It's Showtime!
Notes
Transcript
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Conviction Builds the Church
There is a perceptive story told of Heinrich Heine, the German poet, who was standing with a friend before the cathedral of Amiens in France. “Tell me, Heinrich,” said his friend, “why can’t people build piles like this anymore?”
“My dear friend,” replied Heine, “in those days people had convictions. We moderns have opinions. And it takes more than an opinion to build a Gothic cathedral.
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
What is Truth? It’s a Spirit Thing!
What is Truth? It’s a Spirit Thing!
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Our Gospel text introduces us to the solution to serious problem, a problem that has been a part of the human condition since the Fall, a problem that comes in two parts: 1. We don’t know the whole story; 2. We don’t know what we don’t know.
Ever since the first conversation between a human and an animal - not Mister Ed or Scooby-Do, but the serpent in Genesis 3 - we have struggled to accept the truth of the words, “a man’s got to know his limitations.” Our eyes don’t see all that there is to see, our hears don’t hear all that there is to hear, and our brains don’t know all that there is to know. There are things that the Lord has kept to Himself, and science is not going to eventually figure it out. There are also things that the Lord wants us to know, that He deems it it important for us to know.
When God Shows You Something - Pay Attention.
When God Shows You Something - Pay Attention.
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”
God wants Ezekiel to see this - He not only “brought [him] out,” God “set [him] down in the middle of the valley.” When God opens your eyes to a situation, it is not simply for your entertainment or amusement.
With Revelation comes Responsibility
With Revelation comes Responsibility
1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” 14 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. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘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; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
Peter had two choices: say something or say nothing. The people upon whom the Holy Spirit had fallen were now the subject of curiosity, and others felt the need to understand or explain away the experience that was taking place. How they responded to it, in part, indicates something about them, rather than something about those who were in the Upper Room.
It is clear from the text that the hearers heard the same thing: a proclamation of “the mighty works of God.” No one said that they did not understand the words being spoken. The only disagreement was about the meaning of the event.
Peter could have kept silent. But he knew what was going on, and he knew why, because the Spirit of Truth was now in him, and the Spirit of Truth had work to do right then and right there.
When God is working in you to will and to do for His good pleasure, you know it. As Jeremiah said,
9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
Peter knew because Jesus had told the before that their work as His Apostles would not end at His death, that in fact they were going to have a lot to do after He was gone, in continuing the missio Dei. That the reason why the Spirit was coming was to equip them for their role in the missio Dei.
4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, 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 when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
Time’s Up For Siting on the Sidelines
Time’s Up For Siting on the Sidelines
The Day of Pentecost may or may not have been “the birthday of the Church” - I saw an argument yesterday online about that one - but it was most certainly the official launch of the “Last Days” according to Peter’s interpretation of Joel’s prophecy. That being the case, we are now in the last days, make no mistake about it. In fact, Peter’s fellow-Apostle, John, later would go even further:
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
Are there not many who today deny the Father and the Son? Has not the Church been anointed by the Holy One? Do we not possess what God has spoken through His Son, reserved for the Last Days?
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
and
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
There is no conflict between the Old Testament and the New Testament - it is the same God with the same story, the story of the missio Dei. God spoke before He sent His Son and His Son fulfilled everything that the prophets said concerning Him. Just as Satan misrepresented the revelation that God gave to Adam, so he does today, and just as Adam - both the man and the woman - by rejecting God’s Word for Satan’s, lost the blessed assurance that He had in the Garden, so it is today. God’s Word is the true remedy for what ails our world today. The Gospel is the only means of reconciliation both vertically and horizontally, between us and our Creator and between us and the rest of creation. There are those who will be drawn to understand it and those who will be enticed to criticize, but it is what it is - the Power of God unto salvation for all who believe.
And we are His witnesses, because the Holy Spirit is within us. The Holy Spirit has sealed us to this, He has marked us, and He has empowered us. We can no more hide our status than you can hide a lamp under a basket without there being consequences, the least of which will be the burning up of whatever you use to hide His presence. God will burn those things up because He cannot be hidden when He wants to be revealed.
29 for our God is a consuming fire.
We are, like Ezekiel, like Peter, charged with this message. It is now a part of who we are. It identifies us as God’s special possession. As such, if we resist, we will have to repent or perish, because He will not be contained. God will accomplish what He set out to do when He sent His Son into the world
12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
God keeps every one of His promises. You can either experience the blessings of that, or the bitter realization of allowing Satan to steal, kill and destroy your life through unbelief. It’s showtime!
So let the peace of God that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.