A spiritual discipline we often overlook

Pastor Juliet opens by recapping Elan’s recent conversations about spiritual practices: generosity, prayer, fasting, and solitude. Today she turns to community, which she insists is also a spiritual discipline, part of the pattern God has set for us. She shares honestly that the current season of prayer and fasting has been rough in the best way and has shown her how little of this world truly matters. Jesus is always better.

The real Gospel, not a watered-down one

The world bombards us with lies that filter everything through ourselves, but what we need is the real Gospel, not one that makes us the hero of the story. The point of David and Goliath is to point to Jesus, not to make us feel like David. Quoting Ephesians 1 in the Message, Pastor Juliet reminds the church that the world is peripheral to the church, not the other way around. Scripture is infallible and should bring conviction as well as joy. Obedience and submission “ain’t sexy in 2025,” but as for her house, they will choose the very words of God.

Growing muscles for what is ahead

With seven days of the church fast remaining, Pastor Juliet urges people not to wish the time away. She is convinced God wants to take Elan from small beginnings to a house overflowing with His glory. The practices are not about diets or self-improvement but about Jesus. The church is an army that must grow spiritual muscle for the mandate of Matthew 28: worship Jesus, make disciples, and bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. 1 Timothy 4 calls believers to train themselves for godliness.

Acts 2: cut to the heart

Reading Acts 2:37–47 in the Amplified version, Pastor Juliet sets the scene of about a hundred people waiting in a room until the Spirit fell in tongues of fire. After Peter’s sermon the crowd was cut to the heart, and she notes that sometimes the true Gospel brings sobriety rather than a skip in our step. About three thousand repented and were baptized, and they devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, meals, and prayer, shared their possessions, and met daily with one mind.

Body, soul, and spirit, individual and corporate

Every person is three parts: the body everyone interacts with, the soul that holds emotions, intellect, will, and personality and is the battleground for the mind, and the spirit at the core that connects with God Spirit to Spirit. In Acts 2 every part of each person was engaged, and so was a corporate body, a corporate soul, and the spirit of the house connecting with the Holy Spirit. Community is about our individual selves and about the corporate self. If you call yourself a Christian and step out of the body, you are not in the body.

Four gifts, and the gift of God’s people

Luke wrote Acts to Theophilus as the sequel to his Gospel, and from that vantage point Jesus, having given His life, rose and immediately began giving gifts again. Acts 2 holds four: salvation for the Gentiles, God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s holy people. Pastor Juliet had planned to share research on loneliness and her favorite theme of fictive kinship, people not of the same bloodline becoming family, but instead shares what she bleeds for: a Jesus-centered community that is one despite every difference, like an undoing of the Tower of Babel. She warns against Christians who build platforms by pointing fingers at other believers.

The gym we all need

We were not designed to follow Jesus in isolation. Christian community gives us opportunities to practice and grow in love, joy, peace, and patience. These relationships help us grow, and without love our gifts are useless. Community is the gym that rubs off edges we never knew we had, and like building muscle it requires tearing. It will not be comfortable, but running away undoes the growth. Elan will build many small environments where the fruit of the Spirit can grow, caring about health rather than attendance. Pastor Juliet humbly asks forgiveness from anyone she has hurt and invites people to let their walls down, because God-centered community helps us grow into the people God created us to be. She closes by urging everyone to be the change they want to see: be the encouragement, forgiveness, covering, and authentic love you long for. Gathering on Sundays, in Groups, to pray, to learn, and to celebrate is all holy work. She is desperate for a move of God in 2025, and if God brought a motley crew together in Acts 2 and poured out His Spirit, perhaps He can do it again in us.