Learning to Contend
Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Good morning/ We continue today in the book of Acts.
If you wanted to title today’s talk you could call it LEARNING TO CONTEND.
I envision a church that loves the people of Osage and the surrounding communities
A people who see the lost like God sees them
A people with a burning passion to be a witness of Jesus
A people who will be known by the religious as “A friend of sinners”.
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
I know there is an excitement building among us right now!
I love it but let me tell you, we have not even seen 1 percent of what God desires to do through you and in this community.
But if we want to see Revival, if we want to see the lost come into a relationship with God through Jesus
We have to contend for the souls of our communities.
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We first, have to:
STOP CONSUMING AND START CONTENDING
STOP CONSUMING AND START CONTENDING
Our focus has to be shifted from going to church
To being the Church and going to those who need Jesus.
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Christendom Model of Church -
Everyone knows Jesus
The church is where we go
The gifts are only for building up the church, because everyone already knows Jesus.
This model has created a consumer market in the church.
Churches no longer grow from new conversions but rather through transfer growth.
Some churches get real big - others die off - and the city continues to die without ever knowing Jesus.
We have to stop consuming and start contending.
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How do we contend?
How do we contend?
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Wait on the Spirit to empower us - Prayer has to become central
Wait on the Spirit to empower us - Prayer has to become central
The measure of prayer is the measure of revival. Little prayer- little revival
Go in the power of the Spirit to be a witness to an unbelieving world!
And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
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The Third Step is to
CONTEND IN CONTEXT AND POWER
CONTEND IN CONTEXT AND POWER
Peter and Paul addressed their audience in a way that was familiar to their audience.
Paul - Athens -Sophisticated, worldly, Religious, Philosophical - not familiar with Jesus.
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Paul - Corinthians - freed slaves, unsophisticated, hard working miners, believed man was enslaved by the gods and needed to appease them.
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
To minister in the context of our audience we need to rely on the Spirit and build relationships with the people.
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Peter gives a great example of this in his sermon to the religious Jews in .
Peter gives a great example of this in his sermon to the religious Jews in .
Peter appeals to what they know and what they hold to be important.
And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
“ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
“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— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 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;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Acts 2:12-41
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The Similarities between Peter’s Audience and the Religious Americans.
The Similarities between Peter’s Audience and the Religious Americans.
They thought they were God’s people because of God’s relationship to their ancestors.
Some of you think you are Christians because you are American/ family are Christians.
They thought they were in relationship with God through the ceremonial part of their faith.
Some of you think you are a Christian because you go to church on Sundays.
But they rejected and killed the Messiah proving they were far from God.
Many in the American church reject Jesus as their Lord in their day to day lives, proving they are far from God.
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There is a day of great Judgment when our works and words will be judged by Jesus.
The same
Like the Religious people of Israel God still offered them a relationship through Jesus
Today, God offers you the same relationship. but the relationship is through Jesus the Lord not ceremonial religion.
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If we want to become effective witnesses of Jesus to our communities we need to
Witness in the power of the Spirit in the Context of those we are witnessing to.
Witness in the power of the Spirit in the Context of those we are witnessing to.
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Next Steps -
Choose 3 people you know who are not followers of Jesus.
Take 3 months and every day lift them up in prayer.
Holy Spirit prepare their hearts.
Holy Spirit empower me and prepare my heart.
And then every time a door opens - BE A WITNESS IN POWER!
By a show of hands who will do this with me?