Speech

We continue with our Easter Season sermon series entitled “Acts of the Holy Spirit.” We are examining the book of Acts to see how the Holy Spirit worked within the lives of the disciples but can also impact us as well.

Our focus this week is on Speech. Our scripture comes from Acts 4:5-12. The words will be on the screen.

5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Please pray with me…

The phrases that came to my mind while preparing for today was “open mouth insert foot” and “we have been given two ears and one mouth for a reason, we are to listen twice as much as we speak.”

If we made the decision to think before we speak and to listen instead of speaking or preparing to speak, we would often be viewed in a more positive light. We also would be seen as someone that cares about what the person we are speaking to cares about.

This is not only true these days when talking about verbal communication. We often hurt our relationships with those around us more by the way that we communicate on social media and by email. We should be willing to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us in all aspects of communication.

Our scripture today continues with the response from the healing that took place in Acts chapter 3 of a man who had been lame from birth. Last week we saw how the crowd reacted. This week we view the reaction from the religious authorities and John and Peter’s interaction with them.

They are before these “rulers,” elders,” and “scribes” because the religious leaders became “greatly annoyed” by what they were saying. Really what had upset them was that the Jesus problem had not gone away.

People were continuing to believe and follow these disciples of Jesus. They were not stopping teaching about Jesus and seemed to themselves be able to do what Jesus had been able to do. This was shown through the healing of the man and the authority in which they spoke.

This led the religious authorities to arrest them and to this conversation that is today’s scripture. Peter and John are asked a question, and Peter responds. The scripture says that that Peter is “filled with the Holy Spirit” when he begins speaking.

The Holy Spirit seems to lead him to say what he is saying boldly. We have the same spirit within us. The same spirit desires to help us speak with boldness. His boldness leads him to calling out the religious authorities first for them being upset that Peter and John healed this man and second for interrupting them from speaking to the crowd about who caused the healing.

We should not focus on the words that are being used as much as on the boldness in which they are being expressed. It seems that in some cases those speaking do not take their audience into consideration when they are speaking.

They look towards the words of Peter and say that if this is what he is saying while filled with the Holy Spirit these are the words I am to use as well. This will often cause people to be led away from instead of towards God.

There are less and less people that know about God today. They will not view being told about Jesus the same way because there are many who don’t know anything about Jesus. That is why Paul may give us a better understanding of how to begin conversations.

Acts 17 has Paul in Athens and it says that “his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” These idols could have led him to call out the people and tell them that they needed to change their ways or face the consequences.

Instead, he took a different approach. He tells them that he sees that based off the idols that they are “very religious.” He then brings up that among the idols he saw an altar to an “unknown god.” He goes on and tells them about this unknown God. The God that he worships.

For many this is like the relationship they have with our God. His power, his love, his grace are unknown to them. The Holy Spirit can help us as he helped Paul to offer us the words to say to let those around us know about God in a way that they can understand. They can learn what it means to be in a relationship with this God who is unknown to them.

Speaking of Paul, our first reading speaks of the way that we should interact with those around us. They are known as the fruit of the Spirit and give us a framework that can show God’s love to those that meet in our daily lives.

It is first important that we view these as one item with many parts. Paul does not say fruits, it is the fruit of the spirit. This should point out to us that these aspects of the Holy Spirit should be working together and shown in the way that we live our lives.

The fruit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. They are to become the aspects of our lives that should reflect the love of God to those around us.

All of the other aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are about choosing to love those around us. Paul lists love first because if we are not showing love then it will be difficult for us to live out the other aspects that Paul lists.

When we examine this list there is almost no chance that you are going to be happy with the way you live out each one of these aspects. We have been created in such a way in which some of do better in some areas and others in other areas.

We aren’t placing this as a goal in order to bring guilt and shame into your life. It is like most aspects of our lives. At some things we will do well and in other areas we are going to fail. We have to turn our focus to asking God to help us in the areas we struggle and thank him for the easy journey in some of the other fruit of the Spirit.

The importance of love is pointed out clearly by Jesus. He showed love and compassion to those that society viewed as unlovable. He spoke of loving your enemy. He died asking for forgiveness for those that had put him upon the cross. Loving unconditionally is where we need to begin.

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

Self-control

We are ableto better understand the desires of the Holy Spirit when we are connected with God. We explain that connection at Kirkersville through having God form us and develop us. We become formed and developed through prayer and study.

It is through allowing God time to speak to us and guide and direct us that we can best connect to him. We can ask but we also need to give God the time to respond. We needto find the place in which we are best able to hear from him.

We also should be spending time within his word. We should find a way to read or hear God’s word on a regular basis. For some that is my weekday devotional. For others it may be listening to scripture on the way to work. Some people choose to wake up early so that they can become immersed with God before they go to work.

The how is not important. What is important is setting some time aside and allowing God to speak to you through his word so that you can receive a greater understanding of who he is and how you believe in him.

We also need to spend time within our communities. We can speak to people regarding the love of God through both our words and our actions. It is often through service that someone will decide that they want to know about why we do what we do.

When that happens the Holy Spirit can help us with the words to say in order to help that person understand the need for the one who desires to save them and never leave them. The one who died on the cross so that they did not have to worry about the power of sin controlling them.

The one who raised from the dead so that they can have hope in the now and in what is to come. We are blessed to be able to be trusted by God to spread his message to those around us. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us through the ways we communicate with those around us.