45 minutes
- Opening
- 4
- Passage
- 5
- Questions
- 25
- Application
- 7
- Prayer
- 4
Total · 45 minutes
Sermon Study · Leader Edition
Church is a Team Sport
June 14, 2026 · Austin Axen
Leader preparation · 2–3 minutes
Your aim for this conversation
The destination is shared, Spirit-filled participation. Keep the conversation from becoming a scorecard of private spiritual performance.
Use all four questions in the 45-minute plan. If time runs short, prioritize Q1, Q3, and Q4. Q2 can be omitted without breaking the study's movement.
Generosity should invite honest care, not pressure people to disclose financial needs or imitate first-century practices mechanically.
The 2013 material below is a separate leader-only lens. It was not taught as a separate point by Austin in this sermon.
Timing plan
The Big Idea
A Spirit-filled church practices devotion, shares life and resources, and measures victory by worshiping God and welcoming people into his family.
Remember Sunday’s message
Sermon reminders
01
We Practice Together
Austin highlighted four practices that fueled the early church: the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. These were shared commitments, not merely private habits.
02
We Share Together
The believers shared resources and relationships. Their generosity met real needs, while worship and meals drew them into a glad, personal, and connected life together.
03
We Win Together
Austin described the church's scoreboard as worshiping God and seeing people saved. God gives favor and adds people to his church as believers live authentically on mission together.
Wednesday’s conversation
Reflect & discuss
Read Acts 2:42-47 together and pray. As you listen, notice what the believers practiced, what they shared, and how Luke described the result.
1
Acts 2:42-43 · Essential · 6 minutes
Check the fuel
Acts 2:42 names the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. Which practice is strengthening you right now, and which one are you most likely to underuse?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Move from vague spiritual depletion to one concrete shared practice.
Follow-ups to have ready
- What benefit do you miss when this practice is neglected?
- What small step would be realistic this week?
Background you may need
- Scripture engagement, meaningful fellowship, Communion and gospel remembrance, or prayer.
- A practice may be present formally but absent as a sustaining rhythm.
- Stay in Acts 2:42-43 and the four practices named in the passage.
If it stalls
Avoid implying that a believer can earn awe or spiritual results by completing a formula. Austin's emphasis was committed dependence and participation.
6 minutes in the 45-minute plan. Essential.
2
Acts 2:42-47 · Optional · 6 minutes
Description and direction
Austin said Acts contains both description and prescription. What in this portrait should shape the church today, and where should we be careful about turning a narrative into a formula?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Help the group read Acts faithfully without flattening every narrative detail into a universal command.
Follow-ups to have ready
- What principle remains even when the first-century form changes?
- How does the rest of Scripture help us test an application?
Background you may need
- Devotion, generosity, shared worship, meals, prayer, and witness clearly reveal enduring priorities.
- The exact economic arrangement and the signs through the apostles require careful interpretation.
- Use the whole paragraph and distinguish what Luke reports from what Austin explicitly urged the church to practice.
If it stalls
6 minutes. Optional if time runs short.
3
Acts 2:44-46 · Essential · 7 minutes
A genuinely shared life
The believers shared possessions, meals, worship, and daily life. What makes generosity and fellowship real rather than simply being in the same room on Sunday?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Translate koinonia into voluntary, concrete care and relationship.
Follow-ups to have ready
- Which is harder for you, receiving care or offering it?
- What boundary protects generosity from pressure or unhealthy dependence?
Background you may need
- Meeting a practical need, sharing time or a meal, listening, praying, or welcoming someone into ordinary life.
- Real fellowship involves mutual knowledge and responsibility, not merely proximity.
- Center on Acts 2:44-46 and the connection between fellowship and shared life.
If it stalls
Do not ask participants to disclose finances. The passage presents willing generosity directed toward actual need.
7 minutes in the 45-minute plan. Essential.
4
Acts 2:47 · Essential · 6 minutes
A different scoreboard
Verse 47 joins praising God, favor with people, and the Lord adding those who were being saved. How should that reshape what we call success for a church or a small group?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Replace institutional scorekeeping with worship, faithful witness, and trust in God's work.
Follow-ups to have ready
- What numbers are useful without becoming the whole scoreboard?
- What would worship-shaped success look like in this group?
Background you may need
- Success includes lives oriented toward God's glory, authentic community, and people encountering Jesus.
- Attendance matters, but the Lord is the one who adds and saves.
- Use Acts 2:47, with Matthew 16:18 and Acts 1:8 as Austin's supporting references.
If it stalls
Avoid framing salvation as the result of technique. Austin explicitly emphasized that God gives favor and adds people.
6 minutes in the 45-minute plan. Essential.
Carry it into the week
Next Steps
From the sermon
- Choose one of the four practices you are underusing and take one concrete step this week.
- Share a meal with someone.
- Continue praying for the person in your Jerusalem circle.
- Watch for an opportunity to show care.
Application
Choose one practical act of shared life this week. Meet a need, invite someone to a meal, pray together, or study Scripture with another person.
My notes
Close in prayer
Ask the Holy Spirit to deepen the group's devotion, generosity, fellowship, worship, and witness.
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. Permissions. Prepared for this small group from the June 14, 2026 sermon; questions and applications are editorial study material.
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