AF-S97-112005 Acts E
Acts 3 - 11/20/05
H14- THERE IS POWER IN THE BLOOD
143- CELEBRATE THE LORD
184- LET THE CHILDREN DANCE
285- BLESSED BE YOUR NAME
134-THE HEART OF WORSHIP
194- HOLY GROUND
98- HOLY AND ANOINTED ONE
Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors.
Last week in Chapter 2:
4 Elements:
1- Apostles’ teaching ~ didachê, It is literally the content of instruction.
2- Fellowship ~ koinônia, all things in common, Identify with each other, if you hurt I hurt.
3- Breaking of The Bread ~ klasei tou artou, There was no conceptual difference between Communion and a meal.
4- Prayer ~ proseuchê, To God, usually for help, what help? Keep the Faith.
Acts 2:46 ~ Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
klasei tou artou
1 Corinthians 11:23-32 ~ For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
The rest of the story….
17-22
But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.
33-34
So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.
Verses 1-6
1One day Peter and John went to the Temple. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. This was the time for prayer.
2There, at the Temple gate called Beautiful, was a man who had been crippled all his life. Every day he was carried to this gate to beg. He would ask for money from the people going into the Temple.
3The man saw Peter and John going into the Temple and asked them for money.
4Peter and John looked straight at him and said, “Look at us!”
5The man looked at them; he thought they were going to give him some money.
6But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold, but what I do have, I can give you: By the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth—stand up and walk!” (NASB: -walk!)
Silver and Gold… 800 years ago the great theologian and philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, was with Pope Innocent IV. The Pope was counting out a large sum of money and said to Thomas, "The Church can no longer say, 'Silver and gold, have I none.'" Thomas replied, "neither can she say, 'Stand up and walk.'"
Mat 10:5-10 ~ These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.
1Pet 1:18-23 ~ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
Temple Picture & Portico Picture.
From the womb for more than 40 years.
Gain his attention - He asked, but didn't expect, then he expected what he wouldn't get.
1- Why no money? How often had the seen the dude?
Had Jesus Himself passed by? Had they showed kindness before?
2- In the Name of Jesus, who was from Nazareth.
“I am willing; be cleansed.” ~ He said to them, “Go!” ~ “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
3- God is sovereign and picks His time perfectly.
4- Operating in connection with God's power and purpose, yet things don't work out the way you might expect.
Verses 7&8
7Then Peter took the man’s right hand and lifted him up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
8He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. He went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping, and praising God.
feet and ankles became strong / jumping
Verses 9-11
9And all the people saw him walking and praising God;
10All the people recognized him. They knew he was the crippled man who always sat by the Beautiful Gate begging for money. The people were amazed. They could not understand how this could happen.
11The man was holding on to Peter and John. All the people were amazed and ran to Peter and John at Solomon’s Porch.
people recognized him
Solomon’s Porch - Picture again.
Verses 12-16
12When Peter saw this, he said to them, “Men of Israel, why are you surprised? You are looking at us as if it were our own power that made this man walk. Do you think this happened because we are good? No!
13The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our Fathers, has glorified His servant, Jesus. But you gave him up to be killed. Pilate decided to let him go free. But you told Pilate you did not want Jesus.
14He was pure and good, but you said you did not want him. You told Pilate to give you a murderer instead of Jesus.
15And so you killed the One who gives life! But God raised him from death. We are witnesses to this fact.
16It was the power of Jesus that made this crippled man well. This happened because we trusted in the power of Jesus. You can see this man, and you know him. He was made completely well because of trust in Jesus. You all saw it happen!
You are looking at us as if it were our own power that made this man walk
we are good? No!
the God of our Fathers
servant, Jesus
you did not want Jesus
pure and good
you killed the One who gives life
raised him
witnesses to this fact.
power of Jesus / we trusted in the power / trust in Jesus.
saw it happen!
Verses 17&18
17“Brothers, I know you did those things to Jesus because you did not understand what you were doing. Your leaders did not understand either.
18God said this would happen. He said through the prophets that his Christ would suffer and die. And now God has made these things come true in this way.
Verses 19-21
19So you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins.
20Then the Lord will give you times of spiritual rest. He will give you Jesus, the One he chose to be the Christ.
21But Jesus must stay in heaven until the time comes when all things will be made right again. God told about this time long ago (KJV: since the world began) when he spoke through his holy prophets.
you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins.
Jesus must stay in heaven until
Verses 22-26
22Moses said, (KJV: unto the fathers) ‘The Lord your God will give you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people. You must obey everything he tells you.
23Anyone who does not obey him will die, separated from God’s people.’
24Samuel, and all the other prophets who spoke for God after Samuel, told about this time now.
25You have received what the prophets talked about. You have received the agreement God made with your ancestors. He said to your (KJV: our) father Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed.’
26God has raised up his servant and sent him to you first. He sent Jesus to bless you by turning each of you away from doing evil things.”
agreement God made with your ancestors
Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.
Turn to God and also away from sin
Monday, August 15, 2005
The Offense of the Cross
The scene was that of a large West Coast church offering an invitation at the close of its service. They had diligently studied how to attract huge crowds. The message, the music, and the atmosphere were all perfectly choreographed so as to attract the largest crowd of unbelievers known as "seekers". News of this seeker church’s success had spread all over California, and indeed had permeated into the rest of the nation’s heartland. Newspapers and national Christian publications wrote of their sudden meteoric rise, and lavishly praised them in their featured articles. So what is the secret of this growing phenomenon, and why are so many churches attempting to emulate what this church has accomplished? What had gone on in this particular service that had led to so many deciding to come forward?
The atmosphere was raucous, and the music not always doctrinally sound, and the invitation – well it was an invitation that the world finds both acceptable and comfortable with. Upon hearing the invitation that brought so many forward a visiting believer went forward to question the counselors of the church. He asked, “In your pastor’s message and invitation I did not hear him speak of man’s sin, the need for repentance, the cross, or the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Shouldn’t they have been mentioned?” The counselor’s reply was, “We don’t use those terms as we have found that in today’s society that talk of ‘shedding of blood’ and ‘death on a cross’ tends to turn people off, and we like to keep the message and invitation positive and upbeat.” The invitation asked unbelievers in attendance to come forward if it was their desire to emulate Jesus Christ as their role model. No mention of the sin and the fallen nature of all of mankind. No mention of repentance. No explanation of Christ’s sacrificial death. Their surveys and marketing had allowed the world to dictate the nature of the invitation. An invitation that had the appearance of offering a new life, but in reality could not deliver.
So 91% of Catholics, but 68% of so-called Evangelical Christians believe in multiple paths.
Why?
Postmodern Philosophy of the, "FEELINGS."