“The Holy Spirit Reorients us back to Jesus”

Acts 13:13-52-

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We are the Church on Mission Powered by the Holy Spirit

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Who is the Holy Spirit?

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The Holy Spirit Reorients us back to Jesus

Ice outside of East Hall story

WE’ve been in ACTS for a while now, but this passage that we are about to read is the first missionary speech that Paul gave in public. This was before there was a lot of controversy around what he was teaching

The leaders of the synagogue actually invite Paul to speak and Paul does something interesting. He knew his audience and decided to preach to them.

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16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.

“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.” Acts 13:16-21

Paul begins by reminding the people of the start of something that happened years ago and that these people would have been super familiar with.

As we see throughout the next few pieces of this chapter, The Holy Spirit is speaking through Paul and pointing out that....

He helps us remember the redemption plan

Lets be honest, even today we need these reminders. Some may ask why the OT is still needed.

They are needed because they remind us of how great our God is. They are needed because they remind us of how gracious our God is. They remind us that he is the same yesterday today and forver.

22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

23 “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’” Acts 13:22-25

Remember that God uses broken people

This in itself is good news. Because I am a broken person who needs the grace of Christ each and every day just to survive, let alone preach the good news.

“​Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossiper, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sarah was impatient, Elijah was depressed, Moses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old, Timothy was too young and Lazarus was dead and Peter denied Christ... God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the Called!”- Vetus Ordo

26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.” Acts 13:26-30

Last week Destined talked about our identity in Christ. He pointed out that when we understand our identitiy we can boldly approach any situatuion knowing that our God is with us.

Here Paul continues to remind the people of their identity.

I love how Paul so clearly states the ressurection because this is what our entire christian faith is based on. (1 Corin. 15:17) “Faith is Futile and you are still in your sins if Christ was not raised.”

Remember that this message is for all

It isn’t just for the elite. In fact Jesus was quite controversial because of the people that he tended to.

It is not for just people we like

It’s for the broken, its for our enemy, it is for your neighbors, it is for every nation tribe and tongue.

32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:

“‘You are my son;     today I have become your father.’

34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said,

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’

35 So it is also stated elsewhere:

“‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’

36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.” Acts 13:32-37

Remember that God moves in His timing

For me, this is one of the hardest things to remember. Its hard when we see people that we love and care about turn from God.

Story of Izzie

This message that Paul is delivering here goes on to bring even more hope. Many of these people are being shackled by the religious leaders of the time. IT was very legalistic and very harsh.

But the Holy Spirit...

He reminds us that we are free

We are free in Jesus Christ.

38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. 40 Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

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“‘Look, you scoffers,     wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days     that you would never believe,     even if someone told you.’” Acts 13:38-41

True freedom is not doing whatever we want when we want.

WE are only truly free when we have the capactiy to follow God’s guidelines

God doesn’t give us guidelines because he hates us its because he loves us.

Cooking with Rae Rae story

Set Free because of His Forgiveness

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“8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”-  1 John 1:9

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Set Free for Sharing his goodness

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“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” - Galatians 5:1

This yoke of slavery was one that was put on the people by the religious leaders of the day

Set free from ALL sin

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“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” - Romans 8:1-4

It can be easy for us to disqualify ourselves from ministry. We feel that when we mess up, for some reason we cannot run to the Lord. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our God is standing there with open arms.

Back to rae rae story. Do you think I turned to her and said “Great job kid, go cry in the corner, I warned you, I don’t want to hear it.” No I comforted her.

The enemy is the one telling you to keep things in the dark. The evenmy is the one who is tyring to keep you shackled. But turn to him.

Finally this passage reminds us of something so simple, but necessary....

He points out that the gospel is enough

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“42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.” Acts 13:42-43

The people were captivated. They just wanted to know more about this message.

We know as Christians that when we truly have the hope of JEsus in our life, many things fall to the wayside. It is when we do not trust in God that we tend to be filled with anger, anxiety, frustration and fear.

And we know that if you don’t have JEsus there is a void in your life. Many try to fill this void with being busy, trying to build up money, buying new things, sleeping around with whoever they want, simply just trying to get more more more.

in reality the more more more that we need is JEsus himself. We need more of him, more of his love, more of his grace each and every day.

The gospel is enough. Its not about the preaching, the music, the bagels. Those are all good things, but its about understanding that the gospel is enough and people wnat to hear it.

But that doesn’t mean its always well received because.

The gospel is offensive

Now I’m not advocating for us to stand on the corners and scream at people to “turn or burn”

I’m simply pointing out that there are many who want to run from truth and naturally when that truth is brought to them they will be offended.

“44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,     that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”Acts 13:44-47

They tried to distract and confuse.

These people thought they were “good” because they didn’t do certain things. They completely missed the fact that they need Jesus.

People come to Jesus when the gospel is preached

They don’t know what they don’t know.

People are searching for hope, yet they can only find it in Jesus.

“48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.” Acts 13:48

It is our job as the church to bring the message of hope to the world.

The gospel can lead to persecution

The people were so upset by what was being preached that their only defense was to point fingers and try and stir things up. (kind of reminds me of political commercials these days)

This is the same thing happened when Pilate asked who the people wnated released. Barabas or Jesus. The religous leaders stirredup the crowd and said give us Barabas.

“49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.”- Acts 13:49-50

Don’t grow weary when it doesn’t go well. Ministry is not a sprint. It is a marathon.

But the Holy Spirit ultimately leads us through it all

This is hard to do because often times pride gets in the way and we want to do the things we want to do when we want to do them.

However, we see time after time where the Holy Spirit leads us through something and we experience joy.

“51 So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 13:51-52

They shook the dust off their feet. Similar to us today saying “I wash my hands of this” a command given by Jesus in luke 10:11

Notice how they are so filled with joy that even in the hardest times of their minstry, they still experienced the joy of the Lord.

I’ve never met someone who has ever said, I regret allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me through this situation.

kid at disneyland. story

There are moments where it may feel like we can’t go on. There will be moments of discouragement and persecution, yet we have the God who created the universe on our side.

Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through his word and truth.

Daily we are to reorient our lives to Christ. Daily we are to pursue him and his desires. Daily we are to understand the truth and identity that we have in the king of kings and lord of lords.

Church let us not fall into the temptation to be enslaved to the things of this world. Let us remember each day the faithful work of our God. Let us live in the freedom that he has given us and let us remember that the gospel is enough.

We are sinners in need of saving, but God is his great mercy and love for us sent his son Jesus to live on this earth. Jesus lived a perfect life and despite that he was persecuted and sentenced to death. On the cross he bore the weight of all our sins past present and future. He was placed in a tomb, but rose to life 3 days later conquering death. Through our faith and trust in Jesus we can be forgiven and set free.