February 23, 2025 • 40 mins
Learn about the universal call to ministry that beckons every believer, challenging us to embody both the internal and external aspects of this sacred duty. Through the lens of Acts 3, Pastor Chris delves into the role of spiritual gifts, encouragement, and generosity in building a thriving church community. But the mission doesn't stop within the church walls; hear how each believer is called to reach out to those distant from God, empowered by the Holy Spirit to witness and share the gospel with fervor and authenticity.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes, and our scripture reading today will be
out of Acts, chapter 3.
It says this, and, seeing Peterand John about to go into the
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temple, he asked to receive alms.
And Peter directed his gaze athim, as did John, and said look
at us.
And he fixed his attention onthem, expecting to receive
something from them.
But Peter said I have no silverand gold, but what I do have I
give to you In the name of JesusChrist of Nazareth.
Rise up and walk.
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And he took him by the righthand and raised him up and
immediately his feet and ankleswere made strong and, leaping up
, he stood and began to walk andentered the temple with them
walking and leaping and praisingGod.
And all the people saw himwalking and praising God and
recognized him as the one whosat at the beautiful gate of the
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temple asking for alms.
And they were filled withwonder and amazement at what had
happened to Him.
While he clung to Peter andJohn, all the people, utterly
astounded, ran together to themin the portico called Solomon's,
and when Peter saw it, headdressed the people Men of
Israel, why do you wonder atthis?
Or why do you stare at us asthough, by our own power or
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piety we have made him walk.
The God of Abraham, the God ofIsaac and the God of Jacob, the
God of our fathers, glorifiedhis servant, jesus, whom you
delivered over and denied in thepresence of Pilate when he had
decided to release him.
But you denied the holy andrighteous one and asked for a
murderer to be granted to you,and you killed the author of
life whom God raised from thedead.
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To this we are witnesses, andhis name, by faith in his name,
has made this man strong, whomyou see and know, and the faith
that is through Jesus has giventhis man this perfect health in
the presence of you all.
Jesus has given this man thisperfect health in the presence
of you all.
And now, brothers, I know thatyou acted in ignorance, as did
also your rulers, but what Godforetold by the mouth of all the
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prophets, that his Christ wouldsuffer, he thus fulfilled.
Repent, therefore, and turnback, that your sins may be
blotted out, that times ofrefreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord and that hemay send the Christ appointed
for you, Jesus, whom heaven mustreceive until the time for
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restoring all the things aboutwhich God spoke by the mouth of
his holy prophets.
Long ago, moses said the Lord,god, will raise up for you a
prophet like me from yourbrothers.
You shall listen to him inwhatever he tells you, and it
shall be that every soul whodoes not listen to that prophet
shall be destroyed from thepeople.
And all the prophets who havespoken from Samuel and those who
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came after him also proclaimthese days you are the sons of
the prophets and of the covenantthat God made with your fathers
, saying to Abraham and in youroffspring shall all the families
of the earth be blessed.
God, having raised up hisservants, sent him to you first
to bless you by turning everyone of you from your wickedness.
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This is the word of the Lordfor the people of the Lord, and
you may be seated.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
All right.
So we're going to do real quickbefore we get started.
We've got note sheets that Ijust did this morning, so
they're hot off the press, we'regoing to pass out and these are
for you to use in your own timeto go deeper in the study that
we talk about on Sunday mornings.
But I want to practicesomething as those are being
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passed out.
Why do we say at the end of thereading of God's scripture the
word of God, or this is the wordof the Lord, or this is the
word of God for the people ofGod?
It's because it's a reminderthat we're here to study and to
preach and proclaim, tocelebrate not the words of a
preacher, but the word of God.
The Bible is not just anotherbook, it is the revealed word of
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the Lord, and so I want tostart practicing something.
All right, so you're payingattention.
When we say this is the word ofGod, you're going to say thanks
be to God because we'regrateful for that.
All right.
So the word of God, god,because we're grateful for that.
All right.
So the word of God.
All right, you got it Quicklearners.
So next week, I don't have to,I don't have to coach you on
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that Right.
So who?
Who, my liturgical people, youknow.
So take charge next week,matthew.
All right, how many just loveGod's Word?
Everybody got a note sheet thatwould like one.
(04:55):
All right, thank you, gentlemen, for passing those out.
Every single real follower ofJesus is called to ministry.
Let me just make it morepersonal.
You, if you are in Christ,point at yourself.
You are called to ministry, notnecessarily vocational ministry
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, but you are called to ministrynonetheless.
And there are two dimensions ofministry to which every
believer is called.
Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, afamiliar passage, says this that
God gave the apostles, theprophets, the evangelists, the
shepherds and the teachers notto do solely the work of the
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ministry but what To equip thesaints, that's, every believer,
for the work of the ministry.
You are called to ministry.
So there's two dimensions hereof ministry.
One is internal and one isexternal.
Let's start with the internalaspect or dimension of ministry.
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We are called look what it says.
Can we put that sorry thatverse back up?
Ephesians 4, to equip the saintsfor the work of the ministry,
for the building up that canmean encouraging the body of
Christ, that's the people of God, the church.
So part of your ministry is tobuild up one another.
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So when you come in on Sundaymornings, I want you to know you
are not a spectator, you aresupposed to be a participator.
How do we do that?
Well, one, we do that throughencouragement.
Hebrews 3, 12 and 13,.
Take care, brothers, lest therebe in any of you an evil,
unbelieving heart leading you tofall away from the living God.
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But exhort, that's to encourage, to hold accountable, to spur
on on, exhort one another daily.
This goes beyond Sundays.
So we have this ministry to oneanother.
That begins with encouragement,but it also includes using our
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spiritual gifts.
Every one of you have apractical gift, whether that's
teaching or singing, or greeting, or working with kids or youth.
We're to use whatever practicalgift that we have.
We're to use those for theglory of God and the good of one
another.
Beyond that, we believe in thesupernatural gifts, in what 1
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Corinthians 12, 7 says is toeach is given the manifestation
of the Spirit.
Why?
For the common good.
And then, finally, we ministerto one another through
generosity.
We saw this last week, Ibelieve, in Acts chapter 2, but
it's also in Acts chapter 4.
There was not a needy personamong the early church, not a
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needy person, why, for as manyas were.
Owners of lands or houses soldthem.
They brought the proceeds ofwhat was sold and laid it at the
apostles' feet and it wasdistributed to each as any had
need.
What that means is theprinciple here is that we so
encourage and build each otherup, that we're like family, we
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are family, and that means thatif we've got extra money, we're
not going to let somebody'selectric bill go unpaid.
Are you with me?
So we are called to internal,let's say ministry within these
four walls.
It's a beautiful thing withinthese four walls.
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It's a beautiful thing.
Today, I want to focus on theother aspect of ministry, namely
external.
So that's the focus in our text.
It's about leaving the buildingand reaching those who are far
from the Lord.
That's what we see in the text.
We find Peter and John makingtheir way to the temple, and
Peter and John find at thetemple gate this beggar who has
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been lame from birth and he'sasking for alms or money.
And so Peter and John, theyhelp him in a major capacity, a
major way, and then they sharethe gospel not just with this
man but with an entire crowd ofpeople.
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And I would just argue todaythat we are all called to this
same type of might not lookexactly like this, but we're all
called to reach the lost, andI'll call this evangelistic
ministry.
You are called to reach peoplefar from God.
Isn't that amazing?
Now you may say.
It'd be easy to say, listen,that work is for, like these are
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apostles.
It's for the apostle, theprophet, the pastor, the teacher
, the evangelist, and itabsolutely is for them, but not
for them alone.
Let me tell you why I believethat, and I'll just give you two
reasons.
There are more.
Number one, the power of theSpirit.
As we saw in Acts, chapter 1,what's it for?
Ultimately?
To be witnesses, acts 1, verse8.
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You will receive power when theHoly Spirit has come upon you
and you shall be my witnesses inJerusalem, judea, samaria and
to the other most parts of theearth.
Now you could argue well, he'stalking to apostles there.
Sure, john Stott said it likethis though we can no more
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restrict the command to witnessthan we can restrict the promise
of the Spirit.
So if you're going to say,listen, the baptism in the
Spirit or the excuse me, theevangelistic call is only for
the apostles, then you've got tosay well, the baptism in the
Spirit's only for the apostles.
And we know that's not true andthus we have to conclude we're
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all called to be Christ'switnesses.
We also see this example in theearly church.
In Acts, chapter 8, the churchis persecuted and the believers
are scattered, and in verse 4,it says this about these
ordinary Christians.
Now, those who were scatteredwent about preaching, and that
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word has to do with evangelizing, proclamation of the good news.
They went about preaching theword.
Every believer is called to bea witness for Christ, to
evangelistic ministry.
And so I just want to use thetext and I want to look at the
process of evangelizing, ofreaching people who are far from
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God.
And so today, if you havesomebody that you know and you
probably do a family member,friend, co-worker, who's far
from the Lord, you need tolisten up because this is going
to help you reach them by God'sgrace, them by God's grace.
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So, number one, effectiveministry begins with seeing
people.
Now, I'm not encouraging to beone of those creepy people
watchers.
If I'm honest, I got to guardfrom that because people
watching is fun, like if youever feel bad for yourself.
Like just sit in front ofWalmart.
Just watch, all right, it'lljust lift your spirits.
Poor Walmart, I got to stoppicking on them, you know.
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But I'm talking about trulyseeing people.
Let's look at the text, verses 1through 4.
Peter and John were going tothe temple at the hour of prayer
, the ninth hour, and a man,lame from birth, was being stone
in the hat, kind of thing.
But look at this.
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And Peter directed his gaze athim, as did John, and said look
at us.
Do you know how humanizing thisis?
They have just given this mangreat dignity.
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Think about this.
On their way to the temple andthey were going at a specific
time to offer specific prayers,which was their custom, and
here's a man at the gate begging.
He's there every day.
Come on, it's like the man orthe woman who's standing at the
same's there every day.
Come on, it's like you know theman or the woman who's standing
at the same street corner everyday.
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When you pull up with the signthat says hungry, homeless,
whatever it says, god bless, itwould have been easy to be
cynical towards this man, tostep over him or to say or to
justify that you know what.
We'll help him later.
We're in a hurry, we've got toget to prayer.
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But what do Peter and John do?
They gaze at him and they saylook at us, look at us in the
eyes is the way that I read this.
We value you.
That's what they're saying.
Think about the story of theGood Samaritan.
You have this Jewish man who isbeaten, robbed and left for
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dead.
Essentially, and soon after youhad two Jewish men, one a
priest, another just a Levite,and they just pass him by.
They're on their way to performreligious duties and they don't
want to be bothered and theydon't want to exert their energy
or time or money to help thisman, and they just kind of step
out of the way and they justifythemselves we're going to do the
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work of the Lord.
Beloved, that man is the workof the Lord.
Then there's a Samaritan, muchlike Peter and John, who walks
by and you understand that theJews and the Samaritans were
borderline enemies.
Samaritans to the Jews wereseen as half-breeds, they were
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not respected and they did notcommunicate.
But yet it's the Samaritan onhis way to do something
important and yet stops for theman and at great expense to
himself time, money, energy seesthat the man gets the help he
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needs.
That's exactly what Peter andJohn do here.
They see the man I'm not justtalking about out of their
peripheral like they just walkby and kind of glance.
No, they gaze at him and say,look at us.
And I would just ask you todayhow often we are like the priest
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and the Levite in a hurry andwe just step by somebody or we
just throw a couple coins to youknow their way to get them to
leave us alone.
Frankly, god has called us tosee people.
Remember Jesus on the way toJericho I mean, he's on his way
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to give his life and the man iscalling out, the blind man,
bartimaeus, remember that story,crying out saying you know,
messiah, savior, stop right,help me.
And the disciples and thepeople traveling with him are
going, leave him alone.
And Jesus says no, no, and hestops for this man.
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That's exactly what Peter andJohn do.
And I would just say to youtoday folks, people are dying to
be seen.
Life is busy and there are manydistractions and we walk
through stores and supermarketswith AirPods in so we don't have
to communicate with people.
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We're always on this mission.
We always have an agenda in howmany people, hundreds of people
, week by week.
Do we pass that?
Just want to be seen.
Broken people, desolate people.
They want to be seen.
Broken people, desolate people.
They want to be seen.
That's why, on social mediatoday, I'm convinced that some
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people post all of their liveson there, what they're eating,
what they're drinking, whattheir kids are doing.
I'll stop there and on and onand on and you go.
Why would they do that?
Who cares?
You know what they're doing.
They're crying out.
Somebody, look at me, somebodysee me.
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Because my husband has his facein YouTube or the television
and he doesn't see me.
He's here, but he doesn't seeme.
Or my wife she's on her phoneall the time and she doesn't see
me.
Oh, I'm preaching now.
The kids are crying out.
Oh, mom and dad are here, butthey don't see me.
They're working, they'recleaning, they're doing
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everything, but looking at me?
When somebody just gaze upon me, that's the cry of the world.
And so evangelistic ministrystarts with just seeing people.
We call it relationalevangelism.
If you go out to eat todayafter the business meeting, take
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time to see your waitress orwaiter.
Ask them what's going on intheir life, ask them if you can
pray with them.
Learn to see people.
Secondly, the second process inevangelistic ministry is not
just to see people, but it's tomeet practical needs in their
lives.
Verses 5-7,.
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The lame man fixed his attentionon Peter and John, expecting to
receive something from them,but Peter said I.
His attention on Peter and Johnexpecting to receive something
from them.
But Peter said I do not havesilver and gold, but what I do
have I give to you In the nameof Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk.
And he took him by the righthand and raised him up and
immediately his feet and ankleswere made strong.
I want you to notice somethinghere Peter and John do not start
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their ministry to this man bypreaching.
They don't immediately come inand say, oh, repent or die right
, or repent or perish.
No, they see the man and theybegin meeting a practical need.
It's that old adage is so truebeloved People don't care how
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much you know until they knowhow much you care.
If you want to build a platformfor somebody to listen to your
gospel presentation, you need totake care of them.
Meet any practical need thatyou're able to.
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Matthew 5, 14 through 16, jesussays you are the light of the
world, and then later on he sayslet your light then shine
before others so that they maysee your good works.
What good works?
In Luke 3, 10, jesus says.
The crowds asked jesus, whatshall we do?
And he answered them whoeverhas two tunics share with him.
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Who has none, and whoever hasfood do the likewise.
How many of us in here haveexcess excess money, closets
full of clothes?
We have the opportunity to meetpractical needs of people.
Why didn't Peter and John givemoney to the man?
Well, peter tells us he didn'thave it, which flies in the face
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of every preacher who says youknow, you have enough faith,
you're going to be rich.
Well, it's quiet.
They gave him something evengreater.
They met an even greater need.
They gave him this gift ofhealing by the grace of the Lord
.
In James 2, 14 through 17,.
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What good is it, my brothers, ifsomeone says he has faith but
doesn't have works?
Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister ispoorly clothed listen to this
and lacking in daily food, andone of you says to them go in
peace, be warmed and be filled,without giving them the things
they need for the body, whatgood is it?
I just read this and I wasthinking, I just pictured this
in my mind.
You got this lady who thinksshe's uber spiritual, she's been
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in the church forever andsomebody comes up and shares a
need with her.
You know, saying you know, Ican't pay my electric bill and
it's going to be shut off andit's cold out and my pipes are
going to freeze and I've gotyoung kids this is a single mom
and the lady says oh, let mepray for you, let me pray for
you.
And she takes the single mom'shand and she says oh, lord, god
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of grace, jehovah, jireh, youare our provider.
Lord, you make streams in thedesert, you make a way where
there seems to be no way.
Oh God, we cry upon you rightnow, cry to you right now.
Lord, bless this dear sister inthe Lord, provide for her.
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Oh God, amen.
And then she starts to walkaway and I'll tell you this God
wants to provide for that ladythe hungry, the hurting, the one
that can't pay your bill.
And you know how God wants todo it the one who just prays is
supposed to give her half of hersandwich and pay your light
bill for her.
Okay, james is saying don't justpray for the hungry, feed them.
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We've got to meet the practicalneeds of people, and let me
just quickly say that I don'tthink this text is completely
prescriptive in the sense ofthis means that we're just to go
around telling people to getout of wheelchairs.
I'm not going to say Godcouldn't do that.
I don't want to put him in abox.
One of the greatest things wecan do, though, for sick people
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is take them by the hand and saylet me pray for you and pray
the prayer of faith over themand believe God for their
healing.
That's a great thing to do.
It's empathetic of faith overthem and believe God for their
healing.
That's a great thing to do.
It's empathetic.
But beyond that, we're calledto just meet it's not just these
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great miracles the very mundanepractical needs of people.
Okay, so ministry always, italways must include a
proclamation of the gospel.
Look at chapter 3, verses 11through 12.
While he this would be the lameman now healed clung to Peter
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and John, all the people,utterly astounded, ran together
to meet them in the porticocalled Solomon's.
So you know, this is the temple.
Lots of people are there, andthere's this lame man that the
crowds have seen laid at thegate can't walk day after day
after day after day just begging, and now this man's up praising
God, giving God glory, and thatwould draw a crowd Like that'll
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get you to stop what you'redoing.
But I want you to see this.
And when Peter saw it, headdressed the people.
Peter saw the lame man.
He met a practical need, butthen he used that as a platform
to share the gospel.
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What does peter tell the crowd?
Number one, very importantpeter points people beyond
himself and on to the lord jesus, verse 12.
And when peter saw it, headdressed the people, men of
israel.
Why do you wonder at this time?
Why do you stare at us asthough only by our own power or
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piety we have made him walk?
We didn't do this.
If you go down to verse 16, itsays and his name, the name of
Christ, by faith in his name.
This is what's made the manstrong whom you see and know,
and the faith that is throughJesus has given this man perfect
health in the presence of all.
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Remember the Pharisees in theSermon on the Mount.
Jesus called them hypocriteswho they gave charitably, but he
said they do it to be seen bymen.
They were glory hogs.
They weren't doing it becausethey cared about the people.
They weren't doing it for theglory of God, they were doing it
to bolster their ownspirituality and self-image.
You know there are manyquote-unquote faith healers out
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there that you see on thetelevision and I know they talk
about Jesus.
But how many know that thequote-unquote miracles become
about them, generally speaking,to where they're in the
spotlight, they don't ever saywhy are you looking at me as if
I'm more pious or more anointedthan somebody else?
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Jesus did this.
Now I know they say the Lorduses me, but it's still about
them.
I had a girl in my youth groupin Colorado and tragically she
was a beautiful young lady, atalented cheerleader, and she
was diagnosed with a brain tumorand she went downhill very
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quickly and we prayed for herand prayed for her and prayed
for her and her dear parents youknow you do anything for your
child and they thought if wecould just get her to a Benny
Hinn meeting then she could behealed.
And it was hard for her totravel but they were so
convinced this is the man.
Oh, we know it's Jesus, butthis is the man.
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And they drove miles and milesand miles to see this
quote-unquote faith healer and Isang at her funeral months
later.
Peter Immediately says Beforeanything else, this is about
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Jesus, it's not about me.
This miracle is from Jesus.
I'm just a vessel.
Why do you look at us?
Secondly, peter points outpeople's sin.
So, by the way, this is what weshould be doing when we're
sharing the gospel with people,pointing people to Jesus.
But, secondly, sometimes you'vegot to point out people's sin.
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The God of Abraham, the God ofIsaac this is verse 13, the God
of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus,
whom you Jews.
That's what he's talking to hisJewish brothers and sisters.
And he's saying you deliveredover and denied in the presence
of Pilate when he had decided torelease him, but you denied the
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holy and righteous one andwatch this and asked for a
murderer to be granted to youand you killed the author of
life and watch this Not theRomans.
The blood of the Lord is onyour hands.
He was your Messiah.
You had him delivered over tothe Romans.
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He points out their sin.
You know there's a popularpreacher who was on a nationally
watched talk show, televisionshow, and he said you know, this
preacher gets, I don't know wegive him a tough time you know
people do because he doesn'ttalk about sin.
You know he talks about theChristian life as if it's all
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cupcakes and rainbows and it'ssimply not.
And so this particular hostsaid you know what's the deal,
why don't you preach about sin?
And this famous pastor sayswell, we don't have to tell
people that they're sinners.
They know, they don't know.
The majority of people inAmerica statistically believe
that if there is a heaven, ifthere is an afterlife, that the
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pathway there, the way thatthey're going to get in, is by
being a good person.
And most people thinkthemselves to be good.
Somebody has to lovingly tellthem that maybe, compared to
Hitler, you're good, hopefully,but when you compare yourself to
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God's standard of goodness,which is Jesus Christ's
perfection, we all fall short ofthe glory of God.
We are all sinful, separatedfrom God.
And it's helpful and lovinglyto tell people yes, god is love,
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but he's also a God of wrath.
Thirdly, peter proclaims thedeath and resurrection of Jesus,
verse 15,.
You killed the author of life,whom God raised from the dead to
this.
We saw it with our own eyes.
We were witnesses.
We've seen the risen Christ.
This is an important part ofthe gospel message.
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Yes, you are a sinner, butnotice the progression.
You are a sinner, but Christdied and God raised him.
Paul says it like this thatChrist died for the forgiveness
of sins and then he's beenraised from the dead, a
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validation of that payment, thatit has been paid in full.
And we've got to tell peopleyou have sinned, but I've got
great news for you, even thosewho are responsible literally
for the death of Jesus.
He says I've got great newsJesus died but God raised him
from the dead.
Beloved our faith.
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Christianity itself hinges onone thing not unanswered prayers
, not mean church people.
It hinges on one thing theresurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,if Christ be not raised, our
faith is futile.
He even says we of all peopleare most to be pitied and we are
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still in our sins.
But then he says but in factChrist has been raised,
hallelujah.
If Christ is not raised, wehave nothing more to offer than
any other religion with a deadprophet.
But we serve a risen Saviorwho's in the world today, amen.
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He sits at the right hand ofFather and he's with us by His
Spirit.
Jesus is raised Great news.
And then, number four, peterinvites the people to repentance
.
See, sometimes we tell peopleabout what Christ has done, but
we don't tell them what to doabout it.
So look what he says, verse 19,.
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Repent, therefore, and turnback.
Notice he doesn't just saybelieve.
I know God so loved the worldthat he gave his only begotten
son.
Whoever believes in him shallnot perish but have everlasting
life.
But that belief is not anintellectual belief.
We have to take it within thecontext of the whole Bible.
Repentance is a part of savingfaith.
It's not just I know thatChrist is raised, but I want to
turn my life over to Him.
(32:23):
I want Him to be Lord of mylife.
Repent and turn back that yoursins may be blotted out.
So he says you've sinned, butChrist is raised and if you will
turn to him, no matter whatyou've done, no matter where
you've been, your sins can beblotted out.
(32:44):
If you're here today and youthink, man, not what I've done,
oh, you didn't literally killthe author of life.
We all our sin is what put himto death.
I get that.
(33:04):
But Paul called himself thechief of sinners, but God had
mercy upon him.
We need to tell people what todo.
So, when you share Christ withsomeone be it a phone call or a
meeting you to say would youlike to repent now?
Remember, in acts 2, ronpreached a great message on uh,
what peter's first sermon afterpentecost, the outpouring of the
holy spirit.
(33:24):
And um, as he preached thegospel, it says at the end of
chapter 2 that that many cut tothe heart and they asked Peter,
what do we do?
In Acts 2.38, peter said repentand be baptized for the
remission of sins and the giftof the Holy Spirit.
So he preaches repentance.
(33:45):
Finally I love this Peterproclaims ultimate salvation,
the renewal of all things,verses 19 through 21.
Repent, therefore, turn back,that your sins may be blotted
out, that times of refreshingmay come from the presence of
the Lord and that he may sendthe Christ appointed for you,
jesus, whom heaven must receive.
(34:06):
That's the ascension, until thetime for restoring all things
About which God spoke by themouth of his holy prophets long
ago.
You know we have framed thegospel something like this We've
all sinned we're going to go tohell.
So here's the path to heaven.
Heaven is a real place.
Okay, it's real.
(34:28):
It's beautiful to be absentfrom the body, to be present
with the Lord, but it's not yourultimate salvation.
The story of the Bible is muchmore robust and wonderful than
the way we've presented it.
The Bible is about God beingwith His people, god's beautiful
creation.
Go to chapter 1.
(34:48):
The Garden of Eden, god beingwith His people on the earth.
The earth is meant to be acosmic temple where God and man
dwell together.
And you go to the very end ofthe Bible, that's chapter one,
genesis one and two.
Then you go all the way to theend of the Bible.
This world, because of sin, hasbeen corrupted.
(35:11):
The earth itself has beencorrupted.
This is why we have thesnowstorms and the fires and the
floods and all these naturaldisasters, because the world
itself has been tainted by sin.
So in the end, it's not aboutthe end of Revelation, it's not
a picture of us floating up toheaven in the sky somewhere, but
(35:32):
it's about heaven coming toearth and again, this place
becoming the whole world,becoming a new and better Eden,
a place where God and man dwell,a cosmic temple.
It's a beautiful promise forall those who are in Christ.
Here's what I want you to see.
Listen, many of you in thisplace are servants.
(35:54):
You serve.
You know you serve family, youserve friends, you serve the
homeless, but if you do not, inall your serving, give them the
gospel, you have done them agreat disservice, because every
good gift that you've given themwill eventually be burnt up.
(36:15):
Listen, this miracle that wesee in the text.
It's a temporary thing.
The man eventually died, butthe gift of salvation is eternal
.
So we've got to move beyondserving people and use our gifts
(36:36):
as a platform to share thegospel.
And God help us if we don't dothat.
So here's what I want you to dowith this I want you to commit
to pray this week, hopefullylonger, but at least this week.
I want you to do somethingwe're getting ready to.
I'm going to sing just a quicksong in a moment and I want you
to write down three names Okay,look at me, you can put them in
your phone, you can write themdown and put them in your Bible,
whatever.
(36:57):
Three names of people who areclose to you that need the Lord,
Jesus Christ, and I want you tocommit to pray for them every
day this week, and hopefullyyou'll continue.
But just give you some easyhomework.
Every day this week, you prayfor them.
You say, lord, touch theirheart, cultivate it so they're
receptive to the gospel.
You can pray, lord, help me seethem, help me see them.
(37:21):
And then, lord, show me how Ican meet their practical needs.
And I would just pray every day, lord, as I go about my day.
Let me see people, let me seepeople, let me see people.
And then I want you to ask theLord for boldness, that you
would do the very difficultthing, if we're honest, of
(37:43):
sharing the gospel.
And if you don't know how to dothis, pastor Ron and Kay lead a
kind of evangelism class.
It's a class that will teachyou how to share your faith once
a month, on March 9th, and it'snot just a class, there's kind
of a practicum.
So you know, there's field work, so to speak, but we're here to
(38:03):
help you.
We'll even go with you to sharethe gospel with somebody, but
we need to do that.
So that's what I'm going to askyou to do, and I'll just close
with this story.
Some of you know Matthew Horn.
Two years ago we were housingthe homeless here during the
cold months and every Tuesdaynight many of you served.
Matthew Horn was here.
(38:23):
And Matthew Horn is a littlebit older.
He's been very ill.
He has no family, no friends,nothing, completely alone.
But you guys saw him.
I'll never forget that.
One Wednesday night he stoodabout right there where Ron and
Kay are sitting Josh and Tamaraand he says no, not Tamara, just
(38:46):
Josh.
So he says he stood up withtear-filled eyes.
He said I've never felt lovelike this before.
And the cry of his heart wasyou see me, church, he wasn't a
project to you, he was a person.
You see me.
(39:07):
And you continued many of you,to feed him, to take him places
in your vehicle, to help himfind shelter and get medical
help.
We visited him in the hospital.
So we saw him, we met practicalneeds and then one glorious day
he came down to this altar andhe repented of his sins and he
received the Lord Jesus Christ.
(39:28):
A few weeks later, pastor Ronbaptized him.
That's what gospel ministrylooks like.
And, as a caveat, it's not justhomeless people and needy that
need the Lord.
Your banker needs you to seehim.
He's got a practical need aswell.
It might not be money, but itmight be.
(39:48):
He just needs a friend and alistening ear.
There's a broken world outthere, lost people that need to
be seen.
May we see people, may we meettheir needs, share the gospel
and may God add to his churchdaily.
Yes, and our scripture reading today will be
out of Acts, chapter 3.
It says this, and, seeing Peterand John about to go into the
(00:22):
temple, he asked to receive alms.
And Peter directed his gaze athim, as did John, and said look
at us.
And he fixed his attention onthem, expecting to receive
something from them.
But Peter said I have no silverand gold, but what I do have I
give to you In the name of JesusChrist of Nazareth.
Rise up and walk.
(00:44):
And he took him by the righthand and raised him up and
immediately his feet and ankleswere made strong and, leaping up
, he stood and began to walk andentered the temple with them
walking and leaping and praisingGod.
And all the people saw himwalking and praising God and
recognized him as the one whosat at the beautiful gate of the
(01:04):
temple asking for alms.
And they were filled withwonder and amazement at what had
happened to Him.
While he clung to Peter andJohn, all the people, utterly
astounded, ran together to themin the portico called Solomon's,
and when Peter saw it, headdressed the people Men of
Israel, why do you wonder atthis?
Or why do you stare at us asthough, by our own power or
(01:28):
piety we have made him walk.
The God of Abraham, the God ofIsaac and the God of Jacob, the
God of our fathers, glorifiedhis servant, jesus, whom you
delivered over and denied in thepresence of Pilate when he had
decided to release him.
But you denied the holy andrighteous one and asked for a
murderer to be granted to you,and you killed the author of
life whom God raised from thedead.
(01:49):
To this we are witnesses, andhis name, by faith in his name,
has made this man strong, whomyou see and know, and the faith
that is through Jesus has giventhis man this perfect health in
the presence of you all.
Jesus has given this man thisperfect health in the presence
of you all.
And now, brothers, I know thatyou acted in ignorance, as did
also your rulers, but what Godforetold by the mouth of all the
(02:11):
prophets, that his Christ wouldsuffer, he thus fulfilled.
Repent, therefore, and turnback, that your sins may be
blotted out, that times ofrefreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord and that hemay send the Christ appointed
for you, Jesus, whom heaven mustreceive until the time for
(02:33):
restoring all the things aboutwhich God spoke by the mouth of
his holy prophets.
Long ago, moses said the Lord,god, will raise up for you a
prophet like me from yourbrothers.
You shall listen to him inwhatever he tells you, and it
shall be that every soul whodoes not listen to that prophet
shall be destroyed from thepeople.
And all the prophets who havespoken from Samuel and those who
(02:54):
came after him also proclaimthese days you are the sons of
the prophets and of the covenantthat God made with your fathers
, saying to Abraham and in youroffspring shall all the families
of the earth be blessed.
God, having raised up hisservants, sent him to you first
to bless you by turning everyone of you from your wickedness.
(03:15):
This is the word of the Lordfor the people of the Lord, and
you may be seated.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
All right.
So we're going to do real quickbefore we get started.
We've got note sheets that Ijust did this morning, so
they're hot off the press, we'regoing to pass out and these are
for you to use in your own timeto go deeper in the study that
we talk about on Sunday mornings.
But I want to practicesomething as those are being
(03:44):
passed out.
Why do we say at the end of thereading of God's scripture the
word of God, or this is the wordof the Lord, or this is the
word of God for the people ofGod?
It's because it's a reminderthat we're here to study and to
preach and proclaim, tocelebrate not the words of a
preacher, but the word of God.
The Bible is not just anotherbook, it is the revealed word of
(04:09):
the Lord, and so I want tostart practicing something.
All right, so you're payingattention.
When we say this is the word ofGod, you're going to say thanks
be to God because we'regrateful for that.
All right.
So the word of God, god,because we're grateful for that.
All right.
So the word of God.
All right, you got it Quicklearners.
So next week, I don't have to,I don't have to coach you on
(04:30):
that Right.
So who?
Who, my liturgical people, youknow.
So take charge next week,matthew.
All right, how many just loveGod's Word?
Everybody got a note sheet thatwould like one.
(04:55):
All right, thank you, gentlemen, for passing those out.
Every single real follower ofJesus is called to ministry.
Let me just make it morepersonal.
You, if you are in Christ,point at yourself.
You are called to ministry, notnecessarily vocational ministry
(05:21):
, but you are called to ministrynonetheless.
And there are two dimensions ofministry to which every
believer is called.
Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, afamiliar passage, says this that
God gave the apostles, theprophets, the evangelists, the
shepherds and the teachers notto do solely the work of the
(05:46):
ministry but what To equip thesaints, that's, every believer,
for the work of the ministry.
You are called to ministry.
So there's two dimensions hereof ministry.
One is internal and one isexternal.
Let's start with the internalaspect or dimension of ministry.
(06:06):
We are called look what it says.
Can we put that sorry thatverse back up?
Ephesians 4, to equip the saintsfor the work of the ministry,
for the building up that canmean encouraging the body of
Christ, that's the people of God, the church.
So part of your ministry is tobuild up one another.
(06:31):
So when you come in on Sundaymornings, I want you to know you
are not a spectator, you aresupposed to be a participator.
How do we do that?
Well, one, we do that throughencouragement.
Hebrews 3, 12 and 13,.
Take care, brothers, lest therebe in any of you an evil,
unbelieving heart leading you tofall away from the living God.
(06:54):
But exhort, that's to encourage, to hold accountable, to spur
on on, exhort one another daily.
This goes beyond Sundays.
So we have this ministry to oneanother.
That begins with encouragement,but it also includes using our
(07:14):
spiritual gifts.
Every one of you have apractical gift, whether that's
teaching or singing, or greeting, or working with kids or youth.
We're to use whatever practicalgift that we have.
We're to use those for theglory of God and the good of one
another.
Beyond that, we believe in thesupernatural gifts, in what 1
(07:37):
Corinthians 12, 7 says is toeach is given the manifestation
of the Spirit.
Why?
For the common good.
And then, finally, we ministerto one another through
generosity.
We saw this last week, Ibelieve, in Acts chapter 2, but
it's also in Acts chapter 4.
There was not a needy personamong the early church, not a
(08:01):
needy person, why, for as manyas were.
Owners of lands or houses soldthem.
They brought the proceeds ofwhat was sold and laid it at the
apostles' feet and it wasdistributed to each as any had
need.
What that means is theprinciple here is that we so
encourage and build each otherup, that we're like family, we
(08:27):
are family, and that means thatif we've got extra money, we're
not going to let somebody'selectric bill go unpaid.
Are you with me?
So we are called to internal,let's say ministry within these
four walls.
It's a beautiful thing withinthese four walls.
(08:47):
It's a beautiful thing.
Today, I want to focus on theother aspect of ministry, namely
external.
So that's the focus in our text.
It's about leaving the buildingand reaching those who are far
from the Lord.
That's what we see in the text.
We find Peter and John makingtheir way to the temple, and
Peter and John find at thetemple gate this beggar who has
(09:09):
been lame from birth and he'sasking for alms or money.
And so Peter and John, theyhelp him in a major capacity, a
major way, and then they sharethe gospel not just with this
man but with an entire crowd ofpeople.
(09:31):
And I would just argue todaythat we are all called to this
same type of might not lookexactly like this, but we're all
called to reach the lost, andI'll call this evangelistic
ministry.
You are called to reach peoplefar from God.
Isn't that amazing?
Now you may say.
It'd be easy to say, listen,that work is for, like these are
(09:54):
apostles.
It's for the apostle, theprophet, the pastor, the teacher
, the evangelist, and itabsolutely is for them, but not
for them alone.
Let me tell you why I believethat, and I'll just give you two
reasons.
There are more.
Number one, the power of theSpirit.
As we saw in Acts, chapter 1,what's it for?
Ultimately?
To be witnesses, acts 1, verse8.
(10:17):
You will receive power when theHoly Spirit has come upon you
and you shall be my witnesses inJerusalem, judea, samaria and
to the other most parts of theearth.
Now you could argue well, he'stalking to apostles there.
Sure, john Stott said it likethis though we can no more
(10:39):
restrict the command to witnessthan we can restrict the promise
of the Spirit.
So if you're going to say,listen, the baptism in the
Spirit or the excuse me, theevangelistic call is only for
the apostles, then you've got tosay well, the baptism in the
Spirit's only for the apostles.
And we know that's not true andthus we have to conclude we're
(11:03):
all called to be Christ'switnesses.
We also see this example in theearly church.
In Acts, chapter 8, the churchis persecuted and the believers
are scattered, and in verse 4,it says this about these
ordinary Christians.
Now, those who were scatteredwent about preaching, and that
(11:27):
word has to do with evangelizing, proclamation of the good news.
They went about preaching theword.
Every believer is called to bea witness for Christ, to
evangelistic ministry.
And so I just want to use thetext and I want to look at the
process of evangelizing, ofreaching people who are far from
(11:48):
God.
And so today, if you havesomebody that you know and you
probably do a family member,friend, co-worker, who's far
from the Lord, you need tolisten up because this is going
to help you reach them by God'sgrace, them by God's grace.
(12:10):
So, number one, effectiveministry begins with seeing
people.
Now, I'm not encouraging to beone of those creepy people
watchers.
If I'm honest, I got to guardfrom that because people
watching is fun, like if youever feel bad for yourself.
Like just sit in front ofWalmart.
Just watch, all right, it'lljust lift your spirits.
Poor Walmart, I got to stoppicking on them, you know.
(12:33):
But I'm talking about trulyseeing people.
Let's look at the text, verses 1through 4.
Peter and John were going tothe temple at the hour of prayer
, the ninth hour, and a man,lame from birth, was being stone
in the hat, kind of thing.
But look at this.
(13:02):
And Peter directed his gaze athim, as did John, and said look
at us.
Do you know how humanizing thisis?
They have just given this mangreat dignity.
(13:24):
Think about this.
On their way to the temple andthey were going at a specific
time to offer specific prayers,which was their custom, and
here's a man at the gate begging.
He's there every day.
Come on, it's like the man orthe woman who's standing at the
same's there every day.
Come on, it's like you know theman or the woman who's standing
at the same street corner everyday.
(13:45):
When you pull up with the signthat says hungry, homeless,
whatever it says, god bless, itwould have been easy to be
cynical towards this man, tostep over him or to say or to
justify that you know what.
We'll help him later.
We're in a hurry, we've got toget to prayer.
(14:05):
But what do Peter and John do?
They gaze at him and they saylook at us, look at us in the
eyes is the way that I read this.
We value you.
That's what they're saying.
Think about the story of theGood Samaritan.
You have this Jewish man who isbeaten, robbed and left for
(14:30):
dead.
Essentially, and soon after youhad two Jewish men, one a
priest, another just a Levite,and they just pass him by.
They're on their way to performreligious duties and they don't
want to be bothered and theydon't want to exert their energy
or time or money to help thisman, and they just kind of step
out of the way and they justifythemselves we're going to do the
(14:53):
work of the Lord.
Beloved, that man is the workof the Lord.
Then there's a Samaritan, muchlike Peter and John, who walks
by and you understand that theJews and the Samaritans were
borderline enemies.
Samaritans to the Jews wereseen as half-breeds, they were
(15:15):
not respected and they did notcommunicate.
But yet it's the Samaritan onhis way to do something
important and yet stops for theman and at great expense to
himself time, money, energy seesthat the man gets the help he
(15:35):
needs.
That's exactly what Peter andJohn do here.
They see the man I'm not justtalking about out of their
peripheral like they just walkby and kind of glance.
No, they gaze at him and say,look at us.
And I would just ask you todayhow often we are like the priest
(16:00):
and the Levite in a hurry andwe just step by somebody or we
just throw a couple coins to youknow their way to get them to
leave us alone.
Frankly, god has called us tosee people.
Remember Jesus on the way toJericho I mean, he's on his way
(16:23):
to give his life and the man iscalling out, the blind man,
bartimaeus, remember that story,crying out saying you know,
messiah, savior, stop right,help me.
And the disciples and thepeople traveling with him are
going, leave him alone.
And Jesus says no, no, and hestops for this man.
(16:43):
That's exactly what Peter andJohn do.
And I would just say to youtoday folks, people are dying to
be seen.
Life is busy and there are manydistractions and we walk
through stores and supermarketswith AirPods in so we don't have
to communicate with people.
(17:05):
We're always on this mission.
We always have an agenda in howmany people, hundreds of people
, week by week.
Do we pass that?
Just want to be seen.
Broken people, desolate people.
They want to be seen.
Broken people, desolate people.
They want to be seen.
That's why, on social mediatoday, I'm convinced that some
(17:26):
people post all of their liveson there, what they're eating,
what they're drinking, whattheir kids are doing.
I'll stop there and on and onand on and you go.
Why would they do that?
Who cares?
You know what they're doing.
They're crying out.
Somebody, look at me, somebodysee me.
(17:47):
Because my husband has his facein YouTube or the television
and he doesn't see me.
He's here, but he doesn't seeme.
Or my wife she's on her phoneall the time and she doesn't see
me.
Oh, I'm preaching now.
The kids are crying out.
Oh, mom and dad are here, butthey don't see me.
They're working, they'recleaning, they're doing
(18:09):
everything, but looking at me?
When somebody just gaze upon me, that's the cry of the world.
And so evangelistic ministrystarts with just seeing people.
We call it relationalevangelism.
If you go out to eat todayafter the business meeting, take
(18:35):
time to see your waitress orwaiter.
Ask them what's going on intheir life, ask them if you can
pray with them.
Learn to see people.
Secondly, the second process inevangelistic ministry is not
just to see people, but it's tomeet practical needs in their
lives.
Verses 5-7,.
(18:59):
The lame man fixed his attentionon Peter and John, expecting to
receive something from them,but Peter said I.
His attention on Peter and Johnexpecting to receive something
from them.
But Peter said I do not havesilver and gold, but what I do
have I give to you In the nameof Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk.
And he took him by the righthand and raised him up and
immediately his feet and ankleswere made strong.
I want you to notice somethinghere Peter and John do not start
(19:24):
their ministry to this man bypreaching.
They don't immediately come inand say, oh, repent or die right
, or repent or perish.
No, they see the man and theybegin meeting a practical need.
It's that old adage is so truebeloved People don't care how
(19:47):
much you know until they knowhow much you care.
If you want to build a platformfor somebody to listen to your
gospel presentation, you need totake care of them.
Meet any practical need thatyou're able to.
(20:07):
Matthew 5, 14 through 16, jesussays you are the light of the
world, and then later on he sayslet your light then shine
before others so that they maysee your good works.
What good works?
In Luke 3, 10, jesus says.
The crowds asked jesus, whatshall we do?
And he answered them whoeverhas two tunics share with him.
(20:30):
Who has none, and whoever hasfood do the likewise.
How many of us in here haveexcess excess money, closets
full of clothes?
We have the opportunity to meetpractical needs of people.
Why didn't Peter and John givemoney to the man?
Well, peter tells us he didn'thave it, which flies in the face
(20:54):
of every preacher who says youknow, you have enough faith,
you're going to be rich.
Well, it's quiet.
They gave him something evengreater.
They met an even greater need.
They gave him this gift ofhealing by the grace of the Lord
.
In James 2, 14 through 17,.
(21:22):
What good is it, my brothers, ifsomeone says he has faith but
doesn't have works?
Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister ispoorly clothed listen to this
and lacking in daily food, andone of you says to them go in
peace, be warmed and be filled,without giving them the things
they need for the body, whatgood is it?
I just read this and I wasthinking, I just pictured this
in my mind.
You got this lady who thinksshe's uber spiritual, she's been
(21:47):
in the church forever andsomebody comes up and shares a
need with her.
You know, saying you know, Ican't pay my electric bill and
it's going to be shut off andit's cold out and my pipes are
going to freeze and I've gotyoung kids this is a single mom
and the lady says oh, let mepray for you, let me pray for
you.
And she takes the single mom'shand and she says oh, lord, god
(22:11):
of grace, jehovah, jireh, youare our provider.
Lord, you make streams in thedesert, you make a way where
there seems to be no way.
Oh God, we cry upon you rightnow, cry to you right now.
Lord, bless this dear sister inthe Lord, provide for her.
(22:31):
Oh God, amen.
And then she starts to walkaway and I'll tell you this God
wants to provide for that ladythe hungry, the hurting, the one
that can't pay your bill.
And you know how God wants todo it the one who just prays is
supposed to give her half of hersandwich and pay your light
bill for her.
Okay, james is saying don't justpray for the hungry, feed them.
(22:52):
We've got to meet the practicalneeds of people, and let me
just quickly say that I don'tthink this text is completely
prescriptive in the sense ofthis means that we're just to go
around telling people to getout of wheelchairs.
I'm not going to say Godcouldn't do that.
I don't want to put him in abox.
One of the greatest things wecan do, though, for sick people
(23:14):
is take them by the hand and saylet me pray for you and pray
the prayer of faith over themand believe God for their
healing.
That's a great thing to do.
It's empathetic of faith overthem and believe God for their
healing.
That's a great thing to do.
It's empathetic.
But beyond that, we're calledto just meet it's not just these
(23:37):
great miracles the very mundanepractical needs of people.
Okay, so ministry always, italways must include a
proclamation of the gospel.
Look at chapter 3, verses 11through 12.
While he this would be the lameman now healed clung to Peter
(23:58):
and John, all the people,utterly astounded, ran together
to meet them in the porticocalled Solomon's.
So you know, this is the temple.
Lots of people are there, andthere's this lame man that the
crowds have seen laid at thegate can't walk day after day
after day after day just begging, and now this man's up praising
God, giving God glory, and thatwould draw a crowd Like that'll
(24:24):
get you to stop what you'redoing.
But I want you to see this.
And when Peter saw it, headdressed the people.
Peter saw the lame man.
He met a practical need, butthen he used that as a platform
to share the gospel.
(24:45):
What does peter tell the crowd?
Number one, very importantpeter points people beyond
himself and on to the lord jesus, verse 12.
And when peter saw it, headdressed the people, men of
israel.
Why do you wonder at this time?
Why do you stare at us asthough only by our own power or
(25:06):
piety we have made him walk?
We didn't do this.
If you go down to verse 16, itsays and his name, the name of
Christ, by faith in his name.
This is what's made the manstrong whom you see and know,
and the faith that is throughJesus has given this man perfect
health in the presence of all.
(25:26):
Remember the Pharisees in theSermon on the Mount.
Jesus called them hypocriteswho they gave charitably, but he
said they do it to be seen bymen.
They were glory hogs.
They weren't doing it becausethey cared about the people.
They weren't doing it for theglory of God, they were doing it
to bolster their ownspirituality and self-image.
You know there are manyquote-unquote faith healers out
(25:49):
there that you see on thetelevision and I know they talk
about Jesus.
But how many know that thequote-unquote miracles become
about them, generally speaking,to where they're in the
spotlight, they don't ever saywhy are you looking at me as if
I'm more pious or more anointedthan somebody else?
(26:10):
Jesus did this.
Now I know they say the Lorduses me, but it's still about
them.
I had a girl in my youth groupin Colorado and tragically she
was a beautiful young lady, atalented cheerleader, and she
was diagnosed with a brain tumorand she went downhill very
(26:30):
quickly and we prayed for herand prayed for her and prayed
for her and her dear parents youknow you do anything for your
child and they thought if wecould just get her to a Benny
Hinn meeting then she could behealed.
And it was hard for her totravel but they were so
convinced this is the man.
Oh, we know it's Jesus, butthis is the man.
(26:53):
And they drove miles and milesand miles to see this
quote-unquote faith healer and Isang at her funeral months
later.
Peter Immediately says Beforeanything else, this is about
(27:15):
Jesus, it's not about me.
This miracle is from Jesus.
I'm just a vessel.
Why do you look at us?
Secondly, peter points outpeople's sin.
So, by the way, this is what weshould be doing when we're
sharing the gospel with people,pointing people to Jesus.
But, secondly, sometimes you'vegot to point out people's sin.
(27:37):
The God of Abraham, the God ofIsaac this is verse 13, the God
of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus,
whom you Jews.
That's what he's talking to hisJewish brothers and sisters.
And he's saying you deliveredover and denied in the presence
of Pilate when he had decided torelease him, but you denied the
(27:58):
holy and righteous one andwatch this and asked for a
murderer to be granted to youand you killed the author of
life and watch this Not theRomans.
The blood of the Lord is onyour hands.
He was your Messiah.
You had him delivered over tothe Romans.
(28:18):
He points out their sin.
You know there's a popularpreacher who was on a nationally
watched talk show, televisionshow, and he said you know, this
preacher gets, I don't know wegive him a tough time you know
people do because he doesn'ttalk about sin.
You know he talks about theChristian life as if it's all
(28:40):
cupcakes and rainbows and it'ssimply not.
And so this particular hostsaid you know what's the deal,
why don't you preach about sin?
And this famous pastor sayswell, we don't have to tell
people that they're sinners.
They know, they don't know.
The majority of people inAmerica statistically believe
that if there is a heaven, ifthere is an afterlife, that the
(29:02):
pathway there, the way thatthey're going to get in, is by
being a good person.
And most people thinkthemselves to be good.
Somebody has to lovingly tellthem that maybe, compared to
Hitler, you're good, hopefully,but when you compare yourself to
(29:26):
God's standard of goodness,which is Jesus Christ's
perfection, we all fall short ofthe glory of God.
We are all sinful, separatedfrom God.
And it's helpful and lovinglyto tell people yes, god is love,
(29:49):
but he's also a God of wrath.
Thirdly, peter proclaims thedeath and resurrection of Jesus,
verse 15,.
You killed the author of life,whom God raised from the dead to
this.
We saw it with our own eyes.
We were witnesses.
We've seen the risen Christ.
This is an important part ofthe gospel message.
(30:09):
Yes, you are a sinner, butnotice the progression.
You are a sinner, but Christdied and God raised him.
Paul says it like this thatChrist died for the forgiveness
of sins and then he's beenraised from the dead, a
(30:30):
validation of that payment, thatit has been paid in full.
And we've got to tell peopleyou have sinned, but I've got
great news for you, even thosewho are responsible literally
for the death of Jesus.
He says I've got great newsJesus died but God raised him
from the dead.
Beloved our faith.
(30:52):
Christianity itself hinges onone thing not unanswered prayers
, not mean church people.
It hinges on one thing theresurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,if Christ be not raised, our
faith is futile.
He even says we of all peopleare most to be pitied and we are
(31:12):
still in our sins.
But then he says but in factChrist has been raised,
hallelujah.
If Christ is not raised, wehave nothing more to offer than
any other religion with a deadprophet.
But we serve a risen Saviorwho's in the world today, amen.
(31:32):
He sits at the right hand ofFather and he's with us by His
Spirit.
Jesus is raised Great news.
And then, number four, peterinvites the people to repentance
.
See, sometimes we tell peopleabout what Christ has done, but
we don't tell them what to doabout it.
So look what he says, verse 19,.
(32:02):
Repent, therefore, and turnback.
Notice he doesn't just saybelieve.
I know God so loved the worldthat he gave his only begotten
son.
Whoever believes in him shallnot perish but have everlasting
life.
But that belief is not anintellectual belief.
We have to take it within thecontext of the whole Bible.
Repentance is a part of savingfaith.
It's not just I know thatChrist is raised, but I want to
turn my life over to Him.
(32:23):
I want Him to be Lord of mylife.
Repent and turn back that yoursins may be blotted out.
So he says you've sinned, butChrist is raised and if you will
turn to him, no matter whatyou've done, no matter where
you've been, your sins can beblotted out.
(32:44):
If you're here today and youthink, man, not what I've done,
oh, you didn't literally killthe author of life.
We all our sin is what put himto death.
I get that.
(33:04):
But Paul called himself thechief of sinners, but God had
mercy upon him.
We need to tell people what todo.
So, when you share Christ withsomeone be it a phone call or a
meeting you to say would youlike to repent now?
Remember, in acts 2, ronpreached a great message on uh,
what peter's first sermon afterpentecost, the outpouring of the
holy spirit.
(33:24):
And um, as he preached thegospel, it says at the end of
chapter 2 that that many cut tothe heart and they asked Peter,
what do we do?
In Acts 2.38, peter said repentand be baptized for the
remission of sins and the giftof the Holy Spirit.
So he preaches repentance.
(33:45):
Finally I love this Peterproclaims ultimate salvation,
the renewal of all things,verses 19 through 21.
Repent, therefore, turn back,that your sins may be blotted
out, that times of refreshingmay come from the presence of
the Lord and that he may sendthe Christ appointed for you,
jesus, whom heaven must receive.
(34:06):
That's the ascension, until thetime for restoring all things
About which God spoke by themouth of his holy prophets long
ago.
You know we have framed thegospel something like this We've
all sinned we're going to go tohell.
So here's the path to heaven.
Heaven is a real place.
Okay, it's real.
(34:28):
It's beautiful to be absentfrom the body, to be present
with the Lord, but it's not yourultimate salvation.
The story of the Bible is muchmore robust and wonderful than
the way we've presented it.
The Bible is about God beingwith His people, god's beautiful
creation.
Go to chapter 1.
(34:48):
The Garden of Eden, god beingwith His people on the earth.
The earth is meant to be acosmic temple where God and man
dwell together.
And you go to the very end ofthe Bible, that's chapter one,
genesis one and two.
Then you go all the way to theend of the Bible.
This world, because of sin, hasbeen corrupted.
(35:11):
The earth itself has beencorrupted.
This is why we have thesnowstorms and the fires and the
floods and all these naturaldisasters, because the world
itself has been tainted by sin.
So in the end, it's not aboutthe end of Revelation, it's not
a picture of us floating up toheaven in the sky somewhere, but
(35:32):
it's about heaven coming toearth and again, this place
becoming the whole world,becoming a new and better Eden,
a place where God and man dwell,a cosmic temple.
It's a beautiful promise forall those who are in Christ.
Here's what I want you to see.
Listen, many of you in thisplace are servants.
(35:54):
You serve.
You know you serve family, youserve friends, you serve the
homeless, but if you do not, inall your serving, give them the
gospel, you have done them agreat disservice, because every
good gift that you've given themwill eventually be burnt up.
(36:15):
Listen, this miracle that wesee in the text.
It's a temporary thing.
The man eventually died, butthe gift of salvation is eternal
.
So we've got to move beyondserving people and use our gifts
(36:36):
as a platform to share thegospel.
And God help us if we don't dothat.
So here's what I want you to dowith this I want you to commit
to pray this week, hopefullylonger, but at least this week.
I want you to do somethingwe're getting ready to.
I'm going to sing just a quicksong in a moment and I want you
to write down three names Okay,look at me, you can put them in
your phone, you can write themdown and put them in your Bible,
whatever.
(36:57):
Three names of people who areclose to you that need the Lord,
Jesus Christ, and I want you tocommit to pray for them every
day this week, and hopefullyyou'll continue.
But just give you some easyhomework.
Every day this week, you prayfor them.
You say, lord, touch theirheart, cultivate it so they're
receptive to the gospel.
You can pray, lord, help me seethem, help me see them.
(37:21):
And then, lord, show me how Ican meet their practical needs.
And I would just pray every day, lord, as I go about my day.
Let me see people, let me seepeople, let me see people.
And then I want you to ask theLord for boldness, that you
would do the very difficultthing, if we're honest, of
(37:43):
sharing the gospel.
And if you don't know how to dothis, pastor Ron and Kay lead a
kind of evangelism class.
It's a class that will teachyou how to share your faith once
a month, on March 9th, and it'snot just a class, there's kind
of a practicum.
So you know, there's field work, so to speak, but we're here to
(38:03):
help you.
We'll even go with you to sharethe gospel with somebody, but
we need to do that.
So that's what I'm going to askyou to do, and I'll just close
with this story.
Some of you know Matthew Horn.
Two years ago we were housingthe homeless here during the
cold months and every Tuesdaynight many of you served.
Matthew Horn was here.
(38:23):
And Matthew Horn is a littlebit older.
He's been very ill.
He has no family, no friends,nothing, completely alone.
But you guys saw him.
I'll never forget that.
One Wednesday night he stoodabout right there where Ron and
Kay are sitting Josh and Tamaraand he says no, not Tamara, just
(38:46):
Josh.
So he says he stood up withtear-filled eyes.
He said I've never felt lovelike this before.
And the cry of his heart wasyou see me, church, he wasn't a
project to you, he was a person.
You see me.
(39:07):
And you continued many of you,to feed him, to take him places
in your vehicle, to help himfind shelter and get medical
help.
We visited him in the hospital.
So we saw him, we met practicalneeds and then one glorious day
he came down to this altar andhe repented of his sins and he
received the Lord Jesus Christ.
(39:28):
A few weeks later, pastor Ronbaptized him.
That's what gospel ministrylooks like.
And, as a caveat, it's not justhomeless people and needy that
need the Lord.
Your banker needs you to seehim.
He's got a practical need aswell.
It might not be money, but itmight be.
(39:48):
He just needs a friend and alistening ear.
There's a broken world outthere, lost people that need to
be seen.
May we see people, may we meettheir needs, share the gospel
and may God add to his churchdaily.
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