God-Honoring Sermon - January 23, 2011

A God-Honoring Response to a God-honoring Sermon
(Title of Bro Mike's sermon on January 23, 2011)

JUST NOTES:

Peter's sermon in Acts 2 could be called a perfect sermon. It was perfectly inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Now we look for God-honoring sermons.

God's work is spiritual -- it touches heart and soul.

Is there a physical response that can be made to a spiritual God?
70% of the people in the world today would likely say "N0," there is no way we can physically respond to a spiritual God.

But there are physical ways we can respond and show others that we know Him.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we are all baptized by One Spirit into one body...in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
I Corinthians 12

When God puts people together, He does it in a body. That body is the church.

Church membership is not a requirement for salvation.
If someone finds himself attending FBC and for whatever reason doesn't want to join, then he should just come. Make this a place where we can come together, members or not.

HOW DO WE RESPOND PHYSICALLY TO A SPIRITUAL REALITY?

Acts 2:37: When the people heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

Peter's answer: "Repent and be baptized, everyone one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Later, in Acts 3:19, he said: "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord..."

(Baptism was not a requirement, either.)

They were in downtown Jerusalem, Israel. The place the people identified with Judaism, sacrifices, law, legalism.

But Peter was not in the Temple.

This whole scene is not about guilt over the crucifixion.

Christ was the Lamb of God -- 1 time -- 1 sacrifice

HOW TO RESPOND

1. The outward cry to an inward conviction -- what shall we do? Did something happen in them or not?
2. The outward symbol of an inward reality -- "I invited Jesus into my heart"
3. The visible commitment to an invisible reality - "They devoted themselves to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer...they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts..."

Those who accepted his [Peter's] message were baptized and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Acts 2:41)

There was a high price to pay for these people. They were walking away from the Temple and all the Judaic requirements and their family and friends and embracing the new Church.

John Stott: Commitment to the Messiah implied commitment to the Messianic community -- to His Body -- to the Church.

Bro Mike compared it to marriage -- walk up to the altar, a few words and it's done. But then there is the on-going, day-by-day struggle to keep that marriage intact. So joining a church is sort of like that. You walk up the aisle and join. A one time event. But then reality comes. The day-to-day situations that call for grace and patience. (Thanks be to God that grace and patience are in unlimited supply from Him.)

The Church is real people who are not perfect. We are those people.

(I didn't do a good job on these notes. It was a great sermon, but I was in the balcony --Art was working with the sound and light crew and so I sat up there with him-- and I wasn't as focused, or didn't follow was well as I do when we sit downstairs on the third row, left side, where we have, as Art says, "paid our rent"!) I will do better next time.

What Peter Said - Sermon Notes

Bro Mike took us back to Acts this week, right to Peter's sermon in Acts 2.
What was preached on that day of Pentecost that resulted in 3,000 people being converted?
What kind of sermon cuts to the heart? Gifted speakers? Entertaining messages?

The answer: The message of God empowered by the Holy Spirit.

1. Peter used scripture as the basis for that first sermon of the Christian Church. He quoted Joel, chapter 2, about the Day of the Lord.

In the last days, God says,
And afterward I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Someday we will stand before God, having respected God's Word or not. When we stand before a holy God we will need to have a Savior.

All of us must decide: (1) Does God speak? (2) Has God revealed Himself?

"In the last days, God says..." Either He said it or He didn't.

2. Peter unequivocally identified the historical Jesus as the Eternal Christ. "Jesus" was a popular name. Peter wanted to show his audience that the Jesus he is talking about is the Messiah they had long awaited. The Bible is very clear about the claims of this Jesus Peter is talking about.
Acts 2:22 - Jesus of Nazareth
Acts 2:23 - This man was handed over to you
Acts 2:32 - God raised this Jesus
Acts 2:36 - God has made this Jesus...both Lord and Christ

3. Peter called for God's chosen people to see Jesus as their long-anticipated Messiah.
Even God's own religion requires a Savior, a Messiah. We need to thank the Jews for passing on it! Peter is not saying the Jews are responsible for the death of Christ, he is just pointing out that the One who was crucified was the Messiah.

So What?

1. The Bible is the text of the Church
2. The Jesus of the gospel is the One to listen to concerning the heart of God.
3. Jesus is the Savior that God recognizes as qualified to take way our sin.

We have to get this right.

Peter in Acts - Sermon Notes

Sunday, January 9, was celebration of the Lord's Supper.

Bro Mike began with Peter's message in Acts (beginning in Acts 2:14).

In Acts 2:13 some of those observing the Pentecost experience of the disciples of Christ, who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, began talking to the crowds in their own native languages, were amazed at the miracle! It certainly caught the attention of many, but some scoffed and said they were full of new wine! They couldn't even recognize the miracle for what it was!

"But Peter" -- Acts 2:14.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, 'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words...'

This great sermon of Peter's was the first to be preached in the church!

Bro Mike noted that if those present had been with Christ in His final days and had witnessed the actions of Peter, they would not have voted to ask him to give the first sermon!

But what a changed man he was!

Before he was always full of himself, brash and over-confident, bragging. He was still big, loud and aggressive, but his heart had been changed.

We turned back to Luke 22 and reviewed the events following Christ's arrest and Peter's repeated denials. The text says "And Peter followed at a distance," denied he knew Jesus the three times Christ predicted, and then went out and "wept bitterly."

(Note: I can feel those tears myself when I read this passage. I'm sure I would have fled from the scene. I wouldn't even have "followed at a distance." Peter's grief and pain at his own cowardly statements could have easily been my own, and often are, I'm afraid).

When Peter felt Christ's gaze on him, he realized his own guilt and his own betrayal of his beloved Master and Friend.

Then the Good News of John 21 when the resurrected Savior comes to him and reinstates him, with love and forgiveness. Simon, son of John, do you truly love me?

Peter answers: Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.

This is such an encouragement to all of us. As we gather at the Lord's Supper Table (and Peter and the disciples were having their own meal with Christ - breakfast on the beach)-- to know that our failures and disobedience have been forgiven and that we are welcome to sit with Him and celebrate His gifts to us!

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.

Jonah in the Dock - Sermon Notes

Bro Mike took us to Jonah, this the first Sunday in 2011. He will get back to the series in Acts in the next week or so. Next Sunday will be Lord's Supper, both morning and evening services. We need to prepare ourselves for that eternal Table of Grace.

Anyway, he surprised us with this message on Jonah. Cody read the beginning chapters of the Book and then Bro Mike read Chapter 4 at the beginning of his message. So we all got to read all four chapters!

He alluded to Acts 2 when he talked about something happening to Jonah to get his attention (like the miracle of tongues got the attention of the early church). It would be a scary point in our lives when God didn't want to get our attention.

Jonah 4:2 is a really good description of the kind of God we have:

I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

Bro Mike gave an example of someone who was hired by a multi-billionaire. He was given perfect job security and his only job was to give out money. He could go to hospitals, to orphanages, to anyone who needed financial help and give it to them. Then later in life he becomes judgmental and wonders why some of these people, who have very little goodness in them, should be able to receive such largess. In fact, some were obviously evil!

The employee starts to question his employer about the worth of some, forgetting that he, too, was undeserving of his job and certainly didn't merit the special job/salary security he had.

That is a sort of a picture of Jonah. Blessed by God's mercy and compassion himself, he became judgmental and resentful of others who would benefit from the same gifts of God.
(It sort of reminds me, too, of the parable Christ told about the laborers in the vineyard. The ones who arrived early and worked all day were resentful when the newly arrived ones got the same pay. 'What does it matter to you?' Christ asked them. 'Didn't you get what was promised?'
Christ says He is talking about envy -- so those who arrived early were envious because God's grace also fell on the later ones. Doesn't it seem that they should appreciate the fact that they had job security themselves. They should be thankful that they worked all day, knowing that they would receive pay when they left and could feed their families. They didn't have to worry about taking some money home.

But the newly hired likely had worried most of the day, maybe frantic that they would not be able to take food home. Then they were called to work -- and they were so thankful! The parable never says they were lazy, or that they got tired of waiting and went home. They were just not picked first! Shouldn't the earlier ones have said, 'Wow! This is so great! We were worried about you. Don't we have a great God who gives you the same pay as we received?'

So I really loved Bro Mike's illustration about the wealthy man extending grace to others, no matter whether they deserved it or not! And using one of his employees to deliver the good news!

1. The price of running away from God is always more than the price arranged. Jonah went to the port and paid the fare for a trip to get away from God. But that is not all he paid! And innocent bystanders paid something, too! The men on the ship were hesitant to throw him overboard. They seemed to really care for him. They were complete strangers, and yet they cared for him. And yet Jonah didn't care for all those people in Nineveh!
2. What we are running from will be waiting there at the next stop. Think of all those 'police chases' on TV -- do the people ever get away? They have to stop sometime -- all those cars chasing them and a helicopter overhead! They are still going to have to finally deal with it!
Sometimes we are the same. Jonah was so resentful of those folks at Nineveh -- he just couldn't stand the thought that they'd get another chance. How could he ever think he could run away from God?
3. In the end, the grace of God taken for granted by us is offered to others. We are so comfortable here in the US -- we have it all -- we can take it all for granted. John Newton didn't -- for him it was always "Amazing Grace."

Are we at the point of questioning God -- Telling Him, "I don't like the way you distribute grace..."

His ways are not our ways. We need to take hold of Him, draw close, and learn more about His grace.