands become much more possible. And their heavy weight becomes much, much lighter.

 If you are a Christian, you are a child of God. And your new identity as a child of God carries with it an assurance that you will overcome the temptations and trials of this world. As a child of God, you will share God’s victory. As John continues in verse 4, “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” Through God, we can overcome the immorality of this world, and by knowing His word we can gain victory over the heresies promoted by false teachers. Elsewhere in the New Testament, we read of how we can even overcome physical persecution.

 Here are 3 Life Lessons we can take from this great passage:

 Life Lesson #1: In God’s Kingdom, love and obedience always go hand in hand. So, obeying Christ’s commands proves that your love for God and your Christian family members is real. In John 14:15, Jesus tells us plainly, “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” He could just as easily have said, “If you love your fellow Christians, you will obey what I command.”

Life Lesson #2: If you are a committed Christian who feels like God’s commands are burdensome, do a heart check. The more your heart loves God, the easier His laws will be to follow.  It’s true: The more you love someone, the easier it is to serve them. The same holds true with God. So, spend more time in the Psalms—especially Psalm 119—and fall deeper and deeper in love with God. I guarantee you: His laws will get lighter and lighter.

Life Lesson #3: If you’ve been born again into God’s Kingdom, you are an overcomer by birth—born into God’s family to share God’s victory over temptations and trials. 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Jesus Brings Radical Changes!

“Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on [Jesus Christ’s] name?” 
– Acts 9:21

About a hundred years ago, the story goes, there was an old farmer who lived with his family in the middle of nowhere. One day they climbed into their horse-drawn buggy and headed into the big city to take care of some important business. When they got there, the farmer parked his buggy in front of a massive building. He turned to his youngest son and said, “Little Johnny, you can come with me if you want. But the rest of you stay here. We won’t be long.”

 

Johnny jumped at the chance to go inside the huge building with his dad. Inside, the receptionist directed them to the elevator that would take them to the fifth floor. The farmer and his son stood in front of the elevator, bewildered. After a few minutes, they saw a little old lady shuffle into the elevator by herself. She stepped inside, turned and faced the farmer and his son, and the doors closed. About 30 seconds later, the doors re-opened, and a gorgeous young woman stepped out of the elevator. INCREDIBLE! A decrepit old woman went in, and a beautiful young woman came out. So, the farmer told his son, "Quick,—go get your Ma!"

 

That farmer was pretty shallow. He wanted to trade his wife in for a newer model. It never even crossed the old codger’s mind to step into the elevator himself to become a better man for her. But honestly, you and I aren’t very different from that farmer. We work much harder trying to get the people AROUND us to change than we do trying to change OURSELVES.

 

Well, some two thousand years ago, a man stepped into God’s elevator and allowed himself to be radically changed: the Apostle Paul. In a matter of moments, Paul went from destroying churches to building them. He went from exterminating Christians to nourishing them. He went from hating Jesus to loving Him.

 

In Acts 8, Saul was a religious zealot who hated Jesus Christ—so much that he tried to eradicate the name of Jesus from the lips of Christians around the world. He looked on in approval at the stoning death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He arrested as many Christians as he could, often campaigning to have them executed. Saul hated Christians with a passion.

 

But that all changed in Acts 9 when Saul met Jesus Christ. He was knocked flat on the road to Damascus, temporarily blinded. He gave his life to Christ and was baptized. The next thing people knew, he was proclaiming the name of Jesus in the synagogues. Saul, the man who had been bent on getting rid of Christians, had become the Apostle Paul, trying to make more Christians. Within about 30 years, Paul traveled about 10,000 miles, helping to plant dozens of churches, and wrote half the books of the New Testament. Those books have led hundreds of millions of people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul changed the world. But before Paul could change the world, Jesus Christ had to first change HIM.

 

I’d like to share three powerful life lessons from Paul’s transformed life.

 

Life Lesson #1: Even the greatest Christians have checkered pasts. No matter what you’ve done, no matter how far you’ve strayed from God, there is hope for you in Christ. If you’ll let Him, God will forgive you. God’s grace is greater than our disgrace.

 

Lesson #2: God doesn’t just SAVE hell-bent sinners. He RECRUITS them to change the world. 

Lesson #3: You have precious little time to impact the lives around you. So, hit the ground serving. Finish strong.  In Paul’s own eyes, he started out as the worst of sinners. But he sure did finish well. In just 30 short years, he revolutionized the world by spreading the Gospel. Once he made up his mind to give Jesus Christ his all, he fought the good fight and finished the race strong. And so can you!

 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc. 

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Words to Live By

“Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees…. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.” – Psalm 119:12-14

My parents bought me my first study Bible about 35 years ago. I still use it to this day when I’m preparing sermons. And as I turned to Psalm 119 this past week, I saw a lot of notes in the margins from at least 10, possibly 20 years ago. Next to verses 12 -14, I wrote this question: “Do I ask God to teach me His laws, and do I rejoice and delight in following them?”

 

Good question. I wish I could tell you that in the years since I wrote this question in the margin, I have done this without fail. But I haven’t. Like you, I have read God’s Word many times without first praying, “God, please teach me what You want to teach me.” And so many times after I’ve finished reading from the Bible, listening to a sermon or attending a Bible study, I have forgotten to rejoice in what God has taught me, and I haven’t delighted in doing what He has taught me to do.

 

I don’t know about you, but I want that to change this year. And I invite you to join me. Late January may seem a little late for resolutions … but it’s NOT too late to begin making God’s teaching a priority in our lives.

 

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “As it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him’—but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” So, how does the Holy Spirit reveal to us what God has prepared for those who love Him? He reveals it in His Word. If you prayerfully seek God with your whole heart and walk in His ways this year, I promise you: You will see what most people can’t see; you will hear what most people can’t hear; and you will understand what most people can’t understand.

 

I’d like to share with you 3 important steps for keeping God’s Word a top priority in 2025:

 

Step #1: Prayerfully read God’s Word every day. Many Christians across our nation are reading the whole Bible in 2025. If you’d like to set this as a goal for yourself or, better yet, your family, I highly recommend it! If you’re short on time for reading, the YouVersion Bible app offers audio versions of the whole Bible in multiple translations.

 

Step #2: Prayerfully memorize one Bible verse every week. If you go online, you can find several lists of the best 52 Bible verses to memorize in a year. Although we’re halfway through January, I encourage you to begin doing this today. Fifty verses are far better than zero!

 

Step #3: Prayerfully study God’s Word with your church family every week. In Acts 2:42, we’re told what the top four priorities were for the first Christian Church in Jerusalem. Guess what was at the top of the list? “Teaching.” At Impact, we keep it at the top of our list as well. I encourage you to study God’s Word with your church family every Sunday this year.

 

Would you join me in prayerfully reading God’s Word every day, prayerfully memorizing God’s Word every week, and prayerfully studying God’s Word with your church family every week? I hope and pray that you will.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on YouTube or Facebook. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Are You a Lover or a Hater?

 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” – 1 John 3:16

None of us want to stand before God on Judgment Day and discover that we weren’t really Christians. And in the meantime, during this life, we want to be able to distinguish real Christians from false Christians.

 

In 1 John 3:10, we read: “This is how we know … who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” Let’s examine the second distinguishing characteristic of God’s true children: God’s children love one another.

 

In verse 12, immediately after reminding us that children of God “should love one another,” John shines the spotlight on the first human being who did the exact opposite of that: Cain. Christians are to be lovers; Cain was a hater. John writes: “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.” God called Cain to love his brother, but instead, Cain hatefully butchered him. Why? John answers, “Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (v. 12).

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear that when we harbor intense anger and hatred in our hearts toward someone else, God views that bitter anger and hate as murder. That’s because murder begins in the heart. But just as Cain was the trailblazer for hate and death, Jesus Christ is the trailblazer for love and life. The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, tells us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

1 John 3:16 is like the sequel to John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. We who follow Christ also ought to, in love, “lay down our lives for our brothers.” John makes it clear that the essence of Godly love is self-sacrifice, which has been perfectly demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

 

Here are three Life Lessons we can draw from this passage:

 

Life Lesson #1: Don’t hate like Cain. If you harbor anger and hate toward another Christian, you are guilty of murder in your heart. So, get rid of all your lingering anger and hate. If you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, there is no room in your heart for harboring bitterness or hate against anyone, especially a fellow Christian.

 

Life Lesson #2: Love like Jesus. The essence of Christlike love is self-sacrifice. So, if you are a follower of Christ, you must sacrificially put others’ needs above your own. In humility, Jesus considered others’ needs more important than His own. That’s why He willingly died on the cross.

 

Life Lesson #3: When you walk in obedience and Christlike love, you can be confident that Christ lives in you and will hear and answer your prayers. In verses 21-22, John seems to be making this point: If we, by God’s mercy and grace, have a clear conscience before God, we can come confidently and boldly to God in prayer.

 

False Christians follow in Cain’s footsteps: They disobey God’s commands and harbor hate against others. But true Christians follow in Jesus’ footsteps: They do what is morally right, and they love others with a self-sacrificing, Godly love.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.