The Story Ch 28: New Beginnings

Cold Open

We will continue our study of the story today with the early days of the church, shown in the book of Acts! Today is Sunday, October 25th, 2020. Let’s get into it.

Intro Vids

Coming of the Holy Spirit

40 days after Jesus conquered death and left behind the empty tomb, He left His disciples and ascended into Heaven. He left his followers with a promise of the coming Holy Spirit, and a mission to be witnesses of what He had done, not only in Jerusalem, not even in just in Judea and Samaria, but to the ends of the earth.

So just like Jesus instructed, the disciples stayed in Jerusalem, waiting for the Holy Spirit, hiding in a house together. 10 days later, its the midst of the festival of Pentecost, or what the Jews called Shavuot. This is important because this is one of the few Jewish holidays that required a pilgrimage to the temple, to offer the first fruits of the harvest and give thanks.

Basically, this means that the population of Jerusalem was approximately double what it would be on a normal day, God’s timing is always good.

Scripture says there was a blowing of a violent wind from heaven which filled the whole house the disciples sat in! And fire like tongues came down from heaven, separated, and rested on each disciple. It was in this moment that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and were able to speak in many languages that they didn’t even know!

Now, we all know that commotion draws a crowd, so as the disciples stepped outside and began to speak, there were “Jews from every nation under heaven” and Parthians, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, Asians, Egytians, Romans, Cretans and Arabs all heard the disciples speaking in their own language, and they were amazed~

Peter’s first Sermon

And in all of this commotion some people don’t really understand what’s going on and start joking about the disciples being drunk, which is when Peter steps forward and says “Let me explain! These people aren’t drunk, it’s 9AM! No no, you don’t understand, you see it was said by the prophet Joel that...”

Acts 2:17–21 ESV

“ ‘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.’

And he tells them of Jesus of Nazareth, who performed many miracles, who was handed over to them to be killed. But you see, Peter finally GETS it, because Peter, who rebuked Jesus when he was told that Jesus had to die, who cut off a man’s ear when they came to arrest Jesus, that very same Peter now says that Jesus was killed by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge! But Jesus rose from the dead, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

And Peter says

Acts 2:36 ESV

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

At which point the people, horrified and amazing ask “What shall we do?” they want to know what response is required to this Gospel, this good news that they have just received!

Acts 2:38–39 ESV

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 scripture says that three thousand people were added to their number that day by accepting that message and being baptized.

-Quick aside here- Acts is such a great place to start with someone who may not agree with us about baptism. In our church, we teach about salvation and reception of the Holy Spirit both happening at baptism, that’s the point where all of it begins, where someone becomes a Christian and a member of the Body of Christ. And there’s lots of various teachings on this out there but this fact remains true: There is no example of anyone being saved after Jesus’ death that does not include a baptism account, not one. And there are only two cases where anyone received the Holy Spirt aside from baptism, the apostles at pentecost and the first large group gentile that Peter was sent to, and I think there’s a strong case that the Holy Spirit came to the gentiles to prove to Peter and the rest of the Jewish Christians that gentiles could be full members of the body as well.

Healing in the Temple

So fast forward a little and the disciples Peter and John are in the temple, where they heal a paralyzed beggar, and he can walk again! And they continue in and teach in the temple, rebuking the temple community for acting in ignorance and killing Jesus, urging them to repent and turn to God so they may be forgiven!

But the priests and Saudducees came along with the temple guards, and placed them in jail overnight. The next day they were brought before the rulers fo the temple and they tried ordering Peter and John to no longer teach anything about the name of Jesus.

Peter and John replied

Acts 4:19–20 ESV

But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

After a few more threats, they were released.

Arrested Again

But shortly after this, a group of apostles is arrested again! And this time, while they’re spending the night in jail, an angel of the Lord opened the doors and brought them out, basically telling them “Go back to the temple, go back to your mission.”

So they go back to teaching, and the Sanhedrin gathers to pass judgement on them, but when the officers go to the jail to get them, it’s empty! And someone else walks in and say “uhh, hey uh aren’t those the guys you arrested out there teaching in the tmeple courtyard?”

And they’re dragged back in front of the court, a wise Pharisee named Gamaliel says to the court “look, we’ve killed rebellious leaders before, and each time, their followers have scattered shortly after. Jesus is dead, leave these men alone, let them go! If their cult is just about this man, they will surely fail. But, if it is from God, you cannot stop them, you will just be fighitng God!”

And so the apostles are wipped and then release.

Saul

Not long after this, a Christian named Stephen is stoned to death for teaching the Gospel, and a great effort to root out the Christians began, imprisoning or killing many. One of the leaders of the persecution was Saul.

Now, Saul, while on a business trip to Damascus for more murdering and imprisoning, saw a great flash of light from heaven and a voice that said “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?”

Acts 9:5–6 ESV

And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

And Saul realizes he has been struck blind. He is helped to the city, where he meets a Christian named Ananias, who was sent to him by the Lord to restore his sight and lead him to baptism so that he could be forgiven and filled with the Holy Spirit!

Peter Again

Peter, meanwhile, receives a vision from the Lord, where all sorts of animals are laid out before him on a sheet and he is told to “Kill and eat”. But Peter says “of course not! I have never eaten anything unclean!” And the voice says “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

It was about this time that a man from the house of Cornelius came to the house where Peter was staying and asked him to come to his masters house and share what he has to say.

Peter goes to Cornelius’ house, a gentile and a Centurian of an Italian legion, and Peter realizes that his vision was telling him that the Gospel he had to share was for the gentiles as well as the Jews, and he began to teach.

It was at the end of this message that the holy spirit came down on those who had heard, and convinced Peter that since they had received the Holy Spirit, surely they couldn’t be denied baptism. And so all who heard and believed were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Persecution

Around this time, King Herod gets back into the story, he hears about the rising popularity of this Gospel message and ramps up the persecution of Christians, even putting James, the brother of John, to death. And he even tries to arrest Peter! But Peter is once again led out of prison by an angel, and Herod was struck down by an angel of the Lord.

It seems like nothing can stop the spread of the Gospel, no prison or priest of temple authority or king, and Saul, who once fought brutally against the Christians, will become one of the most prolific missionaries of the early church. We will explore those journeys, next week.

Conclusion

Let’s pray before we go,