Proclaiming good news in our community Pt. 2

Introduction

Good morning LaFayette Baptist Family. It is so good to be here with you all today and celebrate this Lord’s day with you all, singing hymns to Him, learning of Him, and reading His Word, and praying together. Our passage today will be from Acts 2, Acts 2:22-28 and we will go to the end of the chapter, please go ahead, and turn there in your bible’s and following along as we go through the message. In a few moments it will be on the screen for us to read from the screen together as well.

You know, sometimes I wish I had the enthusiasm that my dog Remus has. He of course, is a brave (but actually a scaredy cat) dog. He sees himself as I having one true purpose in life in life, to protect Emily, our other dog, and myself. Well, that is until a thunderstorm happens, then the biggest area he can protect is under the covers of the bed….. But, under usual circumstances he is a good protector. So, what is our little police officer’s greatest method of protection? He shares news with us, he makes us aware of people, and aware of “threats.” So, what does that mean really…. He Barks…. He Barks at everything, very enthusiastically, all day if I’d let him. What’s more, sometimes he looks scary while doing it, but really what he wants is for the people on the other side of the fence to pet him; but in my imagination it is for us to know that there is a “potential threat” outside. Needless to say…. Our mail doesn’t get delivered every day… So, pretend with me that he is enthusiastically sharing news with me that someone is outside. How great the would it be to proclaim news, specifically the good news of Jesus as much as and as enthusiastically as Remus shares news to me that someone is walking around in our community. This is a personal musing of course, but I want to draw your attention to today main idea and sermon title, the 2ndof an installment, Proclaiming good news in our community.

Scripture

If you would all please rise for the reading of God’s Word today. The words to the scripture will be on the screen, please read along with me as we are reading. When I am done I will say “this is The Word of The Lord” if you will all please respond with “Thanks be to God.” First, let’s pray.

Father God, thank You for this time and this place where we can come together and listen to, read, and grow in You and Your Word. Your Word is truth and we thank You for this truth. We ask today that you would let this message reach us deeply and enrichen our love for You, our love for people, and the lostness of the world. Move us in that understanding and motivate us each to share You with others as you have arranged for us to do. We pray this day Father, during this precious time together, that You would remove any distraction from us and help us focus in on whatever it is about Yourself that You are going to reveal to us. Then, help us take this message and make it one that we not just know and accept and love, but also be one that we apply to ourselves and go and share with others. Father, help us do these things that You would be glorified on Earth as You are in Heaven. We love You Father and it’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and Precious name that I pray, Amen.22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus,[c] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,“‘I saw the Lord always before me,for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

Context

We continue this week in our mini-series within a series, picking back up where we left off last week in the book of Acts. This “mini-series” is of course going through the Apostle Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. You may remember from last week, that this sermon is often referred to as the “The First Christian Sermon,” as the Holy Spirit had just descended and came to live within the disciples and apostles there in Jerusalem (Thus forming the Christian Church), some 10 days after Jesus ascension into heaven (40 Days after easter). This was also the at the beginning of the Universal Church and also begins the time that we refer to as “The Church Age” or the “New Testament/New Covenant Age.” So, we are beginning a new portion of time in human history, one that we still are in and get to enjoy today.

In last week’s text, we went through the first portion of Peter’s sermon. Here, we especially highlighted 4 things to remember when we go and Proclaim good news in our community (meaning not just our towns, but also the people closest to us). The first thing we need to remember is that when we share good news (The gospel of Christ) is that Truth will be both mocked and defended, that doubters and unbelievers will defensively mock the truth, but we are to not return their hateful or hurtful comments or remarks with the same, but to defend the truth of Jesus Christ and The Cross with patience, and compassion, and love. We then observed that The Holy Spirit is poured out on each and every believer, He is the one that empowers our missions and evangelism, it’s in His strength we are to rely, not our own or even our own wants and desires. We then saw through the words of both Peter and Joel that God will show great wonders, the biggest of which we get to observe and be a part of today is that God, despite our own selfish rebellion against Him, chooses to save those that turn to Him in truth and faith. This is a wonder and miracle beyond any other. So, with those, with going and trusting the holy spirit, and the great wonder and mystery that is salvation, we know that People will be saved. Remember these things when you go. So, let’s look deep at this week’s and text and With this week’s text, keep these points as you go and Proclaim good news in your community.

Message

Our First point, the first thing to keep is, Keep Jesus as the main focus.

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—

Peter continues his sermon to the people here. You will notice before that he addressed the people of Jerusalem and Judea, now though he addresses a largely the same but wider and bigger audience (not in action but in application), those of all of the people of Israel. This was of course all of the people of Jewish heritage, those that SHOULD, above all the other people groups of the time, have the best understanding and insight of who God is, what He does, and what His scripture says; above all the other people’s of the world. This is of course because of their historical (at this point) privilege of being God’s chosen people, from the seed and linage of Abraham whom God had promised to bless the world through thousands of years earlier. So, these are the group who should understand what “God is up to” better than any other, yet they still missed the mark.

Peter explains God (remember Christ is also God) attested to Jesus’ divinity through the mighty works and miracles that He had done before their very eyes. Jesus did these sometimes in private places and sometimes in very public places, either way Jesus was a figure that was well known to all the children of Israel by the end of His earthly ministry. Many new or supposed that He was and is the long awaited messiah. Despite this, the people had taken their eye off of the ball, as all to often we do as well. For them, their eye was on other things, like what the teachers or rabbis or kings (public figures) thought about how things ought to be run and how God ought to act. For us today, we as a society and as individuals look to celebrities, politicians, and the news in a similar way. In addition to this, they (and we) also had their on personal wants, personal comforts, and personal thoughts as a strong and perhaps even stronger motivator that moves us into action.

We, you, I have to watch out for these things, and ask ourselves when our personal wants and desires motivate us more than helping other seeing Christ. Here is a good example, and one that I need to make a public confession of, where I messed up. The other day, myself and the brothers were meeting and discussing some things on the horizon for our church. I shared one thing, and I was admittingly overzealous about it, don’t get me wrong, my motivation behind was a good one with good intention, but I didn’t want to heed insight that someone with much more insight and time with our church family had, insight and advise that would serve us very well right now. What was that……., it was the sin of pride in my heart. I made my pride in my vision more important than others seeing Christ. And I just want to say right now, to that brother, I am sorry and I am thankful for the spirit of unity that was with us in that moment and you may have already forgiven me already, but if not I’m asking for it.

So, what then is the ball that we should be keeping our eye on? Well, it looks quite a lot different than the previous examples. Instead of us looking at how humans think or want God to act, we need to observe and see how God actually thinks, acts, and moves. Well, what is the theme behind the entirety of the Holy Scriptures, your Holy Bible à It is what the ministry of God the Holy Spirit is, it is all pointing towards Jesus Christ. He and He alone is to be our main focus, our main idea behind everything. Know this believer, as you go out and proclaim or spread good news in your community, the ball (the main thing) is Christ, keep your eyes on Him and off anything else or any personal want/desire and you cannot fail or take a wrong turn. So, that’s one thing to keep in mind, let’s look at the next thing.

The second point, Keep God’s plan in your mind

23 this Jesus,[c] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Continuing the explanation to his audience, Peter tells this audience (whom should have known what was going on when they chose to crucify the Christ, about the realities of the situation. This was that even though it appeared that evil, that wickedness, that Satan had won at Christ’s death, they had not even come close. Little did the jeering crowds, the self-righteous scribes, Pharisees, and priests, the abusive solders, and sentencing ruler know; that they were all working towards and into God’s ultimate plan. This plan, from the beginning of man’s fall was to provide for the redemption of sin; the great separator between God and man.

You see, little did they know that Christ could not die. It was not possible for Him to remain dead. Why? Because Christ as God is the master of death. Despite this, Christ chose to follow God The Father’s Will and succumb to death. Why? Not just because He loved and enjoyed the Father so much, but also because of His mercy and love for mankind. When Jesus did this, when He died, He did so to be the final and perfect sacrificial lamb for mankind. Now, up to this point, mankind had needed to sacrifice animals to pay for the sin debt they had before God. Now, for Peter and for us today that need for continued sacrifice is no longer, because Christ’s payment is final and absolutely perfect!

What do we call this, this given and unearned favor from God? We call it Grace. By this Grace you are saved through your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. How appropriate it is that we talk about this not just every Sunday, but this one in particular as in this week, the world will get to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the writing of that great hymn that reminds of how great, and precious, and amazing that grace is. I am of course speaking of that hymn that is a favorite to many of us, Amazing Grace. You see, from our fall, when you go back and look in Genesis before Adam and Eve our earliest fathers and mothers were thrown out of the garden, God made it clear that from there on out, He would be working (and has now to us provided the way) to redeem all of mankind that would turn to him in trueness of faith. So keep God’s plan for redemption always in your mind as you go into your communities. When you do this, it may go without saying but we also need to be sure to do this next point. This is,

Keep Jesus always before you

25 For David says concerning him,“‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.

Here and for the rest of today’s sermon text, Peter focuses in on a Psalm of David, specifically Psalm 16 and reveals what it is God is saying through David (The King and Israel who was also a prophet) about Jesus, the Christ. In your bible versions, your word Lord, may be in all capitols so ,LORD. So, which one is right, is God or is it Jesus that David is speaking about here? Well, guess what, it is both because Jesus is God and referring to either in this particular use is appropriate. So, you could also change my point to Keep God or The LORD always before you would be appropriate or correct as well.

So, Peter and David are saying here that instead of relaying on their own personal strength, instead they made the presence and person of God as their strength. Instead of being a strong man with a strong and powerful right hand and arm, it is better to trust and make God as your strength. Why? He is always there with you, he always before You, in fact believer today He is always with and living inside you (God the Holy Spirit). So, we have great reason to be happy and have hope in all things.

I know that is probably one of those “Christian things or phrases” you have heard your whole live, but it is true and it’s wisdom that you need to hear, believe, and accept! God is with you and you have reason for hop. He is with You when you are scared. He is with you when you have reason to be upset. He is with you when you don’t know what to do or even if you don’t know weather to get out of bed or not. He see’s you, He knows your pain and He cares about it very much. He is not ignoring you. So, what is He doing? He is waiting for you to call out and seek Him. I’m not saying He will and is obligated to heal you there in that moment. But if you call out and ask, He can and will and does give something that is much bigger, much more profound, and much more desirable than any amount of money or any amount of healing. Turn to Him and rest in Him beloved child. He will give you rest. Keep Him always before when you go out and in all areas of your life…. Now, lets see the next and very relevant point.

The next point, Keep God’s presence as your joy

27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

This section speaks a very real thing to Peter, to David and to us. What is Hades? We would call this hell today. Believer put your own name in first part of this first sentence, For You (God) will not abandon Jacob’s soul to hell. To them, and to us, Hell or Hades is a very real and very active place. It is a reality that many will go there. Many that we loved but are no longer with us, and many that are with us even today, and many that we see out and about in the streets will unfortunately and due to their own rebellion against God will or are experiencing hell. This is a sobering fact. And probably the scariest thing about it is, not only that people choose to go hell, but that God isn’t there in hell. Well, except for God’s just judgment, which is his evenly distributed love to mankind. For the redeemed though, we know that we will not ever experience this place. Rather, we have reason for joy and giddiness, because the paths of life have been revealed to us. This path of life, is of course a path that at some point leads you straight to the foot of the cross and requires and affirmative personal response.

This path, that we have found and accepted is one that we to share with others. It’s not just a duty or an obligation (and it is those things) but it is also our joy to share. Imagine, you are walking in park trail, and you found your way through it well, on the back trip you come across someone. This person is standing at a fork in the road. Both have a label. One says “Danger don’t go this way! There are dangerous snakes, bears with teeth, down trees, and broken bridges ahead; go this way and it will be your own peril.” This path looks pleasing to the eye from where you are standing, but the sign, the warning tells us otherwise. The other way has a sign that says, “this way is good, it is safe, and there is no danger this way; go this way and you will enjoy many beautiful scenes and a pleasant walk.” To your own eye, the start of this trail looks rocky and dangerous, but because you read the sign and walked the way yourself you know it is true. You then notice, that this person can’t read the sign, why? Maybe because the sign is written in a language they cannot read and understand on their own.

What do you do? Do you just, walk on by and say nothing. NO!!!!! You point the traveler on the right path, perhaps even walking a ways with him or her to show them. Why, because the information (The Gospel) we have is the power of God unto salvation, and once you are saved you get the joy of the good side of God’s presence not just in this life but on the other side of eternity as well. More importantly, we get to worship and experience God for all of eternity without the ravages of sin that we experience in life like pain, diseases, sadness, and the list can go on and on. Nothing but limitless joy awaits those who experience God’s loving presence. So, keep that presence as your joy and keep it in mind as you go out and share with those closest to you.

Conclusion

Beloved, let us all endeavor to keep these things when we go and share the good news of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice to free us from sin. Let us first Keep Jesus as the main focus, making all things other than this so far down this list that anything is up for discussion so long as it is condoned by God’s word. Let us also Keep God’s plan in your minds, that even in your, our, a person’s deepest and darkest state of rebellion that God has a plan and way and would delight in seeing that person be forgiven and turn to Him for all of eternity. Also, Keep Jesus always before you; nothing else matters except for the pursuit of Him and sharing Him with others. Lastly, let us each and every one Keep god’s presence as your joy, because all of the joys on Earth are all vanity. Even the richest of the rich find no real and lasting delight in their wealth, only God can cause and keep true and lasting joy. So, keep each of these things while you are Proclaiming good news in your community.

So, what is this good news. It is this, and believer and non believer alike, you are all invited to respond to it and what it means your life today. There is a perfect creator God, who created all things and all them were good. However, he gave to man the ability to choose, and at which man chose to rebel against God and desire to be link Him, which is not possible because we are finite beings. Despite this, rebellion which we call sin, God loved and loves us so much that He provided the way for us to be forgiven of this rebellion once and for all. This was through His own sacrifice, the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. A compassionate and loving gift, that no other could ever match. When we accept this free gift from God, we become one of God’s children are not only forgiven of our sin and made whole before Him and empowered to remove what sins linger in our lives, we also get to experience Him in joy now and forever more. No longer will you be an enemy of His, but a beloved child. So, with that knowledge you can no longer plead ignorance. Turn to Him today.

Let’s conclude, during our last song together, if you need prayer or have questions, or want to talk more about this, please come forward, I love to speak with you. Brothers and sisters, I love you all, let’s pray. Father God, thank You for Your Word today. As we go out from this place, I pray that you help us make connections in our hearts and minds and in our lives. Motive and move us Father to fulfill not only your great commandment (To Love God and Love People) but also to fulfill your great commission (to go and make disciples). We Love You Father, and ask these things that you would be glorified in Jesus’ Holy and Precious Name, Amen.

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