Acts 8:1-8
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning Life church!!!!
Two big reminders today!
Tonight at 5 pm we will have a time of worship and prayer for all volunteers.
Next Sunday at 10 a.m. the church building will be open for worship. We hope to see everyone! For those who cannot make we will be live streaming the service on Youtube. Follow our facebook page to get more details.
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Over the last three weeks we been discovering the characteristics of a Disciple of Jesus based on Luke’s account of Stephen.
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Today we turn to Acts 8:1-8 and we begin to see what theologians have called the Church scattered.
Most of us have experienced what I like to call the mountain top experience.
This is most common during the first year a person begins to follow Jesus.
Relative peace, they realize following Jesus really works, transformation begins and they realize how much better life is.
But, they are not tested and their faith is often shallow, though at the time it feels as though your faith is strong.
On the mountain we feel indestructible. We make claims of dying for our faith - Nothing will stop me from following Jesus…etc.
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What happens when we are plunged into the valley
What happens when we are plunged into the valley
When our hopes are crushed
Our life is threatened
Our health is gone
And all the dreams we thought God was promising us are taken away?
I am not talking about a set back or a detour - I am talking about devestation - total loss, the black night of your soul, when all you held onto was gone and all that is left is you and Jesus.
Vella White losing three boys
Countless of Christians turned into refugees as they run for their lives, leaving homes, jobs, family, stability.
I think of our dear sister terry who has suffered through cancer but still maintains joy, hope, peace.
It is here, that we must decide, is Jesus more than enough!
On the mountain top we want to quote
On the mountain top we want to quote
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
But in the valley our first response is usually - GOD WHY!!!!???
It is here in the valley where we either grow in our faith or we discard God all together.
We either come face to face with God in our lack
Or we discard him for failing us.
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Today our scripture passage is the moment the early church was plunged from the mountain into the valley in one quick and jolting day.
The Persecution
The Persecution
Lets read
And Saul approved of his execution.
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
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The church went from relative peace, good favor, and massive growth to extreme persecution.
The church went from relative peace, good favor, and massive growth to extreme persecution.
You and I have not experienced this kind of persecution.
But imagine with me if you can.
Vans pull up to a neighborhood and armed men storm out of the side doors.
Going from one house to another, banging and kicking in doors.
Men and women both being taken into custody simply because they believed Jesus to be the messiah
Children being left homeless to fend for themselves with no parents.
Neighborhood by neighborhood, day after day this takes place.
Finally, they not only make arrests but they begin to execute those who will not recant of their faith.
Here is Paul’s own words testifying to the terror he caused during these times.
I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women,
And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.
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Not only did they not question and discard their faith in Jesus, but something incredible happened.
Not only did they not question and discard their faith in Jesus, but something incredible happened.
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
The word preach here is not the formal act of preaching like I am doing. It means to talk and communicate
These were not trained clergy but ordinary people.
Ordinary people who have just lost everything and they are testifying of Jesus and the Kingdom of God as they fled.
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This kind of faith and commitment to Jesus seems so rare today yet, it appears Luke wants us to understand that this kind of faith was the norm.
This kind of faith and commitment to Jesus seems so rare today yet, it appears Luke wants us to understand that this kind of faith was the norm.
Even 100 years after Acts 8 the Roman empire was still trying to destroy the Church of Jesus.
Eusebius wrote -
“Some were scourged with innumerable strokes of the lash, others racked in their limbs and galled in their sides with torturing instruments, some with intolerable fetters, by which the joints of their hands were dislocated. Nevertheless they bore the event.”
IBC - lost all money - poor - scared - God why are you leaving me to die on the streets in SA? Callie - Grow up!
What is the difference between the early church and their willingness to not only suffer but to joyfully hold fast to their faith and to share it even as they were on the run; and the faith of so many today who give up Jesus at the first sign of suffering?
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I believe the answer lies in the Good News we believe!
I believe the answer lies in the Good News we believe!
The Good News of the American Gospel!
The Good News of the American Gospel!
Jesus came and died so that you will not have to face God’s punishment for your sins. (Get out of hell card)
Jesus came and died so that you you can have the best possible life now.
Defined by the world’s definition of a good life - money - health - not bothered by others suffering - protection from your enemies.
God desires to build your Kingdom, your dream, your vision.
The final reward is a paradise of gold roads, big mansions, and a gate made of pearls.
This Gospel is an appeal to your sinful nature of getting what you want and putting you at the center of the narrative. It is all about you!
The Real Good News!
The Real Good News!
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Jesus came and lived the life we were not able to live and in his death and resurrection he took on himself our sin and gave to us the credit for His righteousness.
God in absolute love for us appeased his wrath towards our rebellion by giving of himself so that we could be reconciled to Him as children to their father.
He did this for us while we were still sinners and enemies towards him. His love crossed over our own hatred towards him. And rescued us from a life of death.
We were completely dead in our sins. Controlled by death, killing our own lives and the lives of others, destroying our relationships all for the sake of sin of which we loved and were being killed by.
Through the way of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit we learn Life the way it was meant to be lived. He desires for you to have the best life possible now.
Willing to love your enemies
Willing to give sacrificially to those in need.
Willing to carry the burden of others.
Willing to live towards others as God in Christ lived and died toward us
To experience in this life through His way - Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. In times of plenty and in times of lack. In times of security and in times of fear.
Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit calls us to lay down our selfish ambitions and self gain to serve him and others by joining Him in expanding the Kingdom and rule of God over the world.
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The Good News is not a motivational speech!
The Good news is God rescued us from death through Jesus, reconciled us to himself, because of His great and undeserved love for us.
The Good news is He has given us the power of His Spirit to live Life now in the way it was always intended.
The Good News is God - He is our reward
In suffering, persecution, tragedy and loss - The real Gospel is still Great News.
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What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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The faith of the early church was not built on a motivational speech of how to have more of what you already have.
The faith of the early church was built on the Good News that God in Jesus has come to rescue us from a living Hell of our own creation. A rescue from a death sentence we joyfully participate in. A ruin that spans time and eternity.
God is the Good news! Jesus is King! Death is defeated! And we have been rescued!
God is the Good news! Jesus is King! Death is defeated! And we have been rescued!
This Gospel calls us to follow the way of Jesus in how we live towards God, others and ourselves through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is this Gospel that will remain even when life seems to be unbearable
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