A Call to ACT
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10-04-2020
Welcome
This morning you can go ahead and open your Bibles us to Colossians 5 that is where we will be this morning
Just kidding we are not in Colossians 5 because there is no Colossians 5
This morning will be a topic that we have covered but I think it deserves another topic
In prepping for this sermon I began to think what should the sermon be?
I began to pray about it and then I began to receive sermons to watch that dwelt with repentance
If you will recall we covered repentance
This morning we will cover ACT
This morning we are going to be covering a lot of different scripture
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
Church this is the question that you need to ask yourself this morning
I think we are to be a serious when we ask this question
As you have heard before but the proof is in the pudding
Be honest with yourself this morning
Are you just going through the motions
I went to a funeral and as I was sitting there
I watched the service and it was all about going through the motions
It was about going to church and being baptized
And as I read through scripture it is not about the motions
That is what this morning is about it is a call to ACT
As we will see with in Nineveh 8 words change the course or a nation
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” 10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
Jonah calls on the nation to turn from there ways
If you see what happened
It started with the Individual and then went to the city and then up to the King
Do we understand this church
If you and I expect our nation to change the course it starts with us
And it is no longer acceptable to simply feel sorry for our sin and or feel bad
If you and I expect November to change the course of our nation we are simply wrong
It starts with you and I
And it starts when you and I repent
And to repent it requires that we ACT
Just like the city when they were confronted with their sin they repented and turned from their ways
That started the change of course for them and it made it up to the king
Church it starts with you and I as individuals
Then it is the church to turn from their sins and then that spills over to the city and to the nation
David was confronted with his sin
1 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, “There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 “The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. 3 “But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. 6 “He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.” 7 Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul.
Nathan at the direction of God confronted David with his sin
Just like Jonah confronted the city of Nineveh with their sin
I must ask this church are you confronted with your sin
David at the option
He was the king and could have had the prophet put to death
He could have disregarded what Nathan had said
He could have let it go in one ear and out of the other
Church this morning you have the some of the same options
You cannot put me to death
You can completely disregard what I have to say this morning
Or you can be like David
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.
David agreed with his sin
The first part of ACT is to agree about your sin
That is the role of the Holy Spirit is to confront us of our sin
And like David and the many other people you see through out scripture who were confronted with sin they have a decision to make
You can either deny it, and go on about your life and pretend like everything is alright
Or you can agree with the Holy Spirit and call it sin
Call the sin in your life what it is sin
Stop calling it bad things stop calling it struggles, and start calling it what the Holy Spirit does which is sin
This morning I told you it would be a call to ACT
This morning I call on you to agree with the Holy Spirit about your sin in your life
Join with me this morning and King David and agree with the Holy Spirit and agree that you and I are sinners
That is the A in ACT
The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin
7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin
To show everyone their sin
So this morning as you ACT
You need to agree with the Holy Spirit about your sin
Adrian Rodgers - “You cannot confess to God what you will not admit to yourself.”
You are a sinner
Most of you are sinners saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus and you are to still repent of your sin and run to Jesus
Then after we agree with the Holy Spirit about the sin in our life we are to confess
5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
The Psalmist calls on us to confess our sins
Since we have just agreed with the Holy Spirit about the sin in our lives it is only fitting that we confess it
Please hear me this morning
I am not calling for you to air your dirty laundry this morning
I heard a pastor say one time for public sin requires public confession but for private sin requires private sin
Begin to vocalize your sin
This morning we are calling you to ACT this morning
Agree with the Holy Spirit about the sin in your life
Confess your sins
Maybe it is having an accountability that you can confess to, or having a journal that you write in
Or dare I say but vocalize your sin to God your father
But church if we can expect God to move in our life then we must agree with the Holy Spirit and Confess your sin to God
Church I call on you this morning to confess your sin
This morning we are calling you to ACT
And then after you agree and confess you are to Turn from your sin
Adrian Rodger says “It is not enough to confess sin without forsaking it.”
We can no longer just remain in our seats and no do anything
To turn is the action part of repenting
You can sit here this morning and you can agree with the Holy Spirit about the sin in your life and you can even sit there in a few minutes and confess your sin and then if you do not turn from your sin
You have simply gone through the motions
There was no repentance
Repentance requires you to ACT
Agree with the Holy Spirit
Confess your sin
Turn from your sin
To turn from your sin you are to stop doing it and change your ways
1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
We are to turn from our sin and when we turn from our sin we turn to Jesus
TO turn from our sin means that we stop doing it
Barney Fife would say that you and I are to nip it in the bud
STOP SINNING and RUN to JESUS
That is what it is to repent
To turn
19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
This is what it is it to turn
This is the action to REPENTing
This is the T in ACT to TURN
Make a change in your life
Now listen to me
If you are going to sit here and agree and confess your sin and not change anything
You again are simply going through the motions
You are doing the very definition of insanity to do the same thing and expect something different
This morning we are calling on you to do something very different
This morning we are going to call on you to Agee with the Holy Spirit about your sin and then we are going to call on you to confess your sin, and then we are going to ask you to change something
TO TURN from your sin
This morning that is rather then just sitting in your sin in just a few minutes to join me at the altar and REPENT from your sin
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Church the time is here and the time is now for you to ACT
Stop going through the motions
Stop playing the game
Stop doing the same thing and expecting something different to happen
This morning church we are going to call you to ACT
As the Band Comes UP
Maybe you are here and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus
I would invite you to the front to talk with someone who can open up the Word of God and show you truth that Jesus Loves you and desires to have a relationship with you
You can begin a relationship with Jesus through repentance and to believe in Jesus
If that is not you then you have a personal relationship with Jesus
This morning we are going to call on you to ACT
To Agree with the Holy Spirit about your sin
To Confess your sin
To Turn from your sin
I am calling you to join me at the altar and repent from your sin this morning
The altar is open