Silent Killer

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Series: On the Move: Overcoming the Obstacles to Growth

Title: The Silent Killer

Text:

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Slide: Ellie Wiesel

He wrote:

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live . . . Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

Those are the words of Elie Weisel. He was a Romanian born Jewish boy of 15 when the Nazis took him to Auschwitz. There he saw everyone in his family killed. He, however, survived and spent the rest of his life telling the story of all that happened and railing against the indifference that allowed it.

It was Wiesel who wrote: The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

Now, Nazi death camps are the ultimate price to pay for apathy, but it’s homicidal impact is felt in every area of life. When it comes to success in almost any arena . . . Apathy is the silent killer of your spectacular future.

BACKGROUND

Last week we began this series entitled On the Move: Overcoming the Obstacles to Growth. We looked at the amazing story of the early church in Acts chapter two. We observed the atmosphere—the culture if you will—of that early church. We saw the biblical description of the culture that a growing church has. We said that a healthy church culture seeks to practice truth together, pursue community together, experience genuine worship together together, and they pray continually together and all of this leads to the release of the power of God that causes each one to personally take the initiative and multiply.

This week we turn the page to Acts chapter 3. It describes how another obstacle to growth can be overcome. That obstacle is the silent killer of momentum and vision. It is apathy. On the heels of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is on the move. The coming of the Holy Spirit, the message of Peter, the conversion of 3000 converts and the practice of truth, community, worship, and prayer have led to the power of the Spirit being unleashed through the Apostles. says that many signs and wonders (i.e. miracles) were being done by the Apostles. Chapter 3, then, gives a concrete picture of one of those signs and wonders. Look at it with me. (Read Text)

Acts 3:1–16 NKJV

Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all

This is an amazing story because it is such an obvious miracle. A guy who had never walked in his life in v1 is jumping up and down in v8. This is not one of those situations where you pray and you wonder whether God did it or not. No! This was an obvious move of the power of God. It was real and evident, but if you get to caught up in the miraculous, here, you may miss some subtle clues in this text that tell us WHY Peter was able to see this happen. In fact, Peter shows us here how to overcome apathy and see God move among us.

NEED

And we really need to see this today. We need to see this for a number of reasons. For one thing, we here at Peace Church need to see this because OUR mission is also clear. We say that we exist to glorify God and make disciples by helping everyday people experience life change through Christ-centered relationships. That’s great and I believe it has been well-thought out and is pretty clear. But if it’s just a slogan, it will not have much of an impact. Listen this morning because we do not want apathy to be the silent killer of our spectacular future.

And, left to ourselves, that is exactly what will happen. Why? Because not only is our mission clear, but our mission is not natural. It actually goes against a couple of big enemies. It fights against OUR FLESH. We do not naturally care about others, especially others who may be lost and not like other believers we are used to. Investing in the lives of others can almost seem crazy when we have so many problems and needs of our own. No, this mission is not natural because of ourselves . . .

And this mission is not natural because of the devil. Listen! Satan does not want us to succeed at this mission! He hates life change because life change glorifies God, so what does he do? O, he doesn’t argue that life change isn’t needed; he doesn’t tell us that people don’t need to be saved, on no! He just argues that, even though people need the Lord, you really can’t do anything about it. He just tries to make you feel overwhelmed at the thought of investing your life in someone else. Most of all, he will encourage you to leave a church like this and go somewhere else that’s a little less demanding, where you can be comfortable, or he’ll encourage you to stay here and just ignore messages like this, and even work against the mission. He works very, very hard to create this giant obstacle called “Apathy.”

TRANS

The question, then, has to be, How do we win this battle against apathy and help everyday people experience life change? How do we fight the silent killer called apathy? Well, in this story of Peter going to the temple, I think you see four choices you can make to overcome apathy in your own life when it comes to seeing life change happen. You can see life change happen if you choose:

D1 –

You can see life change happen when you choose relationship over routine.

EXP

Now history tells us that the Jewish people went to the temple twice per day to pray: At 9:00 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m. So, if you had looked into the crowd on that afternoon, you may have seen hundreds of worshipers entering through the temple gate. For them, it was just routine: Walk to the temple. Go through the row of beggars sitting by the gate. Go through the washing. Go into the temple and pray, come out, and just go on about your business.

There was something different, however, about Peter and John. They may have looked like just two unremarkable faces in this crowd, but something powerful had happened to these two men. Just a few days earlier, as they worshiped in the upper room, the Holy Spirit had come and empowered them. The Bible says that tongues of fire came to rest on their heads and they began to speak in other languages that they had never known before. They had run out into the street preaching the gospel and that day 3000 people became Christ-followers.

Now, Peter and John had known the Lord before. They walked with Christ while He was on the earth, but then Jesus left them for heaven. He, however, had made them a promise. He had promised them that the Spirit would come, and now their connection with the Spirit made Jesus real to them again. It was this relationship that changed them. Yes, they may have looked like the rest of the crowd but they, themselves were looking with new eyes. As the rest of the crowd just saw the routine or maybe even went through the ritual of dropping a coin in this guy’s cup, Peter and John saw what God could do. Why? Because of the relationship they had through the Spirit.

Acts 3:4 NKJV

And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.”

That’s why v4 says, And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us. . .” Very possibly people were walking by and not even looking at this guy as they walked into the temple. Peter and John, on the other hand engage this man’s heart. They really wanted to help and that desire came because they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. And that’s the first choice to overcome apathy: Through the power of the Spirit, you have to choose to engage deeply instead of just staying on the surface. You must choose relationship over routine.

APP

And the key to carrying out the mission of life change through Christ centered relationships is to make some very intentional choices. You will have to choose to step out of your routine and deeply engage in relationships.

How do you choose relationship over routine? Look up!

And I know the first question is “How?” How do you make this choice? Well, if you want to choose relationship over routine, you can choose to LOOK UP. This all begins with your relationship with Christ. You must look to Him so that your heart is surrendered and so that your heart is also sensitive to the needs you see around you. Now this is a daily struggle for all of us who genuinely want to walk with God. We find that keeping our eyes on Jesus as we are told to do can be extremely challenging. I think that doing this requires a constantly REFOCUSING of our minds. Minute by minute a hundred things can distract your attention from the Lord and, indeed, will do so. The key to looking up is, when you realize your distraction from Him, refocus your mind. If you want to choose relationship over routine, you can choose to look up . . .

How do you choose relationship over routine? Let go!

And then you can choose to LET GO. When I say “let go,” I mean to let go of the distractions that keep us from seeing the people in our path. If you’re like me, you spend your day so focused on your tasks that, many times, you walk right by people who need your love. On top of your commitments to your family and your job, you have fifty emails every hour and 20 text messages blowing up your phone. How in the world will you see the people right in front of you with all of those things going on? In order to engage, we must let go.

How do you choose relationship over routine? Slow down!

And then we must choose to SLOW DOWN. Ok, you’re too polite to laugh in my face, perhaps, but I dare says that some of your are laughing at that one! You’re saying, “Have you seen my schedule, Rusty? How in the world am I supposed to slow down?” Well, to answer that question would require a series of messages, perhaps, so the short version of how to slow down is this: You slow down by looking up and letting go. Stepping out of our routine into relationships requires some very intentional choices.

ILL

Slide: Golfer

When researchers have studied elite athletes they have found some common mental processes that distinguish them from others. One of those common processes is something they call the “quiet eye.” It is a kind of enhanced visual perception that allows the athlete to eliminate any distractions as they plan their next move.

What is most interesting about “quiet eye” is that it happens most during times of stress. It is thought that it is this occurrence that prevents an elite athlete from “choking” at moments of high pressure.

The same laser-sharp focus can help doctors maintain their focus as they perform surgery, and it is of increasing interest to the military. Kinesiologist Dr. Joan Vickers began to suspect the secret of extraordinary performance lay in the way that elite athletes see the world. She hooked a group of professional golfers up to a device that precisely monitored their eye movements as they putted. She found an intriguing correlation: the better the player, the longer and steadier their gaze on the ball just before, and then during, their strike. Novices, by contrast, tended to shift their focus between different areas of the scene for shorter periods of time.

The general idea that you should “keep your eye on the ball” is well-known, of course. But this suggested something more intricate, with the precise duration of the gaze correlating with an objective measure of sporting success.

Why am I telling you this? Because knowing Christ and being filled with the Spirit causes us to focus on where we are and where our opportunities are. I brings a calmness to our soul when presented with an opportunity and, by relying on the Spirit, help us really focus on the needs around us. And, by the way, when you have that kind of “eye,” the apathy disappears. Now that’s the outcome we are looking for. We want to overcome the apathy that keeps us from achieving our mission to see lives change through Christ-centered relationships. That happens because we make some very targeted and specific choices. We choose relationship over routine and then, if we are to overcome apathy, we can choose:

D2 –

You can see life change happen when you choose listening over looking.

EXP

Acts 3:4

Acts 3:4–6 NKJV

And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

V4 says And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Now when you read those verses its easy to think of them in terms of a Flannegraph Sunday School lesson. It’s easy to see them just as cartoon like features on a board instead of real people experiencing a miracle.

V4 says And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Now when you read those verses its easy to think of them in terms of a Flannegraph Sunday School lesson. It’s easy to see them just as cartoon like features on a board instead of real people experiencing a miracle.

When I read those verses, I have a couple of questions that come to mind. I wonder, “What was Peter thinking and feeling at that moment? Why did he reach out to this guy.” We know that he wasn’t the only lame man in Jerusalem and, indeed, he may not have been the only lame guy sitting at the gate begging because this was the area where many people came to beg. The Jewish people were taught to give help to people like this so what better place to go to get help than the temple where people were taught to give it?

So why did Peter focus on this guy? By the way, I think there was a real difference between the way Peter saw this guy and the way the rest of the people DIDN’T really see him. You see, I think when Peter was walking up to the temple that day, the Holy Spirit moved him to reach out and help. Peter was doing more than just looking at the row of beggars lined up outside the gate. He wasn’t just looking, he was LISTENING to the Holy Spirit telling him to reach out. The rest of the people walked by helplessly and apathetically. Even if they dropped money into the cups of those asking for help, they realized there was nothing that they could do other than just give money. But Peter wasn’t indifferent to the real needs right in front of him. Because he heard the voice of the Spirit telling him to help, he could not be apathetic. And Peter helped because he chose listening over looking.

APP

That is so convicting to me! It is possible for us to WALK by needs without being MOVED by them. In fact, if you’re like me, you spend your life preoccupied with your own schedule and your own needs without engaging others at a heart level. Why are we not moved by the needs we see with our own eyes? It’s because we are looking, but we are not listening. We are not filled with the Holy Spirit and if we ever overcome our apathy, we must learn how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

ILL

Slide: Angry Jr. Hi Kid

Erwin McManus tells about his son Aaron. Erwin said that when Aaron was 5-6, he started asking, “What does God’s voice sound like?” Wow! That’s a good question isn’t it? Erwin said, “I didn’t know how to answer that.”

But a few years later when Aaron was in junior high, he went to church camp. In the middle of the week, Erwin went up with another pastor to see how the kids were doing. When he got there he found out that Aaron had gotten into a fight with another kid and had to be held back by his friends. He was unrepentant and wanted to leave camp. In a huff, he got all of his things together and shoved into the car. Erwin says he asked him to talk before they drove away. The conversation went something like this, says Erwin:

"Aaron," I asked, "is there any voice inside you telling you what you should do?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"What's the voice telling you?"

"That I should stay and work it out."

"Can you identify that voice?"

"Yes," he said immediately, "It's God." It was the moment I'd waited for.

"Aaron," I said, "do you realize what just happened? You heard God's voice. He spoke to you from within your soul. Forget everything else that's happened. God spoke to you, and you were able to recognize him."

I will never forget Aaron's dug-in response: "Well, I'm still not doing what God said."

Erwin explained to him that he could make that choice but, if he did, this is what would happen. If he rejected God’s voice, his heart would become hard and the day would come when he would never again hear God’s voice and would even deny that God had even spoken to him. But if he would treasure God’s voice as it speaks to him through the word and through his conscience and obey that voice, then his heart would be softened and his ears would be able to hear God whisper to his soul.

TRANS

And I tell you that is the cure for apathy. It is choosing to listen and obey rather than ignore and grow hard. If you want to see God fulfill this mission; if you want to see lives change through Christ-centered relationships, there are some choices you have to make. You have to choose relationship over routine and listening over looking. Then you also can choose

D3:

You can see life change happen when you choose discerning over doubting.

EXP

A moment ago I said that there were two questions I have when I read v 4. The first was what was Peter feeling at that moment. Here’s the second: Why were other people just walking by, seeing the need, and never engaging with this lame man? Now, we’ve already said that Peter was choosing relationship over routine and listening over looking, but I think it went further than that. I think that Peter discerned some things that the other worshipers didn’t discern.

Now, I think it is very possible that Peter could have had some doubts as well. When he felt moved to reach out in faith to heal this guy, I’m sure he could have doubted that seeing this guy walk again was really going to happen. I’m sure that he could have doubted that this moving on his heart was really the Holy Spirit or not. He could have wondered if he was about to really embarrass himself.

But I think that Peter’s faith outweighed his doubt. I think that the Spirit was moving on him and helping him to see and believe what God could do through him. Maybe the first thing he thought of when he saw this poor beggar was giving money. But, as soon as the thought crossed his mind he realized he had nothing to give—nothing! But as soon, perhaps, as he thought he had nothing to give he remembered the Holy Spirit’s power on Pentecost. As soon as he thought he had nothing, he saw that what this guy really needed was not money anyway. He needed to be healed. And I think that, just maybe, he discerned something else, too. I think that somehow, through the power of the Spirit, this guy was ready to receive this miracle.

You say, “Ok, Rusty, you’re doing a lot of speculating here. What makes you think that Peter discerned all of these things? What makes you think that his faith made him overcome his doubt?” I say that because of what I said in that last point: Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. Since he was filled with the Spirit, he was out of the routine and into relationship; since he was filled with the Spirit, he wasn’t just seeing, he was listening; and, since he was filled with the Spirit, he discerned that God wanted to do something powerful.

And here’s the point: If we are going to overcome apathy and see lives change, we have to listen to the Spirit so that we discern and overcome our doubts too.

ILL

Slide: Man at a gas station

I heard a great example of this recently in my life group. We were giving our praise items the other night and one of our guys said that he had just had one of these Spirit moved moments. He was at the gas station filling up his vehicle. A woman with a little girl came up and told him that she was on her way to Tennessee and that she needed some gas. (Ok. Just stop it! I know already some of you are rolling your eyes and saying, “Well, I’ve heard that one before.”) Well, that’s what he thought too. So he told her no. She moved on to someone else and that person gave her $4.00. He finished filling up his truck, and started pulling away from station. As he did so, he looked back and saw that woman running back into the gas station to get $4 worth of gas.

He said at that moment two things happened. He discerned that she might be on the level (perhaps through the Spirit) and, at the same time, felt impressed to turn around and go help her. So he did. He turned his truck around and went back and put gas in her car.

APP

So here’s the point: He could have doubted. He could have said no and just kept on driving. Do you know what that would have done? If he had disobeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he would have damaged his own relationship with God, missed an opportunity, and built up apathy in his heart.

TRANS

You see, the antidote to apathy is Spirit-filled discernment and a rejection of doubt. It is being willing to obey the promptings that the Spirit sends into your day. I’m not saying that everyone who asks for money should necessarily receive it. Sometimes it can be the wrong thing to do, but that’s why we need Spirit-led discernment. Anything less breeds apathy.

If we are going to achieve our mission; if we are going to glorify God and make disciples by helping everyday people experience life change through Christ-centered relationships, we must reject apathy. We do that by some specific choices we make. We choose relationship over routine, listening over looking and discerning over doubting, but last of all, we can choose:

D4:

You can see life change happen when you choose capitalizing over contentment.

EXP

Acts 3:7–10 NKJV

And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

V7 says:

V7 says:

And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

What happens next is a goose-bump producing, Holy-Ghost shouting, hair-raising, exhilarating, amazing miracle! It was amazing because of it’s suddenness. Think of it. A guy who never even learned to walk is suddenly able to run! Hey, he never had any physical therapy! He didn’t have to lift weights with his legs to build muscle. He just started jumping, leaping and praising God.

It was amazing! It was amazing because of it’s suddenness and it’s powerful emotion and because of it’s opportunity to praise. Now, if this happened in many churches, we’d be so blown away we’d sing a hundred verses of How Great is our God and call it a night, but not Peter. No! Peter capitalizes on this miracle. Look at v 11:

Acts 3:11-

11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Acts 3:11–16 NKJV

Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Peter cashes in on this opportunity to lift up Jesus. Peter makes it a point to make a point! He connects the message of Jesus with the miracle of the Spirit! O listen, Satan doesn’t care how many miracles you perform. He likes to do a few miracles of his own from time to time. What Satan cares about is THE NAME! Satan doesn’t tremble before a miracle nearly as much as he trembles before THE NAME! And Peter doesn’t just perform the miracle, he CONNECTS the miracle to the gospel and to the name. I love v 16.

Acts 3:16 NKJV

And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Peter capitalizes on the miracle and preaches the gospel.

Acts 4:1–4 NKJV

Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

Acts 4:1

And what happens? Well you read it in the next chapter v1: Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. What happens? Multiplication happens: The number of men alone grows to 5000.

APP

And here’s the point for us: If we divorce the gospel from the good things we do in the name of the gospel, we lose our ability to multiply. We need to capitalize.

Slide - CDC

Listen! Every day 70+ families bring their children onto this campus. Our workers do and must continue to ask how we can show the love of Jesus and share the message of Jesus with these families.

Slide - Trunk or Treat

In just a few weeks we our life groups and Sunday School classes will come out here on Halloween and do a trunk or treat. This year your class or life group should be asking not just how you can have the most unique car on the lot, but how you can connect the message with the method.

Slide - CIW

In a couple of months we will be having Christmas in Wilson. As you think about how you are involved in this event, be thinking about how you can connect the message with the method. Maybe you’d like to be on our engage team which goes around and just starts conversations with people to discern where God might be working. In addition, this year, we will be adding a fun-filled, intentional gospel presentation right here in this auditorium.

Slide - Upward

And after Christmas, Upward Basketball is coming. Over the years we have had many different attempts to capitalize—connect the message to the method. We have had some successes, but we are not content. I want to challenge you as a coach to think about unique ways to connect with your families. I want to challenge you as a church member to find a way to turn Upward into an amazing gospel opportunity.

Because that is how you overcome apathy. You choose capitalizing over contentment!

VIS

Back in the spring, I received a FB message from one of our church members. She was commenting on how God was working in her heart about seeing life change. She said this,

While passing out door hangers for Easter I was able to share my faith with a neighbor. It felt so good or should I say I felt so good about myself...just like the disciples...still not “seeing” Jesus for who he is—I honestly thought nothing would come of my attempt to invite others...and this encounter was such an obvious God-ordained, you-asked-for-it opportunity...on the way to church this morning God said “so what are you going to do now... Is that it...you gonna stop there?” because I haven’t followed up with this neighbor.

Slide - Neighborhood

This is it; this is the issue. The biggest hindrance to us fulfilling this mission is our own apathy. What’s the answer? It is to be filled with the Spirit so that we are truly different in the way we approach our own Christian lives and our existence in this world. It is to be led by the Spirit to choose relationships over routine, listening over looking, discerning over doubting and capitalizing over contentment. It is to overcome apathy and have a deep powerful passion to glorify God and make disciples by helping everyday people experience life change through Christ-centered relationships.